SANDWICH, England - Wonder what the One Great Scorer is thinking these days? He's the one Grantland Rice poetically told us will take more notice on how we played the game than whether we won or lost.

Not a very modern concept one would conclude. Or is it?

The heroes and heroines deservedly were Darren Clarke, who took the British Open here at Royal St. George's and then a few hours later and a few hundred miles away the Japanese team, earning the championship of the Women's World Cup in Germany.

A phone call from the United States brought a voice full of disappointment. "I was pulling for Mickelson,'' were the exact words, "and after he lost, I switched to the soccer, and we lost that one too.''

Maybe we didn't. The Americans in one of those stupid penalty-kick tiebreakers - can you imagine a basketball championship being decided by a free-throw competition or the World Series winner determined through a home run contest? - were beaten by Japan.

But the U.S. women beat just about everyone else. Two weeks ago virtually nobody even knew they were playing. By Sunday evening they had captured the heart of America. ESPN had record television ratings.

Mickelson? He put on a brilliant show on the front nine the final round. Came from five shots behind to tie Clarke briefly, before slipping back to share second with Dustin Johnson and asserting, "I had a lot of fun.'' That's part of the idea, of course.

Coaches and philosophers have beat it into our heads never to get beat. The clichés about finishing first run from St. George's to St. Paul to Santa Anita.

Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing (Said by a UCLA coach named Red Sanders in the 1950s long before Vince Lombardi). Losing is the great American sin. Second place is first loser. Win one for the Gipper.

The Mick, Phil Mickelson, tried to win one for himself and coincidentally for the United States, which hasn't had a champion in golf's last six majors. He couldn't. He missed a couple short putts, didn't miss a couple of those huge bunkers. That's golf. That's sports.

If Mickelson can live with it, and he says he can, the rest of us should be able to.

As we should be able to live with the United States as runnerup in women's soccer. Along the way, the ladies brought us into the games, building momentum, creating interest. Each step the route becomes more difficult, and more painful.

The U.S. loses in the quarterfinals or semis, probably there's not as much gloom. In the U.S., that is. In Japan, a nation which after the earthquake and tsunami and subsequent destruction, it was a time of joy.

As was the final round of the Open Championship for Clarke, who had entered the tournament more times (19 previous) without a victory than any other winner in history.

Close does count. The drama of being in the moment is, years later, no less meaningful than the final score.

Mickelson sometimes is unfairly knocked for being disingenuous. The reputation feeds on itself, mostly by those who never have met Phil. You sense there were a few sneers from his critics when they heard Mickelson describe being in the arena the final round.

But why wouldn't it have been fun and exciting? Suddenly he was a contender, as the rain fell and the cheers rose. He gave it his best. Sometimes that's not good enough, at least to those who judge success or failure on the scorecard or scoreboard.

You've heard the comment about batting in baseball, that someone who fails seven times out of 10 is having an excellent season. Golf is a game that's no less disappointing.

You'll lose much more than you'll win, so the satisfaction must come as much from how - well-struck shots, well-thought tactics - as from how many.

Golfers tend toward the fatalistic. They take their pleasures as they may.

The women in U.S. soccer should take pleasure and pride in their accomplishment. They kept enthralling us, kept enticing us. If a country which in truth isn't that interested either in women's sports or soccer felt compelled to watch the final - which in fact was a tie - why is there gloom?

Germany was supposed to win, anyway, wasn't it? Or Brazil. Neither was in the final. America was. And you're going to say the U.S. is a loser? A harsh determination.

As for Mickelson, a 30 on the front nine in the final round of any major is the work of a winner, no matter if in the end he is not the champion.

Darren Clarke had enough to make it though. Finally, after two decades. Mickelson had enough to make the British Open memorable for himself, Clarke and the the tournament. That counts, even if you're not one great scorer.