A6 BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, JULY 19, 2022
SPORTS
150TH BRITISH OPEN
BAKER FOOTBALL
Smith rallies
past McIlroy to
win The Open
Big shakeup in Bulldogs’
fall gridiron schedule
It’s the first major
title for the
Australian player
BY DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland
— The stage at St. Andrews
was all set for Rory McIlroy.
The show belonged to
Cameron Smith, and so
did that silver claret jug he
won in a Sunday stunner at
the British Open with the
best closing round the Old
Course had ever seen.
Smith was four shots be-
hind at the start as a record
crowd was eager to see McIl-
roy cap off a week of celebra-
tions at the 150th Open in
style. He was three behind
when he made the turn.
And then the plucky Aus-
tralian with his magical put-
ter ran off five straight bird-
ies to take the lead, stared
down a nervy putt around
the edge of the nefarious
Road Hole bunker to save
par and finished with two
putts from 80 feet for birdie
for an 8-under 64.
“To win an Open Cham-
pionship in itself is probably
going to be a golfer’s high-
light in their career,” Smith
said. “To do it around St.
Andrews I think is just un-
believable.”
So was his golf.
In the 29 previous times
golf’s oldest championship
was held at St. Andrews,
no winner had ever closed
with a 64. Smith finished
at 20-under 268, a record
score for the Old Course and
matching the lowest score to
par in any major.
“I got beaten by the bet-
ter player this week. To go
out and shoot 64 to win the
Open Championship at St.
Andrews is a hell of a show-
ing. Hats off to Cam,” McIl-
roy said.
McIlroy hit every green in
regulation and two-putted
all of them — two were bird-
ies, the rest were pars — for a
70 that left him in third place
and having to wait nearly
nine months before he can
try to end his drought in the
majors that now is at eight
full years.
Smith won by one shot
over Cameron Young, who
holed a 15-foot eagle putt
on the final hole to ever-so-
briefly tie for the lead.
It wasn’t enough, and nei-
ther was anything McIlroy
could muster.
McIlroy couldn’t make a
putt early. He couldn’t hit it
close enough late. His last
good chance was a 15-foot
birdie attempt on the dan-
gerous Road Hole at No. 17,
and it narrowly missed to
the left. McIlroy needed ea-
gle to tie him, and his chip
through the Valley of Sin
had no chance.
Smith won for the third
time this year, all on entirely
different courses — the gen-
erous fairways of Kapalua,
the visual intimidation of
water on the TPC Sawgrass
and the oldest links in the
world with its double greens
and pot bunkers.
He beat the No. 1 player
in the world (Jon Rahm) at
Kapalua. He beat the best
field in golf at The Players
Championship. And he had
to overcome a four-shot defi-
cit against a heavy crowd
favorite to capture his first
major.
Even with the silver claret
jug in his hands, it was hard
to believe.
“All the names on there,
every player that’s been at the
top of their game has won
this championship,” Smith
said. “It’s pretty cool to be on
there. It really hasn’t sunk in
yet. I don’t think it will for a
few weeks. Yeah, it’s just un-
real.”
Smith is the first Australian
to win at St. Andrews since
Kel Nagle in 1960, when he
topped a rising American star
named Arnold Palmer, the
people’s choice.
All day there was an en-
ergy along the humps and
hollows of the Old Course,
all of them waiting to cele-
brate McIlroy as an Open
champion at St. Andrews.
He gave them little to
cheer.
“The putter went cold on
me,” McIlroy said. “When
both Camerons — especially
Smith — went on that run
on the back nine, I had to dig
deep to make birdies. And I
just couldn’t.”
WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
U.S. has record-setting medal day
BY PAT GRAHAM
Associated Press
EUGENE — Except for
a single, barely perceptible
flinch, this would’ve been a
Perfect 10 for the U.S. track
and field team.
As it ended up, the Amer-
icans still won nine medals
on home turf Sunday, July 17
at the world championships
in what will go down as one
of the most memorable days
for the red, white and blue in
its long, successful history.
It was the best single medal
day for a nation at worlds,
according to meet organiz-
ers.
Hurdler Devon Allen’s
false start kept the U.S.
from a possible sweep in
the 110-meter final and
what could’ve been the 10th
medal of the day. The speed-
ster-slash-receiver will now
take his talents to the foot-
ball field, where he’ll attempt
to make the roster for the
Philadelphia Eagles. It was
hardly the way he wanted to
finish at worlds.
With their big-medal haul
Sunday, the Americans now
have six golds and 14 total
medals. The next most is
three medals each by Ethi-
opia, Poland, China and Ja-
maica, which swept the wom-
en’s 100 to close out the night.
Baker’s new league
rivals are
Pendleton, Madras,
The Dalles, and
Crook County
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
If Baker High School’s foot-
ball schedule this fall were a
haircut, it would be a mullet.
If it were a TV channel,
it would be MTV during its
heyday.
The Bulldogs’ schedule, to
put it another way, has a de-
cidedly 1980s flavor.
A major shakeup in Baker’s
league has resulted in games
against multiple former rivals
from the old Intermountain
Conference.
In those days Baker was a
Class AAA school, a division
that included Oregon’s largest
high schools.
Today Baker is in the
Class 4A ranks, with bigger
schools divided among the
Class 5A and Class 6A divi-
sions.
“Big changes from last
year,” said Buell Gonzales Jr.,
the Baker School District’s
athletic director.
Baker’s longtime Greater
Oregon Conference foes
Ontario and Mac-Hi are
gone — Ontario having
dropped from Class 4A to
3A for football only, and
Mac-Hi having done so for
all sports.
Although Baker hasn’t
played Mac-Hi in football
since 2018, Ontario has been a
regular rival.
The Tigers remain on the
schedule for 2022, but this
time it’s a nonleague game,
set for Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. at
Baker Bulldog Memorial Sta-
dium.
Only one Greater Ore-
gon League rival remains
as a league opponent — La
Grande.
In the newly constituted
4A Special District 5, Baker
will travel to La Grande for its
first league game on Sept. 30
at 7 p.m.
The Bulldogs then play four
straight games, three of those
at Baker Bulldog Memorial
Stadium, against other mem-
bers of the new special district:
• home against The Dalles,
Oct. 7, 7 p.m.
• home against Madras,
Oct. 14, 7 p.m.
• at Crook County
(Prineville), Oct. 21, 7 p.m.
• home against Pendleton,
Oct. 28, 7 p.m.
Baker varsity coach Jason
Ramos said he’s excited about
the new league.
“I’m in favor of it,” he said.
“Getting more teams in our
league is a positive. We’re ex-
cited to have new teams in our
league.”
For the past several years
the Greater Oregon League
had just four teams — Baker,
Ontario, La Grande and
Mac-Hi.
That made it tough to fill
the schedule some years, Ra-
mos said.
In 2019, for instance,
when Mac-Hi didn’t com-
pete in the Greater Oregon
League, Baker played La
Grande and Ontario twice
Corey Kirk/Baker City Herald, File
Baker’s Dash Bloomer (middle) and Drake Harper (No. 16) tackle a Weiser Wolverine on Friday evening,
Sept. 17, 2021, at Baker Bulldog Memorial Stadium.
each. The Bulldogs also
traveled to Bend for a non-
league, neutral site game,
and to Washington for an-
other nonleague contest.
In 2021, Baker played New-
port in a neutral site non-
league game at Sisters.
Ramos acknowledged that
the new special district of-
fers a tough slate of games,
with Pendleton, The Dalles
and Crook County drop-
ping down from the Class 5A
ranks.
“It’s a challenge, but it’s a
welcome challenge,” Ramos
said. “Every game’s going to be
a big game, which is what you
want in league play.”
Ramos noted that al-
though the more daunting
league schedule could make
it tougher for Baker to qualify
for the playoffs, that might be
offset by the Oregon School
Activities Association giving
the league an additional play-
off slot.
Regardless, if the Bulldogs
qualify for the playoffs they’ll
be better prepared due to the
Baker football schedule
• Sept. 3, at Cascade, 2 p.m.
(nonleague)
• Sept. 9, vs. Homedale,
7 p.m. (nonleague)
• Sept. 16, at Vale, 6 p.m.
PDT (nonleague)
• Sept. 23, vs. Ontario, 7 p.m.
(nonleague)
• Sept. 30, at La Grande,
7 p.m. (league)
• Oct. 7, vs. The Dalles,
7 p.m. (league)
• Oct. 14, vs. Madras, 7 p.m.
(league)
• Oct. 21, at Crook County,
7 p.m. (league)
• Oct. 28, vs. Pendleton,
7 p.m. (league)
higher level of competition,
Ramos said.
He’s also excited about
Baker having five home
games this fall, three of them
against new league foes in
Madras, The Dalles and
Pendleton.
Baker had just three home
games in 2019, mainly be-
cause the Bulldogs, with On-
tario and La Grande as the
only league foes, had to settle
for road games to round out
its schedule.”
“It’s going to be fun to have
some new teams coming in,”
Ramos said.
Baker opens its nine-game
schedule with four nonleague
contests.
The Bulldogs will travel
to Turner, near Salem, on
Sept. 3 to take on Cascade, a
rematch of the 2021 season
opener at Baker, which the
senior-laden Cascade squad
won 35-0.
The opener is Baker’s only
Saturday game, with the other
eight set for Friday.
Baker’s home opener
is Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. against
Homedale, Idaho, the Bull-
dogs’ lone game against an
out-of-state school.
Baker travels to Vale on
Sept. 16 for a 6 p.m. PDT
game, and then returns home
for the final nonleague game
against Ontario.
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