Sports News of the Day (7/17)

Golf: Darren Clarke won the 2011 Open Championship at Royal St. George's Golf Club in Sandwich, England. This was Clarke's first major victory. Clarke shot an even part for the final round; to finish the tournament at five under par. The story of the day however, was a comeback by Phil Mickelson who shot a 68 (-2) today to finish the tournament at two under par and to be tied for second with Dustin Johnson (72). At one point during the round Mickelson was at six under par.
   Notables: Clarke (70, -5)-First; Phil Mickelson (68, -2), Dustin Johnson (72, -2)- Tied for second; Thomas Bjorn (71, -1)-Fourth; Anthony Kim (70, Even), Rickie Fowler (72, Even)-Tied for fifth; Sergio Garcia (68, +2)-Tied for ninth; Steve Stricker (71, +3), Martin Kaymer (73, +3), Lucas Glover (74, +3)-Tied for 12th; YE Yang (72, +5), Zach Johnson (74, +5)-Tied for 16th; Tom Watson (72, +6)-Tied for 22nd; Rory McIlroy (73, +7), Adam Scott (75, +7)-Tied for 25th; Stewart Cink (71, +9), Bubba Watson (74, +9), Tom Lewis (74, +9)-Tied for 30th

World Cup: What a finish to the 2011 Women's World Cup, held in Germany. Japan stunned the United States 3-1 in penalty kicks after the game ended in regulation at 2-2.
    Alex Morgan broke the 0-0 tie in the 69th minute with a strike that went in the lower right hand corner of the goal to put the Americans up 1-0.
   Japan responded in the 81st minute with a goal of its own to tie the game 1-1 by Aya Miyama.
   In extra time, Abby Wambach put the US up 2-1 in the final minute of the first period of ET.
   Japan forced penalty kicks when Homare Sawa scored in the closing minutes of the second period of ET to make the score 2-2.
   Japan then dominated the PKs to win the World Cup.
   The US out-shot Japan 27-14.

MLB: The Cincinnati Reds took a big series win today against the St. Louis Cardinals after defeating the Cardinals 3-1 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
   The Reds are now only 3.5 games out of first place after these two weekend wins.
    The Cardinals took an early lead in the game when Lance Berkman (1-4) hit his 25th homer of the year in the second inning to put St. Louis up 1-0.
   Zach Cozart (2-4) scored in the sixth for the Reds after the Cardinals' Jamie Garcia threw wild pitches that went past the catcher to tie the game 1-1
   Ryan Hanigan (1-3) brought in Miguel Cario (1-3) in the seventh with a single to put Cincinnati up 2-1, and Cozart sealed the deal in the eighth with a solo shot to give the Reds the game 3-1. This was his first home run of his career.
   Drew Stubbs went 2-4 and Joey Votto 1-3 for Cincinnati.
   Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday went a combined 1-7 for the Cardinals.
   Homer Bailey (4-4) took the win for Cincy; pitching 7.1 innings, giving up one run off three hits, while striking out four. Francisco Cordero earned his 18th save of the year.
   Garcia (9-4) took the loss for the Cardinals; pitching seven innings, giving up one run off six hits while striking out six.
   Cincinnati (47-48) now travels to Pittsburgh to have a three game series with the Pirates starting tomorrow.
   St. Louis (50-45) travels to New York to have a three game series with the Mets starting tomorrow.