After winning the Phoenix Open twice in a three-year span, J.B. Holmes was starting to make a name for himself on the PGA Tour. Thanks in part to his second victory at the greatest show on turf, Holmes made his first Ryder Cup team, and looked destined to be a long-standing member of U.S. international teams. That was all derailed when he began battling vertigo-like symptoms in the 2011 season. In his last three starts that year, he missed two cuts and had to withdraw from the PGA Championship. Shortly thereafter, Holmes was on the operating table undergoing brain surgery. He was diagnosed with structural defects in his cerebellum, or Chiari malformations. During the surgery, he had a quarter-sized piece of his skull removed. He came back and played a full season on the PGA Tour in 2012, but managed only two top-10 finishes, both of which came before the Masters. In March of last year, Holmes was roller-blading as part of his conditioning routine, but suffered an awkward fall in which he broke his left ankle. As he rehabbed that injury, Holmes decided it was time to go under the knife, again. This time, Holmes was going to have his troublesome left elbow fixed. Why not? He wasnt fully ready to come back to the tour anyway. Once the calendar changed to 2014, Holmes was ready to go. He waited until late January at the Farmers Insurance Open to make his debut. It has been a slow build to fully get back into game shape. He had more finishes outside the top 50 -- five -- than he had inside the top 20 -- four. However, all four of those top-20 finishes came in his last five starts before the Wells Fargo Championship. Entering the Wells Fargo, Holmes had shot par or better in 14 or his last 20 rounds, and that trend continued at Quail Hollow. Holmes shot 2-under 70 in the opening round, then went 11-under par in the middle two rounds to take the lead entering the final round. Coming down the stretch, he led by two and made the finish interesting. Jim Furyk sat two strokes back and had been in the clubhouse for nearly two hours. He started to pack his things while Holmes was on 18, but stopped when Holmes hit a poor chip shot. Needing to get down in two putts for the win, Holmes did just that to close out a 1-under 71. The win was his third on the PGA Tour. Among the biggest aspects of the victory for Holmes is that he now qualifies for all four majors. When he tees it up at Pinehurst for the U.S. Open next month, it will mark his first start in a major since that 2011 PGA Championship, which he had to withdraw from. Next spring, hell return to Augusta National for the Masters for the first time since 2008. He also moved himself into contention for a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Holmes did go 2-0-1 as a captains pick at the 2008 Ryder Cup, and not many Americans in line for this years team have winning records. Those things are far off at this point, but for Holmes to even be in that conversation is a huge victory by itself. Now that he is healthy, we are seeing what kind of player Holmes once was, and can be again. A word of warning, though. After Holmes other two wins, which were in February 2006 and February 2008, he posted only two more top-10 finishes in those seasons and both were in 08. The way Holmes is playing now, it isnt hard to see him bucking that trend the rest of this season. LPGAS BEST AMERICANS TOO HOT, TOO SOON? Whether it is the Solheim Cup, Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup, each teams captain wants her players to be playing their best heading into that event. Three potential U.S. Solheim Cup team members are off to scorching starts this year on the LPGA Tour. Stacy Lewis just earned her first win this past weekend in Texas, and that was her eighth top-10 finish in nine starts. Michelle Wie also has a win and six top-10s in nine events, while team stalwart Cristie Kerr has six top-10s in eight tournaments. Is it too much too soon? The Solheim Cup wont be played for another 16 months. Captain Juli Inkster has to be happy to see how well some of her potential team members are playing right now. The Americans suffered a crushing defeat last year at the Solheim Cup, and the players from that team, and those hoping to make the 2015 squad, want to make sure what happened last year doesnt happen again. Five of the 10 winners this year on the LPGA Tour have been Americans, while two wins were by a European, Anna Nordqvist. With many of the tours top players hailing from Asia, having Americans winning half of the tours events is a great start for the team. Lets just hope they can keep the momentum going. MINI-TIDBITS - Dont try to blame John Daly for slow play problems, whatever tour he may be playing on. Daly was the first out in the final round of the Web.com event last weekend, and played as a single. Daly cruised around in 2 hours, 21 minutes. There are twosomes that dont play nine holes that fast at some tournaments. - From the where-are-they-now category, we bring you the curious case of Anthony Kim. According to a Golf Channel report last week, Kim rarely plays golf anymore. Kim had three PGA Tour wins by the age of 25, but he hasnt been seen on tour since 2012. The 28-year-old battled wrist, forearm and elbow injuries before tearing his Achilles. We might never know how great he could have been had he stayed healthy. Adidas NMD Heren Sale .5 million, two-year contract with the San Francisco Giants on Thursday, a deal that covers his final two arbitration seasons. Adidas NMD Heren . As the schedule flipped from November to December, they would go on to drop five straight, falling six games below the .500 mark before a franchise-altering trade turned them into an unrecognizable team. http://www.nmdbelgie.com/kopen-yeezy-boost-350-v2-sale.html. Roma has a game in hand but now second place is even at risk for the capital side as Napoli moved to within three points with the win. "The result is not always fair," Roma coach Rudi Garcia said. "If we play like this until the end we will win many matches. Adidas NMD Dames Sale . The team said Saturday that the 36-year-old Robidas is expected to miss four to six months, jeopardizing his return this season. He was injured when he slid hard into the boards in the second period of a 2-1 shootout loss to Chicago on Friday. Adidas Falcon Goedkoop . Canadas 5-1 loss to Finland in the semifinal ranks as the tournaments most-watched game with a record 2.7 million viewers, the largest ever for a World Juniors game played outside of North America, and winning Saturday as the most-watched program on Canadian television.The Boston Bruins begin their Eastern Conference title defence against an Original Six rival, as they host Game 1 of a best-of-seven series Thursday against the Detroit Red Wings. Catch the game on TSN and TSN GO starting at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. Considering the Bruins and Red Wings played in opposite conferences for decades, this playoff meeting is a rare treat for NHL fans. In fact, the last time these Original Six foes met in the postseason was in 1957 when neither clubs current coaches were born yet. Boston and Detroit have met seven times in the playoffs with the Bruins taking four of those encounters, including the 1957 semifinal round matchup. The Red Wings, however, have won three straight in the regular season against Boston and seven of the previous eight encounters. Bostons only victory in the 2013-14 season series was a 4-1 home win back on Oct. 5, while Detroit beat the Bruins as recently as April 2, when it picked up a 3-2 regulation win in the Motor City. Still, heading into the opening round of the playoffs the Bruins are once again the team to beat in the Eastern Conference and perhaps the entire NHL. Boston, which in 2011 won its first Stanley Cup since the days of Bobby Orr, is not only the defending East champions, but it also enters this postseason as winners of the 2013-14 Presidents Trophy. The clubs 117 points were the most gained by the franchise since 1971-72 (119 pts) and Boston finished as the top team in the regular season for the first time since 1989-90. Despite heading into the postseason with a ton of confidence, the Bruins know they cant afford to look past their first-round opponent. Boston made it to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in three seasons last spring, but before it fell in six games to the Chicago Blackhawks, the Bruins nearly lost in the first round to Toronto. The Bruins blew a 3-1 series lead against the Maple Leafs and needed to overcome a 4-1 third-period deficit in Game 7 to get past Toronto. It marked fourth straight Boston was a fourth seed in last springs matchup with Toronto, but the Bs shouldnt expect their No. 1 standing in the East to instill fear in the Detroit Red Wings this time around. It marked the third straight spring Boston went seven games in the first round. The Bruins beat Montreal four games to three in 2011 en route to its Stanley Cup title, but lost in seven the following season against Washington. "I dont know, it just seems to be the biggest battle for us and the hardest one to get through," Bruins forward Milan Lucic said of his clubs tendency to play long opening-round series. "I dont think its going to be any different heading into this series. So weve got to be prepared to bring our best because you talk about the last three years, you know the other team hasnt taken us lightly at all and theyve given us their best." Boston is known best as a big, physical team that is really tough to score against, but the club made considerable strides in the offensive end in 2013-14. The Bruins averaged just 2.62 goals per game during the lockout- shortened season before upping that scoring rate to 2.96 gpg in the 2013 playoffs. This season, Boston is third in the NHL with 3.15 gpg through 82 games and hopes to maintain that goal-scoring clip in the upcoming playoffs. Six Boston forwards finished the season with over 50 points this season. Leading the way on offense were David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron, the clubs top two centermen. Krejci dished out a club-best 50 assists to help him pace the Bs with 69 points, while Bergeron had 62 points and tied winger Jarome Iginla for the club lead with 30 goals. While Bostons forwards contribute to their clubs overall stinginess on defense, immense blueliner Zdeno Chara and steady goaltender Tuukka Rask get most of the credit. Rask is coming off a Vezina-caliber season, going 36-15-6 with a 2.04 goals against average and .930 save percentage. The 27-year-old Finn is looking to follow up his award-worthy campaign with another strong postseason. Rask was the anchor for Bostons run to the Cup Finals last spring, recording a 1.88 GAA and .940 save percentage in 22 playoff games. The 6-foot-9 Chara is a unique talent who combines size and skill to create havoc at both ends of the ice. The 2008-09 Norris Trophy winneer has a booming slap shot and recorded 17 goals and 40 points over 77 games this season and Bostons captain has racked up 54 points (13 goals, 41 assists) over 129 career playoff games.dddddddddddd The Red Wings may have moved from the Western Conference to the East prior to the 2013-14 campaign, but the end result was the same as Detroit qualified for the playoffs for a 23rd straight season. On paper, Detroit doesnt match up well with the mighty Bruins but the club doesnt figure to be an easy out so long as Mike Babcock is behind the bench. Babcock has been to the Cup Finals three times as a coach, winning it with Detroit in 2008, and also has led Team Canada to Olympic gold medals at the last two Winter Games. Last spring, the coach helped the seventh-seeded Red Wings eliminate the Pacific Division champion Anaheim Ducks in the first round. He also had the eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks on the ropes in Round 2, but the Hawks won three straight to oust Detroit in seven games. This season, Babcock guided his club to the playoffs despite the club dealing with considerable injury problems all along the way. Detroit enters the playoffs reasonably healthy compared to other points of the season, but the club will begin the first round without captain Henrik Zetterberg (back surgery), fellow forwards Dan Cleary (sprained knee) Stephen Weiss (sports hernia surgery) and defenseman Jonathan Ericsson (finger surgery). Star forward Pavel Datsyuk also was limited to only 45 games this season, but he returned to the lineup earlier this month and is ready to go for Round 1. The Russian has amassed 103 points (36g, 67a) over 140 career playoff games. Faced with injuries to numerous key veterans, young forwards Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar stepped up for the Red Wings in a big way down the stretch. That was particularly true of the 24-year-old Nyquist, who led Detroit with 28 goals this season in just 57 games. Nyquist has two goals and three assists over 18 career playoff games, but he could be ready for a breakout postseason after showing Babcock and the hockey world what he can do with increased playing time. Tatar, 23, added 19 goals and 20 assists in 73 games for the Red Wings this season. However, the young Slovakian winger has never skated in an NHL playoff game. As a whole, Detroits offense ranked 16th in the league this season with just 2.65 gpg. Niklas Kronwall is the clear No. 1 defenseman for Detroit in front of No. 1 goaltender Jimmy Howard. Kronwall has done a superb job of replacing fellow Swede Nicklas Lidstrom in that role. Lidstrom, of course, retired following the 2011-12 season, leaving seven Norris Trophy wins and a Hall of Fame legacy behind him. Kronwall led Detroit in average ice time with 24 minutes, 18 seconds of action a game. His 49 points (8g, 41a) more than doubled the offensive output of the clubs next- best defenseman Danny DeKeyser, who had 23 points on four goals and 19 assists. Howard, meanwhile, is coming off a mediocre regular season that saw him go 21-19-11 with a 2.66 GAA and .910 save percentage. The 30-year-old American had posted a 2.13 GAA in each of the previous two seasons and his save percentage was .920 or better in both campaigns. Over 42 career playoff games, Howard has compiled a 2.57 GAA and .918 save percentage. The injured Zetterberg led the Red Wings with three goals during the season series, while Tatar had two goals and two assists. Nyquist added two goals and a helper, while Howard was 1-1-0 with a 3.00 GAA. Rask struggled to a 1-3-0 record and 3.29 GAA in four games versus Detroit, while no Boston player had more than one goal in the series. Reilly Smith led the Bruins with four points -- all assists -- in four games. Boston, which also will host Detroit in Game 2 on Sunday, was an impressive 31-7-3 as the home team this season. The Red Wings were 21-15-5 on the road. Projected Bruins Lines Lucic - Krejci - IginlaMarchand – Bergeron - SmithFlorek - Soderberg - ErikssonCaron - Campbell - Thornton Chara - HamiltonMezaros - BoychuckKrug - Miller Projected Red Wings Lines Abdelkader - Datsyuk - Franzen Alfredsson - Helm - Jurco Tatar - Sheahan - NyquistMiller - Glendening - Legwand Kronwall - SmithDeKeyser - QuinceyLashoff - Kindl ' ' '