Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Golf
Spieth in elite company because of majors, not style points
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
SOUTHPORT, England —
Jordan Spieth was happy enough
to see his name on the claret jug
without wondering where he fit
in among the rest of the British
Open champions whose names are
engraved on the oldest trophy in
golf.
In that respect, nothing has
changed.
Spieth wasn’t keen on compari-
sons when he became the youngest
Masters champion since Tiger
Woods, the youngest U.S. Open
champion since Bobby Jones or the
youngest to win two majors since
Gene Sarazen. And now that Jack
Nicklaus is part of the conversa-
tion, he shies away from them even
more.
Spieth and Nicklaus are the only
players to capture the third leg of
the Grand Slam at age 23.
“I’ll be careful with my answer,”
Spieth said Sunday when asked
about his place among the greats.
“It’s amazing. I feel blessed to be
able to play the game I love, but I
don’t think comparisons ... I don’t
compare myself. And I don’t think
that they’re appropriate or neces-
sary. So to be in that company no
doubt is absolutely incredible, and
I certainly appreciate it.”
To hear his name listed in such
elite company is merely a reward
from the work he put in to get there.
AP Photo/Dave Thompson
Jordan Spieth of the United States holds the trophy after winning
the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Birkdale, South-
port, England, Sunday July 23, 2017.
“But I’m very careful as to what
that means going forward,” he
added, “Because what those guys
have done has transcended the
sport. And in no way, shape or form
do I think I’m anywhere near that
whatsoever. So it’s a good start, but
there is a long way to go.”
Maybe.
But if he were to win the PGA
Championship in three weeks,
he will be only the sixth — and
youngest — to have all four majors.
The prospect is exciting, though
recent history illustrates why
success can be so fleeting in golf.
Rory McIlroy looked unstop-
pable when he won the British
Open and PGA Championship at
the end of 2014, and then headed to
Augusta National for a shot at the
Grand Slam. Who could possibly
beat that blend of power and
scoring? Spieth won the Masters
in a runaway. McIlroy has finished
six shots behind at Augusta in each
of the three chances he has had to
complete the Grand Slam.
Phil Mickelson won the British
Open in 2013 and was a U.S. Open
away from a career Grand Slam —
the major where he was runner-up
six times. In three chances since,
Mickelson has finished 15 and 18
shots out of the lead and missed the
cut last year.
More than winning at Royal
Birkdale was the manner in which
Spieth did it.
That evokes more comparisons.
Even though Spieth already
has 11 victories on the PGA Tour,
including his three majors, he
does not bring intimidation to the
first tee. Geoff Ogilvy spoke to
that two years ago at St. Andrews
when Spieth was trying to win the
calendar Grand Slam.
“He beats you with better golf.
He doesn’t beat you because he
hits it further,” Ogilvy said that
day. “Tiger’s intimidation was that
he always did something amazing.
Jordan doesn’t beat you with a
crazy par, or a crazy chip-in. He
just beats you because he’s better.”
But there were Tiger-like qual-
ities that emerged from a six-hole
stretch of golf at Royal Birkdale
that became part of major champi-
onship lore.
Spieth salvaged a 5 on the 13th
hole while playing his third shot
with a 3-iron from the driving
range, so far away that he wasn’t
even sure of the yardage and
couldn’t see any part of the hole.
He faced a delicate pitch over a pot
bunker and then a must-make putt.
What followed was a 6-iron that
nearly went in for an ace, a 50-foot
eagle that found the center of the
cup and a 30-foot birdie across the
16th green.
Was this really happening?
The feelings must have been
similar watching Nicklaus make
his charge on the back nine to win
the 1986 Masters. The drama was
similar to Woods running off three
straight birdies at Valhalla when
he won his third straight major in
a playoff at the 2000 PGA Cham-
pionship.
The payoff for Spieth was more
than the third leg of the Grand
Slam. It might have been a big step
in creating a mystique, a trait shared
by precious few over history.
“These are the intangibles, the
things I just don’t understand,”
Zach Johnson said. “I’m not
suggesting I can’t do it. He just
does it all the time.”
Ernie Els even raised the
prospect of Spieth reaching the 14
majors won by Woods.
“When you get on a roll like
that, guys kind of starting knowing
that you know how to win,” Els
said. “And almost like Tiger, where
people can maybe feel like they
can’t do it against Jordan. Because
he’s been up there a few times
now.”
And as he showed Sunday at
Royal Birkdale, he has a sense of
the occasion. Next up is how that
translates at the PGA Champion-
ship.
Auto Racing
Kahne gets resume boost with Hendrick job in limbo
By MICHAEL MAROT
AP Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS — Kasey
Kahne proved he’s still capable of
winning races.
Now he must convince team
owner Rick Hendrick he still
belongs on one of NASCAR’s
strongest teams.
One day after 19-year-old
William Byron won his third
Xfinity Series races in less than a
month, Kahne overcame dangerous
heat, painful muscle cramps and a
grueling, crash-marred, six-hour
marathon Cup race to earn his first
win in almost three years. It might
take an even bigger effort to keep
his job.
“Our plans are not set for the
No. 5 car,” Hendrick said after
Sunday’s Brickyard 400. “There’s
nothing concrete or done and that
hasn’t changed. We’ll see how
things shake out at the end of the
year.”
For weeks, there’s been spec-
ulation about Kahne’s future at
Hendrick Motorsports.
With only three top-10 finishes
in the first 19 races and his primary
sponsor, Great Clips, already
Kasey Kahne
(5) celebrates
with car
owner Rick
Hendrick
after winning
the NASCAR
Brickyard 400
auto race at
Indianap-
olis Motor
Speedway in
Indianapolis
Sunday, July
23, 2017.
AP Photo/AJ Mast
announcing it would not be back
next season, many thought the
37-year-old Kahne was on his way
out.
Kahne responded with maybe
the gutsiest performance of his
career.
He avoided all the debris and
chaos around him. He and Brad
Keselowski escaped a three-wide
race through the third turn with
Jimmie Johnson’s car smoking.
Kahne then held off Keselowski
on the final restart, beat him to the
overtime line and appeared dazed
and confused as he slumped to the
ground after climbing out of his
Chevrolet with the win in hand.
After kissing the bricks, one of the
top trained athletes in NASCAR
went to the infield medical center
for intravenous fluids.
It took everything he and his
team had to reach victory lane.
“All I want to do is win. All
I want to do is perform,” he said.
“My team works really hard as
well, but we haven’t had the
performance. We haven’t ran up
front. We haven’t led a lot of laps.
I feel like this is a huge win for us.
Being the Brickyard it means even
more to me — one of the toughest
and biggest races you can win in
NASCAR.”
The victory gives Kahne a ticket
to the playoffs and more chances to
impress the owner.
Byron looks like another rising
star in Hendrick’s garage. With
three wins in five weeks, he’s
already showing he might ready to
make the jump to the Cup series.
Hendrick isn’t quite convinced.
“He’s definitely going to be in the
Xfinity car (next year),” Hendrick
said Sunday morning when asked
about Byron taking over the No. 5
in 2018. “We’ll come to that bridge
when we cross it.”
Clearly, wins help Kahne make
his case to stay. And big wins, like
the one at Indianapolis, are hard to
ignore. Hendrick now owns a record
10 Brickyard wins — five with Jeff
Gordon, four with Johnson and one
with Kahne.
Will it be enough?
“Puts him in the Chase, in the
playoffs. We’re excited about that,”
Hendrick said. “I hope this turns
the corner. The team’s had a lot of
bad luck.”
BRIEFLY
Heppner holding
football camp
HEPPNER — The Heppner
Mustangs football program is
holding its 25th annual football
camp next week.
The football camp will run
from Monday, July 31 through
Thursday, August 3 at the practice
field located behind Heppner High
School. Campers in grades 5-8
will hit the field for instruction
from 3:30-5:30 p.m. each night
while grades 9-12 will follow from
5-8 p.m.
BLACK BELT: Dames set
to move to Florida soon to
further Jiu-Jitsu career
Continued from 1B
that’s been through a lot and
it’s special that he invited me
up here to promote him in the
town where he started,” Sanchez
said. “Since I’ve known him,
Brandon’s completely changed
in Jiu-Jitsu. He looks at it
completely different and he’s
gotten so much better, so much
more involved and in tune. It’s
hard to put into words just how
much he’s grown.”
After graduating from Pilot
Rock high school in 1995,
Dames’ journey took him many
places and into many hard times.
He confessed some of his story
to the attendees of the seminar
on Saturday, from living in a
garage with no plumbing in
Boise, to countless days spent
on the road away from his wife,
Ashley, and his family whether
it was for Jiu-Jitsu or body-
building, which was his passion
before finding the martial art.
And though his life has taken
him away from Eastern Oregon,
he still gives back when he can.
Dames is the professor for Solid
Base instructors Johnny Picard
and Logan Skinner, the latter of
which also received a promotion
to brown belt on Saturday. That
connection as well as coming
home to see his parents made
Pendleton a logical place for
Dames to receive his promotion.
However, soon Jiu-Jitsu is
taking Dames further away
from home once again. In two
weeks, Dames and his wife
are packing up and moving
to Melbourne, Florida where
Dames will continue to train.
And then after the first of 2018,
Dames and Sanchez will be
looking at places to open up
a gym together and continue
a partnership that has helped
Dames reach new heights.
“When I think of (Sanchez),
I think of meeting someone
you’re connected with that
will help you reach your goals
because he’s already reached
them,” Dames said. “He’s been
there and knows how to get
me where I want to be. I have
the work ethic, the hunger, the
education, I just needed that
mentor to help me conquer
those goals and he did it.”
————
Contact Eric at esinger@
eastoregonian.com or 541-966-
0839. Follow him on Twitter at
@ByEricSinger.
The cost for all campers is $30,
and along with instruction from
Heppner’s experienced coaching
staff, each attendee will receive a
Heppner football hat. Registration
for the 5-8 graders will be July 31
from 2-3:30 p.m. in the Heppner
High gymnasium, and the high
school registration will follow
from 4-5 p.m.
Registration forms can be found
online at the Heppner High school
website.
For more information, contact
Greg Grant at 541-676-9138 or
grantg@morrow.k12.or.us.
TOP: Jiu-jit-
su black
belt Bran-
don Dames
instructs a
couple of
less experi-
enced martial
artists Sat-
urday during
a jiu-jitsu
training camp
at Pendleton
High School.
Dame, a Pilot
Rock High
School gradu-
ate, now lives
in Vancouver,
Washington,
but returned
home to re-
ceive his black
belt during a
ceremony at
the beginning
of the half-day
camp.
BOTTOM:
Jiu-jitsu
instructor
Brandon
Dames shows
a less experi-
enced martial
artist how
to perform a
move Satur-
day during
a jiu-jitsu
training camp
at Pendleton
High School.
Staff photos by Kathy
Aney
YOUTH:
Continued from 1B
across three more runs for a
4-1 Arizona lead.
Oregon added another run
in the fourth inning off an
RBI groundout by Broadfoot
to bring home Samford to
make it a 4-2 game.
But again, just as Oregon
gained a bit of momentum,
Arizona took it right back.
In the fifth, two singles and
back-to-back errors pushed
across three more Arizona
runs to make it a 7-2 game.
Oregon finishes its pool
play slate with a 1-1 record
and now moves on to single
elimination bracket play
today at 5 p.m. against
Hawaii.
BASEBALL
SPRAGUE 8, PEND-
LETON 6 — At Portland,
the Pendleton 9/10-year-old
all-stars lost for the second
time at the state tournament,
losing a back-and-forth affair
to Sprague 8-6 on Monday.
Evan Lehnert and Tugg
McQuinn each had three hits
in the game, with Lehnert
adding one run scored and an
RBI and McQuinn scoring a
pair of runs. Connor Cook
also had a solid day going
2-for-3 with two runs, a
double.
Pendleton scored three
runs in the top of the third
to take a 3-2 lead when
Neistadt hit an RBI single to
score Cook and then a pair
of Sprague errors brought
home McQuinn and Lehnert.
Sprague then re-took a 4-3
lead in the fourth before
Pendleton tied it up at 4-4 in
the fifth on a RBI single by
Lehnert.
But Sprague scored four
times in the bottom of the
fifth to take an 8-4 lead and it
never relinquished it.
SEATTLE:
Continued from 1B
land, hitting .300 with 18
homers and 56 RBIs in 77
games. He played just nine
games at Portland, hitting
.400 with two homers. . RHP
Kyle Martin was optioned to
Pawtucket. .
MARINERS MOVES
Seattle signed veteran
INF Danny Espinosa, who
was released last week by the
Los Angeles Angels. Espi-
nosa hit .209 with a career-
high 24 homers in 2016 with
Washington, but hit just .162
in 77 games with the Angels.
RHP Hisashi Iwakuma (right
shoulder inflammation) was
transferred to the 60-day
DL. ... INF Taylor Motter
was optioned to Triple-A
Tacoma following Sunday’s
game.
UP NEXT:
Red Sox: LHP Drew
Pomeranz (10-4, 3.51) has
won four consecutive deci-
sions over his last five starts,
Mariners: RHP Felix
Hernandez (5-4, 3.88) is 3-2
with a 3.25 ERA in six starts
since coming off the DL.