Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia, both winless this year in major tournaments, stole the spotlight from the world's best two players Monday by beating Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, 3 and 1, in the ``Battle at the Bridges.''
It was the fifth version of Monday Night Golf, the made-for-television exhibition designed to bring golf to prime time. This one featured the best golf and the least amount of fun.
PHOTO: AP
All four of players were grinding, halving seven straight holes on the back nine as Mickelson and Garcia of Spain, who never trailed, clung to a 1-up lead.
When the sun dropped behind the foothills and the lights came on, Garcia and Mickelson shone. Both hit their second shots over the water to the 514m 16th hole.
"Sergio hit two great golf shots on 16 and made a beautiful putt," Woods said. "They both played really solid. They put a lot of pressure on us. Ernie and I didn't quite get it done."
South Africa's Els hit his approach into the water, while Woods caught a bunker left of the green. Garcia, who had missed several birdie putts that could have given his team a big lead, finally came through with a 30-footer that was true as soon as it left his putter.
That gave them a 2-up lead, and they closed out Woods and Els on the 17th hole when the Nos. 1 and 2 players in the world failed to come close to a birdie.
It was only the second time Woods has lost since the Monday night exhibitions began in 1999, both times to Garcia.
Woods went back to his old Titleist driver for the first time in 18 months, but that was never a problem on the Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe.
Garcia and Mickelson were a combined 8 under through 17 holes. They each earned US$600,000 from the US$1.7 million purse, while Woods and Els got US$250,000 each.
After three years at Bighorn in the California desert, the match moved to the Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe, an expansive enclave in the foothills north of San Diego.
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko finished runners-up in the Wimbledon women's doubles final yesterday, losing 6-3, 2-6, 4-6. The three-set match against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens of Belgium lasted two hours and 23 minutes. The loss denied 39-year-old Hsieh a chance to claim her 10th Grand Slam title. Although the Taiwanese-Latvian duo trailed 1-3 in the opening set, they rallied with two service breaks to take it 6-3. In the second set, Mertens and Kudermetova raced to a 5-1 lead and wrapped it up 6-2 to even the match. In the final set, Hsieh and
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei and her Latvian partner, Jelena Ostapenko, advanced to the Wimbledon women’s doubles final on Friday, defeating top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in straight sets. The fourth-seeded duo bounced back quickly after losing their opening service game, capitalizing on frequent unforced errors by their opponents to take the first set 7-5. Maintaining their momentum in the second set, Hsieh and Ostapenko broke serve early and held their lead to close out the match 6-4. They are set to face the eighth-seeded pair of Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens
Outside Anfield, the red sea of tributes to Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, has continued to grow this week, along with questions over whether Liverpool could play at Preston today, their first game since the brothers’ tragic loss. Inside Anfield, and specifically a grieving Liverpool dressing room, there was no major debate over the pre-season friendly. The English Premier League champions intend to honor their teammate in the best way they know how. It would be only 10 days since the deaths of Jota and Silva when Liverpool appear at Deepdale Stadium for what is certain to be a hugely
ON A KNEE: In the MLB’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shoot-out, the game was decided by three batters from each side taking three swings each off coaches Kyle Schwarber was nervous. He had played in Game 7 of the MLB World Series and homered for the US in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off. No one had. “That’s kind of like the baseball version of a shoot-out,” Schwarber said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after
RSS