PINEHURST, N.C. -- Bubba Watson has one thing going for him: So far, nobody else has a better chance at winning a second major this year. "Ive already got one," he quipped Tuesday. The two-time Masters champion came to Pinehurst this week for the U.S. Open hoping to become the first player since Tiger Woods in 2002 to win the years first two majors. "Any time you have that chance, its been a good year, because that means youve done well early," Watson said. The worlds third-ranked player is trying to join that short list of players to win both the Masters and U.S. Open in the same year. Its only happened six times and before Woods, nobody had done it since Jack Nicklaus in 1972. Watson is certainly hoping this attempt goes better than the last one. Two years ago at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, he missed the cut after shooting an 8-over-par 78 in his opening round. Through the years, the U.S. Open has provided a particularly vexing test for Watson, who has missed the cut in three of his seven Opens. His only top-10 finish came in 2007 when he tied for fifth at Oakmont -- perhaps the toughest of the courses that have staged golfs national championship. "A U.S. Open brings out challenges that were not used to, challenges that we can only take once a year or we would all find new jobs if we had to do it every week," Watson said. And a different set of them awaits this week at the revamped Pinehurst No. 2 course that looks nothing like it did when Payne Stewart (1999) and Michael Campbell (2005) won Opens here. Watson it called "a second-shot golf course" and said it bears no resemblance to the Augusta National course hes twice conquered "except its 18 holes, thats about it." The multi-million-dollar restoration to Donald Ross original design, removed the rough and left only two cuts of grass -- fairway and green. Birdies figure to once again be rare at the U.S. Open, where bogeys arent necessarily bad and the winner is often the one who takes the smartest shots and makes the fewest mistakes. Hell find out over the next few days if his daring "Bubba golf" style will work on a course that has only two par-5s. Watson leads all PGA Tour players with an average driving distance of 314 yards -- a distinct advantage at the various courses on the tour. But maybe not at Pinehurst No. 2, where sandy hardpan, wiregrass and weeds make up what used to be the rough. "Its all about the tee shots. Im going to try to lay farther back than normal, because its still iffy hitting in that -- I dont know what they call it, rough, dirt, sand. ... But its going to be iffy. You dont know what kind of lies youre going to get." Get through that and out of the fairways, and those notoriously tricky turtleback greens -- which a smiling Watson repeatedly called "unfriendly" -- await. The "U.S. Open is challenging you at all levels. If you want to be a man and hit driver off that tee, you can," he said. "If you want to lay back and try to play smarter, you can. ... You have the ability to do it, now can you do it at that moment, is what the key is. "So I think the U.S. Open is doing that, its just thats what theyre trying to create," he added. "Theyre trying to create a challenge for everybody, and you can play it aggressively or you can play it smartly." Evander Kane Sharks Jersey .com) - P.K. Subbans power-play goal 4:08 into overtime sent the Montreal Canadiens into the All-Star break with a 2-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. Erik Karlsson Sharks Jersey .twitter.com/TeZD3KOvlA — Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) September 24, 2014 Sorry for the delay, we just got back from lunch at Papa Vons #NBAFastFood pic. http://www.officialsharksnhlshop.com/timo-meier-jersey/ . The ongoing funk on penalty kill and an unusually quiet night on home ice for the power play divided the Leafs from the Bruins at the ACC in a rare Sunday night affair. Tomas Hertl Jersey . As each game passes (each has played close with the exception of last night) it becomes clearer just how evenly matched these two teams are and how one mistake, or one bad inning, is likely to sway the result. Brenden Dillon Jersey . Spains victory rendered Frances 3-0 win against Finland meaningless as Spain needed just one point to secure passage to Brazil. Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema scored either side of Joona Toivios own-goal as France advanced to the playoff among the eight best second-place finishers. CHICAGO -- While the Chicago White Sox await the return of injured slugger Jose Abreu, Dayan Viciedo is doing his part to make up for the missing power. Viciedo hit a long three-run homer, Conor Gillaspie collected four more hits and the White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 6-2 on Monday. Abreu, who is out with a left ankle injury, took 25 grounders and played soft toss before the game. He also hit 30 balls off a tee. The slugger is expected to be activated from the 15-day disabled list when he is eligible on June 2. Viciedo went 2 for 4 for his first multihit game since May 19 at Kansas City. He said the bond between the two Cuban players has been beneficial for both sides. "We have a great relationship," he said through an interpreter. "There are some things he has mentioned to me and I give him advice as well. It goes both ways. Knowing each other for years and then being here together definitely helps." Gillaspie went 4 for 4, scored twice and drove in a run. He became the first White Sox player to hit three doubles in a single game since Paul Konerko on May 26, 2012, against the Indians. Viciedo connected in the third inning against Josh Tomlin as the White Sox improved to 5-3 this year against Cleveland. Mike Aviles, Michael Brantley and Ryan Raburn had two hits apiece for the Indians, who have dropped three of four. Brantley and Raburn each drove in a run. Cleveland third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall committed a costly error in the third inning, allowing Marcus Semien to reach. Gillaspie then singled to put runners on first and second before Viciedo drove a 1-2 pitch over the wall in left for his fifth homer, giving the White Sox a 3-1 lead. "Thats on me," Tomlin said. "I need to do a better job of picking Lonnie up there. It took a tough hop and I need to come back and make a better pitch to Viciedo right there." Gillaspie is batting .407 (24 ffor 59) in his last 16 games.dddddddddddd. The White Sox added two more runs in the sixth on consecutive RBI singles for Alexei Ramirez and Alejandro De Aza against Bryan Shaw. Gillaspies third double in the seventh scored Semien from first base, making it 6-2. "Any time you can add on runs, its big," Chicago manager Robin Ventura said. Tomlin (3-2) allowed two earned runs and five hits in five-plus innings. He struck out eight and walked one. Jose Quintana (3-4) pitched six effective innings for the White Sox, allowing two runs and five hits. Scott Downs got four outs for his first save. "Its great to give Q some run support," Gillaspie said. "Hes a guy that goes out there every time, hes a fighter, hes a bulldog out there. To give him some run support, it has to make him feel better about his performance." Quintana also got some help from his defence in the sixth. Raburn singled in Brantley with one out, but was thrown out by right fielder Moises Sierra trying to stretch it to a double. "Its a good feeling," Quintana said. "Thats a good one for us, the first game of the series. It was good to make a quality start, too, which gives us a chance to win." NOTES: Cleveland manager Terry Francona declined comment on the Cubs hiring Manny Ramirez as a minor league coach/player. "Ive got my hands full being the manager of this team," said Francona, who was in Boston with Ramirez and Cubs executive Theo Epstein. "I did exchange a couple of texts with Theo yesterday in fun." ... Indians slugger Carlos Santana was in the original lineup at DH but was scratched because he was feeling ill. ... INF Jason Kipnis (right oblique strain) will rejoin the Indians on Tuesday following a rehab assignment. ... RHP Justin Masterson (2-3) faces White Sox ace Chris Sale (4-0) in the second game of the series. ' ' '