Masters champion Danny Willett is battling to be 100 per cent for The 145th Open after being struck down by illness. Alan Trammell Tigers Jersey . Willett, who won his first major title at Augusta in April, played 11 holes at Royal Troon on Monday but said he was enjoying far from a perfect preparation for the tournament.He will partner world No 1 Jason Day and Rickie Fowler in the first two rounds, one of the marquee groups for fans to follow on Thursday and Friday. The Yorkshireman has had only one top-20 finish since his Masters victory, when taking third at the BMW PGA Championship in May, and says he could have done without falling ill so close to such a prestigious event.I was a bit sick last week but I am getting round the back of that and went out and played a few holes today, Willett told Sky Sports News HQ. Get a Sky Sports Pass Dont miss The Open. Watch live on NOW TV for ￡10.99. No contract. Hopefully I can get another good nights sleep and get out there and have another good round on Tuesday.Were getting there but I was pretty bad for a couple of days. Im just getting back on top of everything really, getting the fluids back in and hopefully getting back to full fitness by Thursday.Its going to be good playing with them to see where you are at in comparison, and see what they do. Im relatively new to being around this all the time so its interesting to see what they do differently. Weve got another two days to get a plan together for the golf course and then play our own game. Here are all the ways to watch The Open with Sky Sports Willett has been busy away from golf ahead of his bid for The Open, having been at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix and also taking in Wimbledon, and he admitted that might also not have helped his preparations.Its not ideal, he added. Its something I have always wanted to do, and I got invited down [to Silverstone] by Mercedes. I also got invited by the chairman of Wimbledon to go and sit in the Royal Box so they were two opportunities you cant really turn down. If you love sport, they are two of the best things I have ever done. But its not ideal if you add being sick last week into the mix. Willett was a guest in Wimbledons Royal Box last week Willett felt conditions on Monday in Ayrshire were brutal at times and he expects the field to struggle to master the course if wind and rain plagues the tournament.I played 11 holes today and it was nice - fun and interesting, he added. Visually it doesnt seem as difficult as what I think it plays. You knock it into a couple of the bunkers you are not supposed to be in and you have to come out sideways.We played the last five straight into the wind and that was pretty brutal, but it will all be weather dependant, like most Opens are, and I think its going to be a fantastic test. Also See: Ways to watch The Open Monty to open The Open Visiting the Open Zone Boxalls Open story Daniel Norris Jersey . This week, topics cover the Blue Jays rotation, the futures John Gibbons and Alex Anthopoulos, protecting pitchers and a bonus question on his predictions for the MLB playoffs. Denny McClain Tigers Jersey . -- J.R. Sweezy was the one part of the Seattle Seahawks offensive line that had avoided injuries or having to change positions this season. http://www.baseballtigersproshop.com/francisco-rodriguez-tigers-jersey/ .Martin Caceres marked his return from injury by scoring in the 3-1 win at Napoli and he believes Juventus sent out a warning to the rest of the league with that result.We go out on the pitch every game looking to give our all, Caceres said.It’s hard – if not impossible – to get a read on a team after just two games, but the Nashville Predators have looked impressively different in their debut games under new coach Peter Laviolette. Laviolette’s promised to bring more offense to a Nashville organization that’s seen their goal-scoring dry up over the years, but early signs suggest that the team’s just going to be more aggressive in every phase of the game – not just in terms of getting pucks on net. This, of course, gets into the many different ways a team can improve on their Corsi%. One example I like to give is the stark contrast between that of Los Angeles and Chicago; two virtually equal teams at dominating control of play at five-on-five, but two teams that go about their business in entirely different manners. Los Angeles is a dump-and-chase heavy team – they prefer to sacrifice a bit of lethality when attacking in exchange for being able to set-up with more structure when defending the neutral zone. Chicago’s a polar opposite – nearly every possession through the neutral zone sees the Blackhawks carrying in with control, and it’s reflected in their ability to pile up the shot-attempts and goals year after year. The first two games Nashville’s played are interesting in the sense that they seem to have really dialed up the force and frequency in which they harass puck-carriers coming through the neutral zone. In years past, I’ve felt as though Nashville played a more passive game, which let super-talented teams dictate the run of play. Nashville’s first ‘real’ test came against a Dallas team that seems to be something of a lock to reach the post-season. The Stars attack in waves through the neutral zone, and their top-nine -- much like Chicago – seem to want to be in control of the puck as they attack the opposition. Sometimes, this is easier said than done. The Predators put on a masterful performance against Dallas. Move away from the 4-1 score line and consider the following: Dallas, a team that averaged 24 even-strength shots per game last year, had just 15 against Nashville. A large part of this was Dallas’ inability to generate basically anything away from the Seguin line, which produced seven of those fifteen shots. Nashville made a concerted effort to squeeze out passing lanes and attack puck-carriers as they traversed through the neutral zone. Their work against Dallas’ vaunted second line – Jason Spezza, Ales Hemsky, and Erik Cole – was particularly magnificent. Consider the below table, which shows the performance of the Jason Spezza line as they came through the neutral zone against Nashville, which shows just how rare it was for the Stars second line to enter the Nashville zone under control with the puck. Stars Stopped in Neutral Zone NZ Dump/Chase NZ Controlled Entry NZ Failure/Turnover Spezza Line On-Ice 17.9% (5/28) 17. Denny McLain Jersey. 9% (5/28) 64.2% (18/28) NZ = Neutral Zone Knowing what we know about the importance of entering the zone with control of the puck as it pertains to shot-attempt generation through the seminal work of Eric Tulsky, and knowing what we know about the stylistic play of guys like Ales Hemsky, Jason Spezza, and Erik Cole, their success will directly correlate with their ability to enter the offensive zone with control. In games they aren’t able to do this – like Saturday night’s game against Nashville – they’ll struggle to have an impact. Saturday’s poor neutral zone performance predictably manifested in their ability to generate shot-attempts. Here are the CorsiFor rates (per 60) for each of the players, with a three-year comparable to show how decisive the run of play really was. Stars Shot Down Per 60 CorsiFor vs. Nashville Per 60 CorsiFor 2011-14 Jason Spezza 21.65 63.64 Ales Hemsky 18.57 53.64 Erik Cole 17.08 54.92 Now, this sort of volatility is going to happen when isolating for single games (or even a series of games) with any player or group of players around the league, but it does speak to how strong Nashville was at bottling up Dallas’ second line – a second line that spent most of the night either defending the Nashville rush, or futilely trying to gain the opposition’s zone with possession of the puck. In terms of accreditation for slowing down the Dallas trio, the forward group seemed to do it by committee. Defensively, it was primarily the Seth Jones and Anton Volchenkov pairing, which saw almost 60% of their shifts against the Spezza group. A job well done. Going forward, the key for Dallas will not be to abandon its strategy, but to really dig into what makes the attacking styles of Chicago (and, San Jose for that matter) so effective. Part of that is the forward group doesn’t have to do so much of the leg-work – there are many able bodies on the back-end that can spring forwards as they move north, and it makes defending the controlled rush just exponentially harder. In Dallas, there are questions about the blueline, and how far they can take Lindy Ruff’s team. I think figuring out the three best puck-moving combinations could be vital going forward. Unfortunately, it’ll take time – there are a lot of young bodies back there. As an aside, I don’t think Dallas is going to have much trouble maneuvering through the regular season. The questions are about improvement, not about whether or not they’re a legitimate contender. On the other side – well, something to watch for Nashville going forward, certainly. I think reasonable assessments can be made about newly-coached teams after twenty games or so. We’ll revisit then, and see if Nashville is sustaining their success. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '