t season against the Cincinnati Reds. Their last consecu

AKRON, Ohio -- Winning the British Open wasnt enough to make Rory McIlroy want to take the rest of the year off to celebrate. Neither was the first World Golf Championship he won Sunday at Firestone. Another major awaits next week. McIlroy cant wait to get there. Two weeks after his wire-to-wire win at Royal Liverpool, McIlroy took his game from the links of Britain to the parkland of America and made the game look just as easy. With another powerful performance, he wiped out a three-shot deficit to Sergio Garcia in three holes, closed with a 4-under 66 and returned to No. 1 in the world with a two-shot victory in the Bridgestone Invitational. He looked just as good as the last time he reached No. 1 in the world during his torrid stretch at the end of 2012. "This is better," he said. "Mentally, Im really sharp. I didnt start to think about score. I didnt think about where I was in the tournament. I just playing shot after shot after shot. So yeah, its good." Garcia wasnt at his best and closed with a 71. Hes not sure it would have mattered. "Everybody saw it," Garcia said. "He played very, very well. He drove the ball miles and very, very straight for the most part. He gave himself a lot of birdie looks." McIlroy finished the third round with two straight birdies, and not even one day and a rain delay slowed him. He punched an 8-iron out of the rough, under the trees and up the slope to an elevated green to 3 feet to open with a birdie. He drilled a 4-iron from 219 yards into 25 feet for a two-putt birdie at the second, and then followed with a gap wedge to 8 feet for a third straight birdie. Garcia made bogey from the rough, and just like that, he was trailing. The Spaniard never caught up. McIlroy became the 13th player with a major and a World Golf Championship, and he joined Tiger Woods as the only players to win them in consecutive starts. Woods wasnt around to see it. Four months after back surgery, and in his third tournament since his return, Woods injured his lower back when he landed with a thud in the stand from an awkward stance atop a bunker on the second hole. He withdrew after a tee shot on the ninth hole, bending over slowly and struggling to remove the tee from the ground. It was not clear he Woods could play in the PGA Championship next week. McIlroy heads south to Valhalla with a full head of steam. After a brief celebration with the claret jug, he was determined to move forward and chase more titles over the final four months of the year. He backed it up with a powerful performance on a soggy Firestone course to take the top spot in the world from Adam Scott. "Thats the most pleasing thing about this week is not dwelling about what happened at Hoylake," he said. "Thats what Ill have to do after this, as well. Ive just got to keep moving forward. Its great to have a chance to try to go there to win three in a row. But if youd have asked me what Im proudest of this week, its the mindset that I took into here of not being complacent. I wanted to come here and really contend." McIlroy finished at 15-under 265 and won $1.53 million, leaving him $765 short of Bubba Watson on the PGA Tour money list. More important was the world ranking. He lost the No. 1 position in March 2013 when his game was in a downward spiral as he was adjusting to a new equipment deal and going through another management change. But since winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth at May, his game looks as strong as ever. "Obviously, Rory is in incredible form at the moment," Scott said. "Hell be the man to beat next week by the look of things. And Ill be gunning for him, for sure." Garcia was a runner-up to McIlroy for the second straight time. The Spaniard had the daunting task of making up a seven-shot deficit at the British Open, and Garcia put up a great fight until finishing two shots behind at Hoylake. Staked to at three-shot lead at Firestone, it didnt go much better. Garcia missed a 6-foot birdie on the par-5 second hole with a putt that never looked as if it was going in. His lead down to one, Garcia pulled his tee shot into the gallery on the third hole, striking a woman on the hand and knocking the diamond out of her ring. The diamond was found, about the lone bright spot in his day. Garcia made bogey, and McIlroy rolled in another birdie putt to take the lead. Garcia made only one birdie, on the ninth hole to share the lead. McIlroy answered with an 8-foot birdie on No. 11 and was on his way. Marc Leishman (67) finished alone in third. Patrick Reed holed out for eagle on No. 17 in his round of 65 and gave him a tie for fourth, enough to move him up to No. 7 in the Ryder Cup standings and boost his hopes of making his first team with only the PGA Championship left in the qualifying period. Phil Mickelson made 10 birdies for a career-best 62 at Firestone. None of that could top McIlroy, who put on another exhibition and looked every bit the part of the worlds best player. Roger Staubach Cowboys Jersey .C. -- With a chance to start over and maybe drive in any series he wanted, Juan Pablo Montoya thought long and hard about what mattered most at this stage of his career. Terrell Owens Youth Jersey .J. -- Travis Zajac of the New Jersey Devils took a lot of grief considering his scored the first of his career-best three goals just 12 seconds into a crucial game against the Florida Panthers. http://www.cowboysfootballgearshop.com/chuck-howley-jersey/. The game marks the rare occasion when two homegrown running backs, Jon Cornish of the Calgary Stampeders and Andrew Harris of the B.C. Lions, will start in the West Divisions battle for a Grey Cup berth. Michael Gallup Jersey . The Spanish champions decision not to sign a defender during the January transfer window may have backfired after Valencia took advantage of a lethargic, uninspired effort by its hosts at the Camp Nou, where former Spain coach Luis Aragones -- who previously coached the Catalan side -- was honoured after his death on Saturday. Connor McGovern Jersey . Correia pitched six innings of one-run ball, Eduardo Escobar homered, and the Minnesota Twins pulled away late to beat the Colorado Rockies 9-3 on Saturday.CHICAGO -- Jason Hammel is certain the Cubs are better than their record so far. Hammel pitched seven strong innings, Mike Olt hit a three-run home run and Nate Schierholtz drove in a pair of early runs to lead the Cubs to a 9-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. "With a doubt," he said. "Weve played a lot of close ballgames where we could have come out on the other end. Were a young team and well figure out how to win those ball games pretty soon." Hammel (3-1) allowed just one run and four hits without walking a batter in seven innings to lower his ERA to 2.60. "Very nice job," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said. "He got some groundball double plays when he needed to. Made some pitches when he needed to. It was pretty efficient." Olt still is hitting below .200 for the season (.195), but has four homers and nine runs batted in despite not playing every day. The Cubs, whove won three of four to improve to 7-12, have won back-to-back games for the first time this season. They last won consecutive games on Sept. 9 and 10 of last season against the Cincinnati Reds. Their last consecutive home wins came on Sept. 4 and 6 against Miami and Milwaukee. Brandon McCarthy (0-4) lowered his ERA from 7.11 to 6.23 because only one of five runs allowed was earned. He yielded seven hits in five innings. Arizona has dropped four straight and has the worst record in the majors at 5-18. "It was a carbon copy of the game (Monday)," Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. "We made an error there, gave them life and then Brandon got behind in the count 3-1 and Olt hit a ball down over the plate, a pretty big pop into that wind. "We didnt mount any pressure again offensively so I dont know what to tell ya," he said. In the third inning, Luis Valbuena stroked a one-outt double to left-centre field and then scored two batters later on a two-out single by Schierholtz.dddddddddddd In the fifth, Schierholtz drove in Valbuena again, this time on a sacrifice fly to right field, for a 2-0 lead. Valbuena led off the inning with a single, went to second on a groundout and then reached third as Arizona second baseman Martin Prado dropped Anthony Rizzos grounder for an error. The Cubs took advantage. Given the extra out, Starlin Castro singled to put two runners on and Olt followed with a homer into the right field bleachers for a 5-0 lead. "I think it probably helped me," Olt said of the wind. "I wasnt trying to hit a home run. I was just trying to put the ball in play and hit it hard." Arizona finally got on the board against Hammel in the sixth when Tuffy Gosewisch led off with a homer. The Cubs then broke things open with four runs in the bottom of the eighth, while the Diamondbacks got one back in the ninth. NOTES: Wednesday is the 100th anniversary of the first game at Wrigley Field, which then was known as Weeghman Park, between the Chicago Federals and Kansas City Packers of the Federal League. The Cubs will wear replica Federal uniforms for the game, while Arizona will wear Packers uniforms. . Diamondbacks OF Mark Trumbo didnt start because of soreness in his left foot. The injury occurred late in Mondays game. . Now that RHP Jose Veres no longer is closing games, Renteria will hunt for opportunities to get Veres on the mound so he can work out his problems. "It could be at any moment," Renteria said. "We could be up by 10 (or) down by 10. He needs to pitch. Hes talked about he wants to get back on the mound and throw." . LHP Wade Miley (2-2) is scheduled to face Chicago RHP Jeff Samardzija (0-2) on Wednesday. ' ' '