Sports Illustrated

THE FIRST TIME THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP WAS HELD AT THE OLD COURSE AT ST. ANDREWS, IN 1873, TOM KIDD WON WITH A 36-HOLE SCORE OF 171 ON THE WATERLOGGED TRACK. “THE PLAY CANNOT BE CONSIDERED FIRST RATE,” OPINED THE DAILY NEWS OF GREATER LONDON. THE PLAY OVER THE INTERVENING 28 OPENS AT THE COURSE HAS MADE UP FOR KIDD’S ROUGH DAY, AND, WHEN THE BEST GOLFERS IN THE WORLD RETURN TO SCOTLAND THIS MONTH FOR THE 150TH OPEN, ONE THING IS CERTAIN: NOTHING SHORT OF FIRST-RATE WILL BE GOOD ENOUGH TO WIN FOLLOW @SPORTSILLUSTRATED PHOTOGRAPHS BY FRED VUICH (WOODS) JACQUELINE DUVOISIN (DALY) BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES (JONES). PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROBERT BECK (WATSON) AND JERRY COOKE (PALMER)…

SOMETIME IN the last year, NBA executives noticed something alarming—like, really fucking alarming: press conferences peppered with profanities, f-bombs flying freely. S-bombs and other assorted bombs, too. So before it could turn into a full-blown shitstorm, the league decided to act. Memos were sent, warnings issued, fingers wagged. The message? Curtail the cursing, or pay the price for your impudence. Then came the fines. Knicks forward Julius Randle was hit for $25,000 in early January, for saying (twice) that he wanted his critics to “shut the fuck up”—an “egregious use of profane language,” according to the league’s statement. The next week, Nets star Kevin Durant was hit for $15,000 for calling the schedule “fucked up”—a quote the league deemed merely “profane,” though clearly not egregious, given the lesser fine. In April, feisty Timberwolves…

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READ THE CHURCH OF BASEBALL By Ron Shelton At age 76, Ron Shelton has written his first book, and the biggest question upon reading it is, What took him so long? The Church of Baseball details the production of 1988’s Bull Durham, which Shelton wrote and was his directorial debut. It’s a remarkable account of how the Hollywood sausage is made, but it’s also a touching account of the author’s relationship with baseball. Shelton (above, with Kevin Costner) was a minor leaguer, and a few of the escapades he recounts will be familiar to people who have seen the movie. (He once tried to get his slumping team a rainout by drunkenly removing a tarp. The gambit didn’t work as well as it did onscreen.) He was the rare baseball player who…

READ One thing Ron Shelton notes in his Bull Durham book is how the movie still resonates because it’s about loving something more than it loves you back. That same theme is at the heart of Grant Hill’s autobiography, Game. After a stellar career at Duke, Hill put up fantastic numbers over the first six years of his NBA career, including 25.8 points per game in his sixth season. And then the game turned on him. A misdiagnosed ankle injury kept Hill off the court most of the next four years, and when he returned he was never the same. Hill’s love of basketball shines through in Game as he recounts his time as a highly touted recruit in an upper-crust family (Hill sheepishly had to pull Chris Webber out of a house…

With the NFL season fast approaching, the SI Sportsbook staff laid out their favorite win-total wagers: • Craig Ellenport: The Saints finished 9–8 last season and should be stronger in 2022 with the return of Jameis Winston, a healthy Michael Thomas, the drafting of Chris Olave and the signing of local product Tyrann Mathieu. Bet: Saints over 7.5 wins (-188) • Matt Ehalt: As usual, the NFC North is a joke, and the Packers should at the very least go 5–1 in the division. Bet: Packers over 11.5 wins (+100) • Bill Enright: Matchups against its division foes and its out-of-conference slate against the NFC East should lead to at least seven wins for Indianapolis. That leaves just three more wins over bad or mediocre teams. Bet: Colts over 9.5 wins (-152) • Frankie Taddeo: The Eagles…