Beauty-Ecke » head-to-head matchups pitting East dunkers vs. Wes

PHOENIX -- There were too many players close behind and too many low scores to be had for Lydia Ko to feel at ease at the top of the JTBC Founders Cup leaderboard. That wont change the 16-year-old New Zealanders approach Sunday at Desert Mountain. "Im just going to play my own game," Ko said. "If somebody goes crazy low like shooting 10 under, 9 under or whatever, its not something I can control." She shot a 5-under 67 on Saturday to reach 16-under 200. Jessica Korda and Mirim Lee were a stroke back, and a dozen players were within four shots on a course that gave up a 63 and two 64s in the third round. "Obviously, theres going to be some nerves," Ko said. "Of course, thats always there." Ko was 3 under on Wildfires Arnold Palmer-designed front nine Saturday after playing it in even par the first two days. She eagled the par-5 fifth after hitting a 5-wood to 7 feet. "I played much better on the front nine, so I was really happy with that," Ko said. Ko tapped in for birdie on the par-5 15th after missing an eagle try and took the outright lead with a 10-footer on the par-3 17th. Shes 13 under on the Nick Faldo-designed back nine, where the tournament will be decided. "You never know until the last hole, last putt," Ko said. Ko won the Canadian Womens Open as an amateur the last two years and took the Swinging Skirts World Ladies Masters in December in Thailand in her second start as a professional. She has five victories in pro events, also winning in Australia and New Zealand. "It would be pretty special and especially at the Founders Cup," Ko said. "Without the founders, there would be no LPGA. This has been my dream tour." Ko will play alongside Korda. They also played together in the first two rounds. "Its always cool to play with her," Ko said. Korda, the winner in the season-opening event in the Bahamas, birdied the final two holes for her second bogey-free 66 in a row. "I look at her like a little sister," Korda said about Ko. "Shes a great girl." Lee, the leader after each of the first two rounds, bogeyed the 15th and shot 70. Shes making her third start on the LPGA Tour after winning three times on the Korean LPGA. Sun Young Yoo, the 2012 Kraft Nabisco winner, was 14 under after a 68. Michelle Wie had a 67 to join Azahara Munoz, So Yeon Ryu, Amy Yang and Chella Choi at 13 under. "I couldnt get anything to the hole, but scrambled and shot 5 under," Wie said. "Im really happy to be in the position that I am. Im really excited for tomorrow." Munoz, coming off a playoff loss to Paula Creamer three weeks ago in Singapore, shot 64 -- one of 19 rounds of 67 or better in the 74-player field Saturday. Yang had a 67, and Ryu and Choi shot 68. Choi holed out from the fairway for eagle on the par-4 18th. Creamer had a 64 to match defending champion Stacy Lewis and Morgan Pressel at 12 under. Creamer played the first 15 holes in 9 under, then bogeyed the short par-4 16 after driving into a bunker. "I have hit the ball great this week," Creamer said. "Ive given myself so many opportunities, its kind of ridiculous. I just didnt putt my best the last two days." In Singapore, she holed a 75-foot eagle putt to beat Munoz on the second extra hole. Lewis and Pressel, 9 under after 11 holes Thursday, shot 67. "Pretty disappointing," Lewis said. "I left a ton of shots out there today. The greens were a bit softer and I just didnt quite adjust to it. Speed was a little bit different." Scottsdale resident Cristie Kerr matched the course record with a 63 to reach 11 under, finishing an hour before the leaders teed off. "I saw Cristie shot 9 under and Paula was 8 and I was like, Wow! Thats serious scoring," Korda said. "But the greens are a little bit bouncier in the afternoon and you can kind of see where people have walked." Kerr, playing a new set of irons this week, had an eagle, eight birdies and a three-putt bogey. "Im glad that I had the courage to switch because Im just so much more consistent now," Kerr said. DIVOTS: The third-round scoring average was 69.421. ... Top-ranked Inbee Park was 11 under after a 70. ... Ai Miyazato set the course record in the first round last year. ... Fifty-year-old Laura Davies shot 66 to reach 11 under. Cheap Jerseys .Bekker was added Wednesday in exchange for allocation money after two seasons with Toronto. The native of Canada had 29 MLS appearances, including 16 starts. Hes also played in 13 games for the Canadian national team. Black Friday Jerseys .Brothers B.J. and Justin Upton each homered and had an outfield assist, and the Braves held on for a 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night. https://www.fakejerseyswholesale.com/ . Hes coming back to fulfil them. One of Europes top coaches, Blatt was hired Friday by the Cavaliers, who ended a sweeping, 39-day search with an out-of-the-box selection they hope changes their fortunes. Cheap Custom Jerseys .com) - Kam Chancellor bobbed his head in celebration as he crossed the goal line on his game-clinching 90-yard interception return. Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping .The third-seeded Murray, who won here in 2009, will face seventh-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa next on the indoor hard court.NEW ORLEANS - In what has become a highlight of the NBA calendar, All-Star Saturday festivities will commence from Smoothie King Center. The night starts off with the Shooting Stars competition, followed by the Skills Challenge, the 3-Point Shootout and the main event, a showcase of athleticism known as the Slam-Dunk Contest. You can catch all of the action live starting at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2. Or, one could call All-Star Saturday, "Damian Lillard Day." The Portland All-Star, who competed in the Rising Stars game on Friday, is scheduled to participate in the Skills Challenge, 3-Point Shootout and Slam- Dunk Contest on Saturday. "Im happy that Im really a part of the weekend. I get to compete in all these events, and just to be in these guys company with all these stars," said Lillard. "It lets you know that the hard work is paying off." This year, much like last, Saturdays competitions are broken down into East vs. West. Paul George of the Indiana Pacers is the East captain, while Steph Curry guides the West. Both are starters in Sundays All-Star game. Saturdays happenings start at 8 p.m. ET. Up first will be the Shooting Stars, a simple enough competition where current NBAers join a legend and a WNBA star in a shooting contest from all over the floor. The first round will feature teams from the same conference against each other. The winning teams advance to the final round for the title. Each competitor will be stationed at one of the first three places, and the shot must be made before the next can be attempted. All three will chuck it up from near half-court and the team with the best time wins. Its a family affair for two of the teams as Curry will join his father Dell Curry and Becky Harmon of the San Antonio Silver Stars. On the East team, Tim Hardaway, Jr. of the New York Knicks will partner with his dad Tim and Elena Delle Donne of the Chicago Sky. Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder will pair with Karl Malone and Skylar Diggins of the Tulsa Shock. The other East team is the defending champion trio of Miamis Chris Bosh, Dominique Wilkins and Swin Cash of the Sky. The Skills Challenge underwent some changes this year. Now, there will be two two-man teams from each conference competing against each other to reach the East vs. West final. It will now be a relay format. The Eastern teams will be rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks and All-Star DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors as well as rookies Michael Carter-Williams of the 76ers and Orlandos Victor Oladipo.dddddddddddd The West will be represented by Lillard and Utah Jazz first-year player Trey Burke and the tandem of Goran Dragic of the Phoenix Suns and Reggie Jackson of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The 3-Point Shootout remained largely untouched, although the East v. West format remains intact. The player from the Eastern Conference with the most points will meet the player from the Western Conference with the most points. However, there is one new wrinkle this year. Each player can make one of the five locations to a full rack of five money balls, each worth two points. Defending champion Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers anchors the East team of Orlandos Arron Afflalo, Washingtons Bradley Beal and Joe Johnson of the Brooklyn Nets. Curry and Lillard are on the West team alongside All-Star starter Kevin Love, who won the title in 2012, and San Antonio Spur Marco Belinelli. And now, its time for the main event. This years edition of the Slam-Dunk contest will see many changes, first of which is a Freestyle Round. Lets let the NBA explain: "In a significant first in the events history, the competition will tip off with a Freestyle Round where the dunkers for each conference will have 90 seconds to showcase as many dunks as they want. At the conclusion of the Freestyle Round, the panel of judges will then choose a winner by voting East or West. The winning conference will earn the advantage of deciding whether its dunkers will dunk first or second in the head-to-head battles that take place in the Battle Round." The Battle Round? "The Battle Round will feature head-to-head matchups pitting East dunkers vs. West dunkers, with the judges choosing a winner for each battle. Upon losing a head-to-head battle, that dunker is then eliminated from the competition. The first team to win three battles will win the competition and be crowned 2014 Sprite Slam Dunk champions." No individual champion? "At the conclusion of the team competition, fans will then have the opportunity to vote for the player of their choice as the Sprite Slam Dunker of the Night through SMS, Twitter, NBA.com and the NBA GameTime app." For the first time since 1988, there will be three All-Stars in the Slam-Dunk Contest. George and John Wall of the Washington Wizards team with defending champion Terrence Ross of the Toronto Raptors, and out West, Lillard, Golden States Harrison Barnes and Sacramentos Ben McLemore round out the team. ' ' '