ST. ANDREWS -- Stacy Lewis felt such a spiritual connection with St. Andrews that even when she was three behind with three to play, she never lost hope she could win the Womens British Open. No way could she have scripted a finish like this. Facing the scariest shot and the hardest hole on the Old Course -- the approach to the 17th, the famous Road Hole -- Lewis pictured a low 5-iron that a right-to-left wind would knock down and allow to bounce up the slope toward the flag without going over the back of the green. "Its one of those shots you see in your head, but you dont really ever pull it off," Lewis said. "And just off the club face, it was perfect." The ball settled 3 feet away for birdie, the best shot of the tournament, maybe the best of her career. Then, she wisely used putter from 40 yards short of the 18th green, through the Valley of Sin to 25 feet. Lewis bent over and placed both hands on her knees after making the putt, a birdie-birdie finish that gave another special moment at the home of golf -- her second major title. Lewis saved her best for the final two holes of a marathon finish Sunday and closed with an even-par 72 for a two-shot victory over Na Yeon Choi and Hee Young Park. It ended a record drought for the Americans in the majors -- 10 straight, all won by Asian players. "Its unbelievable," Lewis said. "It all happened so fast at the end. Youre afraid for every shot, and all of a sudden you make a couple of birdies and its over." It was over early for Inbee Park and her bid to become the first pro golfer to win four straight majors in a single season. Returning to the Old Course in the morning in calm conditions to complete 14 holes of her third round, she couldnt make a putt and lost ground. Park had a 74-78 finish and wound up 14 shots behind. "Im really relieved," she said. "I really enjoyed this week, every moment I was here. But its tough to be in the centre of everything for a week, and I feel exhausted." The last time Lewis was on these hallowed grounds of golf was in 2008 for the Curtis Cup, her final event as an amateur, and she went 5-0 in her matches to lead the Americans to victory. The love affair continued this week, and her second big win at St. Andrews was even sweeter. "I love the golf course more than anything. I love the history. I almost felt like I was meant to be here," Lewis said. "I think I was happy being here all week, and I was comfortable. And I think thats a lot of the reason Im here right now." Having the silver trophy at her side also required no less than her best golf over 36 holes Sunday. The wind wasnt as bad as Saturday, when 40 mph gusts suspended play and forced 20 players go to 36 holes Sunday. But it was strong enough in the afternoon that Lewis was the only player at par or better from the last 21 groups that teed off. Choi had a three-shot lead with six holes to play until she had a pair of three-putt bogeys from 80 feet. Her hybrid was too strong on the 17th and hung up on the collar of rough at the back of the green. She missed a 6-foot par putt that ended her chances, and she closed with a 73. Choi saw that Lewis had posted at 8-under 280, she just didnt know how she got there. And she couldnt believe it when she heard. "She got birdie on 17 and 18? Thats huge, especially this golf course," Choi said. "I feel like I missed a couple putts out there, but still, shes playing well. Shes playing better than me. I think thats why she won. I think I have to accept that." Hee Young Park, one of four players who shared the lead at some point in the final round, had three straight bogeys on the back nine and shot 73. Morgan Pressel had the 54-hole lead after a 71 in the wind-delayed third round that was played Sunday morning. Pressel was one shot behind until a double bogey on No. 12, and she never caught up. Pressel shot 76 and tied for fourth with Suzann Pettersen (74). The consolation for Pressel was earning the last spot available from the world ranking to make her third straight Solheim Cup team. It was the second time the Womens British Open was played at St. Andrews, and Lewis provided another quality winner. Lorena Ochoa won in 2007. Lewis last year became the first American since Beth Daniel in 1994 to win LPGA player of the year, which is based on a points system. Then, she won twice early this season to reach No. 1 in the world. That lasted only until Park won the first major and kept right on going. Sunday was another stage for Lewis to show her grit. She was diagnosed with scoliosis when she was 11, so severe that she wore a back brace for 18 hours every day from age 11 until she got out of high school, and then had to have surgery when that didnt correct the curvature in her spine. She went on to win an NCAA title at Arkansas, star at St. Andrews in the Curtis Cup and then take the 54-hole lead in her first U.S. Womens Open as a pro. Lewis won the Kraft Nabisco in 2011, the last American major champion in womens golf until her remarkable performance Sunday. Nothing was more impressive than her 5-iron on the 17th, one of the toughest par 4s in golf that starts with a blind tee shot over the corner of the Old Course Hotel. Lewis drilled it in the middle of the fairway, and couldnt remember how far she had for her second shot. With the wind, it didnt matter. This is the kind of shot that must be felt, and her 5-iron was hit with the right trajectory and line to catch the slopes perfectly and feed toward the hole. "That might be one of the best of my career," Lewis said. Oddly enough, it was Lewis who said she would like to play the role of spoiler at St. Andrews to stop Inbee Parks bid for history. With the trophy at her side, Lewis marveled at what Park had accomplished this year. "I dont know if youll ever see three in a row again," Lewis said. "Thats pretty incredible." Lewis now is at one in a row, headed to the Solheim Cup in two weeks on a high, and then to France in September for the fifth and final LPGA Tour major at the Evian Championship. She didnt mind losing the No. 1 ranking because Park earned it. Lewis looked strong enough Sunday at St. Andrews to believe she can get it back one day. Saucony Baratas Online . U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield in Manhattan agreed that lawyers on both sides could make their formal requests by Nov. 8. A hearing is scheduled for a day earlier. Jordan Siev, a lawyer for Rodriguez, wrote in a joint letter to the judge from lawyers on both sides that MLB lawyers planned to ask that the lawsuit be dismissed. Zapatillas Saucony Baratas . - Derek Wolfe says hes finally healthy after suffering a seizure in November that doctors now believe was related to the spinal cord injury he suffered in the preseason. http://www.baratassaucony.es/ . Oaklands loss to Seattle clinched the ALs best record for the Red Sox with one day to spare in the regular season. "I think everybody was kind of watching," catcher David Ross said. "Demp (Ryan Dempster) came out before he went to the bullpen and was just yelling that they lost. Zapatillas Saucony Outlet . Tuesdays surgery at Atlantas Piedmont Hospital was performed by Dr. Xavier Duralde and Hawks team physician Dr. Michael Bernot. Ofertas Zapatillas Saucony Baratas . Halifax beat the Saint John Sea Dogs 7-5 on the strength of two goals apiece from Nikolaj Ehlers, Matt Murphy and Brent Andrews. Jonathan Drouin also scored and had three assists while Zachary Fucale made 17 saves for the Mooseheads (16-8-0), who led 6-1 after two periods. Daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings paid out millions of dollars this past weekend to cover shortfalls from unfilled NFL contests that offered large guaranteed prize pools, sources told ESPN.While competitors FanDuel and Yahoo also fell short of having enough players to cover some guaranteed prize pool payouts, DraftKings saw the largest gap, industry sources and high-volume players said. The Boston-based firm had an estimated total of $2 million to $4 million in overlay -- the amount of the guaranteed prize pool not covered by entry fees -- making it one of the largest weekly-game shortfalls for a daily fantasy operator, the sources said.A DraftKings spokesperson disputed the $4 million estimate, calling it grossly exaggerated, but declined to provide the exact amount of the total overlay. The spokesperson also said the unfilled contests were planned as such, and the cost was viewed as a marketing expense in line with weekly overlays that occurred in prior seasons.DraftKings biggest NFL contest last weekend, the Millionaire Maker, offered a $5 million guaranteed prize pool, with a $3 entry fee. More than 1.4 million entries, totaling approximately $4.3 million, competed for the contests million-dollar grand prize. That left approximately $700,000 that DraftKings had to pay out to contest winners. Several other DraftKings contests also failed to attract enough entries to reach guaranteed prize pool amounts. An NFL contest with a $2.5 million guaranteed prize pool and $20 entry fee had approximately $200,000 in overlay. At least 16 of the sites largest contests lacked an adequate number of entries just seconds ahead of Sundays early NFL kickoffs, indicating they also fell short of covering the guaranteed prize totals.?We wanted to have really attractive, high-value guaranteed contests with low entry fees, said Jason Alderman, senior vice president of corporate communications for DraftKings. That was incredibly successful. Thats how we looked at Week 1. We accomplished what we set out to do. Week 2 and subsequent weeks will look differently.Other industry experts and observers see the Week 1 overlay situation differently but note that it would be premature to use the NFLs opening week to judge the health of the DFS industry this football season: Week 2 will be a better gauge, they said.The opening weekend of the NFL is supposed to have the highest traffic and the highest dollar amounts spent of the daily fantasy year, said John Sullivan, 50, a former high-stakes daily fantasy player who quit playing after becoming disenchanted with the lopsided ecosystem. Its clear these companies wildly overestimated the traffic they were going to get.The companies revenue primarily comes from a percentage of all its customers entry fees taken off the top, a rake that ranges from 6 to 15 percent. DraftKings sent an email to some users at 9:27 a.m., Sunday, offering free entries into the Millionaire Maker contest that began at 1 p.m. ET. The free tickets, which are frequently offered to select players in various contests and contributed to Sundays overlay, are often used to reactivate players at the start of football season.It was a tough weekend, a very soft weekend, and it ended up being a costly one, said a longtime industry insider close to DraftKings. The timing couldnt have been worse.The opening to the NFL season comes two weeks after DraftKings announced a $153 million round of funding with Revolution Growth, a venture capital firm co-founded by Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals. When the deal was announced on Sept. 1, Jason Robins, the CEO of DraftKings, said, I am excited to announce the companys latest funding round was oversubscribed, meaning there was more investment interest than shares of the company available.An SEC filing shows the deal is classified as a $153,767,868 debt transaction. The document, a Form D filing, indicates Revolution was contracted to make the loan on Dec. 23, 2015, nine months before the deal was announced. The document does not state whether the deal will eventually be converted into an equity position for Revolution Growth, but the DraftKings spokesperson told ESPN that will happen. Revolution Growth did not return calls requesting comment.This reads to me like its a $153 million loan, Robert L. McDonald, the Erwin P. Nemmers professor of finance at Northwestern University, said after reviewing the document signed and filed by DraftKings chief financial officer Tim Dent on Sept. 2. Debt can mean a lot of different things, and there is no information here about the interest rate, whether the debt is potentially convertible into equity, and so forth.The DraftKings spokesman declined to disclose the interest rate on the deal.The December commitment from Revolution Growth came a month after New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued cease-and-desist orders to DraftKings and FanDuel, claiming the companies were in violation of the states gambling statutes. In June, the New York Legislature passed a bill clarifyingg the legality of fantasy sports and exempting it from the states gambling laws and creating a 15 percent tax on licensed fantasy sports operators revenues.dddddddddddd The bill was signed into law by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Aug. 3.FanDuel has also raised $55 million in a loan from investors in recent months, which also will be converted into equity, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.In late August, Outside the Lines reported on the daily fantasy industrys struggles after DraftKings and FanDuel blanketed the airwaves a year ago with a $750 million advertising and marketing blitz. The ad buys seized the attention of Schneiderman and other federal and state authorities across the country. ESPN also reported that both companies owed millions of dollars to lobbyists, lawyers and others and that DraftKings had tried to renegotiate the terms of contracts with vendors and reduce affiliates bonuses.DraftKings valuation was estimated at nearly $2 billion in July 2015, after a $300 million funding round but has since been cut dramatically by at least one investor. In February, Twentieth Century Fox told investors, in a quarterly report, that it had marked down the value of its $160 million stake in DraftKings by about 60 percent. Industry research firm Eilers & Krejick Gaming estimated the Revolution Growth deal was likely based on a valuation of around $1 billion. Several consultants told ESPN they believe its considerably less than that, though, and say they still expect FanDuel and DraftKings will merge, possibly by the end of the NFL season.After a tumultuous year, the daily fantasy industry has eyed the NFL football season as an opportunity to get back on track. DraftKings and FanDuel are marketing the game to new players by shifting focus from the financial part of fantasy sports to its social aspects. DraftKings said participation in its newly enhanced offerings that allow friends to compete against friends in private leagues were up three-fold from last season. The company also pointed to new sponsorships, including with Paramount Pictures, which sponsored DraftKings free games, another new emphasis this season.But on the heels of months of negative headlines, barrages from politicians and attorneys general across the country, impatience from nervous investors and a slew of legal challenges, the Week 1 overlay was worrisome to some.Overlay has its time and place, but with the tremendous growth in DFS these past few years, were coming to the end of its planned usefulness, said Matt Primeaux, CEO of daily fantasy operator StarsDraft, who has faced the overlay issue often and added that he does not believe that most of last weekends overlay was planned. More than anything, this past weekend highlights the uphill battle certain operators face in overcoming last years reputational hits, new high-volume player regulations, and the lingering effects that certain shortsighted policies and player incentives can have on the game.Primeaux noted that its common for guaranteed prize pool contests not to fill, especially in Week 1 of the NFL season, when player retention from the previous season is relatively unknown. Other factors also likely contributed to the unfilled contests, too. Newly instituted regulations in some states restrict the number of entries a player can submit into one contest at 150, and there was a dramatic reduction in television advertising compared to September 2015.Anthony Crupi, television reporter for advertising industry site Ad Age, reviewed fantasy sports advertising on the opening Sunday and noticed not only a significant reduction in commercials but also when spots aired.Last year, Crupi said DraftKings spent $6.58 million on in-game advertising from Thursday through Sunday during Week 1 of the 2015 NFL season. Now, theyre completely out of in-game, Crupi saidWhile fantasy commercials during the games vanished, Crupi found DraftKings and FanDuel did purchase spots on NFL pregame shows and even on syndicated sitcoms like Friends. Overall, though, Crupi said the reduction of daily fantasy advertising was striking.On top of the slashed television marketing campaigns, fantasy sites also are adjusting to new state regulations that didnt exist last year. New York and seven other states have passed fantasy sports laws and regulations this year, imposing age limits, prohibiting contests on college football, and restricting the number of entries in a contest. (Kansas passed a fantasy bill in 2015).Jonathan Bales, a high-level daily fantasy player and author of Fantasy Sports for Smart People, believes the new entry limits required by some states contributed to the overlay: There was lots of action, but using just some simple math with conservative estimates, I dont think its unreasonable to say some of the high-volume guys would have played hundreds of thousands [dollars] more without the limits - and potentially a lot more. ' ' '