Morning Briefing March 4, 2010
Jack Nicklaus is going to appear at next month’s Masters. He thinks Tiger Woods will as well.
Nicklaus said Wednesday that “it would surprise me” if Woods did not return to competitive golf in time for the Masters, a tournament the embattled world No. 1 has won four times in his career.
“I suspect he’ll play something before Augusta,” Nicklaus said behind the 18th green at PGA National, where the Honda Classic opens today at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. “Your guess is as good as mine. I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t play something before Augusta.”
Nicklaus is going back to the Masters, a tournament he won six times, as an honorary starter this year. He agreed to take on the role last year, and will join Arnold Palmer for the opening shot of the tournament on April 8.
Hockey
Mike Green snapped a third-period tie, Jose Theodore finished made 23 saves and the Washington Capitals upstaged Olympic hero Ryan Miller’s return to Buffalo in a 3-1 victory over the slumping Sabres in NHL action.
Avalanche 4, Ducks 3: Matt Duchene scored the go-ahead goal with 11:51 to play, leading Colorado at Anaheim.
Blackhawks 5, Oilers 2: Niklas Hjalmarsson, Dustin Byfuglien and Jonathan Toews scored in the third to help host Chicago beat Edmonton.
Panthers 7, Flyers 4: At Sunrise, Fla., David Booth and Bryan McCabe each had a goal and three assists, leading Florida past Philadelphia.
Wild 4, Flames 0: Niklas Backstrom made 29 saves, leading Minnesota at Calgary.
Canucks 6, Red Wings 3: U.S. Olympian Ryan Kesler scored twice, and gold-medal winning Canadian goalie Roberto Luongo made 28 saves to help Vancouver win at Detroit.
n Geordie Wudrick and Brandon McMillian scored shootout goals to help the Kelowna Rockets defeat the Spokane Chiefs 3-2 in Western Hockey League play in front of 6,088 at Prospera Place in Kelowna, British Columbia.
Former Coeur d’Alene Laker Tyler Johnson scored shorthanded for the Chiefs in the second period for his 32nd goal of the season. Brenden Kichton scored midway through the third to even the score at 2.
“The penalty kill did a great job tonight,” Spokane coach Hardy Sauter said. “But we need to generate more 5 on 5 opportunities and our power play needed to make adjustments that we just did not make. This could be a big point we lost out on in the end.”
Spokane (40-21-3-2, 85 points) was held to 21 shots on net, its second-lowest total of the season.
The Chiefs travel to Portland on Friday.
Baseball
Tim Lincecum struggled in his spring debut for the San Francisco Giants, allowing three runs in one inning of an 8-7, 10-inning victory over the Seattle Mariners at Peoria, Ariz.
The Giants went up 3-0 in the top of the first. In the bottom half, Ichiro Suzuki reached on an error by first baseman Aubrey Huff. Lincecum then walked successive hitters before Ken Griffey Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to right.
Jose Lopez and Casey Kotchman followed with run-scoring singles to right to tie it.
Football
Peyton Manning has spent 12 seasons being a pain in the neck of NFL opponents. Now the four-time league MVP is trying to alleviate the pain in his own neck.
The Indianapolis Colts announced that Manning had surgery in Chicago to fix a pinched nerve, a procedure that is not expected to interrupt Manning’s offseason workouts or his availability for next season.
— The Associated Press