The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 15

MOI)AY. J.WTARY 7, 2 0(1 B5 SPORTS Chopra seals playoff victory at Kapalua Outlasts Strieker for season-opening win 1 t-. vi, 1 I Ji MX 1 I "'Si' rj felt like they were going in the hole and then I thought maybe it wasn't meant to be. "I'm awfully happy. Now I get to go to Augusta, my lifelong dream." For much of the day, Chopra had been in control.

He set the tone by holing a 45-footer to birdie the par-3 second and picked up further shots at the third, fifth and seventh to reach the turn in 4-under 32. He rolled in another monster putt at the par-3 utn from 3 feet, before stretching his lead to three with additional birdies at the 12th and 13th. However the Swede failed to take advantage of the par-5 tf as Strieker, who had holed out from the fairway to eagle the par-4 12th, piled on the pressurev-- A two-putt birdie at the 15th the American two strokes behind and he forced the playoff with further birdies on 16 and at -the last, where he coolly sank a 12-footer. "A little disappointing but I'm very happy with the way I played this week," Strieker said after failing in his bid to win a fifth PGA Tour title. Calgary's Stephen Ames birdied four of the last six holes for a 66 and third place at 17 under.

"I'm happy, considering I've had two months off coming into here and haven't had much practice," Ames said. "And the way I've hit it and played, I'm quite content with the way I finished this week." Mike Weir of Bright's Grove, the third-round leader, was a further stroke back in fourth having lost ground with two bogeys in the first four holes on his way to a 70. "Obviously hit a bad. tee shot on 1," he said. "Outside of that, I thought I played pretty well, just got nothing out of it." REUTERS, WITH FILES FROM CANWEST NEWS SERVICE KAPALUA, Hawaii Sweden's Daniel Chopra held his nerve in fading light to beat American Steve Strieker in a playoff for the PGA Tour's season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship last night.

The Stockholm native birdied the fourth extra hole at Kapalua Resort's Plantation Course to earn the winner's cheque for $1.1 million U.S. and his second Tour title. Both players missed birdie opportunities from around six feet at the first playoff hole before Chopra sealed victory with a two-putt birdie at the par-5 ninth, his eagle attempt having come to rest on the edge of the cup. It was the seventh playoff in the last 14 years at the event, which brings together the title-holders from the previous Tour season. The pair had completed the 72 regulation holes in 18-under-par 274 on a sun-kissed day on the Hawaiian island of Maui, Chopra carding a 66 and Strieker finishing birdie-birdie-par-birdie for a 64.

"It was unbelievable," a beaming Chopra told reporters after delivering a master class with his putter to book his place at the Masters for the first time. "What a great round I played today. I kept making birdies and I tried to avoid looking up at the board. I looked a couple of times and I saw I had the lead and then I looked up again and all of a sudden Strieker kept making (birdies)." Chopra, who had narrowly missed a 13-footer to seal victory at the 72nd hole, fell agonizingly short with a 24-footer for birdie on the second extra hole. "All those putts in the playoff and in regulation, I thought I hit superb strokes," he added.

"Every single one of them I hit exactly the way I wanted and I TIM GALL, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN Skip Rachel Homan calls out instructions while Ottawa Curling Club teammates Nicole Johnston, left, and Alison Kreviazuk, right, sweep the stone's path to the far set of rings during yesterday's semifinal. Homan's rink won that match 6-5 against Hollie Nicol's team from Kitchener-Waterloo, but they lost last night's final 5-4 to the Danielle Inglis foursome from Burlington. Ottawa juniors rocked in Ontario finals 4SrT Homan, Sinclair foursomes falljust short BY TIM GALL COLDWATER, Ont. Four Ottawa teams came up empty yesterday in their bids for provincial titles in the Ontario junior curling championships. To begin the day, Katie Mor-rissey and her Rideau Curling Club teammates were eliminated by Rachel Homan's Ottawa Curling Club foursome in a tie-breaking game to determine a spot in the semifinal, while Christian Tolusso's Carleton Heights Curling Club rink was eliminated in a junior men's semifinal at the hands of Neil Sinclair and his entry from the Manotick Curling Centre.

That left only Sinclair, Homan and their teammates with chances for the provincial crowns and berths in the nationals next month at Sault Ste. Marie. They came close, but the titles eluded them. Sinclair, Graham Rathwell, Mathew Camm and Andrew Hamilton lost 9-8 in an extra end to Travis Fanset's squad from St. Thomas.

Homan, Emma Miskew, Alison Kreviazuk and Nicole was proud of the team for battling through injuries, including what is believed to be a torn knee ligament for Homan. "We came up a little short, but Danielle deserves full credit because they played really well," Morris said. The loss to Fanset was only the second in nine games for Sinclair's team, but it was the second in as many tries against the St. Thomas foursome, which also won their round-robin matchup 9-6 on Saturday. "It was a little tougher (to lose) the second time," Sinclair said.

"They outplayed us, and there's not much you can do about it." Sinclair said Fanset, Craig Van Ymeren, Geoff Chambers and Chris Jay would be good representatives for Ontario at the national championships. "They were on fire this week and they weren't missing anything," he said. Tolusso, after being eliminated by Sinclair, said he was pleased with the performance of his teammates, including Ritchie Gillan, Alex Young and Kevin Rathwell. "We made the playoffs, and that's what everybody is gunning for," Tolusso said. "Unfortunately, we came up a bit short (yesterday).

We battled hard, but we came up short." Neil Sinclair keeps an eye on a shot during yesterday's final against Travis Fanset of St. Thomas. Sinclair and his teammates from Manotick lost 9-8 in an extra end to the rink that will represent Ontario in next month's national championships at Sault Ste. Marie. Members of the Homan team, especially Miskew and Kreviazuk, couldn't hold back their tears.

Homan tried to remain composed, but was barely audible in admitting the team played well to get as far as it did. "We just didn't play well," Homan said. Coach Earle Morris said he Johnston edged the defending provincial champions skipped by Hollie Nicol of Kitchener-Waterloo 6-5 in the semifinal, but were thwarted in last night's final by Danielle Inglis's Burlington team. A draw to the four-foot by Inglis with her last rock against two Homan counters was the difference in a 5-4 victory. I.

HUGH GENTRY, REUTERS Sweden's Daniel Chopra waves to the gallery after he birdied the second hole during the final round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship golf tournament in Kapalua, Hawaii, last night. Superstar James gives no quarter as Cavaliers rally to defeat Raptors Pl PWWHH IHMMJJ.HMH.I "II liers after scoring only 12 points over the two previous games. Part of that can be attributed to the" lack of a true backup point guard in the absence of T.J. Ford. Ford, who is still recovering from a neck injury, is scheduled to see an orthopedic specialist in Cleveland on Wednesday.

There is still no timetable for his return. NATIONAL POST CAVALIERS 93, RAPTORS 90 BY ERIC KOREEN TORONTO With a 1 p.m. start yesterday, LeBron James looked as if he were sleepwalking for three quarters. Or maybe he was just playing to his sense of occasion. "I live for the fourth quarter, man," the Cleveland Cavaliers superstar said after scoring an NBA franchise-record 24 points in the final frame.

"I work hard in the off-season, and every day I'm dreaming about making big shots in the fourth quarter, and making comebacks. That's just the kind of player I am, and that's when games are woa" Almost by himself, James won the NBA game. In addition to his scoring outburst, James dished out three fourth-quarter assists as the Raptors erased a 13-point deficit in the final frame and defeated the Toronto Raptors 93-90. James finished with 39 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. It was a record-breaking day at the Air Canada Centre.

Along with James setting yet another Cleveland record, the Raptors had their worst home- eight field goals, silenced the Toronto crowd, among others. "I mean he just took over the game," said Chris Bosh, who led the Raptors with 23 points. "There's not much we can say about that." For the game's first three quarters, James was comparatively silent. Toronto's Anthony Parker, who looked to be on pace for a career day, was primarily responsible for holding James to just 15 points on 6-for-i9 shooting. However, after a short break at the end of the third quarter, James adopted the same expression he had when he dropped 48 points in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final against the Detroit Pistons last year.

Mouth agape, James hit two three-pointers over Carlos Delfino early in the frame. From there, James supplied an avalanche of offence, outscoring the Raptors in the quarter by himself. Toronto had just 20 points. "Successfully for three quarters, I was able to kind of be off him a bit, give him a cushion, and it's a little bit easier for me to stay in front of him that way," Parker said. "Once he starts hitting threes, you got to pick your poison.

Either you're going to help, and let somebody else knock down a three, or you're going to play him straight up and live with that." Even with James' exploits, Toronto coach Sam Mitchell rued the loss. Cleveland grabbed 52 rebounds, including 20 at the offensive end. The Raptors had just 33 total rebounds. "If you go back and look at the game, (there is) the way we finished the end of the quarters, and the offensive rebounds. They got 20 offensive rebounds," Mitchell said.

"So if you clean those things up, you still win the game." Toronto's inability to close out quarters well has become a theme. In New Orleans on New Year's Eve, a double-digit lead in the second quarter turned into a four-point lead at the half in just two minutes. Against Cleveland yesterday, the Raptors went cold to wrap up the second and third quarters, setting the stage for the disastrous fourth. "You have to stay sharp," Bosh said. "You have to stay looking over your shoulder, because if you get too relaxed, teams come right at you and they make you pay for it." There is also the case of Toronto's lagging bench.

The Raptors' reserves scored just 11 points against the Cava fGEEKI SfMT MIKE CASSESE. REUTERS Cleveland star LeBron James goes to the basket against Toronto's Chris Bosh in the first half yesterday. court collapse ever. At one point in the second quarter, they up by 20 points. James' heroics, which included four three-pointers, four free throws and 'Prices based on availability.

Some restrictions apply. Taxes not included. See westet.CDm tor details. I III HIU 1 There's more to hockey than scoring the most goals. The Ottawa 67's HARDEST WORKING PLAYER program is designed to reward Minor Hockey players fortheir hard work on the ice.

Each week, Minor Hockey Teams choose a different player to wear the "HARD The hard hat symbolizes teamwork, sportsmanship, enthusiasm, dependability and strong work ethic. At the end of the season, each winner will be recognized in a full page ad, highlighting the Hardest Working Player recipients for the 2007-08 season. Team coaches and managers can sign up online at www.ottawa67s.com to receive a FREE HARDEST WORKING PLAYER KIT. Each kit includes a hard hat, merit certificates, ticket vouchers and more. VISIT WWW.OTTAWA67S.COM FOR DETAIL 3 2" 4CITIZEN icjjg.