Rafael Nadal struggled on a sore left knee past unheralded Australian Alun Jones on Wednesday to reach the second round of the US Open, but his bid for a third Grand Slam final in a row appears doomed. Severe tendinitis slowed the second-ranked Spaniard, who escaped with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory after two hours and 44 minutes over a 123rd-ranked wild card.
World number ones Roger Federer and Justine Henin breezed over qualifiers on Monday into the second round of the United States Open, while reigning grand-slam champions Serena and Venus Williams also advanced handily. Three-time defending champion Federer defeated American Scoville Jenkins in 92 minutes.
Tiger Woods fired one of the greatest rounds of his career, a seven-under par 63 that missed by an eyelash being the lowest round in Major history, to grab the lead on Friday at the PGA Championship. Woods lipped out a horseshoe heart-breaker on a 15-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole to miss setting a record-low Major round.
John Daly fired the best round of his troubled season without even a practice look at the course but it was England’s unheralded Graeme Storm who took the first-round lead at the PGA Championship. Storm, a 29-year-old European Tour player who worked in a cream-cake factory when golf could not pay the bills, proved he was no cream-puff on Thursday.
South Africa’s Retief Goosen will try to recapture the magic this week at the 89th PGA Championship over the same Southern Hills Country Club course where he won his first Major title in 2001. Goosen, who shared second at this year’s Masters, captured the 2001 US Open by taking an 18-hole play-off with Mark Brooks by two strokes.
Ernie Els, coming off a fourth-place effort at the British Open, is struggling to find the finishing touches of form that would make the difference between good rounds and a fourth major title. The 37-year-old South African prepares to tee off on Thursday in the 89th PGA Championship with a sense that he is playing well but not quite well enough.
Golfers might call it the 89th PGA Championship, but promotional posters hype this year’s final Major event like a boxing match — ”Tiger vs Southern Hills”. Forget the other 155 starters. Forget the fact that first-time Major champions have captured this year’s three prior Majors, taken five of six prior Majors at Southern Hills Country Club and won seven of the past 12 PGA Championships.
Phil Mickelson will unveil a secret weapon, a second driver designed specifically to offset the lengthened Augusta National Golf Club layout, when he opens the defence of his Masters crown on Thursday. ”It’s a driver that I’ve been working on specifically for the Masters,” Mickelson said.
South African legend Gary Player will equal a record in Augusta on Thursday with his 50th Masters start, matching Arnold Palmer’s mark even as one of his own Masters records is challenged. The 71-year-old icon won three Masters titles, including the first by a non-United States golfer in 1961 as well as in 1974 and 1978.
![]()
Ghana’s World Cup dreams were shattered by reigning champions Brazil, but the Black Stars played well against some top football teams and served notice of what might happen on African soil in 2010. A three-week Cinderella run ended on Tuesday in a 3-0 second-round loss to Brazil.