uture despite Kerrs contention that the lack of wins is just a blip.Theres

MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota Twins interim general manager Rob Antony has six days before the non-waiver trade deadline to better position a non-contending team beyond an already lost season.Antonys task of replacing long-time mentor Terry Ryan, however, has come with no guarantee hell be part of that future.The Twins announced Tuesday they have retained search firm Korn Ferrys global sports practice to assist the hiring process of a new leader for the baseball operations department. Ryan was fired July 18, ending a three-decade stretch with the organization. He was the general manager for 13 1/2 seasons, over two tenures.Antony, who was on the road with the team last week when Ryans removal was announced, told reporters in the dugout before the Twins played Atlanta that hes trying not to think about how there is a search ongoing for the job hes currently holding.Right now, I need to worry about the organization. If I do the right things, then Ill take my chances, Antony said, adding: I just want to do the best job I can, and hopefully they say I did a good job and I take over the position.President Dave St. Peter, who is the point person for interviews with owner and chief executive officer Jim Pohlad, said the goal is to fill the position before the end of the season. The timeline, though, is flexible.Antony, whose assistant general manager contract runs through the 2017 season, is expected to have a formal interview once the process progresses. He also could return as a deputy GM.We certainly are open-minded to that, St. Peter said. To the extent that we go outside, we know that there will be a period of transition with somebody coming from the outside. We think that theyd be very reliant on the historical knowledge.The Milwaukee Brewers and Toronto Blue Jays are recent clients of Korn Ferry for their general manager searches. It also helped the NBAs Minnesota Timberwolves with the process that ended in the hiring of head coach and president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau.The firm has worked extensively with Major League Baseball, including support and preparation of minority and female candidates for key baseball operations positions around the sport. St. Peter called the identification of minority and female candidates an important part of the process.Hiring Korn Ferry signaled the organization is serious about changing the direction of a baseball operations department that was once lauded around the major leagues for its ability to produce fundamentally sound players and contending clubs despite a mid-market-at-best payroll. The Twins averaged 96 losses over the 2011-14 seasons and, after an 83-79 finish under first-year manager Paul Molitor in 2015, have the worst record in the American League in 2016.Antony, who was initially hired by the Twins as an assistant director of media relations in 1988, served as director of baseball operations for 12 seasons. He had been assistant general manager for eight-plus seasons until Ryan was fired.We do things differently, Antony said. I analyze a potential trade different than he would. But in the end, both of us look at scouting reports, we look at analytics, we look at the numbers. You factor age, years of control. There are a lot of factors.Antony said hes been given complete autonomy to make moves, with starting pitcher Ervin Santana, current closer Brandon Kintzler and All-Star shortstop Eduardo Nunez leading the list of attractive players on the trade market. With a goal of bolstering the organizations depleted starting pitching, the Twins will be most interested in procuring prospects. Antony didnt rule out acquiring players already on another major league roster, though, and he said hes willing to include cash to cover a veterans contract if it brings a better return.The Twins have thus begun an anxious week, with several players wondering if theyll be elsewhere in August.Mostly your messages regarding that are somewhat hollow because theyre the ones that have to deal with the reality of potentially being someone who might be moved, Molitor said. And when youre in our position, I think that kind of permeates throughout the whole clubhouse because we really dont know how things might unfold.Authentic Custom Blazers Jersey . -- Chicago Bears cornerback Tim Jennings was selected Monday to his second straight Pro Bowl, while guard Kyle Long made it after a solid rookie season. Custom Blazers Jerseys . 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PETERSBURG, Fla.NAPLES, Fla. -- If an American wins the CME Group Tour Championship, it will be an upset.As another LPGA seasons ends this week at Tiburon Golf Club, thats not an insult but a fact.Whether someone from the United States has her hands on a trophy late on Sunday afternoon, it has been a historically weak season for American women golfers on a tour founded and based in this country. Only two Americans have won LPGA events during 2016, Lexi Thompson at the Honda LPGA Thailand and Brittany Lang at the U.S. Womens Open. The fewest LPGA titles claimed in a season by Americans was four in 2011.We are outnumbered out here, says 39-year-old American Cristie Kerr, the defending CME defending champion, and thats what people seem to lose sight of a lot. We do our best and carry the whole country on our backs, and hopefully people can realize that.That the LPGA arguably is sports best melting pot -- there are 127 players from 28 countries other than the United States on tour in 2016 -- is no news flash. As long ago as the late 1990s, there were dozens of international LPGA members, and Stacy Lewis (2012, 2014) is the only American to win Rolex Player of the Year in two decades.Yes, the United States won the 2015 Solheim Cup over Europe and won the 2016 UL International Crown in a field that included teams from Asia, the hotbed of womens golf. But the paucity of American individual success is still jarring. Ranked fifth in the world, Thompson, 21, is the only American in the top 10, with Lewis (13th) and Gerina Piller (18th) the only other U.S. golfers in the top 20.I find it a little scary, says Golf Channel analyst Judy Rankin, a star player in the 1960s and 1970s. I almost hate to say anything to put more pressure on the American players, because I think they feel it. There is no doubt its a sticking point. I am really hopeful that there are big crops of juniors coming up in the U.S. that might be the next wave.Efforts to boost youth participation in the United States are underway and growing, with 60,000 girls now involved in the USGA-LPGA Girls Golf program. The PGA of Americas Junior Golf Leagues are popular too, with 36,000 participants. The same goes for the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship, a skills initiative from the Masters Tournament, USGA and PGA of America in which finalists compete at Augusta National Golf Club.But growing the game, to use the biz-speak term that has filled so many conversations in the golf industry in recent years, doesnt necessarily translate into emerging elite American young women who can compete toe-to-toe with international competitors.There is very little depth in America right now in the womens game, not a big pool, says veteran instructor David Leadbetter, who coaches world No. 1 Lydia Ko, the Korea-born New Zealander. Whether pros or amateurs, if you took the 10 best 18-year-olds from the U.S. and South Korea and had a competition, I guarantee you it would be a complete whitewash. Thats just the fact of the matter.Talented female golfers in other parts of the world frequently are immersed in golf at younger ages through organized channels of a national scope -- federations or associations charged with developing and supporting young talent. No existing American entity has that responsibility.It really is a missing link here, says Hall of Famer and 31-time LPGA winner Juli Inkster. Places are trying to grow the game but not really grow individuals. We dont have a federation to push our young athletic girls into golf, and weve come to a point where we need a federation to really grow top-level golfers. Im not saying our girls arent good, because they are. But theyve grown up in a different type of golf atmosphere.That overseas atmosphere, particularly in Asia, often is an intense and focused approach.Theyre starting earlier and working harder, veteran instructor Jim McLean says. Youve got to give the South Koreans credit -- they start the girls early and they train. Its P.C. in America to say you want a well-rounded child, you want them to do a little bit of this and a little bit of that. But if you look at the greatest people in the world, the greatest achievers, theyre not well-rounded, theyre laser-focused.None of the women in the current top 10 of the world rankings went to college (although several have or are taking online courses). Many players overseas look at it from an occupation standpoint, a jobs standpoint, Leadbetter says, Look at Lydia: When she was 5, her mother decided that she was going to be a golfer. Theyre almost pros when theyrre 16, and theyre fully mature tour players when theyre 18 or 19.ddddddddddddIm not belittling anyone who goes to college, but whether college prepares them for the tour is another question.The globalization is well underway on American campuses. The University of Washington won the 2016 NCAA womens golf championship with two players from New Zealand, one from England, one from China and one from the United States. This year, longtime coach Mary Lou Mulflurs team has a similar international makeup with a majority of players from abroad.We have certain things we look for in a kid, and it just so happens of late people we bring in are international kids, Mulflur says. Its a combination of things, but if you put us coaches in a room, we would probably say there is more appreciation for the opportunity. Most other countries, you either turn pro and become a golfer or you go to school and become a doctor, accountant or whatever. It takes a lot of nerve to move 5,000 miles from home to where you dont know anybody. The sacrifices people make are quite great.Neil Coulson is the director of golf at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, where aspiring athletes in nine sports go to school and train. Approximately 80 percent of the female junior golfers are from outside the United States. A native of England, Coulson spent 15 years as a senior executive for IMG Golf in Asia before taking his current position.I think there is a different work ethic in Asia, Coulson says of youth golfers in that part of the world. There is less of a need for instant feedback than required in the West. If juniors over there can understand the goal, they will try to achieve the goal even if it takes a long time. They are willing to work longer to achieve a goal than a Western child generally would.Overseas, developing players also tend to experience less than ideal conditions, things that can contribute to toughness and creativity.When you look at the way other countries train, Mulflur says, they dont always have the most perfect practice facility or every blade of grass cut perfectly, and greens that roll at 12 [on the Stimpmeter] all the time. They just learn to play the game.All one has to do is glance at Thompsons Instagram feed to see her strong work ethic. There are frequently workout pictures. The other day she posted an image of her hands, calloused and blistered, after a long practice session.I dont think its a lack of effort, Rankin says. You have a bunch of players from around the world who are very talented, who are very work-driven and seem to have a very special mental attitude for the game. I think that plays well for them, many from the Far East, for the long haul.At age 21, Thompson, who won her first LPGA event at 16, has seven career wins, including a major. Rarely, though, is her putting as good as her powerful ball-striking. Thompson is ranked 61st in putts per green in regulation for 2016.Inkster laughed when informed that, at age 56, she is the only American in the top 10 in that important statistical category.Lexi and Gerina, too, theyre good putters but not great putters, Inkster says. You can say what you want about hitting the ball, but if youre not putting well, youre not going to win. When Lexi wins, she putts well. Thats the bottom line. Most of the Asian players can roll the rock. Thats where you make your living.Whether the formation of new programs to mold elite female golfers would help their short games is an unknown. But there is growing consensus that unless some type of coordinated approach is developed in America in which kids of all financial backgrounds take part, the LPGA landscape of 2016 might be the long-term future despite Kerrs contention that the lack of wins is just a blip.Theres no reason why it shouldnt happen, Coulson says. Whether you could get everybody around the table to come up with an aligned strategy and make it happen is probably a different discussion. There are a lot of stakeholders, and they all have their own interests. Its quite easy to produce participation, but that doesnt mean youre going to produce elite players.Can a bad year lead to good things?Golf is a global game, and people are coming from all over to the LPGA because its the best tour, Mulflur says. They want to succeed at the highest level, just like the American players do. Good for them. They are pushing us to be better. You either step up or fall behind. ' ' '