Dustin Johnson makes another huge blunder on the big stage

SANDWICH, England (AP) — Dustin Johnson was right in the mix again, playing in the final group at a major championship, just two strokes off the lead as he stood over his ball in the 14th fairway. He surveyed the green up ahead and reached into his bag for a 2-iron, knowing he needed at least a birdie on the par-5 hole to put some heat on Darren Clarke. "It was definitely a go situation," Johnson would say later. "It was pretty much dead in, so it wasn't all that difficult." Clearly, this 27-year-old American doesn't lack for bravado. But one of these days, he'll have to quit making huge blunders at the most inopportune times. On Sunday, Johnson sent the ball sailing out of bounds, leading to a double-bogey that turned the final four holes into nothing more than a victory lap for Clarke. The Northern Irishman coasted to his first major title by three strokes. Johnson's breakthrough will have to wait a little longer. "If I had to do it over again," he said, "I'd hit a 3-wood instead of a 2-iron." But the pros can't take mulligans. Johnson must live with the final round of last year's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where he threw away a three-stroke lead with a brutal 82. He must live with missing out on a playoff at last year's PGA Championship, where he didn't bother to read the rules about all those obscure bunkers at Whistling Straits and took a two-stroke penalty for grounding his club on the 72nd hole. And, now, he'll have to live with picking the wrong club and hitting a brutal shot, ruining any hope of snatching away the claret jug on a wet, windy day at Royal St. George's. "It was brutal out there," said Johnson, who limped in with a 2-over 72 that left tied for the runner-up spot with Phil Mickelson. "I think I held up pretty well. I hung in there all day, made some birdies on the back to get back in there and just unfortunately made the double-bogey on 14, which really just took all my momentum out." Indeed, Johnson showed plenty of resilience on a week that started quite poorly. He came down with a mysterious infection, his glands swollen up the size of grapes during the opening round. He played the first 12 holes Thursday at 4 over, looking as though he might be headed home before the weekend. Johnson got himself going with a hole-in-one, posted two straight rounds in the 60s and earned a spot in the final group of a major for the third time. Now, he's just got to finish one. "Like I say all the time, the more I put myself in this situation, the more I learn, the more I understand my game and what happens in this situation," Johnson said. "I think I did a pretty good job. It was very tough." No one thought Johnson would have a problem recovering from this latest disappointment. "He's one of the most resilient players I've ever seen," said his coach, Butch Harmon. "He'll be back. He just made one bad swing with a 2-iron that cost him a chance to win." Fellow American Rickie Fowler tried to express a similar sentiment but may have given some insight into why Johnson keeps making inexplicable mistakes. "Dustin really doesn't think about a whole lot," said Fowler, who also struggled to a 72 in the final round. "I don't think he's going to be too worried about it. He's someone that gets over things pretty quickly. He's a great player. I love the way he plays the game. He can hit the ball a long ways,and I wouldn't worry about Dustin. He'll be fine. There were plenty of Americans on the leaderboard, but none of them could chase down Clarke. Mickelson made the most impressive charge, playing the first 10 holes at 6 under and briefly pulling into a tie for the lead with an eagle at the seventh. But Lefty's putter suddenly went cold and he staggered to the end with four bogeys, winding up tied with Johnson at 2-under 278 after shooting a 68 that could've been so much better. Fowler, Chad Campbell and Anthony Kim tied for sixth, five shots off the pace, giving the U.S. five of the top seven finishers. None of them occupied the only spot that really matters, extending an American drought that already was the longest in the modern Grand Slam era to six in a row. Mickelson began to fade after missing a 2-footer at the 11th. Johnson, who had struggled to a 1-over 36 on the front side, finally got a couple of birdie putts to drop at the 10th and 12th, re-emerging as Clarke's main challenger. Two holes later, Johnson tried to pull off a little low draw with his 2-iron. He envisioned the ball curling right up next to the flag, which surely would've given him a shot at the birdie he needed to get within a stroke of Clarke. Instead, the ball went right and disappeared into the thick, tall grass. "I had a great week," he said. "I came down with a little bit of illness, wasn't feeling that well, so I didn't know what to expect. I fought all week, and I didn't have my best stuff this week for sure. But I hung in there and just fought around, and I think I did very well." Maybe next time, he'll finish it the right way. Tweet

Clarke wins British Open for 1st major title

SANDWICH, England (AP) — No matter how long it grows or even how quickly, the list of major champions from the tiny country of Northern Ireland just wouldn't feel complete without Darren Clarke. He doesn't have the majestic swing of Rory McIlroy or the putting prowess of Graeme McDowell, the last two U.S. Open champions. He hasn't contended in a major for the last 10 years, wasn't even eligible for the last three majors and was no longer among the top 100 in the world. No matter. Clarke's three-shot victory in the British Open was met with unending applause Sunday, the loudest saved for the closing ceremony when he was introduced as the champion golfer of the year. More than that, Clarke is a man of the people. "I'm a bit of a normal bloke, aren't I?" Clarke said, the claret jug at his side. "I like to go to the pub and have a pint, fly home, buy everybody a drink, just normal. There's not many airs and graces about me. I was a little bit more difficult to deal with in my earlier years, and I've mellowed some. Just a little bit. But I'm just a normal guy playing golf, having a bit of fun." He was extraordinary at Royal St. George's. A cigarette curled under his fingers as he barreled down the fairways, Clarke held off brief challenges from Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson and held up under the pressure until no one could catch him. Mickelson, who needed only seven holes to made up a five-shot deficit, stepped aside by missing too many short putts. Johnson, in the final group of a major for the third time in the last six, made another blunder with a major at stake. This time, he was two shots behind on the par-5 14th, tried to lay up with a 2-iron and hit it out-of-bounds to make double bogey. They shared second place, stretching the American drought to six straight majors without winning. Despite meaningless bogeys on the last two holes, Clarke closed with an even-par 70. "Pretty amazing right now," Clarke said. "It's been a dream since I've been a kid to win the Open, like any kid's dream is, and I'm able to do it, which just feels incredible." The weather was so wild that heavy rain switched over to sunshine, back and forth all afternoon, in a relentless wind. Clarke was steady through it all, never allowing himself to think about what it mean to hold the claret jug until he stepped onto the 18th green. Clarke removed his visor to salute the gallery. His hair is almost all gray now, the result of a 42-year-old who has gone through more hard times than he cares to remember, the worst of it losing his wife to cancer five years ago. "Bad times in golf are more frequent than the good times," he said. "I've always been pretty hard on myself when I fail because I don't find it very easy to accept that. And there's times I've been completely and utterly fed up with the game." The advice from friends, family and agent Chubby Chandler were always the same. "Get out there and practice and keep going, keep going, keep going," Clarke said. "And that's why I'm sitting here now." With a one-shot lead over Johnson going into the final round, there was a sense that Clarke wouldn't be able to hold up. But he holed a 12-foot par putt on the first, a downhill 8-footer for par on the third. A 20-foot eagle putt on the seventh, not long after Mickelson made eagle to tie him, gave Clarke the lead for good. Northern Ireland had gone 63 years - since Fred Daly in the 1947 British Open - without winning a major. Now it has three of the last six. "Northern Ireland...... Golf capital of the world!!" McIlroy tweeted as Clarke played the last hole. "We're blessed to have two fantastic players in Rory and GMac, and I've just come along, the only guy coming along behind them," Clarke said. "We have fantastic golf courses, we have fantastic facilities, but to have three major champions from a little, small place in a short period of time, it's just incredible." They are so close that a week after McIlroy won the U.S. Open, Clarke pulled out of a tournament in Germany so he could return to Northern Ireland and join the celebration. Maybe McIlroy, who shot a 73 and complained the weather didn't suit him at the British Open, can return the favor. "He missed Munich for mine, so I don't think I'll miss a tournament for his, but I'll definitely be there," McIlroy said. "And I'll definitely be one of the last ones to go to bed." The celebrations also seemed to be for someone else, and Clarke had reason to believe his time had gone. Surely, nothing could top playing a Ryder Cup on home soil in Ireland five years ago and leading Europe to victory just one month after his wife, Heather, died. He is engaged now, yet his thoughts were with his wife. "In terms of what's going through my heart, there's obviously somebody who is watching down from up above there, and I know she'd be very proud of me," Clarke said. "She's probably be saying, 'I told you so.'" Indeed, this was overdue. No one had ever gone more than 15 starts in the British Open until winning, and this was the 20th try for Clarke. Yet even as he struggled with his game and the adjustment of raising two boys without their mother, and as the spotlight shifted to youth, Clarke never gave up on his dreams. "I always believed I would get myself back up here," he said before heading out to the 18th green to collect the oldest trophy in golf. "I always believed I had enough talent to challenge and win one." He delivered on the demanding links of Royal St. George's to hold off two Americans. The last hour was a coronation for Clarke, long a popular figure not only in Europe but around the world. Puffing away at cigarettes as he barreled down the fairways, he never looked to be in any trouble. And the few times he did, the golfing gods came to the rescue. He twice hit shots that were headed for pot bunkers well short of the green, only to hop over them or around them, keeping him in control. He posed with the claret jug that was empty, but not for long. He promised some "nice, Irish black stuff" by evening. And when asked about the celebration, Clarke promised only that it would be "long." "And I'll be very, very hungover," he said. He finished at 5-under 275 and became the first player in his 40s to win a major since Vijay Singh at the 2004 PGA Championship. Only two other players were older than Clarke when they won their first major - Roberto De Vicenzo (44) in the 1967 British Open, and Jerry Barber (45) in the 1961 PGA Championship. For the Americans, their longest drought without a major since the Masters began in 1934 will continue at least until the PGA Championship next month. They had plenty of contenders, from Mickelson to Johnson to Rickie Fowler and Anthony Kim, but none came through. Mickelson's problems started on the par-3 11th, when he missed a par putt from just inside 3 feet. "It was just a dumb, mental error," Mickelson said. "I just lost focus there, and it hurts to throw shots away like that when I'm behind." He wound up with a 68, which felt more like a 78, and had his seventh runner-up finish in a major. It might have been more devastating for Johnson, who never lost his composure even as he fell four shots behind on the front nine. Johnson made a 6-foot birdie on the 10th and a 15-foot birdie on the 12th to get within two shots. Just like that, it was all over. Johnson had an 8-foot birdie attempt at No. 13 as Clarke went over the green. Instead of a potential two-shot swing, however, Clarke saved yet another par, and Johnson missed his putt. From the middle of the 14th fairway, Johnson tried to lay up with a 2-iron, playing a draw back toward the flag. The wind caught it and took it beyond the white stakes, and Johnson hung his head and dropped another ball in the fairway. It was another wasted opportunity - the 82 in the final round of the U.S. Open with a three-shot lead, then taking a two-shot penalty on the last hole of the PGA Championship when he didn't realize he was in a bunker. "The more I put myself in this situation, the better," said Johnson, who closed with a 72. "The more I learn, the more I understand my game and what happens in this situation." Thomas Bjorn, who threw away the British Open in a bunker on the 16th hole eight years ago, acquitted himself nicely. He never got closer than three shots all day, but his 71 put him in fourth place and at least earned him a trip back to the Masters next year.

Tom Watson shot an impossible 72 during a storm at Royal St. George's

SANDWICH, England — Tom Watson is Hemingway's stubborn Old Man. The links is the Sea. The claret jug is the marlin. Watson simply refuses to give up chasing it. He got stranded in the teeth of the storm that ripped through Royal St George's from mid-morning to mid-afternoon of the third round on Saturday. Carnage reigned on the links. Paul Casey got blown away with a 78 and 1999 champion Paul Lawrie drowned in an 81. But Watson took everything that the Kent clouds could chuck at him. He refused to yield. He shot a two-over-par 72 at a time, he said, when par was more like 77. If he'd had a later tee time when the big bright yellow thing re-appeared in the sky, Watson might have been one of the leaders. After his round, Watson looked like he had just driven through a car wash and forgotten to roll up the windows. Soggy Sandwich, anyone? " You just love to see us pros suffer, don't you?" Watson said laughing. Just how bad was it out there? "It can tear you up and spit you out," he said. Not Watson, it didn't. Not this time. "I enjoyed that," he said, sounding like the Marquis de Sade after a particularly demanding party. "It was fun. There were some great escapes out there." He said his putter saved him. "I just had that feel for some odd reason ,"Watson said. "I hope it continues tomorrow. Now I know why I won all those Opens before. That putter was always pretty good back then, too." This wasn't even the worst storm Watson had endured during his Open campaigns. That dubious honor goes to Muirfield in 1980. He shot 68. Watson sure knows how to scramble his way around a links in a hooley — that's a wind not a Harley for pensioners. Watson is 61 and the oldest player to make the cut in Open history. He beat a 59-year-old T. Watson who made the cut at Turnberry in 2009. But Watson doesn't just aim at making cuts. Hell, two years ago he was one putt away from staring in The Greatest Sporting Story Ever Told. The fire still burns in his belly. Watson really believes he can tie Henry Cotton and win a sixth Open championship before he retires. When he awoke Saturday to see the sideways rain and a fellow with a beard building an ark on the beach (it wasn't Lucas Glover), he must have secretly smiled. "I'll never tell," he said, grinning. "I kind of like that challenge when it's nasty out there. 'Dastardly,' as Peter Alliss calls it." Watson doesn't hail from the University of Bish, Bash, Bosh that so many modern players seem to have graduated from. He's from the Old College of Tickle, Tweak and Coax. He handed out a free lesson in the dark arts of links golf to his playing partner, 30-year-old Ricky Barnes from California. The 495-yard fourth was playing straight into the howling wind. Watson was so far back after his tee shot that he chose to caress a driver off the fairway sending it scudding off toward its target. He saved par. Genius. Under such impossible conditions, did Watson think the R&A could have made the fourth hole into a par five? "It doesn't matter," Watson said. "Call it a par three if you like. Players will be coming off saying, 'Ah I got a five, a double bogey.'" The lesson was that par doesn't matter. The only number that counts is yours against the field. Lesson two for the young generation: you don't have to smack the logo off the ball. "The kids hit it so far past me," Watson said. "You see a lot of them trying to hit low hard stingers. I can't hit it hard. I'm 61! But it also takes some guile, luck and wits." So take THAT, witless whackers. You know who you are. Maybe Dustin Johnson has been paying attention in class. One of the biggest bashers on the PGA Tour is just one off the lead held by Darren Clarke at five under par. He's clearly doing more than just driving for show. Physically, Watson knows he is fighting above his weight class against Johnson and Rickie Fowler (two under par) and the new generation of gym-junkie golf athletes. But mentally, he knows he can still beat them. "Let's do without the rain and have some wind," Watson said. "And see what happens." The look in his eyes revealed he still believes he can win. But Watson is four over par and nine shots adrift of Clarke. Hemingway's Old Man didn't know when he was beaten, either. Tweet

Tom Watson's ace was a thrill for the fans who saw it, and the golfer himself

SANDWICH, England — The first thing Tom Watson saw on television here Friday morning was an Open Championship highlight show that featured Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington talking between clips. And the first clip Watson saw? Footage of 71-year-old Gene Sarazen holing a 5-iron shot for an ace on the famous Postage Stamp hole at Troon in 1973. A lucky thousand fans or so who were parked at Royal St. George's par-3 sixth hole saw another bit of Open history Friday morning when Watson, 61, followed Sarazen's example and knocked a 4-iron shot into the cup for a dramatic hole-in-one. "Maybe that inspired me," Watson said of the Sarazen video. Maybe so. There is no question that Watson knows how to play links golf as well as any living man. Which explains why he used a 4-iron for a 160-yard shot into the wind. "The kids are hitting 6-irons," he joked. From the tee, Watson said he couldn't see the ball go in. But it landed, took one big bounce and burrowed into the cup like an Olympic diver hitting his mark. The crowd cheered wildly and Watson put his arms out and said in surprise, "It's a one!" Then he did some fist-bumps with the caddies and his playing partners, amateur Tom Lewis and Henrik Stenson. In a post-round TV interview, Watson caught a glimpse of the replay. "It was a slam dunk," he said with a big grin. "If it missed the flag, it would've gone 30 feet by. But it was lucky. They're all lucky when the go in. But that's what I was aiming at." The ace, which Watson followed by making birdie at the seventh, helped him shoot 33 on the front nine. He finished with an even-par 70 and a two-over, 142 total to make the cut. It was the 15th ace of Watson's life. Asked if he remembered them all, he laughed and answered, "No, I just remember the number." It was not his first major championship hole-in-one, he said. He aced the fourth hole at Baltusrol during the first round of the 1980 U.S. Open. "Maybe they're bookends," Watson said of his latest shot. He also recalled a hole-in-one he made during the 1969 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont. Watson got off to a bad start and was four over par through the first seven holes. At the eighth, a monster then at 230 yards, he drilled a 3-iron shot into the cup. That turned his day around and he eventually shot 75. The U.S. Amateur was a stroke-play event then, and Watson finished fifth, which earned him an invite to the next year's Masters and jump-started his career. Of course, he still fondly remembers his first ace. He was 11 or 12, he said, and playing at Kansas City Country Club, his home course. He was playing by himself when he holed out at the second, a short par 3. He was so excited that when he finished the ninth hole, he rushed into the pro shop to tell someone. "I'd read in Golf Digest , I think, that if you made a hole-in-one with a Dunlop ball and sent it in, they'd send you a plaque, a wooden No. 1 plaque," Watson said. "The only guy in there was John Cosnotti, the assistant pro. I told him, John, I made a hole-in-one, I want to get that plaque." So Cosnotti dug up the ad, read it and told the young Watson there was a problem. He needed a witness, somebody who was there for the whole round. "My elation went from here," Watson said, holding his hand out high and then dropping it, "to here. Oh, man." Then Cosnotti walked over to the golf shop window and looked down the 400 or so yards to the second hole. "He said, 'You know, Tom, I saw that go in,'" Watson said. "And he put his signature on my scorecard." Watson still has that hole-in-one plaque, and the No. 4 Dunlop ball he used still sits on it. He was asked what he did with the ball from this latest ace. "I gave it to my wife," he said, smiling proudly. Tweet

Thomas Bjorn, Tom Lewis share lead on day when nothing went as expected

SANDWICH, England — The clouds were a smeared gray on Thursday morning when the Open Championship began. If not for angry whitecaps, it would've been difficult to tell where the sky ended and the North Sea began. It was breezy with a hint of rain at Royal St. George's — in other words, typical Open weather. It was a typical Open start as well: nothing went as expected and everything you thought you knew was tossed on its head. By the end of a day full of surprises, there were only two sure things — Rory McIlroy isn't going to win the Open wire-to-wire like the way he romped at the U.S. Open at Congressional, and weather forecasts aren't worth the napkins they're written on. That's the way it should be. It wouldn't be the Open if it the opening round wasn't a buffet of gasps. For instance… McIlroy, the game's new reigning superstar, bogeyed two of his first three holes-oops! This just in-apparently Rory is not perfect. Still, McIlroy fought back to shoot a one-over-par 71 — not bad. Luke Donald, the No. 1 player in the world and one of the pre-tournament favorites because of his exceptional short game, couldn't buy a putt with a credit card Thursday and also posted 71. "It could have been a very good round if I'd had the putter going," a bemused Donald said. The forecast called for a warm, dry day with strong winds howling at over 30 mph. Instead, there was a brief morning spritz, followed by a stray passing shower and steady winds of 15-20 mph, enough to keep flags flapping but not enough to turn this Open into the demolition derby it sounded like it might be. "Certain holes are very, very tough with this wind direction," said Ian Poulter, who shot 69 in the morning. "You don't feel quite so bad if it's south, southeast or southwesterly. You've got quite a few chances. When it's this direction, the downwind holes are not easy. You can't stop it anywhere near the pin. You actually feel relieved when you get into the wind because you've got a chance to stop a 5-iron, as opposed to not being able to stop a wedge shot downwind." The wind actually eased off markedly as the afternoon wore on, which was when a majority of the lower scores were posted. It was still a plenty tough day at Royal St. George's, even though two players made it look like it wasn't. Denmark's Thomas Bjorn was the official First Shock of the Day when he reached six under par after making a short birdie putt at the 16th, the hole where he lost the 2003 Open when he took three shots out of a greenside bunker. A minor bobble on the last hole left the 40-year-old Bjorn with a stunning 65, a story that was too good to be true eight years after his memorable loss. Especially since Bjorn's game had been a shambles of late and he was an alternate to the field, getting into the Open only Monday after Vijay Singh withdrew due to injury. Bjorn had a streak of three birdies in a row on the back nine, capped by that putt at the 16th, where he lofted a 9-iron shot close. "I was talking to Ernie Els on the 11th tee and we were like, how is Thomas six under par out there?" McIlroy said later. "It was a three-club wind. I was hitting 8-irons 125 yards." It was a phenomenal day for Bjorn, who admitted he's been uncomfortable on the course for some time and spent time this week working on the range with Pete Cowan, his swing coach. Bjorn went back out to the range with Cowan after his 65. Even more impressive was that Bjorn shot the day's best score (later tied by amateur Tom Lewis) in the day's toughest conditions. "Only time will tell if I can last all the way until Sunday," Bjorn said. "But I'm very, very delighted with today." The official Big Shock of the Day came late in the evening when Tom Lewis, a 20-year-old English amateur from Welwyn Garden City, fired a front-nine 32 and spent most of the afternoon on the leaderboard. He has blond hair and a baby face and looks like he might be only 12 years old. He caught the easiest conditions, as the flags were nearly limp when he rolled in a three-footer to save par at the final hole and tie Bjorn for the first-round lead at 65. Lewis was a shock but maybe not to the locals. Lewis is a highly regarded amateur, having recently won the St. Andrews Links Trophy. He's also got some history and local knowledge here. He captured the 2009 British Boys Amateur at Royal St. George's. After stepping off the course into a BBC interview, Lewis was asked what it was like to be tied for the Open lead. "I don't even know what happened out there," a sheepish Lewis said. "I can't remember." Lewis was paired with Open legend Tom Watson, which was an amazing coincidence since his parents named him Tom in honor of Watson, who finished two-over. The Toms got a huge ovation from fans still in the stands at the 18th, a fitting end to a startling day. Thursday's other big surprises, in order of shock value: Most interesting man in the Open: Miguel Angel Jimenez, the venerable Spaniard, was other major surprise, shooting a bogey-free 66 at the age of 46. In windy conditions on links courses, Jimenez said, it's all about experience. Like when he played his iron shot past the pin at the 17th and used the slope there to bring his ball back toward the pin for an easy birdie. Jimenez is known for his ponytail and his love of red wine and big cigars. The biggest surprise was that one writer actually asked what he thought about being compared to the "Most Interesting Man in the World" character of American television beer commercial fame. Jimenez said he's heard something about that, but in general he doesn't think people should be compared. Most sizzling finish by a bearded player: All right, it was probably the most sizzling finish by anyone, but Lucas Glover has gotten nearly as much mileage for growing his thick beard as he did for winning the U.S. Open a few years ago. Glover had a quiet one-under-par round in progress until he birdied the last three holes for 66 to tie Jimenez for second. Glover showed that he's back in form in May when he lost a playoff for the Wells Fargo Championship to fellow ex-Clemson star Jonathan Byrd. Most amazing start: Rickie Fowler's approach shot finished just off the back of the first green, a popular spot since that hole was downwind and the green was very firm. He left the pin in and holed a ridiculously long putt for birdie. How long was it? "Long enough," Fowler said with a laugh. "It was 60, 70, 80 feet. I don't want to re-hit it." Best comeback: Dustin Johnson complained about a sore throat and not feeling 100 percent, but he wasn't complaining about his turnaround. Johnson was four over par through 13 holes, then went birdie-birdie-ace-birdie. His hole-in-one came at the 163-yard 16th hole. "Standing on 14, I wanted to make a few birdies to get back in this thing and if you would have bet me money that I would be one under par standing on the 18th tee, I would have taken it." Johnson, the lanky American best known for his final-round meltdown at Pebble Beach and bunker mishap at the PGA Championship last year, finished at even-par 70 and did, indeed, get back in this thing. Johnson said he has a sore throat and swollen glands and he is taking antibiotics for an unknown infection. Most surprising Low Irishman: Well, it wasn't Rory. And while it wasn't a shock that former U.S. Open champ Graeme McDowell shot 68 late in the day with a birdie-birdie finish, it was an eye-opener to see longtime Ryder Cup warhorse Darren Clarke shoot 68. Clarke, 42, scored his first victory in three years when he won the Iberdrola Open earlier this year and he hasn't had a top-20 Open finish since he tied for 15th in 2005 at the Old Course. Most remarkable senior moment: Mark Calcavecchia, 51, teed off in the second threesome because Royal & Ancient boss Peter Dawson knows Calcavecchia likes to play early and he likes to play fast. With his wife, Brenda, on the bag, Calcavecchia clawed his way to a solid 69, leaving a par putt short and in the jaws on the 18th. The 1989 Open champ played only five practice holes Wednesday because it was so windy and also because his three playing partners bailed out on him so he was behind a pair of foursomes by himself. "I played 1, 2, 9, 17 and 18, see ya," Calcavecchia said. He's eligible to play the Open until he's 60 as a former champ and he promises to keep showing up for his favorite tournament "unless I'm lame or something." Best performance by an Open rookie who didn't expect to be here: Former Clemson University star Kyle Stanley was a bit surprised to learn he'd qualified for the Open last week even after Steve Stricker edged him with a last-hole birdie to win the John Deere Classic. Stanley admitted that until he finished his round, he thought only the JDC winner got the British Open invite. Luckily, he brought his passport and after his runner-up finish, boarded the tournament's chartered jet to England. Stanley bogeyed the 18th hole Thursday to shoot 68 and looked pretty cool afterward. He credited his recent hard work on his wedge play and his putting for his run of good play. As for links experience, he said he doesn't have much, other than Bandon Dunes and a Walker Cup appearance. His home state of Washington, he said, is wet but not windy. "So you don't grow up hitting it low, you hit it high for carry because it's wet," Stanley said. Worst start by a recent No. 1: England's Lee Westwood made par on the first two holes, then bogeyed the next three. It was reminiscent of his slow start at Congressional, where he shot 75 in the first round and eventually rallied to place third, although he was ten shots behind McIlroy. Westwood battled back with three birdies on the second nine to shoot 71. Worst display of math skills: The official Open bulletin described how Jerry Kelly kicked off the Open by hitting the first tee ball at 6:30 a.m. The release said he hit the fairway but three-putted for a bogey, which was eight shots better than the last time he teed off at Royal St. George's first hole on the opening day in 2003 when he made an 11. Kelly had a 5 this time. Let's see, 11 minus five is six, not eight. "The rough at No. 1 was up to the waist [in 2003], now it's just up to the knees," said Kelly, who said he considered it an honor to be sent off first. "I enjoyed that. I recognize the irony in it after what happened last time." Tweet

All eyes on Rory McIlroy at quirky Royal St. George's

SANDWICH, England — Rory McIlroy has given us many reasons to believe in him on the eve of this week's 140th British Open at Royal St. George's. Perhaps the most encouraging sign for his fans was what he verbally confirmed Tuesday. "I'm the sort of person," McIlroy said, "that likes to have people watching." That's nice, because the only people watching him this week are the ones with a pulse. Is Rory McIlroy up for saving golf? Can he do it when everyone fully expects him to? No pressure — we're just wondering. McIlroy's U.S. Open theatrics at Congressional — an eight-stroke win over Jason Day — were so enthusiastically received that he became the golf equivalent of Oprah handing out Volkswagens, but now we want more. Can Rory keep on going? Will he leverage one victory into the next, like his onetime idol, Tiger Woods, once did? With Woods again sitting out to rest his injured leg, McIlroy's emergence and its meaning is merely the biggest headline going into the year's third major. Lee Westwood, 38, is still aiming for his first major championship victory. So is world No. 1 Luke Donald. Both would love to win their first major on home soil, and Donald, whose short game is the envy of the Tour, may be the right man on the right course this week — to listen to players, caddies and the press tell it. That's in part due to the quirkiness of St. George's, where balls carom off the fairway mounding, and greens are more severe than at most other Open courses. Variable wind directions can alter strategy 180 degrees and leave players gnashing their teeth. No one will be able to play the course without drama, making short-game wizardry even more important than usual. "We've been playing since the weekend, trying to see it in every wind," said Miguel Rivera, Charley Hoffman's caddie. "It changes dramatically day to day." "You've got to be able to control the flight of your ball here, more so than in the States," said Ben Curtis, the surprise winner at St. George's in 2003. "And you've got to figure out how much roll you're going to get after the ball lands." Phil Mickelson, 41, hasn't had a top-10 at the British Open since he finished third at Troon in 2004, but he's making noise about having found a breakthrough, perhaps, on the slower British greens. Can he make some kind of mark in this storied tournament before his career is over? He thrives on being written off. "I'm entering this year with a fresh start," Mickelson said. Graeme McDowell, last year's U.S. Open champion, has been quiet in 2011 but seems to be lurking around the lead deeper and deeper into tournaments. Day, 23, is trying to climb the final rung after a T2 at the Masters and solo second at the U.S. Open. Alert bettors could have had him at 40-to-1 odds to win earlier this week, a nice payout for a not-so-crazy outcome. Americans have not won a major since Mickelson at the 2010 Masters, and, uh-oh, the press have begun asking about it. Matt Kuchar, Steve Stricker, Nick Watney and Bubba Watson are among the best hopes for the stars and stripes, but Curtis's victory eight years ago reminds us of one of golf's elemental truths: It's almost impossible to predict which player will pop up and have a career week. When he was in his prime, Woods inspired a rare kind of bet: Tiger vs. the Field. No one is talking about McIlroy, with his three career wins, in such certain terms, although he isn't shying away from his new leading role. "They can make the [Woods] comparisons," McIlroy said. Told that there had been two separate bets of 20,000 pounds on him to win, and asked if it was the act of shrewd or desperate men, McIlroy said with a laugh, "I'll go for the first option." He has stuck to his schedule — not playing a competitive round in the three-week stretch between the U.S. and British Opens — despite second-guessers. He has tried to keep distractions to a minimum. "The first 10 days after winning the U.S. Open, it was a bit hectic trying to see everyone and going here, there and everywhere," he said. "But the last 10 days has been good. I've got back into my routine, been practicing a lot. I was here last week for a couple of days and got two good practice rounds in. So I feel as if my preparation has been really good coming in here." With his every move magnified, shown on TV, replayed, analyzed, Woods in his prime not only played well, he hit new highs. That's a rare talent. More common is what happened to McIlroy when he followed his winning, final-round 62 at Quail Hollow with a one-year dry spell. Louis Oosthuizen cruised to a seven-shot victory at St. Andrews last summer, but other than winning the Africa Open at the start of this year, Oosthuizen hasn't made much noise since. "You know how the game is; I'm just trying to get it in that same rhythm I had going into the Open last year," he said. "And it took longer than expected." McIlroy and his fans hope to keep dancing as if no one changed the music. Tweet

Will Royal St. George's produce 'fluke' winner?

SANDWICH, England (AP) — Ben Curtis is no fluke. At least not now. After winning the British Open eight years ago at Royal St. George's as a rookie, Curtis has gone on to win twice more on the PGA Tour. He played on a winning Ryder Cup team (not many Americans can say that). And he nearly won another major in the 2008 PGA Championship until two bad tee shots over the last five holes made him a runner-up, two shots behind Padraig Harrington. Some players wouldn't mind a career like that. Even so, any conversation about a "fluke" winner at a major invariably includes Curtis, and he's probably higher on any such list than he should be. What made Curtis such a surprise in 2003 at Royal St. George's was that not many outside his immediate family knew who he was. That included the local caddie he hired for the week, Andy Sutton, who's first reaction to being told of an American in need of a caddie replied, "Ben who?" Then again, Curtis was a 26-year-old rookie on the PGA Tour. He only got into the British Open two weeks prior with a tie for 13th in the Western Open, his best finish of the year. He was No. 396 in the world ranking. And he was playing his first major. By all accounts, that's the very definition of a surprise. A big surprise. The harshest comment that week came from Davis Love III. He was frustrated like so many others by the goofy bounces at Royal St. George's, and when Curtis was holding the claret jug, Love said, "The Open got exactly the champion it deserved." An unpredictable links, a winner no one imagined. Curtis felt at times as though people expected an apology from him. The leaderboard featured an All-Star cast of contenders, from Vijay Singh to Tiger Woods, from Love to Kenny Perry. And the championship belonged to Thomas Bjorn until he took three shots to escape a greenside bunker on the 16th and squandered a two-shot lead on Sunday. "It didn't really bother me what other people thought," he said. "I know what I did that week." He had the lowest score, which all that ever counts. What makes Curtis stand out is that he was on the practice range, having finished well before the final group, when Bjorn made par on the last hole and Sutton leaned out of the scoring trailer next to the range and said, "Ben, you're the Open champion." He was a surprise because no one really saw it coming until it was over. Shaun Micheel was different. In the very next major, at Oak Hill for the PGA Championship, Micheel shot 68 in the second round to take the lead and he never lost it. Leading by one shot on the final hole, he hit 7-iron to within inches for a signature moment on an otherwise nondescript week. It was his fifth season on the PGA Tour. He was No. 169 in the world. He had never won in 160 previous starts as a pro on tour, and he had only one finish in the top three, the previous year at the B.C. Open. Was that a fluke? His golf sure didn't look that way at Oak Hill, especially considering Micheel had to cope with being atop the leaderboard over the entire weekend on a difficult golf course. Since then? He went three years without once getting into contention or finishing among the top three, a stretch of 83 tournaments that ended when he was runner-up at the PGA Championship, although he was never a factor at a major that Tiger Woods won by five shots. The PGA Championship remains his only win, although Micheel has been slowed by health issues in recent years. Just what is a surprise when it comes to majors? "You could say I was a surprise," Justin Leonard said. Most wouldn't agree with him. Leonard was so good in college that he won a U.S. Amateur and made it on tour without ever going to Q-school. He had already won twice on tour when he arrived at Royal Troon in 1997. But hear him out. "You've got Darren Clarke and Jesper Parnevik in the last group," he said. "I'm playing with Fred Couples. Now, out of those four guys, how many people would have thought I would win?" A dozen years later, it was a surprise when Leonard didn't win the British Open. He was part of a three-way playoff with Jean Van de Velde and Paul Lawrie at Carnoustie, the major famous for Van de Velde's comical collapse on the 72nd hold to make triple bogey, and Lawrie setting a record by coming from 10 shots behind on the last day to eventually win. Lawrie, no doubt, would get plenty of votes in the category of shock winners. Most players would define surprise as someone who had never won before, who had never seriously contended in a major, who had never played in a major or who did not look like he would win until he showed up at the trophy presentation. John Daly was the ninth alternate in 1991 PGA, spared any talk of a fluke because of how far he hit the ball, and by winning at St. Andrews four years later. Louis Oosthuizen, the defending champion at this British Open, is loaded with talent and one of the sweetest swings. Even so, he had missed the cut in seven of his eight majors, and the lone exception was when he was dead last in a PGA. Then he won at St. Andrews by seven shots. Perhaps the biggest surprise is one of the most celebrated wins by an American - Francis Ouimet, playing in his first major in 1913 at Brookline, across the street from his house, beating the great Harry Vardon and Ted Ray. Even more stunning was in 1955 at Olympic Club, when Jack Fleck's late heroics got him into a playoff with Ben Hogan and then beat him the next day in a playoff. And don't forget Orville Moody, who's only win came at the 1969 U.S. Open. They all had one thing in common. "It doesn't matter who you are or what you've done," David Duval said. "You had the best score of anyone else that week." Think someone like Colin Montgomerie wouldn't love to be able to say that?