TROON, Scotland -- Facts and figures for the British Open golf championship:Event: 145th British OpenDates: July 14-17Site: Royal Troon Golf ClubLength: 7,190 yardsPar: 36-35-71Field: 156 playersPrize money: 6.5 million pounds ($8.47 million)Winners share: 1,175,000 pounds ($1.53 million)Defending champion: Zach JohnsonLast year: Zach Johnson made a 30-foot birdie putt in regulation for a 66 and won the four-hole aggregate playoff over Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman. Jordan Spieth, going for the third leg of the Grand Slam, missed the playoff by one shot.Last time at Royal Troon: Todd Hamilton got up-and-down from 40 yards away using a hybrid for his fourth straight par to defeat Ernie Els in a four-hole playoff.Open champions at Royal Troon: Arthur Havers (1923), Bobby Locke (1950), Arnold Palmer (1962), Tom Weiskopf (1973), Tom Watson (1982), Mark Calcavecchia (1989), Justin Leonard (1997), Todd Hamilton (2004).Key statistic: Americans have won the claret jug the last six times at Royal Troon.Noteworthy: Lee Westwood played in the final round with both major champions this year, Danny Willett at the Masters and Dustin Johnson at the U.S. Open.Quote worthy: Its like two golf courses. Its blowing out on the front and everything plays real short. Then you turn around and come into a left-to-right wind and you spend the back nine trying to kill it and keep it left. -- Jim Furyk on Royal Troon.Television (all times EDT): NBC Sports (Saturday 7 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Sunday 7 a.m.-2 p.m.); Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 1:30 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 4-7 a.m.) Cheap Custom Cardinals Jersey . After Mondays hard-fought loss, the wait seemed longer than usual. Getting set to go their separate ways for a short Christmas break, the Raptors coach credited his team for their effort on a seemingly impossible three-game road trip, urging them to build on that success when they get back to work at the end of the week. Mike Matheny . Didier Drogba gave away the penalty that put Senegal one goal away from a major upset, but the veteran striker will get another chance -- probably his last -- at the World Cup after Salomon Kalous injury-time strike sealed the Ivorians place in Brazil next year. http://www.custommlbcardinalsjersey.com/custom-marcell-ozuna-jersey-large-1391q.html . The 29-year-old from Port Colborne, Ont., has nothing but good things to say about former U.S. marine Liz (Girlrilla) Carmouche ahead of their co-main event Wednesday on the UFCs "Fight for the Troops" televised card in Fort Campbell, Ky. Tyler ONeill . Burris threw two TD passes, including a key 15-yard fourth-quarter strike to Bakari Grant that effectively countered a Toronto comeback bid and led Hamilton to a 33-19 victory. Brett Cecil . Cote was eligible to become a free agent Feb. 15. Cote helped running back Jon Cornish run for a league-high 1,813 rushing yards en route to being named the leagues most outstanding player. UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio -- Vijay Singh rebounded from a bad shot on the 17th to birdie the final hole Thursday and take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the U.S. Senior Open.Still playing full-time on the PGA Tour at age 53, the big Fijian shot a 4-under 66 on a hot and humid afternoon at Scioto Country Club, the suburban Columbus course where Jack Nicklaus learned to play.Singh pushed his tee shot right and bogeyed the par-3 17th. On the par-4 18th, he hit his second shot to 4 feet. The three-time major champion hit 13 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens.Im driving the ball well, said Singh, coming off a tie for 56th on Sunday in Connecticut in the PGA Tours Travelers Championship. Im hitting my irons good. Playing the regular tour, Ive been playing pretty decent out there too. I came here (and) obviously expected to play well, and I just played well today.Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jeff Gallagher, Michael Allen, Gene Sauers and Glen Day shot 68.The weather is good. Its perfect. Its hot, humid, Jimenez said. This heat is going to drain a lot from you and probably (make things) more difficult, not because the course is more difficult, but the situation for the players that will be there at the end of the weekend.Singh is winless in nine career starts on the 50-and-over tourEvery time I tee it up (in senior events), if I dont win, Im really disappointed, Singh said. So I put a lot more pressure on myself, and thats not very good. I force myself to play well over here instead of just playing. So my attitude this week is just go and play and see what happens.dddddddddddd.Singh finished second this year in the PGA Tours Quicken Loans National in June, but missed the cut at the British Open and the PGA Championship. He said the dry, hard course at Scioto was a tough test.It was really firm, Singh said. Couldnt stop even a sand wedge. Nothing was spinning. If you missed a green, it was very difficult to get up and down.The hot, dry conditions arent supposed to last, with rain forecast Friday and Saturday.Defending champion Jeff Maggert had a 70. He won last year at Del Paso in California.The course is playing great, very difficult, Maggert said. Just every hole is demanding. You got to keep the ball on the fairway and pay attention to what youre doing around the greens, make sure youre giving yourself some opportunities to putt for birdies. Missing the greens here can really hurt you pretty bad too. Its a ball strikers course, and Im hitting the ball well. So hopefully, the putter will cooperate over the next three days, and I can finish it off with a good tournament.John Daly also shot 70.I actually hit the ball decent today, Daly said. I made a few putts, but nothing special. It was cool to play pretty much 16 holes bogey-free. I made a few 5- and 6-footers for pars as well, which helped. I had not been putting very good.Bernhard Langer opened with a 73. ' ' '