Twistity Sports Exclusive WEEKEND IN REVIEW: Rory’s roaring finish, Showtime Shoni and Bilious Bills

 
The British Open turns Americans into zombies. They get up at ungodly hours to watch the tournament, which has tee times (on the East Coast) of 4:35 a.m. They could just read about it here. We watch so you don’t have to.

THE ROAR FOR RORY: Rory McIlroy seems intent on making himself the new face of golf. The old face, Tiger Woods, seems to be exactly that and is wrinkling fast. McIlroy won the British Open on Sunday, the two-stroke victory handing him his third major title.

“I’m immensely proud of myself,” McIlroy said. “To sit here, 25 years of age, and win my third major championship and be three-quarters of the way to a career Grand Slam, I never dreamed of being at this point in my career so quickly.”

After nearly two years of squabbles and deteriorating focus, McIlroy again looked like the lad who torched the Congressional Country Club course at the 2011 U.S. Open and who breezed through the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island by a record eight shots in 2012. He missed the British Open cut last year amid a fight with his old management team and recently he made news when he broke off his engagement to tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, though he won the BMW Championship the same week.

Woods? Remember him? He won his last major more than six years ago. He tied for 69th in this event after shooting 75 on Sunday and finishing the tournament 6-over par. Once he had a swinging lifestyle. Now he keeps changing swing coaches. It don’t mean a thing if … well, you know.

SHOWTIME SHONI: Rookie Shoni Schimmel showed how she earned her nickname. The WNBA rookie, who plays for the Atlanta Dream, scored an All-Star game record 29 in leading the East to a 125-124 victory in Phoenix on Saturday night. This was the first WNBA All-Star game to ever go into overtime (must have gotten the idea from World Cup soccer). Schimmel’s jersey was already the WNBA’s top seller before her stunning performance, which also included eight assists. Schimmel, who grew up on a reservation in the tiny northeast Oregon town of Mission and has a large following among Native Americans, broke the All-Star Game record of 23 points set last year by Candace Parker.

BILIOUS IN BUFFALO: Egypt had its cult of fertility and Buffalo has its cult of futility. The Bills opened training camp on Saturday with goals that are lofty and modest at the same time. They’d like to win more than nine games, which they haven’t done since 2004. They’d like to make the playoffs, which they haven’t done since the last century (1999).

Thus begins the relentless grind of the NFL season. The Bills get an early start on camp because they are playing an extra preseason game – the Hall of Fame Game on Aug. 3 in Canton, Ohio. They’ll meet the New York Giants, who begin training camp on Monday. Also hanging over the heads of the Buffalonians – the sale of the team. Longtime owner Ralph Wilson Jr. died in March and the team, valued by Forbes at $870 million, is now on the block. Fears are that a sale will lead to a move (hello L.A. or even Toronto) but the team has a lease in Orchard Park, N.Y., through at least 2019.

Today’s question: In a division dominated by the New England Patriots, can the Buffalo Bills make the playoffs this season? Put your answers in the comment box and let’s chat about it.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .