again on its second shot of the third period. Robby Fabbri f

Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - With the No. 1 player in the world already out of this years Masters, injuries are clearly the top storyline heading into the first major of the season. Tiger Woods, as we all know, had back surgery last Monday and is out of the tournament. If that wasnt enough, three of the next four players in the world rankings are also ailing. Henrik Stenson, the third-ranked player in the world, continues to play with wrist pain that he has been dealing with since last year. No. 4 Jason Day hasnt played since winning the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, while No. 5 Phil Mickelson is battling the newest injury. The three-time Masters champion and reigning British Open champ hurt his oblique at the Texas Open, and withdrew. After some practice at Augusta, he shared 12th at the Houston Open. While those four battle with injuries, the remainder of the field deals with a lack of momentum. Outside of the last two Masters winners, not many players have any momentum heading into Augusta. Reigning champion Adam Scott has six top-25 finishes in six starts this season. However, he did close the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a 76 to lose the title. The man who slipped the green jacket onto Scotts shoulders, 2012 Masters winner Bubba Watson, also has six top-25 finishes in eight starts this season. Watson also has a win and two runner-up finishes in that span. That victory for Watson was his first since donning the green jacket in 2012. Watson already has more top-10s this year than he had all of 2013, so his game is clearly in fine shape. As for the remainder of the field, two of the biggest storylines early in the 2013-14 wrap-around season have been Jimmy Walker and Patrick Reed. Walker has three victories and Reed has a pair, making them the only multiple winners of the season. Thats the good news. The bad news for both, this is their first appearance in the Masters. Why is that bad news? Only Fuzzy Zoeller won the Masters in his first appearance. Could one of those players add their name to that short list? Since winning three times in eight events, Walker has cooled with five top-25 finishes, but none better than tied for 16th at the Texas Open. Reeds only start since his second victory ended in a tie for 52nd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. What about the other two reigning major champions? U.S. Open champ Justin Rose has three top-10 finishes in seven starts, but is coming off a missed cut at Bay Hill and he has broken par in four of his last 10 stroke-play rounds. PGA Championship winner Jason Dufner has three top-10s in eight starts and he has been off since the Valspar Championship. Tough to say what to expect from either of them. As you can tell, the seasons first major is wide open with no clear-cut favorite. Will either of last years combatants be in the mix again this year? Scott and the man he beat in the playoff, Angel Cabrera, both are valid picks, but also have question marks. Scott, as mentioned above, blew the Arnold Palmer Invitational in the final round. Cabrera, on the other hand, has missed the cut in six of his seven PGA Tour starts dating to last October. Honestly though, that doesnt mean much when it comes to Cabrera and the Masters. He had two missed cuts and one finish inside the top 30 in seven starts last year before playing his way into the playoff with Scott. In 2011, the Argentine had missed three cuts in six starts, then tied for seventh at Augusta. When Cabrera won in 2009, he was coming off back-to-back missed cuts and hadnt finished better than tied for 13th. There is something about Augusta with Cabrera. Last year, Scott and Cabrera both birdied the final hole of regulation to get into the playoff. Scott made his first as Cabrera stood in the fairway and watched. Cabrera responded by stuffing his approach inside three feet. The 2009 Masters champion kicked that in for birdie to force the extra session. In the playoff, both players spun their approach shots off the front of the green on the first extra hole. Cabrera nearly holed his chip as it skirted the edge of the cup. Scotts chip stopped three feet short of the hole. They both made their par putts, and it was off to the 10th. Cabrera left himself 18 feet for birdie, but failed to convert. Scott drained his 12-footer for birdie and the win. It was a huge turnaround for Scott, who had bogeyed the final four holes of regulation at the 2012 British Open to lose the title. Watson also won his title in a playoff in 2012. Those were the first back-to- back playoffs since 1989-90, when Nick Faldo won consecutive green jackets. There has never been three straight playoffs at the Masters. How the scoring plays out depends on the condition of the course and the weather. Augusta was hit with several ice storms over the winter, and the biggest result of those storms was the loss of the Eisenhower tree that framed the tee shot on No. 17. The long range weather outlook shows dry conditions for the four tournament rounds after some rain earlier in the week. That sets up perfectly for how the tournament tends to play out. As the week goes on, the course gets firmer and faster making it harder to score. You will hear over those first few days that the tournament doesnt really start until the back nine on Sunday. Well, the last two years, the combatants were determined on that final nine, but settled in a playoff. Will it take another playoff this year? Time will tell, but one thing is for sure - this Masters is as wide open as any in recent memory. Cheap Mariners Jerseys . "Canada," Bolland said with a smile. "Is that a question?" One day earlier, though, fellow Toronto Maple Leafs centre Nazem Kadri wasnt so sure his home and native land could pull off the win against the United States in the semi-finals of the Olympic hockey tournament. Mariners Jerseys 2020 .com) - The Oklahoma City Thunder will try to get back on track Monday night when they welcome the Minnesota Timberwolves to Chesapeake Energy Arena. https://www.cheapmariners.com/ . -- Jaye Marie Green shot a course-record 10-under 62 on Wednesday to take the first-round lead in the LPGA Tours qualifying tournament. Seattle Mariners Pro Shop . Durant finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds, Jackson matched his career high with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting and Lamb scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, lifting the Thunder to a 94-88 win over San Antonio and snapping the Spurs 11-game winning streak. Seattle Mariners Gear . -- Phil Mickelson will be watching the final two rounds of the Masters from home for the first time in 17 years.GUELPH, Ont. -- The Guelph Storm drew first blood in the Ontario Hockey League final, but head coach Scott Walker looked as if his team had just dropped the opener. Jason Dickinsons goal 57 seconds into overtime gave the Storm a 3-2 win over the North Bay Battalion on Thursday for a 1-0 series lead. But Walker was far from happy with his teams performance. "To be honest with you, we have to play better," Walker said. "We have to focus on winning our battles, skating more and we cant take for granted that were here. They (the Battalion) earned their spot and we earned our spot. We have to start skating and start playing. "We did it in the first and then it was like we werent satisfied. There was something more out there, something better. There isnt anything better than what we were doing in the first." The first period was all Guelph, as they outshot the Battalion 16-6 and beat them to pucks right from the opening faceoff. Holding the leagues most potent offence scoreless in the first period seemed to give North Bay more confidence as the game went on. Battalion head coach Stan Butler was happy with the way his team matched up against the heavily favoured Storm. "I thought we played hard and it was a pretty even game. Once you get in overtime, one shot and its done," Butler said. "They have a great team and thats the style we have to play. We have to play hard, we have to check up ice, track the puck hard and not give them time and space. "If we sit back and watch like we did in the first period and allow them time and space, theyll do serious damage." The Battalion benefited from the scoreless opening 20 minutes by taking iit to the Storm in the second.dddddddddddd They were rewarded early when Ben Thomson, on a power play, snapped a fat rebound past goalie Justin Nichols, who made 32 saves on the night, for a 1-0 lead at 3:06. But Guelphs Brock McGinn evened the scored a minute later. North Bay continued to play a tough defensive game, holding the Storm to just seven shots in the second period. The Battalion regained the lead 3:35 into the third, as Jamie Lewis wrist shot from the faceoff circle found the top corner past Nichols. But Guelph made the most of the few scoring chances it had, and came back to tie the game once again on its second shot of the third period. Robby Fabbri found Mitchell cruising over the blue-line and he ripped a wrist shot over Smith for his 11th goal of the playoffs at 12:23. With the goal, Mitchell moved ahead of teammate Kerby Rychel, into first place in playoff points with 24. Guelph ended the game on its first shot of the extra period, with Dickinson wristing a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle over Smiths glove for his sixth goal of the playoffs. Smith made 27 saves. Guelph finished the game 0-for-4 on the power play, while North Bay was 1-for-2 with the man advantage. North Bay captain Barclay Goodrow said the Battalion are looking forward to stepping back on the ice in less than 24 hours for a chance at evening the series before heading home for Game 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday. "I think the advantage of playing back-to-back is you can get right back at it and you dont lose too much of the momentum you gained from the game before. Hopefully, we come out tomorrow and forget what happened tonight and keep on going." ' ' '