CROMWELL, Conn. -- Three-quarters of the U.S. mens Olympic golf team will be playing together in Connecticut this week.Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed and Matt Kuchar are scheduled to go out as a trio Thursday and Friday for the first two rounds of the Travelers Championship.The fourth member of the team, Rickie Fowler, is skipping the PGA Tour event to attend Fridays opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro.The other three expect to fly out after Sundays final round, putting them in Brazil well before the Aug. 11 start of the Olympic golf competition.All three say they are focused on this week and this tournament. But they also acknowledge that the excitement for the first Olympic golf tournament in 112 years is building.Much of their Team USA gear was waiting for them when they arrived this week at the TPC River Highlands course.I opened that up and was like a kid at Christmas, just showing every piece to everybody, Reed said.Reed and Kuchar made the Olympic team after two-time major champion Jordan Spieth and U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson opted not to go, citing health concerns including the threat posed by the Zika virus.I had my fingers crossed that some golfers would bypass the Olympics to be honest, Kuchar said. I had fingers crossed that they would so that Id have a chance to accept.Watson, the defending Travelers champion, said he prepared his schedule with this tournament and the Olympics in mind, taking some time off earlier in the year to be fresh for what he knew would be a grueling stretch of golf.Who cares if I finish dead last, he said. Just to be part of the Olympics is a big honor and a thrill.Besides the Americans, three other Olympians are playing in Cromwell -- Germanys Alex Cejka, Denmarks Soren Kjeldsen and Irelands Padraig Harrington.They will be competing with the other golfers on a newly renovated course.The TPC River Highlands, which has hosted the Connecticut stop on the PGA Tour since 1984, underwent a $3.5 million face-lift over the past year.Officials removed about 50 bunkers that were no longer in play for the longer-hitting pros, repositioned others, added some viewing areas and reconfigured some greens to allow for tougher hole placements.The course remains a par-70 and is still 6,841 yards.Its all about appeal, Watson said. I dont know if youd call it modernization or something, but it looks newer, fresher.Watson announced Wednesday that he would donate $100,000 to the Bruce Edwards Foundation for ALS research. Edwards, who was from Wethersfield and was Tom Watsons long-time caddie, died of Lou Gehrigs disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.The fight against ALS became the charitable focus of this years tournament after former Travelers chief executive Jay Fishman announced he had been diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease.At Fishmans behest, New Britains Hospital for Special Care, which treats most of the ALS patients in Connecticut, became the tournaments primary charitable beneficiary. Wholesale Air Max . -- Brandon Jennings made the most of his first game with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. Air Max Outlet . Those lessons were more than enough to overwhelm the Utah Jazz. Lou Williams scored 25 points and the Hawks continued their offensive upswing as they rolled to an easy 118-85 victory over the Jazz on Friday night, winning their third straight and for the fourth time in five games. http://www.cheapairmaxchinadiscount.com/ . The Americans, skipped by John Shuster, seized the advantage in the eighth end by scoring five points for a 7-3 lead. The Czechs pulled two back in the ninth, but Shusters team of third Jeff Isaacson, second Jared Zezel and lead John Landsteiner ended with another point to secure the last Olympic berth on offer. Clearance Air Max Online . Defenceman Yannick Weber scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Canucks breathed a sigh of relief with a 2-1 win on Saturday night. Discount Air Max Shoes . -- Stanfords Kevin Danser knelt on one knee and hardly moved on the sideline as Michigan State celebrated its Rose Bowl victory and his Cardinal teammates made their way to the locker room. WEST POINT, N.Y. -- North Texas coach Seth Littrell seemed a little worn out at the end of the game, and it was understandable. The Mean Green had beaten Army for the first time in five tries and he had repeatedly jumped and spun around on the sidelines amidst a flurry of turnovers by the Black Knights.Facing the second-rated defense in the nation, Jeffrey Wilson rushed for 160 yards and three touchdowns and North Texas beat Army 35-18 on a wet, raw Saturday at Michie Stadium.We ended up getting seven turnovers, and thats key, Littrell said. Defensive guys did a great job of making those opportunities count. I was a bonehead in the first half, to be honest. We should have run the ball more.Fresh from a bye week, North Texas (4-3) rallied in the second half behind Wilson, who was coming off a career-high 188-yard performance two weeks ago against Marshall. Wilson scored on a 41-yard run and 1-yard plunge in the third quarter as the Mean Green stunned the Black Knights.Without a doubt, theres no other answer, simply our O-line, Wilson said. They came out today with fire in their eyes and I could see if from the jump. We knew we wasnt going to start off fast, but we know that if we keep on picking away and picking away and picking away that well eventually do what we came to do. And thats exactly what happened.Army (4-3) entered the game ranked second against the run, allowing just 99 yards per game.Wilson, held to seven yards rushing on two carries in the first half, staked the Mean Green to a 21-10 lead early in the third when he slithered through the left side of the defensive line and raced untouched for 41 yards and a touchdown. He had 153 yards on 13 carries in the second.The Black Knights seemed ready to counter right back, but quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw fumbled a snap on fourth-and-inches at midfield and the Mean Green took possession.Its hard to score when you dont have the ball, Army coach Jeff Monken said. To give the ball back to them is agonizing. Those plays kill drives, kill the momentum.Moments later, Army defeensive back Elijah Riley was poised to make an interception but slipped down as he turned to catch the ball.dddddddddddd That left Willie Robinson all alone for a 26-yard catch and Wilsons 1-yard run boosted the lead to 28-10 midway through the third.They did a good job defensively against our offense in the first half, Littrell said. What they do against the run game has been impressive, so I probably was trying to get the back end going a little bit. We had some stuff we missed early. The way our offensive line came off the ball and Jeffrey ran the ball, that was the difference.North Texas sealed the victory on a turnover. Army was driving at midfield early in the fourth, but after a long gain on the first reception of his career that had caught the North Texas defense off-guard, tight end Dalton Mendenhall had the ball stripped by Eric Jenkins and the Mean Green recovered at its own 12-yard line.Army finished with 302 yards rushing, 53 yards below its nation-leading average. Bradshaw led with 90 yards on 24 carries.Monken had a simple explanation for the loss.We got whipped in every phase, he said. I dont know if theres much more to say.THE TAKEAWAY:ARMY: If the Black Knights can control the turnovers, they still can contend to play in the postseason. Army cant afford to make those mistakes to have a chance to win, with the likes of Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Air Force and Navy still on the schedule.NORTH TEXAS: With a freshman quarterback at the helm and a solid running game, the Mean Green can be a contender in Conference USA. When Wilson is on, they win. In the teams first three victories, he averaged 142.7 rushing yards, just 44.3 in the losses.UP NEXT:Army: Travels to play Wake Forest of the Atlantic Coast Conference on Saturday.North Texas: Plays at Texas-San Antonio on Saturday.---AP College Football Website: www.collegefootball.ap.org---Follow Kekis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Greek1947 ' ' '