HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Turnberry’s beauty is unquestioned, its difficulty is

Contador strikes in first mountain stage

Tyson Gay sets down a marker for World Championships

Turnberry’s beauty is unquestioned, its difficulty is

Doug Ferguson
Ayeshire, Scotland (AP) - Turnberry is defined by great vistas and great champions, quite an identity for being part of the British Open rotation only in the last 32 years. Move it to America and it might as well be called Pebble Beach.

The British Open Golf Trophy is photographed on the 10th tee after a press conference at Turnberry Golf Course in Scotland. Organizers have lengthened the course by 247 yards since The Open was last played there 15 years ago. The new layout features six new tees, including a spectacular 200-yard drive over the bay near the famous Lighthouse at the 10th hole. (AP Photo/PA, Rebecca Naden)

It curves around the rugged Ayrshire coast, with nearly half of the holes positioned along a section of the Irish Sea known as the Firth of Clyde. The landmark is a 30-meter lighthouse built in 1873 and sitting off the ninth fairway, not far from what remains of a castle inhabited by Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland in the early 14th century.
Looming out to sea is the Ailsa Craig, an island whose conical summit rises 300 meters from the water. Locals are fond of saying that if you can’t see the Ailsa Craig, then it’s raining. And if you can see it, then it’s about to rain.
Enhancing its young reputation are its British Open winners, all of them in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
This is where Tom Watson matched scores with Jack Nicklaus for three rounds in 1977 and beat him with one last birdie, a duel that ranks among the best in golf. Greg Norman won his first major in 1986 behind a 63 in blustery conditions on the second day. Nick Price finished birdie-eagle-par in 1994, the last time the Open was held at Turnberry.
“It’s a tremendous golf course,” Colin Montgomerie said. “It’s a golf course I think we all would agree has the most character of any links course in Britain, especially on our rota. Just a fantastic place to be.”
So what can be expected when the British Open returns to Turnberry for only the fourth time, and the first time in 15 years?
That introduces another element of its identity, for some believe it has shown to be the easiest course for golf’s oldest championship, and those skeptics only have to point to the scores on the par-70 links layout.
-Watson and Price each won at 268, a score beaten only five other times in any major contested over 72 holes.
-The first time anyone shot 63 in the British Open was at Turnberry, in 1977 by Mark Hayes. That was matched in 1986 by Norman, who had a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 61 until he three-putted for bogey.
-Turnberry set a British Open record in 1994 when 148 rounds were played under par.
Padraig Harrington will go for his third straight claret jug when the 138th British Open gets started on Thursday. He played the course in the last week in May during a corporate function and didn’t sound overly impressed with its difficulty.
“The two I’ve won are probably two of the toughest courses on the links rota,” Harrington said, referring to Carnoustie and Royal Birkdale. “I don’t think it would be considered as tough as those two. So while it suits me being a links, I wouldn’t look forward to a shootout, that’s for sure. I’d prefer a tough test that week.”
What about that 268 by Watson for a one-shot victory? Hubert Green finished third, another 10 shots back. No one else broke par.
Weather played a role in 1994. The story goes that some 10 days before the Open began, during an exhibition at Turnberry, the course was so dry that when R&A secretary Sir Michael Bonallack walked onto a green, you could hear the grass crunch below his metal spikes. It started raining the next day, and didn’t let up until Price had won the claret jug.
Not everything about Turnberry is a mystery.
The course is some 300 yards longer than the last time it held the British Open. Whoever shoots the lowest score will have his name engraved on the silver claret jug. And Tiger Woods has a chance to win, if only because he is playing this year.
Woods missed his first major as a professional last year at Royal Birkdale because of season-ending knee surgery. He has never seen Turnberry, which last held the British Open the year before Woods became eligible. The world’s No. 1 player does not hold a major title for the first time since 2004, yet he looks as though that might be about a change the way he won at Congressional last week.
Then again, Woods also won his final tournament before the Masters and U.S. Open, and both times he tied for sixth.
His only recollection of Turnberry comes from highlights, especially the “Duel in the Sun” between Watson and Nicklaus, although he has not seen enough to appreciate what the course is like or how it plays.
It might not matter because of the changes.
Turnberry has been lengthened substantially, typical of most courses this decade at the majors, with some new bunkers in strategic spots along the fairway and the rerouting of the 16th hole to bring the burn into play.
“I don’t go along with the fact it’s one of the easier ones,” R&A chief executive Peter Dawson said. “We had a couple of them in benign weather. With the course changes we’ve had, I would put it up there with the best.”
Early scouting reports seem to suggest as much.
Ernie Els played a few practice rounds at Turnberry a week before the British Open and was amazed at how lush the grass was, especially outside the fairways. Britain has gone through a wet spring, allowing grass to grow, and yet the last month has turned dry. That could make for the ultimate test of thick rough and firm fairways.
“That could be quite a beast if the wind comes up,” Els said.
Montgomerie told even more harrowing tales. His junior academy is located at Turnberry, and the Scot is a frequent visitor. This month, he said the club had a stroke-play competition for Turnberry members, allowing 150 of its best players on the Ailsa Course.
The numbers were staggering - not scores, but lost balls in the high grass.
“They left 480 golf balls on the golf course,” he said. “That proves, avoid the rough at all costs.”
What kept Turnberry out of the rotation for 15 year was the growth of the British Open and the traffic jam on the one road leading to the golf course. Officials have added more roads, which was more important than adding yardage to Turnberry.
Once there, it will be hard not to be impressed with the views - inside and outside the ropes.
“It’s a scenically stunning course,” Dawson said. “At the same time, it’s a great test of golf.”

Contador strikes in first mountain stage

Alberto Contador of Spain climbs towards Arcalis after breaking away from the pack during the seventh stage of the Tour de France in Andorra, Friday July 10.
(AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)

Jamey Keaten
Arcalis, Andorra (AP) - In the Tour de France duel between teammates Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador, the first big mountain stage went to the Spaniard.
Contador, the 2007 winner, unleashed a burst of speed on Friday in the last uphill kilometer into the tiny Pyrenees principality of Andorra - and Armstrong didn’t lay chase.
By the end of the seventh stage, Contador had bumped the seven-time champion from second to third in the overall standings. Perhaps more important, he showed he has the legs for this unrelenting three-week test.
The 224-kilometer trek from Barcelona, Spain, to the ski resort of Arcalis was the longest stage of this Tour. It was won by Brice Feillu of France and produced a new leader in Rinaldo Nocentini.
Nocentini, who joined Feillu in a nine-man breakaway, became the first Italian in nine years to seize the yellow jersey and ended the six-day hold on the lead by Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara.
The main question of the day was whether strong climbers would attack Armstrong and Contador, hoping to cut into their deficits from the two time trials during the last week. Armstrong entered the day a fraction of a second behind Cancellara. Contador trailed by 19 seconds in third.
Astana’s plan had been to let less threatening breakaway riders go while squelching attacks from more serious rivals like Cadel Evans of Australia, Andy Schleck of Luxembourg or 2008 Tour champion Carlos Sastre of Spain.
After Evans, a two-time Tour runner-up, took his shot in the final climb, Armstrong hugged the Australian’s back wheel. Then Contador struck.
Withstanding the headwinds along the slopes that make solo riding exhausting, the Spaniard overcame his gap with Armstrong. He insisted his real motivation was gaining time on other contenders.
“I was just asserting my position against my main rivals,” Contador said. “Nothing was planned in advance, but when I saw Evans and Schleck didn’t budge, I sensed the opportunity because I had good legs.”
“This is not a show of force,” he added. “I felt very good and I took a lot of pleasure in riding in the mountains right close to Spain and my home.”
The plan at Astana had been to wait for rivals to strike, not gain time on each other. But after Armstrong used the wind and his wits in Stage 3 with a move that vaulted him ahead of Contador in the standings, the gloves may now be off.
Armstrong said he had foreseen a possible move by Contador.
“It was a fine day,” he said. “I think overall we’re fine. Yesterday I said I expected him to assert himself in the race.”
The stage was a far cry from Armstrong’s heyday, when he racked up seven straight Tour wins from 1999 to 2005. Back then, he stamped his dominance from the first encounter with the mountains.
“I didn’t expect a demonstration like, you know, some of the other years on the first climb days,” the 37-year-old American said. He said the headwinds prodded many riders to seek shelter in the bunch.
“We’ll have plenty of days at the end of this Tour where there’s only a couple of guys together,” he said.
Armstrong has shown solid but not outstanding form at this Tour, the centerpiece of his comeback after 3½ years of retirement. His smart riding has outshone his physical prowess.
“Overall, I feel pretty good,” he said. “Things didn’t quite go according to plan that we set up earlier, but it didn’t matter.”
For Contador, who could have the makings of one of the great cyclists, there’s no doubt about his physical ability at age 26. His conundrum will be managing the pressure, and the questions about whether he or Armstrong is better suited to be team leader.
“I’m really tired of the question about leadership at Astana,” Contador said. “Let’s just watch the Tour and see what unfolds and hopefully it will be clear by the end of the race.”

Tyson Gay sets down a marker for World Championships

Tyson Gay of the United States (right) races ahead of Asafa Powell of Jamaica on his way to winning the men’s 100 meters in a time of 9.77 seconds, during the IAAF Golden Gala in Rome’s Olympic stadium, Friday, July 10. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Jeremy Inson
Rome (AP) – Tyson Gay gave notice to world record-holder Usain Bolt by running the fastest 100 meters of the year in 9.77 seconds at the Golden Gala on Friday.
Gay swept pass previous record-holder Asafa Powell 40 meters from the finish in a time that would have been good enough to equal the world record less than two years ago.
Powell finished second in 9.88, and fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake was third with 9.96.
“I feel that I improved on the previous races,” Gay said. “Today the race was better executed and my shape is improving.
“(Bolt’s) in excellent shape. I was working really hard for this, but I’m still training and I feel good.”
Gay is preparing to defend his 100 and 200 titles at the world championships in Berlin this summer.
He expected to be a favorite at the Beijing Olympics but a hamstring strain at the U.S. Olympic trials ended that hope, and Bolt won both gold medals in world records.
Bolt didn’t race in Rome, but recorded an impressive 200 in the rain at Lausanne, Switzerland, last Tuesday, clocking 19.59.

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