CARMEL, Ind. -- Rory McIlroy suddenly has new life in what had been a drab season.All it took was a phone call to British putting coach Phil Kenyon, a little work and a little patience, and a victory in the Deutsche Bank Championship that reminded McIlroy what had been sorely missing in his game.He doesnt need to putt great. He just needs to avoid putting poorly.I was looking at the stats from my win here in 2012, McIlroy said Wednesday at Crooked Stick for the BMW Championship. And I think out of 70 players, I finished 49th in strokes gained putting and won by two, shot 20-under par. So you dont have to putt great, but you cant putt poorly, either. If you have a great ball-striking week, if youre sort of just average in putting, you can have a great chance to win.McIlroy ended another season without a major, though that victory at the TPC Boston on Monday moved him to No. 4 in the FedEx Cup and gave him a clear shot at the $10 million bonus, which he has never won. McIlroy was the best player in golf in 2012 (when he won at the TPC Boston and Crooked Stick in successive weeks) and in 2014 (when he won the last two majors). Both times, someone else played better and won the FedEx Cup.And theres one other cup at the end that could turn a major-less year into a sweet one.If I can play the way I am playing through the next two events of this FedEx Cup playoffs and into the Ryder Cup, I still wont have achieved what I wanted to achieve this season, but its a nice way to finish the season off, he said. Its not a bad way to finish the year.On the other side of this is Jason Day.He surged to No. 1 in the world by playing better than anyone the first half of the year, winning at the Arnold Palmer Invitation and the Dell Match Play, and then adding The Players Championship. But he didnt win a major, losing by one shot to Jimmy Walker at the PGA Championship. In fact, he hasnt won since May.Even so, Day finds himself in a remarkably tight race with U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson for player of the year.The PGA Tours award is a vote of the players. The PGA of America award is based on points. Day leads 80-76 in the points race, mainly because he has an ultra slim lead on Johnson in adjusted scoring average (0.008 difference) and a $507,527 lead on the money list.More troublesome to Day is this minor drought hes in.The worlds No. 1 player has had his chances, losing a late lead in the Bridgestone Invitational and failing to catch up to Walker at the PGA Championship. He wasnt a serious contender at either of the two FedEx Cup playoff events.But its a fine line, and Day could only laugh when it was mentioned that he had gone nearly four months without a victory.Of my goodness. I should start another profession then, right? he said.The only difference he can detect is missing a few more fairways, which he figures will lead to more birdie chances, better scoring and more trophies. He made it sound so simple, and for a short burst in the spring, he made winning look simple.I want to get back to that, Day said.A victory in either of the last two events might be enough for him to win the FedEx Cup -- if he wins the Tour Championship, hes assured of that -- and make this year as good as it can be without having a major.For everyone else, its a matter of getting to the Tour Championship.The top 70 in the FedEx Cup advanced to the BMW Championship, though Henrik Stenson at No. 24 took the week off to rest. The top 30 advance to the Tour Championship in two weeks at East Lake, where everyone will have a mathematical chance at winning the FedEx Cup.Brooks Koepka is holding down the 30th spot, with Daniel Berger one spot behind.Patrick Reed is at No. 1 in the standings from his victory in The Barclays and his tie for fifth last week at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Reed plays a full schedule, and its a good thing considering what he has gone through -- the Olympics, three FedEx Cup playoff events, a week off and then the Tour Championship and Ryder Cup. Clearance Soccer Jerseys . Ibaka equaled a career high with 20 rebounds, adding four blocked shots and 15 points as the Thunder smothered the Milwaukee Bucks offence in a 92-79 victory Saturday night. Fake Soccer Jerseys . It was Kerbers third final of the year after losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in Monterrey in April and to Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic in Tokyo two weeks ago. The 10th-ranked German improved her record in finals to 3-5. https://www.soccerjerseyschina.us/ . -- An ugly goal by Nick Bonino helped the Anaheim Ducks overcome the defensive-minded Phoenix Coyotes on a night when their ragged power play continued to struggle. Cheap Soccer Jerseys . Neymar curled home a free kick from just outside the area to put the 2014 World Cup host ahead in the 44th minute. Three minutes after the break, a simple through pass from Paulinho freed Oscar and the Chelsea star rounded goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong to extend Brazils lead. Stitched Soccer Jerseys . Pedro scored from a pass by Lionel Messi in the 33rd minute and added two more goals in the 47th and 72nd after Valdes saved his second penalty in four days following his stop in Wednesdays 4-0 over Ajax in the Champions League.SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Billionaire Chris Hansen, who tried to move the Kings NBA franchise from Sacramento to Seattle, is behind a secretive effort to thwart the citys efforts to build a new downtown arena for the professional basketball team, Californias campaign watchdog disclosed Friday after an investigation. The announcement is an embarrassment for Hansen, who lost his bid after NBA owners voted to keep the team in Californias capital city, and it could undermine support for the local ballot measure Hansen funded that is designed to put to a citywide vote the councils planned $258 million subsidy for a downtown arena. "I made a mistake I regret," Hansen said in a written statement. "While Im sure everyone can appreciate how easy it is to get caught up in the heat of battle, with the benefit of hindsight, this is clearly a decision I regret." Hansen had said he would end his effort to buy the Kings for $625 million after the NBA blocked the sale, and a group of investors led by technology executive Vivek Ranadive bought the team a day later for $535 million. Hansen publicly wished the city well after losing his bid to buy the team. Yet the California Fair Political Practices Commission said that a month later, Hansen gave $80,000 to pay signature gatherers trying to get the measure on next Junes ballot, and the group violated state law by refusing to disclose the donation. The NBA has said that Sacramento must build a modern arena to keep the Kings in town. The teams new owners have set a 2016 target. Hansens money was funneled through the Los Angeles law firm of Loeb & Loeb. Hansen said the firm approached him about making a contribution to the petition effort after he had hired them to gauge citizen opposition during the battle over the sale. Members of Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork, which filed to put the initiative on the June 2014 ballot, distanced themselves from the money and said they use only volunteers to circulate petitions.dddddddddddd Spokesman John Hyde said the money went to a political group that offered to assist STOPs efforts. "No doubt this is a PR nightmare for STOP," Hyde said. "We didnt know where that money came from and we werent the recipient of any of that funding." The signature gatherers are halfway to the 22,000 they need to qualify the measure by December, Hyde said. Gary Winuk, chief of the commissions enforcement division, said Hansen donated $100,000 total. It was not immediately clear what happened to the additional $20,000, though Winuk said it might have been spent on other expenses. He said the investigation is continuing. "These are as sophisticated parties as you can get and they should know better," Winuk said. "Most people just comply when we call them. They just happened to make us take them to court." The donors were intentionally denying the public information that could help them decide whether to sign the petition, he said. The commission filed a lawsuit Thursday to learn the donors identity and revealed during a Friday news conference that it was Hansen. "Unbelievable," said state Senate President pro Tempore Darrel Steinberg, who is from Sacramento and was active in efforts to keep the Kings in town. Kings and NBA officials declined comment, as did Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA all-star who led the fight to keep the team. Suspicion about the origins of the money originally had fallen on the Maloof family that previously owned the team because the same law firm had long represented them. The commission was dropping its lawsuit, but Winuk said Hansen and the law firm could face a civil fine of up to $80,000 plus an administrative fine of up to $5,000 for each of at least three campaign-reporting violations. ' ' '