Dein erstes Forum » from the garage as he was eliminated. "

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- Stacy Lewis brings more value to the LPGA Tour that just her golf. Along with becoming the first American in 18 years to win LPGA player of the year, and then rising to No. 1 in the world for four weeks, Lewis had a direct hand in bringing two tournaments to the LPGA Tour. One of them is this week, the Bahamas LPGA Classic, which grew out of her partnership with Ohio-based title sponsor Pure Silk. She also aced what amounted to a pop quiz by the chief executive of Marathon Oil, which now sponsors a tournament in July. Thats what led LPGA Tour Commissioner Mike Whan to jokingly say Wednesday, "Shes better at sales than me." "Your stars drive your sport," Whan said. "Your athletes generate the momentum, and your job is to turn that momentum into business." Lewis, however, is not good enough to dictate weather. A storm the locals havent seen in some 20 years pounded Paradise Island through the night, dumping about a foot of rain in an eight-hour span that flooded the Ocean Club. There was so much water on the course -- the entire 18th fairway was covered -- that the tournament was reduced to 54 holes. The first round is to start Friday with a Sunday finish, leaving some flexibility in case more showers cause problems. "Im happy I got 18 holes of practice in yesterday," Suzann Pettersen said. "Well play whenever we can." The rain wiped out the pro-am, so the LPGA Tour hastily arranged for players to meet at a restaurant at The Atlantis for a question-and-answer sessions with the amateurs. The group of players included the top three in the world ranking -- Inbee Park, Lewis and Pettersen, along with Brittany Lincicome and Natalie Gulbis. It was an example of how the LPGA players try to do a little more, and it goes back to pop quiz for Lewis. She had a marketing sponsorship with Marathon, and the company was thinking about sponsoring a tournament. Lewis was playing in a pro-am with the CEO when he turned to her and said, "Why should I sponsor an LPGA event?" "It caught me off guard," Lewis said. "I said it was a different experience than the PGA Tour and your customers will love it. I think thats more why they did. They do a big customer outing. You get your name out there, but mostly they take care of their customers. And our pro-ams are better than any out there." The LPGA stars all turned out for a pro-am party Tuesday night at The Atlantis, with its massive aquarium as the backdrop. As for the golf? No chance. The rain fell so hard and for so long that on Wednesday morning, the tip of a red hazard stake down the right side of the 18th fairway was barely visible. The entire hole was a water hazard except for the tee and the green. On the adjacent ninth hole, water covered a deep bunker on the left side of the green -- two turtles were swimming in what had been a bunker -- and it was nearly coming onto the green. Whan asked some officials from The Bahamas if they should have considered an earlier date. The advance staff had not seen much of a cloud of the last week. "They said they had never seen a storm like this, so were probably in a good spot," Whan said. Lewis is trying to get back to top spot after winning the LPGA Founders Cup in Phoenix in March to reach No. 1 in the world. Not since Beth Daniel in 1994 had an American won LPGA player of the year, and Lewis was on an upward trend by winning the HSBC Champions in Singapore and the following week in Phoenix. Park won the Kraft Nabisco Championship and replaced Lewis at No. 1. There now is a three-way battle -- and it could grow -- as the LPGA Tour heads into the heart of its major championship season, including a return to St. Andrews. Lewis is concerned with the careless mistakes leading to bogeys, though the real struggle is finding a balance with her recent star power. She is one of the more remarkable stories in womens golf, having spent most of her childhood in a back brace because of scoliosis, and then having to go through surgery after high school to install a rod and metal screws. None of that kept her from reaching the top. As for the attention? She is getting recognized more often. She gets some of the largest galleries, even when playing early in the morning. "The hardest for me is the extra stuff, being the only American up there," she said. "That adds to the media requirements, sponsor requirements, doing extra things at tournaments. Managing my schedule has been the hardest thing." In her first tournament after going to No. 1, Lewis had interviews in the morning, went to practice, another session of interviews in the afternoon, followed by a video interview, a photo shoot and the pro-am party. "It was exhausting," she said After a morning practice Tuesday this week, she headed over to Atlantis for a promotional spot -- she swam with dolphins. That was fun. And after getting out of the water, it started to rain. If nothing else, Wednesday brought a day of rest. Maurice Harkless Jersey .875,000, avoiding arbitration. Clippards deal Monday means all eight Nationals players who filed for arbitration wound up settling before a hearing. Tobias Harris Clippers Jersey . The team also announced Tuesday that the Braves will wear a commemorative patch on the right sleeve during the season. The patch, shaped like home plate, carries the number 715, Aarons autograph and a "40th Anniversary" banner. https://www.clipperslockerroom.com/Montrezl-Harrell-City-Edition-Jersey/ . The Croatian served 21 aces and hit 42 winners against Sijsling, who double-faulted to give Cilic a 4-3 lead in the deciding set. "All the players, they know me and they were really happy to see me and they were really happy that this is over for me," Cilic said. JaMychal Green Jersey . Uniteds eighth defeat of a wretched campaign means Liverpool, which currently occupies the fourth and final Champions League place, could go nine points clear of its fierce rival by beating West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. Charlie Adam scored both of Stokes goals at Britannia Stadium either side of Robin van Persies equalizer, with a miserable day for seventh-place United capped by first-half injuries to centre halves Jonny Evans and Phil Jones that forced them off. Jerome Robinson Jersey .Y. - Rob Manfred was promoted Monday to Major League Baseballs chief operating officer, which may make him a candidate to succeed Bud Selig as commissioner. NUERBURGRING, Germany -- Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes earned the pole position for Sundays German Grand Prix, edging Red Bulls three-time defending Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel. Hamiltons second consecutive pole and third of the season made up for the disappointment of seeing the second Mercedes driver, Nico Rosberg, knocked down to 11th at the end of the second qualifying session. Hamilton set the fastest qualifying time Saturday of 1 minute, 29.398 seconds. Vettel had dominated the last two practice sessions but ended up .103 seconds behind Hamilton, who gained his 29th career pole after his team overcame problems with the car during the last two practice sessions, which Hamilton called "disasters." "It was even worse this morning. I was a good eight tenths of a second off, and I wasnt comfortable with the car at all," said Hamilton, who has often criticized his car before races. "So we went back into the truck, analyzed everything, put in a lot of hard work ... Its a privilege to drive for this team, theyve great history, so Im proud to be able to get pole for them, but there are no points today. They come tomorrow," Hamilton said. He is still winless since joining Mercedes this season. Mercedes came into the race with fives poles in the previous six GPs but has struggled to maintain the momentum in racing conditions. Hamilton held the pole at the British Grand Prix last week but had an early puncture and finished fourth. Marc Webber in the second Red Bull was third in qualifying, with the Lotus pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean next. Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rossoo was sixth, Felipe Massa of Ferrari seventh and his teammate Fernando Alonso eighth.dddddddddddd Rosberg, who won two of the last three races, was sitting second midway through the second qualifying session and his team left him in the garage, apparently believing his time was good enough to put him into the top 10 for the third and decisive session. But Raikkonen led a charge of late efforts and Rosberg watched from the garage as he was eliminated. "It was quite a shock," Rosberg said. "I didnt see it coming ... I thought I would be easily on the front row today." Many leading drivers had threatened to pull out of Sundays race if tire blowouts that plagued last weeks British GP persisted. Supplier Pirelli made changes and the tires have held, reducing the risk of a pullout. Vettel said Pirelli appeared to have done a good job and did not think there would be any reason to pull out of the race. "I am confident there will be no such problems," Vettel said. Vettel said he was struggling "to get it together" in the first sector of the circuit and that the tail wind had been a factor. "It was quite close, and I tried everything I had. But we are much closer to them here than we were in Silverstone. We have made some progress and are confident for tomorrow. "Weve done our homework and now its up to us. We are on the front row, which wasnt quite enough for pole position, but I am looking forward to tomorrow," said Vettel, who is seeking his first win on home soil. Vettel holds a 21-point lead over Alonso in drivers standings after eight of 19 races. ' ' '