SAN FRANCISCO — The first tee box at the hilly Olympic Club is a tabletop plateau perched 25 feet above a winding sidewalk. The customary way to reach the tee is a 15-step staircase.

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Andrew Gombert/European Pressphoto Agency

Tiger Woods, back, waiting at the second hole at the Olympic Club as Bubba Watson, left, and Phil Mickelson, second from right, stood adizero f50 micoach with their caddies.

That is how Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson found their way to the hole Thursday. They had begun their round on the ninth hole, and by the time they came to the first tee, Mickelson and Watson had already played 10 difficult holes in a combined nine over par. They tramped up the stairs, their legs heavy and their expressions weary.

Their playing partner, Tiger Woods, apparently never considered the stairs. He took a treacherous shortcut, galloping up the long, steep, grassy sides of the tee box as if attacking a rampart. When Woods got to t... more

SAN FRANCISCO — The first tee box at the hilly Olympic Club is a tabletop plateau perched 25 feet above a winding sidewalk. The customary way to reach the tee is a 15-step staircase.

Related

Andrew Gombert/European Pressphoto Agency

Tiger Woods, back, waiting at the second hole at the Olympic Club as Bubba Watson, left, and Phil Mickelson, second from right, stood adizero f50 micoach with their caddies.

That is how Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson found their more

KHARKIV, Ukraine — Always, the Netherlands enters a tournament as a favorite, abundantly skilled and hopeful. But expectation has now left the Dutch small and fragile and nearly out of possibility.

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Julian Finney/Getty Images

Mario Gomez, right, scored the first goal for Germany.

The Times's soccer blog has the world's game covered from all angles.

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After two matches in the European Championships, this more

KHARKIV, Ukraine — Always, the Netherlands enters a tournament as a favorite, abundantly skilled and hopeful. But expectation has now left the Dutch small and fragile and nearly out of possibility.

Enlarge This Image

Julian Finney/Getty Images

Mario Gomez, right, scored the first goal for Germany.

The Times's soccer blog has the world's game covered from all angles.

Go to the Goal Blog

After two matches in the European Championships, this more

OKLAHOMA CITY – Do-it-all point guard Russell Westbrook helped deliver the Thunder to the NBA Finals with a combination of energy, enthusiasm and upbeat floor tempo. Westbrook, a target in the past regarding questionable decision-making, is that good - and he is getting better.



But this is the NBA Finals. The highly versatile backcourt star understands that he needs to rediscover his marksmanship against the Miami Heat, one of the league's most aggressive defenses.

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OKLAHOMA CITY – The ugly, often eye-covering basketball of the lockout-shortened season has wrought a breathtaking, stroll-through-a-botanical-garden-beauty of an NBA Finals matchup. The young, built-from-scratch Oklahoma City Thunder will take on the slightly more seasoned, built-from-salary-cap-space Miami Heat, but it’s the show nike ctr360 maestri ii down between Kevin Durant and LeBron James that will take center stage.

The NBA hasn’t had the two best players in the game in more

OKLAHOMA CITY – The ugly, often eye-covering basketball of the lockout-shortened season has wrought a breathtaking, stroll-through-a-botanical-garden-beauty of an NBA Finals matchup. The young, built-from-scratch Oklahoma City Thunder will take on the slightly more seasoned, built-from-salary-cap-space Miami Heat, but it’s the show nike ctr360 maestri ii down between Kevin Durant and LeBron James that will take center stage.

The NBA hasn’t had the two best players in the game in more

You will be hard pressed to find too many similarities between the two matches played in Group C today; the first a slow-burning tactical fight that finished in a draw, the second a fast and furious combination of thunder and blunder. In the aftermath, however, they both posed the same question: whose fault was it?

Whose fault was it that Spain had to settle for a puma football cleats point -- had to come from behind -- against Italy? Was it Vicente del Bosque's, for fielding a startin more

You will be hard pressed to find too many similarities between the two matches played in Group C today; the first a slow-burning tactical fight that finished in a draw, the second a fast and furious combination of thunder and blunder. In the aftermath, however, they both posed the same question: whose fault was it?

Whose fault was it that Spain had to settle for a puma football cleats point -- had to come from behind -- against Italy? Was it Vicente del Bosque's, for fielding a startin more

BRADENTON, Fla. — On the banks of a lake at the IMG Academies here, two members of the Antigua and Barbuda national soccer team were arguing over whose turn it was to hold the fishing rod.

The Times's soccer blog has the world's game covered nike mercurial vapor v fg from all angles.

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James Montague for The New York Times

The Antigua and Barbuda soccer team at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, where it will play more