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PITTSBURGH -- Bernhard Langer spent 45 anxious minutes Friday night wondering if the driver that he has used the last two years would be healthy enough to make it to work Saturday. Jamari Lattimore Packers Jersey . Fortunately, a Champions Tour club technician was able to find a replacement screw for the one that busted inside the clubhead at the end of Langers second round at the Senior Players Championship. The "gamer" back in his ever steady hands, Langer moved closer to his third major title on the 50-and-over circuit, overcoming a slow start to shoot a 4-under 66 in the third round and stay in front of hard-charging Kenny Perry at Fox Chapel. "Theres always slight doubts," Langer said. "Youre putting something together. They say its the same, but youre never sure its the same ... I was convinced it was very close to the same. You dont want it to get into your head." It hardly looked like Langer was bothered while moving to 15-under 195 through 54 holes at an event where he has five top-10 finishes but no victories. The two-time Masters hit 10 of 14 fairways and shot a 4-under 31 on the back nine to regain control after briefly losing the lead to Perry. Perry, trying to join Arnold Palmer as the only player to win the Senior Players in consecutive years, was three behind after a 65 he allowed could have been even better. Still, the deficit is hardly daunting for Perry, who trailed Fred Couples by two heading into the final round last June only to emerge with the first major of his professional career. "Hopefully, the results will be the same," Perry said, laughing. Russ Cochran, Joe Durant and Bill Glasson were four back. Cochran had a 63, the low round of the day. Durant shot 67, and Glasson had a 68. Jeff Sluman was at 10 under following a 64 as the field began to spread out behind Langer. While Langers driver was just fine when he walked to the first tee on Saturday, everything else in his game looked shaky early on. The 56-year-old German three-putted the first hole for bogey and couldnt get up and down for par from a greenside bunker on the fifth. With Perry rocketing up the leaderboard in front of him, the unflappable Langer regained control of the tournament. A 30-foot birdie from the back of the green on the par-4 sixth got him going and he backed it up with another birdie on the seventh to bring him back to even par, setting the stage for the strong back nine. After finding himself one shot behind Perry at the turn, Langer put on a clinic. He birdied the 12th then ran off three more birdies from Nos. 14-16, all of them on putts inside 15 feet. Langer has been one of the most dominant players on the Champions Tour since making his debut in 2007. He has won 20 times since turning 50, including the Senior British Open and the U.S. Senior Open in 2010. He has challenged frequently at the Senior Players, where hes never finished worse than 13th in six starts, including a tie for eighth behind Perry last June. This time Langer finds himself in the role of leader, but hell have an eyeful of Perry on Sunday after the streaky Kentuckian put together another scorching round at the par 70 layout. Perry bounced back a methodical 70 in the opening round with a 63 on Friday. He followed it with a roller-coaster 65 that included six birdies, an eagle and three bogeys. "I need to make that a little bit better tomorrow," Perry said. "I need to clean it up a little bit and put on a little bit of pressure." A birdie on No. 14 seemed to have Perry poised for his second straight 63, but he cooled over the closing stretch, bogeying the 16th after his tee shot landed against a tree. Playing into the wind on the uphill par-5 18th, he settled for par, leaving himself and the rest of the field with some work to do to catch Langer. Not that Langer is taking anything for granted. "I still have got to shoot under par tomorrow," he said. "I feel Kenny Perry is going to go under par. Theres still 18 holes to play. Thats a lot of golf." Maybe, but Perry knows Langer isnt going to come back to the pack. Perry estimated it would take a 63 to make things interesting on Sunday. Anything less could turn the round into a victory lap for his good friend. "If he kicks my butt, Ill shake his hand, give him a hug, whatever," Perry said. "Were going to go out and compete and see where the chips fall." Sam Shields Youth Jersey . -- Last month, Richie Incognito said severe repercussions would be warranted if the Miami Dolphins kept allowing sacks at such an alarming rate. Andrew Quarless Jersey . 1 overall pick likes best about football. "Big hits," he said. "Im all about hitting. I dont care who it is." Thats what the Houston Texans are counting on from the South Carolina defensive end after skipping a chance to take a quarterback -- their top need -- with the top pick Thursday night.As 2013 winds to a close, TSN.ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. TSN.cas writing staff reflects on the best soccer moments from the past 12 months including CR7 one-upping Messi, Fergies farewell, the redemption of Robben and more! Cristiano Ronaldo will score whenever he wants to By: Ken Rodney He scores in La Liga and in the Champions League for Real Madrid. He scores for his country Portugal. He scores when he wants. That is the story of 2013 for the incredible Cristiano Ronaldo, who alongside Barcelonas Lionel Messi and Bayern Munichs Frank Ribery is a finalist for the Ballon dOr, FIFAs player of the year award. Fitting that he will face Messi for that award because there is always a place in a Ronaldo story where a comparison to Messi must be made, only this time it slants well in the favour of the Portuguese international. His 68 goals for club and country during 2013 are more than Messi and Ribery combined. During the current 2013-14 La Liga season he is joint top scorer with 17 goals, 9 more than his Argentinian rival, who to be fair is currently battling an injury. In international play this year he has 10 goals in nine matches, including two three-goal performances. While he will finish the year without getting his hands around a team trophy, it is impossible to not be impressed by the 2013 submitted by Cristiano Ronaldo. Fergie Says Farewell By: Mike Beauvais When Sir Alex Ferguson called time on his legendary managerial career in early May, the math showed that Manchester Uniteds season-ending match on May 20 at West Bromwich Albion would be the Scotsmans 1500th in charge of the club. It would be an anti-climatic one. United locked up the BPL title weeks earlier, but the United-West Brom season finale ended up being a highly entertaining 5-5 draw. Uniteds May 12 match, though, saw "Fergie" manage Manchester United for the last time at his beloved Old Trafford. As Ferguson made his way down to his familiar spot on the United bench, he greeted supporters and signed autographs, but there was no hiding the emotion in the Scotsmans face. It seemed as if it were just dawning on him that this would be the final time he took that walk. In the 86th-minute, Rio Ferdinand made sure his gaffer would go out a winner when he volleyed home to give United the 2-1 victory. After the match ended, United received its championship trophy presentation and Ferguson addressed the crowd for one last time. "If you think about it, those last-minute goals, the comebacks, even the defeats, are all part of this great football club of ours," Ferguson told his rapt audience. "Its been an unbelievable experience for all of us, so thank you for that." He closed his remarks with a stark reminder to the Old Trafford faithful, one that seems aalmost prescient now. Don Barclay Womens Jersey. "Id also like to remind you that when we had bad times here, the club stood by me, all my staff stood by me, the players stood by me," said Ferguson. "Your job now is to stand by our new manager. That is important." Nobody expects David Moyes to be the new Alex Ferguson, but then again, nobody expected Alex Ferguson to be Alex Ferguson. Arjen Robben finds Champions redemption By Shane McNeil After the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final I had begun to believe that something was permanently broken in Arjen Robben. One of the worlds premier footballers, the Dutchman had Bayern Munichs 2012 European title on his foot when he drove an extra-time penalty into Petr Cech. Then, when the game went to penalty kicks, he was nowhere to be seen. His summer would get even worse when the Dutch team was bounced from Euro 2012 without a win, scoring just two goals. Yet, he was offered a second chance with Bayern taking on Borussia Dortmund in the first ever all-German Champions Final. In the 60th minute, Robben sent out a prayer from the left side of the goal and a ball that seemd destined for a goal kick suddenly found its way to Mario Mandzukics boot across the face of the goal and into the back of the net. A fluke, I told myself… A lucky bounce. Then in the 89th, the real Robben returned. Thundering into the box, he split two defencemen, forced Roman Weidenfeller wide and slipped a dribbler the other way, into the goal. Robben exorcised his Champions demons, claiming Man of the Match along the way. Iceland misses World Cup; FIFA misses out By Shane McNeil Seemingly every major international brings some flavor from the fans when it comes to soccer. Euro 2012 had the Irish fans serenading their team with "The Fields of Athenry" as they bowed out, winless. The 2010 World Cup had its ever-present vuvzelas, so loud that broadcasters tried to find a way to phase them out for live broadcasts. There will likely be a story for Brazil 2014, but it will not - sadly - be the fans of the Icelandic national team. Iceland was in a balanced qualifying group that featured top-10-ranked Switzerland and Slovenia, which had qualified for both Euro 2012 and the 2010 World Cup. On the last day of qualifying, Iceland held on to a 1-1 draw with Norway, while Switzerland did them a huge service by eliminating Slovenia with a 1-0 victory. Iceland headed to the play-off round with a chance to become the smallest nation to ever qualify for soccers biggest tournament, bringing their boisterous and colourful fans with them - in spirit at least. Sadly, Iceland would fail to score against Croatia, dropping the play-off 2-0 on aggregate, keeping one of the best stories of the qualification round out of the big finale. wholesale nfl jerseys cheap jerseys from china ' ' ' |
