Outdoors: It doesn’t benefit hunters or fishermen to lie | 4C
Sports
RECRUITING ANALYSIS PREVIEWS MESSAGE BOARDS 30-DAY FREE TRIAL
S A T U R D A Y , J U L Y 18 , 2015
49 on sale at:
UNION FURNITURE 758-3693 SECTION C
WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM
BRITISH OPEN
ALABAMA FOOTBALL
SUPER SIX Tide places six on All-SEC first team; 12 overall selections By Ben Jones | Sports Writer
T
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dustin Johnson drives the ball from the 2nd tee during Friday’s second round of the British Open at the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland. Second-round play was suspended due to darkness. Johnson was 10 under through 13 holes.
Dustin Johnson still in control at St. Andrews By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press
ST. ANDREWS, S COTLAND | The grand pursuit of Jordan Spieth, redemption for Dustin Johnson, the mystery that has become Tiger Woods. It all came to a momentary halt Friday in the gloaming of St. Andrews when Tom Watson said goodbye to the British Open. Watson, the most prolific winner of golf’s oldest championship in the last century, fi nished his 129th round with lights from the Royal & Ancient clubhouse illuminating the 18th green. The five-time champion made bogey. The score was irrelevant. “There were no tears,” Watson said. “This is a joyous occasion. I have a lot of great, great memories. And those memories fi lled me up.” Everything else about this wet and wild second round remained unsettled. A heav y downpour at dawn fl ooded the Old Course and disINSIDE rupted the start by more than three FOND FAREWELL: hours. Johnson and Spieth teed off Tom Watson shortly before 6 p.m. and were plays his final headed in different directions when British Open it was too dark to continue. round | 5C In swift, shifting weather — umbrellas on one hole, sunglasses on NOTEBOOK: the next — Johnson made three Heavy rain birdies in four holes on the front makes for an nine and built a two-shot lead beinteresting sec- fore he made his fi rst bogey of the ond round | 5C tournament. He three-putted on the par-3 11th in wind so severe he had to back off a 4-foot putt and wipe his eyes. Johnson was at 10-under par. Spieth three-putted for bogey three times in 11 holes to offset three birdies and was five shots behind Johnson, whom he beat by one shot in the U.S. Open last month to capture the second leg of the Grand Slam. Both were just short on the par-5 14th hole in two shots when they chose to mark their golf balls and return at 7 a.m. Saturday to resume the round. “I’m in a good spot,” Johnson said. “Defi nitely got very tricky this afternoon, all day. Even the front side, the wind was howling and it was blowing straight leftto-right pretty much. It played very tough all day.” Danny Willett of England had to cope with the wind, too, and he had a 3-under 69 to walk off the 18th green with his name atop the leaderboard at 9-under 135. “Yeah, I think it’s a childhood dream and looking up there it’s still a little bit surreal, but something I’m going to have to get used to,” Willett said. “Otherwise, no point in being up there. We’re going to try and rest up and then try and go out for another good weekend and hopefully, we can be up there in two days’ time.” Watson wasn’t the only player to bid farewell to the Old Course. Nick Faldo, the three-time Open champion regarded as Britain’s greatest champion, came out of the TV tower to play St. Andrews one last time. He switched into a sweater that he wore for his fi rst Open title in 1987 at Muirfield, thrust his arms in the air atop the Swilcan Bridge, and saved par for a 71. And then there was Woods, headed toward the wrong kind of history. Barring a burst of birdies when he returns Saturday morning — the kind of form he has not shown in two years — he was likely to miss the cut in the U.S. Open and the British Open for the fi rst time in the same year. Woods was 5 over with seven holes to play. So much attention has been on Spieth and Jordan, the main characters from the drama that played out at Chambers Bay last month. Johnson had a 12-foot eagle putt on the fi nal hole to win the U.S. Open, and SEE OPEN | 5C
he University of Alabama led all schools with six fi rst-team AllSEC selections as voted on by the media this week, the league office announced Friday. The Crimson Tide had 12 Preseason All-SEC picks across three teams, which also led the league. Sophomore left tackle Cam Robinson and senior center Ryan Kelly — the only returning starters on offense — were both first-team picks, while defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson, linebacker Reggie Ragland and defensive back Cyrus Jones were first-team selections on defense. Kicker JK Scott was also a first-team selection. Running back Derrick Henry was voted to the second team, as was defensive lineman Jonathan Allen. Running back Kenyan Drake, tight end O.J. Howard, defensive lineman Jarran Reed and defensive back Eddie Jackson were all third-team selections. Alabama opens the season Sept. 5 in Arlington, Texas, against Wisconsin in a game scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff on ABC.
A’Shawn Robinson
MEDIA DAYS ALL-SEC (Total points in parenthesis) OFFENSE DEFENSE First-Team First-Team QB Dak Prescott, Mississippi State (170) DL Robert Nkemdiche, Ole Miss (173) RB Nick Chubb, Georgia (189) DL A’Shawn Robinson, Alabama (160) RB Leonard Fournette, LSU (180) DL Myles Garrett, Texas A&M (155) WR Laquon Treadwell, Ole Miss (169) DL Carl Lawson, Auburn (131) WR D’haquille Williams, Auburn (154) LB Reggie Ragland, Alabama (181) TE Evan Engram, Ole Miss (128) LB Jordan Jenkins, Georgia (121) OL Cam Robinson, Alabama (167) LB Curt Maggitt, Tennessee (102) OL Laremy Tunsil, Ole Miss (159) DB Vernon Hargreaves, Florida (186) OL Vadal Alexander, LSU (131) DB Cyrus Jones, Alabama (126) OL John Theus, Georgia (129) DB Jonathan Jones, Auburn (122) C Ryan Kelly, Alabama (144) DB Jalen Mills, LSU (118) Second-Team QB Jeremy Johnson, Auburn (89) RB Derrick Henry, Alabama (151) RB Jonathan Williams, Arkansas (82) WR Pharoh Cooper, South Carolina (147) WR De’Runnya Wilson, Miss. State (59) TE Hunter Henry, Arkansas (97) OL Germain Ifedi, Texas A&M (124) OL Dan Skipper, Arkansas (95) OL Denver Kirkland, Arkansas (85) OL Greg Pyke, Georgia (83) C Mike Matthews, Texas A&M (108)
Second-Team DL Jonathan Bullard, Florida (115) DL Derek Barnett, Tennessee (105) DL Jonathan Allen, Alabama (99) DL Chris Jones, Mississippi State (93) LB Kendell Beckwith, LSU (93) LB Leonard Floyd, Georgia (92) LB Cassanova McKinzy, Auburn (80) DB Tony Conner, Ole Miss (117) DB Cameron Sutton, Tennessee (115) DB Will Redmond, Mississippi State (79) DB Tre’Davious White, LSU (61)
Third-Team QB Joshua Dobbs, Tennessee (62) RB Alex Collins, Arkansas (80) RB Kenyan Drake, Alabama (34) WR Malcolm Mitchell, Georgia (50) WR Josh Reynolds, Texas A&M (39) TE O.J. Howard, Alabama (87) OL Sebastian Tretola, Arkansas (72) OL Alex Kozan, Auburn (69) OL Avery Young, Auburn (57) OL Brandon Shell, South Carolina (50) C Evan Boehm, Missouri (81)
Third-Team DL Montravius Adams, Auburn (90) DL Jarran Reed, Alabama (60) DL Davon Godchaux, LSU (40) DL Marquis Haynes, Ole Miss (34) LB Kris Frost, Auburn (77) LB Antonio Morrison, Florida (66) LB Kentrell Brothers, Missouri (61) DB A.J. Stamps, Kentucky (59) DB Eddie Jackson, Alabama (58) DB Jamal Adams, LSU (56) DB Johnathan Ford, Auburn (52)
SPECIALISTS First-Team Second-Team P JK Scott, Alabama (161) P Drew Kaser, Texas A&M (92) PK Marshall Morgan, Georgia (100) PK Elliott Fry, South Carolina (87) RS Speedy Noil, Texas A&M (117) RS Pharoh Cooper, South Carolina (75) AP Pharoh Cooper, South Carolina (112) AP Leonard Fournette, LSU (85) Third-Team P Jamie Keehn, LSU (52) PK Austin MacGinnis, Kentucky (59) RS Leonard Fournette, LSU (66) AP Speedy Noil, Texas A&M (84)
Cam Robinson Ryan Kelly
Cyrus Jones
Reggie Ragland
JK Scott
Ragland has no regrets about not entering draft By Kayla Howard Special to The Tuscaloosa News
ADVOCARE CLASSIC Alabama vs. Wisconsin
HOOVER | Reggie Ragland’s mother works at a local sports bar in Madison, where she deals with both Auburn and Alabama fans. On the last regular-season Saturday for the past three years, Ragland has suited up in his University of Alabama football gear, ready to get a win, not only for his team, but for his mother as well. “If we don’t win that game, people go in there and talk a little trash to her,” Ragland said this week at SEC Media Days.
■ When: Saturday, Sept. 5 ■ Where: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas ■ TV: ABC ■ Radio: 95.3 FM, 99.1 FM
“It’s the biggest game of the year, because that has the most bragging rights, 365 days out the year.” A labama’s starting inside linebacker chose to forgo early entry into the NFL Draft and return to the Crimson Tide for
his senior year. It’s another year to make his mama proud. It’s another year to play Alabama football. And on Saturday, Nov. 28, Ragland will have his fi nal shot at another year of bragging rights. In addition to making his mother proud on the football field, Ragland wants to have something to show for what he has done in the classroom, by getting his diploma. “It was a big factor because I wanted to give that piece of paper to my mom and my dad, and show that I did it,” Ragland said.
“And that is something that nobody can ever take from me, is being able to graduate from high school and college, and that’s a big decision in my family.” Ragland graduated from Bob Jones High School, where in his senior season he made 97 tackles, 22 tackles for loss and six sacks. The nation’s top middle linebacker prospect as ranked by Rivals.com, Ragland stood out not only on the football field but on the basketball court as well, where he helped his team win a state championship in the 2009-10 season. SEE R AGLAND | 3C