Another weekend at Quail Hollow without Woods

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Fans and officials help Tiger Woods, center back, look for his lost golf ball on the fifth hole during the second round of the Wells Fargo Championship golf tournament at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, May 4, 2012. Woods was given a free drop after it was determined the ball was picked up by a fan. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Fans and officials help Tiger Woods, center back, look for his lost golf ball on the fifth hole during the second round of the Wells Fargo Championship golf tournament at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, May 4, 2012. Woods was given a free drop after it was determined the ball was picked up by a fan. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Webb Simpson hits from the rough on the 10th hole during the second round of the Wells Fargo Championship golf tournament at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, May 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

Nick Watney and his caddy line up a putt on the 16th green during the second round of the Wells Fargo Championship golf tournament at Quail Hollow Club, Friday, May 4, 2012, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Stewart Cink hits from the 18th fairway during the second round of the Wells Fargo Championship golf tournament at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, May 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) ? It’s becoming a tradition like no other experienced by Tiger Woods ? a weekend at Quail Hollow without him.

He missed the cut two years ago in the Wells Fargo Championship with the highest 36-hole score of his career, a surprise but not entirely unexpected because it was only his second tournament since his return from the downfall in his personal life. Friday was more stunning, not only because he missed a 4-foot birdie putt on his 17th hole that would have allowed him to make the cut, but it came just more than a month after he won at Bay Hill.

Woods, though, reminded that it was all part of the process.

He didn’t use those words ? he has said them enough during his swing changes ? but that’s what he meant.

Even as Nick Watney rediscovered his game with a 64 to take a one-shot lead going into the weekend, Woods was explaining that swing changes take time, even if he has a trophy to show for it.

When he revamped his swing under Butch Harmon after a record-setting win at the 1997 Masters, it took nearly two years for him to get it right. He switched to Hank Haney, and it was close to two years before he was out with old and fully understood a new way of playing golf.

“So it takes time to get rid of old patterns,” Woods said after a 1-over 73 to miss the cut by one shot. “It takes hundreds of thousands ? if not millions ? of golf balls, but eventually it comes around. I’ve had my share of successes, and I know it’s coming.”

It just won’t be coming this weekend.

Woods turned the show over to Watney, whose 12-under 132 was a surprise for different reasons. Watney, a two-time winner a year ago who started this season at No. 12 in the world ranking, had failed to record a top 10 in his nine stroke-play events this year. He had not finished among the top 30 when playing against a full field. And he had failed to break 70 in the previous nine rounds before he arrived at Quail Hollow.

Worse yet, he missed the cut for the first time since last July at New Orleans a week ago.

“I think last week was a wake-up call for me,” Watney said. “And I’ve worked really hard these five days leading into this event. I think it just shows I’m making progress. Who knows what’s going to happen this weekend, but I’m really excited for it. More hard work, and hopefully I’ll be in this position a lot more.”

With such low scoring in hot, steamy conditions, it was the first time in the 10-year history of this tournament that the cut was under par. It was reflected in a bunched leaderboard, too, so very little has been settled except that Woods won’t be part of the rest of the action.

Webb Simpson, who invited Watney to stay in his home about a mile away this week, was the star in Woods’ group as he posted a tidy 68 and was just one shot out of the lead.

Right behind were Stewart Cink (69), Ben Crane (64), D.A. Points (68) and John Senden (68), who looked like he might catch Watney for the lead until he turned a birdie into a bogey on the par-5 seventh late in his round by hitting over the green and under a tree.

Ryan Moore, penalized one shot when his golf ball moved ever so slightly on a 10-inch par putt, had a 70 and was another shot behind. Not to be forgotten is Rory McIlroy, who turned 23 on Friday and ended his round with a birdie on the tough par-4 ninth hole for a 68. He was six shots behind, which was far better than his spot when he won in 2010 after making the cut on the number.

“So being only six back should be easy,” McIlroy said with a laugh, knowing it will be anything but that.

The cut became a talking point Friday, and while Woods captured most of the attention, he wasn’t alone. Vijay Singh and Joe Ogilvie each made triple bogey on their last holes to miss the cut. Rory Sabbatini finished 6-6 ? triple bogey, double bogey ? to miss the cut.

Phil Mickelson was on the cut line and facing the dangerous 17th and 18th holes. He played them flawlessly for pars for a 72, although he was 11 shots behind. Lee Westwood was outside the cut line until he holed an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th and finished with a par and a 72.

Woods missing the cut, however, is always news.

It was only the eighth time in 267 events on the PGA Tour when he missed the cut, and it was the first time he had missed the cut twice in one tournament. Woods didn’t make it to the weekend last year at Quail Hollow because he didn’t play. He was nursing what was described as minor injuries to his left leg that turned out to be a lot more.

That makes three straight years at the Wells Fargo Championship without golf’s star attraction. In his previous five trips to Quail Hollow, he won once and never finished worse than 11th.

“This is one of my favorite tour stops, and unfortunately, I’m just not going to be around for the last two days,” Woods said.

For the second straight day, Woods was done in by sloppy mistakes ? a pulled tee shot on the 12th, a three-putt on the 13th, a poor chip on the 18th, and a wedge from 105 yards on the par-5 seventh that nearly went into the water. He made an 18-foot par putt to keep alive his hopes of making the cut, but that ended when he missed the 4-foot birdie putt on the next hole.

“I think he’s playing pretty well,” said Geoff Ogilvy, in the group with Woods and Simpson. “He hit four or five pretty loose shots of the tee, and one into 5. If he’d holed putts, he’d be in contention. He wouldn’t be out of the tournament. I think he’s actually getting there. I think he’s doing a lot of good stuff. If he tells you he’s close, I think it’s actually right. But he has to putt better.”

Next up is The Player Championship, where Woods has finished out of the top 10 more than any other tournament. He has failed to finish the tournament at Sawgrass the last two years, withdrawing on Sunday in 2010 with a neck injury, and after a 42 on the front nine last year with a left Achilles tendon injury.

Associated Press

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Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys dies at 47

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NEW YORK (AP) ? Adam Yauch, the gravelly voiced rapper who helped make the Beastie Boys one of the seminal groups in hip-hop, died Friday. He was 47.

Yauch, also known as MCA, died in New York after a nearly three-year battle with cancer, his representatives said. He had been diagnosed with a cancerous salivary gland in 2009.

At the time, Yauch expressed hope that it was “very treatable,” but his illness forced the group to cancel shows and delayed the release of their 2011 album, “Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2.”

He hadn’t performed in public since 2009 and was absent when the Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last month.

Yauch was an integral, founding member to the ever-weaving trio: three Jewish kids from New York who found widespread respect in a hip-hop world with few credible white performers.

In a 25-year span that covered four No. 1 albums and more than 40 million records sold, the Beastie Boys played both prankster and pioneer, a groundbreaking act that helped bring hip-hop to the mainstream.

“The group’s music crossed genres and color lines and helped bring rap to a wider audience,” said Neil Portnow, president of the Recording Academy. “Yauch was an immense talent and creative visionary.”

The demure, gray-haired Yauch wasn’t the most boastful B-Boy; he was the thoughtful one and a steady source of the trio’s innovative spirit. A devoted Buddhist, he led the group in performing concerts to benefit Tibet, and, as a filmmaker, he helped grow their imagery.

The rapper Q-Tip, a member of another major ’90s New York hip-hop group, recalled that the Beastie Boys “showed us the ropes.” Sean “Diddy” Combs called Yauch “a true pioneer and a creative force who paved the way for so many of us.” The rapper Nas lamented the loss of a “brother.”

“I think it’s obvious to anyone how big an influence the Beastie Boys were on me and so many others,” Eminem said. “They are trailblazers and pioneers and Adam will be sorely missed.”

The Brooklyn-born Yauch formed the Beastie Boys with high school friend Michael “Mike D” Diamond. Originally conceived as a hardcore punk group, they played their first show on Yauch’s 17th birthday.

In a letter from Yauch read by fellow Beastie Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Yauch recalled their early days at his parents’ home in Brooklyn, “where we used to practice on hot Brooklyn summer days after school, windows open to disturb the neighborhood.”

The group became a hip-hop trio soon after Horovitz joined and coalesced after Yauch dropped out of Bard College two years into his studies. They released their chart-topping debut “Licensed to Ill” in 1986, a raucous album led by the anthem “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)”. It was the first hip-hop album to top the Billboard chart.

“Adam was incredibly sweet and the most sensitive artist, who I loved dearly,” Russell Simmons, whose Def Jam label released “Licensed to Ill,” said on his website.

In the seven studio albums that followed, the Beastie Boys expanded sonically and grew more musically ambitious.

Their follow-up, 1989′s “Paul’s Boutique,” ended any suggestion that the group was a one-hit wonder. Extreme in its sampling and thoroughly layered, the album (produced by the Dust Brothers) was ranked the 156th greatest album ever by Rolling Stone magazine in 2003.

The Beastie Boys would later take up their own instruments ? a rarity in hip-hop ? on the album “Check Your Head” and subsequent releases. Yauch played bass.

On “Pass the Mic,” he rapped: “If you can feel what I’m feeling then it’s a musical masterpiece / If you can hear what I’m dealing with then that’s cool at least / What’s running through my mind comes through in my walk / True feelings are shown from the way that I talk.”

For many, the Beastie Boys‘ lyrics ? overflowing torrents of wit, humor and rhyme ? were always the main draw. While other forms of hip-hop celebrated individualism, the Beastie Boys were a verbal tag team. Yauch once rapped, “on the tough guy style I’m not too keen.”

Their popularity perhaps peaked with 1994′s “Ill Communication,” which spawned several of their most famous music videos, including “Sure Shot” and the Spike Jonze-directed “Sabotage” ? a hit highlighted by Yauch’s bass solo.

Yauch used the group’s growing fame to attract awareness for Tibetan Buddists. He founded the Milarepa Fund to promote activism for Tibet in defense of what the nonprofit considered China’s occupational government.

In 1996, Yauch and Milarepa produced a hugely popular benefit concert for Tibet in San Francisco, which was followed by more concerts over the next decade.

“He was a goofball and behind a lot of their prankiness, but if you wanted to talk to him about what was going on in the world and social issues and everything, you got a totally different guy,” said Rick Krim, executive vice president of music and talent relations at Vh1.

Introducing the group at the Rock Hall, Public Enemy rapper Chuck D said the Beastie Boys “broke the mold.”

“The Beastie Boys are indeed three bad brothers who made history,” Chuck D said. “They brought a whole new look to rap and hip-hop. They proved that rap could come from any street ? not just a few.”

Yauch also went under the pseudonym Nathanial Hornblower when working as a filmmaker. He directed numerous videos for the group, as well as the 2006 concert film “Awesome: I F—–’ Shot That!” and the basketball documentary, “Gunnin’ for that (No.) 1 Spot.”

In 2008, he co-founded the noted independent film distribution company Osciolloscope Laboratories, named after his New York studio.

Yauch is survived by his wife, Dechen Wangdu, and his daughter, Tenzin Losel Yauch.

___

AP Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody and Associated Press writer Mesfin Fekadu contributed to this report.

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Largest April Job Gains in Good-paying Careers

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Our nation?s labor market added 130,000 private sector jobs in the month of April, while the unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent, its lowest level in three years.

Employment in Major Industries Since the Employment Trough, April 2010 – April 2012. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics Program.

Over the last four months, we?ve added an average of 207,000 private sector jobs. Significantly, the labor market added 53,000 more private sector jobs in February and March than previously had been reported.

For 26 straight months, we have added private sector jobs. The national unemployment rate has fallen a full point in the last eight months. Layoffs are continuing to come down and are now back to 2006 levels.

In April, our largest gains ? 62,000 new jobs ? were in good-paying business and professional services careers, meaning more architects, engineers, computer programmers and consultants are finding jobs. Also, we added another 19,000 manufacturing jobs in April. After losing millions of good manufacturing jobs in the years before and during the deep recession, the economy has added 485,000 manufacturing jobs in the past 26 months.

We?ve now created more than 4.2 million private sector jobs under this administration. We are seeing a resilient U.S. labor market continuing to recover from the deepest recession since the Great Depression. But there are still too many unemployed workers who still need assistance to get retrained to get back to work.

Monthly Change in Total Private Employment, February 2008 to April 2012. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics Program

We?re on the right path, and we know our recovery would be even stronger if Congress hadn?t blocked almost every single proposed investment in the American Jobs Act. The president believes we should be doing more to help state and local governments hire back teachers, policemen, firefighters and construction crews. And he believes we should be doing more to cut taxes on small businesses that are the engine of economic growth.

Going forward, we have a choice to make. We can either make investments in things like education, transportation and new sources of energy ? investments that have always been essential to America?s businesses and to creating good middle class jobs. Or we give more tax breaks to wealthy Americans who don?t need them and didn?t ask for them.

Prosperity has never just trickled down from a wealthy few. Prosperity has always grown from the heart of a strong middle class. That?s why the president laid out a blueprint for an economy that?s built to last, based on investments that put America in control of its energy future, improve education and skills for our workers, and support small business and American manufacturing, so we can make more things the world buys.

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Tagged as: American Jobs Act, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), job development, Job Growth, Job Training, jobs, Secretary Hilda Solis, Unemployment, workforce investment

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Nikon confirms woes with D4 and D800, joins Canon in high-end doghouse

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nikon-confirms-problems-with-D4-D800

Okay Nikon owners, stop laughing at your 5D Mark III cronies for their leaky problem. That might be a drip in the pail next to your own worries — namely, possible “lock-up”, focus and viewfinder hitches on your D800 or D4. Nikon verified that a “small number” of units of both DSLRs can lock up and become unresponsive, but until there’s a permanent patch you can prevent this by disabling both highlight and RGB histogram displays. The company also verified that a “run” of D800s is suffering from a viewfinder bug, although it has yet to confirm another emerging problem with autofocus in some units, which apparently requires a factory fix. So, if you’ve noticed any of this with your pricey new D800, or really pricey D4, your best bet might be to reach out to your Nikon repair center post-haste. And don’t let the Canon guys see you.

[Thanks, Thinh]

Nikon confirms woes with D4 and D800, joins Canon in high-end doghouse originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 May 2012 06:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gameloft releases another teaser video of N.O.V.A. 3, still no word on a release date

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NOVA 3 Promo

We've already had our first teaser of Gameloft's forthcoming sequel, N.O.V.A. 3, but we've just been given another. This time we're treated to some actual in-game footage, and it looks good. It looks really good. 

There's nothing more in the way of a release schedule for the game, Gameloft still teases that detail is coming soon. In the meantime though, click on past the break, and enjoy. 

Source: Gameloft

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Foxconn builds a fanless nano PC, forgets to put someone else’s name on it

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Foxconn builds a fanless nano PC, forgets to put someone else's name on it

Two nano PCs, actually, and both expected to be announced officially this week according to FanlessTech. The first is the Foxconn AT-5300, running off a 2.13GHz dual-core Cedar Trail D2700, while the second — the AT-5600 — is powered by AMD’s popular (but last-gen) 1.65GHz E450 APU. Each one consumes around 15W idle and 24W under load, which is the equivalent of somewhere between an Ultrabook and a regular laptop and low enough to be passively cooled. What’s distinctly unlaptop-like, though, is the 190 x 135 x 38mm form factor, which should sit discreetly on your desk, below your TV or on a VESA mount, and also the price, which is expected to be under $200 with worldwide availability. As with similar mini-ATX budget barebones, you’ll need to add your own HDD (or maybe a hybrid) to that, but you do get a pair of USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit LAN, a multilingual card reader and built-in 802.11n WiFi. The only thing missing? You guessed it.

Foxconn builds a fanless nano PC, forgets to put someone else’s name on it originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 May 2012 11:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ZAGG LEATHERskin for iPad Review

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I thought I would try something different this time around….instead of an invisibleSHIELD from ZAGG for the back of my new iPad, I wanted to try one of their LEATHERskins. While the aluminum back of the iPad feels great to the touch, I wanted to add?a bit more protection without too much bulk or weight. [...]

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