end zone when the linesman blew his whistle to stop play

Posted in IYH Forums by lavender123456 at 06:56, Jun 17 2014

SHANGHAI, China -- The graceful combination of power and balance. The bounce in his step after every birdie. His name at the top of the leaderboard. For at least one round, Rory McIlroy finally looked like the former No. 1 player in the world instead of a guy who hasnt won a tournament all year. With eight birdies and hardly any stress, McIlroy opened the HSBC Champions on Thursday with a 7-under 65 for a two-shot lead over Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Jamie Donaldson. It was the first time since he won in Dubai last November that McIlroy has been in the outright lead after any round. "It felt good to be out there and in control of my golf ball," McIlroy said. Maybe it was just a coincidence that McIlroys only win of any variety was earlier this week at Mission Hills when he rallied to beat Tiger Woods in an 18-hole exhibition. That didnt hurt his confidence, though the 24-year-old from Northern Ireland pointed to other factors that have been leading him in this direction. He took a four-week break, spending most of that time in Northern Ireland with swing coach Michael Bannon and "getting back to what we used to do." He has a new driver and a golf ball that is softer, giving him more spin around the greens. And perhaps most importantly, he hasnt lost his mind or his patience during the most difficult season of his young career. "Its obviously frustrating when youve had a couple of seasons previous where youve had success, and not being able to emulate that," he said. "The way I look at it, if I have a 25-year career, nine months isnt actually that long. I wouldnt say restless, but obviously theres a point in time where youre thinking to yourself, Right, come on, lets get this back on track. But Ive tried to stay as patient as possible." More patience is required against a strong field at Sheshan International for this World Golf Championship. Fernandez-Castano is coming off his first win of the year last week at the BMW Masters. The group at 4-under 68 included U.S. Open champion Justin Rose, former Masters champion Bubba Watson and 20-year-old Jordan Spieth, playing as though last season never ended. Another shot behind were Dustin Johnson, Paul Casey and Graeme McDowell, who remains second on the European Tour money list with hopes of catching Henrik Stenson. The timing was crucial for McIlroy. Not only has he failed to win a tournament, he is at No. 62 in the Race to Dubai with only two tournaments remaining to get into the top 60 and qualify for the season-ending World Tour Championship in Dubai. McIlroy won the money title a year ago. "Its only 18 holes. Its only one round of golf," McIlroy said. "But its definitely the way I wanted and needed to start, keeping in mind that I obviously want to play myself into Dubai and try to pick up my first win of the season, as well." British Open champion Phil Mickelson had a chance to join McIlroy in the lead until it all went wrong. One shot behind with two holes to play, Mickelson hit two wedges into the water fronting the par-5 eighth green and took a quadruple-bogey 9. His second wedge landed some 30 feet beyond the pin and had so much spin that it raced off the green and down the bank into the water. He hit another shot into the water on No. 9, and followed that with a brave shot to 2 feet to escape with only a bogey. He fell back to a 71. Spieth, who went from no status at the start of the year to a spot in the Presidents Cup and No. 20 in the world, didnt arrive until Monday and has been battling jet lag this week after his first trip to China. He was 2-over through eight holes, and then played 6-under the rest of the way, as if last season never ended. "I didnt really know what to expect out of the game this week, travelling over here and limited practice," he said. "But maybe it was good for me. My caddie helped me stay calm and stay positive, and once the putts started going in, we were just in our normal routine." But this day ultimately was about McIlroy. McIlroy hit a 3-wood just over the back of the par-4 16th hole and chipped to 3 feet for birdie. His 3-iron from light rough was about 20 yards short of the green on the par-5 18th, and he chipped to 5 feet for birdie. And on the par-5 second hole, another 3-iron from the rough left him 30 yards short, and he pitched that to 6 feet for birdie. The other birdie during that stretch was on No. 1, his only tee shot off line. From the rough, his 9-iron from 160 yards covered the flag and settled about 7 feet away. "Its just learning from each week and just trying to put the pieces together," McIlroy said. "A little bit of confidence from Monday, of course, but I think it was these two previous weeks just getting back into competitive play and learning what I needed to do to improve and sort of work on those things coming into this week." Brad Nortman Jersey . But they agree the world junior championship prepared them well for training camps if they were suddenly summoned to by their respective NHL clubs. Robert Lester Jersey . Brackman was the New York Yankees first-round pick in 2007 even though they knew he needed reconstructive elbow surgery. He had the operation nine days after signing. http://www.panthersjerseysauthentic.com/. One of North Americas most trusted and beloved television personalities, Burgundys new role at TSN will be revealed during the networks live broadcast of the 101st Grey Cup this Sunday at 6pm et/3pm pt. Charles Johnson Jersey . Belak was found in a Toronto hotel room with police saying only that his death non-supspicious and that foul play is not suspected. Carolina Panthers Jersey . Kingsbury, from Deux-Montagnes, Que., finished with a score of 26.39 as Canada swept the mens podium. Montreals Alex Bilodeau was second with 25.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry: I was watching the Hawks-Blue Jackets game on Friday night - the game in which the Hawks scored with less than four seconds remaining to claim victory. My question concerns the face-off for that game-winning goal. Let me describe what I saw the previous play. With less than thirty seconds remaining, the puck was shot on the ice in front of the Jackets bench. Two Jacket players jumped on to the ice while two others went to the bench. The puck went just inside the Jackets zone where a Jacket defender got the puck with just over 20 seconds left. A linesman whistled down the play indicating that the Jackets had too many men on the ice and there would be a penalty with a faceoff deep in their end. As it turned out, the two referees counted the players on the ice and determined there were not too many players and NO penalty would be assigned. The face-off was still held deep in Jacket territory. The Hawks took control from the face-off and scored. My question to you is should not that face-off been held outside the Jackets blue line or at centre because the linesman blew down the play incorrectly? Since the Jackets had control of the puck when the "too many men" whistle blew, it seems to me unfair they should be penalized with the deep faceoff. Im sure the Leafs, Flyers and Devils agree with the call; however, I didnt and I am a Hawks fan. Could you please give me your take on this as I am sure it cost the Blue Jackets a very important point or two. Thanks, Doug MacLean --- Hi Doug: I have little doubt that the former Blue Jackets GM with the same name as yours would have been waiting near the officials dressing room looking for some clarification on this play as well if he still occupied thaat position.dddddddddddd The linesman clearly made an error in judgment when he determined the Blue Jackets were in violation of rule 74 - too many men on the ice - with 21.6 seconds remaining in regulation. Even though play was stopped through an officials error the face-off location in this case is determined by where the puck was last played under rule 76.2. “When the game is stopped for any reason not specifically covered in the official rules, the puck must be faced-off at a face-off spot in the zone nearest to where it was last played.” Defenceman Jack Johnson had the puck on his stick a couple of feet inside the Blue Jackets end zone when the linesman blew his whistle to stop play. As per rule 76.2 the face-off had to be conducted on the nearest end-zone face-off dot of the Blue Jackets. The only provision within the rules to relocate a face-off in the neutral zone following a linesmans error is contained in rule 81.2 - If the linesman shall have erred in calling an “icing the puck” infraction (regardless of whether either team is short-handed), the puck shall be faced-off on the center face-off dot. It is most unfortunate for the Blue Jackets that the whistle was not blown by the linesman when Jack Johnson first touched the puck when it rested on the blue line and prior to entering the defending zone. Had that been the case, the ensuing faceoff would have taken place on the neutral zone face-off dot. It might be unfair, Doug, that the Blue Jackets lost so much territorial advantage following the linesmans error but there was no option to locate the face-off in the neutral zone on this play. While the Blue Jackets did have some opportunities to get the puck out of their end zone following the face-off with 21.6 seconds remaining, I acknowledge it was a tough way for a team to lose such an important game. ' ' '