Four thoughts from the weekend in sports:
RandBall: Thoughts on the British Open, weekend in sports
July 18, 2016 at 4:33AM
• When so many golf tournaments, particularly majors, seem to come down to which golfer can make the fewest mistakes and/or avoid an epic collapse, it was particularly refreshing to watch the amazing display from Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson in the British Open.
Their dominance set them up for a Sunday showdown, and from there neither one disappointed. The end result was a day of golf that felt more like two great basketball opponents catching fire at the same time than a round of golf.
When it was over, Stenson sat at 20 under par. Mickelson was three shots back, with absolutely nothing to be ashamed of from his final round. Third-place finisher J.B. Holmes finished 14 shots behind and quipped, "Those guys are playing a different golf course than everyone else."
It sure seemed that way, and it made for spectacular viewing.
• The NBA Summer League rosters are a mishmash of prospects and fillers, and the games often reflect that reality. The games are what you make of them, and it's hard to draw major conclusions from anything that happens.
But what happens at the Summer League in Vegas doesn't have to stay in Vegas. So it will be interesting to see if second-year point guard Tyus Jones — who continued his excellent tournament with 29 points Sunday to lead the Wolves into Monday's championship game — can carry over that play into the real season.
It's an interesting and important time for Jones. He was a first-round draft pick in 2015, but the Wolves took Kris Dunn — another point guard — with an even higher first-round pick in 2016. If no trades are made, a roster that also includes Ricky Rubio and Zach LaVine figures to make it hard for Jones to get on the court unless he forces his way out there.
• Here's an odd stat: The Twins reached the All-Star break with 105 home runs through 88 games. That's a full-season pace of 193 home runs.
If the Twins finish the year with that many, it will be the most they've hit as a team since 1987 — when they hit 196 and won their first World Series title, fielding a lineup in which Kirby Puckett, Gary Gaetti, Kent Hrbek and Tom Brunansky (the current Twins hitting coach) all hit at least 28 home runs. The team record was set in 1963, when the Twins hit 225.
• The odds offered by vegasinsider.com don't seem to reflect the local public's relative optimism when it comes to the Wild and Timberwolves.
The Wild is listed as at 25-to-1 odds to win the Stanley Cup next season, while the Wolves are at 85-to-1 to win the NBA title. Much of the buzz has been about the Wolves' young core, but it's instructive to remember which team is closer to winning right now.
The Vikings, by the way, are better than either of those teams — 20-to-1 to win the Super Bowl, trailing nine other NFL teams.
“It’s very safe to assume the vibe was going to be off if we went ahead with it,” Pablo López said of dressing up rookies after the difficult series at Cleveland.
