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SPRINGFIELD, N.J. -- It is nowhere near as simple as making the hard part look easy and turning the simpler tasks into something far more difficult.But that is basically what Rory McIlroy finds himself faced with at the moment as he hits plenty of good shots but cant make the putts that would lead to good scores.The two-time PGA Championship winner who is ranked fourth in the world couldnt manage a single birdie Thursday at Baltusrol Golf Club, shooting a 4-over-par 74 that left him tied for 120th, 9 back of leader Jimmy Walker and searching for answers.You give yourself chances the first couple of holes, you dont convert, McIlroy said. You want to get off to a good start. I feel like, if I had holed one of those first two, it might have been a different story of the day. You get a little bit of momentum, and you get it going.With the poa annua greens, you start to look a lot into them. You read it from behind the ball and you see one line; you read it from behind the hole and it looks slightly different. You put yourself in two minds sometimes.Although the surface of the putting greens at Baltusrol might have given McIlroy fits, truth be told he has struggled with his putting for most of the year. He made a switch to a left-hand low grip in March, then changed back to a conventional grip in May despite winning the Irish Open with the new technique.Putting has typically been McIlroys nemesis, the part of his game that would be considered average or even substandard compared with the rest of his skills. He needed 35 putts Thursday despite hitting a respectable 9 of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens in regulation.His proximity to the hole average of 31 feet is another problem, and for the year he ranks just 84th on the PGA Tour in approaches to the hole from 100 to 125 yards. From 125 to 150, it is even worse, as McIlroy is 148th, averaging 24 feet, 6 inches.Considering how far McIlroy hits the ball -- he averages 304 yards off the tee and was 308 on Thursday -- his inability to hit it close with short irons helps explain some of the putting woes.Just not a lot of momentum out there, said McIlroy, who shot his first over-par score in the first round of a PGA, this being his eighth appearance in the event. But Im happy with my game from tee to green. Driving the ball as well as I have, ever. Iron play feels good.Just, when I get on the greens, its just a different story. I need to try and figure it out for tomorrow. Try to shoot something in the mid-60s and get myself back into it.McIlroy is not working with a putting coach at the moment and said he has simply tried to figure things out on his own, hoping to find the proper feel and pace.It is somewhat how his year has gone. He tied for 10th at the Masters but played the third round in 77 without a birdie. He won the Irish Open and tied for fourth at the Memorial, but missed the cut at the U.S. Open. He was in contention at the French Open, where he finished third, but never felt as if he was in the tournament at The Open, shooting a final-round 67 to snag a share of fifth -- although he was 16 shots behind winner Henrik Stenson.I feel theres been times where I got a little bit of momentum, and then sort of got set back a little bit, McIlroy said before the tournament. Its been a little stop-start in a way. But its hard. Im trying to stay as positive as I can. I feel like I am positive because my game is in good shape. But I guess just maybe running out of patience a little bit and trying to make it happen.That would have been understandable Thursday. Its tough to continually hit long drives or good approaches and come up with nothing. McIlroy had six birdie chances inside 15 feet and made none of them. He missed a couple of makeable par putts, too.There was not much more he could say other than hed work on it.Ill try to spend as much as I can, he said. Obviously its very hot out here. Ill possibly just go back to the house that we rented, chill out a little bit, and maybe come back this evening and hit some putts when it cools off. Not that it cools off that much in the evenings.McIlroys putter might be the only thing that is cold around Baltusrol. Detroit Tigers Store . Third-seeded Murray had the easiest path to victory on New Years Eve, barely breaking a sweat during his 6-0, 6-0 win over 2,129th-ranked Qatari wildcard recipient Mousa Shanan Zayed. Custom Detroit Tigers Jerseys . -- Its been a long road back for Sean Bergenheim. https://www.cheaptigers.com/ . -- Jimmie Johnson held off a teammate, passed a pair of Hall of Famers, and dominated once more at Dover. Tigers Jerseys China . The 27-year-old Scrivens will be joining his third NHL club since signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent in 2010. The move also reunites with him with head coach Dallas Eakins from their time together with the American Hockey Leagues Toronto Marlies. Detroit Tigers Pro Shop . Anthony Davis had 31 points and 17 rebounds in his seventh straight game with more than 20 points, but that was only enough to keep the Pelicans competitive into the final minutes. Andrew Bogut had 10 points and 15 rebounds for Golden State, which rebounded from a loss a night earlier in Oklahoma City and snapped a two-game skid. DETROIT -- The Detroit Pistons are ready to move downtown -- into what is already being billed as one of the most unique sports neighborhoods in the nation.The Pistons formally announced plans Tuesday to move into Little Caesars Arena next season and share that new venue with the Detroit Red Wings, a relocation that would put all four of the citys major sports teams within a few blocks of each other. The arena is being built in the same part of downtown where the Tigers and Lions host their games at Comerica Park and Ford Field, respectively.Tuesdays news conference was held in a room at Cass Tech High School that had a view of all three of those nearby sports venues.This is the only city now with all four teams in the downtown area, Mayor Mike Duggan said. You can walk within 10 minutes to all of them. You can go around the country, and there are cities where all four teams are somewhere in the border of their city. In Denver, theyve got basketball and hockey and baseball downtown, and the Broncos play a mile outside.Duggan said after moving downtown next season, the Pistons will have their headquarters and a practice facility in the city by 2018.Duggan called the agreement for the Pistons to move preliminary and said final agreements would likely be approved early next year by Detroits Downtown Development Authority, the Michigan Strategic Fund and the Detroit City Council. The agreement calls for a contribution of $34.5 million from the DDA to cover modifications to the new arena to accommodate an NBA team.Duggan said by law, those funds can only be used for infrastructure and economic development downtown.These funds have to be spent on economic development purposes in this region, and we couldnt think of anything more important than bringing the Pistons back home, he said.Michael LaFaive of the Michigan-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy was critical of the plan, saying taxpayers shouldnt be put in a position to back business ventures of private entrepreneurs.Let entrepreneurs risk their own resources and flourish or flounder on their own accord, he said in an email.Duggan and Pistons owner Tom Gores were at the news conference, along with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Ilitch Holdings President and CEO Christopher Ilitch. The Red Wings are owned by Mike and Marian Ilitch, and Gores said the oppportunity to partner with them played a big role in the decision to move.ddddddddddddI thought this would be a great partnership, and I would tell you, if I didnt feel it, then we have a home, and we wouldve stayed there, Gores said. But theres a bigger picture here.The Red Wings are in their final season at Joe Louis Arena before the NHL team moves to Little Caesars Arena. The Pistons have played at The Palace of Auburn Hills since 1988 and were at the Pontiac Silverdome for a decade before that.The Pistons were downtown when they called Cobo Arena home from 1961-78 before heading to Pontiac and then Auburn Hills. The Palace is about 30 miles from downtown Detroit.Watching our city decline over the years has been difficult, but emotionally, the most painful experiences were when our sports franchises either left town or tried to leave town, Duggan said.The Lions also played at the Silverdome before moving to Ford Field in 2002. Now, the Pistons are eager to make the same move to downtown Detroit.Weve seen these trends of our teams moving really from suburban areas outside of urban areas, back into downtown areas, Silver said. Little Caesars Arena is just another fantastic example of that trend.The Pistons move is subject to NBA approval and is expected to be presented to the board of governors sometime after Jan. 1.The Palace was built with private funds by William Davidson, who owned the Pistons before his death in 2009. The team has won three championships in Auburn Hills, although the atmosphere slipped in recent years as the Pistons went through a rough stretch.Detroit returned to the playoffs last season for the first time since 2009.Gores bought the Pistons from Karen Davidson in 2011, and by that point, the team had become a suburban outlier, with the Lions having moved downtown to play alongside the Ilitch-owned Tigers and Red Wings.Now, Gores is joining forces with the Ilitches and moving his team into that same area.This community is getting the world-class sports and entertainment district it deserves, Christopher Ilitch said. A perfect addition to a city in the midst of an incredible and historic transformation.---Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister ' ' '