St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page B002

B2 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 1 MONDAY 04.02.2012 sittoday. TODAY'S CHAT JOIN JEFF GORDON at 11 a.m. with your questions about the Blues' playoff chances, the Cardinals' opener or any other Tony La A Russa JOIN THE DISCUSSIONS Blues: Anyone else rooting for Detoit at this point? Cardinals: Can we please get away from the TLRIove affair? Rams: Some D-line prospects. Mizzou: Would you rather STLtoday.comsportsforums sports topic.

KEEP UP TO DATE FOLLOW YOUR HIGH SCHOOL'S progress in baseball, Softball, track and other spring sports across the area. STLhighschoolsports.com STLtoday.comsports CALENDAR Cardinals cardinals.com 1 314 345 HERE THEY COME Tiger Woods and Rory Mcllroy have starring roles this year at the Masters. Today Wednesday 44 Friday 46 Saturday 47 at Springfield at Miami at Brewers at Brewers Cardinals 6:05 p.m. 3:10 p.m. 3:05 p.m.

6:10 p.m. ESPN FSM Blues blues.nhl.com 314-622-2583 Wednesday 44 Friday 46 Saturday 47 Postseason vs. Red Wings vs. Coyotes at Stars TBD 6:30 p.m. 6:30 p.m.

7 p.m. NBC Sports Network NBC Sports Network FSM OTHER EVENTS FAIRMOUNT PARK HORSE RACING Live racing: Tuesdays at 1 p.m., Fridays at 7:30 p.m. Saturday racing starts May 5 (Kentucky Derby day) at 12:30 p.m., subsequent Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Simulcasting: 11 a.m.-ll:30 p.m. daily.

ON THE AIR BASEBALL 4 p.m. 6 p.m. 9 p.m. Network HOCKEY 6 p.m. 30 Exhibition: Exhibition: NHL: Clubs in 30 Days: Baltimore Orioles, MLB Network New York Yankees at Miami, MLB Network Los Angeles Dodgers at Los Angeles Angels, MLB Washington at Tampa Bay, BASKETBALL College Men's national championship 8:23 p.m.

Kentucky vs. Kansas, KMOV (4), KFNS (590 AM) National Basketball Association 7 p.m. Houston at Chicago, NBA TV SOCCER 1:55 p.m. Premier League: Manchester United at Blackburn, ESPN2 Tiger Woods ASSOCIATED PRESS Tiger Woods and Rory Mcllroy passed each other last year on Sunday at Augusta National, players from different generations who appeared to be headed in opposite directions. Now, headed into Masters 2012, they're on a collision course each taking a path over the last 12 months that would have been difficult for anyone to chart.

It all started April 10. With four green jackets among his 14 majors, Woods made up a seven-shot deficit in nine holes and was poised for his first come -back win in a major. But instead of the Masters not starting until the back nine Sunday, it ended there for Woods. He didn't pick up another shot the rest of the day, and then a week later mentioned a "minor injury" to his left leg that turned out to be much more than that. It nearly would be four months until Woods completed another tournament, and he fell out of the top 50 in the world.

Meanwhile, Mcllroy was headed to the greatest collapse by a 54 -hole leader at the Masters in more than a half-century. The tee shot behind a cabin left of the 10th fairway. A three -putt from 7 feet on the 11th, and a four-putt from 12 feet on the 12th. The lasting image was Mcllroy burying his head in the crook of his arm after a wayward tee shot on the ROAD 'Exhibition 9000 NBC Sports Network FAX 314-340-3070 E-MAIL Yoo wins major title after foe misses putt She prevails in playoff after Kim misfires from 1 foot. Rory Mcllroy THE MASTERS When Thursday-Sunday Where Augusta, Ga.

TV 'Thursday-Friday ESPN; Saturday-Sunday KMOV (Ch. 4) 13th. He shot 80 that day. However, the devastation gave way to a coronation two months later, when the 22-year-old from Northern Ireland shattered the U.S. Open scoring record and won by eight shots.

Mcllroy has won twice and finished no worse than third in nine of his past 12 tournaments, and his win at the Honda Classic a month ago made him the second-youngest player (behind Woods) to be No. 1 in the world, even if the top ranking lasted only two weeks. That made him the favorite among bookies until Woods ended a 30 -month drought on the PGA Tour by winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational three weeks later. Here they come again. A chance for redemption for Mcllroy at the Masters.

A chance for Woods to resume his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus' record 18 majors. Mcllroy called blowing a four-shot lead last year "a defining moment." "It could have been the crossroads of my career," he said. "I could have let it affect me, maybe go into a slump or feel down or feel sorry for myself. I had enough good people around ASSOCIATED PRESS Adam Woodward, take a dip in a Championship. a 23 -year-old South Korean who lives in the Los Angeles area.

"So it was unfortunate on 18, but I feel good about my game. It's getting better." Kim's unbelievable miss on the Dinah Shore course will go down in tournament lore after a thoroughly wacky final round in which five players held the lead. Kim had been the most consistent contender amid those wild momentum swings, going bogey-free through 17 holes until she made a mistake reminiscent of Scott Hoch's missed 2-foot putt that would have won the 1989 Masters, and Doug Sanders' miss on a 3 -footer that would have won the 1970 British Open. "On the playoff hole, it's just hard to kind of focus on what's going on right now," Kim said. "Because I was still a little bit bummed (about) what happened on 18, honestly." Yoo and Kim played the 18th again in the playoff, and Kim's drive barely cleared the water, landing in the rough.

She left a birdie putt short from the fringe, and Yoo calmly reached the green before burying her winning putt. Yoo joined Grace Park as the only South Korean winners in the history of the tournament. ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS me not to let that happen. "I was able to go down the right path, and do the right things, and to put everything right and win the next major." Woods has been stuck on 14 majors since 2008 when he won the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines on a badly damaged left leg.

His last Masters win was in 2005, his longest drought in any of the majors. He has withdrawn from two tournaments since last year, the most recent at Doral because of soreness and swelling in his left Achilles tendon, but one week changed everything. He won by five shots, like he used to do. "I've gone into Augusta with wins and without wins," Woods said. "You're looking for one week, that's all.

Hopefully, everything comes together for that one week. I understand how to play Augusta National. And it's just a matter of executing the game plan." Mcllroy returns as U.S. Open champion. Thr four-shot lead he took into the last round a year ago now is looked upon as an example of what he can do, not what he didn't.

Mcllroy expects the attention this year to be "different." "I wasn't necessarily under the radar last year, but I'll be going in there with a lot more attention, a lot of scrutiny, because of what happened last year," he said. "The spotlight will be on me, and it's something that I'll just have to deal with. But I'll try to approach it like I did last year at least for three days, anyway." GOLF ROUNDUP Mahan claims Houston title Hunter Mahan won the Houston Open to become the first two-time winner this year on the PGA Tour, finishing with a 1-under 71 on Sunday to edge Carl Pettersson by a stroke at the tourney in Humble, Texas. Mahan finished at 16 under. The victory moved him to No.

4 in the world ranking, the first time he's been the highest-ranked American. "That's a pretty surreal thing to think about," said Mahan, who earned $1.08 million for his fifth PGA Tour title. "It shows me what I can do, shows me what I'm capable of." He has six top-25 finishes in seven starts this year, including a victory over Rory Mcllroy in the finale of the Match Play Championships in February. "You've got to enjoy this stuff," Mahan said. "It's kind of an honor and a pleasure to be in these tough situations.

This is what you work for, to be in these fun, tough, tight situations." Pettersson closed with a 71 in the final tuneup for the Masters this week at Augusta National. Third-round leader Louis Oosthuizen was another shot back, at 14, under after a 75. Defending champion Phil Mickelson (71), Keegan Bradley (71), Brian Davis (74) and Jeff Overton (68) tied for fourth at 12 under. European Tour Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen won the Sicilian Open for his first European Tour title, closing with a 3-under 69 for a 1-stroke victory over England's Chris Wood. Olesen finished at 15-under 273 on the Verdura course, inSciacca, Sicily.

Wood matched the course record with a 64. Americans Rich Beem (69) and John Daly (70) tied for 11th place. Associated Press DIGEST Djokovic tops Murray in Sony Ericsson Open final Top-ranked Novak Djokovic won his third Sony Ericsson Open title Sunday, holding every service game to beat fourth-seeded Andy Murray 6-1, 7-6 (4) in Key Biscayne, Fla. Djokovic also won in 2007 and last year. Only six-time champion Pete Sampras won more men's titles at Key Biscayne.

The lone break point Djokovic faced came in the fifth game, and he erased that. In the tiebreaker he lost only one service point, went ahead to stay when Murray double-faulted to make it 3-2, and closed out the victory when the Scotsman sailed his final forehand long. (AP) Hero of Order pulls off stunning win in Louisiana Derby Hero of Order, the longest shot in the field at 109-1, won the $1 million Grade 2 Louisiana Derby in New Orleans. Hero of Order, ridden by Eddie Martin Jr. and trained by Gennadi Dorochenko, paid $220.80, $79.20 and $25.40.

Risen Star Stakes was second and Rousing Sermon finished third in the Kentucky Derby prep race. (AP) United States, Japan tie at Kirin Cup Alex Morgan scored in the 72nd minute of soccer's Kirin Cup to give the United States a 1-1 draw with Japan, the team that defeated the Americans in the final of the Women's World Cup last year. Yukari Kinga beat goalkeeper Hope Solo from close in to give Japan a 1-0 lead in the 32nd minute. The exhibition tournament features three of the top four teams in the world. The United States is ranked No.

1 just ahead of Germany, while Japan is No. 3. The other team competing for the title, Brazil, is No. 4. The United States plays Brazil on Tuesday.

The final game -Brazil against Japan is Thursday. (AP) Ex-soccer star Giorgio Chinaglia dies Former Italy, Lazio and New York Cosmos star Giorgio Chinaglia died Sunday of complications from a heart attack. He was 65. Chinaglia helped Lazio win its first Italian title in 1974. He also played for Italy at the 1974 World Cup.

In 1976, Chinaglia left Lazio to sign with the Cosmos of the North American Soccer League. With the Cosmos, Chinaglia won four league titles, and retired in 1983 as NASL's all-time leading scorer with 243 goals. (AP) Another soccer fan shot dead in Brazil Police said Diego Rodrigo Costa de Jesus, 23, became the fourth casualty of soccer fan violence in central Brazil in less than a month when he was shot dead in a confrontation between supporters from Goias and Vila Nova in the city of Goiania on Saturday. Two Palmeiras fans were killed last week in a fight in Sao Paulo, and a Guarani supporter died about two weeks ago about 100 kilometers from the same city. (AP) Colombian wins PBA Tour event Andres Gomez became the first native of Colombia to win a PBA Tour title when he defeated Wes Malott of Texas 246-207 in the final of the Carmen Salvino Classic in Las Vegas.

Gomez joined England's Stuart Williams and Dom Barrett and Scott Newell of Florida as first-time winners on the PBA Tour this season. (From news services) Kelley takes giant slalom title at nationals RobbyKelley closed out the U.S. championships with a win in the giant slalom in Winter Park, Colo. Kelley finished in a combined time of 2 minutes, 15.03 seconds to defeat Espen Lysdahl and Leif Kristian Haugen. (AP) Boonen wins Tour of Flanders Tom Boonen won the one-day Tour of Flanders cycling race for the third time in his career, beating Filippo Pozzato and Alessandro Ballan in a three-way sprint in Oudenaarde, Belgium.

(AP) Burroughs RB Elliott commits to Ohio State John Burroughs junior running back Ezekiel Elliott, 16, announced on his Facebook page and Twitter feed that he has made a college commitment to Ohio State. Elliott weighed scholarship offers from 20 schools, including Missouri, Illinois, Nebraska, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Georgia, Tennessee and Penn State. Elliott, whose father, Stacy, played at Missouri from 1989-1992, carried 211 times for 1,802 yards, an average of 8.5 per carry, and 34 touchdowns in his junior season, when he also caught 23 passes for 401 yards and six touchdowns. He had two return touchdowns and finished with 2,203 total yards and an area-best 42 touchdowns. (Nate Latsch) Sun Young Yoo (right) and her caddie, pond after she won the Kraft Nabisco ASSOCIATED PRESS RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIF.

Sun Young Yoo won the Kraft Nabisco Championship with an 18 -foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole Sunday, earning her first major title after I.K. Kim missed a l-foot putt on the final hole of regulation play. Yoo won the LPGA Tour's first major of the season with steady play down the stretch, but she got to make the traditional leap into Poppie's Pond only after Kim's mind-boggling miss on the same green minutes earlier. "She's a great putter," Yoo said about Kim. "She usually doesn't miss that kind of putt, but in sports, you never know what's going to happen." Yoo, who earned her second career LPGA Tour victory, and Kim finished at 9 under but Kim could have ail-but wrapped up her first major with the tap- in par putt.

Kim might have struck the ball oddly, and it toured the lip of the cup before coming out on the same side it entered. The gallery gasped, and Kim raised her left hand to her mouth in disbelief. "I played straight, and it actually just broke to the right, even that short putt," said Kim, HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER Must include name, address for verification. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. CONTACT US Reid Laymance Roger Hensley Don Reed Mike Smith MAIL Sports Sound Off St.

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