For the first time in more than 60 years, the British Open is headed across the Irish Sea. Earl Monroe Jersey . The R&A announced Monday that golfs oldest championship will return to Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland for the first time since Max Faulkner won in 1951. That was the only time it was held outside Scotland or England since the Open began in 1860. "We have every confidence Royal Portrush will prove to be an excellent venue in every way," R&A chief executive Peter Dawson said. "There is passionate support in Northern Ireland and we expect there will be huge interest." Dawson said it was the "worst-kept secret," although one mystery remains -- the year. To bring the links course up to modern standards of a major championship, the R&A has recommended using the golf architecture firm Mackenzie & Ebert to create new 17th and 18th holes. Royal Portrush club members would have to sign off on the proposal, though that is likely to be a formality. The next available date is 2019. Dawson said it could be "a year or two longer than that." "It has been more than 60 years since the Open was played here, and its been too long," Dawson said. "And were very excited to be coming back." For years, there has been a quiet push to bring the Open back to Portrush and the movement picked up momentum with the success of three players from Northern Ireland. Graeme McDowell won the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Darren Clarke captured the British Open a year later at Royal St. Georges. Rory McIlroy won the U.S. Open in 2011 and then the PGA Championship in 2012. Throw in Padraig Harrington, and Irish golfers won seven of 22 majors during one stretch. What really caught Dawsons attention was when Royal Portrush staged a wildly successful Irish Open in 2012, which attracted some 130,000 fans for the week. And then Martin Ebert suggested the right changes to the links course to make it all work. More than just a golf course, the Open now requires room for such amenities as a television compound and a tented village. Dawson said the R&A would be investing several million pounds (dollars), without giving a more detailed estimate. "No Open venue is immune from the march of time," he said. "They all move and they all have to keep up. This isnt any different from that, except that it hasnt had an Open for a long time." Portrush also has held the Senior British Open six times, and is hosting the British Amateur this week. The British Open this year is being played at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, which had gone 39 years until it returned to the rotation in 2006 with a popular win by Tiger Woods. Turnberry off the Ayrshire coast in Scotland went 17 years without an Open, despite a history that include the famous "Duel in the Sun" between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus. That required work on the roads to alleviate traffic. Dawson said the work involved to get Royal Portrush in shape for an Open "is a little bit more." "That perhaps reflects the time gap," he said. "Its over 60 years since the championship has been here. The requirements of a modern championship are very different from what they were then. But its something thats manageable." Walt Bellamy Jersey .com) - The Calgary Flames are spoilers once again. Garrison Mathews Jersey .ca! There is plenty of blame to be shared as a result of the most recent NHL player (Pittsburghs Brooks Orpik) to be evacuated from the ice on a stretcher following an ugly incident Saturday night in Boston. https://www.cheapwizardsonline.com/1029k-mike-riordan-jersey-wizards.html . Johns, N.L., to Thunder Bay, Ont., after a deal was announced to build a new $106-million "event centre" in the Lake Superior community. BRASILIA, Brazil -- Switzerland grabbed a winner with virtually the final kick to earn a 2-1 victory over Ecuador in the World Cup on Sunday, extending a run of come-from-behind wins that are becoming a theme of the tournament. With just seconds left in the third and final minute of stoppage time, substitute Haris Seferovic finished off a length-of-the-field move by slamming home a close-range shot. After wild Swiss celebrations, Ecuadors shell-shocked players barely had time to restart before the final whistle was blown. It was the fifth time in the first nine matches in Brazil that a team had come from a goal down to win -- but this was the most dramatic of all the comebacks. "It was a dream to be able to win this match in the very last minute like this," Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said through a translator. "It was emotional -- it will be important for the morale of the team." Sluggish in the first half-hour, Switzerland -- highly fancied after rising to No. 6 in the FIFA rankings -- conceded a sloppy goal to go behind when Enner Valencia rose unmarked in the 22nd minute and headed in a free kick from six yards (meters). Ecuadors defending for the 48th-minute equalizer was just as abject, however, with Admir Mehmedi finding space from even closer in to nod in a corner. With Mehmedi and Seferovic both second-half substitutes, it was no wonder that the wily Hitzfeld -- a veteran coach with two Champions League titles on his resume -- had a huge grin on his face at the final whistle. Not so his counterpart. "We were naive and that cost us the game," Ecuador coach Reinaldo Rieda said. "(The loss) is more our fault. We were notbeaten by our opponent." After being among the bores of the last two World Cups, it was expected to be all change for Switzerland with Hitzfeld putting his faith in a young, dynamic class of 2014 that had come up together through the national youth ranks. But nerves ensured they started the World Cup poorly, misplacing simple passes and overhitting crossses in a drab first half. Courtney Alexander Jersey. The second half wasnt much better either -- but Seferovic rescued them, having only come on in the 75th minute for the ineffective Josip Drmic. The Real Sociedad forward scored a 90th-minute winner against Cyprus in June in Switzerlands unbeaten run through qualifying but he has lost his place to the emerging Drmic. "Haris is a striker through and through," Hitzfeld said. "What he lacked was practice in terms of playing time at Real Sociedad. In the tournament build-up, he performed excellently but he still needs time to develop." Seferovic scored the crucial goal, but teammate Valon Behrami deserves just as much credit. It was the central midfielder who produced a perfectly timed tackle in his own box and then embarked on a lung-bursting run up the field in the lead-up to the winning goal. At one stage, he was hacked down near the centre circle but he got up and carried on his run, with the referee playing an excellent advantage. The ball was fed to the left, where left back Ricardo Rodriguez -- who set up Mehmedi for the equalizer -- slid a low cross for Seferovic to crash a finish high in to the net. Cue Switzerlands entire bench spilling into the pitch to celebrate with Seferovic, with some players choosing to mob Behrami. "It was a great feeling," Behrami said. "Those 30 seconds were amazing for us." FIFA President Sepp Blatter was present -- and was booed by sections of the crowd -- for what was probably the poorest game at this World Cup in terms of quality. Thousands of fans missed the first part of the match because of long queues to pass through security. It meant there were still plenty of empty seats when Valencia stole a yard on Johan Djourou and guided a simple header into the net from Walter Ayovis free kick, with Switzerland goalkeeper Diego Benaglio left completely stranded. It was one of the few clear-cut chances created by Ecuador, which is now on the back foot in a Group E also containing France and Honduras. ' ' '  |
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