It was Super Mex’s first major Championship win.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland - Lorena Ochoa won her first major title Sunday with a four-stroke victory at the Women’s British Open — the first women’s professional tournament played at venerable St. Andrews.

The top-ranked Mexican shot a 1-over 74 in the final round at the home of golf. She finished with a 5-under 287 total, four strokes better than Jee Young Lee (71) and Maria Hjorth (71). Reilley Rankin (71) was another stroke back at par.

“For me this is the most special round of golf I ever played,” Ochoa said. “Hopefully this is the first of many (majors) to come. It was my time.”

Annika Sorenstam, who was tied for third going into the final round, finished tied for 16th at 4 over after a 76 that included a 7 at the 17th Road Hole.

Ochoa is the first player to win a first major title at St. Andrews since Tony Lema at the men’s British Open in 1964.

Ochoa led the tournament from the ninth hole of the opening round, when she shot a 6-under 67. The only player to master the strong winds, she began the final round with a six-stroke lead and the only player under par.

Her only problem came at the 17th, where her second shot landed in one of the pot bunkers short of the green. The ball was near the steep front side of the trap and she had to pitch sideways into the rough, but she then played a superb short chip to the putting surface and escaped with a bogey 6. She went to the last hole four shots ahead and a par captured the title.

You won’t get any argument out of me if you say Lorena Ochoa is the best female golfer in the world at present. She got her first major championship today. More are sure to come.

Lorena proved my British Open prediction on her wrong. My track record for golf predictions has stunk this year. Se Ri Pak at the Nabisco, Sergio Garcia at the Men’s British Open to name just two other misses of mine. On the other hand, I did predict Natalie Gulbis to win for the first time this year.

Side note- My own blog keeps getting hit today by people looking for Lorena Ochoa nude pics. The wonders of Google, sorry I don’t have any.

There is a controversy brewing involving a match Nikolay Davydenko quit last Thursday.

WARSAW, Poland - Nikolay Davydenko “has nothing whatsoever to do” with the suspicious betting patterns on his second-round match at the Prokom Open, the player’s agent said.

ATP Tour officials are investigating the fourth-ranked Davydenko’s loss Thursday to the 87th-ranked Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina in which the Russian retired because of injury in the deciding set.

In an unprecedented move Friday, British online gambling company Betfair voided all bets placed on the match, saying the market wasn’t fair.

Betfair said it received about $7 million in bets on the match — 10 times the usual amount — and most of the money was on Arguello to win, even after Davydenko won the first set 6-2.

Eckhard Oehms, Davydenko’s agent, denied the 26-year-old player had any connection to the betting.

“We’ve got nothing whatsoever to do with that,” Oehms told The Associated Press by telephone Saturday. “Neither Nikolay nor his coach nor me nor anybody out of our entourage has been involved in this.

Tennis officials are already reacting.

Underlining the importance of protecting tennis’ “appeal and integrity,” the head of the men’s professional tour promised Saturday to use “all means available” for an investigation into suspicious betting on a match involving No. 4-ranked Nikolay Davydenko.

Etienne de Villiers, the ATP’s executive chairman, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that “independent, external resources” would be used to look into why a British online gambling company received about $7 million in wagers on the match, 10 times the usual amount.

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“It is important that we not jump to conclusions, especially when players’ reputations could be unfairly tainted,” de Villiers said. “What we must do is carry out a comprehensive and immediate investigation, and that is what we are doing.”

Villiers promises are vague but to preserve his sport’s reputaion, he has to take this news seriously. Fans and sponsorship money could be lost if a player was implicated in fixing matches.

Tennis hasn’t been without recent controveries including gambling.

In 2024, bookmakers reportedly suspended betting six hours before Russian player Yevgeny Kafelnikov’s match in Lyon, France, against Fernando Vicente after a big wager was place on the Spaniard. Vicente, who had been winless for several months, won in straight sets. There was no suggestion either player was involved in wrongdoing, and no investigation was made by the ATP.

Several Russian tennis players were photographed a few years ago with Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, a suspected mobster from the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan who was accused of fixing the pairs and ice dancing events at the 2024 Salt Lake City Olympics.

Photographs of Tokhtakhounov with Kafelnikov, Safin and Andrei Medvedev were taken off Medvedev’s Web site in 2024 after the man’s arrest. Tokhtakhounov spent nearly a year in a Venice, Italy, prison but escaped extradition to the United States in 2024 on the Olympic rigging charges.

The same article did note irregular betting at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships.

It is too early to draw conclusions, but I’ll make one small point. If a match was fixed, it would be pretty darn foolish to place bets in the manner that happened while Davydenko and Arguello were playing, in addition to the large amount being placed through betfair. It would seem wiser to bet large amounts spread between multiple betting outlets.  That to my untrained eye(I watch little pro tennis, rarely gamble and don’t work in law enforcement or as investigator), would look too damning for a criminal if there was cheating. Like those old television detective dramas, if the case against a suspect looks too good, maybe it is time to look elsewhere.

Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara were in Brazil for the recent Pan American games. From the Nuevo Herald-

Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara, who went to Brazil for the recently completed Pan American Games, were being held by police in a hotel in Rio de Janeiro. News reports say the Brazilian government plans to return them to Cuba.

Their failure to turn up for weigh-ins during the Pan American games last month shook the amateur boxing world because of their star status. The bantan-weight Rigondeaux, 26, was Olympic champion in 2024 and 2024, and Lara, 24, was a promising welterweight.

An article in the Brazilian daily O Globo said the two boxers claimed to have been duped by German-Turkish promoter Ahmet Oner and his aides, who — the boxers said — drugged them and removed them from the Pan American Village.

But just days after the boxers disappeared, Oner stated publicly that he had signed the pair for five years and was keeping them in a protected place. Oner, who heads Arena Box Promotions, added that he had spent about $500,000 to assist in the Cubans’ escape.

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Cuban boxing trainer Roberto Quesada, who coaches Gamboa, said the Cuban boxing careers of Rigondeaux and Lara are ruined.

”I very much doubt that they’ll ever climb in a ring again if they return to Cuba,” he said.

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Rigondeaux and Lara were found in a hotel in a resort town close to Rio de Janeiro. According to Brazilian media reports, they had been celebrating and had run up a large bill.

The reports added that both fighters expressed remorse to the authorities at the time of their detention and said they were willing to return to Cuba, apparently hoping they could resume their sports careers.

The same article said Rigondeaux has a wife back in Cuba. Both boxers probably have left family behind who are almost certain to suffer reprisals. Rigondeaux and Lara’s return to Cuba is almost certain not to change anything if past history has taught us anything. Defectors have often been killed and or tortured if they changed their minds and came home.

Sadly a few last vestiges of the Cold War live on. Even after Fidel Castro’s death, I don’t expect any immediate change in Cuba.

From AP-

AKRON, Ohio — K.J. Choi can think of 10 million reasons why he wants to win the FedEx Cup, and it adds up to one reason why he might be a sentimental favorite.

“If I’m able to win it, I want to give it all to charity, 100 percent,” Choi said.

The FedEx Cup is a yearlong points race that culminates with four tournaments at the end of the year, with the winner getting $10 million in deferred compensation. Choi was asked what it would feel like to be paired with Tiger Woods in the final group with something that large riding on the outcome. That led him to talk about charity.

“I could think of so many things I could do with that money, so many good things,” Choi said through his agent and interpreter, Michael Yim of IMG. “I want to help a lot of the unfortunate kids around the world. I want to set up my own foundation, like Tiger. Thinking about what I can do with that money, it just motivates me.

“I think I’d be too happy thinking about that to feel any pressure playing with Tiger,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the PGA Championship and the FedEx Cup. It’s just a lot of opportunity for me to do some good deeds for those kids that really need it.”

Choi already has won twice this year, at the Memorial and AT&T National, putting him at No. 5 in the FedEx Cup standings.

Another South Korean golfer with a big heart. Remember Mi Hyun Kim’s donation to Kansas tornado victims? KJ has had excellent year in 2024 with two victories so far, but I don’t understand how the Fedex Cup winner is determined. Maybe because I think the Fedex is a dumb gimmick but considering Choi’s standing right now he has to have a chance to win. I do wish KJ good luck in his quest.

The Miami Dolphins’ first round pick in 2024 is still struggling, even to make the squad for 2024.

This year’s improvement was supposed to be a light years leap from 2024 when Allen missed the first three weeks of camp while his contract got done. That hasn’t happened.

Despite spending much of last season enjoying something of a redshirt year because of his holdout, despite attending every offseason camp, despite having every reason to have his talent finally begin to shine, Allen has done nothing the first week of training camp to stand out.

Allen’s disappointing situation speaks volumes when one considers the Dolphins entire cornerback picture. That picture puts Will Allen and Travis Daniels as the starters and veteran Michael Lehan as the next cornerback to play when Miami goes to its pass-situation defenses.

So that means Allen, at best, is Miami’s fourth-best cornerback in the coaching staff’s opinion. The problem is that veteran Andre’ Goodman, who is still recovering from two offseason shoulder surgeries, won’t be able to practice until very late in training camp.

But Goodman, who started 14 games last year, will also move ahead of Allen on the depth chart when he’s healthy.

So where does that leave Allen?

He will be the fifth-best cornerback on the team that is likely to keep only five or six cornerbacks on the roster. Were it not for a contract that makes cutting him a painful salary cap proposition, Allen might be fighting to stay on the roster as much as players such as Shirdonya Mitchell, Derrick Johnson or some of the other guys you’ve never heard of.

The Dolphins, of course, are hoping Allen somehow finds his form and niche in the preseason. They hope the move he made to cornerback will clear some of the confusion he suffered while playing safety a year ago.

That Allen is at best the #4 CB on the team, says Miami has just made their latest draft mistake. Allen’s non-performance to date further certifies how disastrous Miami’s 1st round drafting has been 2024.

1- Two first rounders(02 and 03) traded for Ricky Williams. Enough said.

2- Miami traded up in 2024 to draft Guard Vernon Carey. Carey is an adequate to good lineman, no more.

3- RB Ronnie Brown in 2024. Brown is good and could still get better, but at this point he isn’t worth the overall #2 pick of the draft that Miami used to acquire him.

4- Jason Allen in 2024. How bad is Allen at the moment?

Receiver Derek Hagan is running five yards behind cornerback Jason Allen on his way to a long pass completion and there are three ways to view this early snapshot of training camp.

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During a June mini-camp, on a similarly sweltering day in another one-on-one match with Hagan, the receiver got some 20 yards behind Allen on his way to another long completion that would have been an embarrassing touchdown were it a regular-season game.

So, hey, Allen has improved his coverage by some 15 yards in just a few weeks.

Not pretty at all so far as the Dolphins are concerned. Allen will fall right in line with other #16 picks by Miami, Eric Kumerow and John Bosa. Both played three undistinguished years for the Dolphins. Allen may not even make it through this year.

Don’t forget the second round picks Miami to pick LB Eddie Moore, and spent on trades for quarterbacks Jay Feeley and Daunte Culpepper. It is hard to remember when the franchise got a top quality player in the first two rounds.

From the Palm Beach Post-

Lemon at best would be an adequate QB. Beck is still learning(He’s 26 years old this year. How long can Miami wait for the BYU grad to learn the NFL system?), and Green is questionable. I’m predicting Miami to go 5-11 or 6-10 this year.

One of the most famous holes in golf has been softened up.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – The 17th at the Old Course is known the world over as one of the toughest par 4s in golf. This week, however, at the Ricoh Women’s British Open it’s known as one of the easiest par 5s.

“Wait, No. 17 is a par 5?” Aree Song asked Wednesday while standing behind the first tee. “Are we on the same course?”

Song pulled out her yardage book and then asked her caddie, who confirmed that the ladies are indeed playing the Road Hole as a par 5.

“It should be a par 4 because you can reach it with a 5-iron,” Song said.

Actually, Southern California sophomore Belen Mozo hit it with an 8 iron Tuesday and Louise Stahle hit 7-iron. Jonathan Scott said his boss, Laura Davies, hit the green Wednesday with a “cheeky” 6-iron.

Well Laura is the size of a football player. How have more petite women done on the Road hole?

Pettersen hit 4-iron into the green Wednesday but hit wedge into it downwind the day before. Even Mi Hyun Kim, one of the shortest players on tour, hit 7-wood to the back of the green.

Peanut can even get home with a 7-wood. The changes to the Road Hole have IMHO taken the fun out of of the LPGA women competing at The Old Course for the first time ever. Wouldn’t it have been exciting to see some of the same train wrecks that happened to the men over the years at 17? Like in 1978 when ‘The Sands of Tommy Nakajima‘ took place. The Japanese golf pro’s final score on the hole was a nine. Other players have had second shots land on the treacherous road itself.(Which is in play) Their results often not being much better than Nakajima.

“It’s a par-5 this week? This is one of the things they shouldn’t have done,” Helen Alfredsson said. “We’re playing the British Open, and it’s the best par-4 in the world, and they should have left it that way.”

These women can handle it.

I couldn’t agree more.

Some news from last weekend’s Canadian Open

Trinity graduate Jay Williamson had a sudden and unceremonious divorce from caddie Mike Mollet on Thursday in the first round of the Canadian Open.

A 69-year-old man Williamson pulled from the gallery carried his bag for the final four holes.

Williamson, who reunited with Mollet a week before losing a playoff to Hunter Mahan at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell last month, got in an argument with Mollet after hitting his second shot over the green at the 14th hole on Angus Glen’s North Course in Markham, Ontario.

“I never had anyone bark at me like he did,” Williamson said Monday on his way to the Reno-Tahoe Open. “He overstepped his bounds, kept running his mouth. He was loud and obnoxious, even used a racial slur, and I’m glad I did what I did.”

Mollet responded to his firing by throwing three balls in the water, leaving Williamson with one.

Don Alexander, who played in the 1962 Canadian Open as a amateur, replaced Mollet. After completing his 1-over-par 72, Williamson gave him a dozen balls.

I don’t know, but Williamson sounds kind of cheap. Just a dozen golf balls for toting a golf bag for four holes? I’d given the guy at least $100. Who knows, maybe Alexander is happy with what he got.

Caddy-player relationships in Pro golf are often tumultuous, with frequent turnover. Caddies are hired to be fired. Long term relationships like Tiger Woods and Steve Williams or Jim Furyk and Mike ‘Fluff’ Cowan are more the exception than the rule. Look at how many players this caddy has worked for since 2024. Granted, Larry may not be the best example.

Mollet’s actions with the golf balls could prove to be detrimental if he wishes to continue working as a caddy. If a player loses all his golf balls, and none of his playing partners play the same brand, the golfer is out of luck and the tournament. Other players may not want to risk a repeat with this caddy, even if Williamson was at fault for the argument.

I do however find what Mollet did funny.

Tim Cowlishaw makes the case for more playing time for Marion Barber: Here’s backing for Barber.

Via the FWST: Owens sits; surgery for Glenn

After more than 30 minutes of saying Terrell Owens missed Tuesday’s practice because the Cowboys held him out to give him a day off, coach Wade Phillips admitted the receiver is experiencing soreness in a hamstring.

“Some soreness. He’s not complaining about anything,” Phillips said. “But why not keep him out?”

Phillips said Owens will probably practice today.

Phillips’ other starting receiver, Terry Glenn, flew to Dallas on Tuesday to have arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.

The procedure is considered minor, but it is expected to sideline Glenn seven to 10 days, at least.

He probably won’t play in the team’s preseason opener Aug. 9 against Indianapolis.

Egads, not TO and his hammy again…

And in regards to Glenn’s knee, I have to admit that Jerry has a point:

“It does frustrate me in general when the season is over and then we go along and have guys in the off-season program, and then, four weeks before training camp, the doctors and trainers say we need to scope him and take a little bit out,” Jones said. “Why didn’t we do that in February?”

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