Unser Chat » wise wouldnt ask," MacTavish

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (SportsNetwork.com) - Henrik Stenson birdied the final two holes on Sunday en route to repeating as champion at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. Stenson closed with a 2-under 70 in the final round to end at 16-under-par 272. Stensons 70 broke his string of 12 consecutive rounds in the 60s on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates. The win was Stensons ninth on the European Tour. Im delighted with the day of course and the week, said Stenson. Its sweet to go on a break with this win. It was a winless season, but still a good one. This was the icing on the cake. World No. 1 Rory McIlroy nearly rallied to victory. He posted a 4-under 68 to end in a tie for second at minus-14. McIlroy was joined there by Justin Rose (69) and Victor Dubuisson (68). The day started a little slowly, but I sort of got it going on the back nine, but Henrik deserved it the way he played the last few holes, McIlroy said. I didnt have my best stuff this week, but Im proud of myself that I still gave myself a chance to win the tournament. Shane Lowry matched the low round of the day with his 6-under 66. That helped him grab fifth place at 13-under-par 275. Former Open champion Louis Oosthuizen matched Lowrys 66 to move into a tie for sixth at minus-12. Oosthuizen was joined there by Robert Karlsson (69) and Tyrell Hatton (70). Stenson got his round going with a birdie on the second. He dropped his approach shot inside five feet at the fifth and converted that birdie effort to move to 16-under. The Swede got up and down for birdie on the par-5 seventh. Stenson was one clear of his partner, Rafael Cabrera-Bello, at that point. However, Stenson 3-putted for bogey on the eighth to slip into a share of the lead. Cabrera-Bello had three birdies and a bogey on the front nine to make the turn at minus-16. Stenson hit his tee shot out of bounds on the par-4 11th and that led to a double-bogey. Cabrera-Bello was suddenly in control of the tournament, but trouble loomed. It was a horrible shot and a horrible club selection really. One of the worst shots Ive hit for a long, long time and I hit it out of bounds, Stenson stated. After that, I had to dig deep and I came back with a good par save on 12 to stay in it. Cabrera-Bello found a greenside bunker at the 12th and he failed to get up and down for par. Cabrera-Bello remained one shot ahead as he parred three in a row from the 13th. The Spaniards second at the 16th trickled inside a hazard line, but he had a shot. The 2012 Dubai Desert Classic winner blasted that shot over the green and into the water. That led to a double-bogey, which dropped Cabrera-Bello from the lead. He fell further down the leaderboard with another double-bogey at 17, where he again found water. Stenson, who parred five in a row from the 12th, was now tied for the lead with Rose and McIlroy. Rose birdied three in a row from the 14th to get to minus-14, but he parred the final two holes to end there. McIlroy, the 2012 winner, birdied the 14th and 15th to join Rose at 14-under. At the par-5 closing hole, McIlroys tee shot caromed off a rock and into the middle of the fairway. He hit the grandstands with his approach shot and would walk off with his third par in a row. That left it to Stenson. He stuffed his tee shot at the par-3 17th within two feet and he kicked that in for birdie and a 1-shot lead. Stenson closed the tournament in style as he drained a 6-foot birdie putt for the 2-shot win. It was good numbers for me. It was about 205, 210 yards into the wind and I played a nice 5-iron, and the outcome was perfect, Stenson explained of his tee shot at 17. That set me up for 18 where I needed a 5 to win it, but I managed to trickle in a 4 in. Dubuisson needed an eagle at the last to possibly force a playoff. His bunker shot got within a foot of the hole, but it spun back away from the cup. NOTES: Stenson earned 1,666,600 euros for the win ... This marked the first time in Stensons career that he has won three straight years on the European Tour ... Stenson joined Charl Schwartzel, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Oosthuizen, Stephen Gallacher and Graeme McDowell as the six players that successfully defended a title on the European Tour this season. Reggie Jackson Yankees Jersey . The CFL club is making the move after holding its camp and regular-season practices at the University of Toronto campus in Mississauga, Ont. Phil Rizzuto Jersey .com) - Tony Parker scored 17 points to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a comfortable 99-85 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. http://www.yankeesrookiestore.com/Yankees-Jorge-Posada-Kids-Jersey/ . Price was hurt at the start of Wednesdays practice after facing just one shot as the team worked on their power play. He left the ice in discomfort and appeared to be favouring his leg. A Habs source told TSNs John Lu that Price suffered the injury in Sochi and not before the Olympics. Custom New York Yankees Jerseys . Despite Barcelona showing the same vulnerability in defence, Messis best performance since returning from a lengthy injury layoff ensured that his side bounced back from a defeat by Valencia in the previous round. Johnny Damon Jersey .com) - Rakeem Christmas scored 21 points, B.The Edmonton Oilers take solace in one thing from their eighth straight playoff-less season: It cant get any worse. "Last year was such a debacle from start to finish in so many ways," Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish explained to TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie, "that we are for sure going to better, its just a measure of how much." In an attempt to get better, the Oilers made plenty of changes toward the end of last season and through the off-season, however the team did not make a change at head coach. Instead the club elected to stand by Dallas Eakins after a trying first year at the helm of an NHL club. "Ill say this for Dallas, quite incredible the way he kept it together for a first-year head coach in an incredibly difficult set of circumstances and to come through a season like that with his integrity and his sanity as rationally as he did was a real testament and tribute to his character," MacTavish said before giving his bench boss another vote of confidence. "We as an organization believe wholeheartedly in Dallas Eakins. We think hes our coach for the future and its up to us in management to give him the tools and support that he needs to have success because hes not an impediment for us moving forward." Amongst those tools and support are newly hired assistant coaches Craig Ramsey and Rocky Thompson, who were brought in to replace Steve Smith and Kelly Buchberger. "When youre in a losing culture, I think change is important," MacTavish told McKenzie. "I think change brings optimism, I think optimism is important in our business, especially when youre talking about coaching. This isnt to blame it on assistant coaches, thats for sure. But, thats the nature of the business, you bring people in and they add a little bit something different, a little bit different set of eyes and thats why we did it." One thing that wont change with the Oilers new set of eyes is their top line. The trio of Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle will once again be tasked with leading Edmontons offence. Hall proved to be a star last season, scoring 80 points in 75 games, and now MacTavish says his linemates must determine if they can raise their playing level in order for the Oilers to be successful. "We all know Nugent-Hopkins and Eberle are really good players but what we dont know is whether they are star players. They have a lot of room for growth...but theyve had enough experience and enough time. I think, in fairness to them, they want this more so than anybody else. We need to see whether theyre going to be good players or whether theyre going to be star players." Behind the top line, many questions remain for the Oilers lineup and at the top of that list is centre depth. Mark Arcobello, Anton Lander, Leon Draisaitl and Boyd Gordon are all viable options for the team down the middle. But decisions on where each them will play remains undetermined. "Going into camp thats the single biggest question we have," MacTavish said of the centre position. "We think that the goaltendings stabilized with Viktor Fasth and Ben Scrivens, weve added some depth and some puck-moving defencemen, so I think the depth there is certainly going to be better and the wings have always been strong and the wings are going to be good on our team again this year. The question mark is whether we have enough currently to fill those other positions and if we dont, well be looking to find somebody that can." MacTavish said the question at centre would not, however, impact the decision of how to develop the teams thhird-overall pick, Draisaitl.dddddddddddd. "Well make our decision on whatever is best for Leon," MacTavish stated. "We dont want to put him into a situation thats not best for his development, because that is really what well be basing that decision on. Hes got lots of NHL-ready attributes but we dont know that it will all mesh to the point that he can play this year, and well make that decision on whats best for him." The Oilers have a recent history of putting pressure on early draft picks. Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov both played full NHL seasons after being drafted first-overall. Nugent-Hopkins has developed into the teams top-line centre, while Yakupov has struggled. MacTavish says the team has taken a lesson from their handling of Yakupov. "Development is seldom a straight line," MacTavish said of the 2012 first-overall pick. "For very few people, maybe Sidney Crosby started here and went higher, but I think generally we put way too much pressure on young players. I expect Nail to go in (to camp), hopefully be able to breathe a little bit, take some pressure off and just gain some experience and continue to develop." Last season, the Oilers, despite a pressing need at defence, decided not to rush seventh-overall pick Darnell Nurse into the NHL. Now, the Oilers have added Nikita Nikitin, Mark Fayne and Keith Aulie to join Andrew Ference, Jeff Petry and Nick Schultz on the blue line. MacTavish doesnt believe those additions guarantee Nurse, or another prospect, wont crack the roster as well. "Its safe to say that when youre talking about young defencemen, that both Oscar and Darnell, and Marty is in that mix as well, are going to be excellent defencemen for the Edmonton Oilers for 10 or 15 years. Whether next year is the first year of those 10 or 15 years, that I dont know but theyre very good prospects, theyre going to be very good players and its safe to say they have to play somewhere near the top-four for us to make a case to keep them." Behind the defencemen, this year at least, will be goaltenders Scrivens and Fasth, who were both acquired in-season via trade last year. Though the starter has yet to be determined, MacTavish said Scrivens holds the early lead. "Based on last years work Ben Scrivens had a pretty firm hold of the No. 1 spot by the end of last year. Well pick up where we left off last year with Ben being the de facto No. 1 goalie for us but Viktor is a very capable guy and hes going to fight hard for that position, which is exactly what we want." One thing that could help determine who starts in net for the team is analytics. The Oilers hired former analytic blogger Tyler Dellow to help in that respect. MacTavish said the move should help the Oilers recognize problems not otherwise seen on the ice. "I think analytically when you look at your team and your execution of your team in a myriad of different zones and different situations, it will lead you to ask questions maybe that you otherwise wouldnt ask," MacTavish explained. Is this the year the Oilers finally end their eight-year playoff drought? MacTavish says he learned an important lesson last season on high expectations. "Be careful with optimism," MacTavish told McKenzie. "I think (going into last season) I was more optimistic then I should have been. Youre always evolving and youre always learning in this business if youre going to survive and hopefully Ill be stronger and better and more capable in the job that I do because of the