Willett couldn’t lose Fortinet, but he lost

NAPA, Calif. — It was the start of a new season in golf. It was the same old story in sport.

It ain’t over ‘til it’s over. Which, in this game, means not until the final shot is hit. Or missed.

No way Danny Willett was not going to win the Fortinet Championship on this damp Sunday afternoon. He had a one-shot lead over Max Homa and was on the 18th green with a very makeable 3-foot 7-inch putt for a birdie 4 and the victory.

Meanwhile, Homa was in the wet semi-rough, 33 feet from a birdie that, if somehow he could make with a miracle chip, would just put him in a tie and force a playoff.

You know what happened. Golf happened. Not only did Willett knock his putt about 4 feet past the hole, he followed it by also knocking the comebacker some 3 feet past the hole.

His birdie was transformed, yikes, into a bogey. And when Homa chipped in (do you believe in miracles or merely the nature of golf?), Willett, a former Masters champ, was a stunned runner-up. And for a second straight year Homa, the Cal grad, was first in the Fortinet.

“Yeah, obviously going to remember that last (putt),” said Willett.

The question is whether he’ll be able to forget it. Agony in golf seems to persist, even when you’ve won a major and mostly playing the European (now DT) Tour seven tournaments in all.

Homa, who trailed by as many as three shots during a day when the forecast rains came on early and then again late, had a final-round 68, 4-under-par on Silverado Country Club’s North Course, for a 72-hole total of 16-under 272. Willett was a shot worse in both categories, 69 for 273.

“Nice to be in contention,” was the philosophical comment from Willett, an Englishman who spends most of his time playing on the east side of the Atlantic. Willett only decided to enter the Fortinet because he had been elevated to exempt status on the PGA Tour when several other players defected to the rebel LIV Tour.

Might as well get a jump on the other guys. Sure, he needed a 5,000-mile flight to California, but hey, if you don’t like to travel, try a more sedentary occupation.  

“Hit a little firm,” was his description of the first putt. “But all in all, a great week.”

Not as good a week as Homa’s, admittedly.

Now, Max goes to the Presidents’ Cup, thrilled to represent the United States in team play for the first time. At 31, he knows well the non-secret to success on the links: patience. Let the game come to you. You’ll make your birdies — and eagles — so plug away.

”You know,” said Homa, “my coach said just hang around. And I don’t know, but these minutes are kind of a blur. Danny played great, but I just tried to play my game and see where it got me.

“I don’t know. It was a wild finish.”

A finish with all the elements that make the placid game of golf wonderfully enthralling. Or very difficult to accept, when you make a mess of things.

A lonely but great round by Harrison Endycott

NAPA, Calif. — They call golf the loneliest game. You’re on your own, other than a caddy. But usually there’s another golfer nearby. A playing partner, who keeps score while he keeps at his own game. Usually.

Not for Harrison Endycott in the third round of the Fortinet Championship on Saturday. He was in a one-some, if you will. Very alone, and it turned out very successful.

Seventy-three pros made the Friday cut at Silverado Country Club, and Harrison, playing in his first event as a PGA Tour member after qualifying from the Korn Ferry Tour, was No. 73.

Which, because the Tour doesn’t use markers, stand-ins to turn an odd number of players into an even number, as do the majors, meant that Harrison was by his lonesome.

He loved it, starting at 7:40 a.m. before the breeze kicked up, before the greens got tracked, and shot a 7-under-par 65 to move from that all-alone-just-made-it-to-the-weekend 73rd position to well within the top 10.

In a way, Endycott, born and raised in Australia, knows well what it’s like to be on his own. He was in his teens when his mother, Dianne, died from ovarian cancer.

According to Adam Pengilly of the Sydney Morning Herald, the young man, shaken, became a rebel — delinquent is too strong a term — and, already a golfer, devoted time to the game.

Now 26, Endycott is prepared to join the group of other Aussie golfers, including British Open champion Cameron Smith, on the world leader board.

“I mean it’s still very new,” he said, bringing a big attempt of reality to his making the Tour. “You know you’ve got a little more atmosphere, more people, bigger grandstands, TV everywhere I look. It’s funny. Like I feel very comfortable there when I’m within my own element, but when you kind of smell the roses in between shots you’re like, this is a different atmosphere. It might take a little time getting used to. But right now I’m enjoying it.”

When you shoot 65 in your third round on Tour, what’s not to enjoy?

The only mini-disappointment to Endycott’s round was that his girlfriend, Brandy, missed it. She didn’t awaken in time to attend.

At least his father was there, after being unable to travel from Australia because of the nation’s very restrictive Covid laws (see Novak Djokovic).

“It was very challenging not to see family and friends,” said Endycott. “But it’s going to be awesome to have them here on Sunday when I’m in contention.”

Endycott turned pro in 2017 and joined the Latin American Tour, where the language was a bigger worry than the golf. Then it was on to what now is the minor leagues, the Korn Ferry. Quickly enough, he advanced.

“I think my goals will come,” he said when asked his plans. “I expect the other guys will be shooting low numbers.”

As he must attempt to duplicate.

The Englishman who won a Masters shares Fortinet lead

NAPA, Calif. — He won a Masters. His schoolteacher brother in England called American golf fans “baying imbeciles.” You remember Danny Willett. Or do you?

There he was Friday, sharing second place in the first Tour tournament of the season, trying to bring back the magic while perhaps bringing back a few memories.

Willett shot an 8-under-par 64 Friday at Silverado Country Club and was tied with defending champ Max Homa at 12-under-par 136 in the Fortinet Championship.

A surprise? Not compared to what happened in 2016 at Augusta. That’s when Jordan Spieth started knocking balls into Rae’s Creek and giving Willett, the Englishman, the Masters triumph.

Which gave those baying imbecile golf fans in the USA a chance to ask “Who?” almost as if to verify the supposedly tongue-in-cheek commentary by Peter Willett.

A writer with the opportunity to chide the opposition in the U.S.-Ryder Cup matches, Peter wasn’t concerned about what the golfers thought, probably, only about laughs, Yes, there were apologies.

Since then, the golfer, Danny, almost disappeared. His body was a mess. This hurt, that hurt. Splitting time between the PGA and European tours (now DT), he found trouble on both.

Then at the end of 2021, Willett had an appendectomy, at which time surgeons also fixed a hernia. The pain was gone. So far in two rounds of the Fortinet, over-par golf also is gone.

“Yeah, bogey free,” Willett said elatedly. ”Probably most impressive. We’ve hit it really good, and this place kind of jumps up. The rough is kind of hit and miss, and the greens being firm, to go bogey-free really is good.”

That’s an understatement, certainly. You stay away from bogies, you stay in contention.

Silverado, in the wine country about an hour north of San Francisco, isn’t the toughest test in golf — hey, 12-under atop the leader board is an indication — but there are dry creeks and trees.

“Ón 16 we probably got a little bit screwed there with the second shot,” Willett said of a par-five. “I was a little bit right of the target but hit the end tree branch and came 40 yards backwards, and I messed around a little bit and was able to pitch in to six feet straight down the hill and made a really good save for par — which then let me be able to finish birdie birdie and get myself in a really great position.”

His position in this Fortinet is as good as it can be. You wouldn’t have expected him to be in first, or at least have a part of it, but you wouldn’t have expected him to win a Masters either.

Rickie Fowler tries to find the golfer he used to be

NAPA, Calif. — The game forced him to be here.

Rickie Fowler normally wouldn’t be in the season’s opening golf event, the Fortinet, where the kids, the rookies, get their shot at making shots.

But it was a matter of … is desperation too strong a word?

Fowler was no Tiger Woods, but in a way he was the next best thing. In a short stretch of years, Rickie finished second in the Masters, second in the U.S. Open, second in the British Open.

It was only a matter of time and patience until he became a major champion. Or so we were told. Or so he believed.

Fowler, now 33, still doesn’t have that major. And although he does have five victories as a pro, including the 2015 Players Championship, the recent years have been a struggle.

It’s as if he’s had to relearn the game. Or himself.

Once fourth in the Official World Golf Rankings, Fowler tumbled to 178th. He changed teaching pros — returning to Butch Harmon, who once worked with Tiger — and changed caddies.

And changed his routine, forgoing any bit of relaxation to return to the Tour as early as possible, in the hope the situation can be corrected.

“Not going through the playoffs,” conceded Fowler, “and not being in the Presidents Cup, that’s been really the only reason I haven’t been to Napa yet.”

The words verbatim mean the opposite, but it’s just a figure of speech. We understand what Rickie was driving at: “Until now, my golf was so good I didn’t need to be at this event two weeks after the Tour Championship. Now I do.”

You’re alone in golf: you and your caddy and the clubs, which used to be your friends but now are enemies. No relief pitchers. No backup quarterbacks. Just you flailing (or so you imagine) and groping. And those putts that used to find the bottom of the cup.

No wonder even the very accomplished pros use instructors. And psychologists.

Thursday’s opening round was delayed an hour and a half at the start, so many of the entrants didn’t finish. Fowler did, shooting a 5-under-par 67. He was not displeased.

“Bogey free,” he pointed out. “For the most part, that wasn’t necessarily an issue other than one hole. I had to make a 15-footer for par after I hit it in a bunker. Other than that, it was a fairly simple day.”

Two days earlier, Fowler told Cameron Morfit of PGA Tour publications, “I feel like I’m in a really good spot. I’m arguably as healthy and strong as I’ve ever been. The home life couldn’t be better. Our little one is great.”

Sounds excellent, but so did all the comments a few years back forecasting brilliance for Fowler.

“A good step in the right direction,” Fowler said of his first round of the new season. ”Not that we haven’t been doing that in the past. But just trying to get back to being more consistent.

“I’ve had some good weeks in the past few years, but it shouldn’t be just those weeks. There needs to be more. That’s kind of the biggest thing, just getting back to playing consistent golf and having chances to win.”

As he had, not all that long ago.

Fortinet champ Homa is back; so is LIV controversy

NAPA, Calif. — The best thing about this LIV Tour business, or maybe the worst thing, is it has mature men who make millions hitting a little ball across exquisitely groomed fields acting like, well, less than mature men.

Not included in the category is Max Homa, the Cal grad, who on Thursday opened defense of the Fortinet Championship at Silverado Country Club and took part in a controversy not entirely of his own creation.

As you are aware, a group of billionaire oil sheiks, urged on by a disenfranchised Greg Norman, who very well could play golf but not the game of life, has chosen to take its assets and confront the sport’s establishment, the PGA Tour by forming a new tour, the LIV.

So golf, an activity in which competitors call penalties on themselves and invariably shake hands at the close of play, is now full of controversy and anger.

You probably are aware that people such as Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have positioned themselves on the side of the Tour. Well, so has Homa, if because he is less famous not as noticeably. Except to a few LIV zealots, including former president Donald Trump.

The Presidents Cup is a competition between teams from the U.S. and anyplace other than Europe, for which the players qualify either via a yearly point system or through the selection of the team captain.

The captain of the American team for the match in two weeks is Davis Love III, and he picked Homa, which since Max finished tied for fifth in the FedEx standings seems not only legitimate but appropriate.

However, one individual says Homa should not have been selected because he’s never won a major championship. The critic has been identified as a supporter of Donald Trump.

Homa, given name John Maxwell Homa, has never been one to avoid any issue, particularly one in which he is involved. He needed to work his way up from what then was the Buy.com Tour to the big leagues. The victory in last year’s Fortinet was his fourth on the PGA Tour.

Asked about the struggle between the LIV and the PGA Tour, Homa used the word “bizarre.”

“It’s actually funny,” he added. “Last year, I was saying this seemed like the craziest time to be alive. My grandma said it’s not so crazy. I said, what do you mean? She said, ‘You’re on this planet long enough, you just kind of go with the flow.’”

That is not to be confused with going with the LIV Tour.

“Yeah,” said Homa, “the landscape of golf seems like it’s changing. As a fan and a member of the PGA Tour, I’m not happy. I’m not happy that a lot of people are being snarky on both sides.

“I’d like golf to succeed out here, but I think it’s easy to look at it and say the PGA Tour is getting diluted a bit. But there are a lot of great golfers in the world. There are a lot of people picking on one side, on both sides, and that’s a bummer.”

He said the questions about him being named to the Presidents Cup team were a big deal.

Indeed, but still not as big as the question about what will happen as the PGA Tour and LIV continue to make a mess out of things.

Of moon pros and Fortinet Championship golf

NAPA, Calif. — Yes, wine country. And yes, also golf country, and here we go again, the PGA Tour intent on defying the calendar and starting a new year in September, showing how crazy things can get when Tiger Woods no longer plays full time.

The great thing about pro golf is it virtually never ends — only four weeks have passed since Rory McIlroy took the FedEx Cup and Tour Championship, the concluding events of, well, 2021-22.

The worst thing about pro golf also is that it virtually never ends, the 2022-23 schedule set to open Thursday at the Fortinet Championship, right here among the cabernet grapes and birdies at Silverado Country Club.

It’s been a few years now since the Tour instituted the so-called wrap-around schedule, trying to persuade us that the very beginning of an event is more appealing than the very end, especially when the big guys — Rory, Patrick Cantlay, Scottie Scheffler — are taking a break.

Not that the people entered, including the Cal grad Max Homa, can’t play the sport. Homa tied Thomas for fifth in the standings. But golf and, as Serena Williams recently verified, tennis, are depended on reputation as on talent.

It’s always been that way for individual sports.

“Why are you guys always writing about Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, who aren’t in the tournament?” sponsors would ask a journalist 20 years ago. Because, as is the case with Tiger and Rory now, they were the ones who had us mesmerized.

The Tour does strange things with history. This tournament began in 1968, won that year by Kermit Zarley, who the comedian Bob Hope nicknamed “the Pro from the Moon.” The event was called the Kaiser International, and from there became the Frys, then the Fortinet.

Except in the PGA Tour, it’s never been anything except the Fortinet.

Silverado, the name of which came from a Robert Louis Stevenson story of gold-rush California, has never been anything except a welcoming course. They’ve had U.S. Open qualifying there, but they’d never had the Open there.

A man who in 1973 did win the U.S. Open at Oakmont in Pittsburgh, Johnny Miller, has left his mark on Silverado, in more than one way.

Miller and his family moved to Silverado after he won the Kaiser in 1969. In those days, he was arguably the best golfer on the planet, winning the Open, the British Open and, like clockwork, one Tucson Open after one Phoenix Open. He also won more than once at Pebble Beach.

John had a place overlooking the 11th hole at Silverado, and during one tournament, seemingly unconcerned with his own health, was noticed climbing a palm tree to shake down loose fronds.

Miller, now 75, helped remodel the course a few years ago, and he frequently stops by during the tournament from his current home in Utah.

John and the late Ken Venturi both attended Lincoln High in San Francisco, the only high school known to man — or the Pro from the Moon — with two graduates who won the Open.

And so the Trey Lance era has arrived for the Niners

The heralded Trey Lance era apparently has arrived. Anybody want to search for it among the frustration and disappointment of his first game as the 49ers’ designated savior?

What happened on Sunday was not entirely his fault, San Francisco squandering a 10-0 lead and getting stunned by the Chicago Bears, 19-10.

The defense became defenseless, and the Niners were called for 12 penalties, a number unacceptable for any team not named the Raiders. But the judgment of a QB is made from the final score.

Did he bring his team home a winner, in this game played in an occasional downpour and on a constantly sloppy surface at Soldier Field in Chicago? Lance did not.

The Niners had become the fashionable choice to make the Super Bowl, from all those folks at ESPN to hyper-critical Boomer Esiason. But when the curtain went up, they looked, well, terrible wouldn’t be an inappropriate description.

Kyle Shanahan, the Niners coach, tossed out phrases such as “stupid penalties” and “silly mistakes,” not needing to wait until the videos to tell us what he really thought.

The Niners and Lance, the quarterback who was the third overall pick in the 2021 draft, are hot stuff and the game was shown in many locations.

And while it’s only one game among the 17 on every NFL team’s season schedule, and while even the Super Bowl champ Los Angeles Rams were defeated in their opener, this wasn’t exactly the way to make an impression — for Lance or for the franchise.

“We all know what happened,” said Lance, in his postgame comments, “and we need to fix it.”

What happened was the 49ers had 331 net yards rushing and passing to 204 for the Bears, but botched up everything by holding or doing whatever else that an official would deem against the rules.

The league this season went from four preseason games to three. Perhaps the Niners needed that fourth practice game to learn what was proper and what wasn’t. Or how to fool the refs.

Compared to their dozen penalties for 99 yards, just one short of a football field, the Bears had only three for 24 yards.

“It’s hard enough to play against the opposing team,” left tackle Trent Williams said. “It’s even harder when you play against yourself.”

The Bears were seven-point underdogs in what would be labeled Chicago weather. Early on, they punted five times and quarterback Justin Fields threw an interception. but they won because the 49ers kept screwing up.

“We killed ourselves,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “Every single one of those drives, you can look back and see we did something to help them get in the end zone.”

“We were stopping the run,” said defensive end Nick Bosa, “but we fell apart on penalties.” Asked about Lance, Bosa said, “I was encouraged by the way he played. With that rain, it was hard to throw the ball.”

Shanahan said the field conditions factored into how he used Lance.

“I’ll go back and watch the tape and I’ll ask him how he felt,” Shanahan said. “But it was that type of game.”

Not the type the Niners could have wanted.

Serena packs the place and keeps on going

Those commercials on ESPN, the ones that advise how sports bring enjoyment to our lives? They couldn't be more perfectly timed.

Yes, this has to do with Serena Williams.

She will be 41 in a few days. She’s a mother of one.

And on Friday she will be playing Ajla Tomljanović of Australia in the third round of a U.S. Open tennis tournament where some wondered if she could get past the first.

None of Serena’s opponents reminded us of Martina Navratilova or Chris Evert, but who cared? In the second round Wednesday, Williams upended the No. 2 seed, a tearful Anett Kontaveit of Estonia, 7-6 (4). 2-6, 6-2.

Of the 27,000 crammed into Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, roughly 26,535 were screaming and hooting for Serena.

True, that’s unfair to Kontaveit, who despite having played the women’s tour for a decade (she’s 26) nobody but the tennis mavens know.

In a sport built as much on longevity as success, and where familiarity brings respect and endorsements, Williams has lasted. And triumphed over tough times, as well as those across the net.

Along with record ratings, that’s good enough for me. The pre-event hype has been overdone, if anything in Manhattan can be overdone. If you can make it there, go the lyrics, you’ll make it anywhere.

Serena Williams made it anywhere and everywhere. She followed older sister Venus, now 44 — and with whom she is teamed in doubles — from the mean streets of Compton, Calif., to make history.

The word retirement is not allowed in Serena’s presence. She’s not retiring from what will be her last Open and perhaps forever. She’s “evolving,” but however you want it labeled, she’s leaving.

Tennis will miss her. And judging from the promos, ESPN will miss her.  

The network built its campaign around Serena — and in the media, it wasn’t alone. One day, the New York Times’ digital section had three Williams stories, posted one after another.

Serena herself has remained as subdued and humble as is possible for a generational athlete. “It’s me, the same Serena,” she told the fans after her second-round win.

Not that we expected anyone else. At least until she retires, or, evolves.

“There’s still a little battle left in me,” she said. That battle is the essence of Serena Williams. When failing in other matches. Mary Jo Fernandez, a former player now commenting for ESPN, said Williams had the ability to serve herself out of trouble.

When Fernandez asked after the Kontaveit match, “Are you surprising yourself with your level of play?” Serena responded, “I’m just Serena, you know.
“

We do know. As Tiger Woods, Williams was capable of coming up with the right shot when it was needed. 

This Open, baseball is nearing the playoffs and college football is starting. Serena has been needed fo jack up interest and fill seats.

Some optimists, after the first two rounds, also picked her to win.

For certain, she can’t lose. Nor can tennis.

A win for the good guy, Rory

Sometimes it all works out. Sometimes the story ends the way we wanted. Sometimes the good guy wins.

That would be Rory McIlroy, who despite involvement in trying to save golf from itself, managed to finish first in the season-ending Tour Championship. 

True the early scoring is cumulative. But McIlroy must have done something right along the way.

Other than rallying from a six-shot deficit the event’s final day and also taking the Canadian Open, and finishing second in the Masters that is.

The word ”deserving” probably is inappropriate in sports, but if anyone is deserving of any special recognition it is McIlroy the 33-year-old Northern Irishman.

Rory and Tiger Woods both stepped out to support that PGA Tour against the Saudi-backed LIV Tour. A little loyalty is a big thing. McIlroy,  befitting the image of his countrymen, is personable. He’s also won four majors. One has nothing to do with the other, but  it certainly is a joy to have someone who’s a champion in many ways.  

The Tour (the PGA ‘tour)  unofficially is dormant  until the Fortinet Open in mid-September at Silverado in Napa.

 Same old, same old. Not alluding to the players or their games but the wearying struggle between the “we started this stuff”  so gives us a break,” amid the rich(er) guys on the other side of the bunker.

You’re probably aware that the Saudis or some other wealthy  royal types offered Tiger Woods something like $700,000,000 to switch sides and support the other people. To his credit (and his financial status) the other was rejected.

Exactly what Tiger would contribute other than a prestige factor—"look who we have”. But he’s staying, even if the current British Open champion, the young Aussie, Cameron  Smith apparently is  heading for the Saudi zillions.

There is a rivalry between the Old Guard and the Defectors, the players who went for the big playoffs.

It’s been great for some of the pros, especially those without fame or money, a group that excludes  former leading money winner Greg Norman, a founder, and Mickelson.

 When Sunday evening McIlroy was presented a check for  $18 million and a trophy, you could year a voice on television say, “Thank you Greg Norman.”

He pushed the battle, which apparently is far over. The Saudis  (and Norman) want the TV contracts held by the PGA Tour. You get TV attention by getting the players, which, in Mickelson.

Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepeka LIV seems to have acquired. But the only golfer who can be depended upon to bring in the fans and bring up the TV ratings is Mr. Woods.

The PGA Tour, not ignorant of the Saudi challenge, raised purse money for the tournaments beginning this fall.

The way tennis comes down to who is on court, and on TV, mainly Serena Williams, who won Monday night;  Golf needs attractions—winners who understand how they’re carrying the game.

Rory fit that category.

He’s young, dynamic, communicative and made up a six-shot deficit the final round to become the Tour Champion for a third time

Critics remind us that he hasn’t won a major in eight years. That happens. Golfers like McIlroy don’t happen very often. He’s a gem.

Seeking sports’ new hero we can all look up to

That was an interesting quote from Rory McIlroy about his rival, his idol and, as you interpret it, of sports as a whole. “He is the hero we all looked up to,” McIlroy said about, who else, Tiger Woods.

The players know. The fans know. The folks in management, the people who run the events, who own the teams, who make the deals, certainly know.

Did some observer really tell us that sports were the opera of the poor, long before the time when if you couldn’t afford a night at the Met you most likely could afford a day with the Mets?

Now, from arias to home runs, everything is high-priced. Including the salaries or, in the case of DeShaun Watson, the fine he must pay, $5 million, just to get back on the field after accusations of sexual misconduct. Sex sells.

The numbers make us crazy. And also help make our games what they’ve become, a fascinating blend of star power and high finance.

Maybe when President Biden is talking billions, we don’t even shrug if ballplayers or quarterbacks are talking millions.

ESPN knows. So do the other networks. Who do we want to see? Or, according to the ratings, who do the networks, the producers, the directors, believe who we ought to see?

Sometimes it seemed the only female tennis player was Serena Williams, the only pro golfer Tiger Woods, the only quarterback Tom Brady. Enough already. Or was it not enough?

The Lakers just re-signed LeBron James for two more years, and for $97 million. Bill Plaschke, the fine L.A. Times sports columnist, thought it was a bad deal. The Lakers were mediocre (or worse) with James last season, so why bring him back?

Because he is basketball in Los Angeles, the second biggest TV market in the land. It doesn’t so much matter what the Lakers accomplish, but what James can accomplish. The so-called ultimate team game is dominated by individuals. As are all our games.

You know the famous Michael Jordan response when he was told there is no “I” in team. “But,” he pointed out so accurately, “there is in win.”

Golf has been beholden to Tiger for a quarter-century. People who didn’t care much for golf still cared about Tiger. Or Serena in tennis. Or Brady in the NFL. Or Ronaldo in soccer. Or Justin Verlander in baseball.

Night and day, our games are on, mornings from the Premier League, evenings from some ballpark or tennis complex. Who’s going to bring us in? Who’s going to keep us there?

That’s a question pro golf faces essentially with the rebel LIV Tour challenging the established PGA Tour.

Go after the big names, pay them big bucks — though to Tiger’s credit, he turned down something like $700 million from the Saudi LIV group. The hope to create the excitement that will resonate when new TV contracts are decided.

Woods is very much a part of the action, as he should be. “His voice carries further than anyone else’s in the game of golf,” said McIlroy, who has a significant voice of his own, about Tiger.

The hero golf looked up to is in the process of stepping away. Yet, who knows what’s around the next field or diamond, or court or fairway.

Some 50 years ago, in what turned out to be his last column, the great Red Smith closed, “I told myself not to worry. Someday there will be another Joe DiMaggio.”

There hasn’t been, but there’s been a Hank Aaron. And a Roger Federer, a Michael Jordan, a Tiger Woods, a John Elway, a Joe Montana and so many others.

We await the greatness that was. The hero we can all look up to.

Thoughts on Serena and the changes in sport

The changes in life are magnified in sport, where someone new inevitably moves in while the one we knew and recognized — if not idolized — departs.

Maybe, as in the case of Serena Williams, making us consider our own impermanence as much as hers.

Wasn’t it only yesterday that Serena was the kid straight out of Compton, the younger of two wildly talented sisters? Now, with a kid of her own and well aware her best days as a tennis player are in the past, she has made a decision that may be any sporting heroine’s most difficult.

To say goodbye to the game that has been so much a part of her existence.

At least she made it herself. As opposed to Jed Lowrie. His career as a major league ballplayer may not have been as spectacular as Serena’s in tennis, but it was long, 11 years, and solid, particularly in various seasons with the Oakland Athletics.

Apropos of nothing but pertinent to so much, on Thursday the A’s designated Lowrie for assignment, in effect telling him he no longer could do what was required — less than a week since Serena, in an article for Vogue, told us the same thing about herself.

At 40 and after months recovering from a hamstring injury, Williams sensed she never would get another Grand Slam, much less any other victory. She spoke of a light at the end of the tunnel. What could be called the greatest career in women’s tennis will come to a halt at the upcoming U.S. Open.

Lowrie’s career surely already is at the end, although someone might pick him up as an emergency backup. Lowrie was hitting .180 in 50 games this season.

“It’s just the nature of the game,” said Lowrie, a consummate professional. “I kind of figured it was coming. So yeah, it wasn’t based on some conversations I’ve had. So yeah, it wasn’t a surprise.”

Is anything a surprise anymore?

The last couple of months seem to have been particularly depressing with the deaths of two icons, Bill Russell and Vin Scully, and now the retirement of another, Serena Williams. So much so quickly.

We are the victims and the beneficiaries of the modern world, of television and the internet. We saw Russell make history, heard Scully describe it. These people were not merely champions or announcers, they became family.

As the years pass, all we can do is appreciate the chance to realize what we had — and to hope there might be another Serena (or Bill Russell or Vin Scully) in the future.

For Scully, there were no borders on baseball broadcasts

Red Barber, who made one of the more memorable calls — describing Al Gionfriddo robbing a frustrated  Joe DiMaggio, “back, back, back” — often said there was something special about listening to a baseball game on the radio.

The nature of the sport, with its dimensions — 90 feet between bases is the closest man has come to perfection, it was written — allowed us to perceive what we couldn’t literally see.

So the men who announced the games became an integral part of our sporting lives. Go back, back, back to the Pacific Coast League, to Don Klein and Bud Foster, and those who sat in front of microphones always seemed as much a part of the game as those who stepped to the plate.

A familiar voice in the evening hours, relishing a great catch, lamenting a regrettable strikeout, was just what we needed before the lights were turned off.

The virtually unprecedented response to the passing of Vin Scullly, who died Tuesday at 94, is hardly a surprise.

He was employed by the Dodgers, from the 1950s, when he left Fordham and joined Red Barber. Yet there are no borders on airwaves. Or on respect.

It was 1958 when baseball changed, the New York Giants moving to San Francisco, the Brooklyn Dodgers shifting to Los Angeles. There was nothing at all wrong with the Giants’ announcer, Russ Hodges.

There was something fortunately right with Scully, who teamed with Jerry Doggett.

It was my junior year in college at UCLA, and for a summer job I sold concessions at the L.A. Coliseum, hardly the old ballpark but a 90,000-seat football stadium converted to baseball, where the left field screen was 250 feet away and the right field fence was 400 feet away.

Blithely I scrambled through the Coliseum, the cries for my wares — “Ice cream here” — all but drowned out by the classic voice of Vin Scully.

Did the good folks in Los Angeles not have enough confidence in their ability to watch a major league ball game without being told what they just saw? This was the new age of transistor radios, and those little babies were everywhere.

Finally Dodgers management succumbed to reality, erecting small loudspeakers in right field. No, it wouldn’t have worked in Boston, but this wasn’t Boston.

Up in the Bay Area, we’ve had Lon Simmons, Hank Greenwald and Jon Miller, clever and astute. But lacking the elements that contributed to the attractiveness of Scully — a base population in the millions, a then clear-channel radio network and an audience trapped in southern California traffic.

In L.A., you grew up listening to Scully almost more than you did idolizing Sandy Koufax. Northern Cal didn’t have that sort of problem. There was only Willie Mays.

It’s hard to say which was a better baseball area, Los Angeles or San Francisco. For sure, the Bay Area never set up speakers to hear what you were watching.

The sudden and explosive acquisition of Juan Soto by the Padres brings to mind the Jim Murray line about the troubles of a baseball team in San Diego: “the Pacific to the west, Mexico to the south and Vin Scully to the north.”

The man was great, even if his calls overwhelmed my yells to sell ice cream. Baseball will miss you.

Since days at USF, Bill Russell was his own man

When I arrived in the Bay Area in the mid-1960s, it was notably provincial. Joe DiMaggio remained the region’s favorite ballplayer over Willie Mays, which was a mistake.

Not that Joe wasn’t great. It’s just because Willie was greater but unappreciated by the newer generation.

And Bill Russell, who had grown up in Oakland and led the University of San Francisco to championships, seemed to be the only basketball player who mattered.

That, we learned in retrospect, was not a mistake.

Russell, who died Sunday at 88, was a man apart, on the court and off. He changed the sport. In time, he also would change social viewpoints.

Choices remain subjective. How we judge remains no less a factor than who we judge. Michael Jordan invariably gets the votes as the best in history. There was nothing he couldn’t do.

Which brings us to Russell. All he could do was win. Everywhere and anywhere.

The boy who in the late 1940s moved with his family from Louisiana was gangly and unskilled. But tall enough, so he earned a place, or at least a temporary one, on the McClymonds High basketball squad.

Maybe William Felton Russell couldn’t shoot, but he would keep others from scoring, especially in time at USF, where he teamed with a kid from San Francisco’s Commerce High, K.C. Jones.

The Dons would win back-to-back NCAA championships (1955 and ’56) and a record 60 straight games. At UCLA, a young coach named John Wooden kept getting asked why he couldn’t get past USF in the regionals. The brief answer: Because of Bill Russell.

Genius is a misused word in sports. But it is appropriate in the case of Arnold (Red) Auerbach, who as coach and GM of the Celtics understood what Russell could provide and maneuvered to get him in the ’56 draft.

Former Senator Bill Bradley, who faced Russell with the Knicks in the 1960s, viewed him as “the smartest player ever to play the game and the epitome of a team leader.”

“At his core, Russell knew that he was different from other players — that he was an innovator and that his very identity depended on dominating the game,” Bradley wrote in reviewing Russell’s remembrances of Auerbach in “Red and Me: My Coach, My Lifelong Friend” (2009) for The New York Times.

Until near the end, Russell was involved in a series of confrontations. In 2007, Russell returned to the USF campus. According to Jerry Crowe of the Los Angeles Times, Russell “stormed off after being told he would  have to pay his own way because his scholarship had expired.

“Dominating the game, indeed. Whatever was the source of Russell’s frustration in any phase of his life is part of what pushed him to excel, if not satisfy himself.”

Russell’s allegiance was to his teammates, not to the city of Boston or to the fans. He refused to sign autographs for fans or even as keepsakes for his teammates. When the Celtics retired his No. 6 in March 1972, the event, at his insistence, was a private ceremony in Boston Garden. He ignored his election to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame — situated squarely in Celtics country, in Springfield, Mass. — and refused to attend the induction.

“In each case, my intention was to separate myself from the star’s idea about fans, and fans’ ideas about stars,” Russell said in “Second Wind: The Memoirs of an Opinionated Man”, written with Taylor Branch and published in 1979. “I have very little faith in cheers, what they mean and how long they will last, compared with the faith I have in my own love for the game.”

The faith placed in Bill Russell from his days at McClymonds and USF was well deserved.

A man named Smith makes history

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — The words rolled down the 18th fairway of this famous course on a particularly historic occasion.

It was Martin Slumbers, chairman of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, with the annual presentation of the Open winner, “the Champion golfer of the year.” Enlightening words for Cam Smith.

Depressing words for Rory McIlroy. Rory had gone eight years without winning a major championship, and he thought — everybody thought — he had this one, holding the lead until the final 18. But golf can be nothing but sorrow.

Smith, the 28-year-old Australian, did what champions do. He came from off the pace and shot an 8-under-par 64. His playing partner, Cameron Young, shot a 65. McIlroy, the presumptive winner, and certainly from the cheers, the fans’ choice, shot a 2-under 70.

“I didn’t make any putts today” said McIlroy, which is one of the reasons he has had his drought in trying to get his fifth major.

“I’ll be back,” he told SKY Sports, a bit grimly. McIlroy finished second in the Masters and has played well all year, but couldn’t get over the mountain.

Smith is not exactly a surprise. He has won several tournaments including The Players — if that is not a major, and it isn’t, the golfers consider it the next best thing.

Perhaps, because this Open with all the fanfare was at The Home of Golf, there were expectations for a notably exciting champion.

Indeed Smith, with his floppy hat and Australian savoir faire, may be one of the coming greats. On a day that began with light showers and then changed to typical Scottish gloom, Smith showed his talent and persistence.

He has been a comer for a couple of years, and now he can be considered to be a full force. Any Open gives one cachet, and taking the 150th at St. Andrews unquestionably gives the golfer a special place in the game.

The strength of Smith’s game is in his putting. Anybody who can get the ball into the cup is going to be a factor.

“All the hard work we’ve done the last couple years is really starting to pay off,” Smith said to his team, with the trophy in his grip and the tears starting to come. “And this one definitely makes it worth it.”

But Smith, after recomposing himself, made it clear that he intended to put the claret jug to good use, although not at the moment for claret.

“I’m definitely going to find out how many beers fit in this thing, that’s for sure,” he said.

How come Australia, a wine country, drinks so much beer?

Not a good ending for Tiger

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — This is the way it too often ends, not with a bang or a whimper but a farewell that couldn’t come too soon.

Tiger Woods entered this landmark British Open with the belief — or was it merely the hope? — that a return to the Old Course, where he had won the Open, where he emphatically reminded us of his greatness, would be a step back in time.

But others own pro golf now, and surely this will be Woods’ final Open, except perhaps in a ceremonial role. It is not quite a passing of the torch — no one out there can carry the flame and the game as Woods did — but a sad concession to reality.

The thinking was that a flat links land course, where the ball rolls and rolls, would give a 46-year-old a chance against the 26-year-olds. But Tiger began with a double-bogey on the first hole after hitting into the burn that fronts the green and finished with a 6-over 78.

Woods was unable to take advantage of the favorable conditions, overcast and almost no wind. The tone was set right away on that first hole, leading to the first of five bogeys.

He finally made his only birdie of the day at the par-5 14th, but he'll go to the second round a daunting 11 shots behind the clubhouse leader, Dustin Johnson.

In other words, Woods' main priority on Friday will be making the cut. That's a far cry from his previous performances at St. Andrews, where he won the claret jug in 2000 and 2005.

Woods walked off the course tied for 133rd, having bested only two other players to complete their rounds. He was tied with 65-year-old Tom Watson, who had a 76 in his final British Open. It is a trifle ironic that Rory  McIlroy, who is supposed to be the next Tiger, shot a 4-under 66, 12 shots lower than Woods.

"Guys have been shooting good numbers," Woods said. "Unfortunately, I did not do that." Instead, he was headed for a missed cut for the third time in his last four majors.

At least after his ultimate putt, Woods displayed class and respect, doffing his white hat with the familiar TW logo to the fans who stayed the course, after 9 p.m.

The celebrated start Thursday of the 150th British Open gave way to Cameron Young making his debut with an 8-under 64 for a two-shot lead over McIlroy, and Tiger Woods making what could be his last competitive appearance at St. Andrews a short one.

His score would indicate as much. Woods ended his round by taking three putts through the Valley of Sin for a par and a 78, his second-worst score in his Open career.

Woods will try to avoid leaving early from St. Andrews for the second straight time.

The Old Course gets Tiger talking

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — This was a golfer of our time embracing the game and the course for all time, a man aware of his past and, as all of us, uncertain of the future. But for once seemingly delighted to tell us what he feels.

Tiger Woods and the Old Course, so much history and a perhaps a wee bit of mystery, coming together for the 150th Open Championship.

It was as if Babe Ruth had emerged for a World Series game at Yankee Stadium, a man of the past unworried about the future, regaling us with nostalgia of the good times and the great rounds.

You know he’s ready for the Open, which he won twice here — and even at age 46, and after the injuries from the car crash, has an outside chance to win again.

We didn’t know he was so willing to be part of golf’s past, an aging player who grew up idolizing the names and locations that make golf the beautiful and compelling activity it has become.

“This is where it all began for me as an amateur,” said Woods. “My first chance to play in The Open Championship was here. I'll never forget I played with Ernie Els and Peter Jacobsen the first two days. We had a chance to play with some greats in practice rounds — Freddie Couples, Raymond Floyd, Ollie, (Jose Maria Olazabal), Bernhard Langer.

“I had a great time as a young little kid, and they showed me the ropes of how to play this golf course and how many different options there were. It was eye-opening how this golf course can play as easily as it can be played and also as difficult it can play just by the wind changing.”

Maybe no Scot ever said “Nay wind, nay rain, nay golf,” but those challenges of nature are so much a part of the game along the restless North Sea, the weather cannot be ignored.

Nor can that final walk on the bridge that spans Swilcan Burn on the Old Course’s final fairway.

Every great has stopped there to pose for a minute or so before finishing what he knew would be his last round at St. Andrews. For Tiger, it’s only speculation. He could return. He probably won’t.

“I have a photo in my office when I first played my first practice round, me sitting there, and it means a lot,” he said. “I mean, the history and the people that have walked over that bridge.

“(Monday) to have Lee (Trevino) and Rory (McIlroy) and Jack (Nicklaus) and just stand there with them, that's history right there. The telecast would come on at 5 a.m. on the West Coast to get a chance to watch them play and to see them hit the shots, and listen to Lee Buck talking about the small ball playing over here and what he used to do with it. These are things that makes it so special.”

Woods was asked about the LIV tour, and he dismissed the idea. He remains loyal to the PGA tour, which has enabled him to become a billionaire.

Having shown his appreciation for golf’s history, Tiger was asked if he knew that the new kids, now in their 20s and 30s, would now be as enthusiastic as they went along.

“In what way?” Woods wondered. “I'm trying to understand. The fact that you love the history of the game, and the modern kid probably couldn't tell you the first thing about who won what before Tiger Woods. Well, I think it's different. I guess nowadays you can just look it up on your phone. And you don't have to go to the library and try and figure out who won what. The world has changed dramatically. The history of the game is certainly something that I've taken to the challenge.”

There is not much to challenge when it comes to Tiger Woods.

Djokovic gets a another at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON,  England—Maybe Novak Djokovic should be recognized as the superior tennis player he has become. Maybe he already is.

But his stubbornness against being vaccinated and subsequent expulsion from Australia over the issue  made many ignore the game he plays and instead concentrate on his viewpoint.

When on a gloriously warm Sunday, Djokovic defeated Nick Kyrgios, 4-6, 6-3. 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) he became the fourth man to win Wimbledon at least seven times.

Two of the others you probably know-- Roger Federer—with eight-- and Pete Sampras. The other. William Renshaw was back in the 1800’s. Yes. They had racquets back then.

What Djokovic, 35-year-old Serb, has along with a forehand and backhand, is remarkable mental toughness.

How many other Grand Slam tournament winners ever have  been deported as was the man known as the Joker?

Or have the fine relationship with an opponent he defeated?.

Kyrgios, a loose cannon at times, was a heavy underdog to pal Djokovic in his first Slam tournament final.

“I was just happy with the results,” said  Kyrgios. “With any luck at all I’ll be back here again.

Djokovic, properly magnanimous after his 21st  win in a Slam tournament, one fewer than Rafael Nadal, followed that with “You’ll be back. You showed you deserved to be here. You’ve been called a talent, now you’ve lived up to that.”

Kyrgios, the 27 year-old Australian more famous (infamous?) for stunts he pulled than victories produced, seemed stunned by Djokovic’s comments

Then, as the Serb stood alongside Kyrgios, and with the Duchess of Windsor not far away in the  Royal Box, Djokovic—by now everyone should know the “D” is silent—went on.

What he didn’t say, however. or more accurately, didn’t ask, was  How many other Grand Slam tournament winners ever have been deported?

He went Down Under and never got see a kangaroo or a practice court.

Remember the Aussies chased him away at the border, which is international rudeness which no matter whether an individual has received Covid-19 vaccine or Or have the fine relationship with an  opponent he defeated?.

Kyrgios, a loose cannon at times, was a heavy underdog to pal Djokovic who was in a Slam tournament final.

“ I was just happy with the results,” he  told the Centre Court crowd. Djokovic was even happier. He lost the first set, but then swiftly and surgically, demonstrated qualities that made him one of the game’s all time best.

Djokovic,’  you showed you deserved to be here. Your talent is great. Oh, I said too many nice things about you. I better stop because I don’t want to ruin our relationship.

“When I was a boy in 2002, I watched Pete Sampras in Wimbledon and I asked my dad to buy me a racquet. And I learned to play on grass courts. I love this place. And Wimbledon certainly has returned the affection.

“He did everything so easy,’ said Kyrgios. “It was so impressive.

 As Wimbledon wins are supposed to be.’

Wimbledon: from one Boris to another

WIMBLEDON, England—Wasn’t that just like a British male politician to try and steal the attention from the women? You hear during Wimbledon a guy named Boris is making news you presume it is Boris Becker.

Becker won Wimbledon three times (and six Grand Slam tournaments overall) in the 1980s, but right now he’s in prison, having been sentenced in April to two years for violating United Kingdom bankruptcy laws.

Which is a bit more serious than a double fault at match point. The other Boris, British prime minister Boris Johnson, merely was chased from office, as had been duly predicted. The unfortunate part, if one cares about tradition, and what arguably is the world’s most important tennis event, is the ouster that took place Thursday, a few hours before the Wimbledon ladies semifinals. 

Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, who’s been playing well for awhile now, defeated Tatiana Maria of Germany,  6-2, 3-6, 6-1, while Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, beat former  champ Simona Halep of Romania, 6-3. 6-3.  The finals are Saturday.

Before that in this wild, Wimby another individual often in trouble for lesser things, such as creating laughs, Nick Kyrgios,  the Aussie, is accused of assault in his home country, a story even bigger in the land of Oz than Kyrgios heading to his first Slam semifinal.

Quarterfinal showdown with Cristian Garín of Chile that he is favored to win, and less than 24 hours after he survived a five-set challenge from the American Brandon Nakashima on Monday.  

That match was largely uneventful by Kyrgios standards, mostly lacking the battles with umpires, the racket smashing and even the spitting in the direction of fans that often occur when Kyrgios signs up for a tournament.

After the 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-2 win Monday, Kyrgios spoke of how good he felt, how he had reached a kind of equilibrium in his life after years of turmoil and how he has been able to enjoy moments on the tennis court in a way he rarely has in the past.

“That’s probably the first time in my career where I wasn’t playing well, regardless of playing Centre Court Wimbledon, fully packed crowd, I was able to just say, ‘Wow, look how far I’ve come,’ to myself,” he said. “I was bouncing the ball before I served. I really just smiled to myself. I was like, ‘We’re here, we’re competing at Wimbledon, putting in a good performance mentally.’”

Hours later, news broke in Australia that Kyrgios had been charged with one count of common assault related to an incident with an ex-girlfriend, Chiara Passari, according to The Canberra Times and a statement from the police. Kyrgios is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 2.

“While Mr. Kyrgios is committed to addressing any and all allegations once clear, taking the matter seriously does not warrant any misreading of the process Mr. Kyrgios is required to follow,” Pierre Johannessen, a lawyer for Kyrgios, said in a statement Tuesday evening.

As they used to ask, “tennis anyone?”

Rafa concedes to his body, withdraws

WIMBLEDON, England—Rafa Nadal kept beating everyone this spring and summer as he chased wins at the Grand Slams—even hinting he might hit the jackpot, a true Grand Slam, victorious in all four majors in a calendar year.

But one opponent proved unbeatable. His own body.

Just before dusk descended on the All England Club on what was a surprising Thursday, Nadal withdrew from Friday’s Wimbledom semifinal against Nick Kyrgios.

It is an unimaginable blow to the tournament and to Nadal.  Also a great break to Kyrgios, who was in the headline this week for another reason, charged with assault in Australia.

“I have a tear in the stomach muscle,” Nadal told the media in a hastily called conference in the Wimbledon interview room. As everybody saw (Wednesday), I have been suffering from a pain in the abdomen. I think it is obvious if I kept going it is going to get worse.”

Nadal, 36, has struggled with injuries throughout his magnificent career in which he became the all-time leader with 22 Slam titles.

Doubtful as it may have appeared, Nadal had the opportunity to become the first male to win the Grand Slam, taking all four in a calendar year. That last was accomplished in 1969 by Rod Laver, who watched at Centre Court, Wednesday night when Rafa outlasted Taylor Fritz in five sets.

During that quarter-final, Nadal’s family and advisors, aware of his condition, kept yelling and waving at him to quit the match. Courageously, he kept playing..

Thursday, after trying to hit serves in a practice session it became apparnent Nadal would have to step aisde. He said he realiized he could not play two more rounds this tournament, if needed, and the U.S. Open in August with any chance of winning.

His departure is yet another shock to Wimbledon, missing some stars because of Covid-19 quarantining.  

  “I always said, for me the most important thing is happiness more than any title. Everybody knows how much effort  I put in to be here. But I can’t risk that.”.  Not at his age. Not at any age.

“I believe I can’t win two matches under these circumstances."

No one could remember a major tennis championship coming to such a strange—and as Nadal said—sad conclusion.

In the morning Boris Johnson, prime minster of Great Britrain was forced to resign. A few hours later, one of the all-time stars of tennis conceeded to his battered body.  

Where he or the sport goes from here we only can guess.

Rafa leaves Fritz crying

WIMBLEDON, England—On an historic afternoon in the 100th year of Wimbledon’s famed Centre Court, the young Southern Californian and the not-so-young guy from past and present played a match for the ages.  And for the opportunity to reach the semi-finals of a tennis tournament whose very name, Wimbledon implies the greatness on display Wednesday.

The older guy, Rafael Nadal, once more showed the courage and consistency which has awed everyone and now at age 37 3-6, 7-5, 8-6 z91—4 under the new tiebreak system for majors.

The quarterfinal lasted 4 hours, 21 minutes and kept intact Nadal’s chance to expand his record to 23 and 0, remained unbeaten in 23 grand slam tournaments this year..  Rafa has the opportunity to win the  Grand Slam championships and even—less realistically perhaps—to win the actual Grand Slam, all four majors in a calendar year.

That last was accomplished in 1969 by Rod Laver, who Wednesday, wearing one of those huge straw hats was in a seat at Centre Court.

Fritz, 25, who has been been described as one of the future US  tennis greats, beat Nadal in the Indian Wells final in March.

Rafa was injured. He apparently was hurt Wednesday but refused calls to leave the match . 

A doctor gave Nadal some pills; the trainer tried to relax the muscle.

“They can’t do much,” Nadal said. “Nothing can be fixed when you have a thing like this.”

When action resumed, Nadal clearly was compromised. It was hard not to think: Might he give up?

Nadal acknowledged that went through his mind. Fritz did, too.

“It definitely made me kind of think. I kind of stopped being as aggressive,”  said Fritz. “I feel like I let it kind of get to me a little bit. It left me crying.”