World Cup Final: Spain v. Argentina

Here are the starting lineups:

SPAIN (4-2-3-1):

GK:  Unai Simon, Athletic Bilbao (ESP)

DF:  Pedro Porro, Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)
DF:  Pau Cubarsi, Barcelona (ESP)

DF:  Aymeric Laporte, Athletic Bilbao (ESP)

DF:  Marc Cucurella, Real Madrid (ESP)

MF:  Rodri (Captain), Manchester City (ENG)

MF:  Fabian Ruiz, Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)

FW:  Lamine Yamal, Barcelona (ESP)

MF:  Dani Olmo, Barcelona (ESP)

MF:  Alex Baena, Atletico Madrid (ESP)

FW:  Mikel Oyarzabal, Real Sociedad (ESP)

ARGENTINA (4-1-3-2):

GK:  Emiliano Martinez, Aston Villa (ENG)

DF:  Gonzalo Montiel, River Plate (ARG)

DF:  Cristian Romero, Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)

DF:  Lisandro Martinez, Manchester Utd (ENG)

DF:  Nicolas Tagliafico, Lyon (FRA)

MF:   Enzo Fernandez, Chelsea (ENG)

MF:  Rodrigo De Paul, Inter Miami (USA)
MF:  Alexis Mac Allister, Liverpool (ENG)

FW:  Nicolas Gonzalez, Juventus (ITA)

FW:  Lionel Messi (Captain), Inter Miami (USA)

FW:  Julian Alvarez, Atletico Madrid (ESP)

As usual, Argentina has opened the game by teaching their opponents that if you have the ball, it won't be long before someone from Argentina crashes into you.  Argentina hasn't bothered to do anything on offense yet.  After 30 minutes, we have no score.

The British Open: Final Results

Ryan Fox, a 39-year-old New Zealander with two PGA Tour victories to his name, played the last two rounds in 10-under par 130 to take the 154th British Open.  On the 16th tee, Fox trailed Cameron Young by one shot with three holes to go.  He then birdied the 16th to force a tie, parred the 17th, and then hit a spectacular approach shot to within about seven feet on the par-4 18th, which had only been birdied twice all day.  He rammed in the birdie putt and became the Champion Golfer of the Year.  Here's the final leaderboard:

1.  Ryan Fox (NZL):  -10 (72+68+62+68 = 270)

2.  Cameron Young:  -9 (67+67+73+64=271)

3.  Sam Burns:  -8 (73+62+65+72=272)

T4.  Scottie Scheffler:  -7 (68+68+70+67=273)

T4.  Tommy Fleetwood (ENG):  -7 (69+67+69+68=273)

T6.  Casey Jarvis (RSA):  -6 (73+67+68+66=274)

T6.  Lucas Herbert (AUS): -6 (70+62+71+71=274)

T6.  Si Woo Kim (KOR):  -6 (68+67+67+72=274)

T9.  Adam Scott (AUS):  -5 (72+66+71+66=275)

T9.  Russell Henley:  -5 (70+71+68+66=275)

T9.  Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (DEN): -5 (72+66+67+70=275)

T9.  Ludvig Aberg (SWE):  -5 (71+66+67+71=275)

T9.  Ryan Gerard:  -5 (67+67+69+72=275)

And so ends a disappointing year for American Golf fans.  Rory McIlroy (NIR) won the Masters for the second year in a row, and there wasn't much reason to complain about that.  But Aaron Rai (ENG) staggered home the winner in a fairly dour PGA Championship, and Ryan Fox (NZL) became the first non-American to with the British Open since Cameron Smith in 2022.  Only Wyndham Clark's second U.S. Open victory prevented the Americans from being whitewashed.

The British Open: Second Round

At the end of Bryson DeChambeau's round, he appeared to be only one shot off the lead.  But after his round was complete, the Royal & Ancient whacked him with a two-shot penalty for allegedly moving his ball on the fifth hole -- to DeChambeau's rage and obvious fury.  So, now, the leaderboard looks like this:

1.  Lucas Herbert (AUS):  -8 (70+62=132)

T2.  Jackson Suber:  -6 (65+69=134)

T2.  Cameron Young:  -6 (67+67=134)

T2.  Ryan Gerard: -6 (67+67=134)

T5.  Sam Burns:  -5 (73+62=135)

T5.  Bryson DeChambeau:  -5 (67+68=135)

T5.  Si Woo Kim (KOR):  -5 (68+67=135)

T8.  Matt Wallace (ENG): -4 (69+67=136)

T8.  Bud Cauley:  -4 (68+68=136)

T8.  Thomas Detry (BEL): -4 (67+69=136)

T8.  Robert MacIntyre (SCO): -4 (67+69=136)

T8.  Alex Fitzpatrick (ENG): -4 (69+67=136)

T8.  Francesco Molinari (ITA): -4 (67+69=136)

T8.  Scottie Scheffler: -4 (68+68=136)

T8.  Tommy Fleetwood (ENG): -4 (69+67=136)

T8.  Jon Rahm (ESP): -4 (69+67=136)

Scheffler (+550) is the favorite, followed by Cameron Young (+700) and Lucas Herbert (+950).

82-0

I had a whole bunch of fun with this game for about three or four weeks this summer, and, about 10 days into playing it, I decided to start keeping track of the lineups that ended up with 82-0, 81-1 or 80-2 records. Each player would get a 2, 1 or 0 when they were picked for a team that recorded one of those records, respectively, and here are how things came out.

The British Open: First Round

Here's the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the British Open, played at Royal Birkdale:

1.  Jackson Suber:  -5 (65)

T2.  Sungjae Im (KOR):  -4 (66)

T2.  Dan Brown (ENG):  -4 (66)

T4.  Thomas Detry (BEL):  -3 (67)

T4.  Robert MacIntyre (SCO):  -3 (67)

T4.  Francesco Molinari (ITA):  -3 (67)

T4.  Alex Smalley:  -3 (67)

T4.  Bryson DeChambeau:  -3 (67)

T4.  Ryan Gerard:  -3 (67)

T4.  M.J. Daffue (RSA):  -3 (67)

T4.  Pierceson Coody:  -3 (67)

T4.  Cameron Young:  -3 (67)

Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa are each 2 under par.  Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, and Shane Lowry are each 1 under.  No other prominent golfers broke par.