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Sports
The Battalion
Page 3 • Monday, July 22, 2(
Is overcomes disaster, claims British Open in playoff
GULLANE, Scotland (AP) —
nie Els didn’t need Tiger
oods around to show he still has
mettle of a major champion.
Els rebounded from one set-
ck after another Sunday, most
it his own doing, and outlasted
lomas Levet of France to win
British Open in a four-man
ayoff that produced the first
t0 “flidden-death finish in the 142-
®ai history of the tournament,
i* u I El s squandered a three-stroke
ter her verbaiBj on back nine at
use Texas rar® u i r fie| t l, only to recover with a
amount of fiM rc jj e .p ar finish to get into the
development ir _hoi e playoff He held it
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steady with pars, then won with
a bunker shot on the first extra
hole that will become the signa
ture of this Open.
With his right foot anchored
on the top of a bunker left of the
18th green, and not much room
to make a swing, Els blasted out
to 5 feet. The winning par putt
just curled in the right side and
the engraver could finally get to
work on the silver claret jug.
No other trophy has ever
meant so much.
Els honed his game on
European tour soil and was des
tined for greatness until Woods
came along and started collecting
majors at a frightening rate. Els
has been runner-up to him twice
in the majors, six times overall.
He won the British Open the
same way he won his two U.S.
Open titles — with grit and
determination, unfazed even
when it looked as though he had
wasted his chances.
"This was one of the hardest
tournaments I’ve ever played,”
Els said. “The emotions I went
through today — I don’t think
I’ve ever been through that.”
It was the third major champi
onship for the 32-year-old Els, his
first since the
U.S. Open at
Congressional
five years ago.
None of
three was
easy, but this
one tops the
list.
Ahead by
as many as three shots on the
back nine, his lead was down to
one when Els took double
bogey on the 16th to fall one
stroke behind, a perilous posi
tion that left him no room for
mistakes.
ELS
He didn’t make any, finishing
with a 1-under 70 to join Levet,
Stuart Appleby and Steve
Elkington at 6-under 278.
The largest British Open
playoff prior to Sunday involved
three players in 1999 at
Carnoustie and in 1989 at Royal
Troon. The lowest score over
four holes is the winner.
Levet, who closed with a 66,
shook Muirfield with a 50-foot
birdie putt on the 16th hole —
the second hole in the playoff
rotation — but started to feel the
pressure and was lucky to
escape the final two playoff
holes with a par and a bogey.
Els made it through with four
pars, and they returned to the
18th for the first sudden-death
playoff in Open history. Both fin
ished the four holes in even par.
Appleby, who birdied three
of the last four holes for a 65 to
get into the playoff, hit his
approach into the right bunker,
couldn’t get on the green and
made bogey to finish 1 over in
the playoff. Elkington, the 1995
PGA champion who closed with
a 66, missed a 6-foot par putt on
No. 18 and also dropped out at
1 - over.
Cinco Ranch wins 7-on-7
at w
Ics can focus Ik
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he center, win
center to
id.
will raise the visi-
of the anthro-
ment and Texas
said.
I Cinco Ranch Cougars’ defender Brian Vogt chases Abilene
High School’s Jarale Baden in the finals of the 7-on7 state
RANDAL PORD • THE BATTALION
tournament. The Cougars won, 42-36, after quarterback
Connor Spitzer completed six touchdown passes.
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By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
I Katy Cinco Ranch High School
beat Abilene 42-36 to win the 7-on-7
state football tournament Saturday at
Kyle Field in front of a crowd of
over 300.
The narrow victory came after
Cinco Ranch’s Nick Krueger deflect-
od a pass by Abilene quarterback
Marcus Johnson in the end zone with
under one minute remaining. In 7-on-
7, the clock is continuous, and an
Abilene touchdown would have left
Cinco Ranch little time to run any
offensive plays.
Cougars quarterback Connor
Spitzer, the tournament’s most valuable
player, was 16-of-21 passing with six
touchdowns and one interception.
Spitzer used the entire Cinco Ranch
receiving corps during the game but
favored Nathan Black and David Elmer.
Black caught a 40-yard touchdown
pass in the first half and Elmer
accounted for three of Cinco Ranch’s
five second-half touchdowns, includ
ing a 45-yard touchdown pass on
Cinco Ranch’s first play of the second
half. The score answered Abilene’s
two-play touchdown drive to open the
second half, and negated Abilene’s
only lead of the game.
"They played hard,” said Johnson.
“Even though we didn’t win it will
make us try harder for the rest of the
summer (and into the football season).”
Despite Spitzer’s impressive
offensive stats, Cinco Ranch’s
defense won the game. The Cougars
stopped two second-half drives by
Abilene, including the deflection in
the end zone in the closing moments
of the second half.
“Even though we won, it doesn’t
mean we will have a winning season
(in 2002),” Spitzer said. “It will give
us more momentum going in though.”
The Cougars finished the 2001 sea
son with a 2-7 record.
1-on-l football is an all passing, low
contact, one touch game played in two
20 minute halves on a 45-yard field.
Everyone except the center is an eligi
ble receiver. Running plays and defen
sive rushing are illegal. Each team
starts from the 45-yard line regardless
of the outcome of the previous drive
and has three downs to go 15-yards.
Armstrong extends
lead, nears fourth title
MONT VENTOUX, France (AP) —
As he closes in on a fourth straight Tour
de France title, Lance Armstrong is
hearing a familiar but unwelcome chant
from fans lining the route.
On Sunday, after another strong per
formance in the mountains extended his
overall lead to almost 4 1/2 minutes,
Armstrong had heard enough.
“If I had a dollar for every time some
body yelled, ‘Doe-PAY! Doe-PAY!’
(French for ’Doped! Doped!’), I’d be a
rich man,” he said. “It’s disappointing.”
Thanks to a stunning sprint up the
formidable Mont Ventoux on Sunday,
Armstrong stretched his lead over
Joseba Beloki in the standings to 4 min
utes, 21 seconds.
The run wasn’t enough for the Texan
to take the stage, though. Armstrong fin
ished third, 2:20 behind winner Richard
Virenque of France, who led for the last
125 miles of the 137-mile 14th leg.
Thousands of fans turned out for
the stage, but not all were on
Armstrong’s side.
“The people are not very sportsman
slike, some of them,” the U.S. Postal
Service rider said. “A boo is a lot loud
er than a cheer. If you have 10 people
cheering and one person booing, all you
hear is the boo.”
Many fans waved the U.S. flag and
banners with Armstrong’s name Sunday.
But they were outnumbered by those
supporting the French, Belgian, Italian
and German riders, among others.
Virenque is one of the riders who’s
most popular with French fans, even
though two years ago he confessed to
taking drugs when competing for the
Festina team. That whole squad, includ
ing Virenque, was thrown out of the
1998 Tour when a stash of banned drugs
was found in a team car.
Since he started dominating the Tour
in 1999, Armstrong has heard accusa
tions of drug use. He steadfastly denies
using performance enhancers and never
has failed a drug test.
He said he couldn’t understand the
behavior of fans who jeer him.
“I think it’s an indication of their
intelligence,” he said. “I’m not here to
be friends with a bunch of people who
stand at the side of the road, who’ve had
too much to drink, and want to yell.
“It’s an issue of class: Do you have
class, or do you not have class? That’s
not the way a classy person acts.”
Armstrong added that the gibes didn’t
affect him, although he looked tense.
“I don’t really care. Nor will I care in
three or four years when I’m sitting on
the beach with my kids, having a cool
beer,” he said.
Virenque’s win was the fifth stage
victory of his Tour career but the first
since returning from a nine-month ban
that prevented him from riding in last
year’s competition.
He drew the ban for admitting to
drug use in a trial that grew out of the
Festina scandal. At the time, he said the
suspension would likely end his career,
but he later joined the Domo Farm
Frites team, for which he still rides.
“At the foot (of the Ventoux), I didn’t
believe I could do it,” Virenque said
Sunday. “The public carried me.”
He clocked 5 hours, 43 minutes, 26
seconds in the stretch through the
Languedoc and Provence regions, where
temperatures soared to 95 degrees.
Russia’s Alexander Botcharov was
second, 1:58 behind.
Armstrong hasn’t won a stage at the
Ventoux in five attempts, including the
2000 Tour and three editions of the
Dauphine Libere race.
“I didn’t come here to win the Mont
Ventoux,” he said. “I came here to win
the Tour de France.”
TOUR DE FRANCE
A day of rest
Riders rest Monday and the Tour
continues Tuesday with a
140.43-mile trek from Viason-la-
Romaine to Les Deux-Aipes.
Vj
'..f.
LUXEMBOURG
□ Stage start
oi Stage finish
® Stage finish/start
a Rest
Overall Standings
1. Lance Armstrong, United States, 56
hours, 51 minutes, 39 seconds
2. Joseba Beloki, Spain, 4 hours, 26
seconds behind
3. Raimondas Rumsas, Lithuania, 6:39
4. Igor Gonzalez Gaideano, Spain, 8:36
5. Francisco Mancebo, Spain, 10:49
6. Jose Azevedo, Portugal, 10:57
/.Roberto Heras, Spain, 11:35
8. Oscar Sevilla, Spain, 12:45
9. Levy Leipheimer, United States,
12:54
10. Richard Virenque, France, 13:12
SOURCE: Associated Press; STF; ESRl AP
Rangers snap 8-game skid Cubs stay hot, down Astros, 3-2
' CHICAGO tAPt — A 94-deeree dav at the escane was stand in a dank hallwav.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) —
re cious little luck has run the
exas Rangers’ way since Alex
°driguez joined them before
la st season.
When a big dose of good for-
ne helped the Rangers snap
eir e ight-game losing streak
y . Sunday with a remarkable
‘ctci-y, Rodriguez hoped it was
e . start °f a bigger change.
lvan Rodriguez drove in the
I "Rhead run with a bases-
ac *ed single in the 12th as the
: n § er s survived three straight
^nings 0 t p er jj fi e f ore ra iiying
rJi, a victory over the
Ua kland Athletics.
sin K a Pl er had a two-run
atiRn anc ^ ^ ex Rodriguez hit
. RBI triple in a five-run burst
ln 12th
escaped the Coliseum with just
their second victory since the
All-Star break.
The final score made it look
easy, but the 16 runners left on
base by the A’s — including nine
in the final four innings — sug
gested otherwise. On almost
every key play, the Rangers got
the break.
“It felt so good to sneak one
out,” said Alex Rodriguez, who
went 3-for-5. “I think we’ve hit
rock-bottom. It was nice to
come up with a big win.
Hopefully, we’re on the way up
now. This could change a lot of
things for us.”
Whether it’s injuries, incon
sistent hitting or combustible
relief pitching, the Rangers
as
uve-run uuim <=” , , , ,
the Rangers know all about bad luck and
wasted opportunities. This time,
however, it was the streaking A’s
who didn’t take advantage of
their chances.
Oakland wasted another
strong start by Mark Mulder and
several chances to claim its
fourth straight victory. The A’s
stranded two runners in the ninth
and left the bases loaded in the
10th and 11th.
“We finally got some big outs
when we needed them,” Texas
manager Jerry Narron said.
“When you do that, you win
ballgames.”
In the 12th, Jim Mecir (3-2)
allowed Ivan Rodriguez’s drive
to center field and Michael
Young’s sacrifice fly before
Kapler and Alex Rodriguez put
it out of reach.
CHICAGO (AP) — A 94-degree day at the
ballpark made the Chicago Cubs and Houston
Astros work as hard to keep cool as they nor
mally do just to win.
Mark Bellhom and Fred McGriff homered,
and Alex Gonzalez drove in the go-ahead run with
a double as Chicago beat Houston 3-2 on a steamy
Sunday at Wrigley Field.
Humidity made it feel like 106 degrees, and
players on both sides took precautions against
the weather.
“Every chance I had, I went inside to get
some” air conditioning, McGriff said. “It was hot
for everybody.”
Cubs starter Jon Lieber, who was limited to
five innings, said he also ducked inside whenev
er he could to an air-conditioned room near the
team's dugout. Catcher Todd Hundley drank
jugs of Gatorade before being lifted for a pinch-
runner in the sixth.
The Astros have too long of a walk to their air-
conditioned clubhouse, so all they could do to
escape was stand in a dank hallway.
“I tried to stay cool by going into the tunnel
between innings,” Houston starter Roy Oswalt
said. “Summer league (as a teen-ager) is probably
the last time I’ve pitched in heat like this.”
Jeff Fassero (4-6) pitched one inning of relief
for the victory for the Cubs, who have won seven
of 10 and are 8-4 since Bruce Kimm took over as
interim manager July 5.
“It was hot in the dugouts,” Kimm said. “There
wasn’t any breeze. But it always makes it cooler
when you win.”
Antonio Alfonseca got three outs for his 13th
save in 17 chances.
Lance Berkman hit his NL-leading 30th homer
for Houston, which dropped two of three to fall
seven games behind St. Louis in the NL Central.
Between innings, Wrigley Field personnel
sprayed fans in the bleachers with water from a
hose, and umpires were given frequent cups of
water by clubhouse workers.