cheap jordans-Scott's collapse hands Els British Open title

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England — Ernie Els doffed his cap to the cheering fans when his putt fell at Royal Lytham & St. Annes' 18th hole, doing a little half-pirouette in delight at a strong British Open finish.

The Hall of Famer accepted congratulations, signed his card and strolled over to the putting green to await the inevitable letdown.

"I just thought I'd be disappointed again," said Els, who over a star-crossed career has spent more time than he cares to admit waiting for playoffs that never came.

The playoff never came.

Ernie Els is Champion Golfer of the Year.

Adam Scott's four-bogey finish Sunday left a stunned Els in possession of the claret jug for the second time, culminating a chaotic final half-hour in which the Aussie's quest for a first major title went from clear sailing to shipwrecked.

"I'm still numb. It still hasn't set in," Els said not quite an hour after the whirlwind finish. "It'll probably take quite a few days, because I haven't been in this position for 10 years.

"It's just crazy. Crazy, crazy, crazy. A crazy game."

Els made four birdies on the back nine in a 2-under-par 68, capping it with that 20-footer at No. 18 that seemingly beelined into the hole. He was the only man from Sunday's final seven pairings to break par as gusty winds finally arrived to give Royal Lytham some teeth.

Even so, it wouldn't have been enough without Scott's slippage.

"I'm pretty disappointed," said Scott, who led by four after a birdie at No. 14. "I had it in my hands with four to go and proceeded to hit a poor shot on each of the last four. That's what happens on a course like this."

The Aussie instead became the latest Open hard-luck casualty. Jean Van de Velde remains the (fool's) gold standard, blowing a three-shot lead with his triple bogey at Carnoustie's 18th in 1999.

Thomas Bjorn left a two-shot lead in a 16th-hole bunker in 2003 at Royal St. George's. Three years ago, 59-year-old Tom Watson botched the 18th hole, ruining a turn-back-the-clock victory for the ages.

"I know I've let a really great chance slip through my fingers," Scott said.

Scott finished with a 75 that included seven bogeys. Els was the only man to shoot par or better all four days, finishing at 7-under 273.

Tiger Woods was four shots back in a tie for third, carding a 73 that included an adventurous triple bogey at No. 6. A bunker shot caromed back and almost hit him, and his eventual escape came from a sitting position on the bank above.

"Overall I'm pleased with the way I played," Woods said. "Unfortunately, just a couple here and there ended up costing me some momentum — especially today at (No.) 6."

Brandt Snedeker shared third with Woods after a 74, dropping from contention after double bogeys at Nos. 7 and 8. Graeme McDowell (75) and Luke Donald (69) were another shot back.

Sunday's triumph came 10 years and one day after Els' other Open crown, when he won a four-man playoff on the fifth hole of overtime at Muirfield. He preceded that with two U.S. Open titles in 1994 and '97.

But he'd also lost an Open playoff to Todd Hamilton in 2004, three months after he waited on the Masters putting green for possible extra holes. Phil Mickelson birdied No. 18 for his first major title.

"I really feel for (Scott), but it's the nature of the beast," Els said. "It was my time for some reason."

Scott had missed a short par putt at No. 16 moments before Els' final birdie, setting up the final drama.

An approach shot at No. 17 sailed into lush rough right of the green, and Scott's chip flew 12 feet past the flag for a third consecutive bogey. Grabbing a 3-wood on the 18th tee, he watched helplessly as his drive skipped into one of the 17 bunkers that flank the fairway and green.

After Scott chipped out sideways, a splendid wedge touched down in the middle of the green and rolled into par range. The putt, however, stayed a hair too far left.

cheap jordan-Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt in limbo — how slow will he go?

Usain Bolt must have a bad hamstring, which would explain why the dazzling sprinter who set three world records while electrifying crowds at the Beijing Olympics lost twice to compatriot Yohan Blake at the recent Jamaican Olympic trials. It also would explain why Bolt, who previously hadn't lost a 200-meter race other than a qualifying heat since 2007, afterward visited his longtime sports doctor in Germany for treatment and then withdrew from the final London Olympics tuneup meet last week in Monaco.

No, the problem must be that Bolt's back is acting up again. The evidence offered by breathless British press reports: Bolt asked for a 7-foot-long, customized and orthopedically friendly mattress to be delivered to his room at the Jamaican team's pre-Olympic training headquarters in Birmingham, England, the better to cradle his lanky, 6-foot-5 frame and ease his chronic back problems.

The real reason for Bolt's defeats probably combines the discomfort of a balky hamstring, the woes generated by a congenitally curved spine and the emergence of training partner Blake as a new and younger rival to his supremacy in perfect time for a memorable showdown at the London Summer Games.

But don't write Bolt off just yet.

"Every time he has been severely challenged and it looks like he maybe has a chink in the armor he has bounced back pretty strong," said Ato Boldon, a four-time Olympic sprint medalist and four-time world championship medalist for Trinidad and Tobago who will analyze track events during NBC's Olympic coverage.

"I am not one of those who think he is automatically going to lose in London. But for the first time he is not the favorite in the 100."

With Bolt and his teammates sequestered at the Jamaicans' practice facility, no reliable reports about Bolt's fitness have surfaced. That has left fans of the sport to wonder if the charismatic sprinter whose playful personality is reflected in his trademark "Lightning Bolt" post-victory pose — right arm drawn back at shoulder height, left arm extended with his left index finger pointing toward the heavens — has lost some of his thunder to Blake.

Bolt might provide some illumination Thursday, when the Jamaican team is scheduled to participate in a pre-Olympic news conference in London. Bolt's agent, Ricky Simms, told reporters two weeks ago the hamstring tightness Bolt had felt during the Jamaican meet had vanished and that Bolt was "back to normal . . . good to go."

For the 25-year-old Bolt, "good to go" usually means stunning performances like his world-record 9.69-second clocking in the 100 at the Beijing Olympics and a relaxed approach. His pre-race meal was chicken nuggets, a nutritionist's nightmare but, at least for him, the dinner of champions. He lowered his record to 9.58 a year later in Berlin at the world championships and followed that four days later by breaking Michael Johnson's revered world record in the 200 with a blazing time of 19.19 seconds, all the while winning fans with his down-to-earth demeanor.

Only his high-speed driving antics, which have led to several car accidents, stand between him and utter adoration within his country and among fans around the world. A sport plagued by years of doping scandals and administrative bumbling couldn't hope for a more magnetic athlete to help repair its image while competing in the signature event for the title of world's fastest man.

"He's the best thing to happen to track and field in my lifetime," Boldon said. "I think he has that ability to take the sport into a place where, coming back off the Marion Jones stuff and the Tim Montgomery stuff and the BALCO stuff, he really has been a breath of fresh air for the sport.

"His personality is just a complement to his ability. His performances get your attention. His personality is what has kept the attention of the entire planet for the last four years."

But Bolt's results at the Jamaican trials gained attention for the wrong reasons.

Blake, who won the 100-meter world title last year after Bolt was charged with a false start and disqualified, beat a slow-starting Bolt with a personal-best 9.75 seconds in the 100 final. Two days later Blake, 22 and a contrast to Bolt at a stocky and powerful 5 feet 11 and 175 pounds, capitalized on another bad start by his rival to win the 200 in 19.80. Bolt was second at 19.83.

At a meet last week in Lucerne, Switzerland, Blake overcame his own slow start to win the 100 in 9.85. Only Blake, Bolt and American sprinter Justin Gatlin have run faster this year. "I didn't come here to run a quick time, but it's still a fast time. Not many guys run 9.85," Blake told reporters.

Bolt has three faster times this season, but his losses to Blake at the Jamaican trials stand out as the Olympics approach. Boldon said Bolt's poor starts in the trials shouldn't be seen as the start of a bad trend.

"Bolt knows very well he cannot go to the Olympics and start like that. If he starts like that in the Olympic final, he loses. He may not even get second," Boldon said. "But the thing is, in his championships history, he does not start bad at championships, the false start last year notwithstanding.

"I don't know how he does it, but he always seems to figure it out by then. He can be starting poorly the entire year, like he was in 2011, and somehow he finds a way to figure it out for the championships."

Boldon said he considers Tyson Gay, the American-record holder in the 100, "extremely dangerous . . . sort of the overlooked guy," and capable of beating Bolt at that distance.

Cheap Air Jordan-Winning British Open isn't as 'easy' as Els makes it look

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England — Like most everything else about the masterful golfer Ernie Els, including his nickname, another British Open title fits him like a pair of slippers.

In the end, after an incredible turn of events and a shocking finish on a comfortable and overcast Sunday afternoon here, the Big Easy made it somehow feel right in all regards.

He began the day as just another guy a few notches down the leaderboard. He was in position, at best, to score a nice paycheck. He had a commendable 54-hole start of 67-70-68, 5 under par, but leader Adam Scott was hitting greens and making putts like a programmed robot. Scott was seven shots ahead of Els early in the final round, and any projected drama surely did not include the South African.

Els still trailed Scott by six shots after he made a bogey on No. 9. "I was angry with myself about that," Els said.

But anger usually didn't mean much on this minefield of pot bunkers known as Royal Lytham & St. Annes golf course. Nor was there much recent history to indicate that Els was a dangerous chaser.

Few crystal balls saw the elder Els coming home with three birdies, including a 20-footer on the 18th that got the ground shaking all the way back to the 17th tee, where Scott was coming apart.

"I didn't have to look at the scoreboard to realize the situation," Scott said.

He had bogeyed Nos. 15 and 16 and was still 8 under par, a shot ahead of Els, when he stood over his approach on the 17th. He said he and caddie Steve Williams had talked on the 17th tee of making "just six more good swings." Scott's iron to the 17th wasn't one of those, the ball bouncing into tall rough behind the green, and when he bogeyed again, he had slipped into a tie with Els at 7 under.

If Scott didn't par the 18th hole, a straight-on, relatively easy (except for the ever-present bunkers) par 4, the beloved Els would be the one standing with the beloved claret jug.

Then Scott hit his drive into one of the 206 sandy pits placed neatly around this course and another wave of amazement swept No. 18. Now, he would have to hit it out sideways and get his third shot close enough to make a par putt just to get into a playoff with Els.

Nobody saw this coming.

In the VIP seats, perhaps the best in golf for such an occasion, they were close enough to have as good a read on Scott's 10-foot putt to tie as he did.

And so, at 6:19 p.m. local time, the Aussie with the still-unfulfilled great promise pulled his putter back and the world of golf shook again. His putt slipped past and Els, standing on the putting green behind the clubhouse and awaiting a possible playoff, knew he had won by the sound.

Now, the combination of joy for Els and horror for Scott — the win mind-boggling and the collapse gut-wrenching — became a situation in need of some handling. Enter the Big Easy, the man so named because of how he swings a golf club and paces his way through life.

He found Scott in the players' area and Scott related what happened.

"He said he felt for me and to not beat myself up," Scott said. "He said I'm a great player and I can go on to win majors, which is nice."

About Scott's great collapse, Els said, "I've been there before. I hope he doesn't take it as hard as I did."

Champions come along every day. Compassionate ones do not. On Sunday at the British Open, Ernie Els was there for everybody.