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#FlashbackFriday: From Tommy John to Tiger Woods to the WNBA, these are memorable July 17 moments

Analis Bailey   | Paste BN

It's Friday. You have made it to the end of the week, another day closer to the official return of more of the sports we miss dearly. Let's head into the weekend reminiscing with sports moments in history on this #FlashbackFriday.

These July 17 sports moments were exhilarating in their own right:

The pitcher that made medical history

In the middle of a great 1974 season, then 31-year-old Tommy John was pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Montreal Expos when in the third inning he felt a painful sensation in his elbow. As time on the mound went on and things worsened, a surgery was later needed to repair a tear in his ulnar collateral ligament inside his elbow. His name then became synonymous with "Tommy John Surgery," which is widely performed today.

Another Open, another win

Dominating the Old Course, Tiger Woods became the fifth player to win two British Opens at St. Andrews in. The 2005 victory became his 10th major title win. Finishing 14-under 274, Woods won by five strokes which was the largest margin of victory in any major since his 2000 British Open. After the win, Woods joined Jack Nicklaus as the only golfers to win the career Grand Slam twice.

A game of resilience and stun 

After a penalty-kick shootout at the end of the game, Japan won its first Women's World Cup in 2011 against the U.S. at the FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany. Japan's win came just four months after a catastrophic 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the country followed by an equally devastating tsunami. Saki Kumagai of Japan scored the winning goal against American goalkeeper, Hope Solo, securing them a history-making title.

She could not be stopped 

Liz Cambage of the Dallas Wings broke the WNBA single-game scoring record in 2018 against the Liberty with 53 points. The 6-foot-8 center from Australia made 17 of 22 shots from the field, 15 of 16 free throws, blocked five shots and had 10 rebounds. Cambage's previous career-high was 37, which was set earlier that month against Chicago.

Let the games begin

It has been months since the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly stopped sports leagues in their tracks in March. Even if there are no fans in the stands, counting down the days until there are more live sports has never felt better. 

There are six days until MLB games start, 13 days until NBA games, eight days until WNBA games tip off and less than two months until the regular NFL season starts.

SPORTS VIDEO OF THE DAY

Let's relive the 2005 Open Championship mentioned above, when Tiger Woods pulled away for his 10th major championship.

Reading list

Sports on TV

Golf (live) 

MLS (live)

  • 8 p.m. ET: MLS is Back Tournament, DC United-New England Revolution (ESPN)
  • 8 p.m. ET: MLS is Back Tournament: Sporting Kansas City-Colorado Rapids (ESPN2)
  • 10:30 p.m. ET: MLS is Back Tournament: Real Salt Lake-Minnesota United (ESPN)

Premier League (live)

  • 2:55 p.m. ET: West Ham United-Watford (NBC Sports Network)

NWSL (live)

  • 12:30 p.m. ET: Challenge Cup quarterfinal: North Carolina Courage-Portland Thorns FC (CBS All-Access)
  • 10 p.m. ET: Challenge Cup quarterfinal: Houston Dash-Utah Royals FC (CBS All-Access)

NFL (classic)

  • 4 p.m. ET: Super Bowl LIV, Kansas City Chiefs-San Francisco 49ers (NFL Network)

Baseball (classic)

Contact Analis Bailey at aabailey@usatoday.com or on Twitter @analisbailey.

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