A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • MONDAY, MAY 24, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
GOLF
PGA Championship
AGELESS WONDER
What will Phil do next:
Mickelson becomes
oldest major champ
BY DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
K
IAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — The
pandemonium closed in around
Phil Mickelson as he walked to-
ward the 18th green at Kiawah
Island, where thousands upon thousands of
euphoric fans wanted a piece of the history he
delivered Sunday in the PGA Championship.
For all the thrills and spills that have defined
his 30 years of pure theater, his latest act gave
Mickelson his own place in the game.
A major champion at age 50, the oldest in
the 161 years of major championship golf.
That final walk toward a two-shot victory
was as much stress as he faced over the fi-
nal hour, and it was a bit scary until Mickel-
son emerged out of the masses and flashed a
thumbs-up.
“Slightly unnerving,” Mickelson said, “but
exceptionally awesome.”
Just like his game.
Mickelson never thought he was too old to
win again, much less a major. He just didn’t
have much evidence on his side until a remark-
able four days at Kiawah Island where he kept
his nerve and delivered all the right shots for
his sixth major, and by far the most surprising.
Matt York/AP
Phil Mickelson makes his way through fans on the 18th fairway during the final round at the PGA Champi-
onship golf tournament on the Ocean Course Sunday in Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
He made two early birdies with that magical
wedge game that never left him, and then let a
cast of challengers fall too far behind to catch-
ing him in the shifting wind off the Atlantic.
Mickelson closed with a 1-over 73 to win by
two over Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen.
“One of the moments I’ll cherish my entire
life,” Mickelson said. “I don’t know how to de-
scribe the feeling of excitement and fulfillment
and accomplishment to do something of this
magnitude when very few people thought that
I could.”
That list didn’t include Mickelson. Never
mind that he had not won in more than two
years, had not registered a top 20 in nearly
nine months and last won a major in 2013 at
the British Open.
See PGA / A6
Oregon women
advance in Arizona
The Oregon women’s
golf team fell one spot
Sunday to 10th place in
the NCAA Championships
in Scottsdale, Arizona, but
comfortably advanced
to Monday’s stroke play
round.
The Ducks shot a 5-over
293 on Sunday, seven
shots better than its sec-
ond round Saturday. Ore-
gon is at 19-over 883 for
the tournament.
The 24-team field at
Grayhawk Golf Club was
cut to the top 15 teams
and the top nine individ-
uals not on an advancing
team after Sunday. The fi-
nal 18 holes of stroke play
will be Monday, determin-
ing the top eight teams
that will advance to Tues-
day’s match play quarterfi-
nals as well as the 72-hole
individual champion.
Stanford shot an 11-un-
der 277 Sunday to com-
fortably lead the team
race over Duke, Oklahoma
State and Texas. Arizona is
in ninth place. UCLA was
tied with Michigan for the
15th and final team spot
for Monday through nine
holes Sunday.
Briana Chacon contin-
ues to lead the way for Or-
egon. She shot a 1-over 73
Sunday and is tied for 10th
individually at even-par
216. Ching-Tzu Chen had
the best round of the day
for the Ducks with a 71 to
move into a tie for 24th at
3-over 219.
Hsin-Yu Lu is tied
for 57th at 223, Sofie
Kibsgaard Nielsen is tied
for 103rd at 229 and Tze-
Han Lin is tied for 114th
at 231.
Stanford’s Rachel Heck
is the individual leader at
10-under 206 after a 70
on Sunday. Teammate An-
geline Ye is second at 211
after the best round of the
day with a 65.
— The Register-Guard
NASCAR
Elliott wins rain-
shortened race
Phil Mickelson celebrates after winning
the final round at the PGA Championship
golf tournament on the Ocean Course,
Sunday in Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
David J. Phillip/AP
TOKYO OLYMPICS
With two month before the Games,
Japan opens mass vaccination centers
BY MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press
TOKYO — Japan mobilized mili-
tary doctors and nurses to give shots to
elderly people in Tokyo and Osaka on
Monday as the government desperately
tries to accelerate its vaccination rollout
and curb coronavirus infections just
two months before hosting the Olym-
pics.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is de-
termined to hold the Olympics in To-
kyo after a one-year delay and has made
an ambitious pledge to finish vaccinat-
ing the country’s 36 million elderly peo-
ple by the end of July, despite skepticism
it’s possible. Worries about public safety
while many Japanese remain unvacci-
nated have prompted growing protests
and calls for canceling the Games set to
start on July 23.
Suga’s government has repeatedly ex-
panded the area and duration of a virus
state of emergency since late April and
has made its virus-fighting measures
Carl Court/pool, Getty Images
A medical staff prepares the Moderna coro-
navirus vaccine for use at the newly-opened
mass vaccination center in Tokyo Monday.
stricter. Currently, Tokyo and 9 other
areas that are home to 40% of the coun-
try’s population are under the emer-
gency and further extension is deemed
unavoidable.
With COVID-19 cases still per-
sistently high, Suga now says vaccines
are key to getting the infections under
control. He has not made vaccinations
conditional to holding the Olympics
and has arranged for Pfizer to donate
its vaccine for athletes through the In-
ternational Olympic Committee, while
trying to speed up Japan’s inoculation
drive as anti-Olympic sentiment grows.
At the two mass inoculation centers
staffed by Japan’s Self-Defense Forces,
the aim is to inoculate up to 10,000 peo-
ple per day in Tokyo and another 5,000
per day in Osaka for the next three
months.
People inoculated at the centers on
Monday were the first in Japan to re-
ceive doses from Moderna Inc., one of
two foreign-developed vaccines Japan
approved on Friday.
Previously Japan had used only Pfizer
Inc., and only about 2% of the popula-
tion of 126 million has received the re-
quired two doses.
Japan began vaccinating health care
workers in mid-February while stick-
ing to a standard requirement of clinical
testing inside Japan — a decision many
experts said was statistically meaning-
less and only caused delay.
Vaccinations for the next group —
the elderly, who are more likely to suffer
serious COVID-19 effects — started in
mid-April but has been slowed by bu-
reaucratic bumbling including reserva-
tion procedures, unclear distribution
plans and shortage of medical staff to
give shots.
Completion of Japan-developed vac-
cines is still uncertain, but Japanese
government officials hope the approv-
als Friday of Moderna and AstraZeneca
will help speed up the rollout.
“Speeding up the rollout makes us
feel safer because it affects our social
life and the economy,” said Munemitsu
Watanabe, 71-year-old office worker
who got his first shot at the Tokyo cen-
ter. “If 80-90% of the population gets
vaccinated, I think we can hold the
Olympics smoothly.”
AUSTIN, Texas —
Chase Elliott managed the
slipping and sliding, the
standing water and the
poor visibility that made it
hard for drivers to see just
a few feet in front of them.
And when NASCAR’s
debut at the Circuit of the
Americas ended early be-
cause of poor racing con-
ditions in the rain, Elliott
had earned not just his
first victory of the season,
but also historic ones for
Hendrick Motorsports and
Chevrolet.
Elliott’s Texas Grand
Prix victory after 54 of
the expected 68 laps was
win No. 800 for Chevrolet
and No. 268 for Hendrick
Motorsports, which tied
Petty Enterprises for most
victories.
“I never thought we’d
win this many races,” said
team owner Rick Hen-
drick, whose team had
also earned win Nos.
400, 500, 600 and 700 for
Chevrolet. He called it “an
honor” to tie Petty.
“I’m so proud for Chev-
rolet,” Hendrick said. “I’ve
never raced anything but
Çhevrolet.”
When pressed on what
wins stand out over the
years, Hendrick said, “It
takes every one of those
wins to get to the number
we got to now. There’s just
so many. All of them are
special.”
Sunday’s race will be
notable for ending de-
fending Cup champion
Elliott’s winless drought,
and for putting the driv-
ers through a soggy and
occasionally muddy mess
before it was ended under
the second red flag of the
afternoon as the rain only
got worse.
— Associated Press