Zach Johnson won the British Open in a playoff over Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman. Jordan Spieth fell just short in his bid for the Grand Slam, leading after two holes of the playoff but not advancing. The win was Johnson's second major title; he described himself as a "normal guy" who was able to outlast the competition.

1. By Daniel Brown and John Hickey
Staff writers
Josh Donaldson, who will return to Oak-
land on Tuesday for the first time since his
stunning trade, remembers some great
times with the A’s.
He also remembers a low point. Before a
game against the Giants early in his career,
Donaldson glanced up at the AT&T Park
video board to see the batting averages
posted next to the lineups.
Donaldson was batting a paltry .082 at
the time. Making things worse, he noticed
that Barry Zito — the opposing pitcher!
— was batting .133.
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Earthquakes
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2 I
By Doug Ferguson
Associated Press
ST. ANDREWS, Scot-
land — Zach Johnson cra-
dled the silver Claret Jug in
his arms. Jordan Spieth let
it slip through his fingers.
Spieth was right where
he wanted to be in his spir-
ited bid for the Grand Slam
— tied for the lead with
two holes to go in the Brit-
ish Open, right after mak-
ing a 50-foot birdie putt
that made it feel as though
he were destined to win at
St. Andrews for his third
straight major.
And he was still there at
the very end Monday, but
only as a spectator.
The slam gone, Spieth
graciously returned to the
steps of the Royal & An-
cient clubhouse to watch
Johnson finish off a ster-
ling performance of his
own. Johnson rolled in a
30-foot birdie putt on the
18th hole that got him into
a three-man playoff, and he
outlasted Louis Oosthuizen
and Marc Leishman to win
the British Open.
Johnson described
himself as a “normal guy”
Playoff win sweet for ‘normal guy’ Johnson
Iowan captures his second major title;
Spieth falls short in bid for Grand Slam
LEADER BOARD
(Finalroundandoverallscores)
THE WINNER
Zach Johnson 66 — 273 -15
THE RUNNERS-UP
Marc Leishman66 — 273 -15
LouisOosthuizen 69 — 273 -15
THE NAMES
Jordan Spieth 69 — 274 -14
Jason Day 70 — 274 -14
Adam Scott 71 — 278 -10
Phil Mickelson 69 — 281 -7
Rickie Fowler 73 — 282 -6
DustinJohnson 75 — 284 -4
FOUR-HOLE PLAYOFF
Johnson 15 -1
Oosthuizen 16 E
Leishman 18 +2
British Open
Tim Lincecum’s long, lingering Giants
goodbye unofficially
started almost two years
ago, and now he has
gotten to the very quiet
part.
Actually, it’s the invis-
ible part, which might
last for the final few
months of his very fruit-
ful nine-season Giants
career.
Lincecum made his
261st career start as a
Giant on June 27, had
to leave in the second
inning after getting hit
on the right arm by a line
drive and is on the disabled list.
Lincecum’s
long farewell
nears its end
By Andrew Baggarly
abaggarly@mercurynews.com
SAN DIEGO — Tim Hudson is nearing
the end. He knew that already.
When you are a 40-year-old major
league pitcher, and your surname isn’t
Moyer or Niekro or Ryan, you understand
that you are a flickering candle. And as
much as your teammates might respect
you, they need a dependable light source to
keep from whacking into furniture.
Hudson could not light the way in the
Giants’ 4-2 loss to the San Diego Padres on
Monday night.
He came off the disabled list and did not
Hudson’s
return isn’t
encouraging
Pitcher fails to retire a batter
in fifth as win streak halted
TUESDAY’S GAME
Giants (Chris Heston 9-5) at San Diego
(Odrisamer Despaigne 3-6), 7:10 p.m. CSNBA
Padres 4, Giants 2
Gone,hardlyforgotten
Former teammates fondly recall All-Star third baseman, who’s hitting up a storm for Toronto
TUESDAY’S GAME
Toronto (Mark Buehrle 10-5) at A’s (Kendall
Graveman 6-5), 7:05 p.m. CSNCA
Ex-A’s star Donaldson returns to Oakland with Blue Jays
“I wouldn’t say I was hurt
(about being traded),
because I understand that
baseball is a business. But I
was shocked.”
— Josh Donaldson.
PHOTO BYTOM SZCZERBOWSKI/GETTY IMAGES
Josh Donaldson of Toronto, shown being congratulated after a home run against Boston earlier this month, has been a leader for the Blue Jays.
“And I was thinking, ‘I don’t know if this
baseball thing is going to work out,’ ” Don-
aldson joked.
He laughed at the memory. The baseball
thing worked out just fine.
Donaldson’shittingtotalssoonsurpassed
Zito’s, and just about everybody else’s. The
Toronto Blue Jays third baseman arrives
for the three-game series at O.Co Coliseum
ranked among the American League lead-
ers in almost every significant offensive
category.
Donaldson is batting .288 with 22 home
TIM KAWAKAMI
COLUMNIST
INSIDE
Lincecum
suffering
from hip
degeneration.
PAGE 4
STUART FRANKLIN/GETTY IMAGES
Zach Johnson kisses the Claret Jug after
winning the 144th Open Championship.
“Wow.Almost.
Nothing quite
like @TheOpen at
St Andrews.We
fought hard.Very
proud of a role
model and friend of mine
@ZachJohnsonPGA”
@JordanSpieth
Names in the news
TWEETOFTHE DAY
KARL MONDON/STAFF
AREVIRTUALREPSTHETHING
TO KEEPBACKUPQBS SHARP?
How does a team’s backup quar-
terback stay mentally game-ready
when the starter needs nearly all the
practice reps himself? Virtual reality,
of course.And the 49ers became
the second NFL team to sign on with
Stanford-based STRIVR Labs, to see
whether Blaine Gabbert (above),
who appeared in just one game as
Colin Kaepernick’s backup a year
ago, can be aided by virtual reps.
The company was founded by
former Stanford kicker Derek Belch,
who came up with the technology as
part of his thesis project. He enlisted
former Cardinal quarterback Trent
Edwards — and even coach David
Shaw — to be among his early
investors and team members to help
bring the device to market. Edwards
has been making the rounds with
Belch, and their client list thus far
is impressive: Auburn,Vanderbilt,
Clemson and Arkansas.
Now the 49ers join the Cowboys
as NFL clientele.“As all teams do, we
are constantly searching for meth-
ods to better prepare us for game
day.We are confident that STRIVR
Labs can provide an advantage,”
49ers G.M. Trent Baalke said in a
statement.
MAKING ITRAIN FOR BLATTER
Sepp Blatter probably should
feel good that people still are paying
attention to his sullied reign as FIFA
boss.A British prankster interrupted
his news conference Monday by
throwing a stack of money into the
air and saying,“Here ya go, Sepp. It’s
all there.”According to the BBC, the
man later tweeted:“Excited to be at
Fifa meeting Sepp Blatter to secure
the #NorthKorea2026 World Cup.”
According to the BBC, the man,
Simon Brokdin, interrupted Kanye
West’s set at Glastonbury last
month and attempted to board the
plane with the England soccer team
headed to the World Cup in Brazil
last summer.
MORGANWILLJOIN MESSI
ON COVER —AND INACTION
Now this is the kind of off-the-
field development women’s soccer
needs: Alex Morgan will grace the
cover of EA Sports’FIFA 16 along
with Lionel Messi when it’s released
in September. (Canadian star
Christine Sinclair will
be paired with
Messi across
the border.)
Sharing video
game cover space
with Messi is
nothing to sniff at
in a world — gaming
— often even more
dominated by males
than sports.
It doesn’t hurt matters that this
isn’t just a matter of style; there is
also substance. For the first time,
gamers will be able to choose be-
tween men’s and women’s players.
“I’m so honored to be featured on
the cover of #FIFA16.Thank you
@EASPORTSFIFA!”Morgan tweeted.
Morgan was certainly the U.S.
women’s superstar first, and these
decisions don’t happen overnight,
but no one could blame World Cup
star Carli Lloyd for feeling a tad bit
slighted today.
RAIDERS ROOKIE EVENTAKES
VIDEO GAME RATING SERIOUSLY
In other video game news,
Raiders receiver Amari Cooper is
the highest-rated rookie in Madden
16 — a nice badge of honor for the
young, newly minted millionaires
who log lots of couch time when
they’re not on a football field.
But apparently his place above
Jameis Winston and Todd Gurley
didn’t satisfy the determined Coo-
per, who says of his ranking on an
EA Sports video:“That’ll go up.”
PHILIPP SCHMIDLI/GETTY IMAGES
See KAWAKAMI, Page 4
See BRITISH, Page 2
LENNY IGNELZI/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Giants’Tim Hudson gave up three runs
in four innings in his first start since June 26.
See A’S, Page 4
See GIANTS, Page 4