A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • MoNday, JUNE 21, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
SOCCER
Golf | U.S. Open
Thorns capture 1-0
win vs. Kansas City
Best Dad’s Day
ever for Rahm
After a frustrating 45
minutes in which the
Portland Thorns gener-
ated numerous danger-
ous chances with noth-
ing to show for them,
of course it had to be
forward Simone Charley
who helped her team
find a breakthrough goal
deep into first-half stop-
page time.
The 26-year-old fi-
nally capitalized on one
of the team’s gilt-edged
opportunities when she
brought down a pic-
ture-perfect pass from
midfielder Crystal Dunn
in stride, took a touch
past on-rushing Kansas
City NWSL goalkeeper
Abby Smith and knocked
the ball into the back of
the net.
Charley’s goal and te-
nacious first-half perfor-
mance helped the Thorns
to a 1-0 victory against KC
NWSL on Sunday after-
noon in front of an 80%
capacity crowd at Provi-
dence Park.
“It was an important
goal that changed the
game,” coach Mark Par-
sons said. “I was proud of
how we (bounced back
from earlier misses) be-
cause earlier in the sea-
son I don’t think we were
capable of doing that, but
we’ve grown and shown
that we can do it.”
Portland dispersed for
the international break
following a 3-0 home win
against Racing Louisville
on June 5, but it appeared
as if they hadn’t missed
a beat with a defensively
sound victory against a
team that hasn’t scored
in its past three matches
and is still searching for its
first win since relocating
back to Kansas City last
summer.
Portland’s crop of in-
ternational players will
remain with the team for
at least one more game
before rejoining their na-
tional teams for the Tokyo
Olympics.
Spanish golfer — and new father — wins at Torrey Pines after a couple
career-changing putts: ‘It had to happen in a beautiful setting like this’
— The Oregonian
BY DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
S
AN DIEGO — Two career-changing putts
for Jon Rahm brought two trophies Sunday.
He cradled his 3-month-old son, Kepa, as
he walked off the 18th green at Torrey Pines
on Father’s Day. And then he collected the silver U.S.
Open trophy after a performance filled with passion
and absent of blunders that wiped out everyone else.
Rahm made a bending 25-foot birdie putt on the
17th hole to catch Louis Oosthuizen. He buried an-
other curling, left-to-right birdie putt from 18 feet
on the final hole for a 4-under 67 and a one-shot
victory.
“Little man, you have no idea what this means
right now,” Rahm said to his son on the practice
range when he won. “You will soon enough.”
The 26-year-old Rahm became the first Spaniard
ABOVE: Jon Rahm, of Spain, reacts to making his birdie
putt on the 18th green during the final round of the U.S.
Open championship on Sunday at Torrey Pines Golf Course
in San Diego. TOP: Rahm holds the champions trophy.
Gregory Bull/AP
to win the U.S. Open, finally getting the major prize
to go along with his enormous talent. His victory
also returned him to No. 1 in the world.
On a back nine filled with double bogeys by so
many contenders and a shocking meltdown by de-
fending champion Bryson DeChambeau, Oosthui-
zen was the last to fall.
Trailing by one shot, Oosthuizen drove into the
canyon left of the 17th fairway for a bogey that left
him two shots behind, and then he missed the fair-
way on the par-5 18th that kept him from going for
the green for a look at eagle to force a playoff.
SWIMMING | COMMENTARY
He settled for a birdie and a 71. It was his second
straight runner-up in a major, and his sixth silver
medal since he won the British Open in 2010 at St.
Andrews.
“Look, it’s frustrating. It’s disappointing,” Oosthui-
zen said .”I’m playing good golf, but winning a ma-
jor championship is not just going to happen. You
need to go out and play good golf. I played good to-
day, but I didn’t play good enough.”
Only two weeks ago, Rahm was on the cusp of an-
other big win. He had a six-shot lead at the Memo-
rial after 54 holes, only to be notified as he walked
off the 18th green at Muirfield Village that he had a
positive COVID-19 test and had to withdraw.
Worse yet, his parents had flown in from Spain to
see their new grandson, and Rahm was in self-isola-
tion and couldn’t be there for a special moment.
See Rahm / A6
NBA | COMMENTARY
A white-dominated sport Nothing to see in
is struggling to diversify Blazers broadcast
move? Fan disagrees
BY PAUL NEWBERRY
AP Sports Columnist
OMAHA, Neb. — Cullen
Jones still remembers the first
time he really felt hate at a
swimming pool.
He was a teenager growing
up in New York City, compet-
ing for the first time at high-
er-level meets where he stood
out as one of the few Black
swimmers.
“I definitely felt different,”
Jones recalled in an interview
this week at the U.S. Olympic
trials. “When I was 15 years
old, I finally won a big race. I
beat this white kid. Well, his
mom walked by and said, ‘Oh,
shouldn’t you be playing bas-
ketball?’”
See Swimming / A6
BY JOHN CANZANO
The Oregonian
Mark J. Terrill/AP file
Cullen Jones smiles after his heat in the men’s 50-meter freestyle
semifinal at the 2016 U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Ne-
braska. Jones, who won four Olympic medals during his career and
is now retired, is working to make swimming more diverse and
change the perception that it’s for whites only.
Dwayne Anliker got some
sad news this week. Not as
tough as the stroke he suf-
fered seven years ago. But
hearing that Trail Blazers
television broadcaster Jordan
Kent was out of work hit An-
liker like a bag of bricks.
“Life,” he said, “just got
more difficult.”
Anliker, 38, is legally
blind. He has less than 10%
vision out of one eye at a
time. He doesn’t drive. He
can’t work. Anliker said, “My
vision is like looking through
a straw.” Prior to his stroke,
he worked as a custodian
at an elementary school in
Hillsboro. He’d become a
fan of Kent’s work. Learning
that the organization plans
to bring back Kevin Calabro
troubles him.
More on that in a bit.
First, know that Anliker’s
stroke was a fluke, caused he
said by a misdiagnosis by a
doctor who believed he had a
sinus infection.
“I actually had a cyst on the
ventricle that drains the fluid
off the brain,” he said. “It’s
called a ‘flipper’ because it
would flip down and up.
See Blazers / A6
TRACK & FIELD
OLYMPIC TRIALS
Day 3: Here’s who
qualified Sunday
It was a busy day of
event finals on Sunday
at the U.S. Olympic track
and field trials at Hayward
Field in Eugene.
By the time Day 3 of
the trials was done, 22
more athletes had earned
spots on Team USA for
the Tokyo Olympics.
On the track, Trayvon
Bromell topped a compet-
itive field in the men’s 100
meters, clocking 9.80 to
beat Ronnie Baker (9.85)
and Fred Kerley (9.86). In
the women’s 400, Quanera
Hayes won in 49.78 sec-
onds, while Allyson Felix
made her fifth Olympics at
age 35 by placing second
in 50.02. Wadeline Jona-
thas finished third for the
final spot on Team USA in
the event.
Here’s the full rundown
from Sunday:
Men’s hammer: Rudy
Winkler, Daniel Haugh, Alex
Young
Women’s high jump: Vashti
Cunningham
Women’s triple jump:
Ketura Orji, Tori Franklin,
Jasmine Moore
Women’s 400 meters:
Quanera Hayes, Allyson Felix,
Wadeline Jonathas
Men’s 400 meters: Michael
Norman, Michael Cherry,
Randolph Ross
Decathlon: Garrett
Scantling, Steven Bastien,
Zach Ziemek
Women’s 100 hurdles: Keni
Harrison, Brianna McNeal,
Christina Clemons
Men’s 100 meters: Trayvon
Bromell, Ronnie Baker, Fred
Kerley
— The Oregonian