Golf Capsules: Creamer looks for 2nd major win at British Open

SOUTHPORT, England (AP) — After struggling for years to win a major, Paula Creamer is aiming to make it two in a row at the Women's British Open, which starts Thursday at Royal Birkdale.

Creamer shed the title of being the best women's golfer to not win a major with her U.S. Women's Open at Oakmont this month. Now she hopes the momentum will put her right back on top of the leaderboard at Birkdale.

"I know now what it takes to win a major and I've been waiting to do that for a very long time," Creamer said. "I feel very confident coming into this event and I know what I need to do."

Creamer played her first Women's British Open when it was last held at Birkdale in 2005, finishing 15th. That tournament was plagued by some miserable weather, and Creamer said she won't mind more of the same this time.

"I enjoy links golf, I always have," she said. "It's a nice change to come out, put your five layers on and play in your rain gear. It makes golf a little bit more interesting."

Defending champion Catriona Matthew had a disappointing Evian Masters last week in France, but finished with an encouraging 5-under 67 in the final round to climb into a tie for 23rd. The 40-year-old Scot, who claimed her first major championship in an emotional victory at Royal Lytham last year just 11 weeks after giving her birth to her second daughter Sophie, said she was happy with her practice round at Birkdale as well.

"I played well out there today and I had a good last round in the Evian on Sunday," Matthew said. "My new coach Kevin Craggs feels I'm playing really well, so hopefully I can bring that form into the tournament."

Top-ranked Jiyai Shin of South Korea won the Evian Masters, and is looking for her second British Open title after winning at Sunningdale two years ago.

"I'm really excited because the course is great," Shin said. "I have a good strategy for links golf so I can't wait for the tournament to start. My confidence is high after last week, but I also need to forget last week and focus on this."

Laura Davies is making her 30th consecutive start in the tournament, and won here in 1986. Unlike Matthew, however, she had no plans of playing a practice round.

"I played in the Pro-Am on Tuesday, which I always enjoy, but I never play a practice round," Davies said. "This is my 26th year on tour so it's 25 and a half years since I had a practice round. Watching people chip and putt from every angle on the green for five or six hours is not my idea of fun."

But even after all those years, Davies still has a childlike enthusiasm for the game.

"I can't wait for tomorrow morning," she said. "There's always something to look forward to and I still want to win every time I tee up."

Champions

There was a gallery waiting and autographs to sign, a scenario that plays out during nearly every momentary break Couples gets at Sahalee Country Club.

Consider it the price of coming home.

"I've been signing more autographs than paying any attention to the golf course," he said.

Couples arrived at the U.S. Senior Open this week as a tournament favorite and a hometown hero. The Seattle native is trying for his first USGA title at any level, playing just 20 miles from the Seattle public course where he learned the game growing up.

He hasn't lived in Seattle for decades. Yet the region still considers Couples its own.

"To win here, it would rank right up there as any other tournaments probably besides Augusta," Couples said. "This is just like a U.S. Open; no one's going to tell me any differently. It's very tough out there. So to win here would be, you know, like winning a U.S. Open. And I'm from Seattle, so I would think it would be a great, great accomplishment. It would be very special for me."

His presence represents a perfect confluence of timing and luck. If the PGA Championship had returned to Sahalee this year as originally planned after the tournament's lone turn as PGA host a dozen years ago, Couples would be an outsider trying to wedge his way into playing in his hometown through a special exemption.

Instead, the PGA pulled out and the USGA moved in bringing the Senior Open, which begins Thursday. This will be Couples' first turn at a U.S. Senior Open. He turned 50 in October and became an active Champions Tour member this year.

And Couples is more than the hometown favorite. He just might be the tournament favorite, having won three times already this year on the 50-and-over circuit and finishing second twice.

"I think the important thing to know when you're playing at home is that everyone is pulling for you, hoping the best for you," Tom Lehman said. "That energy that they have is pushing you in a really good direction. You don't have to live up to a certain expectation because they want the best for you. That helps you."

But it's also a challenge in balancing commitments and expectations. Couples served as the honorary chairmen for the event, although his main duty was putting together a youth clinic on Tuesday. There are interview requests and old friends trying to pull Couples in many directions, not to mention the endless stream of memorabilia to autograph at seemingly every turn.

"This honorary chairman stuff is a little mind-boggling but it's over on Sunday," Couples said.

The question remains whether Couples will be in contention come Sunday. The towering trees framing the holes at Sahalee are forcing many to rethink their strategies. Drivers off the tee are being replaced by fairway woods. Long irons are often the choice into greens that some say are the firmest they've seen.

Tom Watson said the greens were firmer than this year's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Fred Funk didn't believe they were quite that hard. Couples simply noted he didn't make a ball mark on any green during his Tuesday practice round.

"It's not a golf course where you fire at the flags," Watson said. "It's more of a chess match where you get in position for your next shot, and that's what makes Sahalee such a difficult course to play."

-- Tim Booth

Notebook: Sahalee firm and fast for 1st round of Sr. Open

Tom Watson believes they may be the firmest and fastest he has experienced.

"The firmness of the greens is probably as hard as I've seen a green in America in a long time," Watson said. "They're very, very firm. And as a result the greens are not real big in depth."

Sahalee is not long by 'major' standards, 6,866 yards. But it's quite narrow, as most fairways are guarded by hundreds of fir trees, with difficult approach shots onto hard greens.

The Seattle area has been without rain for several weeks, drying up the course. The professionals don't mind firm greens as long as they stay consistent.

"We're going to be able to manage the application of water to the golf course," said Jeff Hall, USGA's managing director of rules and competitions. "We're quite satisfied with the overall firmness of the golf course presently. So the goal for the balance of the championship will be to maintain this level of firmness."

Bernhard Langer, who won the Senior British Open last week, said the course "is in phenomenal shape, really, really good, great condition." But he said all the players will need to adapt their games.

"Some of these greens are rock hard, and even a 9-iron releases 10, 15 yards on the green," Langer said. "So if you're coming in with a 3- or 4-iron, it's going to be magnified and just difficult to stop the ball. So it will be interesting and a very tough test."

Watson said the greens are firmer than they were at Pebble Beach last month at the U.S. Open. He said straight is important as height.

"I don't hit the ball nearly as high as I used to, but I'm hitting the ball pretty straight, so that's pretty good right now," he said. "I think it does maybe restrict the number of players that can win here, because of the severity of the accuracy needed."

He said high-ball hitters such as Seattle native Fred Couples and Mark Calcavecchia would be favorites this week.

CAN YOU HEAR ME? For the first time, Wyndham Championship tournament officials will allow fans to use mobile phones next month. Their use will be limited to designated areas around the Greensboro, N.C., course and must be on silent mode when not in use.

The accommodation was in response to complaints by fans who said the strict no-phone policy kept them out of touch with families and businesses.

"I heard about that late last night," said Jim Hyler, USGA president. "It's something we've talked about a lot. We'll be interested to see how this goes in Greensboro. It's absolutely possible that it's something we will consider and keep our eye on.

"In today's world, hand-held devices are important to people, and if we can figure out a way to control the ringing and the talking, I mean, I think it's something we will look at."

PAVIN'S POSITION: The Ryder Cup is a little more than two months away. That doesn't mean U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin has any sense of urgency.

"The only eight guys that are going to be on the team are the guys that qualify on points right now," Pavin said. "I can sit here and tell you I don't have a list of 11 or 12 guys that, you know, I drew up a while ago and said, 'that's what I want on the team.'

"I'm not a hypothetical guy. I don't sit around and think, what if this, what if that. So I'm basically waiting for the PGA to end. And when that ends and I have eight guys that are definitively on the team then I'm going to get serious about who I think the four players that will complement those eight the best. There has been extremely small amounts of conjecture on my part because to me it's a waste of time and energy to think about that very much."

The top eight players in the Ryder Cup points automatically earn a spot on the team. Then Pavin has four captain's picks. Currently, the top eight are: Phil Michelson, Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim, Lucas Glover, Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar and Tiger Woods, the world's No. 1 player.

"I'm pleased with the top four or five guys, everybody in this room and most golf fans would say that's a good, solid start to the team," he said. "I think the last three spots and possibly four spots are up for grabs."

If Woods should slip out of the automatic eight, Pavin was asked if he'd be a no-brainer selection.

"I'm pretty confident he's going to make it on points," Pavin said.

CHIP SHOTS: Mike Reid made a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th on Wednesday — with his second shot from the tee. Reid had moved up about 10 yards to a different spot on the tee box when he made the ace. ... Officials say about 110,000 tickets have been sold for the event. ... Weather for the rest of the tournament: morning clouds, afternoon sun, highs in the mid-to-upper 70s.

PGA

Furyk chasing FedEx Cup lead in W.Va.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (AP) — Carl Pettersson felt as if someone had turned back the clock when he arrived at West Virginia's historic Greenbrier resort.