ournette this way: When you play a great player like that,

TROON, Scotland -- Steve Stricker showed up at Royal Troon thinking this might be his last major championship. He can count on three more.The 49-year-old Stricker shot 2-under 69 to finish in fourth place at the British Open, securing a return to the Masters, a trip back for the British Open at Birkdale next year and a place at the PGA Championship in Baltusrol in less than two weeks.Hed been stubborn about not asking for an invite for the PGA Championship, saying Thursday: I want to earn my way there.Hes done just that.Its a lot of spinoffs, said Stricker, who is ranked No. 167. There are a lot of carrots dangling. When youre playing well, youre rewarded and you get to do some pretty cool things.In 2012, Stricker said he would be cutting down his schedule to spend more time at home with his family. He has, but dont be fooled into thinking the fires no longer burn brightly inside the American, who qualified for Royal Troon with a second-place finish at the FedEx St. Jude Classic last month.This was his best finish at an Open Championship, beating his tie for seventh at Birkdale in 2008, and best performance at a major since finishing second at the PGA Championship in 1998. Stricker said he was swinging the club more aggressively than ever after back surgery two years ago.I still think that I have potential maybe one time to get in there, Stricker said when asked if he believed he could still win a major. Maybe this was it, who knows? ... But its nice to get the juices flowing and feel the pressure and try to perform down the stretch.I guess what Im doing keeps me motivated to play. Im not playing as much, but every time I come out Im really excited to be playing, and that was my goal is not to get stale with it later in my career, and thats what Ive done.Away from the final-round duel between Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson, the other players were left scrapping for the spots behind them.J.B. Holmes ensured an American 2-3-4 by shooting 69 for his fourth straight round under par. That backed up his fourth-place finish at the Masters in April.I felt like coming into today the best position I could possibly get was third, he said. Played well and ended up doing that way. Those guys (Stenson and Mickelson) are playing a different golf course from everybody else.Holmes had a 6-under 278 total and was 14 strokes behind Stenson. Stricker was a shot further back.Holmes moved up to fourth in the Ryder Cup standings. Cheap Shoes Free Shipping . 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BATON ROUGE, La. -- Alabamas suffocating defense bottled up LSU running back Leonard Fournette and provided Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Hurts the luxury of a few scoreless quarters to get accustomed to deafening Death Valley.Hurts finally escaped the grasps of LSUs stingy defense on a 21-yard touchdown run that broke a scoreless tie early in the fourth quarter, and No. 1 Alabama remained unbeaten with a 10-0 shutout of the 13th-ranked Tigers on Saturday night.You can talk about winning ugly and maybe it wasnt always pretty, because we certainly didnt execute and do things the way wed like, but youve got to give LSU a lot of credit, Alabama coach Nick Saban said. It was a tough atmosphere for us out there. But our defense was outstanding.Saban could have used any number of superlatives to describe his defense, which didnt let LSU run a play from inside the Crimson Tide 30.Weve got some pretty hateful guys that play defense around here that are pretty good competitors, Saban said. When they get challenged a little bit, they usually respond and I think they responded really well tonight.The Crimson Tide (9-0, 6-0 Southeastern Conference, No. 1 AP) won for the sixth straight time against LSU (5-3, 3-2, No. 15 AP), and remained alone in first place in the SEC West -- a game ahead of Auburn.Hurts, a freshman who has exceeded expectations by establishing himself as one of the most dynamic, explosive players in college football, was the games leading rusher with 114 yards on 20 carries. He also completed 10 of 19 passes for 107 yards.He has great poise. I dont think the stage is too big for him at all, Saban said about Hurts. He expects a lot of himself and we expect a lot of him because hes in a role that has tremendous responsibility. He has handled that very, very well.LSU had its share of big plays -- but virtually all on defense, forcing Hurts into an early interception, stopping Hurts on a fourth-and-goal play and forcing him into a third-quarter fumble. But LSUs offense could not capitalize against menacing defensive end Jonathan Allen and Co.We played our butt off on defense but we lose as a team, LSU interim coach Ed Orgeron said. We just couldnt get anything going on offense.The Tigers finished with 125 total yards. Alabama had five sacks, one more than LSUs offense had allowed in any other game this season. Allen, linebackers Rashaan Evans and Ryan Anderson; and end Dalvin Tomlinson each sacked LSU quarterback Danny Etling, while Rueben Foster and Tim Williams combined on a sack.Were just dominating the line of scrimmage, Allen said.Etling completed 111 of 24 passes for 92 yards and also was intercepted by Minkah Fitzpatrick in the fourth quarter on a pass that seemed to sail off target because he was being hit.dddddddddddd The turnover led to a late Alabama field goal. The offense also looked flustered at times. LSU had to burn two timeouts early in the second half to avoid delay-of-game penalties, then was called for delay of game on third down in Alabama territory on a subsequent drive.We just had some miscommunications on what we were trying to do. Unfortunately, that was kind of what bit us, Etling said. We did some stupid things and made some inaccurate throws.SILENT STARFournette, whose 2015 Heisman Trophy hopes faded when he was held to 31 yards on 19 carries in Tuscaloosa last year, had 35 yards on 17 carries. One game after touchdown runs of 78, 76 and 59 yards against Mississippi, Fournettes longest run against the Crimson Tide was 9 yards. Hed declined interview requests in the week leading up to the game, and he didnt speak afterward.Saban explained his teams success against Fournette this way: When you play a great player like that, everybody has to really focus on doing their job. Our guys did it last year. We played a lot of the same stuff that we played a year ago.COACHING CONTRASTWhile Alabama coach Nick Saban improved to 8-3 against his former team since taking over the Crimson Tide in 2007, the result clouded the future of the coaching position at LSU. Orgeron , a popular Cajun whod overseen victories in his first three games since Les Miles was fired in late September, could have emerged as a leading candidate to remain long-term with a victory over Alabama.THE TAKEAWAYAlabama: Orgeron said earlier this week that Alabama might have the best defense in college football history, and it certainly looked like he was on to something.LSU: As much as LSU has tried open up its offense by changing formations and passing more, Etling didnt have the poise, or the blocking, to succeed against Alabama. LSUs running game suffered because of the Tigers inability to throw, and it looked a lot like their losses to Bama when Miles was coaching.POLL IMPLICATIONSAlabama: Alabama continues to strengthen its case as the best team in the nation.LSU: The Tigers might not tumble out of the Top 25 because of how close they played the nations top team, but theyll fall.UP NEXTAlabama: The Tide hosts Mississippi State next Saturday.LSU: The Tigers travel to meet Arkansas next weekend. ' ' '