florence morning news 1b
TRANSCRIPT
The Associated Press
GULLANE, Scotland — One of the great-est final rounds in a major. Two of the best shots he ever struck with a 3-wood. The third leg of the Grand Slam.
Phil Mickelson never imagined any of this happening at the British Open.
No wonder he never took his hand off the base of that silver claret jug as he talk-ed about the best Sunday he ever had at
a major. Five shots out of the lead, Mickelson blew past Tiger Woods, caught up to Lee Westwood and Masters champion Adam Scott, and won golf’s oldest championship
with the lowest final round in his 80 majors.
With four birdies over the last six holes, Mickelson closed with a 5-un-der 66 for a three-shot win over Henrik
Stenson.No longer is he mystified by links golf,
and he has his name etched in that jug to prove it.
“This is such an accomplishment for me because I just never knew if I’d be
able to develop the game to play links golf effectively,” Mickel-
son said. “To play the best round arguably of my ca-reer, to putt better than I’ve ever putted, to shoot the round of my life ... it feels amazing to win the
claret jug.”Introduced as the
“champion golfer of the year,” he held the oldest trophy in golf over his head to show it off to one side of the massive grand-stand lining the 18th green at Muirfield, and then the other. An hour earlier, they
gave the 43-year-old Mick-elson the loudest ovation of
the week as he walked up the final fairway.
MONDAY, JULY 22, 2013 SECTION B
INSIDELocal baseball, 2BMLB, 3B
NASCARLogano wins at ChicagolandPAgE 4B
The Associated Press
CHICAGO — Casper Wells did not realize how significant his catch was until he turned to look at the Jumbotron after he helped save a victory for the White Sox.
Wells robbed Reed Johnson of a home run in the eighth inning to help the Chicago White Sox beat the Atlanta Braves 3-1 on Sunday.
With the White Sox leading 3-1, Wells leaped up against the left-field wall to make a spectacular catch and rob Johnson of the game-tying homer.
“I didn’t know at first, I was
just glad I caught it, you know. And then I saw the replay and I was like, wow that, you know, that was really special. I never did anything like that before. So, like I said I’m just happy I got to help the team out in that situa-tion and the moment that it hap-pened made it that much more special,” said Wells.
Initially, Johnson did not think he hit it well enough to get it out of the park.
“No, I hit it OK. I knew that the ball was traveling pretty good all weekend, so when I hit it I was
GULLANE, Scotland —
His coach was all busi-ness before the round. His caddie was in tears
afterward. Only Phil Mickelson seemed to know how many magical moments he was ca-pable of unfurling in between.
“I said, “Even-par or 1 under could win this thing.’ He said, ‘I’m going to be better than that,’” coach Butch Harmon recalled.
Harmon was standing near the 18th green in the fast-fad-ing light of a cool Scottish sum-mer afternoon. The roars from one of the great closing rounds in major championship golf was still ringing in his ears. He paused long enough to crack a wide smile.
“He wasn’t lying.”Little more than 10 yards
away, just after exiting the front door of the Muirfield clubhouse, caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay was still trying to re-gain his composure.
Someone asked about the tears he kept choking back. Instead, they started falling again.
“Because,” Mackay began, then turned away for nearly a half-minute. “When you work with someone for so many years, it’s pretty cool when you see him play the best round of golf he’s ever played in the last round of the British Open.”
This was the one major championship Mickelson never thought he could win. He came out on tour in 1992 oozing talent, a prodigy who won his first pro tournament while still in college, only to become another golfer once labeled the “next Nicklaus” who couldn’t break through in a major. Mickelson was 0-for-42 in that department and a dozen years into an otherwise stellar career when he finally won the Mas-ters in 2004.
Another major came the next year at the PGA Championship. Then two more at the Masters. Along the way, he collected a record six runner-up finishes at the U.S. Open, the last just a month ago at Merion Golf Club, when Englishman Justin Rose zoomed by him on the final few holes.
Those were heartbreaks, to be sure, but at least Mickelson knew he had a shot on any golf course where booming drives and sky-high lob shots could decide the outcome. Despite playing on this side of the At-lantic for 20 years, though, he struggled trying to keep the ball under the wind and his tem-perament in check whenever he got a crazy bounce — and there were dozens of those.
For the longest time, links golf appeared to be one puzzle he was never going to unlock.
“It’s been the last eight or nine years I’ve started to play-ing it more effectively, I’ve started to hit the shots more effectively,” Mickelson said. “But even then it’s so different than what I grew up playing. I always wondered if I would develop the skills needed to win this championship.
“And to finally capture this,” he added a moment later, refer-ring to the claret jug he was holding, “it feels really, really good.”
Mickelson solves links golf puzzle at Open
Jim Litke
ThE ASSOCIATED PrESS
Chicago White Sox left fielder Casper Wells robs Atlanta Braves’ Reed Johnson of a home run in the eighth inning as the White Sox defeated the Braves in Chicago on Sunday.
MLB
See SOX, Page 4BSee LITKE, Page 4B
Clemson Football
British Open
Lefty gets it rightA career round gives Mickelson a claret jug
ASSOCIATED PrESS PhOTOS
Above: Phil Mickelson of the United States gestures on his way to receiving the Claret Jug trophy after winning the British Open at Muirfield, Scotland on Sunday. Right: The claret jug traditionally given to the winner of the British Open. See LEFTY, Page 4B
gannett News Service
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Meet Tajh Boyd, the politician.
Just about everyone else has.Boyd, Clemson’s senior quar-
terback, turned the Atlantic Coast Conference Kickoff me-dia gathering at the Grandover Resort into his personal stump-ing ground Sunday, fist-bump-ing fellow players, high-fiving unsuspecting cameramen and generally engaging everyone from league officials to random passers-by.
He seems to know everyone on every team, and if he hasn’t
met them yet he most certainly will by the time this two-day au-
dio and visual as-sault has drawn to a close.
By all accounts, Boyd even sounded like a politician Sunday afternoon.
“I’m just taking advantage of the opportunities and the resources here,” Boyd said.
Wow. Could he truly go from playmaker to lawmaker?
“I’m ready to get out here and politic a little bit,” Boyd said.
No baby-kissing was detect-able Sunday, but there was more than enough hugging and posi-tive karma to go around.
“I’ve been here five years,” Boyd said. “And now it has come down to five months, so I’m try-ing to have fun with it.”
Mission accomplished.Boyd greeted members of the
print media by crooning a few lines from the hit song “Spring-steen” by Eric Church, then re-galed them with a steady supply of insightful anecdotes and ob-servations.
He was a jokester during play-er photos, then ratcheted up his
game when appearing before the television cameras.
Spencer Shuey, a senior line-backer who was the lesser-known half of Clemson’s player contingent here, didn’t mind taking a back seat to view the Tajh Boyd Traveling Road Show.
“His personality is incred-ible,” Shuey said. “Everywhere we go he knows somebody. It’s impressive. And definitely very entertaining.”
Boyd always has been a per-sonable sort, but he’s really transformed over the past year
Boyd lets pleasant personality shine
See BOYD, Page 4B
Well robs game-tying homer in White Sox win
Boyd