Daily Loaf

After a rain-delayed tournament, Lucas Glover of Clemson University held on to win golf’s U.S. Open Monday afternoon. It was the first major victory of his career. Glover, who landed a $1,350,000 paycheck, had only one previous tour win since turning pro in 2005. Phil Mickelson, and the resurgent David Duval, both placed second while Tiger Woods ended up tied for sixth. Only five golfers finished under par for the tournament.

After getting beaten soundly by both Brazil and Italy, US Soccer miraculously advanced to the FIFA Confederations Cup semifinals by beating Egypt 3-0. In order to advance, an unlikely series of events needed to occur, including beating Egypt by 3 goals, outscoring Italy by 3 on Sunday, having Brazil beat Italy by 3, and then beating Italy in a goals scored tie-breaker which they did 4-3. The U.S. will play top-ranked Spain on Wednesday.

Donald Fehr is stepping down as Executive Director of Major League Baseball Player’s Association. Fehr, the players’ chief negotiator, held this position since 1985. He represented the players union during the World Series cancellation in 1994 and was largely responsible for average annual salaries increasing tenfold over the past twenty-five. Buster Olney called it correctly when saying Fehr leaves behind a “mixed legacy.”

17th ranked American James Blake lost in the opening round of Wimbledon, marking the second straight major in which he was eliminated in the first round. An American male has not won a major tournament since Andy Roddick won the U.S. Open in 2003. Defending champion Rafael Nadal had pulled out of Wimbledon due to injury, leaving five-time champion Roger Federer as a significant favorite to win it all. On the women’s side, both Venus and Serena Williams, who have combined to win seven of the last nine Wimbledon singles titles, are still in contention.

Wladimir Klitschko (53-3, 47 KO’s) successfully defended his WBO, IBF and IBO titles this weekend in a ten-round TKO victory over Ruslan Chagaev in front of 61,000 fans at the Schalke 04 stadium in Germany. It was the largest crowd to view a boxing event at that venue since Max Schmeling fought there in 1939, which coincidentally might have been the last time anyone paid attention to the heavyweight division.

The NBA Draft is Wednesday night. While Oklahoma power forward, Blake Griffin, is likely the Los Angeles Clippers’ number one pick, after him things get a little dicey. Talented Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio has publicly stated he would not play for the Memphis Grizzlies, which means the Grizz may opt for 7-foot-3 former UConn center Hasheem Thabeet with their second pick.

Football fans nationwide continue to wager on whether legally troubled Michael Vick, Plaxico Burress or Donte Stallworth will return to play in the NFL first.

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