J.B. Holmes

When the Players Championship starts Thursday at Stadium Course at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra, Fla., there will once again be a face familiar to area golf fans. No, it’s not Tiger Woods, who will be playing in his first tournament since...

|TV SPORTS| |SUNDAY| NHL Hockey--Los Angeles Kings at Detroit Red Wings, 11:30 a.m. (NBC); New Jersey Devils at Pittsburgh Penguins, 6:30 p.m. (NBCSN) Men’s College Basketball--Indiana at Ohio State, Noon (CBS); St. John’s at Syracuse, 2...

|TV SPORTS| |SATURDAY| Soccer--Premier League, Norwich City at Queens Park, 6:30 a.m. (ESPN2) Men’s College Basketball--Cincinnati Seton Hall, 10 a.m. (ESPNU); Syracuse at Pittsburgh, 11 a.m. (ESPN); Purdue at Northwestern, 11 a.m. (ESPN2);...

|TV SPORTS| NBA Basketball--Miami Heat at Indiana Pacers, 6 p.m. (ESPN); Los Angeles Lakers at Minnesota Timberwolves, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN) Men’s College Basketball--Manhattan at Siena, 6 p.m. (ESPNU); Youngstown State at Detroit, 8 p.m. (ESPNU)...

After 14 holes, I risked the wrath of the golf gods by reminding Hunter Hillenmeyer he had yet to three-putt a green. "Now that's a jinx," he said. For seven-plus seasons, Hillenmeyer thrived as a Bears linebacker because of his mental toughness. A...

|TV SPORTS| NBA Basketball--New Orleans Hornets at Miami Heat, 7 p.m. (ESPN); Denver Nuggets at Phoenix Suns, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN) College Football--Cincinnati at Louisville, 7 p.m. (ESPN2) Men’s College Hockey--Alaska-Anchorage at North Dakota, 7:30...

|TV SPORTS| |SUNDAY| NFL Football--Kansas City Chiefs at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Noon (CBS); Detroit Lions at Philadelphia Eagles, Noon (FOX); Minnesota Vikings at Washington Redskins, 3:25 p.m. (FOX); Green Bay Packers at Houston Texans, 7:20 p.m. (NBC)...

|TV SPORTS| |SATURDAY| Soccer—Premier League, Fulham at West Ham, 6:30 a.m. (ESPN2); Women’s National Teams, Exhibition, United States vs. Costa Rica, 1:30 p.m. (NBC) College Football—Notre Dame vs. Navy, 8 a.m. (CBS); Ohio at Penn...

Former Kentucky All-American Derek Abney had never talked to UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart on the telephone before when he recently got a call from him. “I wasn’t sure what was going on, then he gave me the news about the Hall of Fame....

Temperatures soared at the Greenbrier Classic on Thursday, but the scores went the other way with several players who posted low numbers in round one. Right now, Vijay Singh is atop the leaderboard with a 7-under-par 63. Jeff Maggert and Martin Flores...

U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson shot a 5-under 65 on Saturday to take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the Greenbrier Classic. Simpson had his second straight bogey-free round to reach 14 under on the The Greenbrier Resort's Old White TPC...

And MATT CONYERS tyantz@courant.com, mconyers@courant.com CROMWELL –Bubba Watson's popularity has soared since his memorable Masters victory. But it has created some difficulties, too. "Well, for me it was a different situation because we...