NAPLES, Fla. -- Cristie Kerr has had more spring in her step. She slipped on wet grass during the second round of The Evian Championship in September, and her left knee hasnt been quite right since.Im going to get it checked out when we get done with the season and see what the doctors say, Kerr said after the second round of the CME Group Tour Championship, where she is the defending champion. Hopefully its just rest.Kerr is walking around with kinesio tape and an elastic brace on the injured joint at Tiburon Golf Club, which is approximately a nine-mile trek from first tee to 18th green, although players are shuttled between some of the longest green-to-tee distances.I guess its some kind of inflammation, Kerr said. Thats why Im wearing the sleeve, to keep the inflammation down. I kind of look like a basketball player minus the height.She is only 5-foot-3, hardly imposing, but a yardstick never measured determination and, in Kerrs case, the knack for periodically turning a mallet-head putter into a magic wand.At 39, Kerr is still in the fray on an LPGA Tour that is getting younger and younger, led by 19-year-old world No. 1 Lydia Ko, who shot a course-record 62 Friday to take a three-stroke lead at 12-under 132 into the weekend of the season-ending event. Kerr got into contention with a second-round 67 that left her at 6-under 138 and in a tie for 10th place.She left the scoring tent in a better mood because she holed a 15-footer for par after hitting her approach into a bunker on No. 18. Necessary, Kerr said of the par-saving stroke on one of the greens that had been resurfaced since last years tournament. The greens are so pure that you can make a 15-footer for par when you need to.Kerr made the putt with a model of Odyssey putter that has been in her bag most of her career. Its the Two-Ball [design], Old Faithful, Kerr said. [Ive used one] off and on for since maybe my third or fourth year on tour. Same design, different putter. I have a bunch of backups. I actually got all the backups they had about two years ago. It just lines up really well and rolls the ball well. I feel the speed really well.Lisa Cornwell, a Golf Channel reporter, was behind the 18th green when Kerr finished on Friday. A few years older than Kerr, Cornwell was a talented junior golfer during the 1990s, playing in some of the same events as Kerr. I just remember this kid coming out, kind of quiet but really talented, Cornwell said. Always a great putter. And she was intense, even with her practice. She always had that razor-sharp focus.Kerr needed that mindset in 1996 when she turned professional at 18 after graduating from high school in Miami. Although in recent years it has become common -- particularly outside the United States -- for talented women to start playing for pay so soon, it didnt happen too often when Kerr bypassed college after a stellar junior career. After getting some experience on the mini-tours, Kerr tied for sixth at LPGA Qualifying School and was a tour rookie in 1997. She won her first tournament in 2002 and presently became one of the top women players.Eighteen victories, including two major championships, later, she is still chasing the dream as a wife, mother and budding wine entrepreneur with a label, Curvature, whose profits support research for breast cancer, a disease her mother, Linda, was diagnosed with in 2003.As Kerr closes out her 30s, Juli Inkster, the Hall of Famer who still competes on the LPGA at 56, is on her mind. I would love to play as long as Juli has, Kerr said. Shes always been one of my role models. Shes a grinder, a fighter, and she loves to work and practice just like I do. There arent a whole lot of things better than this to do, so were pretty blessed.Since the year of her first victory, Kerr has never finished worse than 19th on the LPGA money list. A hot weekend at Tiburon, where first prize is $500,000, would improve her current 40th position.You definitely want to model Cristies career, how she gets so much out of her game, said American Austin Ernst, 24. Shes been out here for two decades. Shes a grinder, and you cant really count her out of a tournament. She has a way of willing putts in the hole. It seems like she still loves to play.Kerr wasnt expected to overshadow Ko and Inbee Park at last years Tour Championship, but she did. Ko, who can overtake Ariya Jutanugarn in the race for Rolex Player of the Year and win her third straight Race to the CME Globe $1 million bonus with a victory, will be difficult to catch, her 10-under Friday score seeming to slam the brakes on a lull in her game during the recent Asian Swing.I would love that mini-slump, Kerr said jokingly of Kos unexpected lackluster form leading up to this week while hoping to end her own season, which has included four top-10s but no wins, on another high note. Good players are always able to call it up at some point, whether its a pressure 3-point shot in basketball or a clutch putt to make par or win a tournament. Good players find a different level of focus. Thats what Im looking for the next two days.The day might come when there are no 39-year-olds on the LPGA, when the tour is solely stocked with players who arent old enough to rent a car, who leave when players not that long ago arrived in their primes. I dont know if theyll want to play as long as Ive played, Kerr said. They keep getting younger.But the new wave would be wise to keep at least one eye on an outlier, sore knee or not. Water Bottle Hydro Flask 18 oz Wide Mouth Flamingo . "Trying to breathe," he said with a grin. Bernier stopped 42 of 43 shots on Monday night, including all 22 in a hectic middle frame, his heroic performance propelling the Leafs toward an undue point in their final game before the Christmas break. Water Bottle Hydro Flask 18 oz Wide Mouth Mint . At a news conference Tuesday where it was thought that the fiery Schallibaum may be shown the door after a dismal finish to the Major League Soccer season, team president Joey Saputo said no decision has been made on whether the Swiss Volcano will be back in 2014. http://www.hydroflaskaustralia.com/water-bottle-hydro-flask-24-oz-standard-mouth-mint.html . The Hall of Fame defenceman told Landsberg that he believes fighting still has a place in todays game, but thinks staged fighting needs be outlawed. Water Bottle Hydro Flask 24 oz Standard Mouth Lemon .C. United of Major League Soccer. United chose the defender in the second round of the 2013 MLS re-entry draft. Hydro Flask Coffee Australia . Radwanska, making her debut in the Seoul tournament, hit eight aces in a match that lasted 1 hour, 4 minutes at Olympic Park tennis stadium. "It was definitely a very good match -- I was playing really good tennis," Radwanska said.England almost snatched a win on a flat pitch in the first Test in Abu Dhabi, with captain Alastair Cook and Adil Rashid leading from the front. Cook scored a record-breaking 263, while Rashid took 5-64 in the second innings on debut. We ask former England all-rounder Dominic Cork for his thoughts on both, plus what England can expect in the second Test in Dubai...Can captain Cooks form continue? Watch England captain Alastair Cook reach his double century against Pakistan in the first Test in Abu Dhabi I think so. He looks in good form at the moment. He is a lot more stable at the crease and gets into good positions. He is mentally in a better place as well and like any sportsman, if you’re mentally in a better place, he just looks more at ease.As a captain, he has been under pressure for a while – stripped of the one-day captaincy - with a lot of criticism about his style of captaincy too. But he lead from the front, and when you watch good captains from around the world, this is what they do.It was a record-breaking innings in length. The way he composed himself under massive pressure after Pakistan posted a huge first innings total, showed the attitude is ‘it doesn’t matter what the opposition do – we can 100 per cent win in the UAE’. They have a good chance now.How did you rate Rashids debut? Adil Rashid salutes after taking five wickets on debut for England against Pakistan in Abu Dhavi It obviously doesnt sound great when your figure are 0-163 in your first bowl in Test cricket, but to finish with 5-64 in the second innings, almost bowling England to victory, is some turnaround. Great signs that we have a leg-spinner now who can take wickets and possibly win games for England.In the first innings he was getting himself too close into the sumps with his release, closing himself off. Where as in the second innings he went slightly wider, put more revolutions on the ball which enabled him to get more dip, and made it difficult for the Pakistan batsmen. He can also bowl the googly out of the back of his hand, and that is something I dont think they picked very well in the second innings. Who else stood out from first Test? James Anderson of England celebrates bowling Shan Masood of Pakistan during the firstTest in Abu Dhabi A lot of people said that Jimmy Anderson wouldnt be successful. And people who say that really annoy me, because this guy is the leading wicket-taker for England. They think he needs swing, and he hasnt got the pace anymore. But he has so much skill.It doesntt matter what wicket he plays on, he can swing the ball away, and constantly challenges the batsmen because of the areas he bowls.dddddddddddd Abu Dhabi, one of the flattest wickets you could play Test cricket on, and he still came out with respectable figures, 4-72.Should England fear Shah return? Yasir Shah has England in his sights ahead of Pakistans Test with Alastair Cooks side in Dubai Yes, because he is a match-winner. A bit like Rashid, he has the ability to turn the ball both ways, and he has 61 wickets in 10 Tests. Plus his record in Dubai in particular is excellent, with 14 scalps in two Tests.He has already come out and said that England players dont like facing spin, particularly leg-spin. But I think he should just stick to his own game, and do what he does best. On his day he can put England under pressure and will be a massive threat.What to expect in Dubai? David Lloyd interrupts his round of golf to give his thoughts ahead of the second Test between Pakistan and England Expect very similar. Im hoping there will be a bit more life in the pitch, a bit more bounce and carry for both seamers and spinners. Pakistans coach Waqar Younis said we didnt order that pitch in Abu Dhabi, it was what was given to them.But whatever the surface in Dubai, both sides will win the toss and choose to bat first. Hopefully England can do that and put a big score together because as we saw in Pakistans second innings, a little bit of panic started to set in with the senior players - Younus Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik - playing poor shots. Englands tour of the UAE to play Pakistan is live on Sky Sports, continuing with the second Test in Dubai, from 6.30am on Thursday 22nd October. You can also watch without a contract on NOW TV. Also See: Five Things: Abu Dhabi Zone masterclasses England fixtures/results Sky Cricket Podcast ' ' '