Clark, Wilson share Canadian Open lead
July 24, 2010
TORONTO (AP)—Tim Clark shot a bogey-free 6-under 64 on Friday for a share ofthe second-round lead with Dean Wilson in the Canadian Open in anotherlow-scoring day at straight-hitter friendly St. George’s.
Wilson had his second straight 65 to match Clark, The Players Championshipwinner in May, at 10-under 130 on the hilly, tree-lined course.
“I certainly didn’t expect to be scoring like that around this course,”Clark said. “I felt like it was going to be pretty tough. I’ve been able todrive it really well. … Driving the fairway is a huge key on the course andI’ve done that.”
Wilson closed with a 20-foot par putt on the par-4 18th after missing thefairway.
“That was a nice way to finish off the day,” said Wilson, the 2006International champion. “You can’t ask for a better position.”
Brent Delahoussaye and Steve Wheatcroft were a stroke back. Delahoussaye hada 69 a day after matching the Canadian Open record with a 62.
“It’s tough to follow up an 8-under-par round,” Delahoussaye said. “So, Ifigured anything under par today would be great for me. I’m pleased with theround.”
Wheatcroft shot a 66. J.J. Henry (65), Rob Grube (66), Hunter Mahan (67) andBrock Mackenzie (68) were at 8 under, and Tim Herron (63) and defending championNathan Green (65) topped the group at 7 under.
Kevin Sutherland had the best round of the day, matching the tournamentrecord with a career-best 62 to reach 5 under.
Sutherland took advantage of soft, receptive greens and calm earlyconditions after rain delayed the start for two hours. Because of the wetconditions, players were allowed to use preferred lies in the fairways.
“If you drive the ball in the fairway, with the greens being soft, it’s notthat hard,” Sutherland said. “If you get in the rough, this golf course canreally beat you up. And I did a pretty good job of keeping the ball in thefairway.”
After opening with a 73, Sutherland was 5 under on his first four holesFriday, making an eagle on the par-5 11th. The 2002 Match Play Championshipwinner played the front nine—his first and last eight holes—in 5-under 29.
“It got kind of silly,” Sutherland said. “The hole just got so big forme. I was just making putts from everywhere. I made a putt on the last hole thatI don’t even know how far it was. Seventy feet? I’m guessing, 60 feet.”
Canadian star Mike Weir missed the cut for the 12th time in 20 Canadian Openstarts, following his opening 72 with a 74.
“You can’t score from the rough,” said Weir, fighting tendinitis in hisright arm.
Adam Hadwin shot a 66—holing a 15-foot par putt on 18—to top the 18Canadians at 6 under. Stephen Ames, a naturalized Canadian citizen from Trinidadand Tobago, was 5 under after a 68.
“That’s pretty exciting for me,” said Hadwin, making his first PGA Tourstart. “Coming up to that putt on 18, I looked at the scoreboard and I saw Amesat 5, and I knew I was at 6, so I wanted to make that putt to stay low Canadian.That was a huge momentum boost for me for the weekend.”
Hadwin and Delahoussaye were in the same group.
“He’s a good player, and just fresh out of college, and doesn’t look likeany of this is affecting him,” Delahoussaye said. “Some young guys get alittle nervous out here, but he’s hitting it well. He hits it long and he canputt it really well.”
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Third-round tee times for RBC Canadian Open (PGATOUR.com)
July 24, 2010
Third-round times. All times are local.
RBC Canadian Open Tee #3TimePlayers1:50 pmDean WilsonTim Clark1:41 pmBrent DelahoussayeSteve Wheatcroft1:32 pmJ.J. HenryRob Grube1:23 pmBrock MackenzieHunter Mahan1:14 pmTim HerronBob Estes1:05 pmMatt JonesNathan Green12:56 pmVance VeazeySpencer Levin12:47 pmKevin NaJason Bohn12:38 pmDaniel ChopraBriny Baird12:29 pmAdam HadwinRoger Tambellini12:20 pmKevin SutherlandChris Stroud12:11 pmStephen AmesMatt Bettencourt12:02 pmJames DriscollDavid Duval11:53 amTrevor ImmelmanRyan Palmer11:44 amLuke DonaldGreg Chalmers11:35 amMichael LetzigBrian Stuard11:26 amJoe OgilvieBlake Adams11:17 amBrendon de JongeCamilo Villegas11:08 amCliff KresgeChris DiMarco10:59 amCharley HoffmanCharles Howell III10:50 amBryce MolderCharlie Wi10:41 amMarco DawsonGlen Day10:32 amJames NittiesRicky Barnes10:23 amPaul AzingerJeff Quinney10:14 amMatt KucharRocco Mediate10:05 amBill LundeMatt Every9:56 amWoody AustinSteve Elkington9:47 amWebb SimpsonJeev Milkha Singh9:38 amStuart ApplebySteve Lowery9:29 amAaron BaddeleyJon Mills9:20 amLee JanzenJohn Huston9:11 amChris RileyScott McCarron9:02 amKirk TriplettJimmy Walker8:53 amJoe DurantBob Heintz8:44 amArjun AtwalJohn Daly8:35 amChad CampbellMark Hensby8:26 amSteve FleschJay Williamson8:17 amRetief GoosenCarl Pettersson8:08 amMark WilsonBrenden Pappas8:00 amRich Barcelo
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Former NC State DT Byrd dies
July 24, 2010
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)—Dennis Byrd, a former defensive tackle at North CarolinaState who was to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in December,has died. He was 63.
N.C. State spokeswoman Annabelle Myers said Byrd died Friday in Charlotte.Myers said the family told the school that Byrd suffered a heart attack on July15 while undergoing back surgery and never regained consciousness.
In May, Byrd was among 14 former players and coaches elected to the hall.
Byrd was a three-time first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection,and helped N.C. State win a share of the 1965 ACC championship. He was aconsensus All-America in 1966 and 1967. He was drafted by the Boston Patriots in1968 and played two seasons in the old American Football League.
He is survived by his wife and four children.
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Phils’ Moyer hopes to return this season
July 24, 2010
PHILADELPHIA (AP)—Jamie Moyer(notes) stood at his locker Friday afternoon, speakingof pitching again not retirement.
Faced with the possibility of a career-ending elbow injury, the 47-year-oldleft-hander said he owes it to himself to try everything to return to thepitching mound this season.
“That’s my goal,” he said. “But without a full diagnosis—I think that’sonly fair—but the competitor in myself, I want to pitch. If my arm doesn’tallow that to happen, it’s not going to happen. I believe I’m going to make somesort of a, I don’t want to say comeback, but I’m going to make some sort ofattempt to get back out there.”
Moyer left his July 20 start in St. Louis when he strained his left elbowafter making a pitch. He is headed for the disabled list—likely on Saturday—and is in having tests to determine the severity of the injury.
“It’s best until all the testing is done,” Moyer said. “Without all thetesting, I don’t feel it’s appropriate to comment on something halfway through.I know it’s a strain. I think it’s my flexor pronator (forearm) and it soundslike it’s a sprain in my ulnar collateral (ligament), but I think we’re going todo some further testing to determine the severity of the sprain.”
Moyer has made 686 appearances in a 24-season big-league career, starting628 games. He is 267-204 for his career, and was 9-9 this season with a 4.84ERA. He started Game Three of the 2008 World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
While he prefers not to think about the inevitable end to a storied run—Moyer knows he will eventually have to walk away from the game he made he debutwith on June 16, 1986.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it, but I haven’t spent awhole lot of time thinking about it, because I’m not there yet,” he said,holding back tears. “It’s one of those situations that you don’t want to havehappen, but if it happens, it happens. There’s nothing I can do about it. Ican’t turn back and change anything. I feel like I can look myself in the mirrorand know that if that was my last outing, so be it. I’ve given it my best and Ienjoyed my career. At this point, I’m not looking at it as that being the case.
“I’m still under contract, so I feel obligated to make every effort toallow this to heal and give myself that chance to pitch. (But) when it’s over,it’s over.”
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Dolphins give DE Douglas 2 years, $2.5M
July 24, 2010
MIAMI (AP)—The Miami Dolphins moved quickly to find a replacement for injureddefensive end Phillip Merling(notes).
Free agent Marques Douglas(notes) agreed to terms on a $2.5 million, two-yearcontract, a person familiar with the negotiations said Friday. The person spokeon the condition of anonymity because the Dolphins had not announced the deal.
Douglas shores up a position depleted when Merling recently suffered anAchilles’ tendon injury that will force him to miss the entire season.
Douglas started 12 games for the New York Jets’ top-ranked defense lastyear, and he had 36 tackles and 28 assists. The Dolphins will be his fifth teamin an 11-year career, and he’ll compete for playing time with the Dolphins’ No.1 draft pick, Jared Odrick(notes).
The 33-year-old Douglas will rejoin Mike Nolan, the Dolphins’ new defensivecoordinator. They were together in San Francisco and Baltimore.
Merling, who played mostly as a reserve in 2008 and 2009, was hurt preparingfor the start of training camp next Friday. His status was already in questionafter he was arrested in May and charged with felony battery against hispregnant girlfriend.
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USGA debuts longer, tougher Congressional
July 24, 2010
BETHESDA, Md. (AP)—The Blue Course at Congressional Country Club is longer,tougher and not far from championship condition after a massive renovation thatincluded rebuilding all 18 greens.
USGA officials showed off Congressional Friday, five weeks after it reopenedand 11 months before it hosts next year’s U.S. Open.
The new greens are soft and slow—a concession to the scorchingtemperatures on the East Coast this summer—but Mike Davis, the USGA’s seniordirector of rules and competition, said the reconstruction will allow them toplay firmer and faster than in previous events at Congressional.
The Blue Course hosted the 1997 U.S. Open and the PGA Tour’s AT&T Nationalfrom 2007-2009.
Congressional, not the USGA, decided to rebuild the greens just two yearsbefore the Open, which Davis admitted made him nervous. The surfaces won’t havemuch time to mature, and any setbacks could have been disastrous.
“That is a short window,” Davis said. “Thankfully, they did such a superbjob of construction.”
Congressional superintendent Mike Giuffre and his staff usedglobal-positioning technology to replicate the existing contours. Players areunlikely to notice any differences, although Giuffre made subtle changes onseveral greens to allow for a wider variety of hole locations.
Ben Brundred Jr., co-chairman of Congressional’s U.S. Open committee,declined to say how much the changes cost. He did say that members paid torebuild the greens and that all other costs were split between Congressional andthe USGA.
The drastic move to rebuild all 18 greens was necessary, Giuffre said, toimprove drainage and rid the greens of troublesome poa annua grass—whichdoesn’t hold up well during the Washington area’s sweltering summers. The newgreens are a hybrid bentgrass with a deeper root structure.
Giuffre said he was still “babying” the greens by allowing the grass toget shaggy in the heat. “All in all, these young greens are holding up verywell,” he said.
Davis has been hailed for bringing creativity back into the Open andrewarding aggressive shotmaking since he took over as the USGA’s setup guru in2006. He hopes to continue that trend at Congressional.
The 6th hole, which played as a par 4 during the 1997 Open and the AT&TNational, will be a reachable par 5 for the Open, meaning Congressional willplay to a par of 71.
“We think it’s a better par 5. There’s much more risk-reward,” Davis said.“We get accused of taking 5’s and making them 4’s.”
Still, Congressional will have plenty of teeth, playing to 7,568 yards—more than 300 yards longer than in 1997. Davis installed new tees on sevenholes, including the dramatic, downhill par-4 18th, which will play at 521yards, forcing players to hit a mid-iron or more into the green.
The 18th played as No. 17 during the 1997 Open and turned out to be thedecisive hole when Tom Lehman hit into the pond left of the green, leading tobogey. Ernie Els made par and won his second Open.
Congressional’s finishing hole until 2006 was a pedestrian par 3, but thehole has since been rebuilt and turned into No. 10.
USGA officials “let it be known that they would love to come back, but theydidn’t want to finish on a par 3 again,” Brundred said.
The rest of the changes are subtle, intended to alter sight lines from thetee and bring more hazards into play. Davis moved, added or eliminated somefairway bunkers, including one on the brutal, uphill par-4 11th that preventedsome balls from finding the creek down the right side.
“We think it’s a better golf course to test the greatest players in theworld,” said Thomas J. O’Toole, chairman of the USGA’s championship committee.“We applaud the club and thank them for having the initiative and the vision togo ahead and make those changes.”
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Cowboys’ Jones expecting special season
July 23, 2010
SAN ANTONIO (AP)—Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones seemed to be trying totemper the obvious expectations he has for his team.
Not so easy when the next Super Bowl will be played in his own stadium, andthe Cowboys could legitimately be in position to play in that game nextFebruary.
“There’s just not a whole lot of things not to like about the upcomingseason,” Jones said Friday. “But we all know the game and the journey we haveahead of us.”
The ever-optimistic Jones has constantly reminded his players since the endof last season, and even before that, that they could be the first Super Bowlhost team to actually play for the title. He beams with pride when talking abouthis $1.2 billion stadium that opened last season.
Yet, on the day before the Cowboys open the NFL’s longest full-squad campthis year, Jones talked about how the defending NFC East champions ended lastseason. After winning their first playoff game in 13 seasons, againstPhiladelphia at home, they lost 34-3 at Minnesota the following weekend.
“We have got a lot to make amends for, but that’s not all bad,” Jonessaid. “Where I think that I won’t be going is spending a lot of time talkingabout, ‘Well, we’re having the Super Bowl in the Super Bowl stadium, theexpectation is to play the Super Bowl there.”’
Yet, clearly that is what he wants to happen.
Instead of a spending spree in an uncapped salary year, Jones emphasizedcontinuity with a group that has had success—though still hasn’t reached thepinnacle the owner experienced by raising the Lombardi Trophy three times in afour-year span in the mid-1990s.
A slimmer coach Wade Phillips (he has lost about 40 pounds since lastseason) goes into his fourth year with a 33-15 record in Dallas and a playoffvictory to his credit as head coach.
Phillips has also settled nicely into the dual role of head coach-defensivecoordinator. His 3-4 defense led by Pro Bowl linebacker DeMarcus Ware(notes) last yearallowed the fewest points in the NFC, with consecutive shutouts to end theregular season.
Jason Garrett is still calling plays for Tony Romo(notes), who is coming off arecord-setting year in which he also threw a career-low nine interceptions.
Jones said having that continuity “is a big deal. … We have got a lot ofcontinuity in what our players are going to be asked to learn and execute.”
The only significant changes came after Dallas cut expensive former Pro Bowlplayers Flozell Adams(notes), their offensive left tackle the last 12 seasons, andsafety Ken Hamlin(notes).
“We do have a lot of starters coming back,” Phillips said. “We have a lotof starters who played well and are coming into the prime of their careers.”
Regardless of what happens, this is going to be a special season for thefive-time Super Bowl champions, who are marking 50 years as an organization. Forthe first time, Dallas has the highest all-time winning percentage in NFLhistory at .580, just ahead of Miami (.579), after the Cowboys won their lastthree games of the 2009 regular season.
Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s career rushing leader, is being inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame in two weeks, and the Cowboys are playing in thepreseason opener that weekend in Canton, Ohio. Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin,teammates with Smith for those three Super Bowl championships under Jones, arealready in the Hall of Fame.
With the extra preseason game, the Cowboys are the first full squad to opencamp. Rookies of some other teams are already reporting, but no other fullsquads report until Wednesday.
Dallas has all of its drafted rookies under contract after linebacker SeanLee(notes), the second-round pick, agreed to a deal Friday. First-round pick Dez Bryant(notes)on Thursday agreed to a a five-year deal.
After the Cowboys went 13-3 in Phillips’ debut season, there were bigexpectations the following year. But they went 9-7 and missed the playoffs in2008.
Jones remembers what the coach told players before the start of trainingcamp two years ago—that everybody was saying all they had to do was pick upwhere they left off and the next stop would be the Super Bowl. But the coachreminded them then they were still 80 players and not yet a 53-man team.
What did Phillips plan to tell the Cowboys before their first workoutSaturday?
“We’ve approached it, it’s not the Super Bowl at our place, it’s this nextpractice for us, that’s the most important thing for us, and then theprogression from there,” Phillips said Friday. “We’re going to take aright-now approach.”
Phillips described the team as confident but realistic. The coach said theCowboys want to draw from their great tradition and “made some strides” lastseason.
“We have some players on this team that have had some close experience inmaybe knocking on the door of the Super Bowl that are going to play majorimportant roles for this team,” Jones said. “I don’t even know that they needto be reminded that close doesn’t count. We all know we have an opportunity.It’s easy to see that it doesn’t sit there for you forever.”
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Third-round tee times for Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational (PGATOUR.com)
July 23, 2010
Third-round times. All times are local.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational Tee #3TimePlayers7:18 amFrank Lickliter IIPeter Gustafsson7:27 amTravis BertoniTag Ridings7:36 amJustin HicksCasey Wittenberg7:45 amBradley IlesKyle Thompson7:54 amGavin ColesEsteban Toledo8:03 amClint JensenBrad Elder8:12 amBryan DeCorsoKelly Grunewald8:21 amJason EnloeStephen Poole8:30 amJason GoreAdam Bland8:39 amKen DukeDoug LaBelle II8:48 amBrady SchnellJohn Chin8:57 amMark AndersonDarron Stiles9:06 amAdam MeyerTommy Gainey9:15 amMiguel Angel CarballoTy Harris9:24 amSteven BowditchJoe Affrunti9:33 amChris KirkJ.J. Killeen9:42 amAndrew BuckleWon Joon Lee9:51 amScott DunlapJim Herman10:00 amJeff BrehautJamie Lovemark10:09 amDavid McKenziePeter Tomasulo10:18 amWilliam McGirtBob May10:27 amKeegan BradleyChris Nallen10:36 amMorgan HoffmannKyle Reifers10:45 amTjaart van der WaltTrevor Murphy10:55 amFabian GomezHunter Haas11:05 amZack MillerJay Delsing11:15 amNate SmithMatt Davidson11:25 amDaniel SummerhaysPaul Claxton11:35 amBrendan SteeleJonathan Kaye11:45 amAaron WatkinsScott Gardiner11:55 amBronson La’CassieD.J. Brigman12:05 pmKyle StanleyRussell Henley12:15 pmPatrick SheehanDavid Mathis12:25 pmCamilo BenedettiMatthew Borchert12:35 pmNick FlanaganAlistair Presnell12:45 pmMichael PutnamScott Brown
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Brickyard is a prelude to the championship (Yahoo! Sports)
July 23, 2010
INDIANAPOLIS – Whoever takes the checkered flag in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 will win the 2010 Sprint Cup championship. It’s true almost all of the time.
Admittedly, stories about statistics are about as entertaining as analyzing the tire compound Goodyear brings to the race track, and many times are about as useful as one of those tires with a nail poking through it. But in this case, the numbers are impossible to ignore.
Eight of the last 12 Brickyard 400 winners have gone on to win that year’s title.
More From Jay Hart News from the track: Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Jul 23, 2010 Edwards rough play puts NASCAR in bind Jul 20, 2010
Coincidence?
Can’t be, not when three times in the last four years the drivers who finished 1-2 at Indianapolis wound up 1-2 in the final standings. And not when nine of the top 12 finishers at Indy go on to qualify for the Chase, which happened last season.
So if it’s not a coincidence, then what is it that makes the Brickyard 400 such a great predictor?
“This is a textbook place,” explained Ray Evernham, who was the crew chief for two of Jeff Gordon’s four Brickyard wins. “Nothing funny happens here. You win on speed, ability and not making mistakes, and that’s what wins championships. The same qualities that it takes to win championships are really what it takes to win here.”
In other words, Indianapolis Motor Speedway is as straightforward a race track as there is. It’s not a crapshoot like Daytona, it doesn’t have trouble lurking around every corner like Bristol or Martinsville and it rewards those who have everything dialed in at once, which only the best teams do.
“You can build a good car and go to Bristol and not have a good finish,” Evernham said. “You build a good motor [for Indy], you’re going to have an advantage. You build a good body, you’re going to have an advantage. Track position is so crucial, so if you have a good pit crew, you’re going to have an advantage. Indy lets you take advantage of all the things you’ve worked hard on.”
And it falls at a place on the schedule (just after the halfway point) when all the things teams have been working on start paying dividends. In his last three title runs, Jimmie Johnson’s average finish prior to the Brickyard was 12.9. Including and after Indy, it’s 8.3. Not surprisingly, Johnson has won the last two Brickyard 400s and three of the last four.
Evernham said that while he didn’t prepare more for this race than any other, he did work harder building the bodies and the engines. NASCAR’s newest resident genius inside the garage, Jimmie Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus, said he doesn’t do anything differently for this race.
“I just think the teams that communicate the best and are the most prepared are probably going to win this race more often than not,” Knaus said. “If you hit your stride about this time of the year, you can usually carry your momentum through the rest of the season.
“So I think there’s a little bit to be said about that, but we’ve won the championship and haven’t won here.”
True, but only once, and in the 2007 race Johnson, who started 19th, had worked his way into the top 10 when he was involved in an eight-car accident on Lap 47.
Only once in the race’s 16-year history has the eventual champion finished outside the top 10 when completing all 160 laps – Johnson wrecked in 2007, Gordon wrecked in 1996 and Terry Labonte suffered an engine failure in 1997 – and in 2002 Tony Stewart came in 12th.
“I think the cream rises to the top,” said Stewart, who won the Brickyard 400 for the first time in 2005, the year he won his second championship. “There’s no slouches that win at the Brickyard. It’s always the cream rises to the top for this event, and I think, like you guys already know, the history and the stats of it and that backs it up.”
Jay Hart is the NASCAR editor for Yahoo! Sports. Send Jay a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
Athletics sign Suzuki through 2014
July 23, 2010
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP)—The Oakland Athletics have signed catcher Kurt Suzuki(notes) toa new four-year contract that keeps him locked up through his arbitration years.
The deal announced Friday supersedes his previous 2010 contract and includesa club option for the 2014 season. The option year is the first year Suzuki iseligible for free agency.
The 26-year-old Suzuki is a key part of Oakland’s future. He has led all ALcatchers in games started the past two seasons and became only the secondcatcher in franchise history to lead the team in RBIs with 88 last season.
He is hitting .257 with 37 RBIs and a team-leading 10 home runs in 68 gamesthis year.
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