Newsday (N.Y.): Royal Birkdale tough but ‘a fair test’ for British Open, says Jordan Spieth

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SOUTHPORT, England — The town, all Victorian architecture and weathered citizens, somehow escaped the 19th Century. Southport, 25 miles up the coast from Liverpool, has dance halls, pubs and entertainment featuring comedians who apparently are funny if you understand English, as opposed to American.

It also has one of the great golf courses anywhere, Royal Birkdale, a place of 50-foot sand hills and wonderful history — just check the plaque to Arnold Palmer on the 16th fairway — stretched across a lunar landscape but hardly stretching the imagination when it comes to deserving champions, a list that includes Palmer, Johnny Miller, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson.

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Copyright © 2017 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Global Golf Post: It's Harder Than Ever To Win Majors

By Art Spander
Global Golf Post

TROON, SCOTLAND — Thomas Brent Weekley, better known as "Boo," understands golf far better than most, that is if anyone, pro or amateur, star or hacker, is able to understand golf. A while back Weekley told The Wall Street Journal — yes, Boo, the alligator wrestler, and The Journal seem an odd combination — that if you win a major "all you get is more hype."

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Copyright 2016 Global Golf Post

Newsday (N.Y.): J.B. Holmes finishes alone in third in two-man British Open

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

TROON, Scotland — J.B. Holmes finished third in a two-man race.

They say anything can happen in golf, that a couple of bogeys by one player and a couple of birdies by another can erase a lead in a few holes. But when Holmes began the final round of the British Open on Sunday, eight shots behind eventual winner Henrik Stenson and seven back of runner-up Phil Mickelson, he wasn’t thinking of a championship.

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Copyright © 2016 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Newsday (N.Y.): British Open: Henrik Stenson wins duel with Phil Mickelson for title

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

TROON, Scotland — It doesn’t get any better than this, a golf championship in the land where the game was born, with two players, one of the game’s best, the other trying after years to break through, throwing caution to the considerable wind and birdies at each other in a repetitive display of brilliance and excitement.

Henrik Stenson finished in front, with Phil Mickelson second. Sport was the winner. There were no losers.

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Copyright © 2016 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Newsday (N.Y.): Henrik Stenson leads British Open, Phil Mickelson a shot back

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

TROON, Scotland — One hole on this blustery, chilly Saturday and the leader became the chaser, the hunted the hunter. For the first time in the 145th British Open, the man in front when the final putt was holed was not Phil Mickelson.

First place after 54 holes belongs to Henrik Stenson, who at 40 probably is nearer his first major championship than anytime in his career, having swept from one stroke behind to one in front on the 220-yard par-3 17th that like most of the back nine at Royal Troon played into a wind that at times gusted above 25 mph.

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Copyright © 2016 Newsday. All rights reserved.