S.F. Examiner: Miller brings candid style to the booth at British Open

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

TROON, Scotland — He was the skinny, blond kid from out in the avenues, a student at San Francisco’s Lincoln High, not far from the Coast, just another golfer in a school rich with them.

Some you might not remember or ever knew, but they could play, people such as Bob Lunn, who won the Amateur Pub Links, Doug Nelson, Ron O’Connor and Tom O’Kane. And one person you certainly would know, Johnny Miller.

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©2016 The San Francisco Examiner

Newsday (N.Y.): British Open at Royal Troon: Where golf returns to its roots

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

TROON, Scotland — Golf has returned to its homeland, to the rain, wind and green hills of Scotland, a place of kings, kilts and courses with rhythmic names such as Auchterarder, Machrihanish, and the one where the 145th British Open — known here as the Open Championship — begins Thursday at Royal Troon.

The game was created on the Scottish links land in the Middle Ages. It is old as forever and modern as now, with changes in personnel certainly, in attire and equipment yet still affixed to the basic principle: Each swing of each club, from driver to putter, counts one stroke.

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Copyright © 2016 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Newsday (N.Y.): Elephant man Todd Hamilton returns to British Open

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

TROON, Scotland — Todd Hamilton won the 2004 British Open here, but it was an elephant that became the story.

Back then nobody really knew much about Hamilton except that he was from the Illinois town where a circus elephant named Norma Jean was hit by a bolt of lightning and buried in the city square.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2016 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Newsday (N.Y.): Jordan Spieth struggled with decision to skip Rio Olympics

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

TROON, Scotland — Jordan Spieth insisted the decision not to play golf in the Rio Olympics, which came only 24 hours earlier, was the hardest he has been forced to make in his young life.

“I can honestly say that,” the 22-year-old Spieth said Tuesday. “Harder than trying to decide what university to go to. Whether to turn professional and leave school. This was something I very much struggled with.”

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Copyright © 2016 Newsday. All rights reserved.

S.F. Examiner: Don’t forget the winner: Johnson carving own history

By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — He wasn’t exactly the wrong winner, although in the context of what was possible in this 144th British Open, that could be one definition — if an unfair one.

Zach Johnson may not be Jordan Spieth, in fame or fortune, but he is “The Champion golfer of the year.”

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©2015 The San Francisco Examiner