Ten years ago he almost pulled off a miracle at Turnberry and now the American is back in the clubhouse for the final timeIt seems like only yesterday. Yet it’s been 10 years since Tom Watson creamed that approach into the 18th at Turnberry, his ball taking a soft bounce and rolling gently towards the flag, stopping 18 inches from the cup. He tapped in for birdie, finishing the 2009 Open two clear of the second-placed nearly man Stewart Cink. As the gallery cavorted in ecstasy bordering on disbelief, Watson raised the Claret Jug. At a stately 59 years of age, he had become the oldest major champion, beating the record held by Julius Boros, the winner of the 1968...
Boxing should not be abolished but it may need reform from within after a tragic weekThere are no easy answers for the tragedies that have rocked professional boxing over the past week. The Argentinian junior welterweight Hugo Alfredo Santillan died on Thursday from injuries suffered during last Saturday’s fight against Uruguay’s Eduardo Javier Abreu in the Buenos Aires, becoming the second fatality in four days after Russia’s Maxim Dadashev succumbed to injuries suffered last Friday’s in Maryland.The double horror is a chilling reminder of the danger at hand any time a fighter climbs through the ropes into the squared circle, the only venue in society, with the exception of war, where a person can be killed but not legally murdered....
There is a growing feeling that technology is keeping fans at home, but even those present at live matches seem obsessed with recording their own minimal involvement in the actionAsked recently at a press conference why he thought attendances at National Collegiate Athletic Association football games were in decline, the Northwestern University coach Pat Fitzgerald posited an intriguing, if slightly odd, theory. Picking up his mobile and waving it in the air before reporters, he proceeded to lay the blame squarely at the door of technology. “I think phones,” he said. “I think technology has been the decline in attendance, No 1.”Fitzgerald went on to tell the story of being out with his wife for a meal and being irritated...
The Irishman conquered his fears and the horrible weather for a memorable Open triumph, winning by six shotsThey were nervous at the 1st, and so was he. The ovation they gave Shane Lowry when he stepped out to begin the final round of the 148th Open soon settled down into an uneasy silence. Lowry is an anxious man. He has said it himself. Back in 2016 he got so stressed about organising the guest list for his wedding that he and his fiancée decided they were better off eloping to New York instead. It was later that same year he blew a four-shot lead in the last round of the US Open at Oakmont. Everyone remembered that one and, even...
It was no disgrace for Fleetwood to finish six shots behind the sentimental favourite who held him at bay through driving rainThe Sabbath was never a day for gambling in these parts and Tommy Fleetwood resisted the temptation in picking his way round a sodden, wind-whipped course with more devil in it than your average prison cell. He still did not win but he did as well as the elements, the Dunluce Links and his temperament would allow.On a day when JB Holmes shot 87 and Cameron Smith reckoned a 15-handicapper would not get around the course at all, it was no disgrace finishing six shots behind the sentimental and rightful favourite, Shane Lowry. The ever-smiling Irishman held him at...