A Sports Filled Weekend It Was

Jordan Spieth saw a three-stroke lead vanish by the fourth hole of Sunday’s final round of the British Open. Yet the 23-year-old still had plenty of game.

After turning a near-disaster into a mere bogey on the 13th hole of Royal Birkdale, Spieth got hot. His streak of birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie enabled him to shoot a 1-under 69 and finish three strokes ahead of playing partner Matt Kuchar.

“Today took as much out of me as any day that I’ve ever played golf,” said Spieth, whose awful start included four bogeys over his first nine holes.

Spieth, who will be 24 on Thursday, is now the youngest golfer to win the first three legs of a career Grand Slam, behind only Jack Nicklaus.

TOUR DE FRANCE: Great Britain’s Chris Froome won the world’s premier cycling event for the third straight time and fourth in five years. Only four riders have won the Tour five times (excluding Lance Armstrong, whose seven titles were stripped due to doping).

SOCCER: The U.S. men’s national team defeated Costa Rica 2-0 on Saturday night in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup and will play Jamaica, a 1-0 winner over Mexico, on Wednesday night in Santa Clara, California. Veteran Clint Dempsey came off the bench for the U.S. in the 66th minute of a scoreless tie, set up Jozy Alitdore’s go-ahead goal and then scored himself.

NASCAR: Kasey Kahne ended a 102-race streak without a victory by winning the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in overtime. The race could have been called the Junkyard 400, given the number of fiery wrecks.

BASEBALL: Washington Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg (forearm) and Los Angeles Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw (back) both left their Sunday starts after two innings. Kershaw is bound for the disabled list; he missed 2 ½ months last season with a herniated disk in his lower back…Cleveland’s Corey Kluber struck out 14 batters in 7 2/3 innings while allowing but one hit in an 8-1 victory by the Indians over the Toronto Blue Jays. The Indians swept a three-game series…Baltimore Orioles reliever Zach Britton set an American League record by recording his 55th consecutive save.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman