RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico -- Chesson Hadley dreamed about a day like this as a child -- other than the tossing and turning in bed and queasy stomach.
Saints Jairus Byrd Camo Jersey . "I was so nervous," Hadley said Sunday after winning the Puerto Rico Open for his first PGA Tour victory. "I did not eat well last night. I did not eat well this morning." He held off Danny Lee by two strokes in wind gusting to 25 mph at Trump International. "I wasnt vomiting or anything, but there were a couple of times where I felt nauseous out on the course," Hadley said. "I went to bed. I watched maybe three minutes of the Duke-Carolina game. I fell right asleep and I woke up ready to go about 5:30, 6, and I never really went back to sleep, just kind of tossed and turned. " Making his 13th PGA Tour start, the 26-year-old Hadley birdied the final two holes for a 5-under 67. Hes the first rookie winner since Jordan Spieth in July in the John Deere Classic. "Its incredible. Its a dream come true," Hadley said. "This is what you dream of as a 6-year-old out in the bunker, hitting bunker shots on the range. "It hasnt sunk in yet. Itll be nice to sleep on it and wake up in the morning knowing Im a PGA Tour champion and nobody can ever take that away from me." Hadley finished at 21-under 267 and earned $630,000, a two-year tour exemption and spots in The Players Championship, PGA Championship and Tournament of Champions. He will move into the mid-60s in the world ranking, giving him a chance to get into the Masters if he can crack the top 50 at the end of the Texas Open. "It opens up a lot of doors," Hadley said. "It guarantees me a major. Ive never played in a major before." He birdied three of the first five holes, chipping in on the par-5 fifth. "Its all about the start and I got off to a great start," Hadley said. "Probably the shot that won me the tournament was the chip in on 5. I mean I was dead over there and I hit the nastiest little nipper over there, and it snuck in the left door." Lee birdied three of the last four holes for a 68. The South Korean-born New Zealander won the 2008 U.S. Amateur and also has European and Web.com victories. "I really felt like I did my best. I gave it my best, but Chesson was just playing rock solid," Lee said. "He made a couple of good up-and-downs from bad tee shots. When he plays like that, its just really hard to catch. He just didnt make any silly mistakes at all." Hadley won twice last year on the Web.com Tour, taking the Rex Hospital Open in his hometown of Raleigh, N.C., and the season-ending Web.com Tour Championship. In Raleigh, the former Georgia Tech player began the final round five strokes behind Lee and closed with a 64 for a two-stroke victory. "The two wins last year, that helps a lot because youre there, youve learned how to win, you learn how not to choke, and theres a lot going on," Hadley said. Ben Martin shot a 66 to finish third at 17 under. "Im very happy with the way I played today," Martin said. "Just kind of get back out there, get the juices flowing a little bit. Really, the first time that Ive had that this year." David Toms was another stroke back along with Carl Pettersson, Jason Gore, Wes Roach and Richard H. Lee. Roach and Lee shot 67, Toms and Pettersson 69, and Gore 70.
Saints Drew Brees Black Jersey . Dmitry Tursunov of Russia defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-3, 6-4 at the clay-court event, Daniel Brands beat Tobias Kamke 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in an all-German match, and Marinko Matosevic of Australia beat German wild card Kevin Krawietz 6-2, 6-4.
Saints Kenny Vaccaro Womens Jersey . Rose, last years NBA MVP, says his knee is fine after crashing into Parker -- and the Eastern Conference leaders are still rolling along. Shaking off a scary-looking collision with Parker in the first quarter, Rose scored 29 points and Chicago cooled off the streaking Spurs 96-89.CHICAGO -- From the tough defence to the rugged rebounding and passing big men, the Memphis Grizzlies and Chicago Bulls are practically mirror images. Give this one to Marc Gasol and the Grizzlies, who clamped down on Joakim Noah and the Bulls in the final minutes. Gasol had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Memphis used its stout defence to beat Chicago 85-77 Friday night. "Our defence was pretty steady," Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger said. "Thirty-nine in the first half, 38 in the second half. That was just solid for us. We kept them off the glass and theyre a good offensive rebounding team. We contested shots and we pressured guys." Mike Miller made four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points as the Grizzlies closed out a three-game road trip with their third victory in four games. Zach Randolph added 10 points and 11 rebounds after missing Wednesdays 103-94 loss at Brooklyn with the flu. Taj Gibsons rebound basket with 3:15 to go was Chicagos only score in the final 5:53 of the game. Mike Conley made two free throws to make it 83-77 with 2:14 remaining and Gasol closed out the scoring with a putback with 21.9 seconds left. "At times it was tough to score on both ends of the court, but they got second-chance shots and hustle plays and that won the game for them, I think," Gibson said. Gasol missed the Grizzlies 95-91 loss to the Bulls in Memphis on Dec. 30 due to a sprained left knee. But the leagues reigning Defensive Player of the Year made a difference in this one, blocking three shots and helping hold Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer in check. "I think especially in the second half we did a much better job of coming back and playing two sides of the floor and balancing when they swung the ball to the weak side, everybody moved," Gasol said. Gibson had 18 points for Chicago, which had won 10 of 12. Playing with a sprained right thumb, Noah finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists, but also had six of the Bulls 13 turnovers. The Bulls shot 41.3 per cent (31 for 75), compared to 44.9 per cent (35 for 78) for the Grizzlies. Gasol and Randolph also led Memphis to a 45-38 rebounding advantage. "TThe rebounding was the name of the game," Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau said.
Saints Drew Brees Pro Bowl Jersey. Memphis (35-26) and Chicago (34-28) have used similar approaches to contend for the playoffs despite some injury issues. Heading into the weekend, the Bulls were the NBAs second-best defensive team at 92.3 points per game, followed by the Grizzlies at 95.2. Memphis was averaging 95.7 points, good for 25th in the 30-team NBA, with Chicago last in the league at 93.3 per game. The Grizzlies and Bulls even had nearly identical records coming into the night. But due to the strength of their respective conferences, the Grizzlies were ninth in the West, one game out of a playoff spot, while the Bulls were fourth in the East. True to form, there were few open shots and the paint resembled a bumper-car ride for much of the night. "We came in with the mindset understanding that that team was going to be physical," Memphis guard Tony Allen said. "We knew that those guys were going to push, grab, scratch and claw. "We kind have got a similar game to that team so we just had the intensity, that playing hard, playing together mentality." Memphis led 15-12 after one, holding Chicago to 22 per cent shooting, but the Bulls started to heat up in the second quarter. D.J. Augustin scored 12 in the period and Noah had a late layup to help Chicago take a 39-35 advantage at the break. Augustin finished with 14 points, but Memphis reserves outscored their counterparts 39-32. Kosta Koufos had 12 points and six rebounds for the Grizzlies. NOTES: Asked at the morning shootaround about an ESPN.com report that he talked to New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony during the All-Star break about coming to Chicago, Noah responded: "You want me to address that? I dont feel like addressing it. I really have nothing to say about it." ... There was a pregame moment of silence for David Reinsdorf, the son of Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf who died Monday at age 51. The Bulls will wear a patch on their jerseys with David Reinsdorfs initials for the rest of the regular season. ... Conley finished with 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting. He also had seven assists and two steals. ' ' '