HOYLAKE, England -- The British Open packs 154 years of history on links courses that have been nurtured more by time than by tractors. Wholesale Air Max 90 Clearance . It returns this year to Royal Liverpool, the second-oldest golf club in England, established in 1867 before anyone in America knew much about the Royal & Ancient game. For all its heritage, however, the charm of this major is what lies ahead. No one ever knows what to expect. Consider the landscape. Royal Liverpool was so brown and baked when The Open was last here in 2006 that the R&A asked players to take extra care if they smoked, and it had two fire engines stationed on the golf course. The ball rolled so far when it hit the ground that Tiger Woods hit only one driver over 72 holes and won by two shots. Now the grass is greener than it was at Pinehurst No. 2 for the U.S. Open. It feels like a new course this year. "Its lush. The greens are soft and very green. Fairways are pretty similar," said Rory McIlroy, who took a scouting trip to Hoylake last week. "But I think they are going to get a spell of good weather leading up to The Open, and hopefully, it will get a bit firmer." He recalled watching in 2006 when "the ball was like bouncing down a road on the fairways." McIlroy says he could hit as many as five drivers each round. "Its going to be a little different," he said. "Theres some thick spots of rough on the course, so avoiding that and avoiding those fairway bunkers ... if I can just do that, and anyone else can do that, then theyll have a good chance." A greater change might be the landscape of golf. Woods was at the height of his powers eight years ago when he won the claret jug for the third time. He was the first player in more than 20 years to repeat as Open champion. He would go on to win the PGA Championship that year, making history as the only player to capture multiple majors in successive years. Now he makes news when he can even play in a major. Woods has had three surgeries since he was last at Royal Liverpool a(euro)? two on his left knee, the most recent on March 31 to alleviate a nerve impingement in his back, which caused him to miss the Masters for the first time, and then the U.S. Open. When the British Open begins on Thursday, it will be his first major in 11 months. Woods returned earlier than anyone thought a(euro)? himself included a(euro)? three weeks ago in the Quicken Loans National at Congressional. He missed the cut, which annoyed him, and played without pain, which thrilled him. "I hate to say it, but Im really encouraged by what happened this week," Wood said. "What I was able to do physically, and the speed I had and the distance that I was hitting the golf ball again, I had not done that in a very long time." He wasnt worried about the little mistakes, mainly with his short game, because he could fix them. But how soon? Woods is 38 and without a major in six years, leaving him at 14 for his career and still four short of catching Jack Nicklaus. It might help to return to a course where he has won before, except that this is a different golf course. And he is not the same player. "We havent seen Tiger really, really play well in a while now," two-time U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange said. There hasnt been a dominant player even during his time away from various injuries and surgeries over the last five years. Golf is ruled by committee. McIlroy, with two majors by age 23, is just now starting to get his game back in order. Martin Kaymer is in the best form, having won The Players Championship and U.S. Open by going wire-to-wire in both. Adam Scott is No. 1 in the world. Phil Mickelson is the defending champion. Justin Rose is fresh off a big win at Congressional. Bubba Watson is a Masters champion again. All have had moments of greatness, none of it sustained. Nineteen players have won the 24 majors that have been held since Woods won his last one. "We have all witnessed what Tiger has been able to do over his career, whether thats come back from injury and win, come back from any sort of off-course stuff and win. I mean, win the U.S. Open on one leg," McIlroy said. "Is it foolish for people to write him off? I would say so. If hes playing and hes competing, hes got as good a chance as any." Considering the circumstances, Woods winning would be a surprise. Then again, for as long as golfs oldest championship has been around, it is still capable of delivering a few shockers. Mickelson produced one of his own at Muirfield last summer when he had his named etched on that silver claret jug for winning the one major that for years befuddled him. Only five years ago, 59-year-old Tom Watson came within an 8-foot par putt of being the oldest major champion. Ben Curtis was playing his first major in 2003 when he won at Royal St. Georges. He was the only player to break par. The Open returned to St. Georges eight years later, and 11 players had a better score than Curtis. What happened eight years ago at Royal Liverpool feels like ancient history. Perhaps that should be the adage for The Open. The more things stay the same, the more they change. Cheap Air Max 90 Authentic . The 33-year-old Spaniard, who held the lead since the second round, turned in a solid final round that featured six birdies and two bogeys to finish on 22-under 266. The victory is Garcias first this year with his last win coming at the Johor Open, an Asian Tour event in Malaysia last December. Nike Air Max 90 For Sale Cheap . Milan was held to 1-1 at home by Torino. Cagliari scored six minutes from halftime when Mauricio Pinilla blasted home from the penalty spot after Facundo Roncaglia tripped Marco Sau. The home side could have doubled its tally in stoppage time as first Fiorentina defender Stefan Savic almost scored an own goal then Albin Ekdals shot clipped the top of the upright. http://www.airmax90outletsale.com/ . Certainly not Monday night. George Hill took care of the early work, scoring a season-high 26 points, and Paul George closed it out by scoring 11 of his 26 points during a decisive second-half stretch that finally allowed Indiana to pull away from Minnesota 98-84 for yet another win.NEW YORK, N.Y. - A chance to gain ground in the playoff race was there, until Jarrett Jack took it away. Now the New York Knicks have 3,000 miles to think about how this game — and maybe any realistic post-season hopes they had — was lost. Jack scored a season-high 31 points Sunday night in the Cleveland Cavaliers 106-100 victory over the Knicks, who had their eight-game winning streak snapped. The Knicks wasted a chance to pull within two games of a playoff spot before leaving for a five-game Western Conference trip that starts Tuesday against the Lakers. "This was a huge opportunity lost, one we cant afford," Knicks guard J.R. Smith said. "But we cant get it back. Weve just got to go on the road, win some games and try to come back home and win." Hours after being handed a chance to get closer to the final spot in the Eastern Conference when Atlanta blew a fourth-quarter lead in Toronto, the Knicks responded with an inept final period of their own after they led by 17 points in the first half. They couldnt stop Jack and couldnt get a basket from Carmelo Anthony, who missed all five shots in the final period and finished with 32 points. New York remained three back with 12 to play. "Its tough. We shouldve won this game. We gave it away. They earned it, they beat us. We didnt play well coming down the stretch or in the second half and they did," Anthony said. "But its behind us now, theres nothing we can do about that." Jack scored 23 in the second half after coach Mike Brown challenged his team at halftime. "It was just about making a stand and each individual person making a stand and then collectively as a team us all bringing that same mindset to the table," Jack said. "Thats pretty much what it was about. I just thought guys responded." Jack finished with 10 assists for the Cavaliers, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Dion Waiters scored 22 points and Luol Deng had 13 in his return from a three-game absence with a sprained left ankle for the Cavs, who didnt miss All-Star Kyrie Irving because Jack torched the Knicks for 13 points in the fourth quarter on 6-of-7 shooting. "I just challenged them. Thats all. I didnt say thatt much," Brown said. Air Max 90 Outlet. "The guys in the locker room, they decided to go play and they went out and got it done." New York was missing ailing Iman Shumpert, their best perimeter defender who surely wouldve gotten a chance to defend Jack since nobody else could. The Knicks, who suddenly were back in the playoff race after looking out of it after a seven-game skid dropped them to 21-40 after a loss in Detroit on March 3, will have to bounce back on the road. The Hawks had already lost at Toronto by the time the Knicks showed up for work Sunday. Coach Mike Woodson said he was glad but didnt appear overjoyed, realizing the Knicks still have plenty to do to get to the 35 to 40 wins he think will be necessary to earn a playoff spot. "Its good that they lose, but again, its about what we do at this point," Woodson said before the game. Even getting to 35 wins will be difficult considering they still have games against Miami and Chicago, plus two apiece against Brooklyn and Toronto after their trip. New York made 15 of 21 shots (71 per cent) in the first quarter, getting 14 points from Anthony and taking a 34-27 lead when Smith made a 28-footer with 0.2 seconds left. The Knicks pushed the lead to 17 in the second when Pablo Prigioni made a 3-pointer, then stole the ball and threw an alley-oop pass that Smith slammed down to finish off a fast break and make it 51-34. But down 61-46 at halftime, Cleveland scored the first nine of the second half to get within six, and the Knicks never really got the momentum back. The Cavs used an 11-4 spurt to tie it at 90 on Jacks jumper with 7:29 remaining, then Dengs 3-pointer gave them a 93-92 edge with 5:46 to play. Anthonys free throws gave the Knicks their last lead, but Jack knocked down a jumper, Waiters made a 3-pointer and Anderson Varejao had an easy dunk after a pick-and-roll to make it 100-94 with 2:37 remaining. New York cut it to two, but Jack answered with another jumper, finishing two points shy of his career high. Smith finished with 18 points. NOTES: New York had won the previous five meetings at home. ... On Noche Latina, Spanish for Latin night, former St. Johns star Felipe Lopez announced the starting lineups in Spanish. ' ' '