Sports Then and Now

Babe Didrikson Zaharias was the most successful female athlete of her generation.

The LPGA will crown its 2011 champion later today, but it was on this date 100 years ago that one of the catalysts for the LPGA and the greatest female athlete of all-time was born.

Though there have been many great female athletes, none has ever been able to duplicate the athletic prowess or cross into the world of men’s sports with quite as much success as Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

Whether competing in basketball, baseball track and field or golf, Zaharias wasn’t just considered to be “pretty good for a girl”, she was generally recognized as being a special athlete.

While Zaharias first enjoyed success in basketball, leading her team to a 1931 AAU Championship, it was track and field where she initially gained a larger following.

In the Spring of 1932 she entered the Amateur Track and Field Championships in Evanston, Illinois as the lone team member for the Employers Casualty Insurance Company of Dallas, Texas. Competing against teams that included as many as 22 women, the “one-woman track team” dominated the competition.

Zaharias won five events (broad jump, shot-put, javelin, 80-meter hurdles and the baseball throw) and tied for first in the high jump. She earned 30 total points in the team competition to finish well in front of the second place Illinois Women’s Athletic Club, which had 22 athletes and scored 22 points.

As a result of her amazing one-woman performance, Zaharias qualified for three events at the 1932 Summer Olympics, which were held in Los Angeles. She won the Olympic Gold Medal in the 80-meter hurdles and javelin and finished second in the high jump. Read the rest of this entry →

The 22-year-old Rory McIlroy dominated the field at the 2011 U.S. Open.

It seems pretty ironic that the first U.S. Open played without the most dominant golfer of the last 15 years would serve as the coming out party for a 22-year-old golfer who dominated the tournament like no golfer other than Tiger Woods has ever done. Rory McIlroy broke so many records in claiming his first Major Championship that many now wonder if McIlroy could be golf’s next superstar.

If you happened to turn the television off after the first 63 holes of the Masters earlier this year and not pay attention to golf until now, you probably aren’t at all surprised that McIlroy led from wire-to-wire at the U.S. Open.

He was doing basically the same thing at the Masters before the wheels suddenly came off over the final  nine holes. McIlroy led by four strokes entering the final round and still had the lead at the 10th tee. However, he shot a 43 over the final nine and finished 10 strokes off the pace in a tie for 15th place.

Because of that record-setting collapse (his 80 was the worst score ever in the final round by a player who entered the final round leading the Masters), many were skeptical even when he opened the 2011 U.S. Open with a six-under 65 and followed it with a 66 to post the best first two-day score in U.S. Open history.

After shooting a 68 in the third round to take an eight stroke lead into the final round, even his opponents were hoping that McIlroy wouldn’t suffer another meltdown.

They needn’t worry as he birdied the first hole and never looked back as his final score of -16 (65-66-68-69=268) was the lowest score in U.S. Open history and four shots better than the -12 posted by Tiger Woods at the 2000 U.S. Open. All told, he established 12 new tournament records during his dominant victory. Read the rest of this entry →

Geoff Ogilvy is looking for a return to previous U.S. Open glory.

Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 US Open champion, will this week be hoping that history can repeat itself as he bids to double his haul of major wins by finishing top of the pile when the action gets under way at the Congressional Country Golf Club on Thursday.

The final day of that epic event five years ago – when Phil Mickelson experienced a rush of blood to the head and Colin Montgomerie choked under the pressure to leave the Australian at the head of the field on the 72nd hole of the competition will linger long in the memories of golf fans around the world – but what is often forgotten about in all the madness that followed, was Ogilvy’s sweet tee shot on the par-three 16th in the final round which ended up just a yard from the hole and allowed him to pick up his fifth birdie in a row as he charged towards victory. The US Open golf betting odds indicate he will need a lot of luck if he is to repeat that win. Read the rest of this entry →

Lee Westwood will be looking to have a strong showing at the U.S. Open.

While the past few months have seen Luke Donald grabbing most of the headlines for his spectacular run of form, many will see Lee Westwood as Britain’s best hope at this month’s US Open. Donald’s victory against his compatriot in the play-off of last month’s BMW PGA Championship saw him climb above Westwood at the top of the world rankings. While being knocked off top-spot in the rankings will have undoubtedly bothered Westwood, his recent record at majors is much better than his rival.

Some will still go on about the fact that ‘Westy’ is still without a major victory, but the fact is that only three of the world’s top-10 players have tasted victory at one of the four majors. Westwood has now managed to consistently challenge at majors over the past few seasons. Since 2008, Westwood has recorded five top-three finishes at majors, with a third place finish at the US Open three years ago. Anyone looking to bet on 2011 US Open action will have to decide if he has the mental toughness needed to go all the way. Read the rest of this entry →

Tiger Woods hopes his trip to the U.S. Open will last longer than the nine holes he played at the Players Championship.

Tiger Woods is still confident of competing in next month’s US Open despite suffering another injury setback. The former world-number one pulled up after nine holes at last week’s Players Championship at Sawgrass, with a series of nagging injuries in his left leg.

Tiger’s left knee (again), Achilles and calf all tightened halfway through his opening round, so much so that he was forced to withdraw from the tournament. It was clear to anybody watching that Tiger wasn’t fully fit, his opening nine holes saw him shoot a disastrous 42 before making the decision to retire hurt. Anyone following the 2011 US Open golf betting will have been very worried by the nature of the injury.

Speaking after his enforced withdrawal from the Players Championship, Woods confirmed the injury was worryingly a flare up of an old knee problem, which had then caused tightness in his achilles and calf.

“The knee acted up, then the achilles followed and then the calf started cramping up. Everything started getting tight, so it’s just a whole chain reaction,” he said.

With the US Open less than a month away Woods has maintained he is still focusing on participating at the season’s second major, to be held at the Congressional from the 16th to the 19th of June. Woods released a statement on his personal website following his withdrawal from Sawgrass.

“Aggravating my injury is very disappointing. I’ll do whatever is necessary to play in the US Open and I’m hopeful I can be there to compete,” it read.

The course at the Congressional has happy memories for Tiger after he won the AT&T National in 2009 at the Maryland held event. The US open was Tiger’s last major win in 2008 and that year had a similar feel to it for the former dominant force in world golf. Injury then had affected Tiger’s warm-up to the Torrey Pines held US Open in 2008, a lack of practice rounds didn’t hinder him though and Woods prevailed at the first extra hole after the 18th hole play-off. Those looking at the US Open betting won’t be expecting him to pull off a miracle this time around.

While plenty will never lose any doubt that Tiger will one day return to the top of his game, some however don’t believe we’ll ever see the day when Woods is the same player as he was before his problems. Winning this year’s US Open would certainly silence those critics, but it would take a hell of an effort to do it without any preparation time.

Seve Ballestros brought flair and passion to the game of golf.

The golf world lost a superstar with the death on Saturday of five-time Major Champion Seve Ballesteros after a long battle with Cancer. Known for his style and passion on the course, the Spaniard was not only one of the best players of his era, but he helped foster the international flavor of golf and turn the Ryder Cup into a major event.

Only 16 when he turned pro in 1974, Ballesteros emerged on the radar just two years later when he led the 1976 British Open by two strokes after three rounds. Though he faded with a 74 in the final round, he still finished tied with Jack Nicklaus for second behind Johnny Miller.

He went on to lead the European Tour money list that year, something he would do six times, and by 1979 was recognized as one of the up-and-coming stars in the golf world.

During the 1979 season he claimed his first major championship by winning the British Open by three stokes over Ben Crenshaw and Nicklaus. Only 22 years old, Ballesteros was the youngest winner of the British Open in the 20th Century and the first player from continental Europe to win a major title since 1907.

The following year, Ballesteros won his first green jacket with a four stroke victory at the Masters. He led by as many as 10 strokes during the final round before ultimately winning by four strokes. He was the youngest Masters Champion until Tiger Woods broke his mark 17 years later. Read the rest of this entry →