Retire

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32 / 32 / May 31, 2014

SPORTS

The Recorder, Amsterdam, N.Y N.Y..

Casey surge Casey surges, s, McIlro McIlroy y tumbles at the Memorial

The Associated Press

Jeff Gordon looks on Friday during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup series auto race, Friday at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del.

Gordon could retire over back woes DOVER, Del. (AP) — Four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon said Friday he will have to retire if he continues to suffer the same, excruciating back pain that he did before last weekend’s Coca-Cola 600. The 42-year-old Gordon is in no hurry to slow down. But he said he hopes he has found some solutions to the back woes that nearly forced him out of  NASCAR’s longest race. Gordon cut short his practice runs last week because of back spasms and there was

fifth championship. He looks every bit a title contender — he has a win and holds the points lead — and gutting out Charlotte proved to his Hendrick  Motorsports team “it’s going to take a lot to get us down.” Gordon suffered serious issues years ago in his back, specifically his lower spine, and needed antiinflammatory medication and workouts with a trainer to return to full strength. He drove in pain during a winless 2008 season and briefly contem-

some concern whether or not he would be able to race. Regan Smith was on standby and Gordon needed treatment after the practice session. But he wound up in his familiar seat behind the wheel of the No. 24 and finished seventh, his ninth top-10 finish in 12 races this season. Gordon knows consistent, shooting pain like he suffered at Charlotte Motor Speedway could drive him toward an early retirement. “I can tell you, if that happens many more times, I won’t have a choice,” Gordon said Friday at Dover Motor Speedway. Gordon had soreness Monday and Tuesday, though that didn’t deviate too much from how he would feel after driving 600 grueling miles. He said his back is not at 100 percent, and probably never will be behind the wheel. At Daytona this year, Gordon insisted he was serious about considering retirement should he win a

plated retirement. For all his back woes, Gordon said he never felt the stabbing pain there like he did last weekend. Gordon said he’ll make adjustments to his race weekend routine to keep his back loose to withstand hours crunched in a stock car. He needs to stay active and not sit during lengthy breaks in practice and qualifying. Gordon sat more than three hours last week between practice and qualifying, a gap that left he believed led his creaky back  to a breakdown. “Once that happened, there was nothing that was going to fix it until I had those injections on Saturday,” he said. Gordon has no standby driver at Dover. He felt fine on Friday. But once inside the No. 24, all bets are off. “It’s just something I continue to learn and push through,” he said. “It’s no big deal.”

Lazzaro tribu tribute te reschedule rescheduled; d; wild weekend for Friesen By THOMAS COUGHLIN [email protected]

There are plenty of results from the Memorial Day weekend, but I’ll get to those in a moment. First I would like to remind everyone that all the pre race events that were planned for the Lou Lazzaro Memorial Race will be held today, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Fonda Speedway museum area. After last week’s postponement, Fonda promoter Matt Delorenzo was quick to agree to carrying over the tribute celebration. Just as was done at the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park, all veterans and active nilitary with ID will be admitted free to tonight’s racing program. Also anyone with a Lazzaro shirt, hat, or jacket will receive a $4 discount on a general admission ticket. It’s also Fireman’s Night and all Firemen with ID will receive a $2 discount. General admission tonight is $10 as the Empire Super Sprints will not be racing, but there is hope that they will be able to reschedule. Tonight is also a tailgate night with infield parking. The speedway di announce that a piece of iron from the 9/11 attack of the World Trade Center is expected to be on display. I know that it was there for a short period last week, this piece will

AUTO RACING SCENE eventually end up in the Veterans Memorial Park in the town of  Florida. You may hear how Stewart Friesen had a memorable Memorial Day weekend going 7for-7 at Utica-Rome Speedway on Sunday with the Doug Emery No. 33 ESS sprinter, winning his heat race, the Dash, and the 25 lap Lucas Oil feature — and on top of that driving the Tom Cullen No. 1wgc to a heat win and winning his first NASCAR Whelen All-American Series modified feature of 2014. Then Monday, Friesen continude his win streak  in the No. 1wgc as he again won his qualifying heat and the Victoria 200 for $10,000. But, his weekend did not start out that way as Friday at Albany-Saratog Albany-Saratogaa Speedway,, the Emery No. 33, was Speedway late arriving at the track as the weather had the team questionin questioning g on whether it was worth the effort to even tow to the track. Maybe it was the wrong move, but who knows? Because in one of those rare instances Friesen ended up not even finishing his heat race as he was collected in someone else in an on track miscue and ended up taking a just enough of a tumble to end his night as a spectator. His fiance, Jessica Zemken, finished second in her No. 1z after a hard fought

battle with event winner Chuck  Hebing. Zemken went on to also finish sixth in the Monday ESS show at U-R. Then, although Fonda was forced to pull the plug on last weeks racing, Oswego Speedway was able to squeeze in its special tribute events and Zemken ended up with a respectable night in the Novelis Supermodified division as she won her qualifying heat race and finished sixth to race winner and Canajoharie resident Otto Sitterly, who won hiss sixth Jim Shampine Memorial 75. In the Tony White Memorial 35 for the Pathfinder Bank Small Block  Supermodifieds, Kreig Heroth of  Ephratah wrapped up his night with a fine fourth-place finish. Fans have been witnessing some great action up at Glen Ridge, as last week John Lutes Jr. ran the race of his career for 34 laps only to make a miscue on a last-lap restart that allowed former modified champion Jeremy Wilder to slip by and take his first win of  the 2014 season and the $2,711 winner’s share of the purse. It would’ve been the first win for Lutes, and one can only speculate that losing a race in that manner will make him hungrier to achieve that elusive first victory. Hales Mills Counrty Club will present Sunday’s program at Glen Ridge, with racing beginning at 6 p.m.

DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Paul Casey expected to be chasing someone Friday in the Memorial, figuring it would be Rory McIlroy. After two holes, Casey had the lead to himself at Muirfield Village, and that was only the start of another big day. He took advantage of  the par 5s for another 6-under 66, giving him a three-shot lead over Masters champion Bubba Watson going into the weekend. McIlroy, whose 63 was the lowest first round in the 39-year history of the tournament, was barely in the picture. He was 15 shots worse with a 78, courtesy of three straight double bogeys and his fourth straight PGA Tou Tourr event with a nine-hole score of 40 or or higher. McIlroy went from a three-shot lead to nine shots behind. “To be honest, I thought I was going to be playing a round to try and maybe catch a couple of guys,” Casey said. “I woke up checking the scores to see what Rory was going to be. That’s really what I was going to be doing — see how many under I was going to have to try to shoot to chase . Obviously, that didn’t happen.” Casey, taking another step on a long road back from injuries that nearly derailed his career, was at 12-under 132. He made his first birdie with his best drive of the day on the par-5 11th, setting up a 4-iron onto the green for a two-putt birdie. He made eagle on the par-5 15th hole for the second straight day, and he stuffed it close around the turn for birdies to start pulling away from the field. Watson gave him a good run in an active round that featured six birdies, five bogeys and an eagle. He only was angry at a few shots where he failed to concentrate. Even so, a bogey-bogey finish wasn’t enough to entirely ruin his day. Watson Watson has never finished better than 23rd in eight previous appearances. “I can’t look at the bogeys,” Watson said. “I’ve got to look at where I’m at. If you told me it’s my best two days around this golf course, I’d take it.” Chris Kirk (70) was four shots behind. Hideki Matsuyama (67) and Martin Flores (68) were five back. Adam Scott, who won Colonial in his debut at No. 1 in the world, shot 70 and was at 5-under 139, still in the mix depending on how Casey fares on the weekend. Phil Mickelson was happy to get in two more rounds. He shot a 70, though he was 10 shots back. Casey, once a Ryder Cup regular who reached as high as No. 3 in the world, is slowly getting his game and his life back in the right place. He endured injuries to his shoulder and his toe that kept him winless for more than years. Hebrand went of through divorce. He wondered he would ever two return to the golf hea was capable of playing.if  Weeks like this offer promise. Casey won the Irish Open a year ago with what he called “spectacular” golf. The game is still there. “It’s slowly crawling along and making progress, climbing back up the ladder, however you want to phrase it,” Casey said. “It’s very difficult when you’ve played to a certain level and then ... I genuinely had no clue how to play to that level. “Luckily, I didn’t think about that too long.” His life is back in order. Casey is married to British television presenter Pollyanna Woodward. They are expecting their first child (a boy) in September. He talks about having perspective, knowing where golf fits on his list of what’s important. His golf has looked familiar over the last two days. McIlroy could say the same. Except for last week at the BMW PGA Championship in England, which he won with birdies on the last two holes, McIlroy’s good golf has been stalled by bad patches, and Friday was no exception. In fact, it nearly has become the rule. He shot a 43 on the back nine — he started the round at No. 10 — making this the fourth consecutive PGA Tour event wh where ere he shot at least 40 over nine holes. All of them have been in the second round. McIlroy twice hit the trees on the 13th hole and made double bogey. He hit into the water on the 14th for double bogey. And then he double-hit a wedge on the 15th to make it three straight double bogeys.

RIGHT RIG HT DOWN DOWN THE MIDDLE MIDDLE

The impo importa rtance nce of keep eepin ing g the right clubs in your bag Let’s talk  about proper set makeup. The rules of  golf state that you can only carry 14 clubs in any given round, and having the proper By configuration RICH of clubs in your bag can SCOTT lead to better scores. For example, a senior student may want more hybrids and less of the long irons. A skilled player who is looking to be able to work the ball, may want a set his bag up with 3-9 irons, a pitching wedge, a gap wedge and a sand wedge, a 2-hybrid, 3-wood, driver and a putter. Make sure that your set fits your game and the course you play the most. You may belong

to a club that has a lot of short holes, so maybe you would benefit from having another wedge in your bag and forego the 3-wood. After you figure out what clubs you would like to carry, make sure that you get properly fit for the correct shaft. Having a shaft that is too soft may result in a more than desired loft and unnecessary movement of the ball. Having a shaft that is too stiff  may result in a lower than desired loft and also cause unnecessary movement of the ball. Before you buy your next set, seek out your local PGA profess professional ional and go through a proper fitting. Courses are greening up, get out and play some golf. RICH SCOTT SCOTT is the PGA professional at Fox Run Golf Club in Johnstown

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