NEU » win at Cuba on Friday, Green put the U.S.

Of the six total medals handed out in golfs return to the Olympics during the past fortnight, the most significant might have been the bronze awarded in the womens Olympic golf tournament on Saturday.Nothing against Inbee Park (womens gold, South Korea), Lydia Ko (womens silver, New Zealand), Justin Rose (mens gold, Great Britain), Henrik Stenson (mens silver, Sweden) and Matt Kuchar (mens bronze, USA), but they all come from mostly fully matured golfing nations.Thats not the case with womens bronze medalist Shanshan Feng, who hails from China.Coming into the week, Feng knew the stakes were high for golf in her homeland.If anybody [of the four Chinese players in the Olympic tournaments] can have a good result, maybe a medal, its going to really change everything about golf in China, she said Saturday after shooting a final-round 69. And of course, I mean, I made it, so that made me even more happy about it.Of Chinas 1.4 billion people, turning just 1 percent into golfers would bring 14 million more people into the game. At 2 percent, well, you get the picture.Feng isnt a new name in womens golf by any means. The 27-year-old from Guangzhou has four LPGA Tour victories, including a major title at the 2012 Wegmans LPGA Championship. She has finished inside the top six in the other four womens majors and won the Ladies European Tours order of merit in 2015.None of those victories will resonate in a nascent golfing country like China the way an Olympic medal will, though.Even people [in China] that they dont play golf, they actually get to see us and they get to actually see how great the Chinese players are, Feng said. Of course, I make sure that I brought out my A-game and I smile all the time, whenever if I missed a putt or making a putt. I was like, oh, people back in China are watching, so I need to make sure that I look nicely.Feng credited part of her performance on the course in Rio to how she handled herself, knowing the attention golf would get back home. She said normally in China, golf is only on golf channels. These past two weeks, though, since its part of the Olympics, she knew it would be on all over the country.Other Chinese players had made names for themselves on the world stage, but Fengs medal should stand out among many golfing accomplishments.Chinas Hao-tong Li won the Volvo China Open on the European Tour in May at age 20, but that doesnt likely resonate with the sporting public, or more importantly with Chinese government officials who could support golf with funding, like an Olympic medal does.Guan Tianlang, who is also from Guangzhou and who Feng said played on the same junior teams as her although shes several years older, competed in the 2013 Masters after winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship run by Augusta National. He made the cut at arguably the most famous golf tournament in the world, but it didnt change the direction of the sport in the worlds most populous nation.With the question about golfs future in the Olympics beyond Tokyo in 2020 a popular topic inside the game, having China earn a medal will certainly help make the case for increased participation in a country that could be a boon to golfs popularity around the globe.Will Fengs bronze medal turn kids in China on to golf like Se Ri Paks 1998 U.S. Womens Open victory did for South Korean children? Maybe not.Yet even if the effects of Fengs performance arent noticeable for years to come, the womens golf bronze medalist will be one of the best examples for keeping golf in the Summer Games beyond Tokyo. Authentic MLB Jerseys China . Reassurance came from Paul Tesori, his caddie and close friend whose newborn son is in intensive care in a Florida hospital. "Paul sent me a text this morning, just told me he loved me and wanted to go out and fight as hard as I would any other day," Simpson said Sunday after doing just that. Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale . -- Matt Kuchar and Harris English ran away with the Franklin Templeton Shootout, shooting a 14-under 58 on Sunday in the final-round scramble to break the tournament course record. http://www.cheapmlbjerseysbywholesale.com/ . -- Whether Jeremy Hill deserves a prominent role in LSUs offence this early in the season is a matter for debate. Cheap Nike Baseball Jerseys .Y. -- Knicks coach Mike Woodson said Wednesday that J. Cheap MLB Jerseys Free Shipping . Any real chance at payback wont come until the playoff. Still, Pittsburgh knows its taut 3-2 win over the Bruins on Wednesday night is a pretty good place to start laying the groundwork. "They are a very good defensive team," Penguins forward Brandon Sutter said. WASHINGTON -- Julian Green scored his second goal in two matches, before Monty Pattersons equalizer forced the United States to settle for a 1-1 draw in an exhibition against New Zealand on Tuesday night.Lynden Gooch made his U.S. debut as a second-half substitute in a match played exactly a month before the Americans face Mexico to open their final round of World Cup qualifying.Goalkeeper William Yarbrough kept New Zealand scoreless over 45 minutes in his first international start and third overall appearance.David Bingham couldnt do the same in the second half, though he could hardly be blamed for Pattersons strike.After U.S. forward Jozy Altidore failed to clear a corner kick aimed at New Zealands Michael Boxhall, Patterson popped up to thump the loose ball into the net from about 5 yards out.The 21-year-old Green scored his third career goal for the U.S. despite being only on the fringes of the team over the past two years.Green has made just five appearances since his first goal for the U.S., which came very late in overtime of a 2-1 second-round loss to Belgium in the 2014 World Cup.But he earned an invite from coach Jurgen Klinsmann to camp after repeatedly making the 18-man roster for German power Bayerrn Munich.ddddddddddddAfter scoring the second goal in a 2-0 exhibition win at Cuba on Friday, Green put the U.S. ahead Tuesday in the 27th minute when he reached Altidores knock-down header on the left flank.Green dribbled to goal while defender Liam Graham retreated, cut to his right, and then fired a low, 18-yard shot that snuck between wrong-footed goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic and the left post.Gooch, a 20-year-old who has appeared seven times this season for Sunderland of Englands Premier League, came on in the 59th minute.The California native -- whose Irish mother and English father give him three international options -- created several lively sequences on the right, drawing chants of Gooooch! from the announced crowd of 9,012 at RFK Stadium.In the 64th minute, his cross found Green, who lofted a shot well high of the goal. And in the 89th, his corner found Omar Gonzalez, whose header also soared above the crossbar.The U.S. continued to press, with Michael Bradley denied by Marinovics diving stop in the 90th minute, and Gonzalez missing wide on another header in stoppage time. ' ' '