by ldh2013 » Tue Jun 21, 2016 8:16 am
ROGERS, Ark. . - Whether its because of her improved play or the reason for it, Michelle Wie appears as comfortable on and off the golf course as at any time in her career. Wie continued her season-long surge on the LPGA Tour on Saturday, shooting her second straight 5-under 66 to take a two-shot lead in the suspended second round of the NW Arkansas Championship. The performance put the U.S. Womens Open champion within a round of back-to-back wins for the first time in her LPGA Tour career, not that she showed any signs of stress after reaching 10 under overall. In fact, shortly after surging into the lead at Pinnacle Country Club, Wie joined PGA Tour pros Rickie Fowler and Keegan Bradley as part of a social media challenge in dumping a bucket of ice water on herself on the driving range. Yes, life is good at the moment for Wie. "I think it comes hand in hand," Wie said about her winning and revamped attitude. "... I played really well toward the end of the year last year ... took a lot of time off, took about a month and a half. So, I just felt really refreshed, and I think it comes hand in hand." All 72 players in the afternoon session were unable to finish on Saturday because of thunderstorms, with second-round play expected to finish early Sunday before the final round begins later in the morning. Before the rain arrived, the morning pairings were once again left chasing Wie — who earned her first major victory at the U.S. Womens Open last week at Pinehurst after winning earlier in the season in her home state of Hawaii. So Yeon Ryu, paired with Wie, was second at 8 under after her second straight 67, while Suzann Pettersen, Chella Choi and Line Vedel were three strokes back. Pettersen had a 67, Choi shot 65, and Vedel had five holes left. Top-ranked and local favourite Stacy Lewis was four shots behind at 6 under, a week after finishing a shot behind Wie at Pinehurst. The two are training and practice partners in Florida, and Wie couldnt help but challenge her friend to the ice bucket shower after her dousing. "Michelles obviously playing some really good golf," Lewis said. "Im going to have to shoot a good number tomorrow. ... At least I put a good number up today, and well see what happens tomorrow." Lewis made the early charge Saturday to close within a shot of first-round leader Alena Sharp of Hamilton, much to the delight of the pro-Arkansas crowd — where Lewis played collegiately. Sharp made it through 15 holes prior to the delay. For the second straight day, however, Wie saved her best for the back. She jumped into contention with a 4-under 31 on the back nine on Friday. After teeing off on the back nine Saturday, she once again closed with a flurry — birdieing four of her final seven holes to shoot a 4-under 32 and surge into the lead. She putted 29 times on Saturday, a day after needing 28 in her opening round using her more hunched-over style. "These days, Michelles on fire," Ryu said. "I played with her today and yesterday, and her putting was awesome. I think thats why she could win a major tournament." Wie put the finishing touch on her round — and quest for a second straight tournament victory — with a 3-foot birdie putt on No. 9 that put her within reach of back-to-back wins. "I just want to kind of get through tomorrow," Wie said. "But at the same time, it is definitely in the back of my mind ... If I can get it done, hopefully it will happen." Wie held off Lewis by a shot to win her first major title in the U.S Womens Open. Playing a group behind Lewis on Saturday, Wie bogeyed her second hole, No. 11, and recovered with a birdie on the par-5 14th. She followed that with a second straight birdie on a par 5, getting up and down off the fringe on No. 18 to reach 6 under. Her birdie spree followed on the front nine, with large galleries following both Lewis and Wie. Lewis followed a sluggish first round in which she putted 31 times by needing only 24 putts on Saturday. She stumbled with a bogey out of the greenside bunker on the par-3 fourth hole before recovering with birdies on No. 5 and 9. Shell need more of the same if she or anyone else is to catch Wie on Sunday. "Its going to have to be something pretty low," Lewis said. "The way Michelle and a lot of those girls play, theyre not really going to come back to us." . The Bulls sent forward Luol Deng to the Cavaliers for Bynum, who was suspended by Cleveland for conduct detrimental to the team on Dec. . Despite almost exhausting all methods of saying no by this point, the B.C. native once again shot down the notion of facing his teammate. However, MacDonalds reluctance appeared to raise the ire of Tyron Woodley, who was preparing for a bout with Josh Koscheck. . DETROIT LIONS AT ATLANTA FALCONS, 9:30 AM (ET) Detroit - RB Reggie Bush, TE Eric Ebron, TE Joseph Fauria, WR Calvin Johnson, QB Kellen Moore, TE Brandon Pettigrew, OT LaAdrian Waddle Atlanta - CB Javier Arenas, DT Jonathan Babineaux, OT Cameron Bradfield, WR Freddie Martino, QB Sean Renfree, OT Jonathan Scott, LB Tyler Starr SEATTLE SEAHAWKS AT CAROLINA PANTHERS, 1:00 PM (ET) Seattle - DT Jordan Hill, CB Byron Maxwell, OT Andrew McDonald, TE Zach Miller, C Max Unger, LB Bobby Wagner, WR Bryan Walters Carolina - CB Bene Benwikere, LB Chase Blackburn, WR Philly Brown, G Amini Silatolu, G Trai Turner, RB Fozzy Whittaker, RB DeAngelo Williams HOUSTON TEXANS AT TENNESSEE TITANS, 1:00 PM (ET) Houston - OT Jeff Adams, DB Josh Aubrey, LB Brian Cushing, DB Darryl Morris, WR DeVier Posey, QB Tom Savage, LB Jeff Tarpinian Tennessee - RB Antonio Andrews, WR Kris Durham, TE Richard Gordon, DL DaQuan Jones, CB Coty Sensabaugh, OT Will Svitek, TE Taylor Thompson BALTIMORE RAVENS AT CINCINNATI BENGALS, 1:00 PM (ET) Baltimore - CB Chykie Brown, LB Arthur Brown, DL Chris Canty, TE Owen Daniels, G/C Gino Gradkowski, RB Bernard Pierce, OT Jah Reid Cincinnati - RB Rex Burkhead, DE Will Clarke, WR A.CANCUN, Mexico -- Its the upperclassmen who know Wisconsin coach Bo Ryans system best. Their experience showed Tuesday as the No. 10 Badgers blunted a Saint Louis surge to win 63-57 and advance to face West Virginia in Wednesdays finals of the Cancun Challenge. Four juniors figured prominently in the win that has kicked undefeated Wisconsin (7-0) off to its best start of the Ryan era. The Badgers have not opened the season with seven consecutive wins since starting 11-0 in 1993-94. "The upper classmen have done a great job of passing on the system so to speak," Ryan said Tuesday. Juniors Traevon Jackson scored 16 points and Frank Kaminsky added 12 Tuesday in a game that saw the Badgers execute Ryans trademark disciplined defence and heads-up offence. Some stellar individual performances helped, too. Kaminsky grabbed eight rebounds and had four blocks that helped the unbeaten Badgers (7-0) to a 20-15 halftime lead. Jackson stepped up to help squash a second-half run by Saint Louis (5-1) that made it a 5-point game with 1:10 to play. Robe Loe led the reigning Atlantic 10 Conference champion Billikens with 15 points, Austin McBroom had 14 and Dwayne Evans added 12. Blocked shots and early fouls by Saint Louis were factors in the first half, where the lead changed hands five times until 5:42, when Kaminsky blocked McBrooms layup attempt and Bronson Koenig made a 3-pointer to give the Badgers a 20-15 lead. Kaminsky had four of the Badgers seven blocks in the period. The 7-foot-tall Kaminsky also drew Saint Louis 10th team foul of the period, putting Wisconsin in the double bonus, and the Badgers converted five free throws in the final three minutes. Saint Louis finished with 25 personal fouls to 17 for Wisconsin. The Billikens trried to rally on a layup and dunk by Loe, but Wisconsin juniors Josh Gasser and Duje Dukan responded with layups of their own to make it 31-23 at the half. . . Saint Louis shot 31.3 per cent from the field in the period compared with Wisconsins 47.6 per cent. Wisconsin opened the second half on a 6-2 run that included two layups by Kaminsky, forcing a Saint Louis timeout, then shot five more unanswered points for a 40-25 lead at 14:05, their largest lead of the game. But then Evans, benched in the first period after committing three fouls, re-entered the game and recharged the Saint Louis offence, driving into the paint and drawing fouls to score four free throws and a layup in a little over a minute to make it a 10-point game at 9:56. Jordair Jett scored a jumper, then had a chance to make it a 6-point game, but missed the free throws and Wisconsin withstood the Saint Louis burst, extending their lead to 50-38 with 5:16 to play on a layup by Dekker and a Kaminsky jumper. But Saint Louis rallied again, with Dekker accidentally tipping in a shot by Evans, and Loe hitting a jumper and a free throw to make 5-point game with 1:10, to go. But the Billikens turned it over and Jackson hit two free throws to make it 58-51. Loe and McBroom hit back-to-back 3-pointers for Saint Louis, but the Badgers held off the run, with Jackson scoring 10 points in the final 3 minutes. Jackson led all scorers with 7 free throws on 7-of-10 shooting. Kaminsky scored a Wisconsin single-game record 43 points against North Dakota on Nov. 19 and ranks among the Big Ten Conferences top 10 in scoring, averaging 17.3 points per game. Wisconsin beat Oral Roberts 76-67 Saturday and Saint Louis beat Bowling Green 74-47 to advance to the semifinals. ' ' '
