British Open

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- The name of Sergio Garcia, familiar to the world's golf fans for eight years and 36 major tournaments seems ripe for new recognition. Sometime today, here on the east coast of Scotland, the Spaniard could fulfill his huge promise by commanding this 136th British Open and claiming his first major title at age 27. British Open Final round today, Carnoustie, Scotland TV: 6 a.m., TNT; 8 a.m., chs. 2, 7

MEDINAH, Ill. -- When the golf world last viewed Sergio Garcia, the 19-year-old phenom from Spain was crying on his mother's shoulder, leaving the grounds of Carnoustie after shooting an opening-round 89 in last month's British Open. He kept his emotions together the next day, but his game was still in ruins.Yesterday, Garcia found redemption in the opening round of the 81st PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club.After rain had soaked the fairways, softened the greens and left a formidable course a lot more forgiving, the sun came out in this Chicago suburb.

MEDINAH, Ill. -- He is 9 years older and a few million dollars richer, the result of the success he has had since joining the Senior Tour. Except for the gray in his hair and a more friendly demeanor, there isn't much difference to Hale Irwin now as there was when he won the U.S. Open here in 1990.Irwin, then the oldest player to ever win the Open at 45 and now the oldest player in this year's 81st PGA Championship, is still in contention in a major championship at Medinah Country Club. With a 3-under-par 69 yesterday, Irwin is at 5-under 139 and four shots off the lead.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Payne Stewart hasn't turned the 98th U.S. Open at the Olympic Club into a two-flight event, as Tiger Woods did at last year's Masters and Nick Price did four years ago in the PGA Championship at Southern Hills.But a player known more for what he wears than what he wins did his best to show there is more to him than a fancy wardrobe. While many of those in contention coming into yesterday's third round faltered on the windy fairways and rock-hard greens, Stewart managed to hold his game together.

MAMARONECK, N.Y. -- A year ago, he was the most celebrated amateur player in the country and getting ready for what would be the last of his record three straight U.S. Amateur championships."

TULSA, Okla. -- Has anyone told Tom Lehman that he wasn't supposed to steal the spotlight at this year's $3 million Tour Championship? Has anyone reminded Lehman that this is Southern Hills and not some local muni? One more question: Has any golfer in the field seen Lehman lately?The rest of this elite field here began losing touch with Lehman on Friday, when the reigning British Open champion birdied four straight holes to start the back nine and take a four-shot lead. Lehman was long gone by the time he finished yesterday, shooting a 6-under-par 64 and building his margin to seemingly insurmountable proportions.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- A freshening wind, the sort the Scots would call a "proper wind," blew hard out of the north across the Old Course yesterday, and a fresh face rode it right into the lead of the British Open.Michael Campbell, 26, a native of New Zealand who is playing in just his second Open, shot a stunning round of 65 -- lowest of the championship and by three strokes the lowest round of the cold, blustery day -- and charged to the top of a leader board dominated by a golf version of the United Nations.

ANDREWS, Scotland -- First, it was Arnold Palmer on Friday morning walking his final 18 holes in a British Open, over the hallowed soil of the Old Course at St. Andrews, where he revived this championship 35 years ago. Yesterday, it was time for Jack Nicklaus to follow suit, as he said a partial farewell to the tournament he's competed in since 1962.He rolled in a 5-foot putt on the 18th hole for a birdie and a 71296 valedictory that included a woeful 10 on the 14th hole in Thursday's opening round.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- From one end of the golf spectrum to the other, the first round of the 124th British Open provided something for everyone yesterday.It ranged from a sublime story line to a frightful spectacle -- from Tom Watson, Ben Crenshaw, John Daly and Mark McNulty all going around the Old Course in 67 strokes to Jack Nicklaus taking a 10 on one hole.There have been wilder rounds in the 124-year history of the Open, but not many. Watson, 45; Crenshaw, 43; McNulty, 41; and Daly, 29, are an unusual quartet of leaders at 5-under par.Three older guys and a good old boy on the Old Course?

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. -- Predicting the outcome of most golf tournaments isn't easy. It's an inexact science largely dependent on who shows up. Though the pool from which to pick a winner at major championships is usually smaller, a lot has to do with the course.And then there's the 95th U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.It might not matter which of the 156 players are in top form for today's opening round, or even whose game seems most suited for a links-type course that has been called "the best British Open course in America."

Tom Watson has won more than 60 golf tournaments around the world, including eight majors as a member of the PGA Tour. But it was a loss this summer on the Scottish coast during the British Open's final round that has touched thousands around the world. It's one reason he'll be the top attraction this week when the final major of the Champions Tour, the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, comes to Baltimore Country Club's Five Farms course in Timonium. Longtime area fans such as Sandy Clark said many of his friends who don't even play the game paid attention to what Watson did at Turnberry and will go to Five Farms to watch him play.

Tom Watson, who came within one putt of making history at the British Open last month, will return to the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship at Baltimore Country Club's Five Farms course Sept. 28-Oct. 4 after a year's absence. Had Watson made his par putt on the 72nd hole on the Aisla Course of the Westin Turnberry Resort last month, he would have become golf's oldest major champion at age 59. Instead, he missed the putt and his bogey forced a playoff that ultimately was won by Stewart Cink.

TURNBERRY, SCOTLAND - That pristine ogre known as golf has struck again, choosing a gorgeous setting by the Irish Sea to unleash its full and singular meanness upon a cherished 59-year-old man. It enticed him for four days of enchantment. It ushered him to the 72nd hole with a one-shot lead in a British Open and a chance to broaden earthly possibility. It brought Tom Watson down that No. 18 fairway to deeply felt applause, and then it threw in a blaring roar when his well-struck 8-iron approach on an 8-foot putt smacked down and bounded onto the green.

TURNBERRY, Scotland - -In a stunning development at the British Open, a 59-year-old man on the verge of 60 has revealed that he actually read a text message and then successfully completed a reply. This improbable scenario has helped illustrate the awesome span of the career of one Tom Watson, who has shot a glowing 65 at Turnberry while dredging mysticism from floating dirt in the prehistoric era of 1977, and has shot a glowing 65 at Turnberry while gaining "serenity" from a sitting message on a sleek gadget in the digital era of 2009.

TURNBERRY, Scotland -- You wake one day on a golfing planet gone completely merciless and Sergio Garcia seems middle-aged, Adam Scott winds up dumped to No. 43 and the rankings teem with those who arrived young but ready to rumble. Nine of the top 26 players have the audacity not to have reached age 30, the same goes for 16 of the top 50, and one theme of this 138th British Open entails whether golf's largest wave of precocity to date might deposit one of its 20-somethings somewhere well up the Sunday leader board.

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- The name of Sergio Garcia, familiar to the world's golf fans for eight years and 36 major tournaments seems ripe for new recognition. Sometime today, here on the east coast of Scotland, the Spaniard could fulfill his huge promise by commanding this 136th British Open and claiming his first major title at age 27. British Open Final round today, Carnoustie, Scotland TV: 6 a.m., TNT; 8 a.m., chs. 2, 7

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- That old beast Carnoustie must have snickered yesterday when it saw Sergio Garcia ambling toward the first hole with his caddie and his bag and his new belly putter. That's funny, because when Garcia and the caddie and the bag and the belly putter ambled back down from No. 18 in the evening, the beast lay conquered in the first round by Garcia's 6-under-par 65, and the 136th British Open had another theme. Not only had Garcia, who had shot an 89 in the first round here in 1999, shaved 24 shots off that horror to lead the field by two strokes, but Garcia might just spend the weekend trying to defend the honor of the belly putter.

MEDINAH, Ill. -- The late-afternoon sun filtered through the trees yesterday at Medinah Country Club as Tiger Woods removed his cap to salute the fans who cheered each footstep of his leisurely stroll up the 18th fairway and straight into legend once again. Woods left Medinah with the $1.224 million winner's check, his 12th major championship and his streak intact of nine straight rounds in the 60s. The numbers are more than impressive; they are dominating. He made only three bogeys in 72 holes, played the par-5 holes in a combined 8-under par, made 21 birdies and, for good measure, became only the fifth player to win the PGA Championship at least three times.

MEDINAH, Ill. -- Just to prove it's a numbers game, here comes the 88th PGA Championship, starting today, worth at least $6.5 million, with at least $1.17 million to the winner. The top 10 players in the world are at Medinah Country Club, the suburban Chicago layout, hosting its fifth major championship. And the one to watch is still Tiger Woods. His numbers are off the charts: $5.1 million, No. 1 ranked for the 404th week, four victories this year, 50 for his career, two wins and a tie for second in his past three tournaments, PGA Tour leader this year in earnings, scoring, greens in regulation, birdie average and closest to the hole.

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. - When Tiger Woods arrived at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., for the 2000 PGA Championship, the hoopla surrounding the world's best player had reached hysterical proportions. At the time, Woods was trying to duplicate what the legendary Ben Hogan had done nearly a half-century before by winning three major championships in the same year. Woods, then 24, accomplished the feat by beating Bob May in a playoff. When Woods tees off tomorrow in the 87th PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club, he will be trying to do pretty much the same thing.