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RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. Miami Heat Cyber Monday Jersey . -- Angel Yin was asked if there was a player she wanted to meet this week at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, but was too shy to approach. "Michelle Wie," said Yin, the 15-year-old high school freshman who shot a 4-under 68 on Thursday to finish a stroke behind her idol after the first round. "If she sat next to me and said Hi to me, Id probably run." The 24-year-old Wie laughed when told about Yins response. "Its crazy," Wie said. "These girls are starting to make me feel really old." Wie played a four-hole stretch in 5 under, showing off all the talent that made her a star in her early teens and helped attract players like Yin to golf. "I just felt comfortable out there," Wie said. Wie ended up a stroke behind leader Shanshan Feng, lipping out a 3-foot par putt on the par-3 17th and settling for par and a 67 on the par-5 18th. "Ill take it," Wie said. "Ill take a 67 here." Feng shot a 66 in perfect morning conditions at Mission Hills in the first major championship of the year. The 24-year-old Chinese player had seven birdies and a bogey. "This morning, it was playing easier because there was no wind," Feng said. Wie birdied the par-5 ninth and par-4 10th, made a 25-foot eagle putt on the par-5 11th and moved into a tie for the lead with a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-4 12th. She got up-and-down for par from near a steep face in a bunker on the par-4 15th, hitting to 1 1/2 feet with her left foot almost 2 feet above her right. "Just was aggressive on the holes I needed to be and conservative on the other holes," Wie said Wie is making her 12th start in the tournament. She was ninth in 2003 at age 13, fourth the following year and tied for third at 16 in 2006. "I think when youre younger youre kind of fearless," Wie said. "You dont know what failure is." Wie has two LPGA Tour victories, winning the 2009 Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico and the 2010 Canadian Womens Open. She has been in the top 16 in all five of her starts this year, finishing a season-best fourth in Thailand. "Im so grateful to have rounds like these," Wie said. Feng won the 2012 LPGA Championship to become the tours first Chinese winner and had two victories late last year. She tied for 16th last week in the Kia Classic. "The beginning of this year I was kind of a little lost because I lost a little weight and my swing kind of changed a little," Feng said. "I wasnt swinging very comfortably." Paired with 58-year-old Hall of Famer Amy Alcott, Feng rebounded from a bogey on 15 with a birdie on par-4 16th and closed with two pars. "I made a bogey on 15, and she was like, OK, lets make two birdies back in the last three holes," Feng said. "I was like, Yes, maam. Then I only made one." Alcott shot an 81 in her 36th start in the event she won in 1983, 1988 and 1991. In 1988, she became the first player to take the now-traditional victory leap into Poppies Pond. "She was very sweet starting off and we were talkative," Alcott said. "She hits it very solid. Just a very, very talented young player." Se Ri Pak birdied her final hole to match Wie at 67. The 36-year-old Pak won the last of her five major titles in 2006. "Just a solid round," Pak said. "The greens got a little firmer, but I got pretty good distance control." Yin, from the Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia, was another stroke back with Amy Yang. The long hitter also played the event last year, tying for 55th. "I think this course suits me really well," Yin said. Yin missed the cut last week in the Kia Classic in Carlsbad, shooting 83-72 after earning a spot in the field as a Monday qualifier. "I got really nervous," Yin said. "The first hole I picked up the ball on the fringe and got penalized." Anna Nordqvist, the winner in Carlsbad for her second victory of the year, opened with a 71. Playing partner Stacy Lewis, the 2011 winner, had a 73. Lewis struggled off the tee, hitting drives to the right. "If I can straighten out my driver Ill be right there," Lewis said. Sixteen-year-old Lydia Ko and Hall of Famer Karrie Webb, also a two-time winner this year, were in the group at 73, and defending champion Inbee Park had a 74. Park is struggling with her putting after dominating on the greens last year when she swept the first three majors and won six times. "The opportunities I had, I didnt make the putts," Park said. Memphis Grizzlies Black Friday Jersey . -- The new starting quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs is a former first-round draft pick on a one-year deal whose career thus far has been a disappointment. Dallas Mavericks Cyber Monday Jersey . Louis Blues just continue to roll -- especially against the Nashville Predators.The most challenging days in the world of sports are those where cold, hard reality intrudes on the fantasy world of games and play. And so it was last Apr. 15 when, while preparing to host the Monday edition of TSN Drive, the mood of that day suddenly turned dark. The Boston Marathon had been bombed. A great number of people had been injured and some had been killed. No one knew whod done it, what their motive was or what else they might have in mind. North Americans arent blind to the possibilities of terrorism, certainly not since Sept. 11, 2001. But the notion of a being maimed or killed by attending a sporting event is about as remote to our sense vulnerability as can be. That sense may in fact be the very reason the perpetrators chose the marathon, an iconic event, a symbol of spring, and something attended by people from various walks of life which attracts an international field and audience. Bomb the Boston Marathon and the message is that anything can be a target, or so those behind it surely hoped. My co-host that day one year ago was Bruce Arthur, with whom I met 30 minutes before air time to discuss that days show. We instantly agreed it felt wrong to open the program talking sports. Instead wed talk about what was unfolding in Boston for the first 30 minutes, follow the breaking news and then reassess. When we got to the bottom of the clock in that first hour, neither of us had the stomach to talk sports. It just felt wrong. And so we stuck to the matters at hand in Boston, believing our listeners understood that sports could wait for at least a day. Everyone knows what happened next. Boston became city in lock-down, sports events were cancelled, a security guard was killed, and eventually two suspects were captured, one of them dead and the other severely wounded. And in the days that followed, the question of societal response began to emerge: How would North Americans react, understanding that this type of thing wasnt restricted to marathons and could happen at any sort of large public gathering? And since the world of sports has more large public gatherings than any other business, how would it affect ballparks, arenas and stadiums? How would this change the experience of attending a sporting event? There was the predictable response from leagues, with enhanced security measures at most venues which, depending on your point of view, is either a good thing or the further erosion of the carefree lives we used to enjoy. Memphis Grizzlies Cyber Monday Jersey. But any sense that the Boston bombing had somehow altered the experience of attending a sporting event in North America, that people would reconsider gathering in public to cheer on their favourite teams? That proved to be a complete myth. No, the sports world is pretty much exactly as it was before the Boston bombing. And thats significant because the most meaningful thing about sports isnt who wins or who loses or who gets paid the most money. Its the manner in which spectator sports are about sharing common experiences with others, producing a sense of oneness that few other things can deliver. Sport in a vacuum is just an empty spectacle of athletic achievement. But surround it with people who have a common perspective and it takes on its own energy and meaning, becoming as much an expression of community and culture as anything else. Thats what we saw in Boston during the weeks and months that followed the bombing, with the Bruins and then the Red Sox as symbols of the citys communal spirit. Lets be clear: a professional sports team winning in the aftermath of a tragedy doesnt make anything better, doesnt heal the wounded or bring back the dead. What it does, however, is give people a way to express their resolve and creates a sense of normalcy in what can be very troubling times. The two men who bombed the marathon sought not just to cause death and destruction but also to affect way people live their lives. In less than a week, the 2014 Boston Marathon will take place with people from Massachusetts and around the world gathering to participate. Some will be running but many, many more will be lining the streets just to be present. Not because theyve forgotten what occurred one year ago, but because they remember it. ' ' ' |
