before Woods, nobody had done it since Jack Nicklaus in 1972.

PINEHURST, N. Patriots Dominique Easley Red Jersey .C. -- Bubba Watson has one thing going for him: So far, nobody else has a better chance at winning a second major this year. "Ive already got one," he quipped Tuesday. The two-time Masters champion came to Pinehurst this week for the U.S. Open hoping to become the first player since Tiger Woods in 2002 to win the years first two majors. "Any time you have that chance, its been a good year, because that means youve done well early," Watson said. The worlds third-ranked player is trying to join that short list of players to win both the Masters and U.S. Open in the same year. Its only happened six times and before Woods, nobody had done it since Jack Nicklaus in 1972. Watson is certainly hoping this attempt goes better than the last one. Two years ago at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, he missed the cut after shooting an 8-over-par 78 in his opening round. Through the years, the U.S. Open has provided a particularly vexing test for Watson, who has missed the cut in three of his seven Opens. His only top-10 finish came in 2007 when he tied for fifth at Oakmont -- perhaps the toughest of the courses that have staged golfs national championship. "A U.S. Open brings out challenges that were not used to, challenges that we can only take once a year or we would all find new jobs if we had to do it every week," Watson said. And a different set of them awaits this week at the revamped Pinehurst No. 2 course that looks nothing like it did when Payne Stewart (1999) and Michael Campbell (2005) won Opens here. Watson it called "a second-shot golf course" and said it bears no resemblance to the Augusta National course hes twice conquered "except its 18 holes, thats about it." The multi-million-dollar restoration to Donald Ross original design, removed the rough and left only two cuts of grass -- fairway and green. Birdies figure to once again be rare at the U.S. Open, where bogeys arent necessarily bad and the winner is often the one who takes the smartest shots and makes the fewest mistakes. Hell find out over the next few days if his daring "Bubba golf" style will work on a course that has only two par-5s. Watson leads all PGA Tour players with an average driving distance of 314 yards -- a distinct advantage at the various courses on the tour. But maybe not at Pinehurst No. 2, where sandy hardpan, wiregrass and weeds make up what used to be the rough. "Its all about the tee shots. Im going to try to lay farther back than normal, because its still iffy hitting in that -- I dont know what they call it, rough, dirt, sand. ... But its going to be iffy. You dont know what kind of lies youre going to get." Get through that and out of the fairways, and those notoriously tricky turtleback greens -- which a smiling Watson repeatedly called "unfriendly" -- await. The "U.S. Open is challenging you at all levels. If you want to be a man and hit driver off that tee, you can," he said. "If you want to lay back and try to play smarter, you can. ... You have the ability to do it, now can you do it at that moment, is what the key is. "So I think the U.S. Open is doing that, its just thats what theyre trying to create," he added. "Theyre trying to create a challenge for everybody, and you can play it aggressively or you can play it smartly." Patriots Tedy Bruschi Nike Jersey .J. -- The NHL reduced its penalty against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday for signing Ilya Kovalchuk in 2010. Patriots Dominique Easley Grey Jersey . Calgary won three straight games at home before opening their current four-game trip with a 2-1 loss to Nashville on Tuesday. Curtis Glencross scored in the second period after the Flames were outshot 18-6 in the first, but the Preds Colin Wilson broke the tie with a power-play tally in the third stanza.AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Jeff Teague lost the ball and figured he was in trouble, with Detroits Brandon Jennings breezing in for what looked like an uncontested layup. "I knew Coach was going to show it on film, so I just had to make sure I get back and make an attempt," Teague said. "I was able to meet him at the rim." Teague caught up to Jennings, leaping from behind and blocking the layup at the last instant. Teague then threw an alley-oop to Al Horford at the other end for good measure, helping the Atlanta Hawks hold on for a 96-89 victory over the Pistons on Friday night. Teague scored 14 of his 18 points in the third quarter. Josh Smith, who signed a $54 million, four-year deal with Detroit in the off-season after nine years with the Hawks, was left out of the starting lineup for the first time this season. He went scoreless in 20 minutes. Pistons coach Maurice Cheeks said Smith didnt start because he missed practice Thursday. Detroit had games Tuesday and Wednesday, and Cheeks said he didnt inform players of Thursdays practice until the flight back after Wednesday nights loss at Atlanta. He said Smith wasnt on the plane. "Theres no NBA rule against having a practice after a back-to-back, but if we had won in Atlanta, I probably wouldnt have called one," Cheeks said. "I didnt tell them until late. We were already on the team plane." Smith didnt talk to reporters after Fridays game. The Pistons led 87-86 after a 6-0 run in the fourth, but DeMarre Carroll scored inside for Atlanta while being knocked to the floor. He missed the ensuing free throw, but the Hawks came up with the rebound and Horford eventually added a free throw to make it 89-87. Carroll added a 3-pointer to push the lead to five. Detroit trailed 92-89 when Jennings appeared to have a clean breakaway after stealing the ball from Teague. The 6-foot-2 Teague recovered and blocked Jennings shot. Dominique Easley Patriots Jersey. Jennings had 14 assists, but he went 4 for 16 from the field and struggled to defend Teague in the third quarter. "Its no battle or nothing like that," Teague said. "I was trying to make a conscious effort of getting to the rim." Smith shot 0 for 7 from the field in his first scoreless game since December 2004, when he was a rookie. "As far as I can remember, Josh has always started the game. I know for him, hes dealing, his dad is not doing so well, and I think that could have been on his mind a little bit as well," Horford said. "Josh is a great player. Hes going to get it going. Hes going to be fine." Detroit was up 14-12 when Smith came in with 5:47 to go in the first quarter. Atlanta went on a 15-4 run and led by as many as 11 in the half. The Pistons caught a break in the final seconds of the second quarter when Kyle Singler was fouled shooting a 3-pointer. He made the first two free throws, and when he missed the third, Greg Monroe rebounded and made a layup. The four-point possession meant Detroit trailed only 49-44 at halftime. The Pistons took a 52-51 lead early in the third, but Teague started a 9-2 Atlanta run with a three-point play. Horford scored 17 points for the Hawks. Andre Drummond had 15 points and 16 rebounds for Detroit, and Singler added 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting. "I felt like I had a great game, but Im only worried about the team," Singler said. "Im very disappointed that we lost this one. We thought we would play Atlanta tough, and we did, but there were too many plays that we didnt make, and they got all the 50-50 balls." NOTES: Detroit was again without Chauncey Billups (knee tendinitis) and Will Bynum (left hamstring). ... Atlantas Kyle Korver made four 3-pointers, extending his streak to 86 games with at least one. Dana Barros holds the NBA record of 89. ' ' '