Across the pond

The British Open is the last golf major every year and it's also the oldest event in golf. Thanks to COVID, it's been two years since this event was held, so everyone is ready for a great event. There are still a lot of restrictions in place, but it's a much welcomed return and is being held at Royal St. George’s Golf Club in Kent, England.

At the end of the first round, Louis Oosthuizen is out in front at six-under par. Jordan Spieth is in second place only one shot behind Oosthuizen. My pick this week for the winner of this event is Justin Rose, who is from England and has played this course before. He shot three-under par. I think it would be a cool story for him to win, since it will definitely put him in the Hall of Fame because he won the U.S. Open in 2013 and the Olympic Gold medal in 2016 in Brazil.

The weather is "supposed" to be good for the rest of the week. GOOD weather there is a lot different than GOOD weather here. I will believe it when I see it! Regardless, this is always a great event to watch and the weather only adds to that.

Wimbledon came to its conclusion last weekend and the No. 1 seeds from both the men’s and the women’s draws won the championship. Novak Djokovic tied Roger Federer and Rafael Nadals' record of 20 grand slam titles. Novak has a chance to make history next month at the U.S. Open. If he wins this event he will have won all four majors for the year. This has not be done since 1969, when Rod Laver achieved this status. That's quite a long time to hold on to a record.

On the women's side of Wimbledon, Ashleigh Barty ,from Australia won her second grand slam championship to go along with French Open win that she had in 2019. Before she won the French Open, she had actually retired from tennis because she was burned out. It's great that she decided to return and achieve such an accomplishment. 

This past Sunday, Italy beat England to win the European Soccer Championships. Kind of a bummer that it had to be done with penalty kicks. It was a very exciting tournament to watch from start to finish. I've said this before and I will say it again, I wish there was a better way to end games than using penalty kicks. I think it would be better to use a 15-minute overtime format. Dropping from 11 down to 10 players on the field. If it's still tied, drop to nine players, and so on. This would retain the true format of the game.