July 22, 2013
Ceci Ferrara
Sports Writer
Sports Insider
Going into the final round of the British Open, the odds of Phil Mickelson winning were twenty to one. Not too surprising, considering it was only last month that he faltered in the final round of the U.S. Open for a record sixth time. But instead of another disappointing loss, Lefty rose to the occasion and walked away with his first claret jug and fifth major championship.
Mickelson took the win with birdies on four of the last six holes, including the eighteenth. He finished the day with a sixty-six, three strokes ahead of Sweden’s Henrik Stenson.
“This is such an accomplishment for me,” Mickelson said. “I never knew if I’d be able to develop the game and the shots to play links golf effectively. To play what is arguably the best round of my career, to putt the way I putted, to shoot the round of my life, it just feels amazing to win the claret jug.”
Stenson’s second place finish is his best finish in a major, but he is still hoping to bring his country their first major championship. “Very happy with the performance,” he told reporters afterward. “We’re getting closer. I’ve got two thirds and now a second. We all know what we’re longing for.”
Lee Westwood, who is also searching for his first major win, was leading by two strokes on Sunday, but struggled in the final round. He ended the day four shots back with a seventy-five, while Tiger Woods, who was two shots out of the lead at the beginning of the day, finished with a seventy-four, five shots behind Mickelson.
Westwood, Ian Pulter (sixty-seven), and Adam Scott (seventy-two) all tied for third, while Woods, Zach Johnson (seventy-two), and Hideki Matsuyama (seventy) tied for sixth. Teenager Jordan Spieth, who won the John Deere Classic last week, played well, but never broke into the top ten. He finished the day with a seventy-five, tying with nine other players for forty-fourth place.
Nationals
The Nationals have dipped back below .500 and into third place in the National League East after getting swept by the LA Dodgers.
While they had hoped to come back from the All-Star Break refreshed, their three-game losing streak and disappointing 48-50 record has many fans wondering if they will ever get on the right track. Jordan Zimmerman, who before yesterday had not lost at Nationals Park since May 17, 2012, had his worst outing of the season, surrendering seven runs in the second inning.
“Some games you get away with a few mistakes, and some games whatever you throw up there is getting hit hard,” Zimmermann said. “Today was one of those days.”
In a move manager Davey Johnson called “a shocker”, the team brass fired hitting coach Rick Eckstein on Monday. With the Nats’ struggles continuing into the second half of the season, General Manager Mike Rizzo felt a new hitting coach might help turn things around.
“I thought we needed a change, and so I made the change,” he said.
Eckstein had been with the Nats since 2009, two years before Johnson became manager. But Johnson appeared rattled by the news, calling it “arguably the toughest day I’ve had in baseball.”
“I respect Rick Ecsktein,” he went on to say. “I think he’s great coach, one of the best hitting instructors in baseball. And he’s just a great gentleman. So it hurts.” Johnson even went so far as to offer his own job, in lieu of Eckstein. But Rizzo made it clear he has no intention of getting a new manager, calling Johnson “one of the best in baseball and I trust him.”
Eckstein will be replaced by Rick Schu, who has sixteen years of coaching experience and has served as the team’s minor league hitting coordinator for the past four years.
The Nationals will try to improve their record, and adjust to a new hitting coach, as they face the Pittsburgh Pirates (57-39) for four games before hosting the division rival Mets over the weekend.
