Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, chips to the ninth green during the first round of the Wells Fargo Championship golf tournament at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday, May 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Bob Leverone)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For all the talk about the greens, Rory McIlroy’s most important club was his driver Thursday in the Wells Fargo Championship.

McIlroy kept the ball in play at Quail Hollow and gave himself plenty of birdie chances on a cloudy, soft afternoon. He ran off six birdies in a seven-hole stretch around the turn and finished with an 8-foot birdie putt for a 5-under 67 to share the lead with six other players.

It was the first time this year McIlroy has been atop the leaderboard after any round, and the first time he broke par in the opening round.

“Now that I feel like I’m swinging it well, this is the sort of golf I expect to play,” McIlroy said.

Nick Watney, Ryan Moore, Robert Garrigus and PGA Tour rookie Derek Ernst shot 67 in the morning. Daniel Summerhays and Nate Smith, a Monday qualifier, joined McIlroy by posting their 67s in the afternoon.

Phil Mickelson and Lucas Glover were in a large group at 68, with 19-year-old Jordan Spieth in another big group at 69.

The talk going into the Wells Fargo Championship was the shape of the greens. Two of the putting surfaces had to be entirely replaced by sod just a week ago — the 10th green had to be sodded twice — and the other greens were ragged. Some had ugly patches of brown where there was no grass.

But they weren’t as bad as players feared, and there wasn’t much public grumbling, mainly because Quail Hollow has a history of being in pristine shape and players seemed willing to accept this is an exceptionally bad year.

“It was fine,” Boo Weekley said after his 68. “First off, they were pretty smooth. It ain’t 100 percent, but I mean they’re good enough to play golf on.”

The bigger problem was cool, soft conditions that made Quail Hollow seem longer than usual. That’s why McIlroy was so pleased with missing only three fairways. The greens weren’t smooth, but they were soft enough that getting into position off the tee was pivotal in setting up birdie chances.

“They’re not the best greens that we’ve ever putted on, but they’re certainly not the worst, either,” McIlroy said. “The ball still rolls pretty well on them. As long as you give yourself chances for birdies, that’s all you can ask. … If you drive the ball well, you can really take advantage of that. And for the most part today, I did drive the ball well.”

McIlroy got into the mix quickly with four straight birdies — two of them on the par 5s, a 7-iron to 3 feet on the par-3 sixth hole, and a big drive on the short, par-4 eighth that left him a flip wedge into about 3 feet. A tee shot that found the rough on the ninth led to bogey, but the world’s No. 2 player bounced back with an up-and-down birdie on the par-5 10th and an approach into 8 feet on the 11th for another birdie.

His biggest scare came on the 18th, when McIlroy looked nervously down the left side of the fairway as the ball flirted with the winding creek, barely clearing the water. From there, he hit 8-iron that stopped close to where it landed, and he made an 8-foot putt that bounced more than it rolled.

It’s just one round, though it feels like a long way from a few months ago. The start to the season for McIlroy was marked by a missed cut, a first-round loss in the Match Play Championship, walking out of the Honda Classic from frustration after 27 holes and loads of speculation about his decision to change equipment after last year.

Thursday was another step in the right direction.

“It’s big strides because my game wasn’t where it should have been at all at the start of the year,” McIlroy said. “Got into a couple of bad habits on my swing, and it just took me a little bit of time to get out of them.”

One tweak he made after the Masters with swing coach Michael Bannon was to keep his hips more stable.

Garrigus missed only two greens and figures he should be have been twice as much under par as he was.

“I absolutely striped it all day,” Garrigus said. “I could have shot 10 or 11 under today if I had made some putts. I was hitting it really close all day. I didn’t get frustrated. I just kept hitting it. I’m very confident right now and hitting it really well.”

Summerhays and Smith each reached 6 under until bogeys on the 17th hole. Smith missed a 5-foot par putt, and immediately tapped down a section of the green on the line of his putt. That was a typical reaction on this day, and probably won’t change much during the week.

The hole locations were in different spots than players typically see, as officials looked for sections of the green that had the lushest grass to cut the holes. The idea was to at least keep the bumps to a minimum in a 4-foot radius around the hole.

Smith was the biggest surprise, mainly because he had to qualify for the tournament on Monday. He also had the most unusual golf bag. Smith played a prank earlier in the week on James Hahn, who returned the favor. Hahn posted a message on the bag in the locker room asking players to sign it for charity. They do that all the time, though it’s not usually the bag a player uses in the tournament.

There were some 60 autographs on the bag.

Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus fields a ground ball hit by Chicago White Sox’s Paul Konerko in the eight inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, May 1, 2013. Andrus threw to first for the out. The White Sox won 5-2. (AP Photo/Brandon Wade)

ARLINGTON — Hector Santiago allowed two in five-plus innings filling in for Jake Peavy on Thursday night, Tyler Flowers hit a three-run homer and the Chicago White Sox beat Texas 3-1, handing the Rangers their first series loss of the season.

Flowers’ drive just inside the foul pole in left field was the third straight hit after Texas right-hander Justin Grimm (2-1) retired 10 in a row on the day he was named AL rookie of the month.

Adrian Beltre’s homer in the second was the only hit through five innings against Santiago (1-1), who had six strikeouts and two walks in 5 1-3 innings. The left-hander made his first start of the season and fifth of his career after Peavy was scratched because of back spasms.

Addison Reed pitched around two of Chicago’s eight walks, striking out the side in the ninth for his 10th save and second in two nights.

The coldest May game at Rangers Ballpark came just three weeks after the coldest day game there — and the Rangers lost both.

The game-time temperature of 44 was 37 degrees cooler than the previous night. It was a 40-degree difference on April 10, when the temperature at first pitch was 39 degrees for 2-0 loss to Tampa Bay in a day game after it had been 79 the night before.

The Rangers were the last team in the majors without a series loss, but now they’ve gone two series without winning after splitting four games with Minnesota last weekend. The White Sox won two straight after Texas took the opener.

Grimm, who had a 1.59 ERA in three April starts to earn rookie of the month honors, was cruising with two outs in the sixth when Conor Gillaspie and Alexei Ramirez singled before Flowers drove a hanging breaking ball for his fourth homer of the season.

After walking three in the first 2 1-3 innings, Grimm didn’t give up another free pass and tied his career high of nine strikeouts set last month against Seattle. He allowed six hits in 6 2-3 innings.

Santiago, whose first seven appearances this season were in relief, gave up his second hit when Ian Kinsler doubled with one out in the sixth, and he was replaced by Matt Lindstrom after walking Elvis Andrus. Lindstrom threw a wild pitch and walked Lance Berkman to load the bases, but got Beltre to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Beltre had another chance to do some damage in the eighth but struck out on a slow breaking ball from Jesse Crain.

The White Sox trailed 1-0 in the third when they loaded the bases with one out on singles by Alejandro De Aza and Adam Dunn and a walk to Alex Rios. But Grimm struck out Paul Konerko and Gillaspie on six strikes in seven pitches.

The National Basketball Association has been maybe the most criticized league in sports over the past decade. From officiating, referee scandals, biased treatment to even the financial aspects, the league is somewhat of a joke.

For a while now, players have brought a new technique to the game: flopping. Flopping is defined as an intentional fall by a player after little or no physical contact by an opposing player in order to draw a personal foul call by an official against the opponent.

Now every single player in the NBA exaggerates to sell calls, but that is a part of the game. However, when players make it seem like they got shot after a little bit of contact has been made, it gets ridiculous.

On one hand, flopping is smart because officials can’t see every little detail of a play, so more often than not, a foul will wrongfully get called.

On the other hand, it ruins the game of basketball to the point that some fans just want to change the channel. This is the NBA, not the Oscars.

After a playoff game in 2012 between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers, Pacers head coach Frank Vogel complained about the Heat’s tendency to flop. This caused NBA Commissioner David Stern to voice his own opinion about flopping. Stern said that flopping was “only designed to fool the referee” and was “not a legitimate play”.

These comments by Stern, while true, are extremely laughable considering he has done very little about flopping up until this past season where it was ruled that fines would be handed out for it. In fact while flopping has been around for quite a while, Brooklyn Nets forward Reggie Evans became the first NBA player to get fined for flopping on November 21, 2012.

The anti-flopping rules were made prior to the 2012 season. For the first flop, players only get a warning, for the second flop, players get a $5,000 fine and for flops the third time or more, players could get fined up to a maximum of $30,000.

There are two huge problems with these rules. The first is the fact that $30,000 is pocket change for many NBA players. The second problem is the fact that suspensions can only be handed out after the sixth flop.

Suspensions have now been brought up for this year’s postseason, but they are only a possibility and they can only be discussed after the fifth flop. The fact that the NBA thinks that letting these players flop throughout games for small fines and even smaller chances for suspensions makes me not want to watch the sport anymore.

I have watched many of the playoff games this season so far, and while I do see less flopping than I saw a few years ago, I still see players flop left and right as if they could care less about the new rules.

Another way this negatively affects basketball is that players aren’t able to defend consistently. How is a player supposed to play defense if the man he is guarding decides to throw himself to the ground after minimal contact? Not only that, but the flopper usually gets the call.

Some of the league’s top floppers are stars, which to me explains why very little is done to stop the outrageous acting. These include Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin, San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade and even Miami Heat forward LeBron James, who most people would agree has been the face of the NBA for quite some time now.

Out of all these players, only Chris Paul has been warned by the NBA for flopping and that was only a slap on the wrist.

Ultimately, my question for Stern is: why can’t the league take stronger actions against flopping? Giving players a pass on one flop and then small fines on others after isn’t going to solve the problem. Handing out suspensions after the fifth or sixth flop is ridiculous, especially when the rules state that a suspension may not even be handed out at that point.

Officials need to eject players from games the moment they see flops and the NBA needs to take further action by suspending them as well. Until then, the NBA will be known for its actors, not it’s basketball players.

No. 13 midfielder Hanna Gilmore passes the ball during the game against TCU on Friday, Oct. 26, 2012, at the Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field. The Bears defeated the Horned Frogs 2-0.
Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor

After months of challenges and uncertainty, former Baylor midfielder Hanna Gilmore found a home with the Chicago Red Stars as she signed to the team’s final roster as part of the newly formed National Women’s Soccer League. As she adjusts to her new life as a professional soccer player, Gilmore answered some questions about the journey she is on and what the future may hold for her.

Q: How have you as a player adjusted to play professionally?
A: As a player, the biggest adjustment I have had to make is the mentality side of my game. Being able to train physically and technically at a high level under an extreme amount of pressure takes a lot of focus.

Q: Is the style of soccer with the Red Stars different from what you were used to at Baylor?
A: The style is very different. There is much more emphasis on possession, technique and smaller combinations. However, the mentality aspect of working hard and fighting is consistent within both teams. Which is what wins games.

Q: What was your first reaction when you found out you were going to be signed to the Chicago Red Stars?
A: I was so excited and honored honestly more than anything. I have never thought I was any good and I still don’t think I am. But to be on a team with some of the girls I grew up idolizing is really humbling but so special.

Q: Did your experience at Baylor prepare you for the journey you are on?
A: Definitely. The way [the coaches] helped me grow as a soccer player and as a person is one of the main reasons I am able to be doing what I am doing.

Q: Do you think professional is something you would like to continue doing long term?
A: You know, that’s a good question, but my answer is yes. If doors are continuing to be opened, I will run through them at full speed. But if they are closed I will be understanding and just as happy.

Q: Growing up, did you have dreams of playing professional soccer?
Oh yeah. Besides my dream of singing and dancing like Shania Twain, I wrote on every paper in elementary school that I wanted to be a professional soccer player. At that time, I think people probably laughed at both of those dreams.

Q: How has it been getting to know new girls and a new coach?
A: It has been so fun. I love getting to know new people and to hear their stories and perspectives, which is very broad. My teammates ages range from about 22-35 and they are from all over the world. Some don’t even speak English. The new coaching is great as well because I am learning so many new aspects of the game.

Q: What advice can you give to college athletes with plans to play professionally after they graduate?
A: Trust God. And if that means to go for it, go for it with all your heart and soul. Whether you choose to play or not to play, believe in your choice and enjoy it. Most importantly, just enjoy it and be yourself.

Q: How has this adventure affected your educational and career plans? When will you graduate? What kind of job will you pursue when soccer is over?
A: I do not have a definite answer to graduation and career plans, but it has affected my graduation plans a little. I will not graduate with the rest of my class, but I will return in the fall to complete my undergrad and MBA. When soccer is over, whenever that is, I would love to start my own business with something that makes me have to work with a lot of people.

Houston Texas President Jamey Rootes speaks during an NFL football news conference, Monday, April 15, 2013, in Houston. The Texans are hoping their new HD video screens will help lure the 2017 Super Bowl to Reliant Stadium. Cowboys Stadium in Arlington currently has the biggest screens, and Houston’s will be about 30 percent larger than those. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Melissa Phillip)

HOUSTON — The Houston Texans have loaded up their defense through the draft in recent years. It seems like a good time for the Texans to turn their eyes toward offensive help, particularly a big-play receiver to pair alongside All Pro Andre Johnson.

The Texans have the 27th overall pick in the first round Thursday night. Houston has been looking for a suitable complement for Johnson for years, and the missing component was obvious again last year. The Texans ranked 11th in pass offense (239.4 yards per game) and had only 46 receptions covering at least 20 yards, half of them by Johnson.

Last year, Houston picked DeVier Posey (Ohio State) in the third round and Keshawn Martin (Michigan State) in the fourth. Martin settled into a return role, while Posey took most of the season to blossom. Posey had three catches in the playoff loss, but tore his left Achilles tendon and is likely to miss much of the 2013 campaign.

The Texans cut dependable Kevin Walter and didn’t get enough production out of Lestar Jean, an undrafted free agent in 2011. Johnson, who’ll be 32 when the season begins, says he’s “all in” for adding a first-round receiver because a team can never have too many weapons.

“I don’t have a problem with having more help,” said Johnson, the third overall pick in 2003. “It just makes your team more explosive, makes your team much better. The injury to Posey really hurt us, but I think we can get another guy and with him, Keshawn and Lestar, it’d probably the best group here since I’ve been here.”

Texans general manager Rick Smith said they wouldn’t target a particular position in the first round, but rather pick the best player available. But he did acknowledge the need for someone to play opposite Johnson.

“It’s been well-documented. I think we could use some help at the wide receiver position,” Smith said.

Houston has nine picks overall this year, two of them compensatory.

They could have plenty of receivers to choose from, including Clemson’s DeAndre Hopkins, California’s Keenan Allen and Tennessee’s Justin Hunter.

Hopkins had 82 catches for 1,405 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2012.

Allen is skipping his senior season to enter the draft and finished his career as the school’s all-time leader with 205 receptions.

Hunter had 73 catches for 1,083 yards for the Vols last season.

The Texans could end up not picking in the first round, and Smith said the team would certainly consider all trade possibilities.

“In this draft there are a lot of players that we like in the mid-rounds and I think some players that can impact your football team,” he said. “I think maybe we’ve had one draft since I’ve been here that I didn’t execute a trade. We are always open to trades, moving up and moving back. We’ve done that and certainly are willing and open to doing that again this year as well.”

The Texans’ last five first-round picks have moved into key roles, including All-Pro selections Duane Brown and Brian Cushing and 2012 defensive player of the year J.J. Watt. Linebacker Brooks Reed (second round, 2011), nose tackle Earl Mitchell (third round, 2010) and linebacker Darryl Sharpton (fourth round, 2010) have also taken over starting roles.

“The key is that we pick the best player,” coach Gary Kubiak said. “I know that’s cliche, but if you panic because you’ve got a need here or there, you may make a mistake. We need to pick the best players available to our team, put them in and go from there. We’ve got certain spots we can improve upon very quickly, but you can’t push the envelope, so to speak.”

The Texans could also use help on the offensive line and in the linebacker corps.

Houston retooled the right side of the line last year after cutting tackle Eric Winston and letting guard Mike Brisiel go in free agency. Derek Newton, a seventh-round pick in 2011, won the right tackle job from Rashad Butler in the preseason, and was rotating with veteran Ryan Harris by the end of the season. Rookies Brandon Brooks (third round, 2012) and Ben Jones (fourth round, 2012) shared time at guard with veteran Antoine Caldwell, who missed time last year with a hamstring injury.

Smith expects Newton, Brooks and Jones to make leaps in progress in 2013.

“Obviously, I think we got some real benefit from last year with the young guys being able to play the way that they did,” Smith said.

Cushing tore his left anterior cruciate ligament in Week 5, and the Texans’ defense was never quite as good without him. The Texans re-signed Tim Dobbins, who filled in for Cushing, but outside linebacker and 2011 sacks leader Connor Barwin signed with Philadelphia in free agency.

“There are plenty of areas on our football team where we can add good football players,” Smith said. “And that’s why I think you have to always exercise the discipline in taking the right player at the corresponding value because at some point, that player will help your team win.”

NBA’s West highlighted by top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder

The Western Conference seeding wasn’t established until the very last day of games. The Utah Jazz just barely missed out on the postseason, the Los Angeles Lakers avoided having to play the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round and the Houston Rockets slipped from the No. 6 spot down to the No. 8 spot in just two games.

The Oklahoma City Thunder reached the NBA Finals last season, and after earning the Western Conference’s best record, Oklahoma City is a popular pick to represent the West in the Finals.

The Thunder will have home-court advantage in their opening series against the NBA’s youngest and second-highest-scoring team, the Houston Rockets. Oklahoma City finished 2-1 against the Rockets this season. In the loss, former Thunder and current Rocket James Harden scored a career-high 46 points. Harden’s battle against his former team will be a big storyline in this matchup.

After finishing the season winning just three games out of their last 10, the San Antonio Spurs have backed into the No. 2 seed and will take on the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round.

Superstar Kobe Bryant tore his Achilles and will not be able to participate in the playoffs. Laker guard Steve Nash, who has been hurt recently, will play, but perimeter defense is still an issue for the Lakers. After the addition of Dwight Howard, many predicted that the Lakers would play the Miami Heat in the finals, but the Lakers fought until the end to make it into the top eight in the West.

All of San Antonio’s aging “big three” are listed as day-to-day, but are expected to play. Manu Ginobili, who has battled a hamstring injury, missed many games down the stretch and only played 12 minutes San Antonio’s final game of the season. That being said, the Spurs are loaded with discipline and playoff experience.

The 3-6 matchup between the Denver Nuggets and the Golden State Warriors will likely be one loaded with high-scoring games. Denver Nuggets have the NBA’s highest-scoring offense and finished the season with a 57-25 record despite failing to send a single player to the 2013 NBA All-Star game. Head coach George Karl has his team playing like a machine, not a collection of individuals. At one point this season, the Nuggets won 15 games in a row, but Miami’s 27-game winning streak overshadowed the story. Denver’s leading scorer, Danilo Gallinari, tore his ACL on April 5, but veteran Wilson Chandler has stepped up in a big way and has averaged 20 points per game over the last 5 games.

Golden State, the NBA’s seventh-highest-scoring team, is led by Stephen Curry. Curry averaged nearly 23 points per game this season and set the all-time record for 3-pointers made in a season this year. The Warriors are a fast, young team can hit a lot of 3-pointers. In fact, Golden State was the only team to shoot above 40 percent from the arc this year.
The Memphis Grizzlies and the Los Angeles Clippers met in the playoffs last season, and Los Angeles won in seven games. In the first game, Chris Paul and the Clippers overcame a 27-point deficit to take down the Grizzlies 99-98.

The Grizzlies are one of the worst offensive teams in the NBA, but allow a league-low 89.3 points per game. Tony Allen and Marc Gasol are two of the league’s best defenders, but they will be taking on a Clippers team that likes to get up and down the floor.

The Clippers, sometimes called “Lob City,” are led by point guard Chris Paul. Through Paul, high-flying players like Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan thrive. Los Angeles will likely try and speed up the pace of the game, and the Grizzlies will likely try and slow the game to a crawl.

James, Miami sit atop Eastern Conference, seek another title

The Miami Heat are the clear favorite in the East. Miami posted a 66-win season, and 27 of those came in a row, the second longest winning streak in NBA history. The heat finished the season 12 games ahead of the No. 2 team in the Eastern Conference, the New York Knicks.

The Heat will take on the Milwaukee Bucks, the only team to make the playoffs with a sub-.500 record. The Bucks have a strong guard duo of Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis, but Milwaukee won just four of its last 16 games, including losses to the two worst teams in the league, Orlando and Charlotte.

In one of the most compelling series of the playoffs is Boston and New York. While New York is the favorite, Boston will be playing with heart after the Boston Marathon tragedy. The Celtics have Championship experience, but New York tallied 13 more wins on the year.

Despite being considered one of the best players in the NBA, Knicks forward and 2012-2013 scoring champion Carmelo Anthony has never advanced to the second round of the playoffs.

The Indiana Pacers lost forward Danny Granger for all but a few games this season. Seemingly out of nowhere came Paul George to the rescue. Now an All-Star, George led the Pacers to a 49-win season. The Pacers are a team centered on defense and toughness, and they will be taking on the Atlanta Hawks.

The Hawks lost guard Joe Johnson to free agency last summer. With forward Josh Smith’s contract expiring at the end of the year, the Hawks are in a bit of a transition period. Atlanta has managed a 44-win season despite the doubts, but the Hawks have lost five of their last seven games to end the regular season.

The Chicago Bulls, much like the Memphis Grizzlies, are a team centered around defense. They managed to reach the No. 5 spot in the East despite playing the entire season without All-Star point guard Derrick Rose. Rose has been cleared to play by doctors, but he remains on the bench. If he returns in full form, the Bulls have a serious chance to make a run at the Miami Heat.

Their first obstacle, however, will be the No. 4 Brooklyn Nets. The Nets are going into the playoffs with a lot of momentum, having won six of their last seven games. Brooklyn has been resting its starters, so the Nets should have fresh legs and momentum behind them.

HOUSTON — NFL vice president of events Frank Supovitz came to town Wednesday for a “voyage of reacquantaince” as he sized up the city’s bid for Super Bowl LI.

Owners are expected to vote at the league’s spring meeting next month on host sites for the 2016 and 2017 Super Bowls. Miami and San Francisco are in the running for the 2016 Super Bowl and the runner-up will compete with Houston for the game the following year.

Supovitz got an aerial tour of the city in a helicopter and toured Reliant Park after flying in from New York City. He made stops in downtown Houston, where leaders of the city’s bid committee envision a massive outdoor gathering spot for fans coming for the game.

“One of the things we offer to all of our clubs and all of the regions that participate in our Super Bowl bidding process is the opportunity to put their best foot forward,” Supovitz said. “Sometimes, that means coming into market, having a look around, helping them vet some of the ideas that they have so that we can help guide them along the process.”

Houston and Reliant Stadium hosted the Super Bowl in 2004. Much has changed since then, most notably increased development downtown and the addition of the Discovery Green, a grassy area that Supovitz said could serve as a centerpiece for Super Bowl festivities. Also in the works downtown is a 1,000-room hotel slated to be opened in 2016.

“Downtown has definitely changed since the last Super Bowl here,” Supovitz said. “The young folks are moving into town, the more urban residential environment really creates a center of gravity for Houston that really wasn’t as obvious (in 2004) as it is now.”

If Houston gets the votes, Texans owner Bob McNair hopes to draw fans from around the state to events on the weekend before the big game.

“If there’s one spot where you have most of the activities happen, that’s more convenient for everyone,” McNair said.

Ric Campo, a Houston businessman and head of the bid committee, joined Supovitz on his helicopter tour. When the helicopter landed at Reliant Park, a Segway was waiting for Supovitz to use.

“Since then, we’ve been on a tremendous voyage of reacquantaince,” Supovitz said.

Cheerleaders, a pep band and a red carpet greeted Supovitz at the stadium entrance. While trying to woo Supovitz, the Texans are trying to enhance their bid by installing two giant video boards, which will be ready for use in Houston’s first preseason game in August. Cowboys Stadium in Arlington currently has the biggest screens, and Houston’s will be about 30 percent larger than those.

“We’ve added quite a bit since 2004,” McNair said. “We have some resources now that we didn’t have then.”

Supovitz said the 2004 game was successful, but said the Super Bowl would offer a much different experience if it was here in 2017.

“Certainly when you come back to a city where the Super Bowl has been to before, you change things,” he said. “You don’t want it to be the same way it was the last time you were here. (The) Super Bowl just continues to grow, we’re looking at more and more ways to engage fans, we’re going to have a lot more events at the coming Super Bowls.”

Reliant Stadium, with a retractable roof, hosted the 2011 Final Four and is scheduled to stage college basketball’s premier event again in 2016. It’s a frequent site for international soccer matches and annually hosts the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas in late December.

FILE – In this Feb. 3, 2002, file photo, Fox broadcasters Pat Summerall, left, and John Madden stand in the booth at Louisiana Superdome before the NFL Super Bowl XXXVI football game in New Orleans. Fox Sports spokesman Dan Bell said Tuesday, April 16, 2013, that Summerall, the NFL player-turned-broadcaster whose deep, resonant voice called games for more than 40 years, has died at the age of 82. (AP Photo/Ric Feld, File)

DALLAS — Pat Summerall was the calm alongside John Madden’s storm.

Over four decades, Summerall described some of the biggest games in America in his deep, resonant voice. Simple, spare, he delivered the details on 16 Super Bowls, the Masters and the U.S. Open tennis tournament with a simple, understated style that was the perfect complement for the “booms!” and “bangs!” of Madden, his football partner for the last half of the NFL player-turned-broadcaster’s career.

Summerall died Tuesday at age 82 of cardiac arrest, said University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center spokesman Jeff Carlton, speaking on behalf of Summerall’s wife, Cheri.

“Pat was my broadcasting partner for a long time, but more than that he was my friend for all of these years,” Madden said in a statement. “Pat Summerall is the voice of football and always will be.”

His final play-by-play words beside Madden were succinct, of course, as he called the game-ending field goal of the Super Bowl for Fox on Feb. 3, 2002, when New England beat St. Louis 20-17.

“It’s right down the pipe. Adam Vinatieri. No time on the clock. And the Patriots have won Super Bowl XXXVI. Unbelievable,” Summerall said.

Summerall played 10 NFL seasons from 1952 to 1961 with the Chicago Cardinals and New York Giants, but it was in his second career that he became a voice familiar to generations of sports fans, not only those of the NFL.

“Pat was a friend of nearly 40 years,” CBS Sports broadcaster Verne Lundquist said. “He was a master of restraint in his commentary, an example for all of us.”

When CBS lost its NFL deal after the 1993 season, Summerall switched to Fox to keep calling NFL games with Madden. Summerall had hoped to keep working with CBS for other events like the Masters, but network executives saw it otherwise. At the time, CBS Sports anchor Jim Nantz said he was “very saddened” that Summerall didn’t get to leave CBS under his own terms.

“Pat Summerall was a hero to me,” Nantz said. “I treasured the gift of friendship that I had with him. I was his understudy for 10 years. He could not have been more generous or kind to a young broadcaster.”

HOUSTON — The Houston Texans are hoping two massive new video screens will help lure the 2017 Super Bowl to Reliant Stadium.

The Texans are in the process of installing the video boards, which will be ready for use in Houston’s first preseason game in August. Cowboys Stadium in Arlington currently has the biggest screens, and Houston’s will be about 30 percent larger than those.

The two new boards will have about six times the area than the current video boards and will be placed in each end zone.

Each of Houston’s boards will be 53 feet high and 277 feet wide, which is wider than the wing span of a 747 jet.

The screens at Cowboys Stadium are each 72 feet high and 160 feet wide. Screens at both stadiums are manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric’s Diamond Vision.

Host sites for the 2016 and 2017 Super Bowls are expected to be voted on by owners next month. San Francisco and Miami are finalists for the 2016 game, and Houston will vie with the runner-up for the 2017 game.

“This is going to be an important part of our presentation to the ownership,” team president Jamey Rootes said. “We think it will be a compelling selling point for our bid.”

The Texans hosted the Super Bowl in 2004, and Houston has come up short in campaigns to bring it back in recent years.

“The NFL likes to play in the latest and greatest stadiums with the best technology and you’re not going to find a better video-related technology,” Rootes said. “I think we’ve got a lot of great advantages and this is one of the things we’ll be talking about.”

The new screens will be immensely larger than any end zone display in the NFL. They will be about 70 percent larger than LP Field in Nashville, which currently has the biggest NFL end zone screens.

The screens that Houston has had in the stadium since it opened in 2002 were just 2,592 square feet and were not HD. The new ones will be 14,549 square feet.

Officials didn’t simply make the improvement to snag the Super Bowl; they’re also hoping to enhance the overall experience for fans.

“From a video perspective, we will be able to provide the fans similar or even better than they have in their homes from a video presentation,” Rootes said. “We will have the clarity of high definition for the first time. This is the type of board that will pay dividends for us for years to come.”

The Texans wanted the screens to remain in the end zones as to not take away from the action on the field.

“That’s where we want the primary focus,” Rootes said of the field. “But during break in the action, we’ll have that available up in each end zone for the fans.”

The new boards will also have the capability to access a number of different feeds, allowing highlights from games outside of the stadium to be shown, which wasn’t possible in the past. They’ll also have statistics from the Texans game as well as scores and statistics from around the league on the boards.

Another addition will be a new slow-motion instant replay machine that will have four extra camera angles for replays.

Sergio Garcia, of Spain, reacts to a missed putt on the 13th green during the first round of the Masters golf tournament Thursday, April 11, 2013, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Sergio Garcia might have written himself off too quickly at the Masters.

When last seen walking off the course at Augusta National, the impetuous Spaniard was moping about his bad luck at this tournament and said last year it was increasingly evident he would never be fitted for a green jacket.

Garcia matched his best score at the Masters on Thursday, a 6-under 66 with no bogeys on his card, to share the lead with Marc Leishman of Australia. And he still wasn’t entirely happy, although this time with good reason. He hit the ball so well his score could have been so much better.

“To tell you the truth, if I manage to make a couple of the putts that kind of stayed around the lip, I could have been probably 7- or 8-under par through 10,” Garcia said. “It was that good. And it wasn’t like I was hitting pitching wedge every single time. I was hitting 4-irons and 5-irons and 6-irons, so it wasn’t that easy.”

It sure felt easy for several players in a gentle opening round — even for an eighth-grader.

Guan Tianlang, the 14-year-old from China and youngest to compete in a major in 148 years, played well beyond his age and holed a 15-foot putt from just off the 18th green for a respectable round of 73 and a reasonable chance of making the cut.

Tiger Woods wasn’t far off as he began his quest for a fifth green jacket. Wild at the start, including a tee shot that knocked a cup of beer out of a spectator’s hand, Woods settled into a groove and opened with a 70 as his girlfriend, Olympic ski champion Lindsey Vonn, watched on a few holes.

In his four Masters wins, Woods has never opened with a score lower than 70. His key is not to shoot himself out of the tournament.

“It’s a good start,” he said. “Some years, some guys shot 65 starting out here. But right now, I’m only four back and I’m right there.”

Garcia and Leishman had a one-shot lead over Dustin Johnson, who has a game that fits perfectly for Augusta and he finally brought it. Johnson hit a 9-iron for his second shot on the par-5 13th and made a 15-foot eagle putt, and he smashed his drive on the par-5 15th and hit pitching wedge just through the green for an easy birdie.

Fred Couples, the 53-year-old wonder at his favorite major, made bogey on the 18th and still was in the large group at 68. There were a dozen rounds in the 60s, and nearly half the field shot par or better. Three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson recovered from a rough start by running off four birdies in a five-hole stretch on the back nine to salvage a 71, while Rory McIlroy had a 72.

Woods said he struggled with the slower pace of the greens, and so did defending champion Bubba Watson, who opened with a 75.

“They’re soft and they are slow, and consequently we have 45 people at par or better,” Mickelson said. “But that means I’ve got to change my whole mindset and just get after these pins, because the ball’s not running like it used to and I’m giving this course way too much respect because of my past knowledge.”

It’s not about respect for Garcia. Augusta National is the ultimate love-hate relationship, and Thursday was a rarity. He loved it.

Garcia began his round with an approach that danced by the hole and left him a tap-in birdie. He rolled in a 20-foot birdie on the par-3 sixth, and then shot up the leaderboard with a pair of tough, downhill putts from 8 feet on the ninth and 15 feet on the 10th.

“It’s obviously not my most favorite place,” he said. “But you know, we try to enjoy it as much as we can each time we come here.”

That was a far different attitude than last year on the weekend, when he went from one shot out of the lead going into the third round to back in the pack with a 75. He told Spanish reporters that day he had been trying his entire career to win a major and “I don’t feel capable of winning. … After 13 years, my chances are over. I’m not good enough for the majors. That’s it.”

Not so fast.

Garcia struggled off the tee on the back nine, and he three-putted for par at the 13th.

He also made tough par saves on the 11th and 17th for his first bogey-free round at the Masters since 2002.

Composure is everything to Garcia, a 33-year-old who still acts like a kid. Only three weeks ago, he hit a tee shot at Bay Hill that settled on a large branch in a tree. Garcia climbed the tree, played a remarkable backhanded shot to the fairway and then jumped some 10 feet to the ground. He withdrew a few holes later when the rain arrived.

He smiles. He sulks. And he always says what he’s thinking, which sometimes gets him in trouble.

Garcia doesn’t regret his comments at Augusta last year, only that he didn’t choose his words carefully.

He chalked it up to frustration, but says he is trying just as hard as he did when he was 19 and challenged Woods at Medinah in the 1999 PGA.

“Every time I tee it off, I try to play as well as I can, hope that my best that week is really, really good,” Garcia said. “And if I manage to do that, I will have a chance at winning. If my best is not that good, then I’ll struggle a little bit. Today, my best was pretty good. And I’m looking forward to doing the same thing the next three days.”