CBS Sports: 'Tough for everybody'? Not quite, and Mickelson slips

SOUTHPORT, England -- For Phil Mickelson, Royal Birkdale is a royal pain in the scorecard. Every 10 years or so, the British Open shows up here on the Lancashire Coast, and Phil's game does not.

The third round of the 1998 Open, when golf broke down Mickelson faster than an interrogation by Scotland Yard, he had his all-time worst score in a major, 15-over-par 85. Reflecting on 40 mph winds, he said, "It was a challenging day."

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Oakland Tribune: Garcia has tough act to follow

SOUTHPORT, England -- The summer of Spain. The country's soccer team capturing a championship, the European Cup, it hadn't won in 44 years. A tennis player winning Wimbledon, something a Spaniard hadn't done in virtually the same length of time. And now... ?

And now out strides "El Nino," Sergio Garcia, brimming with faith, believing in omens, relying on experience.

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Contra Costa Times: Lema was toast of St. Andrews after win on first British try

SOUTHPORT, England -- He is riding a surge of confidence, exactly what a golfer needs, especially playing in a British Open for the first time.

Anthony Kim arrives at Royal Birkdale for his initial experience at links golf, and so we reach back in time for a meaningful parallel.

The unwritten rule is you don't win a major in your debut. That's true. Unless you're Ben Curtis in the 2003 British. Or Fuzzy Zoeller in the 1979 Masters.

Or Tony Lema in the 1964 British.

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Oakland Tribune: British Open course will present its own challenges

SOUTHPORT, England -- THE TOWN, Victorian architecture and weathered pensioners, somehow made it out of 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.

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Oakland Tribune: Nadal outlasts Federer in one for the ages

WIMBLEDON, England -- This was what we had hoped, the best in the world, playing a match for history and for memory. The two at the top of tennis going for a place only one could occupy.And this is what we got, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, battling each other and the elements until the point of no returns and too much emotion.

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