WOMBAT-Empfang » where you cant afford to miss, where th

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- If youre looking for someone not to pick at this years Masters, go with Ryan Moore. By winning the Par 3 tournament, he surely sealed his fate. After all, no one has ever taken the just-for-fun prelude Wednesday and gone on to collect a green jacket Sunday evening. Then again, if there was ever a year to break with tradition, this might be it. Tiger Woods is on the sidelines. A bunch of brash Augusta rookies are eager to fill his shoes. And the last two dozen majors have been divvied up among 21 winners. Good luck making sense of it all with the Masters beginning Thursday. "You never know," Moore said, savoring his two-stroke victory on the picturesque nine-hole course tucked away in a corner of Augusta National. "Someone has got to break that (Par 3) curse at some point in time, so hopefully its me. Who knows? I might go shoot 8 under or something, make a couple of hole-in-ones." As unlikely as that sounds, pretty much everything else is up for grabs at this Masters. Recovering from back surgery, Woods is sitting out the opening major of the year for the first time since turning pro. Even as his dominance waned in recent years, he was always the clear-cut favourite coming into Augusta, where he has won four times. Now, as Moore said, who knows? Jason Day, Sergio Garcia and former Masters champion Zach Johnson are the only players from the top 10 who have won anywhere in the world this year. Only one of the past seven winners on the PGA Tour was ranked in the top 75. "I think if youre outside the top 50 in the world this week, youve got a great chance," U.S. Open champion Justin Rose said with a laugh. Woods is out of golf until the summer, but the show goes on at a tournament that rarely fails to deliver plenty of drama. "We miss Tiger, as does the entire golf world," Masters chairman Billy Payne said. "Nevertheless, this is the Masters. This is what we hope is the best tournament in the world, one of the greatest sporting events. And I think we will have a very impressive audience and have another great champion to crown this year." That could be Phil Mickelson, who last year won the British Open at age 42 and now has a chance to join Woods and Arnold Palmer with a fourth green jacket. It could be Adam Scott, trying to take over as the worlds No. 1 player and join Woods, Nick Faldo and Jack Nicklaus as the only back-to-back winners. While Woods last won a green jacket in 2005, he had finished out of the top six only once since then. Thats what made him such a compelling figure at Augusta. He always seemed to be there. "Its a huge loss," Scott said. "But, as every year here, this event produces something special no matter what. It just has a way of doing it. Its not going to involve Tiger this year, but it will involve someone else and it will be a memorable event anyway." Rose falls on the side of experience -- knowing where to miss, knowing where you cant afford to miss, where the hole locations tend to be on the contoured greens and using the slope to get the ball close. "Always you can have the unknowns," he said. "But I would say 15 guys are pretty strong favourites." Fuzzy Zoeller was the last Augusta rookie to claim the green jacket in 1979, and the only other ones to do it were the first two: Horton Smith and Gene Sarazen. Then again, there are 24 first-timers in the 98-player field, a record (except for the first tournament), and none of them will concede an insurmountable learning curve. Besides, no one is dominating golf at the moment. Jimmy Walker has the most PGA Tour wins (three) this season, but this is his first Masters. Scott had a chance to go to No. 1 three weeks ago at Bay Hill, but he lost a three-shot lead in the final round to Matt Every, who had never won in his career. "Doesnt matter if youve played here once or if youve played here 50 times," said Patrick Reed, who has won three times in the past eight months. "When it comes down to it, its just going to be that whoever is playing the best is going to walk away with the trophy." Who knows? Maybe it will be Moore. Hes certainly not fretting over a supposed curse. "Im not afraid of it," he said. Cheap Rockies Jerseys Authentic . Now he has a complete game. Scherzer tossed a three-hitter in his 179th career start for his first complete game and Victor Martinez hit his 16th homer to lead the Detroit Tigers a 4-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. Cheap MLB Jerseys Authentic . "You hate when they score," he said with some distaste at the thought. "You take pride in it. http://www.cheaprockiesjerseys.com/.com) - The San Francisco Giants delivered plenty of big hits to tie the World Series. Cheap Rockies Jerseys . Heavily-criticized after allowing a dozen goals on 58 shots in two games in Boston, Luongo continued his dominance at home. Hes now allowed two goals in three home games in this series. Cheap Colorado Rockies Jerseys . -- The Detroit Lions made it crystal clear to Golden Tate that he was their top target in free agency.FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- New York Jets defensive linemen Muhammad Wilkerson and Quinton Coples are appealing their fines by the NFL for their hits on Tennessees Jake Locker. Wilkerson was docked $15,785 for roughing the passer, while Coples was fined $7,875 for unnecessary roughness. Both were surprised at the fines, especially since no penalties were called on the field. "I was going to appeal, regardless," Wilkerson said Thursday. "It didnt matter the amount. If it was $5,000, I still wouldve appealed. I dont think it was a dirty hit. I dont think I shouldve gotten fined." Locker was hit by both Wilkerson and Coples in the third quarter of Tennessees 38-13 win Sunday after he threw a pass. Locker was carted off the field and expected to miss a few weeks with a sprained right hip and knee. Wilkerson made contact first after he took a step and smacked into Locker just after he released the football. Coples then hit into Locker low -- "just a football play," he called it -- as the quarterback fell. "The league felt like it was a personal foul or an inappropriate hit," Coples said. "But one thing about it is that its up for debate, so Im going to appeal it, and go forward from here.dddddddddddd" Titans coach Mike Munchak called both hits "unnecessary." "I thought the first one, he dropped his helmet into him and loaded onto him, which youre supposed to pull back when youre late. He didnt," Munchak said Monday. "The second one was totally unnecessary." Locker, however, said he didnt think the hits were intentional, and neither player should be fined. "I personally dont think it was a dirty hit," Wilkerson said. "He said it, so ..." Added Coples: "He felt that same way, and thats a good thing." Wilkerson insisted that being fined for the hit wont change how he approaches his style of play. "I just play hard, physical football like Im supposed to and how I was brought up and taught," Wilkerson said. "Im going to continue to do that and play ball the way I know how to play ball." Titans safety Michael Griffin said Wednesday that he was fined $21,000 by the league for his hit on Jets receiver Stephen Hill, who suffered a concussion. Griffin said he appealed the fine as soon as he received it. Hills status for New Yorks game at Atlanta on Monday night was uncertain. ' ' '