The New Orleans Saints are trading wide receiver Brandin Cooks to New England in exchange for a package that includes the Patriots’ first-round pick, Ian Rapoport reports.
March 11 (Gracenote) – Scores from the U.S. PGA Tour Valspar Championship at the par-71 course on Friday in Palm Harbor, Florida. The cut was set at 142. -10 Adam Hadwin (Canada) 68 64 -9 Jim Herman (U.S.) 62 71 -8 Tyrone Van Aswegen (South Africa) 69 65 -7 Dominic Bozzelli (U.S.) 67 68 Russell Henley (U.S.) 64 71 Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 64 71 -6 Wesley Bryan (U.S.) 68 68 -5 Bryson DeChambeau (U.S.) 67 70 James Hahn (U.S.) 65 72 Luke List (U.S.) 68 69 Patrick Cantlay (U.S.) 71 66 Blayne Barber (U.S.) 70 67 Hudson Swafford (U.S.) 68 69 -4 Lucas Glover (U.S. …
March 11 (Gracenote) – Scores from the U.S. PGA Tour Valspar Championship at the par-71 course on Friday in Palm Harbor, Florida. The cut was set at 142. -10 Adam Hadwin (Canada) 68 64 -9 Jim Herman (U.S.) 62 71 -8 Tyrone Van Aswegen (South Africa) 69 65 -7 Dominic Bozzelli (U.S.) 67 68 Russell Henley (U.S.) 64 71 Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 64 71 -6 Wesley Bryan (U.S.) 68 68 -5 Bryson DeChambeau (U.S.) 67 70 James Hahn (U.S.) 65 72 Luke List (U.S.) 68 69 Patrick Cantlay (U.S.) 71 66 Blayne Barber (U.S.) 70 67 Hudson Swafford (U.S.) 68 69 -4 Lucas Glover (U.S. …
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — The Green Bay Packers have signed Martellus Bennett, giving quarterback Aaron Rodgers a prolific pass-catching target at tight end.
Kurt Busch brought up front-end geometry, serpentine systems and aerodynamic balance. The Daytona 500 champion was trying to explain Ford’s superiority in first two weeks of the NASCAR Cup season. ”We upgraded in in all categories at Stewart-Haas,” Busch said Friday.
Kurt Busch brought up front-end geometry, serpentine systems and aerodynamic balance. The Daytona 500 champion was trying to explain Ford’s superiority in first two weeks of the NASCAR Cup season. ”We upgraded in in all categories at Stewart-Haas,” Busch said Friday.
PALM HARBOR, Florida – Notes and observations from Friday’s second round of the Valspar Championship, where Canadian Adam Hadwin birdied five consecutive holes on the back nine as he fired a 7-under 64 to grab the lead at the halfway point. Jim Herman, who made 11 straight pars to begin his round and posted an even-par 71, is one back at 9 under, while Tyrone Van Aswegen, who took just 23 putts en route to a 65, is in third alone, two back. For more coverage from the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort, click here for the Daily Wrap-up. HADWIN HEATS UP AGAIN After authoring a 59 at the CareerBuilder Challenge earlier this season, Hadwin reminded everyone how streaky-good he can be when he’s on with his back-nine 29 at the Copperhead Course. After a ho-hum, 1-under 35 on the front, he reeled off birdies on holes 10-14 to zoom up the leaderboard. “It’s nice to see the ball-striking kind of come around,” he said, “and the putter stay where it has all year.” Hadwin hit 11 of 13 fairways Friday, as opposed to just seven the day before. His five straight birdies were reminiscent of his third-round performance at the CareerBuilder, where became the eighth different player to shoot a sub-60 score on the PGA TOUR. He didn’t win that week, ultimately finishing second to first-time winner Hudson Swafford by a stroke, and this time around Hadwin is determined to improve on that result and break through with his own maiden victory on TOUR. “I’ve put myself in position the last couple years,” he said. “I feel like the finishes have gotten stronger and I keep kind of putting myself going into the weekends. … Just getting more comfortable out there. Really learning my game a little bit more. Learning how I feel under pressure a little bit more, and figuring out how to deal with that. I’m excited for this weekend, what it will bring, and hope to keep some of these scores coming.” STENSON LURKING THREE BACK Although he fashioned a stout, even-par 71 in the swirling afternoon winds to remain 7 under and well within reach of the lead, Henrik Stenson’s Friday highlight was scooping up his youngest daughter Alice as she ran under the ropes on the second hole. “My family drove up today [from Orlando],” said Stenson, the highest ranked player in the field (No. 6 in the Official World Golf Ranking). “The kids were out of school and yeah, she doesn’t know to stay outside the ropes, that’s for sure. She comes running in when she sees me. That was good.” Stenson remained in contention despite making a bogey at the par-5 11th hole, followed by another bogey at the par-3 13th. He birdied the 15th before getting through the three-hole Snake Pit (16-18) in even par. “It’s just a different golf course in the afternoon, and that’s pretty much expected,” Stenson said. “So all in all, I’m happy with the day’s work and score-wise, yeah, it could have been better. But that’s golf. Sometimes you run into a bit of a bad spell, and we had that on the back nine today.” DECHAMBEAU SOARS AFTER FATHER’S KIDNEY TRANSPLANT Bryson DeChambeau got off to a rough start on the PGA TOUR this season, and it was easy to wonder what happened to the player who won the 2015 U.S. Amateur and NCAA individual title. He made just three cuts in 10 starts, withdrew from the Genesis Open after getting a sponsor’s exemption, and had harsh words for the USGA after it deemed his putter non-conforming, leading to the end of DeChambeau’s experiment with side-saddle putting. But that was then. DeChambeau’s father John received a long-awaited kidney transplant on Wednesday, and Bryson, with a newfound sense of perspective, has seen his golf game rally in kind. He shot a second-round 70 to get to 5 under, and at one point had it all the way to 8 under before making bogeys on three of his last six holes. “There’s been a lot of things happening lately,” said DeChambeau, who won a college tournament, the 2014 American Athletic Conference Championship, at the Copperhead Course. “I’m finally getting back to playing some good golf and executing under the gun. And that’s one thing I’ve been looking for this whole year and it just hasn’t happened. I’m finally getting back to my college days a little bit with my ball-striking, and strokes gained: tee to green is finally getting back up to plus 3 or 4, where I’m used to seeing it.” He’s also starting to feel comfortable on the greens, having gone back to conventional putting after four tournaments with the side-saddle method. Although he bogeyed the par-5 fifth, the par-4 sixth and the par-4 ninth holes — he started on the back nine — DeChambeau said even his slew of late bogeys couldn’t derail his good mood, in light of the great week his father has had. John DeChambeau, who has been limited in his travel and his ability to watch his son play, had been waiting for a transplant for almost three years, his son said. “I knew he was going to get a kidney, it was only a matter of time,” DeChambeau said. “It was more of my not performing in the golf aspect for the last couple months, three or four months. Just a couple of putting issues, and other than that, kind of it is what it is. I’m getting back into form and looking to play some really good golf here coming up. I know I can play with the best of them and can be one of the best in the world at one point in time.” As for his early-season misadventures, he added: “I messed up on a couple things. I’m 23, I’m going to make mistakes, and everybody is going to view me as the villain at that point in time. They were viewing me as that way. I wasn’t looking to do anything to scruffle any feathers. I’m learning what to say, how to say things, and getting better at doing it.” SHOT OF THE DAY BOZZELLI’S SHORT GAME SAVES THE DAY Dominic Bozzelli was, by his own admission, “all over the place” on the 603-yard, par-5 fifth hole. Then he holed out from the greenside bunker, a wild slam-dunk birdie from 62 feet. “I’ve been working a lot on my short game,” said Bozzelli, who took just 25 putts in a second-round 68 that got him to 7 under, just three off the lead. “Just keeping the round going and getting the ball up and down.” Although he started this season with three straight missed cuts, Bozzelli kick-started things with a CareerBuilder Challenge tournament-record 65 at the PGA WEST Stadium Course on the way to a fifth-place finish. On Friday, the 25-year-old rookie from Rochester, New York, hit just 11 greens in regulation but got up-and-down five times in seven chances. Among those he impressed was playing partner Lee McCoy, who finished fourth as an amateur at last year’s Valspar. “That guy is hitting the ball so good,” McCoy said of Bozzelli. “Oh, my goodness. And he was putting it really well, too, and just hit a lot of lips. He’s hitting it better than I did last year, I can assure you of that. To anybody reading this at home looking at your fantasy lineups this weekend, I’d take him in my fantasy lineup. He’s hitting it really well.” ODDS & ENDS A total of 70 players shot even par or better to make the cut. … After his 62 in the first round, Jim Herman was not displeased with his even-par 71, considering he was out in the tougher afternoon conditions. “You sleep with the lead, and all the texts and e-mails and all that,” Herman said. “I was proud of myself for the even par; wasn’t my best stuff in the middle of the back nine but I was playing really well.” … FedExCup leader Justin Thomas, seventh in the latest World Ranking and the second-highest ranked player in the field, shot a second-round 74 to miss the cut. …Ian Poulter, playing on a major medical extension after his foot injury kept him off the European Ryder Cup team last year, shot a 4-under 67 to make the cut with LPGA caddie Jason Hamilton on his bag. Terry Mundy, Poulter’s regular caddie, is temporarily out of action with a back injury. … Charles Howell III (71, -4) played his way to the weekend to tie Jonathan Byrd for most cuts made at the Valspar with 11. FRIDAY’S BEST SOCIAL MEDIA
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