AUGUSTA, Ga. -- One after another, some of the worlds best players and favourites to win the Masters trudged up the hill on the opening hole to start their practice rounds. Phil Mickelson. Rory McIlroy. Adam Scott. It was typical of any Tuesday at Augusta National, except for the scoreboard to the right of where they were walking. The board has the names of all 97 players in the field, with blank boxes to put their scores when the tournament begins. On the far right side of the board is a list of this years noncompeting invitees. Tommy Aaron. Doug Ford. Tiger Woods. "Its a weird feeling not having him here, isnt it?" said Phil Mickelson, a three-time Masters champion and the chief foil for Woods over the years. "Hes been such a mainstay in professional golf and in the majors. Its awkward to not have him here. I hope he gets back soon. I hope hes back for the other majors. As much as I want to win -- and I know how great he is and tough to beat -- it makes it special when hes in the field and youre able to win." Woods hasnt been the same all year, even before back surgery last week. He is missing the Masters for the first time. His presence looms as large as some of the Georgia pines lining the fairways, though it will be forgotten when the opening shot is in the air Thursday, and a green jacket is awarded Sunday. Even so, Woods brings a buzz to any tournament, even at Augusta National. And this year, his absence has brought talk of the most wide-open Masters in nearly 20 years. Las Vegas has installed Scott and McIlroy as the betting favourites at 10-1, followed by Mickelson, Jason Day and Matt Kuchar at 12-1. McIlroy had his own version of a betting sheet on the table where he sat during his interview -- the tee times for the opening two rounds. Told that 97 players were in the field, the 24-year-old from Northern Ireland figured 70 had a chance to win. "Theres a few past champions that play that might not be able to compete. There might be a few first-timers or a few amateurs that wont compete," McIlroy said. "But then youve got the rest. Im just looking down the list here. Stewart Cink. Tim Clark. Ian Woosnam -- no." The room filled with laughter as McIlroy smiled and said, "Sorry, Woosie," referring to the 56-year-old former champion. "Youve got a lot of guys that can win, a lot of guys that have won PGA Tour events," McIlroy said. "OK, were playing at Augusta. Because its the Masters and because its so big and so hyped up or whatever you want to say, you ought to remember that youre still playing against the same guys you play with week in and week out. "Ive beaten them before," he said. "Theyve beaten me before." The PGA Tour is 21 tournaments into the season, and only one player (Zach Johnson) won while he was in the top 10 in the world. McIlroy and Scott each had comfortable leads going into the final round and lost to players outside the top 100. "I think in the past, certainly thats been easy to go to events and look at a guy who is the guy to beat," Scott said, not naming Woods because he didnt need to. "I think that scope has kind of broadened now. Theres a lot of guys with the talent and the form that arent necessarily standing out above the others. But on their week, theyre going to be tough to beat. "Id like to think my name is one of those guys," Scott said. "And I feel like Im going to be one of the guys who has got a chance if I play well this week." Scott had one more occasion to wear his green jacket Tuesday night as host of the Champions Dinner. Then, he sets out in a bid to join Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Woods as the only players to win back-to-back Masters. For years, the Masters was seen as having the smallest group of contenders, and not just because it had the smallest field of the four majors. Augusta National is a puzzle that can take years to figure out. The roars that reverberate through the trees and from deep in Amen Corner on Sunday can be unsettling. Scott won two years after he was a runner-up. Jason Day has completed two Masters and has yet to finish worse than third. As for Mickelson? Theres no telling what he might accomplish next. Even though he has withdrawn from two tournaments with different injuries this year, Augusta invigorates the 43-year-old Mickelson. All of them would love to be near the top of the leaderboard Sunday afternoon. By then, no one will be thinking about anything except a green jacket. "No matter who is in contention or who is going to win this week, the Masters always provides a great finish," McIlroy said. "Regardless of who is there." . He also had some help Monday night.Hibbert scored a season-high 29 points to help Indiana beat the Utah Jazz 97-86 Monday night, ending the Pacers six-game losing streak. . None of them are Finlands Pekka Rinne, who stands as Canadas biggest challenge in Thursdays quarter-final round. Even while a young Finnish team has struggled with penalties, turnovers and a lack of offensive depth, Rinne has been a rock with a 1.
http://www.cheaptigersjerseysauthentic. ... uci-jersey. The Rays hope to stay alive for the postseason and salvage the finale of this series Sunday at Rogers Centre, where they dropped a 7-2 decision Saturday. Chris Archer lasted 2 1/3 innings in the no-decision, charged with a run and five hits, and Alex Torres suffered the loss in relief. . Lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Blake Comeau – The Penguins winger had a hat trick in a 4-3 overtime win against Toronto. . Ribery, who won UEFAs best player in Europe award for the 2012-13 season, helped Bayern Munich win the Champions League and Bundesliga and German Cup titles. Messi, winner of the last four Ballon dOr awards in voting by coaches, team captains and media, was injured late in the season and could not prevent Barcelona from being beaten by Bayern in the Champions League semifinals. WINNIPEG -- Matt Duchene breathed life into the Colorado Avalanche not once, not twice, but three times Thursday night. The centre scored two goals in regulation and added another in a shootout along with teammate P.A. Parenteau, as the Avs stopped a two-game losing skid with a 4-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets went on the power play three times in the first seven minutes of the game, coming away with one even-strength and one power-play goal against goalie Semyon Varlamov to go up 2-0. Duchene finally stopped the bleeding with his team-leading 13th goal of the season at 15:08 of the first when he went in alone on Ondrej Pavelec and got a high shot past the netminder. "We got behind the eight ball in penalties," said Duchene, who hadnt scored in seven games after returning from a stomach injury. "They started really well. Youve got to tip your hat sometimes. Getting that one, kind of gave us some life and got the momentum going again so it was a big goal." Duchene, who also had an assist, scored his second goal to give the Avalanche a 3-2 lead with 1.6 seconds left in the second period when he backhanded a rebound into the open side of the net as Pavelec tried to slide back. Ryan OReilly had tied the game 2-2 at 14:27 and added an assist for the Avs (21-9-0). Blake Wheeler scored twice, Michael Frolik added another and Grant Clitsome had a pair of assists for Winnipeg (14-4-5). Varlamov faced 38 shots, including five in overtime. Pavelec made 20 saves in regulation and three in overtime. Winnipeg used its fifth power play to tie the game 3-3 at 10:00 of the third period after Mark Scheifele sent a shot from the point that Wheeler put in past a screened Varlamov with two seconds left in a tripping penalty to Cory Sarich. Duchenes shootout goal beat Pavelec after he lifted one leg and paused for a split second before firing the puck. Parenteau followed with a high shot over Pavelecs glove. Colorado coach Patrick Roy was proud of his team for rebounding after being down 2-0. "Thats the dangerous part of this beecause sometimes when you get behind you have the tendency to go individually and thats not what we did tonight," Roy said.dddddddddddd "We sticked to the plan, we sticked together, we played as a team a 2-1 by a super play by Dutchy, Matt Duchene, and then after (Nathan) MacKinnon did another really good play. "An outstanding defensive play by Duchene, but a great play by MacKinnon, put the puck on the net and picked up the rebound by Matt." Jets coach Claude Noel lamented the loss of a point, but acknowledged Colorados difference-makers. "Duchene is a good player and MacKinnons not a donkey, either. Hes moving out there," Noel said. The Jets were 2-for-6 on the power play and the Avalanche 0-for-2. Colorado hasnt scored in its last 24 power plays. The Jets had also lost to Western Conference rivals St. Louis 2-1 on Tuesday. Theyre now 6-11-4 against their conference counterparts. "Our division, our conference, isnt easy," Wheeler said. "There arent any easy games. "I think weve done a good job, weve risen to the challenge, but weve been taking positives out of losses too long. Feels like three years, come after a game like this and we say, Well, you know you did some good things. "But youve got to stay positive and youve got to draw from the positives of the game because we did a lot of really good things, but we didnt do enough to win the game and thats the bottom line." Noel was also having a tough time focusing on the positives. "Were a .500 team and its not good enough," he said. "This year in the conference we are in, it wont come close. You are going to be really scrambling. We know the urgency. It has to come in our actions, not our words. Moral victories are empty." Notes: With the win, the Avalanche equalled their most wins through 30 games in franchise history (21 in 2000-01 and 1994-95) a Winnipeg has played 20 games decided by a single goal this season and is 7-8-5 in those games a The Avs are 18-0-0 when ahead after two periods and 2-0 in shootouts this season. 00:23ET 13-12-13 ' ' '
