MOBILE, Ala.
[b]Freddie Freeman Jersey[/b] . -- Jessica Korda won her first LPGA Tour title two years in Australia and opened this season with another victory in the Bahamas. On Sunday, the 21-year-old Florida got one on her home turf with a back-nine charge in the Airbus LPGA Classic. "Its very sweet," Korda said. "Finally on U.S. soil and somewhat close to Florida. I definitely wish that I could have at least shared it with my parents, but I know that theyre watching. My brothers playing a tennis tournament right now and my sisters trying for a U.S. Open qualifier, so were kind of scattered all over the place, but I cant wait to go home and share this with them." Korda, whose father, Petr, won the 1998 Australian Open tennis tournament and mother, Regina Raichrtova, also played pro tennis, birdied four of the final five holes, making a breaking 15-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th for a 7-under 65 and a one-stroke victory over Anna Nordqvist. Korda played the back nine in 6-under 30 to finish at 20-under 268 on The Crossings course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trails Magnolia Grove complex. "It just sets up great for my game," said Korda, who shot 20 under in this event last year and tied for second. "I can be aggressive. I can read the greens. My confidence just was rising every single day. I just love it here. I love Alabama, I love this golf course, and hopefully well have this tournament for a very, very long time." Nordqvist also birdied the 18th and finished with a 69. Michelle Wie, 18-year-old Charley Hull and 44-year-old Catriona Matthew tied for third at 18 under. Wie and Hull shot 67, and Matthew had a 69. Wie played alongside Korda and Hull. "I love playing with Korda," Wie said. "Its also really great playing with Charley as well, too. You feel old but it was a lot of fun." Wie, the winner last month in Hawaii, has seven top-10 finishes in 10 starts this year. "I knew I needed a low score," Wie said. "I got hot starting on and just didnt quite get it together on the back nine, but still I shot 5 under today and theres really nothing I can do. Im just really happy for Korda. I had a lot of fun playing with her and I knew I needed a low number and I just didnt hit it low enough." Korda started the day three strokes behind 54-hole leader Nordqvist and managed only one birdie on the front nine. "Yesterday was a little frustrating because I was always around the hole and same thing actually on the front nine, watching Michelle make putt after putt after putt and mine were just kind of missing," Korda said. "I was like, OK, its time to drop now. Then they started dropping on the back nine. It was a really relaxed day, so I really enjoyed the walk." She birdied Nos. 10 and 12 to join a six-way tie for the lead, with three more players just one shot off the pace in the birdie-fest. "Charley was making birdies, Michelle was making birdies and everybody behind us was making birdies, so I knew I had to keep making birdies," Korda said. Korda broke out of that logjam with a curling downhill birdie putt at the 14th hole, then took the lead for good with a 25-foot birdie on No. 15. She protected that small lead with a birdie at the par-5 16th and her closing birdie on the 18th. "That last putt broke really hard," Korda said. "I probably played it about a yard out and I was just trying to get it down there close and it went in. I have not played well since I won in the Bahamas but Ive been working hard and it finally paid off here." Second-ranked Stacy Lewis had a 71 to tie for 10th at 15 under. She needed a solo third or higher to take the top spot in the world from Inbee Park.
[b]Patrick Weigel Jersey[/b] . Playing in his 19th career final, the second-seeded Tsonga was favourite to win the Open 13 for the third time and to secure an 11th career title, but he struggled with Gulbis attacking approach.
[b]Warren Spahn Jersey[/b] . -- The Atlanta Braves added to their extensive wave of long-term deals with their young stars on Sunday by agreeing to a $42 million, four-year contract with All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel.NEW YORK, N.Y. - Jason Kidd never appears worries about anything, certainly not about someone like Paul Pierce. Even if Pierces matchup was completely one-sided in Torontos favour in Game 2. Pierce nearly had as many fouls as points. He couldnt get his shot to fall, couldnt keep his man off the boards, and the Raptors targeted the Pierce matchup as one they could exploit. Yet Kidd is not concerned as his Brooklyn Nets prepare to host the Raptors in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Friday night. "Pauls doing every right. The game of basketball is about making shots and sometimes you make them and sometimes you dont. So Paul, I think, has had two good games," Kidd said Wednesday on a conference call. Pierce was sharp down the stretch in helping the Nets win the opener, but couldnt get it going Tuesday night in Torontos 100-95 victory. He shot 2 for 11 and finished with seven points and six rebounds. Worse for the Nets, the Raptors took of advantage of their size against a Nets team that plays Pierce as an undersized power forward. Toronto outrebounded Brooklyn 52-30, with power forwards Amir Johnson and Patrick Patterson combining for 28 points and 18 rebounds while making 13 of 19 shots. Johnson said after the game that with Pierce playing the 4 spot, Raptors coach Dwane Casey told him to go to the glass every time on offence and defence. "We understand were a more athletic team than them. For us to get to the glass every single opportunity we have that presents itself is what we need to do," Patterson said Wednesday. "There shouldnt be a game in this series where we get outrebounded by them." The Nets went to the small-ball lineup after centre Brook Lopez was lost for the season with a broken foot in December, and it helped them turn around their season. With Pierces outside shooting ability, it creates a matchup problem for bigger defenders, who usually prefer to play closer to the basket. Buut it creates a different set of problems for the Nets against aggressive bigs like Torontos, who quickly put Pierce into foul trouble that prevented him from ever getting into a rhythm Tuesday.
[b]Ralph Garr Jersey[/b]. Yet if he made either of the two 3-point attempts that bounced out in the final 25 seconds, the Nets might have come home with a 2-0 lead, and Kidd preferred to focus on that. "No matter what he shot in the last game, he had great looks and they just went in and out, and so theres nothing in the sense of changing what Pauls going to do," Kidd said of Pierce, the 2008 NBA Finals MVP. "Hes a very smart player, he understands time and situation and ... theres no concern." Pierce said after the game the Nets were soft when it came to their rebounding, and teammates agreed they had to do a better job as a team of helping out on the boards. But that was far from Brooklyns only problem in Game 2. All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan bounced back from his shaky opener with 30 points and carried Toronto down the stretch, while centre Jonas Valanciunas came up with 15 points and 14 rebounds. It gave the impression that the younger Raptors, who won the Atlantic Division, might have too many answers for the Nets. "Toronto is going to win this series," TNT analyst Charles Barkley said afterward. "I have not seen anything these first two games that makes me see anything different." The Raptors will still need to win at least one in Brooklyn. They are a good road team, with a 22-19 record that matched Miami and Washington for best in the East. "Its a new beginning, a new frontier, a new experience," coach Dwane Casey said of going on the road now. "The only way youre going to get it is to go through it. I have faith in our guys and confidence in our guys that were going to go in there as a group bonded together and fight together." AP freelance writer Ian Harrison in Toronto contributed to this report. ' ' '
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