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NAPLES, Fla. -- Lydia Ko didnt look any different in her first LPGA Tour event as a pro. The 16-year-old wore a golf shirt promoting golf in New Zealand, untucked over white shorts, her bookish glasses under the cap, and nothing about her demeanour that indicates so much as a pulse. She didnt feel any differently, either. Not after a double bogey on the third hole, missing what amounts to a tap-in that gave her a three-putt bogey on the seventh hole, or any of the four birdies that followed in her round of 1-under 71 in the LPGA Titleholders. "Just normal," Ko said. "I didnt feel too odd or special or slow or whatever today. That actually surprised me. I thought I would be much more nervous. And actually, one of the good things was I wasnt thinking about any money or related stuff. I just tried to play my game, which was obviously very helpful." It was a slow start and a strong finish, quite the opposite of Sandra Gal, who made six birdies on the opening six holes and wound up with an 8-under 64. Gal had a one-shot lead over Rebecca Lee-Bentham of Canada, who made six birdies on the back nine at Tiburon Golf Club for a 65. The LPGA Tour grouped players for the opening round of its season-ending tournament with a theme. The top three players in the world and on the LPGA money list -- Inbee Park, Suzann Pettersen and Stacy Lewis -- were in the final group. Juli Inkster, Karrie Webb and Cristie Kerr were in the same group. They have combined for 84 victories on the LPGA Tour, although Kerr found another theme -- "$47 million," she told her colleagues, referring to career earnings (its actually closer to $45 million, but whos counting?) In between were Ko, Michelle Wie and Jessica Korda. Not since Wie has there been so much attention on a teenager making her pro debut. Wie played with Korda when she turned pro. Wie couldnt help but think of that day in October 2005 at Bighorn Golf Club -- about two weeks after she turned 16 -- when she started shaking after being announced on the first tee, hit a thin 3-wood and threw her hands in the air in mock celebration when it found the fairway. "There were definitely flashbacks to when I hit," Wie said. "She played great today. She looked calm -- a lot calmer than I looked." Ko can only hope for a better outcome. Wie tied for fourth in her pro debut, but she didnt get the $53,126 because LPGA Tour officials determined she had taken a penalty drop in the wrong spot. She was disqualified for signing for the wrong score. Wie said she told Ko about her opening tee shot as a pro. The three of them walked together off the second tee, and the conversation between Ko and Wie turned to their first meeting with Phil Mickelson, and some of the amazing shots Lefty has hit. It was a relaxing atmosphere that could have turned dour if Ko had not kept her composure. Her round took a bad turn early on the third hole. Ko pulled her tee shot through a waste area of coquina pebbles and just into the pine straw. She tried to play a draw toward the right side of the green, but was distracted when her club clipped a branch at the top of her swing, and her foot slipped. She didnt get out of the waste area, and then took two more shots to reach the green and made a 4-footer for double bogey. "I think I was a bit too ambitious," she said. "A 7-iron down the right side would have given me more than an opportunity to make up-and-down for par." She turned a birdie chance into a shocking bogey on No. 7 with a three-putt from just inside 15 feet, missing a 2-footer for par when she tried to jam it into the back of the hole. That put her at 3-over through seven holes, as Gal was making birdie on the other side of the course on every hole. "My birdie on 8 definitely helped," she said. "It kind of came in from the back of the hole, which was quite interesting. I thought I had missed it. I gave myself opportunities, and par is sometimes good. All I can do is just set up birdie putts, and then some will go in and some wont." They were dropping for Gal. She shot to the top of the leaderboard, settled into a string of pars, and then had a big finish. Unlike the teenager, Gal was thinking about money, or at least the breakdown. The prize distribution from the $2 million purse is heavy at the top -- $700,000 for first place, while second place pays just over $139,000 and third place is about $100,000. "I thought this tournament was a little different than the other ones, so I thought, Im just going to be really aggressive and just go for everything, because really all you want to do is win here," Gal said. "Any other place it doesnt really matter that much. So thats kind of the mindset I had and I think that really helped me, and I just kept rolling in putts. So that was kind of fun." 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Cheap White Sox Jerseys Authentic . -- Lindsey Vonn squeezed in a little freeskiing on Thanksgiving morning, a step in the right direction for a return to racing after reinjuring her right knee in a recent training crash.Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Jimmy Butler scored a career-high 35 points and dished out seven assists to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 103-97 win over the New York Knicks on Thursday night. Pau Gasol contributed 20 points with seven rebounds and Aaron Brooks added 18 points off the bench for Chicago, which played its ninth game of the season without star point guard Derrick Rose. Rose missed the contest with an illness and his status for Fridays game at Memphis is uncertain. The Bulls, who improved to 5-4 without Rose this season, have won four of their last five games overall. New York, meanwhile, was without leading scorer Carmelo Anthony, who missed the game to rest his sore left knee. Tim Hardaway Jr. picked up the slack to lead the Knicks with 23 points, while Amare Stoudemire chipped in with 16 points and six rebounds. New York has lost seven straight at the United Center and three straight overall, as well as 13 of its last 14 games. Final Score: New Orleans 99, Houston 90 Houston, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Anthony Davis tallied 30 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks, and the New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Houston Rockets, 99-90, on Thursday. Jrue Holiday finished with 16 points and 10 assists and played his best basketball down the stretch to help the Pelicans win their second straight game. Holiday scored half of his points and dished out three assists in the final period. Ryan Anderson and Dante Cunningham contributed 16 and 15 points, respectively, off the bench, and Omer Asik grabbed 11 boards for New Orleans. James Harden paced Houston with 21 points and Dwight Howard posted his third double-double since returning to the court after missing 11 games with a knee injury. Final Score: Milwaukee 108, Sacramento 107 Sacramento, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Not even the return off DeMarcus Cousins could help the Sacramento Kings find the win column.dddddddddddd Brandon Knight scored 20 points and O.J. Mayo and Jared Dudley each chipped in 19 to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 108-107 win over the scuffling Kings on Thursday night. Milwaukee, which has won three of its last four, made 56.5 percent of its shots from beyond the arc. Cousins, who returned from a 10-game absence due to viral meningitis, had a chance to win it in the closing seconds, but his jumper was off the mark as the buzzer sounded. He finished with game highs of 27 points and 11 rebounds in just under 33 minutes in the Kings fifth straight loss. Sacramento went 2-8 in Cousins absence and fell to 0-2 under interim coach Tyrone Corbin, who relieved Michael Malone of the head coaching duties this week. Final Score: Golden State 114, Oklahoma City 109 Oakland, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Steph Curry stuffed the stat sheet and six Warriors scored in double figures as Golden State got back in the win column with a 114-109 decision over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Curry posted a game- high 34 points with nine assists, seven rebounds and four steals for Golden State, which lost its franchise-high 16-game win streak in Memphis on Tuesday. Klay Thompson scored 19 points and Draymond Green flirted with a triple- double, tallying 16, nine assists and nine boards for the Warriors. Thunder star Kevin Durant scored 30 points in the first half but didnt play in the second after suffering a sprained right ankle just before halftime. Russell Westbrook picked up some of the slack, netting 33 points with eight assists but shooting just 11-for-30 from the field. The Thunder were 7-1 over their last eight games with Durant in the lineup. The reigning MVP missed the first 17 games of the season following foot surgery. ' ' '