DUBLIN, Ohio -- Keegan Bradley had his best round ever at the Memorial on Thursday. It was the way he accomplished that feat that was so unusual. Bradley did not use a belly putter for the first time in his PGA Tour career, and it worked out just fine. He knocked in a 12-foot birdie putt on his opening hole, added four more birdies for a 5-under 67 and was one shot out of the lead among the early starters at Muirfield Village. "Im totally in a trial period here," said Bradley, whose best score in eight previous rounds was a 71. "Im not in any way saying Im switching for good from now on. This is just for right now and this week." Masters champion Bubba Watson, Chris Kirk and Paul Casey each had a 66 on a hot morning at the Memorial. Adam Scott and Rory McIlroy, both coming off victories on either side of the Atlantic Ocean, were among those playing in the afternoon. Bradley was the first player to win a major using a belly putter at the 2011 PGA Championship. The anchored stroke used for long putters will be banned starting in 2016, which he said was like a "ticking clock in your head." But it was advice from his mother, and a week of practice and trash talking with Michael Jordan, that persuaded him to give it a try. Bradley didnt like the way he finished off the Byron Nelson Championship two weeks ago, and while talking to his mother, she suggested he go to a shorter putter. "I hadnt put any thought into it up until that point," he said. "And so I thought I needed something to get me excited about playing because I was bummed." Bradley has not won since the Bridgestone Invitational in 2012, and he needs to get moving if he wants to earn a spot on the Ryder Cup team. Inspired to experiment by his mother, he played with Jordan at The Bears Club in South Florida, asking him to be relentless in heckling and make Bradley feel uncomfortable, "which hes good at." "And we just kept playing and playing. And I felt better and better with it," he said. "And I came here not knowing what I was going to do. I played a round with Brendan Steele and I felt good with it again, and I thought theres no reason for me not to do it." Bradley said he last used a conventional putter in 2010 in his second start on the Nationwide Tour. He is not considered a bad putter. Bradley switched over to the belly putter because he felt he was better with it. His plan for the year was to qualify for the Ryder Cup team and start converting to a shorter putter after October. Now? Who knows? The putter is 41 inches, which is about 6 inches longer than a standard putter. The difference is that Bradley doesnt press the end of it into his belly. He felt better over lag putts, and he said the shorter putter improved his touch on fast greens. "The negatives are just ... Im aware that people are watching me," he said. "And thats the hardest part." Watson also started his round at No. 10 and got going with an eagle on the 15th hole. He finished strong with four birdies over the last five holes, knocking in a 15-foot putt on the ninth hole. Hunter Mahan had a bogey-free 68, a signal that he is finally starting to round into form. Mahan has not been in the top 20 since the second week of March at Doral. china jerseys . After Andrew Romine served up two monster home runs in the inning, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said he thought Romine was one of the bright spots on the night, showing just how bad the series opener against the last-place Minnesota Twins went for the Tigers. replica jerseys china . Torres scored the first goal by an English team in the knockout phase of the Champions League this season when he met Cezar Azpilicuetas cutback in the ninth minute of their first leg match in the last 16. 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His performances have sparked a debate about where his international future lies.TORONTO - Kyle Lowry laid flat in the centre of the key, hands on his head as he stared straight up at the top of the Air Canada Centre, likely seeing nothing at all, having just missed the biggest shot of his eight-year career. Although, technically it was not a shot. With their season on the line, the ball was in Lowrys hands, deservedly so. The clock showed 6.2 seconds as the Raptors inbounded, trailing by only one in the dying moments of a deciding Game 7. Jason Kidd and his Nets team had little doubt the ball would find Lowry. The star point guard caught the pass, with Deron Williams draped all over him, and went straight toward the rim as Kevin Garnett came over to trap. Lowry split the two defenders and floated a shot up at the basket just as Paul Pierce entered the fray in time to block it. As the buzzer sounded, putting an end to Torontos magical season, Lowry - the teams heart and soul - fell to the court. What was going through his head? "Whats not?" he shot back. DeMar DeRozan was the first one to come over. Crouching over the sprawled out Lowry, DeRozan offered up some words of encouragement. "He said, If anyone is taking that shot, Im living and dying with you taking it and trying to get that shot off," Lowry recounted after the Raptors heartbreaking 104-103 Game 7 loss. "It was one of those things, a brotherly moment." DeRozan helped the point guard up and the Raptors two best players walked off the court - Lowry with his jersey over his face - to a rousing ovation from their appreciative fans. "It was big time," Amir Johnson said of the scene. "Just them showing their appreciation, how well we did this season and how hard we worked. So it was a sad moment but bittersweet, I guess." The Raptors couldnt hide their disappointment after falling just short of advancing to the Conference Semifinals Sunday afternoon, it was written all over their faces, but they have no reason to hang their heads. The sellout ACC crowd stood and chanted in salute of their team, the game - however frustrating - served as a good reminder of why. With five minutes left, the Raptors appeared dead in the water. Frustrated and coming undone in the moment, down 10, their season was on life support but, like hes done so many times before, Dr. Lowry refused to let them die. Lowry scored 13 of his game-high 28 points in the final quarter and the Raptors came storming back. That resiliency has been their most admirable quality all year. They had led the NBA in fourth-quarter scoring differential, earning 11 comeback wins, eight more than the season prior. "Were going to fight until our last breath," said DeRozan after scoring 18 points, playing with the flu, as Casey revealed following the game. "Were going to leave it out there, every single thing we have there on the court.dddddddddddd" "We battled," added Johnson, who recorded his first playoff double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out early in the fourth quarter. "I would go to war with these guys any day and they showed a lot of pride and a lot of heart tonight. We just ran out of time." Lowry and his unwavering resolve have a lot to do with the teams late-game tenacity and so, with their season in the balance, they had no qualms with letting him decide their fate. "That young man did everything he could to get to the basket," Casey said of Lowry on the final possession. It was what they had drew up, Lowry going to the rim, though it was a slight variation of what was intended, with poor spacing that ultimately led to the blocked shot. "He tried to will his way to get that extra point." One point separated the teams Sunday and after 11 meetings - in the regular season and playoffs - Toronto and Brooklyn each scored 1,070 points. The series was as close as they come. "We were right there," Casey pointed out, and if a few calls from another highly critiqued officiating crew went their way they may have pulled it out. But in the end, the Nets were the better team Sunday and that was the case, more often than not, throughout the series. Joe Johnson - the best player on either side over the seven-game span - proved un-guardable again, scoring half of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, while the Raptors youth and inexperience continued to rear its head. Although Terrence Ross turned in his best game of the series, securing the steal that made Torontos final possession possible, the bar had been set low. Fellow sophomore Jonas Valanciunas scored just three points to go along with five rebounds in one of the quietest outings of his brief career. As a team, the Raptors wanted to go further, they believed they were ready and came just one play short of proving it. Even after the loss, with their season now over, the progress theyve made does not go to waste. Three of their starters had never appeared in a playoff game. Only four players on their roster had ever experienced a Game 7, no one has emerged victorious from one. This experience is invaluable and can only serve them well, both individually and as a collective, going forward. "Im proud of our guys," Casey said. "Nobody gave them a snowballs chance in you know where to be here. They competed all year. This group has a lot of stuff in front of them, a lot of basketball in front of them. The organization is in a great spot." "This playoff run is nothing but positive for these young men and anyone that thinks any different doesnt know basketball." ' ' '