Offtopic/fun » start my round, the 24-year-old said. Its my

ROME -- In terms of salaries, Atalanta ranks 15th in Serie A. On the field, however, its been a different story for the provincial club, which has relied on homegrown talent to become the best team in the Italian league over the last seven rounds.After gaining 19 out of a possible 21 points since Sept. 26, Atalanta has rocketed up the standings to fifth place to make qualifying for Europe a distinct possibility.The Bergamo squad has won four straight and achieved three consecutive clean sheets in which it has outscored the opposition 7-0.Were on a fantastic streak but the most important thing has been the way weve been playing and that the squad and players have been improving continuously, Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini said.Gasperinis job was at risk when Atalanta lost four of its five opening matches, but club president Antonio Percassis faith in the coach has proved decisive.Atalanta features nine homegrown players on its first team -- the most in Serie A -- and regularly uses them.Players like 22-year-old defenders Mattia Caldara and Andrea Conti, 21-year-old striker Andrea Petagna -- all members of Italys under-21 squad -- and 22-year-old midfielder Roberto Gagliardini, who was given his first call up to Italys senior national team this month after only nine Serie A appearances, are in the team.Then theres 19-year-old Ivory Coast midfielder Franck Kessie, who first spent time on the youth squad after arriving in January 2015. He leads the team with four goals this season.Its a matter of pride for us and for the club, Gagliardini said of the widespread use of homegrown players.Added Caldara: Were friends before were teammates.The youth movement was on full display in Atalantas last match, a 3-0 win at Sassuolo in which Caldara and Conti scored and Gagliardini provided the assist for the opening goal by Alejandro Papu Gomez.The victory over Sassuolo was significant because it gave Atalanta bragging rights as the leagues top provincial squad.Sassuolo set a club record by finishing sixth last season to qualify for the Europa League, an achievement Atalanta would like to emulate.In its 109-year history, Atalanta has spent 56 seasons in Serie A -- more than any other club which has never won the top division.Its only major trophy was the 1963 Italian Cup, besides six Serie B titles. Atalanta also reached the Cup Winners Cup semifinals in 1988 while competing in Serie B -- one of the best performances by a non-first division club in a major UEFA competition.The club has also had its troubles, getting docked six points in 2011-12 for a widespread betting and match-fixing scandal that ended the career of club captain Cristiano Doni, who was arrested.Atalanta was also docked two points the following season but it managed to avoid relegation from Serie A on both occasions.With a population of 120,000, Bergamo is a mid-sized city that is considered part of the wider Milan metropolitan area, which made a 2-1 win over Inter Milan last month especially sweet.Gasperini, in his first season at Atalanta, was hardly given a chance at Inter, where he was fired after five winless matches in September 2011.Bergamo attracts many Milan residents for its airport that is home to low-cost airlines and the club is also a relatively low-cost affair.Atalanta, which pays its players a total of 24 million euros ($26.5 million) per season, is level on points with fourth-place Lazio, which pays its players more than twice as much.In July, Atalanta sold Marten de Roon to Middlesbrough for 14 million euros ($15 million), a year after paying Heerenveen 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million) for the Dutch midfielder. That helped Atalanta earn a 6 million euro ($6.5 million) profit in the offseason transfer market.Were enjoying the moment and it provides us with extra motivation to continue along this path, Gasperini said.Having helped launch the careers of players like Roberto Donadoni, Christian Vieri and Filippo Inzaghi -- plus current AC Milan standouts Riccardo Montolivo and Giacomo Bonaventura -- Atalanta has long been a starting spot for players who later achieved greatness.And with coaches like Marcello Lippi, Cesare Prandelli and Antonio Conte making stops in Bergamo, its also been on the road to managerial success.The clubs current fortune will be tested against Roma on Sunday and in games against Juventus and Milan -- the top three teams in the standings -- before the holiday break.Weve got a Tour de Force awaiting us until Christmas but weve got enthusiasm, Gasperini said. So lets see where it takes us.---Andrew Dampf on Twitter: www.twitter.com/asdampfLance Berkman Astros Jersey . 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The Real Madrid forward has scored 66 goals in 2013, but the last three may be the boost he needs to upstage Messi after FIFA unexpectedly extended the voting period for the Ballon dOr to Nov.Rory McIlroy revealed how much work he has to do before bidding to regain his Open title after an erratic opening round in the 100th French Open in Paris.McIlroy was two under par after six holes at Le Golf National but eventually had to settle for a level-par 71 featuring four birdies, four bogeys and two trips to the water at the 2018 Ryder Cup venue.That left the 27-year-old five shots off the lead held by Denmarks Lucas Bjerregaard, whose 66 gave him a one-shot lead over defending champion Bernd Wiesberger, Belgiums Thomas Pieters, Thailands Thongchai Jaidee and Spains Adrian Otaegui.McIlroy has been putting in the hours on the range with coach Michael Bannon ever since an opening 77 in the US Open led to a first missed cut in a major championship since the 2013 Open.And asked what areas he was working on, the four-time major winner joked: Have you got 10 minutes?My left-hand grip is too strong. Takeaway was going on the inside. Wasnt holding my right elbow properly at the top of my swing. Wasnt getting my right knee out of the way on the downswing... Ive been working on a few things.I was joking with my friends at the weekend; Ive got 17 swing thoughts down to about five, so Im doing okay. Try to get that to two next week.Ive got another hopefully three competitive rounds here. Ive got all next week and then obviously a few days leading up to the Thursday of The Open. So hopefully by then, it will be all bedded in.McIlroy, who was unable to defend his Open title in 2015 after suffering an ankle injury during a game of football with friends, added: I think the hardest thing is that I havent focused on my grip since I changed it when I was maybe 12 years old. Progressively the left hand got a bit stronger and stronger and that clubface is coming in closed at impact.ddddddddddddGripping the club feels quite strange at the minute but I just need to stay with it. Bigger picture, its the right thing to do. They are not major changes. They are tweaks trying to get it back to where I know I can be.Every tournament is important and you want to try and play well but sometimes it just has to be done.Despite his problems, McIlroy still fared better than Masters champion Danny Willett, who double-bogeyed the 18th after finding water with his approach to card a 75 and face the prospect of a second consecutive missed cut.Playing partner Lee Westwood, who finished second to Willett at Augusta, was only a shot better off, while two-time winner Graeme McDowell slumped to a nine-over-par 80.Bjerregaards 66 contained a hole-in-one on the second hole from 202 yards and five birdies, despite playing with a new set of clubs after his own had been lost in transit.It was a great way to start my round, the 24-year-old said. Its my first ever hole-in-one, so that was pretty sweet. It was a perfect number for a seven iron downwind. I hit a great shot straight at it but we couldnt really see it.It looked like it went in, but about five guys were at the back of the green and nobody clapped or reacted in any way and then Matteo (Manassero) said he thought he could see it right behind the pin. I grabbed my putter and we started walking and when we got a little closer we could see no ball on the green.My clubs got lost on the way down here so Nike made me a new set yesterday. Maybe I should just keep these now and let the airline company keep my old ones. ' ' '