Simpson to skip British Open as due date nears

  For Webb Simpson, the U.S. Open just keeps going.
  He got home early Monday morning, spent a day in Charlotte, let his father-in-law take the U.S. Open trophy to his office, did some interviews and, while spending time with his young son, James, tried to absorb what he had accomplished.
   The reaction has overwhelmed Simpson.
  "It's been great," Simpson told reporters at the Travelers Championship. "I've gotten so many texts or messages on Twitter. I got some emails from older guys who I've looked up to my whole life that I didn't expect. So that kind of just congratulatory reception from them has been great. And I've got a couple of emails from older golfers that I'm probably going to print out and frame and guys that I've respected so much in so many areas of life. They've just given me invaluable advice through these emails that I didn't expect.
  "Tom Watson wrote me a great email. Greg Norman left me a message on the phone and some other guys, Hale Irwin, who I've never even met before. Just guys that are legends of the game that have told me some things that I would have paid for."
   Simpson also talked with Arnold Palmer, whose name was on his Wake Forest golf scholarship. Palmer sent Simpson a note and they were together on Golf Channel's 'Morning Drive' show.
   Simpson is playing the Travelers Championship this week outside Hartford, Ct., honoring a commitment he made before he changed his golf life with his victory at The Olympic Club last Sunday. It's where Simpson played his second professional event in 2008 after writing a letter asking for a sponsor exemption in the field and he hasn't forgotten the tournament's willingness to give him a spot.
   With his wife, Dowd, due to give birth in late July to their second child, Simpson has decided he won't play the British Open next month.
   "I'm a guy who loves my family, and we're probably only going to have a couple more babies, so I have the rest of my life to play in the British Open. I don't want to miss the birth of the second child. So it's an easy decision," he said in his press conference.
  "After winning it's certainly a little harder not to go because I'd love to go and try to win another major, but in the grand scheme of things and grand scheme of life it's a decision that I know I'll always be happy that I made. Because the first experience watching my first son being born was one of the greatest experiences I think a person can have. And I don't want to miss it again."