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Here are 20 things to know about the 142nd British Open, which gets underway this week at Muirfield. The first round goes live to air on TSN and TSN Mobile TV on Thursday at 4am et/1am pt. Also, TSN.ca will feature live streaming from select holes at Muirfield during the tournament. - Muirfield hosts the Open Championship for the first time since 2002, when Ernie Els won a four-way playoff to claim his first Claret Jug. Els is back to defend his 2012 Open Championship title, and could become the first player since Tiger Woods in 2000 and 2005 (St. Andrews) to win in consecutive appearances at a particular Open Championship venue. - Muirfield hosts the Open Championship for the 16th time. Among venues currently in the Open Championship rota, only St. Andrews has hosted more often. - Muirfield will play 158 yards longer than it did in 2002, when Ernie Els won a four-way playoff. - A total of 156 players will compete at Muirfield with the leading 70, and those tied for 70th place after two rounds, qualifying for the final 36 holes. - In the case of a tie after 72 holes, a 4–hole playoff will commence on Sunday afternoon: 1st hole, 16th hole, 17th hole, 18th hole. The player with the lowest total score on those four holes will be the winner. If theres still a tie after that, it is sudden death on the 18th hole until a winner emerges. There have been eight four-hole aggregate playoffs in Open Championship history, the first of which occurred in 1989. The last 4-hole playoff was in 2009, when Stewart Cink defeated Tom Watson at Turnberry. - Ernie Els returns to defend his Open Championship at Muirfield, where he won the last time the Open was contested here. Hes the first player since Greg Norman at Turnberry in 1994 to attempt a title defense while also being the last winner at a particular venue. Over the last 100 years, no player has successfully defended his title in this situation. The time it happened was James Braid at Muirfield in 1906. - The last eight champions at Muirfield all went on to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. The group also had five straight winners in their 30s. The last winner not in his 30s was Jack Nicklaus, who was 26 when he won at Muirfield in 1966. The average age of the last eight Muirfield champs is just over 31-years-old. Sir Henry Cotton was the old champ, 41 in 1948, and Gary Player was the youngest, 23 in 1959. The last eight winners at Muirfield in order were Ernie Els, Sir Nick Faldo, Faldo again, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, Nicklaus, Player and Cotton. - The last 19 majors contested (beginning with the 2008 PGA Championship) have produced 18 different winners. Rory McIlroy (2011 U.S. Open, 2012 PGA Championship) is the only player to win multiple major titles during this span. - The last 19 majors have gone to 18 different players, with Rory McIlroy (2011 U.S. Open, 2012 PGA Championship) the only repeat winner during the span. 14 of the last 17 winners were first-time major winners. - Despite all the first-time winners, its been the top players in the world getting it done lately. Five of the last six major winners have come from within the top 16 in the Official World Golf Ranking. - 20 major championships have come and gone since Tiger Woods last victory, at the 2008 U.S. Open. Thats twice as long as the next longest drought since Woods played his first full season as a professional in 1997. - After a run of three straight American major winners, the rest of the world is back on top in the majors – international players have won each of the last four majors, beginning with Ernie Els win at the Open Championship last year. Since Tiger Woods win at Royal Liverpool in 2006, there has been just one American winner (Stewart Cink, 2009) at the Open Championship. - Since winning the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, 20 majors have been played without a Tiger Woods victory, although he has competed in just 16 of them. - Its been well documented that Phil Mickelson has come close on many occasions, but unable to win the U.S. Open (six runner-up finishes). Not so much over in the United Kingdom, where he has just two top-10 finishes (best was T-2nd in 2011) in 19 career appearances. - Of the last nine winners at the Open Championship (since 2004), six have been 35 or older. Thats the most of any major during that span. - In 2012, no amateur made the 36-hole cut at the Open Championship, so the Silver Medal was not awarded for the first time since 2003. Tom Lewis (+9) won in 2011. - The Claret Jug, or to use its proper name, The Golf Champion Trophy, is presented to each years winner of The Open Championship. Yet it is not the original prize. When the Championship began at Prestwick in 1860, the winner was presented with the Challenge Belt, made of rich morocco leather, embellished with a silver buckle and emblems. - Now that Augusta National has added two women as members, the debates shifts across the Atlantic Ocean. The Royal & Ancient Golf Club has no female members, and Muirfield is one of three courses on the British Open rotation that are all-male clubs. The others are Royal St. Georges and Royal Troon. - Nick Faldo returns to play his last British Open at Muirfield, where he won two of his three Claret Jugs. Faldo won his first major in the 1987 British Open by making 18 pars in the final round. He won at Muirfield in 1992 by blowing a four-shot lead at the turn and finishing birdie-par for a one-shot victory. - The British Open is held at the home course of the "Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers," believed to be the oldest golf organization and the one responsible for creating 13 "Rules of Golf" for a competition in 1744.China Jerseys Wholesale . Haas said he "felt a lot of pain" in his right shoulder when he slammed his racket to the ground in frustration after losing his serve at 3-3 in the first set. China Jerseys Stitched . They reached the 100-point plateau for the fourth time in five games, bested the visiting Trail Blazers by 34 in the paint and scored 19 of the final 25 points in regulation. https://www.chinajerseyscheap.us/ . -- Playing time has been limited for Maxim Tissot this season, so the Montreal Impact defender made the most of his first scoring opportunity on Saturday. China Jerseys Cheap . Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three points behind its title rivals. Cheap Jerseys From China . The native of Mont-Tremblant, Que., captured a World Cup downhill event Saturday, his second this year and fifth career victory on the circuit.Have you ever wanted to be a WWE performer? To walk down the ramp with your own personal entrance theme and video? To cut a promo on somebody, or act as a manager or announcer and get involved in the action in a different way?For most of the history of the professional wrestling industry, this would be an impossible to achieve pipe dream unless you fully committed yourself to wrestling as a career. But the world of wrestling in 2016 is far different from days past, and the WWE now offers fans an opportunity to fulfill all of those dreams and then some at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, -- the same state-of-the art training center where all of the currently signed WWE hopefuls sharpen their skills.When a fan signs up for a WWE Performance Center: All Access tour, they get to live a day in the life of an NXT superstar -- and some of the best and brightest stars of the future are right there alongside them for the whole ride. In November, I received an invite from WWE that allowed me to take off my ESPN hat and get the inside skinny on this one-of-a-kind fan event.Lets start from the beginning.Formal sign-inWe began by going through a formal sign-in process in the lobby of the Performance Center, which required signing a document that said, among many things, that we would not be doing any physical contact during this event. For fans who are considering an All-Access tour in the future, be aware that these tours will not include any body slams, dropkicks or bumps of any kind.After the legal waivers are taken care of, the fun begins. Each participant is offered a one-day promotional contract, and Matt Bloom, (a.k.a. Prince Albert and A-Train in the late 1990s/early 2000s days as a WWE performer), who is the head coach of the Performance Center, welcomes fans to the event with a formal ceremony, complete with a WWE camera crew and photographers (to provide some visual memories to the fans after the event is complete).Show introductionOnce the promo contracts are all signed, fans are led into the training area for an all-access overview from WWE Creative Producer Ryan Katz. After walking us through the itinerary for the day, he filled the role of ring announcer and introduced some of the wrestlers who would be on the show at the end of the event.These performers walked through the curtain and down the ramp to the ring as if they were coming out for a match, but the entire section on the right side of the ring was also filled with NXT performers. It was only natural, then, for the wrestlers coming into the ring to start cutting promos on the wrestlers in the crowd and vice-versa. These confrontations set up all of the matches to come, led by a main event of Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss versus Tucker Knight and Otis Dozovic.This part of the show ended with No Way Jose popping the crowd by using the infectious dance groove of his entrance music to start a conga line and inviting everyone -- wrestlers and fans alike -- to follow him in a No Way Jose dance around the ring.PromosThe fan sections were then broken up into different groups to enjoy the various elements of the All-Access experience.The first area my group went to was the promo room, where we filmed on-camera promos of our own in front of a green screen. On the walk over we passed through the physical rehabilitation area and saw Finn Balor training with one of the strength and conditioning coaches, as he continues to get his shoulder back to 100 percent after his devastating injury back at SummerSlam.Ryan worked with Sara Amato, the womens producer and assistant head trainer of NXT, to educate us on how to approach our interviews. They had one of the Performance Center talents start us off by doing a sample promo, and then we got our shot.The fans really got into this, as many of them channeled their passion for becoming a WWE talent into cutting fired up interviews. The most memorable example was one fan who kept to himself and seemed really nervous about doing a promo. After a bit of prodding to get him to step in front of the camera, once he got there he went into full over-the-top mode, saying he was going to main event WrestleMania and even calling out the wrestler who did the sample promo.Studio announcingWe then got a chance to fill the shoes of Corey Graves for a day at the commentary desk. The room where we recorded had two screens and two sets of headphones, with a NXT taped event playing on the screens. NXT announcer Mike Rome did the play-by-play, and fans got to provide the color commentary.Rome did a superb job of setting up the fan announcers to provide quality insights, but the main takeaway here was that it gave everyone a new appreciation for just how difficult it is to do color commentary. Doing it well requires a lot of prep work, and future versions of All-Access could benefit from walking fans through some of the prep process as a lead-up to donning the headphones.LunchWe then proceeded to a dining area upstairs where we all got to sit down and mingle with other fans and some more of the wrestlers. Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder, better known as The Revival, were waiting to greet everyone at the entrance -- and they were in full heel mode from the get-go. They brought along the NXT tag team belts that theyd ultimately lose the following weekend in a classic match against Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa in Toronto.This lunch segment was one of the most entertaining and eye-opening portions of this experience for me. Billie Kay and Peyton Royce came by to sit next to our dining group. I asked them how they broke into the business, and they told us their compelling backstory of landing a tryout when the WWE traveled to Australia (where Kay and Royce are from). That led to a gig wwith NXT, so they moved to Florida to chase their sports entertainment dreams.ddddddddddddI then ran into No Way Jose and found out that he is a huge fantasy football fan. His team hadnt done quite as well this year as it had in previous seasons (the side effect of many injuries), but he did note the exact statistics of Ben Roethlisberger from the previous days NFL games, so its clear he keeps up with fantasy football player performances.Ring entrancesAfter lunch, we all moved back to the ring area, where we were told that wed each get to do a full-scale entrance where we would walk down the ramp to music of our choosing (blasted in via the powerful, arena-quality sound system) before ascending the steps into the ring.Because this required getting into the ring, we were each assigned one of the talents to walk us up the ring steps so we would know how to properly enter the squared circle.I was fortunate enough to have NXT champion Shinsuke Nakamura as a guide. He was friendly and helpful, and even gave me a heads up on where the hard camera (the main camera for a televised show) would be in a setup of this nature. But what really stood out is how quiet and reserved he was; on-screen, Nakamura is one of the most charismatic performers in the business, and getting to see another side of his personality offered a view of just how much of a transformation he goes through in becoming The King of Strong Style.Bloom then asked each of us what music we wanted to come to ring to. Fan picks included theme songs from Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair and The Undertaker.As much fun as those were, the best entrance had to be the fan who paid homage to Triple H via a supremely confident walk to the ring. A Performance Center employee knew what to do and immediately furnished this fan with a bottle of water. The fan cracked the bottle open, took a swig and threw the bottle away. He then held his stance, looked confidently over the crowd, reared his head back and proceeded to spit water all over himself without sending much in the air. The ending made everyone laugh in delight and we all cheered his efforts -- gaining a newfound appreciation for how difficult that move is.The showThere was plenty of compelling in-ring action during the six matches on the show, but what really stood out were the interactions between the fans and the performers.The NXT in-ring talents, from wrestlers to managers to referees, enthusiastically included the fans in every part of the match. They never treated the fans as if they were anything other than actual workers on the show. This welcoming mindset allowed the fan managers to fully channel their inner Paul Heyman and vigorously advocate for their clients.The NXT wrestlers in the crowd were just as important to the events vibe, as they helped lead the fans in cheers (including the NXT staple of yelling ONE FALL every time a one-fall match is announced) and bantering with the in-ring talents.A fan named Tom also ended up playing an important role in how the show ended. He was assigned the timekeeper role for the main event. I was the heel manager in this match and my team (Sabbatelli and Moss) won by cheating. As heels will do, we celebrated this tainted victory by bragging about our greatness and then we left the ring and started to walk up the ramp.Tom then decided in his timekeepers role that justice had not been served. He ran up the ramp, asked for a microphone and yelled into it that this show was not going to end with one team cheating to win. He insisted on a resumption of the match, which the entire crowd popped for. The referee immediately agreed with Tom by calling Sabbatelli and Moss back into the ring. Our heel group protested this vigorously, but we eventually relented and upon our return were defeated in less than a minute -- thus sending the crowd home on a happy note.What made Toms involvement in the event even more memorable became clear after I ran into him following the show. We had sat down in the same area during lunch, and therefore we were a bit familiar, so I asked him if the show-ending change was something that had been planned out. Tom said absolutely not. He just figured thats what his character would do in that moment and that everyone, from the wrestlers to the NXT officials to the fans, knew their cues and therefore would know how to ad-lib events to their proper conclusion.The show then ended with Nakamura doing his riveting ring entrance for the assembled crowd.Post-show opportunitiesAfter the show, fans were given a 30-minute window to walk around and take photos with the wrestlers.An entertaining sidelight here came when I ran into Knight and Dozovic, the eventual winners of the disputed main event match. This duo immediately went into full-scale angry babyface mode upon seeing the heel manager who tried to screw them out of a win. They stayed in character for a minute or so and then finally broke into smiles and talked about how much fun it was to work the show.After the photo ops were finished, each fan was then given an NXT gym bag full of NXT memorabilia (including their signed promo contract) and a copy of a program that is made specifically for the show.While mingling around during the photo ops, I ran into a fan named Ashley, who had served as Mada Abdelhamids manager during the show. I asked her what she thought of the day and Ashley perfectly summed it up by saying, I feel like its almost like Willie Wonka, where they give you the golden ticket and you get to see inside and see how everything works. To watch the show and be a part of it, this is a dream come true. ' ' '