dsdad | Forum

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- Heather Bowie Young made five straight birdies while jumping from one side of the golf course to the other. Custom Nationals Jerseys . Silvia Cavalleri was hitting the ball so well Friday she was sorry the Bahamas Classic was held on only 12 holes. The slogan for the LPGA Tour is, "See why its different out here." Was it ever. Bowie Young and Cavalleri were tied for the lead at 6-under 39, which by numbers alone broke the LPGA scoring record by 20 shots. Not to worry. Annika Sorenstams 59 in Phoenix in 2002 still stands as the lowest 18-hole score in LPGA history. "It was so bizarre," Cristie Kerr said after the longest day on the shortest course. Severe flooding earlier in the week left much of the Ocean Club under water. The LPGA decided to use the holes that were available, and two of those holes had to be converted into par 3s because bunkers had caved in from a foot of rain that fell in a five-hour stretch Tuesday night. The hope was to complete three rounds of 12 holes to make the inaugural Bahamas Classic official. On the LPGA Tour, 36 holes have to be completed for it to count. Even with a 12-hole, par-45 course, that was going to be a challenge because of a three-hour delay for lightning. Twenty-seven players failed to finish the round. The day ended with Na Yeon Choi sprinting to the final hole so her group could tee off before the horn sounded to stop play because of darkness. Thats not unusual. What was different was the routing. She was on the third green, and the final hole in the setup was No. 8, meaning Choi had to run around a lake, through some vegetation, behind the seventh green and across a dirt path. If nothing else, she saw a beautiful sunset along the eighth fairway. And she finished. The first round is to resume at 8 a.m. Anna Nordqvist ran off three straight birdies early in her round for a 5-under 40, tied with three others. The group at 41 included Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., Suzann Pettersen and Brittany Lang. Maude Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., was on the course at 4-under when play was called. Stephanie Sherlock of Barrie, Ont., is six back with a 45. Sara-Maude Juneau of Fossambault-sur-le-lac, Que., is another shot back. Rebecca Lee-Bentham of Toronto had a 47, and Sue Kim of Langley, B.C., a 48. Charlottetowns Lorie Kane limped in with a 50. More than one player smiled coming out of the scoring tent and mockingly celebrated their lowest round ever. Bowie Young looked at it differently. "I can remember trying to shoot 39 for nine holes, and thats happened this year," Bowie Young said. "Ive shot well over that for nine holes." Nordqvist fared much better than the other two players in her group -- Inbee Park and Stacy Lewis, Nos. 1 and 2 in the womens world ranking. Park failed to make a single birdie in her round of 1-over 46. Lewis was going along fine until the par-5 11th, her sixth hole. She pulled her second shot just into a bunker, leaving an awkward third shot from about 50 yards that had to clear another bunker. She clipped it clean, and it sailed over the back of the green and into the water, leading to double bogey. Lewis birdied her next two holes and had a 1-under 44. The LPGA Tour signed up Pure Silk and the Bahamas Tourism Ministry as title sponsors and wanted to do all it could to play golf in the first year of this event, even if that meant going to extremes of playing a 12-hole course with the holes out of sequence to help with the flow. Everyone teed off on No. 10, and then headed to the front nine. Park was leaving the green when she stopped to make sure she knew where she was going -- a 120-yard walk across a waste area to the sixth tee. They played sixth and the seventh, and then headed over to the fourth hole. And thats when it got really crowded. At one point, there were nine players in a 50-yard radius. Morgan Pressel was in the second group, which was coming off the third green and headed to the eighth tee. "Were just going to play through," Jacqui Concolino said with a smile to Park, Lewis and Nordqvist. They were walking off the seventh green and headed to No. 4. Juli Inkster, Catriona Matthew and Candie Kung were approaching the seventh green. There was a lot of traffic. The Lewis trio got into carts, because the tee on par-4 fourth hole was moved to about 130 yards of the green. There was standing water in the fairways -- it looked more like small ponds -- though the problem was a large bunker right of the green that was unplayable. Tour officials couldnt afford players going into the bunker, and they made the muddy mess easier to avoid by making it a short par 3. Thats what surprised the players the most. Most of them were on board with a 12-hole course -- remember, Prestwick was only 12 holes when the British Open was played on the links 15 times back in the day -- in an effort to have a tournament. They just didnt realize there would be five par 3s. It felt like an executive course. Laura Davies had a 2-under 43. She was all smiles on her way to the golf course, and full of a few quips. "This should be a lot of fun," Davies said. "I just hope I dont get disqualified if I cant find my way to the next tee. Ill just walk slow and follow everybody else." Kerr finally got going with two birdies on her last three holes for a 1-under 44. She arrived at the course at 11:30 a.m., unaware there was a storm delay, and spent five hours at the course before she finally teed off. The hardest part of her day was the scorecard. There wasnt time to make new scorecards to reflect the routing of the holes -- 10, 6, 7, 4, 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 2, 3, 8 -- so she was filling in numbers that looked out of place. "I had to check it six times," Kerr said. "Youre putting a 2 or a 3 where it shows a par 5 and a 5 where it shows a par 3. But we all got it right. Theyre doing the best we can with what we have. Everyone is here. Everyone wants to play." LPGA Tour Commissioner Mike Whan is trying to avoid a Monday finish because several players have U.S. Womens Open qualifying early next week. Custom Anthony Rendon Jersey . Nine days before the opening ceremony, organizing committee chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said Wednesday that Sochi is "fully ready" and will deliver safe, friendly and well-run games that defy the grim reports that have overshadowed preparations. Cheap Nationals Jerseys . LOUIS -- Heading into the final stretch of the season, the issues for the Chicago Bears banged-up defence only seem to be getting worse. http://www.customnationalsjersey.com/ . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- A jury awarded a former Penn State assistant football coach $7.3 million in damages Thursday, finding the university defamed him after it became public that his testimony helped prosecutors charge Jerry Sandusky with child molestation.Jurors deliberated for about four hours in Mike McQuearys defamation and misrepresentation lawsuit.Judge Thomas Gavin still must decide McQuearys whistleblower claim that he was treated unfairly as the school suspended him from coaching duties, placed him on paid administrative leave, barred him from team facilities and then did not renew his contract shortly after he testified at Sanduskys 2012 trial.McQueary remained stoic as the verdict was read, and he and his lawyers made no comment as they left the courthouse.A Penn State spokesman said the university would not comment on the case and the jurys verdict until a final decision is rendered on all counts.McQueary had been seeking more than $4 million in lost wages and other damages, saying he was defamed by a statement the school president released the day Sandusky was charged, retaliated against for helping with the Sandusky investigation and misled by school administrators.Jurors awarded him $1.15 million on the defamation claim and $1.15 million on the misrepresentation allegation that two administrators lied to him when they said they took his report of Sandusky seriously and would respond appropriately. They also awarded $5 million in punitive damages.Sandusky, a former defensive coach at Penn State, was convicted of sexual abuse of 10 boys and is serving a 30- to 60-year prison sentence. He maintains his innocence.Strokoff called McQuearys treatment by the university outrageous.He should not have been the scapegoat, he said earlier during closing arguments.Penn State attorney Nancy Conrad emphasized in her arguments that McQueary had said he was damaged by public criticism that he did not to go to police or child welfare authorities when he saw Sandusky sexually abusing a boy in a team shower in 2001. Instead he reeported it the next day to then-head coach Joe Paterno. Nationals Jerseys China. r. McQueary was not damaged by any action of the university, Conrad said. Mr. McQueary, as he testified and as he recognized, if he was harmed, was harmed by national media and public opinion.McQueary testified he has not been able to find work, either in coaching or elsewhere, but Conrad blamed that on an inadequate network of contacts and the lack of a national reputation.McQueary was not allowed to coach in the schools first game after Paterno was fired, a home loss to Nebraska.That sends a very clear signal to those in your network that the university doesnt want you to be supported, Strokoff said. `Stay away, youre a nonperson.Penn State has argued it put McQueary on leave out of safety concerns, as threats were fielded by the university.Strokoff said there was no evidence of multiple death threats against his client.Conrad insisted the university did take steps to inform McQueary about the actions they were taking, which included telling Sandusky to stop bringing children into team facilities and meeting with Sandusky and an official from the childrens welfare charity he founded.No one told Mr. McQueary, `You cannot go to the police, Conrad said.The defamation claim involved a statement issued by then-Penn State President Graham Spanier expressing support for the two administrators when they were charged with perjury for allegedly lying about what McQueary told them in the weeks after the 2001 incident.A state appeals court earlier this year dismissed the perjury charges against the administrators, former Athletic Director Tim Curley and former Vice President Gary Schultz. But Curley, Schultz and Spanier still await trial in Harrisburg on charges of failure to properly report suspected child abuse and endangering the welfare of children.Strokoff said Spaniers statement could have led people to conclude McQueary was a liar. ' ' '