Now that was a full Sunday of sports, folks. Braves, British Open, Women’s World Cup, NASCAR – you needed an extra set of batteries for the clicker to keep up.
Let’s get to it. From the “7-Up Stinks Studio,” here we go…
Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke holds the Claret Jug troffy beside the 18th green after he won the Open Golf Championship on Sunday, at Royal St George’s Sandwich, England, Monday, July, 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)An amazing British Open
The British Open on Sunday was like five different tournaments in one morning. There was the Forrest Gump “Stinging Rain.” There was the never-yielding wind that at the players’ back allowed Dustin Johnson to drive through the green on a 419-yard hole (read that again) and when in the players’ face caused world-class long hitters to go driver 6-iron into a 419-yard hole. There was the Phil Mickelson charge – his 30 on the front nine moved him into a share of the lead with nine holes to play. There was the Johnson meltdown – his second shot went out of bounds on the only par-5 on the back nine – leaving him with a sour Sunday of a major for the third time in the last 13 months.
And there was the Darren Clarke show. The unthinkable and unpredictable winner of the 140th British Open, Clarke was text-book major championship good. He was stone-solid from 8-feet with his putter – seriously, dude must have made a dozen knee-knocking par putts from 5-feet or more Sunday. He never flinched. He was always in control of his emotions – and his clothes (he changed into and out of his rain gear multiple times).