SF Examiner: Tom Lehman’s had long journey to top of Champions Tour

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The journey is what distinguishes Tom Lehman, no less than the journey’s destination, and the destination at which he arrived after years of struggle and doubt is a place among golf’s best, and surely golf’s most persistent.

The journey took him across America and across the sea.

It took him...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Chip Beck back on course at Harding Park

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

He was a golfer good enough to finish second in the Masters. A golfer perplexed enough to give up the game to become an insurance salesman. A golfer persistent enough to rework the swing which had defeated him.

Chip Beck was the second person to shoot 59 in a PGA Tour event — indeed, he could play. He probably wasn’t the first to find he couldn’t drive a ball straight off the tee, and that flaw drove him out of golf and into the so-called real world of 7:24 a.m. commutes and office hours.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: 49ers Bringing Back the Past

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO — They're completing passes to offensive tackles and nose tackles. They're on a winning streak that's bringing back thoughts of the past while keeping alive dreams of the future. They're playing football in a devil-may-care style that the coach seems to value almost as victory. Almost.

These are not yet the San Francisco 49ers of Jerry Rice and Steve Young, but what they've accomplished this unimagined season of 2011 allows - no, demands: legitimate reference to the teams of Rice and Young, the last occasion things were this good.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: Conspiracy Theory On Tebow Is Nonsense

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

There's a new movie, "Anonymous,'' which is not about who's at quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts, but William Shakespeare.

Yes, that Shakespeare. No, not that Shakespeare, because the premise of the film is the person named Shakespeare had neither the skill nor worldliness to create the works of genius we know.

Yes, another film based on conspiracy theory...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: No resting for San Francisco 49ers' reborn QB Alex Smith

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Maybe they should rename it bye-bye week. NFL teams have been getting their break, and many subsequently have been breaking down. That sobering thought was presented Wednesday at Ninerville by Alex Smith, who along with his teammates is coming off a bye.

“I’ve seen the reports,” said Smith, the 49ers’ quarterback. “Teams coming off their bye week this season are 3-9.”

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Palmer Gets 'a Little Piece of the Action'

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Carson Palmer called the week surrealistic, an appropriate word when one begins by getting on a plane in one city and ends by throwing three interceptions in another.

Maybe Palmer indeed will prove the quarterback savior the Oakland Raiders thought was so desperately needed they sent off a couple of first-round draft picks to wedge him loose from the Cincinnati Bengals and the inactivity he had imposed on himself.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh is doing it his way

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Who cares about decorum? If the people running the 49ers — meaning Jed York — cared about decorum, protocol or manners, they might have hired someone who knew how to shake hands.

Instead, they hired someone who knows how to win football games. Shake that.


Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: For Raiders, Future Is Now Or Never

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

ALAMEDA, Calif. – Of course it’s a smart move. Maybe it wouldn’t have been for the New England Patriots or Green Bay Packers, but these are the Oakland Raiders, who went out and traded a couple of first-round picks for Carson Palmer.

The Oakland Raiders who suddenly are grabbing at brass rings, grabbing headlines and most of all grabbing games.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: Raiders Audacious, Resilient, Winning

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

OAKLAND, Calif. - Something's happening here on the east shore of San Francisco Bay. Something strange, something emotional, something that has brought together an audacious coach, resilient players and an relenting belief in the spirit of a man whose basic concept of sport as in life could be reduced to three words: "Just win, baby."

Just win. Al Davis said that a thousand times.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 RealClearSports

RealClearSports: USC Not Stopped by Sanctions, Cal

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- The gulls showed up as always, drawn by the leftovers and the lights. Not an Alfred Hitchcock movie, although it made you think of one.

Cal football at a baseball park, at AT&T, where a year ago the Giants were in the postseason and right now Cal is in a funk. The Bears' own stadium across the bay in Berkeley is being renovated. The Bears' season looks like it could use some renovation of its own.

Read the full story here.


© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Al Davis had lasting impact on 49ers, Raiders coaches

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The man knew football. Also football coaches. Al Davis gave Jim Harbaugh his first pro coaching position. Al Davis gave Hue Jackson his first pro head coaching position.

Davis had his well-reported faults, but consider his virtues. Those two gentlemen always will.


Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

Global Golf Post: Jury Still Out On Woods' Game

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By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com

SAN MARTIN, CALIFORNIA — He still can play golf. Still can break 70. Tiger Woods may not be what he was two years ago but seemingly neither is Tiger what he was two months ago.

The tournament he needed may not have been exactly the reassurance golf needed but it was progress.

Anybody but Tiger and a golfer returning from a two-month layoff...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 Global Golf Post

Newsday (N.Y.): Fan throws hot dog at Tiger Woods

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By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SAN MARTIN, Calif. -- Tiger Woods got the competition he wanted and almost got a gift he didn't want: a hot dog hurled at him by a fan at the seventh green.

It was part of a wild Sunday at the Frys.com Open in which Woods recorded a third straight 68 and, no less significantly, Briny Baird recorded his 348th tournament without a victory.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2011 Newsday. All rights reserved.

RealClearSports: Al Davis: Great, Devious, Imperious

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

He believed in white suits -- double-knit -- and lawsuits. In late-night phone calls and early-morning training camp cutdowns. In loyalty and intimidation and, as he made clear, more than anything, Al Davis believed in winning.

Davis died Saturday at 82 in Oakland, Calif., a surprise, although he had been ailing. Al seemed if not immortal then indefatigable, a lone individual refusing to bend or buckle, clinging to his ways and even to life itself.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

Newsday (N.Y.): Tiger starts to get his mojo back

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By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SAN MARTIN, Calif. -- He said he's figured out the course, which he never had seen until Wednesday. More importantly, Tiger Woods said he's figured out himself.

In going forward, Woods in effect moved back toward the Tiger that golf once knew.

Woods shot a second straight 3-under...

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2011 Newsday. All rights reserved.

SF Examiner: Poor putting plagues Tiger Woods at Frys.com Open

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The mantra of golf is “It ain’t how, it’s how many.” Style points aren’t counted, strokes are. And the most important are those on the greens, which can save a round, or for Tiger Woods on Thursday, ruin one.

“This is probably the worst putting round I’ve ever had,” Woods said. Maybe an exaggeration. Maybe not.


Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Tiger Needs Low Score, Not Validation

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN MARTIN, Calif. — It's not about validation. Tiger Woods made that point. What he didn't make were putts. He's back, playing again, but the return hardly looked like he's back as a dominant golfer. Or even a challenging golfer.

Day One of the rest of Tiger's career took place Thursday at the Frys.com Open at CordeValle Golf Club, a charming but difficult little course carved into the coastal foothills 80 miles south of San Francisco. It's not far from Mission San Juan Bautista, which Alfred Hitchcock used as a setting in "Vertigo."

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Tiger Woods changes dynamic of Bay Area golf event

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

One man, and the dynamics changed. One man, and a golf tournament not everyone noticed a year ago is receiving star treatment. Tiger Woods arrives, and suddenly the Frys.com Open has arrived.

He needed some game action, as it were, competition. The Frys, opposite pro and college football and the baseball playoffs, needed a boost. Both sides are delighted.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Raiders Not Equal of Patriots Yet

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

OAKLAND, Calif. — Team efficiency showed up again. One game's mistakes for the New England Patriots became the next game's corrections, the way the Oakland Raiders became the Pats' victims Sunday.

And, no, the balance of power in the NFL is not about to change.

Whatever this matchup proved...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Snakebitten from the start, San Francisco Giants had few high points

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

What happened to the Giants? The better question is, what didn’t happen to the Giants?

From Opening Day, when they were beaten by the Los Angeles Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw — and Buster Posey was still healthy — there was a sense this year might be as frustrating as last year was elating.



Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company