US Open 2012: Webb Simpson sees off Graeme McDowell to win first major

Webb Simpson holds the US Open trophy after winning his first major at the Olympic Club. Photograph: Jason O'Brien/Action Images

There will be those who will argue that the 2012 US Open lacked inspiration and drama, that it is was more a battle for survival enlivened only by sight of US Golf Association chief executive Mike Davis assuming the role of bouncer as an interloper in a Union Jack hat who interrupted the presentation ceremony.

Davis huckled the guilty man away, leaving the stage to the man of the hour, Webb Simpson, whose final round 68 was good up to hold off Graeme McDowell and Michael Thompson by a single shot. It was the American's first major championship and it was by any measure a very worthy victory, even if it is unlikely to embraced by the wider sporting public.
It is hardly Simpson's fault that he is not a well-known name in the States – few golfers are except for Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson – and it certainly isn't his fault that the Olympic Club golf course served a tournament that didn't allow the best golfers in the world to showcase much more than there survival instincts.
In the circumstances Simpson did the best he could, and his best was exceptional. To shoot 68 in Saturday's third round was a great effort in itself but to then shoot a round of 68 on Sunday, when the conditions and the set-up were more difficult and the pressure was at its maximum, was champion stuff indeed. He was a deserved winner in what was only his fifth appearance in a major championship.
"I never really wrapped my mind around the idea of winning,'' he said afterwards. "This place is so demanding, and so all I was really concerned about was keeping the ball in front of me and making pars."
All of this was obvious from the television pictures beamed from the locker room at the Olympic Club showing Webb and his wife, Dowd, watching the television coverage of those still out on the course as they tried to match his four-round score of 281, one-over par. It was compelling viewing, watching this young couple staring at the prospect of a life-changing moment.
At least four players had a realistic chance of denying the Simpsons but as quickly as the opportunity arose for the likes of Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington it was squandered; by an overhit approach to the 70th hole in the case of the South African, and by a couple of poor approach shots by Harrington on the last two holes.
In the end, it came down to the third round leaders Graeme McDowell and Jim Furyk, both of whom could have forced a play-off with a birdie on the final hole. It wasn't to be. Furyk – who had earlier squandered a winning position with a shocking tee shot on the par-five 16th which led to a bogey – hit his approach into a bunker. McDowell rolled his 20-foot downhill putt for birdie past the hole. And that was it, bar the rather sheepish grin from Simpson as he released that another man's failure had handed him a life's ambition. He had no need to feel embarrassed. He won fair and square.
As for those who came up short, there was no shortage of disappointment and self-recrimination. Furyk in particular sounded particularly bereft and who could blame him after a day in which he had the tournament seemingly in his control.
"I have no one to blame but myself,'' he said. "I was tied for the lead, sitting on the 16th tee. I've got wedges in my hand, or reachable par fives, on the way in and one birdie wins the golf tournament. I'm definitely frustrated."
McDowell was no less disappointed, although he was a little more eager than Furyk to find the positives in what was ultimately a disappointing day. "I will take away a large cheque and am probably very close to locking my Ryder Cup place which is more important to me,'' he said. "I will take a huge amount of belief away that I can compete on the biggest stage and win. To have the chance to win and come up one short the way I was hitting it even when I wasn't on top of my game, I believe I can win more major championships. My heartache is not as bad as Jim Furyk's right now because he had it and couldn't quite finish the job. It was never really in my grasp but I nearly got there."
The Northern Irishman is heading home now, where he will get ready for the Irish Open in his home town of Portrush. After that, it is on to Royal Lytham St Annes and the Open Championship. "I fancy a run at the Claret Jug, I really do."
He is not the only one, of course. In this new era of golfing parity, anyone in the world's top 50 is justified in thinking they could win a major. However, perhaps Lee Westwood has a greater right than anyone to believe he is owed one of the sport's biggest prizes. It seems the Englishman is a perennial fixture on the leaderboard at major championships and this US Open was no different. What was different this time was the degree of bad luck that under-pinned his demise. After parring the first four holes of Sunday's final round, the Englishman looked to be in championship-winning fettle when he hit his drive on the fifth hole marginally off-line. It sailed into a tree and was never seen again.
"These things happen but you'd rather they didn't happen in the last round of the US Open when you've got off to a pretty decent start. I was hitting some good shots and that was another good shot,'' Westwood said afterwards. "You try to forget about it and get on with the job but that little niggle in the back of your head says 'here we go again'. It takes the wind out of your sails when you have a bit of momentum."
To the Englishman's credit he didn't entirely slip off the leaderboard and finished in a tie for 10th place at five-over par. Indeed, he might have finished higher had his second shot at the par-five 17th dropped in rather than finishing a few inches from the hole. "I don't how it missed. It looked in all the way,'' he said.
Perhaps one week the breaks will fall Westwood's way and he will get the major his talents and endeavours deserve. Until then, or at least until the Open Championship begins next week, it is time to celebrate Webb Simpson – not the most charismatic of major champions but on this occasion a very worthy one.

Sourced:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jun/18/us-open-webb-simpson-graeme-mcdowell?newsfeed=true

China launches space mission with first woman astronaut

China has launched its latest manned space mission - whose crew includes its first female astronaut, Liu Yang.

The Shenzhou-9 capsule rode to orbit atop a Long March rocket from the Jiuquan spaceport on the edge of the Gobi desert.

Ms Liu and her two male colleagues are heading to the Tiangong space lab.

They will spend over a week living and working on the 335km-high vessel, testing new systems and conducting a number of scientific experiments.

Before leaving, the crew were presented to Communist Party officials, VIPs and the media.

Wearing their flight suits and sitting behind glass, they waved and smiled.

Continue reading the main story

Astronaut Liu Yang

• Born in Henan province and an only child
• Married, with no children
• Air force pilot with rank of major
• Member of Communist Party
• Honoured as a "model" pilot in March 2010
• Landed a plane safely after it was struck by 18 pigeons
• Goes by "little flying knight" on the QQ instant messaging service
• Has been described as having a penchant for patriotic speeches

• In pictures: China's manned space mission
• Profile: China's first spacewoman

"We will obey orders, listen to directions and be calm; and co-ordinate together to successfully complete China's first manned rendezvous and docking mission," said Commander Jing Haipeng.

China's top legislator, Wu Bangguo, wished them well and told them: "We are expecting your safe return."

The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft lifted off on schedule at 18:37 local time (10:37 GMT; 11:37 BST).

All systems appeared to function normally and eight minutes later, the spacecraft had entered orbit. Very shortly after Shenzhou-9 had unfurled its solar panels.

It will take a couple of days to reach Tiangong. A docking is planned for Monday at 15:00 Beijing time (07:00 GMT; 08:00 BST).

Mr Jing, 46, is making his second spaceflight after participating in the Shenzhou-7 outing in 2008 - the mission that included China's first spacewalk.

His flight engineers are both first-timers, however.

Liu Wang, 42, a People's Liberation Army fighter pilot, has got his chance after spending 14 years in the China National Space Administration's astronaut corps.

Thirty-three-year-old Liu Yang, also a fighter pilot, has on the other hand emerged as China's first woman astronaut after just two years of training.

Her role in the mission will be to run the medical experiments in orbit.

Shenzhou-9 follows on from the unmanned Shenzhou-8 venture last year that tested the technologies required to join a capsule to the Tiangong lab.

Those manoeuvres went well and gave Chinese officials the confidence to send up humans.

When it arrives at Tiangong, the Shenzhou-9 craft is expected to make a fully automated docking, but there is a plan to try a manual docking later in the mission.

This would see the crew uncouple their vehicle from the lab, retreat to a defined distance and then command their ship to re-attach itself.

Liu Wang will take the lead in this activity. "We've done many simulations," he said during the pre-launch press conference.

"We've mastered the techniques and skills. China has first class technologies and astronauts, and therefore I'm confident we will fulfil the manual rendezvous."

Liu Wang (L), Jing Haipeng (C) and Liu Yang make up the crew of Shenzhou-9

Tiangong is the next step in a strategy that Beijing authorities hope will lead ultimately to the construction and operation of a large, permanently manned space station.

It is merely the prototype for the modules China expects to build and join in orbit. Mastering the rendezvous and docking procedures is central to this strategy.

Patriotic pride

At about 60 tonnes in mass, this proposed station would be considerably smaller than the 400-tonne international platform operated by the US, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan, but its mere presence in the sky would nonetheless represent a remarkable achievement.

Concept drawings describe a core module weighing some 20-22 tonnes, flanked by two slightly smaller laboratory vessels.

Officials say it would be supplied by freighters in exactly the same way that robotic cargo ships keep the International Space Station (ISS) today stocked with fuel, food, water, air, and spare parts.

China is investing billions of dollars in its space programme. It has a strong space science effort under way, with two orbiting satellites having already been launched to the Moon. A third mission is expected to put a rover on the lunar surface.

The Asian country is also deploying its own satellite-navigation system known as BeiDou, or Compass.

Before leaving Earth, Liu Yang said the Shenzhou-9 mission would generate further pride in Chinese people. "When I was a pilot I flew in the sky; now as an astronaut, I'm going into space. It's higher and it's farther," she said.

"I have a lot of tasks to fulfil, but besides these tasks I want to feel the unique environment in space and admire the views. I want to explore a beautiful Earth, a beautiful home.

"I want to record all my feelings and my work, to share with my friends, and my comrades and my future colleagues."

Tiangong-1, which means ''heavenly palace'', was launched in September last year
SOURCED:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18458544