LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England -- Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood were safely back in the clubhouse and scratching around for positives by the time the lead group had even started their final rounds at the British Open. This wasnt the way it was supposed to be. As the second- and third-ranked players in the world, they came to Royal Lytham & St. Annes ready to lead the European charge with No. 1 Luke Donald. After horrible weeks on the Lancashire links, they left beaten men and will be overtaken in the rankings on Monday by a rejuvenated Tiger Woods. "You try to force it and youre maybe trying too hard and things dont go your way -- that happened this week," was McIlroys assessment of his four days at Lytham after finishing at 8-over 288 and a tie for 60th. The 39-year-old Westwood has now gone winless in 59 majors. Is time running out for one of the best players never to win a major? "Life begins at 40, so they tell me," he said, more in hope than expectation. He was tied for 45th on 6 over. Of Europes big three, the consistent Donald looks in the best shape ahead of next months U.S. PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. Like Westwood, he is still searching for his first major title and admits he gets more anxious as the grand-slam tournaments approach. But he didnt let his head drop as a string of birdie chances went begging over the weekend, preventing him making a run at the leaders. A final-round 69 was one of the best of the day, and left him on 2 under and tied for fifth with Graeme McDowell. "Ill take a lot of positives away from this week," said Donald, who had putts lip out on Nos. 7, 9 and 12. "Certainly Ill leave this week knowing that my game is definitely good enough to win majors. "Ill come away from here with a lot of confidence knowing that my game tee to green was easily good enough to win this week." McIlroys troubles at Lytham will do nothing to silence the critics who say the Northern Irishmans game is stuttering as a direct result of his relationship with tennis player Caroline Wozniacki. "Im obviously very disappointed because I felt like I was coming in here playing pretty well," said McIlroy, who had missed four of his previous six cuts in a barren spring and early summer. "I had a really nice first round (67), set myself up well for the week and then just started to struggle after that. So its just disappointing." McIlroy, who shot a second straight 73 Sunday, felt there were positives to take into his next event, the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone. "I had a good practice session on the range (Saturday) night and feel like I found something good there," the 2011 U.S. Open champion said. "So thats something that I can work on this week and look forward to getting to Akron and trying to play there." Having said in his pre-tournament news conference that he fancied his chances coming into the British Open, Westwood acknowledged those comments had been slightly misleading. "I didnt have much of a game coming in here. So I didnt expect too much," a forlorn Westwood said after his 72 on Sunday. "Its one of those things. You play golf long enough you have no problem with it." A pull shot that has crept into his game of late returned at Lytham, costing him three shots in his final round. "You just learn to live with it," Westwood said, "and just keep working on it." wholesale jerseys China . -- When dark clouds ominously obscured majestic Mount Baldy north of Auto Club Speedway early in Sundays race, NASCARs drivers all realized they were probably in for a short day on a long track. wholesale jerseys . -- David Lee knows Golden State is doing things few expected. http://www.cheapjerseys2014.us.com/[/ur... . The president of LFC Toronto, Liverpools biggest supporters group in North America, cheers for Canadas first Major League Soccer team, but his heart still rests in Merseyside. [url=http://www.cheapjerseys2014.us.com/]Cheap Jerseys China . -- Marc Trestman had it all mapped out, right up to the Chicago Bears championship parade. wholesale nfl jerseys . It was one too many. Beachy allowed just three hits, one a home run to Jesus Flores, and the Atlanta Braves lost to the Washington Nationals 2-0 on Saturday.LONDON - "Enlightenment" was the theme, physicist Stephen Hawking the guide and Olympic Stadium the venue Wednesday night as London welcomed 4,200 athletes from more than 160 nations to the 2012 Paralympic Games. Who better to greet Paralympians than a scientist who has shown the world that physical disabilities do not limit human potential? "The Paralympic Games is about transforming our perception of the world. We are all different, there is no such thing as a standard or run-of-the-mill human being, but we share the same human spirit," said Hawking, who was given two years to live in 1963 after he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. "What is important is that we have the ability to create ... however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at," he added. The extravaganza, directed by Bradley Hemmings and Jenny Sealey, was billed as a voyage across "a sea of ideas" - including Isaac Newtons discovery of gravity, the force that all Earth-bound athletes strive against. The show included 73 deaf and disabled professional performers and 68 disabled people among its 3,250 volunteers. The gala opened with a look at the Big Bang - considered the beginning of the universe - as a glowing sphere turned the stadium into a giant nebula. In a nod to the famously erratic British weather, umbrellas were a central theme. Seeing performers with no legs beneath the knee doing aerial flips carrying umbrellas could inspire the most ardent couch potato. Sebastian Coe, chief of the London organizing committee, issued a big welcome home "to a movement that shows what sport is all about." "Sport is about what you can do, what you can achieve, the limits you can reach, the barriers you can break. Sport shows what is possible. Sport refuses to take no for an answer," Coe told the audience of 60,000. The London event is on track to be the most-watched Paralympics ever, with 2.5 million tickets expected to be sold by the time it ends Sept. 9. As the athletes paraded in under a full moon, a huge roar filled the stadium for South African flagbearer Oscar Pistorius, the sprinter who is making history by running in both the Olympics and the Paralympics this year. Glittery ticker tape and a standing ovation then greeted the enormous British team as they entered to the David Bowie song "Heroes." The parade took nearly an hour longer than expected, with athletes arriving in dozens of ways. Some came in motorized carts, others wheeled themselves in, still others were pushed by coaches or volunteers. They walked in with canes or crutches, eye patches and sunglasses, prosthetic limbs and walking sticks, determined to make it around the imposing stadium, welcomed by a global music mash-up by local DJs. Led by flag bearer Garett Hickling, some 85 Canadian athletes marched in after Cameroon and ahead of Cape Verde. Hicking, a 41-year-old from Kelowna, B.C., will reppresent Canada in wheelchair rugby at a fifth Paralympic Games.dddddddddddd. Canada has 145 athletes seeking medals in 15 of the 20 Paralympic sports. The teams objective is a top-eight finish in gold medals won. Canada was seventh four years ago in Beijing with 19 gold. Blind soprano Denise Leigh then sang the tribute song "Spirit in Motion" and several Paralympians took flight in an elegant aerial display. And of course, this being Britain, the words of Shakespeare once again made an appearance, with both Miranda of "The Tempest" and British actor Ian McKellen announcing that "the greatest adventure is what lies ahead." That, over the next 11 days, includes Paralympic athletes competing in 20 sports, including archery, cycling, rowing, equestrian, sailing, sitting volleyball, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball. At the start, Hawking directed the fictional Miranda to "be curious" - and the stadium was transformed into a giant blinking eye, with performers on huge waving sticks acting like eyelashes. Along her travels, the curious Miranda was to navigate a maze to find an apple - and everyone in the stadium was encouraged to take a bite out of the fruit they were given with her. Other performers included soprano Elin Manahan Thomas, Beverley Knight, the British dance group Flawless and six London-based choirs. Outside the stadium, hundreds of performers cheered, sang and danced. Jason Kajdi, an 18-year-old from south London, did huge splits with bouncy legs that resembled the "Cheetah" prosthetic limbs worn by Pistorius. "Never used these before this," Kajdi admitted. "They are brilliant fun but hard work." Authorities, meanwhile, promised to provide "a grand and global stage" for a games that everyone will remember. Queen Elizabeth II said the nation looked forward to "celebrating the uplifting spirit which distinguishes the Paralympic Games from other events." She was accompanied by her grandson, Prince William, his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, and Prime Minister David Cameron. The Paralympic movement tracks its beginnings to the vision of Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, who in 1948 organized an archery competition for 16 injured patients at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Britain. Wednesdays ceremony concluded with a bevy of fireworks and Miranda breaking a glass ceiling - just as Paralympians must smash through their own barriers. Society, too, was encouraged to abandon old-fashioned perceptions of what disabled people can and cannot do. Pistorius, in an earlier news conference, praised London for its inclusivity. "Kids didnt stare at peoples prosthetic legs and they were asking guys in wheelchairs what events they do," Pistorius said. "There are a lot of people here who dont focus on the disability anymore - they focus on the athletes abilities ... theres nothing to be ashamed of." ' ' '