WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 SPORTS

Bitter memories for Johnson Tribute to Six Nations showdown MIAMI: Dustin Johnson holds bitter memories of Whistling Straits and has CARDIFF: Wales will field an unchanged starting lineup for the Six Nations showdown with promised to avoid a repeat of his blunder five years ago when he returns to golfer Nagel Ireland in Cardiff on Saturday. Coach Warren Gatland was pleased with his side’s 20-13 win the shores of Lake Michigan for the US PGA Championship in August. over France in Paris which kept alive their hopes of winning the tournament and had no The 30-year-old American won the elite WGC-Cadillac Championship at LONDON: Organisers will stage a special Champions problem giving the same 15 men a vote of confidence. Flanker Sam Warburton, who went Doral on Sunday, his first victory since taking a six-month break from golf to Challenge on the eve of this year’s British Open at St off after taking a blow to his knee during the French clash, has regained his fitness and will seek help for “personal challenges”, to climb to seventh in the world rankings. be able to break Ryan Jones’ record when he captains Wales for the 34th time at the Johnson’s triumph has given him the belief he can go on to secure a break- Andrews as a tribute to late Australian golfer Kel Nagle. through first major title, after unluckily losing out to eventual winner Martin Nagle, who won the Centenary Open at the home of Golf Millennium Stadium. The only two changes to the Paris lineup are due to injuries and come Kaymer of Germany at the 2010 U.S. PGA Championship. “I played well five in 1960, was the sport’s oldest surviving major champion on the bench. Uncapped Scarlets prop Rob Evans replaces Bath loosehead Paul James, who years ago at Whistling Straits but I won’t be grounding my club anywhere I until he died in January at the age of 94. suffered a fractured thumb during the France game, while lock Jake Ball takes over from shouldn’t be grounding it,” he told reporters in Miami. World number one Rory McIlroy is to join golden oldies Bradley Davies. The Wisconsin venue has more than 1,000 bunkers, several of which would Peter Thomson, Tom Watson, Gary Player, Bob Charles, Nick A win for Wales would see them stay in the Six Nations title shake- normally be deemed ‘waste areas’ where a player can ground his Faldo and Tony Jacklin in the four-hole challenge that will be up, while Ireland are chasing a a record 11th successive Test win club, but a local championship rule states that all sand areas held at the Old Course on July 15. More recent champions against all opponents, and they have only lost twice in Cardiff since should be played as hazards. like Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Darren Clarke and 1983. Gatland has seen his side rebound strongly from an opening day Johnson was leading by one at the US PGA when he Padraig Harrington have also confirmed their participation. loss to England in Cardiff with wins away to both Scotland and France, was handed a two-stroke for grounding his club in “We are looking forward to a wonderful celebration of and he is confident of more success in the remaining games against the Irish and away to Italy. a waste area at the 72nd hole. “Standing there over my the rich heritage of The Open at the Champion Golfers’ second shot at 18 on that Sunday I didn’t think I was “We return to the Millennium Stadium after two tough away trips standing in a sand trap,” he said. “There was just so much Challenge,” Royal & Ancient chief executive Peter Dawson with two victories, and we will be looking to build on that,” he said. spectator rubbish in that bunker like candy wrappers, a said in a news release yesterday. “It will be a fitting occasion “We saw an improvement against Scotland, and then saw another Gatorade bottle, beer cans and all kinds of stuff to recognise the wonderful career of Kel Nagle, one of the step up against France, and we know we will need to do the same including plenty of foot prints. —Reuters sport’s great gentlemen.” — Reuters against Ireland on Saturday. —AFP Another Wimbledon title is Federer’s

NEW YORK: Roger Federer is proud of all Feb. 28. Federer said Nadal could charge his grand slam singles titles, but if the Swiss past him, but felt Djokovic was a longshot. master could add just one more to his “Who knows? Rafa has the best shot if he record men’s haul of 17 it would be at wins the French Open a few more times Wimbledon. and if I don’t win anymore he can catch me “It would be my favorite choice if I had a quickly. “I guess Novak is still a long shot choice right now,” Federer, 33, told but it really depends on how dominant his reporters on the eve of Tuesday’s BNB next years are going to be,” said Federer, Parabas Showdown exhibition at Madison whose wife and two sets of twins travel Square Garden against 23-year-old Grigor with him around the globe. Dimitrov. “I’d love to win Wimbledon. I think “They have to be very dominant it’s possible, and I think if I win Wimbledon because Rafa and me, we both are still play- it’s more cool for me personally, and my ing. It’s not like we’re both retired or any- team and Swiss people and my fans.” thing. “I’m more focused on me than on Another singles title at the All England them. I hope to make it more difficult on Club would give Federer a record eighth them but at the end of the day records are Wimbledon crown, breaking his tie with there to be broken.” Pete Sampras and W.C. Renshaw of the late Federer, whose last grand slam triumph 19th century. came at the 2012 Wimbledon, made it clear It would also make him the oldest that setting the all-time record meant a Wimbledon men’s winner, eclipsing Arthur great deal to him. Ashe, who was 31 when he won in 1975. “I was very happy to get the grand slam Federer said he is not consumed by a quest record at Wimbledon in 2009,” he said to add breathing room to his record total about surpassing Sampras’s total of 14. “It with Rafa Nadal sitting on 14, six ahead of was a dream come true and it was a huge world number one Novak Djokovic, who motivation to get to that after Pete had set lost to the Swiss in the final at Dubai on that record.” — Reuters

TORONTO: New York Islanders’ (left) celebrates with teammate Tyler Kennedy after scoring the winning goal during the overtime period of an NHL hockey game. — AP Islanders drop Leafs

TORONTO: John Tavares scored 4:38 into and Nashville’s Mike Fisher set the stage for against the Sharks. The Sharks killed a penalty overtime, capping the New York Islanders’ the game’s first goal. Paul Gaustad got a shot in overtime and survived Derrick Pouliot hit- two-goal comeback in a 4-3 victory over the through traffic and past Coyotes goalie Louis ting the post in the closing seconds before on Monday night. Domingue at 16:34 of the second period. winning it in the shootout. Tavares, an native, went around Kyle Chipchura redirected a shot from John several defenders to score the winning goal Moore at 7:27 of the third period to tie it 1-1. CANUCKS 2, DUCKS 1 during a delayed Toronto penalty. With his Domingue started for the Coyotes over Mike Zack Kassian’s third-period goal lifted 33rd goal and 39th assist, the Islanders cap- Smith, three days after his 23rd birthday and Vancouver over Anaheim. Bo Horvat had the tain stretched his lead in the NHL scoring race made his home debut. He stopped 35 shots. other goal for Vancouver, and Eddie Lack to three points. stopped 29 shots as the Canucks beat the Tavares has four overtime goals this sea- SHARKS 2, PENGUINS 1 Ducks in regulation for the first time in more son. Tyler Kennedy - in his Islanders debut - Antti Niemi made 39 saves and stopped than two years. Frans Nielson and Casey Cizikas all scored in seven of eight shootout attempts to lead San Emerson Etem had the lone goal for the the third period for the Islanders, who have a Jose to its 10th straight home win against Ducks, who have dropped two straight after three-point lead over the New York Rangers Pittsburgh. winning four in a row. Frederik Andersen Who will be the next Red atop the Metropolitan Division. Tommy Wingels beat Marc-Andre Fleury made 14 saves. Michal Neuvirth made 22 saves for the with a backhand in the eighth round of the Kassian ended a 1-1 tie with 3:59 left after Bull Kart Fight champion Islanders, who will host the Rangers on shootout, and Niemi made it stand up by Canucks defenseman Dan Hamhuis took the Tuesday night. New York trailed 2-0 and 3-1 in stopping Steve Downie. Matt Nieto scored the puck down the left side and fed the big for- KUWAIT: Kuwait kart drivers aged 16 and This year the winner of the Kuwait Final the third period. David Booth, Peter Holland lone goal for the Sharks, who had lost nine of ward, who fired a shot that Andersen got only above, the time has come for you to prove will move on to the Red Bull Kart Fight and James van Riemsdyk scored for the Maple their previous 10 home games overall. a piece of for his 10th of the season. Nate who truly has what it takes to be called a World Final in Austria. There they will repre- Leafs (26-35-6). Jonathan Bernier made 39 But they have dominated the Penguins at Thompson hit the post behind Lack moments champion. The Red Bull Kart Fight qualifiers sent Kuwait in an international race against saves. the Shark Tank of late. San Jose has 11 wins after Kassian put have begun. From now until the March 29 the world’s best amateur kart drivers from and one tie since its last home loss to the Vancouver ahead, but the Canucks held on the 20 fastest racing times recorded at SIRBB 18 different countries. Every driver is hun- RED WINGS 5, OILERS 2 Penguins on Oct. 22, 1997. after also killing a penalty for their first victory track will enter those drivers into the Kuwait gry to take home the title of champion so Riley Sheahan scored the go-ahead goal in Sidney Crosby tied the game earlier in the over Anaheim in a 60-minute game since Jan. final taking place on Thursday, April 2. the road ahead will be tough but well the second period, Jimmy Howard made 36 third with his first goal in seven career games 25, 2013 - a stretch of 10 games. — AP At the last Red Bull Kart Fight in 2012 worth the effort. saves, and Detroit ended a two-game skid Nawaf Al Safi convincingly defeated all oth- Think you have what it takes to be er drivers. This was no small accomplish- crowned Red Bull Kart Fight World with a victory over Edmonton. ment considering the Kuwait Kart Fight Champion? Demonstrate your skills here in Niklas Kronwall, Teemu Pulkkinen, Justin NHL results/standings started with 200 racers. He went on to Italy Kuwait first during the qualifiers till the Abdelkader and Pavel Datsyuk added goals to help Detroit send the Oilers to their fifth for the world final where he proudly repre- 29th of this month at SIRBB track and in the NY Islanders 4, Toronto 3 (OT); Detroit 5, Edmonton 2; Vancouver 2, Anaheim 1; Nashville 2, sented Kuwait against 20 other countries! Final on April 2nd to prove it! straight loss. Rob Klinkhammer and Nail Yakupov scored Arizona 1 (OT); San Jose 2, Pittsburgh 1 (SO). for Edmonton, and stopped 21 Western Conference Tampa Bay 41 20 6 222 177 88 shots. Howard made 16 saves in the third peri- Pacific Division Detroit 37 17 11 192 172 85 od and allowed only Yakupov’s power-play W L OTL GF GA PTS Boston 33 22 10 176 170 76 goal that made it 3-2 with 1:55 left. Pulkkinen Anaheim 42 19 7 199 186 91 Florida 29 23 14 163 188 72 had given Detroit a 3-1 lead with a rebound Vancouver 38 24 4 189 179 80 Ottawa 30 23 11 184 173 71 goal at 10:40 of the third. Abdelkader and Calgary 36 25 5 191 172 77 Los Angeles 31 21 13 175 168 75 Toronto 26 35 6 179 209 58 Datsyuk - with assists from Henrik Zetterberg - San Jose 33 26 8 189 187 74 Buffalo 19 42 5 126 224 43 both scored into an empty net in the final 1:04 Arizona 21 38 8 143 224 50 Metropolitan Division to seal the win. Zetterberg had three assists Edmonton 18 38 11 152 227 47 NY Islanders 43 21 4 218 192 90 overall. Central Division NY Rangers 40 17 7 198 155 87 Nashville 42 19 7 199 166 91 Pittsburgh 38 18 10 189 162 86 PREDATORS 2, COYOTES 1 St. Louis 41 19 5 204 163 87 Washington 36 21 10 200 165 82 James Neal put in a rebound of Seth Jones’ Chicago 39 21 6 190 154 84 Philadelphia 28 26 13 177 195 69 Minnesota 36 23 7 186 168 79 shot 2:45 into overtime to give Nashville a vic- New Jersey 28 28 10 151 170 66 tory over that ended a sea- Winnipeg 33 21 12 183 176 78 Colorado 30 25 11 177 185 71 Columbus 27 34 4 166 207 58 son-worst, six-game skid. Dallas 29 27 10 207 220 68 Carolina 25 32 7 152 174 57 Pekka Rinne made 27 saves to halt Eastern Conference Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one Nashville’s losing streak. The Coyotes have lost Atlantic Division point in the standings and are not included in 11 of 12 home games and 12 of 13 overall. Montreal 42 18 6 177 146 90 the loss column (L). A fight between Arizona’s B.J. Crombeen