LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England -- Adam Scott, meet Jean Van de Velde. And Ed Sneed. And Phil Mickelson. With a stunning meltdown, Scott gave away the claret jug Sunday and joined an infamous list of the greatest collapses in golf history. The Aussie bogeyed the final four holes of the British Open to finish one stroke behind Ernie Els, who was almost apologetic about the way he won. "Im still numb," Els said. "Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy. Its a crazy game." Scott missed a 7-footer at the final hole that would have forced a playoff, his knees buckling as the ball slid by the left edge of the cup. Then, after somehow composing himself and signing his scorecard, he had to return to the same green where his hopes were crushed to accept the runner-up prize. "I know I let a really great chance slip through my fingers," Scott said. Indeed, this was a blow to gut that will certainly take a while to get over, and its unlikely that Scott will ever be able to put it totally out of his mind. He played brilliantly for three straight days, building a four-shot advantage heading to the final round, and he was still up by four after what seemed a clinching birdie at the 14TH. Then he knocked one in a bunker on 15. Bogey. Then he missed a 3-footer at the next hole. Another bogey. Then he hit his worst shot of the whole tournament, an iron from the middle of the fairway that missed left and rolled into some tall grass, leading to a third straight bogey. Up ahead, Els was already done, having birdied the 18th with a clutch 15-footer. As Scott stepped to the final tee, his lead was gone. Not surprisingly, he drove it in a bunker, leaving himself no other option except to punch out into the fairway. A brilliant shot from 150 yards gave him a chance, but the tall putter that served him so well all week petered out at the end. Els celebrated on the practice green but wasnt real sure how to rect. "Ive got to figure it out still," he said. "Obviously, Im happy to have won. But Ive been on the other end more than the winning end. Its not a good feeling." Theres plenty of guys who know how that feels: -- In a historical context, Scotts flop ranks alongside Sneeds loss at the 1979 Masters. Sneed began the final round with a five-stroke lead and, despite a few wobbles along the way, was still in good position to win coming down the stretch. Three shots ahead. Three holes to play. But, suddenly, his game fell apart. Or, more specifically his putter. Sneed bogeyed the last three holes and lost to Fuzzy Zoeller in a sudden-death playoff. Sneed never came so close again to capturing a major title. -- Jason Dufner also knows how Scott feels. In the final round of last years PGA Championship, Dufner stepped to the 15th tee with a four-stroke lead on the field and a five-shot edge on Keegan Bradley. But three straight bogeys by Dufner -- hmmm, that sounds familiar -- and two straight birdies by Bradley forced a three-hole playoff. Bradley won by a stroke. "Maybe looking back in 10 or 15 years, Ill be disappointed if I never get another chance," Dufner said, in words that are fitting for the 32-year-old Scott. "But I have a feeling Ill have more chances in a major to close one out." -- Of course, Van de Veldes collapse on the 72nd hole of the 1999 British Open is one all others are measured by. The Frenchman had the claret jug in the bag, going to the 72nd hole with a three-shot lead. Instead of playing it safe, he pulled out the driver and knocked his tee shot into the thick rough at Carnoustie. Then he hit it off a grandstand. Then a burn. After briefly considering a whack out of the creek, he took a drop. His now-fifth shot went in a bunker, and he needed a testy up-and-down for triple-bogey just to get in a playoff. Alas, he was defeated by Paul Lawrie. Like Sneed, Van de Velde never came close again. -- For pure shock value, its hard to beat Arnold Palmer throwing away the 1966 U.S. Open at Olympic Club. The games most popular player started the final round with a three-shot lead, and had stretched it to seven at the turn. Billy Casper played brilliantly on the back nine, but Palmer was still up ahead by five going to the 15th. Thats when it all fell apart. Casper birdied the next two holes. Palmer bogeyed them. Palmer made his third straight bogey at the 17th, and the lead was gone. Even though he made par at 18 to force a playoff, Casper prevailed the following day. Palmer would never get his eighth major title. -- Then theres the Mickelson stunner at the 2006 U.S. Open. Lefty threw away a chance to win his third straight major with a staggering display of errant swings and ditzy decisions. He struggled all day to control his driver, but kept pulling it out of the bag. He did it again at the 18th, needing a par to win or just a bogey to force a playoff. His drive struck a hospitality tent. He attempted to slice the next one under some trees, but caught a branch. Then he plugged one in a back bunker, leading to a double-bogey that gave the championship to Geoff Ogilvy. Leftys assessment afterward was priceless: "I am such an idiot." -- Greg Norman was feeling the same way after his performance on the final day of the 1996 Masters, and theres certainly a kinship between the Shark and Scott, who grew up idolizing his countryman. But Normans dismal showing in the final round at Augusta was an 18-hole effort in futility, not just a late choke job. Starting with a six-shot lead on Nick Faldo, he had thrown it away the time he made a third straight bogey at the 11th. When his tee shot at the 12th caught the bank and rolled back into Raes Creek, it was effectively over. The remaining holes were a coronation for Faldo, a death march for Norman. He finished with a 78, losing to Faldo by five strokes. "I let it slip away," Norman moaned. Words that Scott essentially repeated on Sunday. -- Finally, lets give a nod to Sam Snead, one of the games all-time greats but also remembered for squandering his two best chances to win the U.S, Open. In 1939, he couldve won with a par on the 72nd hole but thought he needed a birdie (hey, give him a break, the scoreboard technology wasnt what it is today). Playing aggressively, Snead made a mess of things for a triple-bogey. But 1947 might have been even worse: Snead built a two-stroke lead on Lew Worsham with three holes left in a playoff. Worsham birdied the 16th and Snead bogeyed the 17th to even things up. Then, after Worsham suddenly called for a ruling on who was away at the 18th, Snead missed a 2 1-2-foot putt. Worsham rolled in a slightly shorter one to take the victory. And, now, Scott joins the list. cheap jerseys from china . The injury means the 27-year-old winger becomes the only player on the team roster who is not officially locked out by the NHL. Under the lockout rules, Michalek is allowed to go the rink and get treatment for his injury. wholesale jerseys . Whether Locker misses more than one game depends on how quickly his non-throwing shoulder heals. "Well take it day by day and see how he responds with soreness, getting the strength back and, like I said the last time, when hes ready to play, hell be playing," coach Mike Munchak said Wednesday after announcing the change at starter. http://www.chinanfljerseyswholesal... .com arena. The draft agreement, posted online by the City of Glendale on its municipal website Monday, states the former San Jose Sharks executive will be paid the fee as arena manager for keeping "an anchor tenant at the arena. [url=http://www.chinanfljerseyswholesale.com/]cheap jerseys . Barcelona says Fabregas will be sidelined seven to 10 days due to a strain to his right thigh picked up after coming on for the last 10 minutes of Fridays 3-0 Copa del Rey final win over Athletic Bilbao. cheap jerseys nfl . Louis Rams. Leber announced his retirement Friday on Minneapolis radio station KFAN. In a text message to The Associated Press, Leber said "Its been a great run, lots of fun.These were not the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, but they were never going to be. The field in summer sports is so much deeper – the competition, so much tougher - and quite simply, Canada does not have the same history of sporting achievement away from ice and snow. The cheering and flag waving would never measure up; Canadas athletes were an ocean away, and the time difference meant too many medals were won before Canadians at home could pour their morning coffee. Impromptu street parties and beer-soaked parades were out of the question. Instead, the defining element of these Games was something else: 18 medals; one gold, five silver and 12 bronze. One dozen bronze. Canada has never before earned this many bronze medals at a single, non-boycotted Olympic competition – it has never come close. For Canada, London 2012 was not about owning the podium or winning the games. Rather, the best-remembered stories will be of Canadians bouncing back, of athletes taking the hardest knocks but fighting to the end anyway. So often the choice was to either come away with nothing, or to come away bloodied, bruised and possibly bronzed. Canadians almost always chose the latter. When questionable officiating was blamed for the Canadian soccer teams crushing semi-final loss to the United States, there were those who said that match would remain the most memorable moment of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The athletes seemed broken, and who could blame them? Labelled whiners and sore losers by the international press, their final Olympic ticket was to the wrong game and their medal, no longer guaranteed. But in team sports, winners take gold, and losers settle for silver. Bronze is captured and won. Canadas women did not just play through their bronze-medal game against France; they fought. By the second half, the players were exhausted. Again and again, French forwards shot the ball on a seemingly clear course to the Canadian net, only to find a post, crossbar or leg in the way. Through sheer will and a fair amount of luck, Canada kept the game scoreless. In the end, it was not Sidney Crosbys golden goal, but Diana Mathesons bronzed boot that erased the disappointment of their semi-final loss. In the final minutes of injury time, the Canadian midfielder found herself in the right place at the right time, saw the ball in front of her, and scored. "We were absolutely exhausted, but we battled," team captain Christine Sinclair would tell a CTV reporter. "And thats what this team does. We caught a few lucky breaks, obviously, but to win you need that, occasionally." Again and again, the same story of Canadian tenacity played itself out: The mens eight rowers who finished last in their heat but advanced through the tiresome repechage round for silver; Brent Hayden, the 100-metre freestyle swimmer who made up for a disappointing 14th-place finish at Beijing 2008 to capture bronze at his final Olympic Games; Mark Oldershaw, the fifth member of his family to compete at an Olympic Games, suffered disappointment in 2008 but returned four years later to become the first Oldershaw to win an Olympic medal (it was, of course, bronze). No, this was not Vancouver 2010; this wasnt even Beijing 2008, an Olympic Games that seemed draped in negativity as Canada was left waiting an agonizing week for its first medal. If Londons Games have left a more positive taste in Canadian mouths, it is not because of the medal count. Canada earned the same total number of medals this summer in Great Britain as it did four years ago in China, even if the nation did finish 13th in the overall medal count, compared to 15th in Beijing. But while O Canada played three times in 2008 - over wrestling, mens eights rowing and equestrian jumping podiums - Canadas athletes will come away from London with just one gold medal: Rosie MacLennans, in trampoline. As much as Canadians will remember MacLennans golden routine, hers is not the only performance worthy of celebration - this much was suggested when Olympic fans on Twitter pushed for Sinclairrs nomination as Closing Ceremony flagbearer, and was confirmed when the Canadian Olympic Committee later put the flag in the soccer forwards hands.dddddddddddd And what about Paula Findlay, the 23-year-old redhead whose hip injury left her unable to sufficiently train for her first Olympic Games? She competed in the triathlon anyway. A medal hopeful after she won the 2010 Hyde Park race during her first season on the senior international scene, it quickly became apparent that she would not repeat with an Olympic medal on the line. She crossed the finish line in dead last, tears streaming down her face and laboured breathing made even worse by the sobs wracking her chest. It was such a heartbreaking image. But although Canadians felt so much sadness, so much empathy for the young woman from Edmonton, they felt even more pride. Who would have kept going, in similar circumstances? Would you have finished your 54-kilometre race? Maybe, but as likely not. After years of training and months of frustrating and painful rehabilitation, Findlay did. And she did it wearing the maple leaf. There was also Alexandre Despatie, the veteran diver from Laval, Que., who placed 11th at his final Olympic Games. He may have entered these Games as a reigning two-time Olympic silver medallist, but calling the 27-year-olds finish "a disappointment" would be a gross injustice. Despatie, a three-time world champion, pushed through an excruciating 2011 year just to get to these Games. Coming back from a knee injury, he was already in a race against time when he hit his head on the diving board during a 2012 training session in Spain. Two months out from the Olympic Opening Ceremony, his first question to hospital doctors was "When can I dive again?" "Thats how special the Olympics are," Despatie would later tell CTV host Brian Williams. "No matter what, we want to be here. I could have very well said No, Im going to sit this one out and stay home. But I wanted to be here, I wanted to compete in my fourth Olympic Games. As soon as the time frame was realistic, then there was no doubt. I was going to do everything to be here." And finally, with wounds still so fresh and raw, the mens 4x100m relay team. Initially, following Saturdays race, the results board showed the Canadians had crossed the line third. But minutes later, new results replaced the old ones - this time, the word "Canada" was at the bottom of the list, next to a finite DQ. One rogue step had cost Jared Connaughton, Gavin Smellie, Justyn Warner, and Oluseyi Smith Canadas first Olympic medal in the event since Atlanta 1996. Connaughton placed a foot on the line during his leg of the race and - just like that - Canadas 13th bronze medal was gone. The sprinters were left stunned by the side of the track, and Smith sobbed into the same Canadian flag that had been wrapped around him in celebration, seconds earlier. Their anguish was almost incommunicable, but later that same evening the sprinters travelled to the broadcasting centre to speak with Williams in studio. To a man, not one runner so much as hinted that the ruling was unfair. "The 10 minutes or seven minutes that we thought we had [a medal]? That was the best possible feeling," Smith said, instead. "Thats actually what doesnt make it so bad. Even though we dont have a medal, were joking - we keep thinking about how awesome it was for those 10 minutes. "So where do we go from here? We want to get that back and keep that feeling, next year in Moscow or at Commonwealths afterwards." No, these were not the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. Canadas athletes will not march through the Closing Ceremony as the celebrated winners of the worlds biggest sporting event. But from Connaughton to Oldershaw to MacLennan and flagbearer Sinclair, they can return home with dignity, pride and their competitors and compatriots respect. And, if their performances in London are any indication, a burning desire to do better. Rio de Janeiro is just four years away. ' ' '