Anyone who spends 15 years in charge of the Royal & Ancient surely is entitled to at least one mulligan. T. J. Jones Blue Jersey . Peter Dawson took his long before he started the job. "I was playing an American one year at Oxford Golf Club, and he introduced me to this travelling mulligan," Dawson said. "As you know, we dont have them over here. I was 2 down with four to play and on the par-3 15th, I shanked one. So I said to him, Ill have my mulligan now. And with my next shot, I had a hole-in-one. I think he was so rattled that he lost the match. I never allowed myself to take another one. I had to keep my record intact." Dawson is keeping another record rather tidy, somewhat by coincidence. He announced last month that he will retire in September 2015 as secretary of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club and chief executive of The R&A, a business division he wisely created 10 years ago. He will have served 16 years, the same tenure as the three R&A secretaries before him. What sets him apart is coping with perhaps the most challenging times in the clubs 260-year history. He is proud of a central role he played in getting golf back into the Olympics for the first time in more than a century, and Dawson will stay on as head of the International Golf Federation through the Rio Games. One of his favourite moments was gathering British Open champions at St. Andrews in 2000 to celebrate the millennium, an exhibition that brought together the likes of Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus and Seve Ballesteros on a glorious late afternoon at the home of golf. But the Royal & Ancient game has been moving at warp speed over the last two decades, and Dawson has been in the middle of it. He took over in 1999, about the time Callaway introduced the thin-faced ERC driver with a trampoline effect that was not allowed by USGA, yet approved by the R&A standards. That three-year period of golfs ruling bodies not being on the same page is the one "working mulligan" Dawson would have wanted. Three years later, the R&A and USGA published a "Joint Statement of Principles," and pledged to work more closely together. The most recent example was the decision to publish a new rule in 2016 that will ban the anchored stroke used for long putters -- a putting stroke used to win each of the four majors over the last three years. There remains strife among leading golf organizations over the ban, though Dawson isnt budging. He also has heard plenty of criticism about changes to the Old Course at St. Andrews, seen as sacrilege by purists who believe the R&A is changing golf courses instead of reining in technology. And in September, the R&A Golf Club is to vote on a proposal to allow female members for the first time, which Dawson endorses. The vote is two years after Augusta National invited female members to join for the first time. Was it all enough to make Dawson want to retire? "That was just normal course of business," he said dismissively. "Quite often, the media perception of what is weighing heavily on us is not particularly so." What weighed heaviest on Dawson, and still does, is striking the balance between technology and skill. There is pressure from one corner to slow the golf ball and reduce the size of drivers, and pressure from another corner to make the sport easier at a time when golf participation is in decline. "Keeping the balance right has been the biggest intellectual challenge," Dawson said. He is comfortable that the R&A and USGA got it about right. That will be debated long after Dawson leaves, and it figures to confront the next R&A chief. Dawsons reputation, unlike that of predecessor Sir Michael Bonallack, was built on management more than golf, and it was the right fit for the times. The next R&A chief could be a blend of both. No obvious candidates have emerged in the last month. Asked for the best qualifications, Dawson mentioned someone steeped in the values of golf, with commercial and international experience, and two other attributes -- diplomacy and humility. "One of the things you have to do as a governing body is to treat golf as a sport, as opposed to a business," Dawson said. "Other bodies might put business first because of priorities. The commercial side of what we do is very important to allow us to fulfil the governance role, and you cant lose sight of that. But I view golf first. Business is close. If youre scrambling for finances, its difficult to maintain your principles. So the financial success is important to sport." shopjerseyslions.com/Womens-Larry-Webster-III-Authentic-Jersey/ . Jefferson Farfan opened the scoring in the 39th, converting from close range after Sead Kolasinac outran Hannover defender Marcelo on the left. Eric Ebron Womens Jersey . 1 draft picks on their roster but its a former St.KAPALUA, Hawaii -- Steve Stricker reached his boiling point Sunday in the Tournament of Champions when he walked off the 12th tee, his lead down to two shots and his ball in the bunker after he missed a fairway almost as wide as Wisconsin. As he reached a clump of trees that shielded him from the fans, he thumped his three-wood on the soft grass. For the mild Midwesterner, this constitutes a meltdown. "I was frustrated at that point," Stricker said. But he never lost his patience. More importantly, he never lost his lead. Stricker closed with four straight birdies, including a chip-in from short of the 16th green, for a 4-under 69 that restored the five-shot lead he started with in the third round at Kapalua. It only looked as though nothing had changed. Defending champion Jonathan Byrd had a four-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole for a share of the lead. He missed it and had to settle for two more pars and a 67. Webb Simpson had long birdie putts on the 13th and 14th holes to catch Stricker. He missed both of those and was left in the wake of Strickers great finish. "That was key to finish that way," Stricker said. "Sets me up for some momentum going into tomorrow. I just kept telling myself that I had the lead still and just to be patient. Things were not really going the way I had hoped, but I just kept telling myself to hang in there." Stricker was at 19-under 200, poised to start the new season off with a trophy in his hands and a lei around his neck. Only two other players have led by as many as five shots through 54 holes at Kapalua -- Geoff Ogilvy in 2009 and David Duval in 1999 -- and both went on to win handily. Stricker doesnt expect it to be that easy. He will play in the final group with Byrd, who overcame back-to-back bogeys early in his round for a 67. Byrd would have taken a spot in the last group at the start of the week. Five shots behind the highest-ranked American in the field? "Hes a tough guy to catch," Byrd said. "But I dont think any lead is too much." Martin Laird had a 67 and also was five shots behind at 14-under 205, along with Simpson, who had to settle for a 69. "I dont know what it will take, but Im guessing a minimum of 8 under probably," Laird said of his chances Monday. "But this is a golf course that you can do it." Stricker showed that Saturday when he had a 10-under 63. As uncomfortable as he felt Sunday, such a score looked impossible. "I wasnt making any birdies, and it seemed like everybody else was," Stricker said. "I knew it was going to be tough. When youre leading a golf tournament, its just hard to keep that momentum. When youre not making birdies,, you feel like youre letting things slip away. Nevin Lawson Jersey. I felt everyone was coming after me, and I was coming back to the pack." But he owns the closing stretch on the Plantation Course. With his four straight birdies at the end, Stricker is now 13-under par on the last five holes. This time, he started his birdie run on the par-5 15th with a three-wood that he had to hit perfectly to get onto the green, and he did just that for a two-putt birdie. He followed with a chip-in short of the 16th green -- "I stole one there," Stricker said -- then crushed a tee shot and hit nine-iron into about four feet on the 17th. With a 406-yard drive on the 18th -- down the hill, down the grain, the wind at his back -- he came up just short of the green for an easy birdie. Its the rest of the day that didnt feel so easy. "I didnt feel comfortable," Stricker said. "I didnt hit it bad, but I didnt feel as aggressive at times. Youre in a position where you dont want to screw up, but yet youre on a course that birdies can be made and guys can come from a ways back." The more pars Stricker made, the more he let other players back into the hunt. Stricker began the third round with a five-shot lead over Simpson, and only five players were closer than 10 shots of him. Byrd, despite consecutive bogeys early in the round that put him nine shots behind, began his rally with an eagle on the fifth hole. Laird made four birdies on the front nine and made the turn in 12 under. Strickers cushion effectively was gone in two holes. After making a 20-foot birdie putt on the seventh, he ended his streak of 30 holes without a bogey with a three-putt on the eighth, missing badly from just over 3 1/2 feet. Then on the par-5 ninth, his lob wedge came up woefully short and rolled back down to the fairway. Again, Stricker did well to scramble for par on a birdie hole. Simpson birdied the eighth for a two-shot swing, then picked up birdies on the 10th and 12th to close within one shot. But no one ever caught up to Stricker, and he pulled away in the final hour. Stricker was on the 11th tee when Bryce Molder holed out from 75 yards for eagle on the 14th hole, a cheer that caused the final group to turn and look. That got Molder to within three shots of the lead. He wound up eight shots behind. "Steve is certainly not one to back off the pedal, so you know theres not a great chance hes going to come back to the field a lot," Molder said. "Youve got to make some birdies. I saw that through nine, he was just playing OK. And I thought, OK, well, cool. Now were within striking distance. But you know, so much can happen in so many holes." It happened just in time for Stricker. ' ' '
