PINEHURST, N.C. -- Bubba Watson has one thing going for him: So far, nobody else has a better chance at winning a second major this year. "Ive already got one," he quipped Tuesday. The two-time Masters champion came to Pinehurst this week for the U.S. Open hoping to become the first player since Tiger Woods in 2002 to win the years first two majors. "Any time you have that chance, its been a good year, because that means youve done well early," Watson said. The worlds third-ranked player is trying to join that short list of players to win both the Masters and U.S. Open in the same year. Its only happened six times and before Woods, nobody had done it since Jack Nicklaus in 1972. Watson is certainly hoping this attempt goes better than the last one. Two years ago at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, he missed the cut after shooting an 8-over-par 78 in his opening round. Through the years, the U.S. Open has provided a particularly vexing test for Watson, who has missed the cut in three of his seven Opens. His only top-10 finish came in 2007 when he tied for fifth at Oakmont -- perhaps the toughest of the courses that have staged golfs national championship. "A U.S. Open brings out challenges that were not used to, challenges that we can only take once a year or we would all find new jobs if we had to do it every week," Watson said. And a different set of them awaits this week at the revamped Pinehurst No. 2 course that looks nothing like it did when Payne Stewart (1999) and Michael Campbell (2005) won Opens here. Watson it called "a second-shot golf course" and said it bears no resemblance to the Augusta National course hes twice conquered "except its 18 holes, thats about it." The multi-million-dollar restoration to Donald Ross original design, removed the rough and left only two cuts of grass -- fairway and green. Birdies figure to once again be rare at the U.S. Open, where bogeys arent necessarily bad and the winner is often the one who takes the smartest shots and makes the fewest mistakes. Hell find out over the next few days if his daring "Bubba golf" style will work on a course that has only two par-5s. Watson leads all PGA Tour players with an average driving distance of 314 yards -- a distinct advantage at the various courses on the tour. But maybe not at Pinehurst No. 2, where sandy hardpan, wiregrass and weeds make up what used to be the rough. "Its all about the tee shots. Im going to try to lay farther back than normal, because its still iffy hitting in that -- I dont know what they call it, rough, dirt, sand. ... But its going to be iffy. You dont know what kind of lies youre going to get." Get through that and out of the fairways, and those notoriously tricky turtleback greens -- which a smiling Watson repeatedly called "unfriendly" -- await. The "U.S. Open is challenging you at all levels. If you want to be a man and hit driver off that tee, you can," he said. "If you want to lay back and try to play smarter, you can. ... You have the ability to do it, now can you do it at that moment, is what the key is. "So I think the U.S. Open is doing that, its just thats what theyre trying to create," he added. "Theyre trying to create a challenge for everybody, and you can play it aggressively or you can play it smartly." Mike Soroka Braves Jersey . - The Raiders have released guard Mike Brisiel after two disappointing seasons in Oakland. Jacob Webb Jersey . Jonathan Crompton led the team to a 40-9 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Crompton threw three touchdown passes - two to Duron Carter and one to Brandon London - and Sean Whyte connected on four field goals to power the Alouettes to the win. https://www.cheapbraves.com/1183o-satche...sey-braves.html. TSNs coverage of the Third Round gets underway Sunday with Game 1: Los Angeles at Chicago at 3pm et/Noon pt. TSNs broadcast schedule for the Third Round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs is as follows: Chicago Blackhawks vs. Los Angeles Kings• Game 1: Los Angeles at Chicago – Sunday, May 18 at 3pm et/Noon pt• Game 2: Los Angeles at Chicago – Wednesday, May 21 at 8pm et/5pm pt• Game 4: Chicago at Los Angeles – Monday, May 26 at 9pm et/6pm pt Featured in the broadcast booth for TSN are play-by-play announcer Chris Cuthbert and game analyst Ray Ferraro, with Farhan Lalji contributing reports from rinkside. David Justice Jersey . Paire broke Giraldo twice and lost his serve once in both sets to wrap up the win in 1 hour, 10 minutes. He will next face Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain, who advanced when Jurgen Zopp of Estonia retired with an injury at 5-5 in the first set. Adam Duvall Braves Jersey . Canadas Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse will reunite at this weekends season-opening World Cup at Canada Olympic Park as they begin their buildup to the Winter Games in Sochi.HOUSTON - With Dwight Howard out Wednesday night against the Dallas Mavericks with an ankle injury, the Houston Rockets needed someone to step up.What they got was a bevy of players chipping in to pick up the slack.Josh Smith scored 18 points and James Harden added 17 as the Rockets used a balanced scoring effort to outlast the Mavericks for a 99-94 victory.Weve got so many weapons now, Harden said. Weve got a lot of depth on this team, a lot of guys that can contribute. When weve got so many guys contributing — six guys in double figures — its kind of hard to beat us.Along with Smith and Harden, Houston got 16 points from Donatas Motiejunas, Corey Brewer had 14, Trevor Ariza added 13 and Terrence Jones scored 10.It was the third straight win for the Rockets and the fourth loss in a row for Dallas.The Mavericks were down by 3 with 15.9 seconds left when Harden knocked Tyson Chandler down on a shot. He was given a flagrant foul after a review, but Chandler missed both free throws.Terrence Jones blocked a shot by Monta Ellis but knocked it out of bounds, giving Dallas another chance. The inbounds pass by Chandler Parsons sailed out of bounds to give Houston the ball. Harden made two free throws after that to secure the win.Ellis led the Mavericks with 33 points.Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said his team was done in by its 23 turnovers.It was the decisive factor of the game, without question, he said. We had chances, but that ultimately killed us.Dallas scored five quick points to get within 3 with two minutes left, but Smith made a layup before blocking a shot by Chandler on the other end. Dirk Nowitzki made a layup before Hardens flagrant foul.A 7-2 run by Houston pushed the lead to 95-87 with about three minutes left. That run was capped by a 3-pointer by Smith that came after an assist by Harden who was being heavily guarded by Rajon Rondo.I kick it out to him and he has the confidence to knock it down, and tonight he knocked a big one down in that fourth quarter, Harden said of Smith.Smith signed with the Rockets last month following his release by the Pistons.Im starting to find my way, starting to find spacing and other avenues to be productive and efficiient, he said.ddddddddddddBrewer made the first five points of the fourth quarter to extend Houstons lead to 86-78.Nowitzki made four quick points to cut Houstons lead to 2 points late in the third quarter before Jason Terrys 3-pointer made it 81-76. A jump shot by Ellis got Dallas within 81-78 entering the fourth quarter.Ariza was scoreless before opening the second half with a 3-pointer and he made another one with about nine minutes left in the quarter. That shot was the first points of a stretch during which he outscored Dallas 10-7 to leave Houston up 72-66. A third 3-pointer by Ariza capped that run.Parsons scored five points in an 8-2 run that tied it at 39 five minutes before halftime. Harden, who had eight assists, escaped pressure from Rondo with a nifty juke move and dished it Smith who made a 3 from the corner to leave Houston up 54-53 at halftime.TIP-INSMavericks: Parsons, who played his first three seasons in Houston before signing as a free agent with the Mavericks this off-season, got a smattering of boos every time he touched the ball in his second trip back. He had 21 points.Rockets: Hall of Famer and former Rockets great Hakeem Olajuwon watched the game from a courtside seat. ... Smith made a season-high four 3-pointers.HOWARD AILING: Howard has missed the last two games with a sprained right ankle, but after the game the Rockets announced that hes also dealing with swelling from fluid retention in his right knee. They said an MRI on Wednesday revealed the problem in his knee and that hell undergo further evaluation soon.WELCOME BACK: Jones (left leg nerve inflammation) played for the first time since Nov. 3 and received a standing ovation when he entered the game late in the first quarter. His first points came late in the first half when he swished a 3-pointer to give Houston a 44-41 lead. He was limited to just over 20 minutes as coach Kevin McHale tries to ease him back into the rotation after missing 41 games.I was just so anxious to get out there in the beginning, it got me a little winded early, Jones said. But besides that, I had a lot of fun.UP NEXTMavericks: Visit Miami on Friday.Rockets: Visit Boston on Friday. ' ' '