Month: June 2015

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: New Warriors arena needs an Act of Congress

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

Anybody that has lived in the Bay Area for a long time, realizes that to build anything in San Francisco its always an adventure. Mr Joe Lacob and Mr Peter Gruber owners of the Golden State Warriors want to move the Golden State Warriors to San Francisco, from the Oracle Arena in Oakland.

I believe in free enterprise 100X100, If I didn’t I would be happy to go back to Cuba, where my family’s business they built from a whole life of hard work, was taken away by a despost communist government. So I can appreciate the Warriors owners plan to move to a thriving city, where everything is happening now days.

The City of San Francisco has a height limit of 84 feet on all bayfront construction. Basically nothing higher than a bus bench can be built here. maybe a lemonade stand. Today UCSF Nurses and the California Nursing Association voiced their opposition, to the Warriors Arena in San Francisco, they have other concerns, and there will be meetings and meetings, and townhalls and all of that in the future. Other groups in San Francisco are not as happy to have a new building in the bayfront area of the city. Giants fans remember(the ones that used to go to Candlestick Park and weather July nights games with 40 mile per hour winds and 50 degree temperatures, (not the ones going today to “the party” dude at the AT&T game tonight)on the trials and tribulations of getting a sports venue built in the city by the Golden Gate.

We all witnessed the civic pride that Oakland experienced during the recent Warriors Victory Parade, Champions of the National Basketball Association.

God knows that Oakland needs these type of positive gatherings where thousands of people gathered to celebrate in a positive fashion and not to destroy businesses windows, or to occupy parks for extended periods of time.

Oakland was once called “City of Champions” During the 1970’s and 1980’s Champion Warriors, Athletics, Raiders, Oakland was the hub for sports in the Bay Area, But (like we all know)things change.

Silicon Valley is now moving north to San Francisco, people pay $4500 a month for a one bedroom studio in the city. Like the “old timers”during the gold rush would say “there is money in them hills!!!”.

So, of course there makes perfect sense for the Golden State Warriors to move to San Francisco and become the San Francisco Warriors; after all that was their name when they first moved from Philadelphia in the early 1960’s.

Will it happen? Will the Warriors move to San Francisco? First Oakland A’s owner Charlie O Finley used to say “money talks and BS walks”. Ay Caramba… Oi vey, said one of my good friends!

Well, there is a lot of money involved here and also a lot of BS.

I think money will eventually win at the end. You can bet on it.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish TV voice for the Angels and the Spanish radio voice for the A’s and does News and Commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

One step forward, two steps back: A’s offense absent again as Royals sweep

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errant throw

By Morris Phillips

After scoring seven runs all weekend and getting swept by the Royals, the A’s were in a matter-of-fact mood after Sunday’s 5-3 loss. The five-game win streak they carried into the weekend was a distant memory, and they’ve still got a bunch of work to do to rejoin the best teams in the league. And that process didn’t get a jumpstart this weekend.

“We just don’t all of a sudden after five games lose our intensity and our focus,” manager Bob Melvin said when asked what caused his A’s to lose the momentum of the win streak. “We just got beat. They played better than we did.”

“That’s a pretty good team over there and they came through when they needed to and we gave them extra opportunities when we shouldn’t have,” Stephen Vogt said as a piggy back to Melvin’s thoughts.

One thing’s abudantly clear: when the best and arguably hottest team in the American League comes to town, you need to be on top of your game, and the A’s cleary were not.

Start with the lack of offense, but quickly detour to the lack of quality mid-game pitching where the A’s saw their starter falter or the first reliever in the ballgame give it up. In the three games after the fifth inning, the Royals scored eight of their 13 runs. On Sunday, Jesse Chavez was cruising, leading 2-0, when the Royals struck for a three-spot. Max Muncey’s errant throw home allowed Mike Moustakas to score the initial Kansas City run, as well allowing two other baserunners advance.

Muncey’s error opened the door, but the Royals took it from there with Alex Rios’ run-scoring, sacrifice fly and Omar Infante’s RBI single. Just like that, the A’s were trailing 3-2.

After that, the A’s offensive struggles once again ran square into the Royals’ red-hot bullpen, and the results were predictable. The A’s did manage two hits and a run off Kelvin Hererra in the eighth, but closer Wade Davis closed the door in the ninth, befitting his microscopic 0.27 ERA.

The Oakland bullpen had a much rougher ride as Edward Mujica pitched the eighth only to allow Salvador Perez’s two-run homer that gave Kansas City a 5-2 lead and stood as the difference in the game. The A’s have dropped 30 of the 40 games they’ve been in decided by two runs or less.

The A’s went without the key hit for almost the entirety of the three-game series. Oakland batters were 1 for 17 with runners in scoring position.

Billy Burns returned to the A’s lineup and hit in his 16th consecutive game. Burns had a pair of hits as did Vogt and Ben Zobrist, but that along with the A’s 11-hit total didn’t add up to much without the big hit.

Royals’ starter Jeremy Guthrie created a few situations for the A’s but he found his way out, allowing just one walk while striking out seven. Guthrie struck out Ike Davis in the second inning to give him 1,000 K’s in his big league career.

Kendall Graveman gets the start on Monday at the Coliseum when the Rockies visit for a three-game set. David Hale is scheduled to get the start for Colorado for the 7:15 start.

Champions Tour Player, Jeff Maggert

Jeff Maggert Wins U.S Senior Open at Del Paso Country Club

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By Jeff Hall

SACRAMENTO –

The leaderboard was a hint that an amazing event might occur at the Del Paso Country Club for the 36th Annual U.S Senior Open Championship. For Jeff Maggert that was make lots of birdies to come away with a two shot victory over defending champion Colin Montgomerie.

With all the players beginning their round at the first tee, it seemed it might be the difficult final holes that would have an impact on. This round would not be affected as much by heat as it would by skill.

Or if you want to survive on the back nine, you better score well on the front nine and Jeff Maggert did just that

Maggert began the final round as the co-leader with Bernhard Langer. birdied the first three holes of the back nine to Maggert was not shaken when his playing partner eagled the par 5 first hole to quickly move to 7 under par. Maggert responded with a birdie of his own to get back.

“When he (Langer) made the eagle putt on number 1, I said to myself I’m going to have to make birdies today if we’re Im going to have a chance to win.” , said Maggert following his round.

Maggert did just that and birdied the second hole making a 40 foot put and birdied the third hole. He shot even par five through eight and on the par four ninth where the tees were moved up which made the hole reachable for many including Maggert he landed on the back of he green and two putted for his fourth birdie on the first nine. Magert birdied fourteen and fifteen to give himself he largest lead of the tournament. He bogeyed the difficult sixteenth and played safely to the finish by making the pars on his final holes. His Par on the eighteenth was a little more challenging

After the eagle on the first hole Langer would struggle and fall into a tie for third with Grant Waite, both three shots behind Maggert.

The competition was fierce with 20 players within 4 shots of the leader at the start of the round.

Billy Andrade had the low round of tournament shooting a final round of 63. Finished in tied for fifth place with his playing Partner Lee Janzen. Andrade’s low round was the second lowest round in USGA Open history. Only Loren Roberts’ 62 is lower.

It was a fabulous day. My partner was Lee Janzen, who shot 64. So we kind of fed off each other. We both were going back and forth, making birdies, not making mistakes, getting it up and down. We had to for pars. It was just a wonderful round of play, and it was nice to not screw up. When you play U.S. Opens and you play this type of conditions and atmosphere, you know you’re going to — if you miss a fairway, you have a chance of making a bogey or a double bogey. It was nice today that I didn’t make any mistakes. It was nice to finish it off on 18 with a nice par putt.”, Andrade said.

Andrade started the day six strokes behind the leaders and raved about the course and the crowds.

“This golf course is fantastic, great crowds. The people here are amazing. I wish the Champions Tour could come here on a yearly basis. The USGA has done a wonderful job setting the course up. Today we had a little variety with No. 9 playing short and No. 15 playing shorter. So you have some chances there to make birdies. But all in all, I’m tickled to death and very happy with the outcome.”

Absolute crowd favorite Tom Watson, who was the first round leader finished the day 1 under par by making a long birdy putt on the eighteenth which may have created the loudest roar by the crowd on the course

Watson was pleased with the way the day ended and his overall play this week.

“It’s great to be able to finish with a putt like that and get under par for the day. I struggled with a couple of bad iron shots in the front nine and a couple bad chips. But just I didn’t hit it close enough to the hole. But I take away a lot of things. I made three good putts today. I made a good putt at 10, 12 and 18. I drove the ball well. I think I missed — I might have missed a couple fairways, but one was just in the short cut. That was it. The driver was really my friend this week, and going into this, I knew I had to drive the ball well, after playing the practice rounds. This course is set up as a USGA event. If you hit the ball in the rough, you’re going to be penalized.”

Watson spoke about his overall play.

“First of all, the golf course was in marvelous shape. It was a good, really good USGA Open test. Rough was tough. Greens, you had to hit quality iron shots, which that was my weakness this week. I didn’t hit enough quality iron shots. But I drove the ball beautifully, I putted well, and I chipped the ball well. Except for today, I didn’t chip the ball very well today, but the other days, I did. All in all, it was an above average week for me. I drove the ball just great and putted the ball well. So if I can get my iron game just a little bit sharper, I’ll be going into St. Andrews with some positive vibes.”

This open was filled with so many great storylines, we can’t forget about defending champion Colin Montgomerie.

The defending champion did not go down easy Montgomerie finished the tournament 8 under par. Montgomerie birdied number eight then missed a short birdie putt on the shortened par four ninth hole.

That was a killer really. That had to go in.” Montgomerie said about  missing the birdie putt on the ninth.

Montgomerie birdied the 10th to get to eight under and looked like he was making a run to repeat as champion. .

“I thought to get to 8 under would have been good enough, to be honest. All credit to Jeff Maggert for scoring what he’s scored because I thought four 68s, that was my target at the start of the week. I started with two 68s, had a 70 yesterday and

66 today. 8 under was my target, and I thought it might be good enough.”, said Montgomerie after his round

Tournament Host and Sacramento Native Kevin Sutherland pulled within just two shots of the lead

Sutherland had the added pressure of trying to perform well for the hometown followers and playing on his home course, he delivered playing solid throughout the round. After completing the round Sutherland applauded the thousands of spectators sharing his appreciation that many of them have showed him this week. Sutherland finished tied for fifth place just five shots back from Maggert.

“It’s been an amazing week. How I played, putting that aside, the way I was treated by the fans in the gallery and the hometown people was just, it was truly amazing. The ovation I got on the 1st tee the first day caught me, just kind of threw me back a little bit. It was something special. To have my brother on the bag, just to both enjoy that, and have my parents and my family, my son and my wife out here was truly an amazing week. Just enjoyed it. I played well. I think I played well enough to maybe get right there where the leaders are, but kind of got myself — I played really well the front nine. I hit every shot right on the button and had a couple of two-putt birdies and made a birdie on 7. But I just couldn’t manage to get to that 6 or 7 number I needed to get to. The double on 16 was a killer and kind of took the wind out of my sails a little bit. But it was a great week overall. “, said Sutherland

The tournament ended with a very happy moment for Jeff Maggert and his family who flew from South Carolina at 5 am Sunday morning to make it to Sacramento to see him win. His wife and two small children embraced Him after he made his victory putt on the 18th

” That was Fantastic. It’s hard to coordinate travel with your family out here. Playing professional golf for 30 years, it seems like you want them there, and then you’re playing bad. And then all of a sudden, you’re playing good, and they’re not there. They missed my first two Champions Tour wins. They weren’t able to get there. So we talked last night. They were all the way in Sea Pines, South Carolina, and they said they were coming today. I said, all right, we’ll make it happen. Fortunately, they were up at 5:00 in the morning East Coast time and off to the airport. They got here in Sacramento about 11:30 this morning. So the timing was perfect, and it was awesome to have them out there.”, said Maggert.

Good feelings were all around at the end of the thirty-sixth U.S Senior Open Championship as it reached completion at Del Paso Country Club in Sacramento. Who knows, may not be too long before Del Paso hosts another Champions tournament event. It seems most of the players are supportive of the idea.

Bumgarner does it all in win

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By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-Madison Bumgarner can do it all, he sure can pitch the ball; however the 25-year old can also hit the ball.

Bumgarner went 7.2 innings, allowing two runs on five hits, walking two and striking out eight and the San Francisco Giants defeated the Colorado Rockies 6-3 before a sellout crowd of 41,795, the 368th consecutive sellout at AT&T Park. He also hit his second home run of the season off of Christian Bergman in the bottom of the seventh inning.

It was the second home run of the season for Bumgarner, which leads all pitchers and it was eighth home run of his career.

When Bumgarner struck out Brandon Barnes in the top of the second inning, it was the 1,000th strikeout of Bumgarner’s career. He is the third youngest Giants pitcher to reach 1,000 strikeouts. Only Amos Rusie in 1893 at the age of 21 and Christy Mathewson at 25 years 12 days were younger.

Buster Posey drove in three runs for the Giants, which included his 26th run batted in for the month, the most of any month in his career.

Nolan Arenado continues to hit the ball well, as he hit two home runs for the second time in the series and in his last six games, he has three multi home run games. Arenado also extended his hitting streak up to 16 games, the longest current streak in the National League.

Matt Duffy went 3-for-4 at the plate, coming up a single short of the cycle, as he hit his 10th hone run of the season in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Just one inning later Brandon Crawford matched Duffy by hitting his 10th home run of the season that also matched Crawford’s career high.

Santiago Casilla pitched 0.2 innings to notch his 21st save of the season.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Joe Lami: Niemi likely to sign with Dallas still could come back to Sharks

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by Joe Lami

SAN JOSE–San Jose Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi becomes a free agent and all the Sharks did was deal his rights to Dallas they have the negotiation rights and that’s what the seventh round pick brought in. The Sharks did the same thing very similar in acquiring former Shark Brad Stuart a few years back with Detroit he was a free agent to be.

The Sharks traded the seventh round pick to Detroit it gives them the negotiation rights for a couple of days or July 1st. Niemi isn’t a Dallas Star yet that should be decided I the next one or two days. There is talk that Sharks general manager Doug Wilson would like to bring him back from Dallas.

If I’m Niemi I don’t want to come back to San Jose last year was a huge mess at the Sharks and he can get out of that mess and be in a tandem with Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen. In Dallas Niemi would share duties Lehtonen he could on the other hand come back to San Jose but that’s something that he would have to think about.

Again San Jose is in kind of a mess they really need to fix a lot of things over there and Niemi was kind of treated poorly towards the end of the season he shared netminder work with the Sharks goaltender Alex Stalock. They stopped playing Stalock down the stretch and he looked like he was going to exit towards the end of the season but there is a chance that he does come back to San Jose.

The Sharks signed 25 year old Troy Grosenick and would he share the net with Stalock if Niemi doesn’t come back? The Sharks more than likely will try and sign a unrestricted free agent or a trade. They need to pick up a viable number one goalie and a viable option. Grosenick is a couple years down the road to make up with the big club.

Grosenick is 25 years old, he signed a two year deal with a cap of $600,000 he will play for the Sharks AHL minor league affiliate the SJ Barracuda and he could be called up by the Sharks if need be. Grosenick signed a one way deal and that’s the most interesting part of this deal because Stalock has one year remaining and it might seem like that Stalock might be done as a goalie in San Jose and the Sharks turnover Grosenick to the back up position.

Joe Lami covers the NHL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

A’s offense stymied by the Royals’ bullpen after blowing a 2-1 lead late

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By Morris Phillips

The A’s want to escape the AL West cellar in the worst way, but they’ll need to play better baseball at the O.co Coliseum first.

Oakland dropped its second straight to the Royals Saturday afternoon, 3-2, after blowing their slim 2-1 lead in the sixth inning. With the loss, the A’s are just 14-22 at home, the worst home record in the American League.

Of course, the surging Royals have a lot to do with ails the A’s right now. Kansas City has won nine of 12 and surged to the league’s best record. Like last year’s run to the World Series, the Royals’ bullpen has been terrific as three relievers didn’t allow the A’s a hit after the Royals took the lead on Saturday.

The loss was Oakland’s 19th this season by one run, especially frustrating with top starter Scott Kazmir dealing as usual with the exception of Kendrys Morales’ two-run single in the sixth that put the Royals in front.

“The key today was they got big hits when they needed to and we didn’t,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We had a couple of opportunities and we couldn’t get the hits that they did.”

“We’ve been playing great baseball the last couple weeks,” Kazmir said. “For us to fall two straight to a team like that it’s tough.”

Reliever Wade Davis walked the first two A’s batters in the eighth providing hope the A’s could push across a game-tying run.  But Davis recovered, striking out Stephen Vogt and inducing Ben Zobrist to hit into an inning-ending double play.

The A’s were without the services of Billy Burns for the second straight day due to a hip flexor issue. Burns is hitting .322 and Melvin hopes that the speedy leadoff man can return as early as Sunday.

Kazmir’s thin margin for error was further paired in the third when home plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth charged him with a balk as he was trying to approach catcher Josh Phlegley to discuss strategy. The call allowed baserunner Omar Infante to advance to third, and he later scored on Mike Moustakas’ sacrifice fly.

“I didn’t see a balk. To me, he stepped off,” Melvin said. “That was a big run.”

Royals’ starter Chris Young pitched masterfully allowing the A’s two runs on four hits to pick up his seventh win. Young has never had more than 12 wins in a season or posted an ERA as low as his current 2.71. The 6’10” starter initially pitched out of the bullpen this season before assuming a starting role.

The A’s look to avoid the sweep on Sunday with Jesse Chavez on the mound. Chavez will be attempting to win three consecutive games in a row for the first time, and he’ll be opposed by Kansas City’s Jeremy Guthrie.

Duo leads Giants to comeback victory

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By Jeremy Kahn

Andrew Susac is Buster Posey’s backup, but when Tim Lincecum is on the mound, the rookie out of Sacramento is in the squat.

Susac hit a bases clearing double in the bottom of the seventh inning, and Posey drove in two runs and the San Francisco Giants came back to defeat the Colorado Rockies 7-5 at AT&T Park.

Just prior to the Susac double down the left field line, Posey was intentionally walked, so the Rockies could pitch to Susac, who is in the midst of an eight-game hitting streak.

Matt Duffy continues hit well in the third slot in front of Posey, as he picked up three hits, including a home run.

Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado, who hit two home runs in Friday night’s 8-6 victory, extended his hitting streak up to 14 games, as he hit a RBI double.

It was another rough outing for Lincecum, who lasted just 1.2 innings, allowing three runs and four hits. Lincecum was forced to leave the game in the top of the second inning, as he was hit just above the right elbow on a D.J. LeMahieu hit ball.

Yusmeiro Petit replaced Lincecum after the starter left the game. Petit went 4.1 innings and allowed two runs on three hits.

George Kontos picked up the victory, as he pitched a scoreless seventh inning and won for the second time this season.

Quakes surge past Galaxy in California Classico

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By: Eric He

PALO ALTO — For the past several years, the annual California Classico between the San Jose Earthquakes and the Los Angeles Galaxy has lived up to its billing as one of the premier MLS games of the year, and this season’s match at Stanford Stadium was no exception.

In a tight contest filled with intense action in front of a sellout crowed of over 50,000 fans, the Earthquakes defeated the Galaxy 3-1 with three unanswered goals, two coming in the second half.

The Quakes came out strong to start the second half and it paid off with a goal in the 53rd minute by Goodson. Off a corner kick by Matias Perez Garcia, Goodson beat his defender to the ball and headed it past Galaxy goaltender Jaime Penedo to give the Quakes a 2-1 lead. It was Perez Garcia’s sixth assist in his last seven games.

They continued pressing, and Cordell Cato, who subbed in for Sanna Nyassi in the 60th minute, delivered a huge insurance goal just 12 minutes later. After some hard work by Shea Salinas to win the ball, Cato eluded Dan Gargan and had plenty of time to fire a hard shot past Penedo from close range.

The win gives the Earthquakes 25 points, tying them with the Portland Timbers for the final playoff spot in the West.

The first half featured highlight-reel goals for both teams – Juninho for the Galaxy and Chris Wondolowski for the Quakes.

It was Juninho who struck first in the 17th minute with a bolt from well beyond the penalty area, a shot that Quakes’ goaltender David Bingham had no chance to stop.

Wondolowski answered in the 28th minute, finishing it off after a terrific feed by Perez Garcia. Perez Garcia deked out Leonardo, creating room for the cross. It was Wondolowski who started the play to begin with, stripping Gargan of the ball and finding Perez Garcia on the right flank.

Otherwise, both goaltenders stood tall in a fast-paced half.

The Quakes nearly scored right off the bat. On the net-mouth scramble in the opening minute, Wondolowski was denied from point-blank by Penedo.

Penedo also made a strong play in the 20th minute, knocking the ball away from Salinas after the Quakes’ midfielder had a clear path from the left side.

Bingham, meanwhile, made crucial stops in consecutive minutes – in the 23rd minute he denied a free kick off the foot of Stefan Ishizaki followed by a point-blank save on Robbie Keane in the 24th minute.

Shots and possession in the first half were relatively even, as the teams went in the locker room with a goal apiece.

Notes

The Earthquakes have lost just once in their last nine MLS games. … They have also lost just once in 11 regular season games against the Galaxy at home. … The Galaxy’s road winless streak is now at 16 games. … On Friday, the Quakes traded defender Ty Harden to the Fire for forward Quincy Amarikwa. … The Quakes are 35-23-17 all-time in the month of June. … The Quakes have allowed one or fewer goals in seven of their last eight matches. … Since 2008, they have played 13 home games away from their home venue and are now 7-4-2 in those matches.

Champions Tour Player, Bernhard Langer

Langer and Maggert Lead U.S Senior Open Where Final Round is wide Open

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By Jeff Hall

SACRAMENTO –

It was moving day at the third round of the U.S. Senior Open at Del Paso Country Club.

One of the biggest moves came from Kenny Perry

Perry began the day 2 over par and was seven shots behind the leaders when he started his round.

Perry was six under par after the first nine holes. Perry played even par on the back side to finish his round with a 64.

‘I made more birdies in the first three holes than I did in the past 3 days.”, Said Perry after his round.

Perry has had some experience winning Championships trailing from far behind.

“I’m thinking if you can keep it in the fairway, that’s such a huge advantage here. I needed to somehow get my putter going. I was in the rocking chair seat, what I call today, a seat that there’s no pressure on you. You just need to relax, I’m 2 over, I’m seven behind, but I won this championship at ten behind. So I knew if somehow I could get 3, 4, 5 just get close, you know, maybe that magical round shows up when you do it. Opened up birdie six of the first seven. I’m thinking, you know what? This could be the day.”

Perry joined a large group of players at 4 under par just one shot behind the co-leaders Jeff Maggert and Bernhard Langer.

Tom Watson is part of that large group at 4 under. Watson struggled again on the front nine, which is the portion of the course that the players have been considering the easier nine. He was two over par on the front side. And dropped to 3-under.

Watson did birdie the par four eleventh hole to get back to 4 under par and he joined a large group of golfers at four under and one shot behind

“I had a couple hiccups, late par in the front nine. I missed a short putt at 7 and three-putted 8. But made a good putt at 11 for birdie and just didn’t hit too many good shots, but I kind of hung around there, drove the ball pretty well, except for the last hole.” , Watson said following his round.

Watson was the leader at the start of the round analyzed his third round play.

“Off the tee was good. The iron play was pretty sketchy. I had a good — hit some good shorter irons. But longer irons, I wasn’t very good in the long irons. Almost fanned the one at No. 5, had a 6 iron and almost fanned it there. Short game was really good. Out of the rough around the greens, I’ve been very successful so far. The putter’s been working well. So driving the ball, short game’s good around the greens, putting well — it’s kept me in it. Let’s put it that way, it’s just kept me in it.”

“That’s the key for me. If I keep driving the ball well and put the ball in the fairway every hole, I’ll have a shot at it.”, Watson Added.

Co-leader Bernhard Langer drove the ball well today and found himself with a share of the Lead after the third round.

“Yeah, just kept the ball in play and hit a lot of decent shots. Just couldn’t make any putts early on.” Langer said after his round.

Langer and Jeff Maggert share the lead at five under par.

Putting will be the key to winning this tournament.   The greens are in outstanding shape and very true. If a player has his stroke on line, he should have success. Just ask Woody Austin one of the many one shot behind. Austin has missed multiple putts literally by a hair in the first three rounds. His frustration reached a peak when he let out a yell when his putt failed to fall on the par four ninth hole, and just rested on the edge of the hole.

“I don’t know how the ball is still sitting there. All it has to do is go two dimples, and it roles all the way back to the hole. Just very disappointing to hit good shots and not get rewarded for it. And then to hit good shots like on 16 and still miss a putt, that’s an aggravating finish. Very aggravating finish.”

The fourth and final round should be an exciting one with 20 players just 4 shots off the lead with eight players just one shot back.

Sacramento Native Kevin Sutherland is still in it and he finished the round even par and is currently 3-under par, two shots back back of the lead, heading into the final round.

Sutherland said he felt lucky to still be in the tournament.

“I didn’t really play that well today. I feel like I had a lot of good I had some good putts that just didn’t go in, but I also struggled a little bit hitting the ball. I think at the end of the day, even par is probably a good score for me.” , said Sutherland

While disappointed with his round, Sutherland should not be disappointed with his performance overall as well as the performance the players have brought to his hometown golf course and have displayed what looks to be an exciting end to a classic championship event where so many players have an opportunity to win the tournament in the final round. In the first two rounds the question was if the hot weather would impact the tournament, tomorrow, it will be the hottest player that will leave a lasting impact.

“It’s like a horse race,” Watson said. “Getting close to the wire.”

Sharks Use 9 Picks, Make No Splash at NHL Draft

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By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were poised for a busy draft weekend, but as the weekend wrapped up, they had not made any blockbuster moves. They seem to be close to filling out their coaching staff, but still need a starting goalie and probably another defenseman.

With the 9th overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, the Sharks selected Swiss forward Timo Meier. The Sharks traded up in the second round to select Canadian defenseman Jeremy Roy. The Sharks traded a 2016 second round pick and a sixth round pick in 2016 to the Colorado Avalanche for the 31st overall pick. Their third round pick went for American goaltender Mike Robinson. In all, the Sharks used nine picks in this year’s draft. The full list can be found on the Sharks’ website.

The Sharks traded a seventh round (210th overall) pick in this year’s draft to Vancouver for 23 year old defenseman Patrick McNally. He was drafted by the Canucks in the fourth round of the 2010 draft and has played the past four seasons for Harvard University. From the Sharks’ press release:

In 2014-15, McNally notched 21 points (six goals, 15 assists) in 21 games, which placed him eighth on the team in scoring. He also added 10 penalty minutes and finished +16.

In his freshman season (2011-12), McNally was named to the ECAC All-Rookie Squad, was a finalist for the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year and named to the ECAC Hockey All-League third team. He ranked eighth nationally among all rookies and eight among all defensemen with .82 points per game.

Also on the trade front, the Sharks were said to be very close to acquiring veteran defenseman Kevin Bieksa from Vancouver, but that either fell through or was false from the get go.

The Sharks did trade negotiating rights to pending free agent and goaltender Antti Niemi to the Dallas Stars. Reports have the Stars close to a contract with Niemi. This does not mean that Kari Lehtonen, Dallas goalie of six season, will be moving. Dallas GM Jim Nill reportedly wants the two Finns to act as a solid veteran tandem this coming season.

The Sharks received the 193rd pick in this year’s draft in exchange for Niemi’s rights. They used the pick on goaltender John Kupsky of Wisconsin.

The Sharks have resigned rookie goaltender Troy Grosenick to a two year deal, but this still leaves San Jose in need of a veteran unless they are prepared to go forward with Alex Stalock as a starter.

A number of goaltenders have been moved this summer, including the New York Ranger’s Cam Talbot (to Edmonton), Ottawa’s Robin Lehner (to Buffalo), Vancouver’s Eddie Lack (to Carolina), Carolina’s Khudobin (to Anaheim) and Chicago’s Antti Raanta (to the New York Rangers).

The Sharks finalized a two-year contract extension for Melker Karlsson, the Swedish forward who just finished an outstanding first NHL season. The Sharks also announced contract signings for prospects Petter Emanuelsson, Karl Stollery and Jeremy Langlois.

On the coaching front, the Sharks have all but announced that Bob Boughner will be one of Peter DeBoer’s assistants next season. Boughner’s prior NHL coaching experience was in 2010-11 with the Columbus Blue Jackets. His career coaching junior hockey was very successful, including two coach of the year awards.

Adam Oates may be the next assistant added to DeBoer’s staff but nothing has been made official there.

Notables likely to move this summer include Chicago’s Patrick Sharp. The cap-strapped Blackhawks have long known they would have hard choices to make as the contract extensions to Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews loomed. Whether Sharp is a fit for the Sharks (and really he is a fit for any team) or whether the Sharks will cut a deal with Chicago is unclear.