HTWD Report: The 2013 French Open Draw

Well, the draw for the French Open came out today, and I have to admit that I'm a bit surprised about the Men's draw. The women's draw wasn't very important to me; I have a lot of confidence that Serena is going to destroy everyone on her path to the title.

The Men's draw was interesting to see because the top seeds could have been placed anywhere. With Andy Murray & Juan Martin Del Potro both out, I was hoping for something unexpected.

That's exactly what we got.

For what looks like the first time since 2010, we could possibly get a Novak Djokovic v. Rafa Nadal SEMI final rather than a final. They are in the same half of the draw as the #1 and #3 seeds, and that would be crazy. It would definitely feel like the final right there, since they are the two best clay court players right now.

As for the other side of the draw, Federer and Ferrer take up that half. They both have slightly tricky draws, but should be able to meet each other in their semi. This is a good draw particularly for Federer, who has (in my opinion) had the toughest draws in the last 4 majors played. So, now with a draw that's considerably easier, we'll see how he holds up.

Check out the draw in the hyperlink above, and check out this little video ESPN made. Coverage begins Sunday!

NBA Playoffs: Grizzlies Finish Off Thunder

The Heat weren't the only team to advance to a Conference Final today. The Memphis Grizzlies did so as well by beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 88-84. They won the series 4 games to 1.

Oklahoma City had a chance to tie the game at 86 late in the 4th quarter, but Kevin Durant missed a jumper which basically ended the game for them. Durant had a disappointing game, going 5 for 21 when his team needed him the most.

And although KD deserves some blame, you have to give a ton of credit to Memphis. Their brand of basketball was just too much for the Thunder, and now they're 4 games away to a spot in the NBA Finals.

Check the highlights here:

HP Byron Nelson Championship POTW: Keegan Bradley vs. Jason Day

Welcome to our Picks of the Week game! Rules are simple: Each week Bernardo and I will select one golfer entered in the current tournament. Whichever golfer finishes highest earns one of us a point. Exceptions: 3 points if our golfer wins the whole thing, Major Championships are doubled (so that's a possibility of 6 points), and tied finishes result in 0 points. Oh, and once we use a golfer, we can't use him for the rest of year. We're doing this until the TOUR Championship. Bernardo has won this 2 times in a row, so let's see if he can go for the three peat! 

 VS

JJ: After a very controversial but memorable tournament that was the PLAYERS Championship, we now head to Texas for the HP Byron Nelson tournament. We probably won't get the drama of what happened last week, but I do expect to see some high quality golf. Teenage sensation Guan Tianlang will make his 3rd ever PGA Tour start here, and he'll be competing against a throng of major champions. One of those major champions is going to be my pick for this week: Keegan Bradley. I know he missed the cut last week, but I fully expect Keegan to bounce back and have a solid 4 days. He's too much of a competitor to not want to make up for his disappointing appearance at the PLAYERS, so I have the utmost confidence in him.

Bernardo: This week I'm going with one of my favorite Aussies, Jason Day. This has been a great year for Day, finishing solo 3rd at The Masters along with a few top 10s. Not to mention Day won this event back in 2010 for his first PGA Tour victory. 

JJ's used: Brandt Snedeker, Jason Dufner, Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy, Billy Horschel, Retief Goosen, Jason Day, Charles Howell III, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, David Toms

Bernardo's used: Keegan Bradley, Brandt Snedeker, Phil Mickelson, Aaron Baddeley, Tiger Woods, Graeme McDowell, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Steve Stricker, Brian Davis, Adam Scott, Justin Rose

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Photos via pgatour.com and weiunderpar.com

NBA Playoffs: Heat Beat Bulls

The Miami Heat took another step closer to a title defense tonight, by beating and finishing off the Chicago Bulls, 94-91. They won the series 3-2.

Dwyane Wade, who has been hurt for a majority of the season, stepped up and finished off a Bulls team with a ton of heart. He did so with a 4th quarter that showed us why he's still one of the best players in the NBA. And even though he's still hurting, he's looking better and better, which won't look good for their Eastern Conference Final opponent.

Carlos Boozer led all scorers with 26, but even that couldn't stop a very team-oriented Heat game plan.

Miami will now await for the winner of the Pacers/Knicks series to see who they face next.

Check out the highlights:

Europa League: Chelsea defeat SL Benfica

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Current UEFA Champions League title holders Chelsea FC defeated SL Benfica in the Europa League final today, by a score of 2-1.

Both teams were knocked out of the Champions League group stage and had to settle for the Europa League. After navigating through some close contests, both sides managed to meet up in the final with a chance to grab a trophy this season.

In the first half, Chelsea was quiet, while Benfica dominated but couldn't score. The second half was where all of the action began, starting in the 59th minute with a Fernando Torres goal against the run of play. Torres scored on a counter so quick that the television crew almost missed out on it. After rounding the keeper in a goal that looked similar to his effort vs. Barcelona last year in the UCL semi-finals, El Nino put CFC up 1-0.

Less than 10 minutes later, Benfica equalized. They kept pressing for a goal, and were rewarded with a penalty after a Cesar Azpilicueta handball in the box. Oscar Cardozo then beat Cech to tie it up 1-1.

Both teams were battling back and forth for the winner, but it seemed like they were headed for extra time. That was until about 30 seconds left in stoppage time, where Branislav Ivanovic got his head on the end of a corner kick to send CFC fans in Amsterdam into a frenzy.

Soon after that, the final whistle was blown and Chelsea were crowned Europa League champions.

Chelsea became the first team ever to hold the UEFA Champions League title & the Europa League title in the same year, although they'll be giving up their UCL trophy next week when the 2013 final is held.

With a Champions League spot guaranteed and a new trophy to celebrate, the "lost season" for Chelsea seemed to get a little bit better. We don't know what next season will hold with the new manager, but for now, they can just celebrate what's going on for them until then.

Congratulations Chelsea FC!

Check the highlights of this game here:

NBA Playoffs: Spurs crush Warriors

Earlier this evening, the Pacers beat the Knicks to take a 3-1 series lead. Immediately after that game, the Spurs went to work on the Warriors, and are now leading 3-2 in their series after their 109-91 win.

This game really came down to Steph Curry's health. He's been nursing some ankle injuries, and tonight he certainly didn't look very healthy. This allowed Tony Parker and a very experienced San Antonio team to feast and put up big points.

Although Parker led Spurs scoreres, SAS had 5 players in double digits, which showed us they emphasized team ball tonight. When they're rolling on all cylinders like, they're tough to beat. They're even harder to beat if you aren't at full strength like Golden State.

A pivotal game 6 will be held on Thursday at Oracle Arena. And for the Warriors, it's either win or stay home.

Check the highlights:

NBA Playoffs: Pacers defeat the Knicks

The Indiana Pacers handily beat the Knicks tonight, beating them by a score of 93-82. They also take a commanding 3-1 lead to New York, where they will look to finish off the Knicks on Thursday night.

George Hill led all scorers with 26 points on 9/14 shooting. Melo led NY with 24 points, but shot 9 for 23.

The Pacers clearly look like the better team. Their old-school brand of basketball is very effective against the Knicks, who seem to be in crisis mode now.

Check out the highlights below:

Amateur Analysis: Ashworth's Petition

Yesterday morning, golf company Ashworth decided to create a petition and send it to the PGA Tour.

Their petition is about allowing professionals to have the option to wear shorts instead of pants while they are playing in a tournament. They even created a video of their petition, which has Justin Rose, Sean O'Hair, Justin Leonard, and Retief Goosen showing us the benefits of wearing shorts over pants.

As light-hearted as the video seems, there's no doubt in my mind that they're completely serious. The talk of allowing shorts on the PGA Tour has been going on for years, and it finally seems that a company and their players really want to do something about it.

How do you feel about the video and petition? Personally, I'm still on the fence about it. I wear shorts when I golf sometimes, but if I were to see a pro wearing them in the final round of a major, I would feel weird. To me, shorts are meant to be worn casually, and wearing them in some big tournaments wouldn't feel right.

Let us know your opinion in the comments!

HTWD Report: Falcao to AS Moncao

Besides the Roberto Mancini sacking, the football/soccer world received another bit of surprising news today: Atletico Madrid star Falcao is set to join Ligue 2 side AS Monaco by next season.

According to multiple sources on Twitter, Falcao is set to be bought by Monaco for a fee between €50 and €60 million. His new contract with the French team also won't allow him to join Real Madrid anytime soon, which seemed to have been a big question if/when he was going to leave Atletico. For more details on the move, and why he didn't go to any of the bigger clubs in Europe, check here.

The Columbian striker is also set to make 300k per week, according to reports. And although you may ask how this is possible for a Ligue 2 team, the answer is simple: lots and lots of money. Monaco was purchased by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybololev in 2011, and he set on making this team a French power once again.

With Falcao, Monaco are set to challenge the likes of PSG and Olympique Lyonnais for the French title and UEFA Champions League glory. Rybololev doesn't plan on making Falcao his last purchase, however. There are major rumors swirling that he plans on assembling a super team, much like his billionaire buddies have done in the EPL and in Ligue 1.

What's your opinion on this Falcao move? How will this impact French and European football? Let us know in the comments.

Photo via independent.co.uk

HTWD Report: Manchester City part ways with Roberto Mancini

What was reported by many sources is now confirmed by Fox Soccer and ESPN: Manchester City have decided to fire manager Roberto Mancini.

This sacking comes at some ironic timing; today marked the anniversary of the title that Mancini brought to The Citizens for the first time in over 40 years. In addition to that title, Mancini also brought home an FA Cup trophy, and made an appearance in the FA Cup final a few days ago where they lost to Wigan Athletic.

City's officials cited failure to "achieve its slated targets this year" as the reason for Roberto's dismissal. Mancini accumulated a record in his 3 and a half years as Manchester City boss.

As it stands, Brian Kidd will serve as interim coach for the last Barclays Premier League title and for their post-season US tour.

Thoughts on this shocking firing? Let us know in the comments.

Photo via telegraph.co.uk

The PLAYERS Championship: The Sergio Garcia Saga

Saturday afternoon gave us more than we ever hoped for. It was the latest installment in the Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods saga, and there were definitely sparks flying. 

This week’s drama started on Saturday on the 2nd hole. Garcia flared his second shot on the par 5 hole way to the right, and it led to a bogey. And to make a long story short, he said it was Tiger’s fault, Tiger disagreed, and they soon traded shots at one another through the media. Tension was high between them, and unfortunately for us, they weren’t paired together in the final round.

The 4th round started off pretty slowly for Sergio; he really didn’t do anything of significance until hole 13. There, he made a birdie. Combine that with the double that Tiger made one hole ahead of him, and Sergio was at -12 tied with Mr. Woods. They both made birdies at 16, and stood at -13. Tiger was one hole ahead of Sergio and parred 17, which allowed SG to know exactly where he stood and what he needed to do: par the 17th.

Unfortunately, that’s where the wheels fell off. Sergio’s tee shot on 17 was about 2 yards too short and ended up in the water on the most cruel hole in golf. His next shot was almost exactly the same, and by that point, he knew he was done. Combine that with another ball in the water on 18, and he was 6 over par on those 2 holes alone.

Post round, Sergio admitted his mistakes on the 17th. He said he got too confident because of the shots he was hitting early (he was putting on a ball striking clinic from holes 12-16 to get back into the tournament), and decided to take a risky line on 17. As we painfully saw, the risk didn’t pay off, and it cost him the tournament.

A lot of us wanted to see a possible Sergio-Tiger playoff. Both hit the ball extremely well for the most part (take away Tiger’s hook on 14 and Sergio’s 17th hole), and both clearly wanted to beat each other badly. But, sadly enough, Sergio’s luck is very hit and miss, and today his luck was worse than Greg Norman’s.

The one thing that Sergio fans can take away from this is the attitude he left the tournament with. He didn’t seem that bitter from what happened, whereas in years past he would have had a press conference to remember. He seemed to handle his presser with class, and even though he didn’t give up on his stance on what happened on Saturday with Tiger, he seemed to be in a good enough mood to be able to continue his season on a good streak. He’s arguably played the 2nd best golf this year; he hasn’t missed a cut or finished outside of the top-25 yet. I feel like he’s due for a tournament win soon. And if he could just keep his attitude a tad more steady, I think he could even win the British Open this year. His putting has been very good, and his ball striking has been as good as ever. He just needs to stay positive and believe. That’s what Adam Scott did. And that’s what Sergio Garcia will need to do. 

I’ll definitely be rooting for him.

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The PLAYERS Championship: The 5th Major

The PLAYERS Championship has long been regarded as one of the premier tournaments on the PGA Tour. A classic course and a world class field back these claims. 

Quite possibly the biggest reason people consider this the “5th major” is because of the drama. And after this week, there was more drama than you can ask for in a four day golf tournament.

Heading into the final round, it was a 3 horse race: Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia, and David Lingmerth.

For the most part, Tiger was in cruise control, making putts and birdies left and right. Sergio and Lingmerth were par machines, not really making any moves to catch TW as he led the pack.

That’s when things changed on hole 14. Tiger shocked us all and hit a big hook which ended up in the water. He ended up with a double on that hole, and brought Garcia and Lingmerth back into the picture.  

It was a battle coming in, and luckily for Tiger, both Sergio and David slipped up enough to where Sergio was out of the picture by 17, and Lingmerth had to have a miracle happen to him to get into a playoff. This, combined with Tiger’s steady play on the final 3 holes, gave Tiger his 78th victory in 300 career starts.

Now, Tiger has 4 total wins this year, and it’s the fastest he’s ever gotten to that total in 1 year. And with the way he’s controlling his tee shots, his chances at Merion for the U.S. Open are only getting better. He knows it. The fans know it. The field knows it. 

Congratulations, Tiger!

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The PLAYERS Championship: A Dream Pairing

For all of you big golf fans out there, you know that The PLAYERS Championship is one of the best tournaments of the year and easily boasts the best field. The talent is so loaded that when you combine it with a classic course, it truly is the "5th" major championship.

And with this tournament comes great pairings. On Saturday, we will arguably get one of the better pairings in golf: Tiger Woods & Sergio Garcia.

Sure, it's not Tiger & Phil, and it isn't Tiger & Rory, but Tiger & Sergio is probably the next best thing. Their careers first intertwined at Medinah in1999, where TW had to fend off a hard charging 19 year old in Garcia to claim the PGA Championship. Since then, they've both gone on to have successful, albeit different, careers.

Tiger, on one hand has 14 majors and is going to set the record soon on number of PGA Tour victories. And while Sergio is still looking for his first major and only has 8 PGA Tour victories, he's already a Ryder Cup legend and may go on to be the greatest Ryder Cup player of all time.

Both do share one similarity though: they both have 1 PLAYERS Championship to their credit, and 1 runner up finish. So they both can draw on good memories as they head into this weekend.

Thanks to Yahoo!, I was able to find a head-to-head graphic of how they perform when paired with one another. Check it out:

Round Year Tournament Tee/Time Player/Finished round Player/Finished round

Rnd 1 2012 World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship 1 / 12:40 Tiger Woods 72(E) 25th Sergio Garcia 75(3) 54th
Rnd 2 2012 World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship 10 / 11:40 Tiger Woods 67(-5) 15th Sergio Garcia 74(2) 68th
Rnd 1 2012 Open Championship 1 / 9:42 Tiger Woods 67(-3) 6th Sergio Garcia 72(2) 80th
Rnd 2 2012 Open Championship 1 / 2:43 Tiger Woods 67(-3) 3rd Sergio Garcia 72(2) 84th
Rnd 1 2009 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational 1 / 1:10 Tiger Woods 68(-2) 8th Sergio Garcia 68(-2) 8th
Rnd 2 2009 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational 10 / 9:25 Tiger Woods 70(E) 13th Sergio Garcia 72(2) 25th
Rnd 1 2006 Buick Invitational 10 / 8:48 Tiger Woods 71(-1) 57th Sergio Garcia 69(-3) 33rd
Rnd 2 2006 Buick Invitational 1 / 9:42 Tiger Woods 68(-4) 22nd Sergio Garcia 68(-4) 5th
Rnd 4 2006 Buick Invitational 1 / 10:20 Tiger Woods 72(E) 1st Sergio Garcia 75(3) 8th
Rnd 4 2006 British Open Championship 1 / 2:30 Tiger Woods 67(-5) 1st Sergio Garcia 73(1) 5th
Rnd 1 2003 British Open Championship 1 / 9:09 Tiger Woods 73(2) 19th Sergio Garcia 73(2) 19th
Rnd 2 2003 British Open Championship 1 / 2:05 Tiger Woods 72(1) 11th Sergio Garcia 71(E) 4th
Rnd 3 2003 World Golf Championships-Amex Championship 1 / 10:25 Tiger Woods 69(-1) 1st Sergio Garcia 70(E) 5th
Rnd 4 2002 U.S. Open Champsion 2 / 0:0 Tiger Woods 72(2) 1st Sergio Garcia 74(4) 4th
Rnd 3 2001 Memorial Tournament 1 / 1:10 Tiger Woods 68(-4) 2nd Sergio Garcia 70(-2) 3rd
Rnd 4 2001 Bay Hill 1 / 9:48 Tiger Woods69(-3) 1st Sergio Garcia 74(2) 4th
Rnd 2 1999 World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational 1 / 1:30 Tiger Woods 71(1) 6th Sergio Garcia 70(E) 6th
Rnd 1 1999 The Masters 2 / 0:1 Tiger Woods 72(E) 20th Sergio Garcia 72(E) 20th
Rnd 2 1999 The Masters 2 / 0:1 Tiger Woods 72(E) 18th Sergio Garcia 75(3)

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Who do you think is going to do better in their pairing tomorrow? Tiger or Sergio? And who do you think is going to win this thing outright? Let us know in the comments.

Photo via mundodeportivo