Extremismus » emphasis wasnt so much on winning at home, but inst

Shanghai, China (SportsNetwork.com) - Graeme McDowell opened up with a first- round, 5-under 67 on Thursday and he holds a 2-shot lead at the WGC - HSBC Champions. McDowells last victory on the European Tour came at the Alstom Open de France earlier this year, while his latest PGA Tour win was at the 2013 RBC Heritage. Obviously the course played fairly difficult today, said McDowell. The wind direction had switched completely from practice, some of the game plan had switched a little bit and some of the holes were playing pretty long. A big key to this golf course is driving the ball well and I drove it very well today. I think I missed only one fairway, which is very important. The greens are in fantastic shape and I actually putted very well U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer, Rickie Fowler, Brandt Snedeker, Chris Kirk, Tim Clark and Tommy Fleetwood are tied for second at 3-under 69 at Sheshan International Golf Club. Lee Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen, Ian Poulter, Adam Scott, Hyung-sung Kim, Bill Haas, Jordan Spieth, JB Holmes, Henrik Stenson, Jaco Van Zyl and Dawie Van Der Walt are all deadlocked at 2-under 70. McDowell, beginning his first round on the back nine, stormed out of the gate to grab the early lead and he never let go despite a couple miscues down the stretch. The 35-year-old from Northern Ireland quickly got into red numbers with a birdie on the par-4 first. Following a pair of pars on 11 and 12, McDowell drained four birdies in a five-hole stretch from No. 13, with a par coming on 15. After making the turn at 5-under with a par on 18, McDowell kept going strong with another par on one followed by a pair of gains on two and three. At 7- under through 12 holes, McDowell finally began to slow down as he dropped his first shot on the par-4 fourth. After a trio of pars from No. 5, McDowell bogeyed his second hole at eight, dropping him back to minus-5. He finished with a par at No. 9 to end there. Seven-under par through 12 holes was a beautiful start, and alghouth I dropped a couple coming in, all in all Im very, very pleased with 5-under par on what I thought was a reasonably tricky day, McDowell said. This is as tough off the tee as I think Ive ever seen this golf course. Kaymer, also playing the back nine first, made the turn at minus-1 after making birdies on 13 and 16 to go along with a bogey on 17. Kaymers second bogey on one dropped him back to even par, but birdies on two and five had him back in red numbers. Kaymer made his third bogey on six, but a pair of birdies on seven and eight got Kaymer to minus-3. He rounded out his day with a par on No. 9. Fowler started off with two straight pars on 10 and 11 followed by another gain on 14. Fowler traded a bogey on 17 for a birdie on 18 to make the turn at minus-3. Birdies on two and eight were canceled out by bogeys on four and seven as Fowler finished his day tied for second at 3-under. Snedeker had a solid front nine with birdies on two and seven. He dropped two shots on the back nine at 12 and 15, but gains on 14, 16 and 18 were good enough to put Snedeker at minus-3 through one round. Kirk made his move up the leaderboard on his first nine with birdies on 10, 14, 16 and 18 to go along with a bogey on 17. Kirk played his final nine at even par with a gain on six and a bogey on five. Fleetwood made the turn at minus-1 following birdies on two and five along with a bogey on six. Fleetwood fell back to even par after a bogey on 10, but he finished strong with three birdies in a four-hole stretch from 13. Clark started off hot with three straight birdies from two, but bogeys on five and seven gave two of those shots back. Another birdie on nine was canceled out by a bogey on 10. Clark then made three birdies in four holes from 13. He also bogeyed 15. NOTES: Of the 80 players to tee off on Thursday, only 27 of them finished the first round under par ... McDowell has 10 top-10 finishes on the European Tour this year, including his win at the Open de France ... McDowells only other victory in Asia came at The Championship at Laguna National in 2008 ... Kevin Stadler and Graham DeLaet both withdrew during their first rounds. Cheap Pittsburgh Steelers Jerseys . Formula One Teams Association secretary general Oliver Weingarten says the organization collapsed over unpaid subscription fees and a failure to strike an agreement for 2014 with all 11 teams. Cheap Steelers Jerseys China . During the furious first few hours of free agency Tuesday, the team agreed to terms with strong safety Donte Whitner, a Cleveland native who cant wait to play in his hometown. http://www.cheapsteelersjerseyselite.com/ .Y. - Urijah Faber walked out on a Madison Square Garden stage in a Wes Welker jersey, the UFCs fun nod to that other "super" show this weekend. Wholesale Pittsburgh Steelers Jerseys . The kind he has every so often. The kind he has when Dwyane Wade sits. James scored 43 points -- 25 in a bewildering first-quarter shooting display -- and Chris Bosh added 21, leading the Miami Heat to a 100-96 win Tuesday night over the Cleveland Cavaliers, who played their first game without injured All-Star guard Kyrie Irving. Steelers Jerseys Outlet .C. -- Gleason Fournier scored the shootout winner as the Grand Rapids Griffins defeated the Abbotsford Heat 4-3 Friday in American Hockey League action.OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma City Thunder had been struggling on their own court, losing two straight and three out of their last four at home. Kevin Durant made sure that trend didnt continue Sunday night. Durant overcame a slow start to finish with 21 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, Reggie Jackson scored a career-high 27 points, and the Thunder rolled to a 119-96 win over the Boston Celtics. Serge Ibaka added 17 points and 11 rebounds for Oklahoma City, which had struggled at home after starting the season 13-0 at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Thunder (27-7) have the best record in the Western Conference. Oklahoma City is 4-2 since All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook had arthroscopic knee surgery on Dec. 27. A day after the Thunder narrowly avoided a three-game losing streak -- rallying from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to win at Minnesota behind Durants season-high 48-point effort -- they seized control early against the Celtics, going on a 10-0 run in the first quarter and never trailing again. "We just want to come in here and focus every time, especially after an emotional win last night," Durant said. "On the back-to-back, it might have been easy for us to relax, but I think we did a good job of playing hard." Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said the emphasis wasnt so much on winning at home, but instead eliminating the in-game lapses that led to the Thunders recent home losses to Toronto, Portland and Brooklyn. "Its just important that we just play a 48-minute game," Brooks said. "I thought we had good moments on the games that we lost, but it wasnt consistent throughout the game and the other teams got hot down the stretch and we couldnt stop it. "But we didnt go into the game and say, Guys, weve got to win tonight because weve lost three out of our last four at home. We went into the game, Guys, we want to keep playing our style of basketball." Jeff Green and Avery Bradley scored 19 points apiece for Boston, which has lost four straight games and seven of its last eight. Oklahoma City matched its season high for points in a half and led 66-56 at the break. The Thunder scored the first six points of the second half and the Celtics came no closer than 11 the rest of the way. "I thought our ball movement in the first half was really good," Boston coach Brad Stevens said. "That dried up in the second, and we didnt help each other on defence very often. One of the things wweve got to do as a group is when things dont go well, weve got to collect ourselves quicker and make things go in our favour again.dddddddddddd When things are going well, were not bad, but when things dont go well, we havent responded well lately." Durant didnt record his first field goal until 5 1/2 minutes into the second quarter, but still had 17 points by halftime thanks to 9-of-10 free throw shooting. He sat out the fourth quarter with the game in hand. Jackson hit six of his first seven shots and was 3 of 3 from 3-point range while scoring 19 in the first half. He surpassed his previous career high of 23 points with 2:57 left in the third quarter, taking a pass from Durant and rising for a one-handed dunk. Jackson, who finished 9 of 12 from the field, said he doesnt feel extra pressure while subbing in the Thunders starting lineup for Westbrook. "Pressure bursts pipes or makes diamonds," Jackson said. "Im cool with it. I put a lot on myself and I expect big things from myself. Im just happy to have a pretty good game tonight and most importantly come out with another win." Moments after Jacksons dunk, Ibaka followed with another slam to put Oklahoma City ahead 89-68. "In that third quarter, they went on that run and we had no answer," Green said. "We came a little bit too attached to our man and let them get easy layups." Jordan Crawford scored 17 points and Kris Humphries added 14 for the Celtics. Jeremy Lamb scored 13 points and Kendrick Perkins ---playing against his former team ---added a season-high 12 points to go with six rebounds for the Thunder. NOTES: Westbrook spoke to the media before the game for the first time since his most recent arthroscopic knee surgery and says theres "never a doubt" that he wont be able to return to form. Hes already off crutches and is shooting free throws, but says he doesnt know when hell be able to return to the lineup. The team has said hell be out through the All-Star break. . Before the game, Green -- who began his career with the Thunder franchise before being traded to the Celtics -- went over to the Oklahoma City bench to greet some of his former teammates. . Durant was called for a technical foul 71 seconds into the game for complaining about officiating. . Former Thunder coach P.J. Carlesimo, fired by the team after a 1-12 start in the franchises first season in Oklahoma City (2008-09), was a colour commentator on the Celtics television crew. 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