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Astros beat Padres
HOUSTON (AP) - Roger
Clemens won his first game in
three weeks and the Houston
Astros tied a season high with
three homers in a 5-3 victory
over the San Diego Padres on
Sunday, stopping a four-game
losing streak and giving Phil
Gamer his first win as the
Astros’ manager.
Clemens, rocked for six
runs in the first inning dur
ing Tuesday’s All-Star game in
Houston, had been 0-1 in three
starts since beating Pittsburgh
on June 24.
He retired 16 consecutive
batters starting with the final
out of the first and got his
321st win. Clemens allowed
two runs and four hits in seven
innings, striking out five.
The Astros remained a sea
son-high 12 games behind NL
Central-leading St. Louis and
faces its largest deficit in the
division race since 2000.
Calos Beltran, Kent and Craig
Biggio hit solo homers, and Adam
Everett went 3-for-4 as Houston
avoided getting swept in the
three-game series.
Sports
The Battalion
Page 3 • Monday, July 19, 2004
Hamilton wins British Open
By Doug Ferguson
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Unflappable to the very end, Todd Hamilton
tapped in a par putt to win the British Open in
a playoff, bending over to get the ball out of the
hole as if it was just another round of golf.
Then he stopped.
And only then did the enormity of the
moment—and how he got there—start to sink in.
Twelve years toiling in the most obscure
outposts in golf. Eight tries at PGA Tour school
before reaching the big leagues as a 38-year-old
father of three.
Now, British Open champion.
Turning his back on the hole, he let out a
whoop, raised both arms in the air and hugged
his caddie.
“I hoped that something like this would hap
pen,” Hamilton said.
Tough times only hardened his resolve on the
back nine of Royal Troon, where Hamilton over
came Phil Mickelson and outlasted Ernie Els in
a four-hole playoff Sunday to capture the silver
claret jug.
Hamilton made four pars in the playoff, the last one
the toughest of them all. From 40 yards short of the
hole, he used a utility club to bump the ball along the
crusty grass until it stopped 2 feet from the cup.
Els had a 12-foot birdie putt in regulation to win. His
last chance was a 15-foot birdie putt from the same line
Todd
Troon
Rebecca Naden • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hamilton meets his caddie Ron Levin after winning the British Open at Royal
golf course in Troon, Scotland. Hamilton beat Ernie Els to win the trophy.
to keep the playoff going, but it turned away to the left.
“1 had my chances,” Els said after his third close call
in the majors this year.
For the second year in a row, the jug went to a player
no one could have imagined at the start of the week. But
unlike Ben Curtis, who was ranked 396th when he won
at Royal St. George’s in his first major, no one will ever
call Hamilton a fluke.
“Eve won tournaments around the
world before, but nothing on a stage
like this,” Hamilton said.
An 1 1-time winner on the Japanese
tour, Hamilton thought he had hit the
big time when he birdied the final
two holes for a one-shot victory over
Davis Love III at the Honda Classic
in March.
His name is now on the oldest tro
phy in golf alongside Bobby Jones, Ben
Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus
and Tiger Woods.
“I knew 1 was a decent golfer. 1
knew I tried hard, I knew I worked
hard,” Hamilton said. “Sometimes I
think what kept me back ... I put a lot
of pressure on myself to do well, and
a lot of times I felt that in tournaments
like this, if 1 happened to get into them,
I didn’t really feel that I belonged.”
Els had to make 10-footers for birdie
on the 16th and 17th holes to keep
his hopes alive at Royal Troon. And when Hamilton
bogeyed the 18th hole in regulation, the Big Easy had a
12-foot putt for the win.
But he left it short, and his putter let him down in the
playoff. He missed a 12-foot birdie putt on No. 1, and
fell behind when he overshot the third extra hole, the
par-3 17th, and missed a 10-footer for par.
Some NBA teams slam-dunk while others miss
N^ow that some of the
dust has settled, it’s time
for the obligatory look at
who the big winners and
losers are of the young
NBA off-season.
Locally, all three Texas
teams seem to have made
steps forward.
The Houston Rockets are a better team with
Tracy McGrady than they were with Steve Francis.
The question remains though, will McGrady be
willing to share the ball with center Yao Ming like
Francis was never willing to? Who will provide
rebounding and physical inside defense now that
Kelvin Cato is gone? Will anyone really notice
that Cuttino Mobley is gone as well?
i/iiiffl ^ oc ^ ets may be forced to start Tyronn
All' Lue at point guard and rely on a broken, shell-
of-his-former-self Juwan Howard to bolster a
^ razor-thin front line. T-Mac will put the Rockets
:r tlieci
in the playoffs again, but they won’t make it past
round one.
The Dallas Mavericks, after failing to win the
Shaq sweepstakes, may have actually upgraded
by losing an overpaid Steve Nash. The Mavs will
never so much as sniff the NBA finals until they
get a first-tier center and some players who can
actually guard someone. Losing Nash’s contract
may be the first step to getting there.
It's hard to believe Shaquille O’Neal wasn’t
worth Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley. To the
Mavericks, Shaq was worth Nowitzki, Finley,
Nash, four Shawn Bradleys, Eduardo Najera and
naming rights to American Airlines Center. 1
remain unconvinced that Nowitzki is the caliber
of player free-spending owner Mark Cuban can
build the team around.
San Antonio seems to be the real winner
in Texas so far. After taking care of their first
priority by locking up Manu Ginobili, the
Spurs convinced Bruce Bowen to re-sign for
less money. They took care of a glaring need
by signing Brent Barry, a guard who can shoot
from the perimeter as well as make free throws.
Barry is an upgrade from the
departed Hedo Turkoglu, because
Barry shouldn’t fold in April much
like Turkoglu did.
The only thing that makes Spurs
fans nervous is the lack of depth
on the front line. The only backup
currently on the roster is 6-foot-7-
inch Malik Rose. Free agent options
include aging, but almost univer
sally maligned, Karl Malone; aging
but immortal Kevin Willis, and just plain aging
Robert Horry.
One thing fans of all three Texas teams have
in common though is the glee they feel from see
ing the once-mighty Los Angeles Lakers super-
star-fueled juggernaut collapse in on itself like a
neutron star.
After trading O'Neal to Miami for over
paid, undersized Brian Grant, underachieving
Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, a case of Gatorade
and a bag of basketballs, Lakers General
Manager Mitch Kupchak watched haplessly
as Kobe Bryant made the entire city of Los
Angeles squirm before he decided to return
to the Lakers.
The Lakers may well become the only
team in recent memory to go from the NBA
finals to the draft lottery in the space of a
season. Rudy Tomjanovich was a good hire
as coach, but he hasn't been tested by an ego
as big as Bryant’s. He has also never done
well without a marquee center, one of whom he
managed to just miss on his way into town.
It’s been a busy off-season already, four days into
the free agent signing period. Rasheed Wallace is
still on the board, and look for big moves still from
Dallas, Sacramento and the L.A. Clippers. However
it unfolds, next season is going to be very interesting.
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