SAN DIEGO -- On a window sill in his closet is a chunk of bone that reminds J. Aaron Ramsey Arsenal Jersey .B. Holmes why hes lucky to play golf for a living. Its part of his skull that was removed during brain surgery in September. Holmes laughed Tuesday when he talked about this peculiar memento, even though there were a few nervous moments that made him wonder if he would ever get back to the PGA Tour. "I asked the guy if I could have it," he said. "Because I grew it, so I figured I may as well keep it." In more sombre moments, he is thankful to be back on tour at the Farmers Insurance Open, his first tournament since he withdrew from the PGA Championship after opening with an 80. He had been dealing with vertigo symptoms since May, and eventually was diagnosed with structural defects in the cerebellum known as Chiari malformations. The only time he truly felt nervous was slipping into a hospital gown before the Sept. 1 surgery. Even now, he only realizes how daunting it all was when he goes into details when answering questions. He handled the news with the same ease he hits 330-yard tee shots. "Its scary at first," he said. "Talking to the surgeon and stuff, he said for brain surgery, difficulty-wise for him it was only about a 1 out of 10. Its still brain surgery, but that at least made me feel better. Then I got to the hospital and started putting on the gown and everything else and it was like, Wow! Im about to have brain surgery. So it really hits you then. "But youve just got to put your faith in God and just hope everything comes out good." There was one nervous moment. About a month after surgery, he started getting headaches and then began vomiting. Fluid had been building up around the scar, and doctors discovered later that Holmes was allergic to the adhesive used on the webbed titantium plate at the base of his skull. Leaving nothing to chance, he was airlifted from his home in Kentucky to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore for another surgery. "They had me on so much painkillers I didnt remember much," he said. "I started out in Campbellsville and woke up in Baltimore. I remember vaguely getting on the plane and getting off." That delayed his return -- he originally wanted to play in the Shark Shootout -- though he is eager to get started. Holmes has lost track of the number of players who greeted him at Torrey Pines. Golfers miss time with injuries to knees, shoulder and elbows. Brain surgery, even though Holmes makes it sound like outpatient surgery, is not something they are used to hearing. "Its great to see any fellow golfer, anybody you work with, come back from an injury -- any kind of injury," Bubba Watson said. "But something like that ... I mean, brain surgery is not easy. Thats something thats serious. That could be career-ending. But him coming back, who knows how hell hit? Who cares if he misses the cut, makes the cut, if he wins. Its just good to see him back out here." Holmes and Watson often are mentioned in the same sentence when it comes to the longest hitters in golf. Despite missing the last three months of the season, Holmes still led the PGA Tour in driving distance at 318.4 yards. Watson was second. He doesnt hit it with as much pop at the moment. Holmes first pulled out a driver on Dec. 1 and hit it about 240 yards. The speed of his club was 106 mph, well below his typical swing speed of up to 201 km/h. Now hes up to about 185 km/h as he works to regain full motion in his head rotation. "Im still hitting it over 300 yards," he said. "Its not what Im used to, but its far enough to be able to get out here and play." His greatest strength came from faith, in the diagnosis and the doctors. Holmes girlfriend, Erica Kalbhin, is a nurse. His mother was a nurse. They knew what he was facing. He chose not to know everything. He needed surgery. He scheduled it. And then came the recovery. "If I really sat down and just think about it, yeah, it was extremely scary," he said. "Luckily, I didnt dwell on it. I didnt study up on it and read everything about the surgery and see what could go wrong. Ive got to go get surgery, lets get it done. Do what Ive got to do to get back out here. So it never really crossed my mind that I wasnt coming back, or I wasnt going to play again." Kieran Gibbs Jersey .com) - Top seed Richard Gasquet advanced to the final of the Kremlin Cup with a semifinal win Saturday, but second-seeded Andreas Seppi came up short in defense of his title. Mathieu Debuchy Jersey . His earliest childhood memories are set in the back of his dads boat at the Burloak Canoe Club in Oakville; however his attachment to the sport of canoe/kayak runs much deeper. NASHVILLE -- Titans owner Bud Adams, who helped found the American Football League and whose battles for players helped lead to the merger with the NFL, has died. He was 90. The team announced Monday that Adams had died, saying he "passed away peacefully from natural causes." The son of a prominent oil executive, Adams built his own energy fortune and founded the Houston Oilers. He moved the team to Tennessee in 1997 when he couldnt get the new stadium he wanted in Houston. The franchise, renamed the Titans, in 2000 reached the Super Bowl that Adams had spent more than three decades pursuing. Coach Mike Munchak said Adams was willing to spend money to help his team win, remembering how he ordered the Titans to chase free agent Peyton Manning in March 2012. The Titans also spent more than $100 million this off-season on players, and Munchak said their challenge now will be winning the Super Bowl in his memory -- the one item missing from Adams legacy. "Thatll be our challenge going forward," Munchak said. Funeral plans have yet to be announced. Munchak said the Titans will decide later how to remember their founder. Adams 409 wins were the most of any current NFL owner. He notched his 400th career win in the 2011 season finale when his Titans defeated the team that replaced his Oilers in Houston, the Texans. His franchise made 21 playoff appearances in 53 seasons, eighth among NFL teams since 1960. "I consider Bud one of the founders of the game of professional football because of his role in helping to create the American Football League," Dallas owner Jerry Jones said in a statement. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called Adams a pioneer and innovator. "As a founding owner of the American Football League that began play in 1960, Bud saw the potential of pro football and brought the game to new cities and new heights of popularity, first in Houston and then in Nashville," Goodell said in a statement. Kenneth Stanley Adams Jr. was born in Bartlesville, Okla., to the future chief executive of Phillips Petroleum Co., K.S. "Boots" Adams. Adams joined Dallas oilman Lamar Hunt on Aug. 3, 1959, when they announced the AFL would begin competing with the NFL at a news conference in Adams office. Adams founded one of the new leagues charter franchises. The NFL retaliated by placing the Cowboys in Dallas and tried to get into Houston, but Adams held the lease to the one available stadium. "I wanted to be the only pro team," Adams said in a 2002 interview with The Associated Press. He won a major battle with the NFL in June 1960, shortly before the AFLLs debut, when a judge ruled Louisiana State Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon -- who signed with the Oilers underneath the goalposts after the Sugar Bowl that year -- was their property despite having later signed with the NFLs Los Angeles Rams. Custom Arsenal Jersey. "It was a big step for us," Adams said. The Oilers won the first two AFL titles and reached the championship game four times during the 1960s. In 1968, the Oilers became the first indoor football team when they moved into the 3-year-old Astrodome. Meanwhile, Adams quietly became one of the nations wealthiest oilmen as his ADA Oil Co. evolved into the publicly traded Adams Resources & Energy Inc., a Fortune 500 company based in Houston. His business interests included farming and ranching in Texas and California, cattle feeding, real estate and automobile sales. He also was a major collector of western art and Indian artifacts and maintained a private gallery at his corporate headquarters. "He was very passionate about his football team," Rams coach Jeff Fisher said of his former boss on 104.5 The Zone WGFX-FM. Adams convinced Tampa Bay owner Hugh Culverhouse to trade him the rights to Heisman Trophy-winning running back Earl Campbell in 1978. The Campbell-led teams reached two straight AFC title games, only to lose to eventual Super Bowl winner Pittsburgh each time. The Oilers flamed out of the playoffs early in 1980 and Adams fired popular coach Bum Phillips, a move that permanently alienated him from many fans of the teams "Luv Ya Blue" era. Phillips died Friday, also at the age of 90. Adams complained about the Astrodome in 1987 and toured the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville scouting a possible move before getting the 10,000 extra seats he wanted in Houston. The Oilers had their longest run of success in the late 1980s and early 1990s after signing Warren Moon in 1984. They became best known for blowing a record 32-point lead in a playoff game at Buffalo on Jan. 3, 1993 -- Adams 70th birthday. Adams began railing about the aging Astrodome shortly afterward. When he moved his team, Adams continued to live and work in Houston. Renamed the Titans, his franchise reached its lone Super Bowl after the 1999 season only to lose to the Rams 23-16 when Kevin Dyson was tackled at the St. Louis 1-yard line as time expired. The Titans made a second AFC championship game after the 2002 season as part of six playoff berths, the last in 2008. His wife Nancy died in 2009. He is survived by daughters Susie Smith and Amy Strunk, and seven grandchildren. Another son, Kenneth Stanley Adams III, died in 1987 at age 29. wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap nfl jerseys cheap nfl jerseys ' ' '
