PINEHURST, N.C. -- Tiger Woods is making progress in his recovery from back surgery and starting to extend his swing, his agent said Tuesday. Woods already has missed two majors this year while he recovers from a microdiscectomy on his back on March 31. He last played on March 9 at Doral, when he closed with a 78 despite the pain in his lower back. Woods has said he has no idea when he will be healthy enough to return to competition. A report on Golf Channels morning show said he was taking full swings at the Medalist Golf Club in South Florida. "Tiger is progressing like he expected," Mark Steinberg of Excel Sports Management said in an email. "Feeling good each day. As each day passes and he feels that way, he lengthens the swing a bit." Woods is the tournament host next week for the Quicken Loans National at Congressional. It is not expected that he will play. The deadline to enter is Friday. This is the first year of title sponsorship for the Detroit-based company. The next major is the British Open on July 17-20 at Royal Liverpool, where Woods won in 2006. The last time Woods missed two majors in one year because of injuries was in 2011, when he sat out the U.S. Open and British Open to let his leg fully recover. That year, he returned at Bridgestone Invitational in early August, a World Golf Championship that has no cut. In a promotional day for Quicken Loans last month, Woods said he was chipping and putting in a way that did not require rotation in his back. That was four weeks ago. He also did not know how much time it would take for him to be ready for a tournament once he could take full swings with no pain. "The more time you give me, I think the better Ill be," he said. "The great thing about what Ive done so far and all my other previous surgeries is that I worked on my short game. Once I start expanding from there and start competing and playing, if I start spraying it all over the lot and not hitting it that great, at least my short game is solid. Thats one of the positives to it." Woods has slipped from No. 1 to No. 4 in the world ranking, and he is likely to fall a couple of more spots in coming weeks. He is at No. 207 in the FedEx Cup standings -- having finished 72 holes only once this year -- and the top 125 get into the playoffs that start Aug. 21. The news comes one day after Martin Kaymer won the U.S. Open with the second-lowest score in history at 271. The overnight rating for NBC Sports was 3.3, down 46 per cent from the previous year at Merion. . Simona Halep of Romania claimed the fifth title of her career by beating Samantha Stosur of Australia 7-6 (1), 6-2 in the womens final. After trading sets, Gasquet trailed 4-3 in the decider but broke back to 4-4 in a game that went to seven deuces with Kukushkin constantly failing on his forehand shots. . The Maple Leafs will play on the road for the first time this season after dropping home contests to Montreal and Pittsburgh to begin the campaign. After losing a one-goal decision to the Canadiens on Wednesday, they were bested 5-2 on Saturday by the Penguins.
http://www.authenticbasketballshophawks ... ks-jersey/. The Brazilian heads into Saturday afternoons race coming off a close runner-up finish to Ryan Hunter-Reay in the Indianapolis 500. . According to a police report, Douglas is accused of grabbing his girlfriend by the neck and slamming her against the wall several times while he carried her from the elevator to their Hartford hotel room early Sunday morning. . The 23-year-old restricted free agent appeared in all 48 games last season, finishing second among all Sabres skaters with 15 goals and 34 points.REGINA -- For Hamilton Tiger-Cats like C.J. Gable and Josh Bartel, Mosaic Stadium might as well have been on Pluto given the frigid temperatures Wednesday. The Eastern champion Ticats ventured outside into the Grey Cup deep freeze and it didnt take long before players with visors looked they needed an ice-scraper to see out. Warm-air heaters drew a crowd. And when the lengthy practice ended, two snowplows took over the field. The Hamilton players exchanged helmets for Grey Cup tuques and happily headed for the warmth of their hotel. "My toes are numb. Fingers are numb," Gable, a California native who played running back at USC, said after practice. "Ive told the boys that Im going to be doing a lot of complaining (Sunday)," said Bartel, Hamiltons Australian punter. The temperature was listed at minus-16 but it felt like minus-28. A light snowfall made it the turf look festive but it was downright nasty at field level under an overcast sky. The Saskatchewan Roughriders opted for an afternoon practice indoors in Moose Jaw. Hamilton coach Kent Austin, who played and coached in Saskatchewan, said he has that option and may use it later in the week but opted to train in the cold Wednesday. "If you looked at the reaction of our players coming off the plane to the terminal, the walk to the bus, you would understand exactly why we need to be in the weather today," Austin said with a laugh at the coaches news conference earlier in the day. "So were going to get that out of the way early." Gable, at least, was warned about the conditions "Yeah, they told me about it, they told me. But I was like OK, it cant be that bad," he said with a chuckle. "I was wrong, I was wrong." Gable, who seemed genuinely befuddled by the conditions, said he would have to change his running style to take short, choppy steps rather than long strides and to avoid making a lot of cuts while running.dddddddddddd "When I played against Notre Dame, it was cold. But not like this." Said Bartel: "The first two seconds were good. And then I couldnt feel my feet." Most of the Tiger-Cats were swaddled in one layer after another of clothing, although some opted to see what it was like without dipping into their wardrobe. "I tried to see if I can take it," said Gable. "(Thursday) Im going to have some more on." The forecast for Sunday is improved, with a daytime high of minus-one and low of minus-12. Kickoff is slated for 5:30 p.m. local time. Austin insisted the cold will not be an issue for his team come Sunday. "The Eastern semifinal (in Guelph) wasnt exactly a balmy day. It was pretty rough. ... Our guys have played in bad weather. "This is for a championship. We can all weather three hours of cold weather, thats not a big deal." In addition to working out in the cold, the Ticats piped in blaring crowd noise into the empty stadium to get ready for the din of the Saskatchewan crowd Sunday. Veteran offensive lineman Marwan Hage says he expects hard and slippery conditions, with the game coming down to ball security and fundamental football. But the hulking six-foot-two 291-pounder wasnt about to complain about the conditions, saying the team had handled the weather well in practice. "It was a little cold , but its cold for everybody," he said cheerfully. "Itll be cold for the other team." "Its Canada," he added. That truism was of little help to the teams Aussie, who was trying to see the glass half-full. "Both teams have got to deal with it," he said stoically before adding: "Ill probably be spending a fair bit of time in front of the heater." ' ' '
