SOUTHPORT, England -- Fifteen years after winning the British Open at Royal Birkdale, Mark OMeara will be making a return to the course for the Senior British Open. OMeara won the British Open in 1998, and on Tuesday he was extended an "honorary membership" to the club in recognition of his achievement. "The Open here in 1998 was a dream come true for me. To hold the claret jug here on the 18th green was the icing on the cake of my career," OMeara said Wednesday, a day before the tournament starts. "Its going to be tough this week, especially if the wind kicks up. Ive played it in really severe conditions before. You just have to be patient and sometimes par is a very good score." OMeara will be playing alongside defending champion Fred Couples and Colin Montgomerie for the first two rounds. Couples shot a 9-under 271 to win at Turnberry last year, but said that he thought his 9 over for a share of 32nd place last week at Muirfield at the British Open would have been good enough to win a Senior Open. "I honestly think if the Senior Open had been last week and I shot 9 over I would have won," Couples said. "I played well last week at Muirfield. It was as unique as any golf Ive ever played. The ball was going so far. Not so much uncontrollable just difficult to get it close." Montgomerie, who turned 50 last month, is hoping to claim a major as a senior, an honour that eluded him despite a successful career on the regular tour. "I feel Im teeing up now with a chance of winning on the Senior Tour, which hasnt been the case in recent years on the European Tour," Montgomerie said. "Having said that its been an eye-opener in my first few events as a senior. The standard of golf is high, yet its been a lot of fun." Tom Watson, who won the last of his five British Open titles at Birkdale in 1983 and is a three-time winner of the British Senior Open, will also be in a strong field that includes Mark Calcavecchia, Tom Lehman, Tom Kite, Craig Stadler and Bernhard Langer. Dave Parker Pirates Jersey . The Dutchmans tenure got off to a poor start when referee Guido Winkmann awarded a penalty within two minutes for Niklas Starks clumsy challenge on Alexandru Maxim. Bill Mazeroski Pirates Jersey . The showiest items on Calgarys lot were forwards Mike Cammalleri and Lee Stempniak. Both will be unrestricted free agents this summer. http://www.pittsburghpiratesprostore.us/Kent-Tekulve-pirates-jersey/ . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. Andrew McCutchen Pirates Jersey . The defending champion beat Gael Monfils of France 7-6 (6), 6-3, while second-seeded Andy Murray of Britain dispatched Edouard Roger-Vasselin, also of France, 6-3, 6-3. Making his first appearance since injuring his wrist a month ago, Del Potro had difficulty with his service games in the first set. Starling Marte Jersey .Y. -- Bills receiver Stevie Johnson has a bone to pick with the NFL schedule maker. NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees have apparently caught the Baltimore Orioles at the right time as they attempt to inch closer to first place in the American League East.New York has capitalized on absences to Baltimores lineup and a slump by those who are playing to take the first three games of the series.The Yankees can get the four-game sweep of the Orioles on Thursday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.Weve always felt that way, Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said of making a run in the AL East. Its a long season. Im not sure exactly how many games are left, but theres a lot of games left and we never got too low when we were struggling early on in the season and were not going to celebrate because we won four in a row because we got to go win tomorrow.Baltimore has played three games without Chris Davis, who is slowly recovering from a stomach virus. The Orioles have played the last two without Matt Wieters (sore right foot), were without Manny Machado (stomach virus) on Wednesday and Adam Jones left in the eighth inning with back spasms.Davis is likely to play and Jones left no doubt about his status, saying Ive got nothing else to do.As for Wieters and Machado, acting manager John Russell said both are day to day. So is manager Buck Showalter, who also caught the stomach virus, but Russell would be surprised if Showalter wasnt making out the lineup Thursday.Its probably going to take a hurricane hitting New York for him not to be here tomorrow, Russell said.Regardless of what the opposing lineup looks like, the Yankees will try to get a fifth straight win, which is one shy of their season high, and continue their run of good pitching.During a four-game streak that has seen the Yankees (48-46) knock Baltimore from first place and match a season high by getting two games above .500, New York has received sharp performances from Masahiro Tanaka, Ivan Nova, Nathan Eovaldi and Michael Pineda.Its playoff baseball for us, and we have to play extremely well, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. I think theyre responding, especially after we lost two to start out this homestand. They responded well and we need them to keep doing that.Pineda struck out eight and allowed five hits in six scoreless innings during Wednesdays 5-0 win. Starting with Tanaka, New Yorks starting pitchers have allowed three earned runs in the last 36 innings, marking the first time the Yankees have had four straight starts of one earned run or less since Sept. 18-21, 2003.Meanwhile, the Orioles are experiencing adequate starting pitching but ineffective hitting. The Orioles are batting .dddddddddddd267 overall but .187 (36-for-193) in their last six games and are 3-for-33 with runners in scoring position during those games.Its tough right now, Russell said. Weve lost some key guys in our lineup. When you lose that many at once, it makes it pretty tough and hopefully theyll start trickling back into the lineup sooner rather than later.The Yankees are in line for their first four-game sweep of the Orioles since Sept. 18-21, 2005, at the original Yankee Stadium but must get enough offense against Chris Tillman (13-2, 3.29 ERA).Tillmans record is 11 games above .500 for the first time since he was 16-5 after a win over the Yankees on Sept. 9, 2013. He also is 6-0 against teams from the AL East after allowing one run and four hits in seven dominant innings during Saturdays 2-1 win at Tampa Bay.The Orioles are 9-0 in Tillmans starts against divisional opponents.Team wins are important, Tillman said. All the personal stuff goes by the wayside when it comes to winning ballgames. Thats our approach and its good to be a part of it.Two of those victories have been against the Yankees at Camden Yards.On May 3, Tillman struck out nine while allowing one run and five hits in seven innings during a 4-1 win. A month later, he allowed five runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings and did not get a decision when his teammates rallied for a 6-5 win.Tillman is 4-6 with a 4.87 ERA in 18 career starts against the Yankees.In New York, he is 3-4 with a 7.30 ERA in eight outings.CC Sabathia will be seeking his 20th career win against the Orioles and his 15th with the Yankees. More important, he will be looking to reverse some of his recent struggles.Since June 22, he is 0-3 with a 7.94 ERA and during those starts he has allowed 39 hits and walked 10 in 28 1/3 innings.Before lowering his ERA to 3.94 during the recent stretch, Sabathia had a 0.82 ERA in a span of seven starts and was the first Yankee to allow four earned runs or less in a span of seven starts since Phil Niekro did it in 1984 at age 45.The latest subpar outing for Sabathia was Saturdays 5-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox when he allowed five runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.Sabathia faced the Orioles twice when the teams met in Baltimore. On May 4, he allowed six hits in seven innings during a 7-0 victory while suffering a groin injury. On June 5, he allowed two hits but walked six in five innings and the Yankees eventually lost 3-1. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '