1. What will Phil do next?Following such a bittersweet tournament at The Open, Phil Mickelson next week returns to Baltusrol for the PGA Championship -- where he won his second major title in 2005.Whether playing another major so soon is good or not remains to be seen, but Mickelson tried to view it as a positive in the aftermath of his second-place finish to Henrik Stenson at Royal Troon.A product of the schedule due to golfs return to the Olympic Games, the PGA has been moved up two weeks, giving players little time to prepare for another venue and a completely different style of golf.It doesnt give me a chance to take time off, per se, Mickelson said. It forces me to keep my game sharp.Mickelson was not headed home to San Diego after The Open but to the New York City area this week. He has some corporate responsibilities and that will give him a chance to get to nearby Baltusrol in Springfield, New Jersey.Ive got a lot of special memories going back to Baltusrol in 05 and [not having] a month to wait between majors is a good thing for me, he said. Ill try to look at the positives and take that into Baltusrol and keep my game sharp over the next week or two as opposed to going home and taking some time off.Mickelson has now finished runner-up in a major championship in each of the past four years, following up his second-place finish at the 2013 U.S. Open with a win at The Open. He was second at the 2014 PGA Championship to Rory McIlroy and second to Jordan Spieth last year at the Masters.2. Another Olympic problemYou can bet that members of the International Golf Federation were secretly rooting for Stenson over Mickelson on Sunday. The Swede is an enthusiastic supporter of the Olympic golf event, a welcome departure from all of the recent negativity surrounding player withdrawals. And it would have been embarrassing to have Mickelson win The Open -- and potentially the PGA next week -- and not be an Olympian.Nonetheless, Mickelsons second-place finish moved him to 13th in the world and the fifth-highest-ranked American. With Dustin Johnson and Spieth withdrawing, Mickelson would have qualified for the U.S. had the deadline been extended one week as the top 4 within the top 15 are eligible.The July 11 deadline was always ludicrous, just another in a long line of mistakes as they relate to the golf competition. IGF officials insist they were powerless to change it. Peter Dawson, head of the IGF and former CEO of the R&A, repeatedly lobbied the IOC to move the qualification deadline back one week and was rebuffed.3. If it had been any other year ...Mickelsons score in relation to par at The Open would have won 140 of the 145 played. Only Stenson (-20), Tiger Woods twice (-18 in 2006, -20 in 2000) and Nick Faldo (-18 in 1990) went lower. McIlroy was 17-under in 2014, the same number under par as Mickelson was at Royal Troon with an aggregate of 267.It should be noted that the first 31 Opens were played over just 36 holes and nobody came close to breaking par back then -- if they even looked at it that way. The Open does not note scores in relation to par until 1938. And no one got as low as 10-under-par until 1958.4. And its happened at other majors, tooNot only did Mickelson shoot a score that would have won nearly every other Open, he also did so at the 2015 Masters and the 2001 PGA Championship.Last year at Augusta National, Mickelson and Justin Rose tied for second, four strokes behind Spieth. Their total of 274, 14-under-par would have tied or won 74 of the 80 Masters.At the 2001 PGA, Mickelson finished second behind David Toms, shooting 266, 1 stroke behind Toms 265, which had been the major championship aggregate record until Stenson shot 264 at Royal Troon. Mickelson would have won every other PGA Championship with his score.5. Hey, lets do this some moreCount former Masters champion Trevor Immelman among those who was pining for more golf from Stenson and Mickelson after their 18-hole showdown at Royal Troon.6. The closest observerJim Bones Mackay has caddied for Mickelson the entirety of his professional career, dating just before his pro debut at the 1992 U.S. Open. So it wasnt a surprise that Mackay took Sundays defeat to Stenson nearly as hard as his boss.Afterward, he marveled at the play of Stenson and gave props to the Swede for winning his first major. He also grieved a bit for Mickelson while pointing out the impressiveness of his 17-under-par performance, while also complimenting Mickelsons new coach, who he began working with last fall.You cant say enough about Andrew Getson. Hes been nothing short of phenomenal, Mackay said. Im so glad that Phil found him. He had an unbelievable warm-up session [Sunday]. Similar to Muirfield [2013] where he was hitting the ball so well on the range he just backed off and sat around. He took it to the course and had an incredible ball-striking day on the course. He shot 65 and finished second.The great thing about what he is doing now is he is loving playing. Hes been great. Hes played a lot better this year than even most people would think. If you look at the numbers, hes really, really played well this year. Im happy for him that hes got this kind of game. You can make the argument that this is as good a tournament as Ive seen him play in a long time.Mackay sees nothing about Mickelsons age of 46 holding him back.Not at all, he said. When youre as competitive as Phil is, absolutely not. He was very honest with you guys [the media, on Saturday]. He turned a 77 into 70 and it was amazing. He wasnt feeling it and he felt it [Sunday] and hit a lot of good shots.7. Henrik takes a hit -- sort ofThis is one of those First World problems, and undoubtedly youll never hear him say anything about it, but Open champion Stenson took a financial loss due to the recent Brexit vote which saw the United Kingdom decide to leave the European Union. That caused a big hit on the British pound, which has sunk to its lowest level against the dollar in decades.While the amount to the winner increased to ￡1,175,000 this year -- up about ￡25,000 -- Stenson actually earned less in U.S. dollars than Zach Johnson received last year for his victory at St. Andrews. In U.S. funds, Stenson earned $1,549,590 -- or about $245,100 less than Johnson. Presumably Stenson, who is from Sweden, converts to U.S. dollars because he lives full time in the United States.Stenson undoubtedly cares way more about the Claret Jug, regardless of the amount of the prize money.8. The State of TurnberryDonald Trumps ownership of the Turnberry Resort in Scotland has put the venues future as an Open site in flux, a point that R&A chief Martin Slumbers deftly sidestepped last week by noting that a decision on a future Open there is not imminent.Turnberry was and is part of the pool of courses for the Open Championship, Slumbers said. There are at the moment nine courses, and Turnberry is one of those.With The Open set for Royal Birkdale next year, Carnoustie in 2018 and Portrush in 2019, Turnberry is up for consideration. As Slumbers pointed out, 2020 or 2021 will go to a venue in England, with the other year going to St. Andrews.I had a chance to check out Turnberry last week -- it is roughly 25 miles south of Royal Troon on the Ayrshire coast -- and it would be a shame if the R&A did not go back. It is the most scenic of all the venues, the iconic lighthouse enhanced by a change to holes 9, 10 and 11 that make them a visually appealing part of a course that has undergone an impressive refurbishment.9. The Champion Golfer of the Year Nike Air Max Plus Wholesale . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. Air Max Plus Free Shipping . Vaives lawyer Trevor Whiffen claims the former 50-goal man wasnt provided with a copy of the claim beforehand and that he would not have agreed to the allegations made against the NHL had he been asked to review its contents. http://www.cheapairmaxplus.com/ . LOUIS -- Alexander Steen scored a power-play goal with 59. Air Max Plus For Sale . -- The St. Johns IceCaps weathered a wild first period with the help of goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, before finding offensive inroads in the second. Air Max Plus Clearance . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. So many of us have done the Saturday relay race: karate to soccer game to basketball practice. From softball to swim team. Baseball practice to a hockey tournament.When my kids were young, the world of sports and activities was their oyster. They played multiple sports, tried on things to see what fit while we drove from one side of town to the other, coordinating calendars, resolving scheduling conflicts and keeping all the local drive-thru fast-food joints in business with to-and-fro dining in the mini-van.A few seasons of soccer, overlapping with the start of CYO basketball, which overlapped with the start of Little League season. Mix in the odd volleyball camp, rec department tennis class and some middle school track and youve got a drawer full of old team pictures, a lot of participation trophies and a whole lot of days on the snack schedule.Then maybe that club coach asked for a larger commitment, or the select team came calling. Maybe the schedule just wasnt working anymore and it was too tough to squeeze in multiple practices and games each week around homework and band or group projects.As many kids got closer to high school, they begin to narrow the field of their sports participation, some by choice and the natural culling process. Others because someone else thinks its best.They begin to specialize. And certainly, there are things to gain from the focus on one sport -- a true offseason, better opportunities against higher levels of competition, perhaps even a shot at being a collegiate athlete. But kids lose by specializing, as well, because there are some very good reasons to stay a multi-sport athlete.1. Fewer overuse injuries. Growing bodies can become overstressed by repetition and that stress can lead to injuries. A lack of rest and recovery time in year-round sports exacerbates the problem. There are plenty of examples of serious, grown-up sports injuries happening to kids at younger and younger ages, from Tommy John surgery for 12-year-olds to high school girls with multiple ACL injuries before they graduate. Studies show that playing multiple sports leads to better muscle, motor and skill development. It promotes general athleticism, balance, speed and agility.2. Less opportunity for emotional burn-out. Kids who spend so much time focusing on one sport -- and whose families are similarly solely focused -- risk tiring of the sport all together. Specializing raises expectations, the costs for parents for travel and club teams and the pressure on young athletes. Having a variety of experiences keeps things interesting, the monotony of a single sport goes away, and so does that pressure.3. Exposure to different kids. Soccer friends will be different from swimming friends, who will be different from the kids in your Tai-Kwon-Do class. Exposing kids to different sports allows them to share teammate experiences and make memories with a diverse group of peers.dddddddddddd. It helps them expand their social circle and their opportunities for interaction.4. Exposure to different roles. Being a bench player on the basketball team is a different experience than being a starting pitcher on the baseball team. Its an opportunity to broaden their experiences, socially and developmentally. Its an opportunity to become a better competitor and all-around athlete, the kind that coaches value because they are flexible, multi-dimensional, exposed to many situations and coachable.5. Not putting all your eggs in one basket. Playing only one sport limits your options. An injury, a bad experience with a coach or a reduced role on a more competitive team can bring an abrupt end to an athletic career. Such a small number of high school athletes move on to play a sport in college; even fewer earn an athletic scholarship. If the goal is to play as long as possible, perhaps it makes the most sense to play as many sports as possible? Just ask Derek Jeter, who played basketball in high school, or Elena Delle Donne, who played volleyball at Delaware before returning to the basketball team on the way to the WNBA, or Robert Griffin III, who played baseball and ran track.My confession here is that my son ended up being a single-sport athlete by the time he got to high school. Baseball was his passion, and the other sports fell off the schedule and the radar. The skateboard that used to be his constant companion in middle school started to gather dust in the garage, and the old basketballs and soccer cleats got donated to charity. He is now a college baseball player, competing at a Division III school.And while focusing on one sport may have played a role in getting him there, I cant imagine, in retrospect, that it was the only path. Ive heard him say that he wished that boys volleyball season wasnt the same as baseball, because he would have played. Ive heard him boast that the 3-point stroke he had on the middle school basketball team magically returned while playing pick-up basketball with some of his buddies. One of his high school friends was the football teams starting quarterback and hes?playing club hockey in college now and loving every minute of it.You just never know how things are going to turn out.I retired the mini-van a few years ago, traded it in for a new car and watched with misty eyes as it was driven off into the depths of the used-car lot. But not before I cleared out some old soccer cones and a least one ball bouncing around in the way back.The old days of the Saturday relay are long gone. I didnt realize at the time how good those days were. They were fun. 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