OPELIKA, Ala. -- Robby Shelton is happy to be back at the Barbasol Championship while the worlds top players are off in Scotland at the British Open.Third last year while still in college at the University of Alabama, Shelton is making his second PGA Tour start as a professional. He missed the cut in the FedEx St. Jude Classic in his pro debut.It was an exciting week, Shelton said Wednesday. I played really well. I just came with a lot of expectations, I guess, I just wanted to play well. But being an am is kind of different than being a pro.I knew I played really well. Its not always that easy. But it gave me a lot of confidence going into college golf for the year and it definitely gave me some confidence to rattle some wins and make the decision a lot easier to turn pro after my junior year.Play begins Thursday on Grand Nationals Lake Course. The winner will get a two-year exemption and a spot in the PGA Championship, but will not be exempt for the Masters.Its just a little different in the sense of travel and doing a lot of stuff on my own, Shelton said about professional life. But besides that, I mean, just wait to hear from each tournament because Im on sponsor exemptions, so its just kind of a last-minute thing, which is difficult. It keeps you on your toes, youre always practicing, just hoping for the word. Besides that, its really not much different.Shelton is one of many players with Alabama ties, joining Jason Bohn (Alabama), Bud Cauley (Alabama), Dicky Pride (Alabama), Michael Thompson (Alabama), Bobby Wyatt (Alabama), Matt Gilchrest (Auburn), Blayne Barber (Auburn), Michael Johnson (Auburn), Will Wilcox (UAB) and Heath Slocum (South Alabama).Im excited to be here, Barber said. Its always nice to sleep in your own bed and play a tournament.Johnson is making his pro debut.This is a great opportunity for me, Johnson said. Im very happy that I got a sponsor exemption, very happy, pleased, all of the above.Gilchrest, a rising senior for Tigers, is playing in his first pro event.For me, its like a dream come true for me to get to play my first PGA Tour event, and even better here where we have a college tournament, play here every so often, Gilchrest said. Its just down the road from my apartment. Ive got a lot of family from Dallas and itll be a really special week.Wilcox was second last year behind Scott Piercy.Its familiar surroundings and Id love to get the magic again like I had last year, Wilcox said. Its going to be cool to have all my family down again. Ive played good in Alabama. So yeah, I mean, Ill just see if we can get it going again and maybe have another exciting weekend.Piercy is skipping his title defense to play at Royal Troon.Kyle Reifers, at No. 42, is the highest player in the FedEx Cup standings in the field. Bohn, at No. 97, has the highest world ranking.Hunter Mahan is playing for the first time since the birth of his third child, Hazel.Wholesale China Jerseys .J. Ellis hit two-run homers and the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 4-0 Saturday night. Fake Jerseys Cheap .875,000, avoiding arbitration. Clippards deal Monday means all eight Nationals players who filed for arbitration wound up settling before a hearing. https://www.fakejerseysfromchina.com/ . The showiest items on Calgarys lot were forwards Mike Cammalleri and Lee Stempniak. Both will be unrestricted free agents this summer. Fake Jerseys . McPhee said that Ovechkins father Mikhail is in stable condition after having the surgery this week and is no longer in intensive care. "Weve told him to stay as long as necessary with your dad," he said. Ovechkin and his Russian national team were eliminated from the mens hockey tournament in Sochi on Wednesday with a 3-1 quarter-final loss to Finland. Fake Jerseys From China . -- Aldon Smith believes he is on the path to being sober for good.SUZUKA, Japan -- Nico Rosberg set the fastest time in Fridays practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, edging Mercedes teammate and Formula One title rival Lewis Hamilton.Rosberg set the quickest lap in both sessions, with his best at 1 minute, 32.250 seconds; just seven hundredths of a second better than Hamilton.Its been a case of finding my way today, Rosberg said. It began with quite a lot of under-steer and we had to work through the setup in order to find a better balance on the car. In the afternoon, the medium tire didnt seem as strong as the hard as we saw in Malaysia. However, on the soft tire we showed strong one-lap pace, the balance felt good and the track was really exciting to drive. Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen was third, encouragingly only three tenths of a second off Rosbergs time. He was followed by Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, then Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, who won four faces in Suzuka between 2009 and 2013.With five races remaining in the season, Rosberg holds a 23-point lead over Hamilton, who had an engine failure while leading last weekends Malaysian Grand Prix but is chasing a hat trick of victories in Japan.Its been a really good day with no problems on the car, which is great, Hamilton said. We managed to get plenty of laps in but theres still some work to be done overnight in order to find more pace.ddddddddddddain is forecast for Saturdays qualifying session.Rosbergs afternoon got off to an uncertain start when he pulled out of his garage 13 minutes into the session with wisps of smoke emerging from the back of his Mercedes.As he waited at the end of the pitlane, the smoke became slightly thicker and billowed out for a few seconds, but there was little trouble after that.He soon posted the fastest lap on hard tires and then set the pace on softer tires to remain ahead throughout the session.Force India pair Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg finished sixth and seventh fastest, with three tenths of a second separating the duo.Fernando Alonso of McLaren, Valtteri Bottas of Williams and Carlos Sainz Jr. of Toro Rosso completed the top 10. Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo, who won in Malaysia, was 12th.The second practice session was incident free other than when Esteban Gutierrez parked his Haas on the grass approaching the Degner curve following a turbo failure, prompting a virtual safety car. ' ' '