RIO DE JANEIRO -- Jaco van Zyl is a professional golfer of modest success, capturing most of his tournament titles in his homeland of South Africa, only briefly able to crack the PGA Tour.Prior to this year, van Zyl had qualified for just three major championships in a 15-year career, not making the cut in any of them.Clearly getting into the games biggest tournaments is the dream, the goal for any golfer. Those who are consistently ranked among the top 50 in the world dont have to worry about their spots in the Masters, U.S. Open, Open or PGA Championship, but the rest of the games players fight and scratch to earn those spots.And that is why a decision van Zyl made this summer was met with amazement: he skipped two major championships for which he was exempt in order to prepare for the Olympic Golf Tournament.If I had to prioritize, this was it for me, van Zyl said of playing the Olympic event. Not to take anything away from majors, but next year there are four more, the year after that there will be four more, 100 years after I retire there will be four more.This was an opportunity. Im not 21 years old anymore. I really wanted to experience it. And I havent regretted for it for one minute.Van Zyl (pronounced van-seel) is 37 and has won 14 times on the Sunshine Tour, the main pro tour in South Africa, with his biggest victory coming at the Telecom PGA Championship, one of four victories in 2009.Two years earlier he had qualified for the PGA Tour, but made just four cuts. And in 2011 he qualified for the European Tour, posting five top-10 finishes. Van Zyl still competes on both the European and Sunshine Tours and earlier this year, for the first time, moved into the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking.That helped him secure spots in the U.S. Open, the Open and the PGA. But after missing the cut at Oakmont, van Zyl headed to the BMW International Open in Germany where he picked up an illness. The following week at the French Open he wasnt any better.With the Open looming and the Olympic tournament not far away, he made the decision to pull out of the remaining major championships and focus on the Olympics. Prior to this week, he had not played competitively since a tie for 62nd in Paris in early July.The majors are ultimately why we play, he said. But this is just something unique. For some of us its a once in a lifetime opportunity.Van Zyls decision is even more amazing when you consider how many male players pulled out of the Olympic tournament. There were 21 eligible who declined a spot, including the top four in the world: Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy.South Africans Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace also declined, opening up a place for van Zyl. Brandon Stone is the other South African golfer in the tournament.What Jaco did was an important statement for golfs future in the Olympics, said Gary Player, 80, the winner of nine major championships who is serving as an advisor for the South African golfers this week. What if he wins a gold medal after sitting out of two major championships to prepare? What a story that would be.I like to think of it as he put his country ahead of himself. He had a chance to win prize money and world ranking points at The Open and PGA Championship, but being able to say you are an Olympic athlete and potentially a medalist for your country is priceless. Hats off to him and all the other golfers in Rio, men and women.Van Zyl will need a big rally to get one of those coveted medals after opening the tournament with an even-par score of 71 and not being able to make up any ground on Friday morning after shooting 74. He is now 3 over through 36 holes.Basically for me this is a big week, van Zyl said. Id like to do well and Id like to play well. Whether a medal is there at the end of the week, I just want to walk away having played nicely. Cheap Lakers Jerseys . Blackwood, 28, has played the last three seasons in the San Diego Padres system, including the past two summers with Class AA San Antonio of the Texas League. Isaac Bonga Jersey .com) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to halt their longest losing streak of the season when they host the struggling New York Islanders in tonights clash at the Bell Centre. http://www.wholesalelakersjerseys.com/javale-mcgee-jersey/ . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. Wholesale Lakers Jerseys Free Shipping . -- Jakob Silfverberg is making himself right at home with the Anaheim Ducks, scoring four goals in his first four games. Lakers Jerseys China . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. HOUSTON -- Tony Parker showed why he is so valuable to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night.Kawhi Leonard led the Spurs with 20 points in their 106-100 victory over Houston, but Parkers court presence proved to be the biggest difference between this victory and Wednesdays nights 101-99 home loss to the Rockets without him.Hes a great point guard, very smart, knows where guys spots are on the floor, and hes been here before, Leonard said. He knows what (Gregg Popovich) expects, and if one of us gets out of line or if were doing well, he tells us. He just makes us better.Parker missed three games with knee soreness last week, and the Spurs lost consecutive home games for the first time since December 2014. On Saturday night, he scored a season-high 16 points and played 27 minutes, his second-highest total of the season.He gets us organized, Popovich said. He hasnt been with us so much this season. Hes just a stability factor, and that was a big help.Parker was not made available to reporters.The Spurs improved to 5-0 on the road, where they have outscored opponents by an average of 12.8 points.James Harden had a triple-double for a second straight game against the Spurs, finishing with 25 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds, but also added seven costly turnovers. A deep 3-pointer by Eric Gordon cut the lead to four with 2 minutes remaining, but Houston struggled to make stops down the stretch.Just messed up coverages, Harden said. Theyre a really good team. They make you mess up.Gordon scored 27 points off the bench, going 7 of 12 on 3-pointers. Houston attempted 47 3s in the game, making 15 (31.9 percent).The Rockets have lost three of their last four home games against the Spurs in the I-10 rivalry after winning seven of the previous eight. With the Spurs up 16 early in the fourth, a loud Go Spurs Go! chant overtook the Toyota Center crowd.LaMarcus Aldridge had 16 points, Pau Gasol scored 15 and Manu Ginobili added 12 off the bench.Harden hit a running 39-footer at the buzzer to cut San Antonios lead to 26-22 after one. Leonard tried a buzzer-beater of his own to end the second quarter with a deep 3, but it clanked off the front of the rim, and the Spurs led 49-40 at the half.ddddddddddddIP-INSSpurs: Danny Green returned to the starting lineup after resting for Friday nights win over Detroit. Green scored five points in 27 minutes. ... Houston native SF Jonathon Simmons scored six points in 16 minutes. ... San Antonio entered Saturdays game leading the league in free throw percentage (86.3 percent) and ranking second in 3-point percentage (39.6 percent) and finished 19 of 24 from the line and 5 of 18 from 3.Rockets: Houston went scoreless for the first 3 minutes of the game, missing its first eight shots. ... PG Patrick Beverley was inactive as he continues to recover from knee surgery but participated in pregame warmups and plans to play later this week. ... Trevor Ariza had 15 points, and Clint Capela added 12 points and 10 rebounds.HARDENS MINUTESHarden entered Saturday ranking fifth in the league with 37.6 minutes per game and played 39 minutes on Saturday night. Coach Mike DAntoni said reducing those minutes as much as possible is important in keeping Harden healthy down the stretch, and he believes getting Beverley back in the next few games will allow Harden some added rest.Thats just too many minutes, DAntoni said. Pat will be able to alleviate a lot of that.ANOTHER ONEHarden joined Elvin Hayes as the only players in franchise history to record consecutive triple-doubles. The Rockets fell to 9-2 in the 11 games where Harden has had a triple-double.LIVE BY THE 3.Houston forward Ryan Anderson said Leonards defense was a factor in holding him to 1 of 7 from beyond the arc.Obviously, their main goal is to get me off the 3-point line, Anderson said. They did a great job of taking away normal shots, but at the same time, I had a lot of open looks that I just missed and thats on me.ALL TOGETHER NOWWith plenty of early season absences from Green, Parker and others, Saturday night was the first time this season where the Spurs had everyone in their usual rotation available in the game.UP NEXTSpurs: Host Miami on Monday night.Rockets: Host Philadelphia on Monday night. 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