Darkness of sport

Tadd Fujikawa shot a 4-over 76 in the final round of the Mid-Pacific Open on Sunday to win his first tournament as a professional.

The tournament also marked the first time the 17-year-old made the cut as a pro.

Fujikawa entered the final round with a seven stroke lead over David Ishii, the 1990 Hawaiian Open champion and 14-time Japan Golf Tour winner.

He bogeyed three of the last four holes on the front nine and led by five at the turn.

But Fujikawa then shot par on eight of the back nine holes en route to becoming the youngest player in the tournament’s 15-year history with a 10-under 278.

“First cut as a pro, and first win as a pro. Feeling pretty good,” Fujikawa said. “Didn’t really play too well today, it was a struggle. But luckily I grinded through it, made a lot of clutch puts toward the end.”

The Moanalua High School junior made history at the Sony Open last year when he became the youngest player in 50 years to make the cut on the PGA Tour. He was 16 at the time.

He turned professional shortly afterward, in part so he could earn enough money to travel to tournaments.

But he’s struggled since, failing to make the cut at 10 pro events including five on the PGA Tour.

Ishii, 52, praised his young rival, who took home $13,500 for his victory.

“He played smart, he didn’t make any foolish mistakes on the tough holes. He showed he could manage his way around Mid-Pac,” said Ishii.

Ishii, a three-time Mid-Pac winner, finished second at 285. Defending champion Darren Summers (73) and 2005 champion John Lynch (75) tied for third at 286.

The Detroit Pistons were hanging out at the scorer’s table as if it was a preseason game, joking around with a former teammate as he enjoyed a drink and nachos in the front row.

Philadelphia made them pay for it.

Andre Miller scored 20 points and Willie Green had a career playoff-high 17, helping the 76ers stun Detroit 90-86 Sunday in Game 1 of their first-round series.

Sixers forward Reggie Evans smiled when told the Pistons were shooting the breeze with Flip Murray during breaks in the game.

“That’s good,” Evans said.

Rasheed Wallace took the blame for the loss—despite having 24 points, nine rebounds and matching a franchise playoff record with seven blocks—but didn’t think blowing a big lead had anything to do with talking to Murray.

Jesaiah is a die-hard football fan and have watch Soccer Matches Online using a special software with high quality streaming video. You can Watch Soccer Online by downloading the software.

A week after loudly complaining about the surface he was forced to run on in front of NFL scouts, former Oklahoma receiver Malcolm Kelly got his second chance Wednesday.

His agent said he bettered his time in the 40-yard dash by more than two-tenths of a second in the workout at the University of Oklahoma. But a news release from OU with numbers compiled from NFL scouts indicated the improvement was only slight.

His agent, Chad Speck, said Kelly ran the 40 as fast as 4.46 Wednesday after running a 4.68 on OU’s pro day one week ago. But the numbers from the NFL scouts showed Kelly ran the 40 in 4.69 and 4.63, according to a release from OU spokesman Kenny Mossman.

Speck said the scouts may have added time to his results to reflect the faster surface he was on Wednesday.

“There’s nothing that we can do about, if a team decides to adjust it,” Speck said.

“He ran much faster today.”

Kelly complained after the workout last week that he had expected to run on the AstroTurf inside Oklahoma’s indoor track facility, but was forced instead to run on a softer surface, resulting in the slower time. He has since apologized and thanked OU for setting up the latest workout.