NEU » erception and reality of Jim Harbau

The LPGA Tour concludes its journey around the Pacific Rim this week with the TOTO Japan Classic at the Taiheiyo Club in Ibaraki. The 54-hole event begins on Friday.The top five players in the world rankings are on hand -- No. 1 Lydia Ko (New Zealand), second-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn (Thailand), No. 3 In Ge Chun (South Korea), fourth-ranked Lexi Thompson (United States) and No. 5 Sei-Young Kim (South Korea).Ko and Jutanugarn are continuing their head-to-head battle for various year-end honors.Jutanugarn, who turns 21 on Nov. 23, leads the LPGA Tour with five victories this season and sits atop the Rolex Player of the Year standings. Shes also second on the money list.Ko tops the money list and is second in the Player of the Year race. The 19-year-old also leads the battle for the Vare Trophy, which is awarded annually to the LPGA player with the Tours lowest scoring average.Ariya has played such great golf throughout the year, and when she won for the first time at Alabama, we kind of all knew it was coming, and sooner than ever, Ko said. Shes just playing so consistently well. I mean, shes just overall a very strong, confident player. So yeah, I know that Ive got a lot of work to do these last few events.This tournament is one of the oldest on the LPGA schedule. Its being played for the 43rd time.Defending champion Sun-Ju Ahn of South Korea heads a group of seven past champions in the field, one that includes two-time winners Momoko Ueda of Japan, who won this event in 2007 and 2011, and Jiyai Shin of South Korea, who triumphed in 2008 and 2010. Other past champions include Karrie Webb of Australia, who won here in 2006, American Stacy Lewis (2012), Chinas Teresa Lu (2013) and Mi Hyang Lee of South Korea, the 2014 winner.This marks the first time since 1991 the event is being played near Tokyo. The Minori Course at the Taiheiyo Club will play to 6,646 yards with a par of 71.Connor McGovern Jersey .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. Michael Irvin Youth Jersey . -- Most satisfying to Russ Smith about No. https://www.cowboyssportsgoods.com/Womens-Taco-Charlton-Inverted-Jersey/ . The Dane followed up his first European Tour title last weekend with eight birdies and just a single dropped shot on Thursday for a one-stroke advantage over South Africas Allan Versfeld and Portugals Ricardo Santos. Tony Dorsett Womens Jersey . 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LOUIS -- Roman Polak was celebrating even before Alexander Steen scored the winning goal in Saturdays 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Jim Harbaughs ways seem to be working with his target audience.Michigans football coach has starred in a rap video, traveled the country for youth camps, taken his team to Florida for spring break, traded barbs on Twitter and even had sleepovers with recruits.He has done all of that -- and much more -- entering his second season with the Wolverines.If generating buzz to attract recruits to help revive a storied program is Harbaughs aim, hes hitting the mark.Harbaugh is much more popular than?Alabama?coach Nick Saban among millennial males, according to The Q Scores Company, a New York-based company that measures the awareness and appeal of personalities. Furthermore, at least some data indicates that Harbaugh is on the verge of having his celebrity transcend the sports world with those?same young men between the ages of 18 and 34.Harbaugh is making a significantly stronger impact than Saban among younger males, and that seems to be his objective, Henry Schafer, executive vice president of The Q Scores Company, said in a telephone interview Friday. And, Harbaugh is on the cusp of being an iconic figure among the general population in the same demographic.Nearly three-fourths of male sports fans between 18 and 34 are aware of Harbaugh. His Q Score is 25 among that group, meaning one out of four millennial males said he was a favorite of theirs in a survey done earlier this year. Saban is someone 68 percent of millennial males surveyed are familiar with, and his Q Score is 21 among them.The Q Scores Company conducted its latest survey in February, just after Harbaugh slept at the houses of recruits and prior to him becoming the first college football coach -- and perhaps the last -- to take his team way off campus for spring drills in Florida. In June, the envelope-pushing coach barnstormed around the country for satellite camps that the NCAA banned after the SEC and ACC pushed for a proposal to do so only to have that decision rescinded.I dont know about Q ratings, but I do know that it was priceless to coach and teach 15 to 20,000 youngsters at those camps, Harbaugh told The Associated Press, just before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at a recent?Chicago Cubs?game. Obviously, we didnt do all those camps just for recruiting because all of?those youngsters arent coming to Michigan. But they were all introduced to and learned more about the great game of football.Michigan was good, though not greeat, in Harbaughs first season leading his alma mater.ddddddddddddThe Wolverines were 10-3, opening with a setback to Utah and losing later to Ohio State and Michigan State.They are positioned for a successful start to this season, hosting the first five games, all of which they will likely be favored to win. They appear to have tougher tests in the back half of the schedule, including road games against the Buckeyes and Spartans, rivals who have had their way with the maize and blue in recent years.If Harbaugh and the Wolverines dont win more games this season and lose to both rivals again, his efforts to create buzz likely will fall flat. And hell still have five fewer national championships than Saban.Hype is just hype. It doesnt mean anything, Michigan wide receiver Jehu Chesson said. Youve got to beat your rivals, and we dont shy away from that.Between spring drills and training camp, Harbaugh appeared in a rap video with Bailey, whose song Whos Got It Better Than Us? plays off a catch phrase of Harbaughs father, Jack. The senior Harbaugh asked his kids, including?Baltimore Ravens?coach John Harbaugh, that question when they were growing up, and?Nobody! was the expected response.Jack Harbaugh, who recently moved into a house 500 feet, from his sons house in Ann Arbor, said there is no disconnect between the perception and reality of Jim Harbaugh.Jim is who is he, and he doesnt ever worry about the backlash, said Jack Harbaugh. He took his shirt off at a camp, and people are still talking about it a year later. They asked him to be in a rap video, and he had some fun with it. Some liked it. Others didnt, and that doesnt bother him.His current players and the ones he is recruiting, those in the aforementioned millennial group, seem to be fans of Jim Harbaughs unique style.Harbaughs boss, Warde Manuel, doesnt fit in the same demographic. However, Manuel also admires Harbaughs approach and is thankful his first season in charge of the athletic department will be Harbaughs second season on the sideline at the Big House.Having him back has meant a lot to the university, athletic department and Michigan football in ways that can be measured: wins, ticket sales and donations, Manuel said. And in many intangible ways, he has made people feel good around here and from afar about him and Michigan. ' ' '