kimblr.com

LLEYTON Hewitt is unlikely to return to the circuit until next month, adamant he will not risk further damage to his left hip to chase rankings points.
Hewitt sat out yesterday’s Davis Cup reverse singles rubbers against Thailand after winning in singles and doubles on Friday and Saturday.
He was replaced by Peter Luczak as Australia crushed an outclassed opposition 5-0.
Already resigned to missing the Monte Carlo Masters, which starts on April 21, Hewitt hopes to resume in the Rome Masters from May 5.
If all goes to plan, he would then contest the Hamburg Masters, French Open, Queen’s Club in London, Wimbledon, Toronto Masters, Cincinnati Masters, the Olympics and US Open before the September 19-21 World Group playoff.
"At this stage (I’m) probably planning on starting in Rome, as long as I can get my body right," Hewitt said yesterday.
"At the moment, I’m not really focused on the tournaments coming up.
"It’s more getting my body right and hopefully being able to get some hitting time on clay before I’ve got to play the tournaments over there."
Ranked 21st in the world, Hewitt will be under pressure to stay in the top 25 unless he performs strongly in Rome, Hamburg and Paris.
He has dropped the Poertschach event in Austria, where he was a semi-finalist last year, from his schedule.
"I actually feel like the last couple of years have been a couple of my best years on clay," Hewitt said.
"You keep learning, no matter how many times you go around. I think clay when you first come on - being an Australian, we haven’t really grown up on it - it’s a totally different style of play.
"Last year in Hamburg, I can’t play much better than that on a tennis court, I don’t think, no matter what surface it’s on.

news.com.au

All I wear on my head when I’m playing golf is the wife’s thumbprint - “make sure you’re back to pick the kids up nag dinag dinag.”
Professional golfers, though, carefully choose their headgear - first because it provides extra advertising space and, second, because it invariably hides a hair cut that time forgot. Tiger Woods(left) with a cap is Will Smith - cool; bare-headed he’s the school poindexter. Bookies are betting on what headwear the US Masters winner will sport when he holes his final shot on Sunday, with a cap the red-hot 1-6 favourite and a visor 6-1. No headgear at all is the 8-1 third favourite.
Last year’s winner Zach Johnson was such a Godbotherer that I half-expected him to be wearing a halo instead of a cap.

mirror.co.uk

In 1984 Ira Epstein & Company was founded by Ira Epstein. Ira was a highly successful retail futures broker, having mastered TV to showcase his talents, which in turned helped Ira develop and create a very large customer following. Many of you may remember his TV show "Stocks, Options and Futures", which was one of the most popular Finance Television shows on what was then called The Financial News Network, which is now known as CNBC. Ira showcased his talents in many other TV markets as well, including Los Angeles where he was a regular guest on KWHY-TV as well as WCIU-TV in Chicago, where he was on the air for nearly 20 years.
Ira Epstein…the man behind Ira Epstein & Company
Ira's background…written by Ira
I was born in Chicago in the mid-forties. A War Baby. Graduated High School in Park Ridge, Ill and went on to college. I obtained my Bachelor of Science Degree from Arizona State University, majoring in Marketing and Economics. I completed courses toward a Masters Degree and attended John Marshall Law School in Chicago.
When in Law School, I needed a part-time job. While my family helped with my schooling costs, they simply could not carry the continuing financial burden of Law School. I needed a job.
Ira discovers the Futures Market
One day I found myself looking for a job on the Law School's Bulletin Board. I noticed a job offer for a "Runner". I had no idea what that meant, but I was thin and in good shape. Ready to run. Few people outside of Chicago knew at that time, 1969, knew much about the Futures Markets, including me. I applied for the job and was hired at G.H. Miller & Company. They were a clearing firm at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange(CME), specializing in the trading of Eggs and Broilers…chickens. Turns out they were pretty good at what they did.

insidefutures.com

By PAUL NEWBERRY – 25 minutes ago
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — This was about as good a day for scoring as it gets at the Masters: the warm, soothing sun, the receptive greens, the breeze barely rippling the flags, the inviting pin locations to tease everyone before the green jackets turn nasty on the weekend. It didn’t matter. Tiger Woods always takes a while to get warmed up at this place.
Since this was only Thursday, he deferred to Justin Rose savoring a third straight first-round lead — hey, another Masters tradition like no other — and watched from afar as Ian Poulter celebrated just the 19th hole-in-one in the tournament’s storied history.
Woods seemed content to “just plod around” Augusta National on the way to a rather pedestrian 72, an even-par round buried beneath 18 others in the red.
Hmmm, haven’t we been down this road before?
Woods spotted the leaders a three-shot headstart back in 1997, but still captured the first of his four Masters in a 12-shot runaway. The first-round deficit was five strokes in 2001, three in ‘02, a daunting seven in ‘05, when the world’s greatest player chased down Chris DiMarco, then finished him off in a playoff.
No wonder he didn’t seem too concerned as he strolled off the 18th green four shots behind co-leaders Rose and Trevor Immelman.
“I feel good about how I played all day,” said Woods, who has never broken 70 in the opening round of the Masters. “I hit the ball really well. I hit a lot good putts that just didn’t go in. I just have to stay patient out there, and hopefully it will turn.”
Chances are it will. The pretenders usually fade away, leaving Woods to battle it out with expected contenders such as Jim Furyk (70), Phil Mickelson (71), Retief Goosen (71) and Vijay Singh (72).

ap.google.com