Pirate Galaxy » The great thing in basketball is you only nee

ATLANTA -- Dustin Johnson was in trouble from the start Thursday, just not for very long. The game feels easy for the U.S. Open champion, who began his bid for the FedEx Cup title on Thursday with a 4-under 66 to share the lead at the Tour Championship.Johnson had 165 yards from the sand and worried about getting it over the lip of the bunker. He hit 8-iron to 2 feet for birdie and was on his way to his sixth consecutive round at 68 or lower.It was a very nice shot to start the day, Johnson said with a smile.Hideki Matsuyama of Japan ran off three straight birdies early in his round and finished with a birdie on the par-5 18th -- the nines have been switched at East Lake -- for a 66, while Kevin Chappell joined them with a bogey-free round.Johnson is coming off his third victory of the year at the BMW Championship two weeks ago, and there was no indication that anything has changed. He hit a reasonable amount of fairways (eight out of 14) considering the dry, fast conditions, and only once when he was out of position did he fail to save par.He is the No. 1 seed in the FedEx Cup, and the top five seeds only have to win the Tour Championship to claim the $10 million FedEx Cup bonus. The top five were all among the dozen players who broke par in the opening round.Jason Day, the worlds No. 1 player who hasnt won in four months, dropped his only shot on the opening hole and was at 67, along with Kevin Kisner and Si Woo Kim.Id like to give Dustin a good run for it, Day said.Jordan Spieth didnt look like he would post anything near a 68 after he was 3 over through two holes. The defending FedEx Cup champion let his short game bail him out in a big way. Spieth holed three straight putts from the 30-foot range -- one of them for par -- and raced back into the mix on the back nine by holing a bunker shot for birdie right of the 13th green and finishing with a pair of 20-foot birdies.This is a course I feel very comfortable on, Spieth said. I feel if I play really solid golf here -- and it doesnt have to be perfect golf -- I can shoot 8 under on this golf course. I have no doubt. It fits me really well.Also at 68 was Rory McIlroy, who had consecutive double bogeys toward the end of the front nine and pulled himself together with four straight birdies on the back. McIlroy had a 68 without making birdie on either of the par 5s.That wasnt the case for Phil Mickelson. He started his day by holing a 95-foot birdie putt. His fortunes turned on the par-5 sixth hole when his second shot went over the green and up against a fence, leading to bogey. He hit his next tee shot out of play and made triple bogey, and followed that with a double bogey with a drive into the water. Mickelson played 1 under from there to salvage a 74. He didnt hit a fairway until the 17th hole, and then headed straight to the practice range.These are the kind of days Johnson rarely has.Johnson has finished out of the top 10 only twice in the last four months -- one of them a missed cut at the PGA Championship out of nowhere -- and is making it tough on everyone. While everyone has a mathematical chance of winning the FedEx Cup, that depends on how the top five fare.And one of those is Johnson, who is faring quite well at the moment.Chappell, three times a runner-up this year, would have to win and have Johnson finish worse than ninth to win the $10 million bonus.With the form Dustin is in, I dont think that scenario is going to happen for me, Chappell said. But theres a chance to win a golf tournament, and thats all Im really focused on.Hes not worried about the Ryder Cup either. Chappell said he hasnt been contacted by U.S. captain Davis Love III, nor was he among three players not on the team who were invited to practice at Hazeltine over the weekend.Of that trio, Justin Thomas opened with a 68.Bubba Watson made two late bogeys from the rough and had a 72 to tie for 15th, while Daniel Berger shot 40 on the front nine and shot 74.Theres nothing I can do now, Watson said. Davis said its all about strategies and different things. Its not about my play. Its not about anybodys play. So I cant worry about that. And the golf course is so tough, Ive got to worry about this golf course.Adidas Falcon New Zealand . "Thank you for the warm welcome," Beckham said on an 80-degree February morning. In this case, it was soccer weather. The sport moved a step closer to returning to South Florida on Wednesday, when Beckham confirmed he has exercised his option to purchase a Major League Soccer expansion franchise in Miami. Cheap NMD NZ . Thats not a comment on the suspension that banished the Portland Winterhawks general manager and coach from his Western Hockey League teams bench for most of the 2012-13 season. http://www.nmdshoesnz.com/adidas-superstar-cheap-nz.html . Kiriasis and brakeman Franziska Fritz finished two runs in one minute 55.41 seconds -- a mere 0.01 seconds ahead of Meyers and Lolo Jones, who likely bolstered her Olympic hopes by helping give USA-1 a huge push in the second heat. NMD Shoes Wholesale . -- Anaheim Ducks defenceman Luca Sbisa will be out at least six weeks with a torn tendon in his right hand. Cheap Adidas Shoes NZ . The 17-year-old native of Marystown, N.L., pulled out of Skate Canada International last month in Saint John, N.B., with the same problem.ATLANTA -- Josh Pastner has never been part of a losing season. Not as a player. Not as an assistant coach. Not as a head coach.He knows, in all likelihood, thats going to change.The former Memphis coach opened practice Monday with his new team, leading a Georgia Tech program that hasnt made the NCAA tournament since 2010 and lost nearly all of its scoring punch from Brian Gregorys final season.Pastner bluntly assessed the challenge he faces in his first year with the Yellow Jackets.Its a startup company. Theyve hit the reset button, Pastner said. Basically, start from ground zero and try to build it back up, and knowing that its going to take some time to do that. They didnt make that decision saying weve got to try to win right now, that its make or break this year. Its like, `Hey, were just kind of completely blowing it up and starting over.With his job on the line, Gregory went all in with a team built around seniors and graduate transfers. It didnt work; Gregory was fired after the Yellow Jackets only managed to qualify for the NIT.The 39-year-old Pastner was lured away from Memphis, where he was under a bit of heat after missing the NCAA tournament the last two seasons. He takes over a depleted roster that lost five players who combined to average 55.8 points and 25.6 rebounds per game last season.Georgia Techs top returning scorer is senior Quinton Stephens, who averaged 6.0 points a game. The squad is filled out by three freshmen, a redshirt freshman, a sophomore who redshirted last season and two graduate transfers.We shouldnt be judged on wins and losses, Pastner said. I think whats got to be looked at: Do we get better from day one to the last day? There might be some days when you just cant look at the scoreboard.The players realize what theyre up against.Its kind of like you have nothing to lose. Might as well go out there and give it your all, said junior center Ben Lammers, who will certainly be expected to improve on his averages (1.2 points, 1.5 rebounds) from lastt season.dddddddddddd Theres no pressure on us. Obviously, well have a big chip on our shoulder going into most of our games. Well use that to our advantage, definitely.The Yellow Jackets have only two players who started at least 10 games last season: senior guard Josh Heath and senior forward Quinton Stephens. The new coaching staff is counting on them to help the tone that others will follow in the seasons to come, an important steppingstone even though they are unlikely to reap the benefits.My role will be to lead the team and really bring a fire to Georgia Tech. Were building a culture here, really establishing that culture, Stephens said. Weve already got some commits (for next season) and theyre going to be able to bring something to the table. I just want to build that standard, and it can only grow from there.Pastner is a top-notch recruiter, and he knows thats the only way to build a consistent winning program at Georgia Tech.Weve got to get a couple of studs to change the complexion, he said. The great thing in basketball is you only need two or three studs.Like so many others, he sees Georgia Tech as having all the elements needed to be a consistent national contender. There are state-of-the-art facilities, its location in the heart of a major urban area, and plenty of tradition and weight that comes with being a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.For some reason, the Yellow Jackets havent been able to take advantage.People bring that up. Theyre like, `Man, you should be able to build a national powerhouse there, Pastner said. Theres great potential here. But potential is a scary word, too. And hope doesnt win you games, either. But were doing everything we can. Its just going to take a little time.---Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry . ' ' '