The Lakers legend, who died on Sunday, delivered five championships and countless brilliant plays. We run down some moments to savor from his careerFrom throwing paper in a trash can, to playground horse games, to high school, college and professional games, you’re bound to hear someone shout ‘Kobe!’
Kobe Bryant’s shocking death has left millions trying to cope.
The Waste Management Phoenix Open has long been one of the most well-attended PGA TOUR events and has earned a reputation as being a bucket-list event for its unparalleled atmosphere. But Waste Management sees the tournament at TPC Scottsdale as more than just a weeklong celebration of golf and fun. The longtime TOUR sponsor is thrilled to once again use the Waste Management Phoenix Open as a platform to help take action and encourage those who attend the event to do their part to benefit our environment and community. The PGA TOUR has named the tournament “Best in Title Sponsor Integration� in three of the last five years, and with Waste Management signing on as title sponsor until 2030, the company has an objective of evolving its sustainability goals while continuing to have the tournament be a zero-waste environment. More than $1 billion has been invested in recycling infrastructure by Waste Management, with more than $220 million in the last two years alone. The company has shown its committed to the betterment of the planet. That commitment is extended to the Waste Management Phoenix Open, as one of its key goals for 2020 is to educate fans on how to “Recycle Right.� While all of us were likely taught the three R’s as children – reduce, reuse and recycle – Waste Management will be bringing the Recycling Right concept to life during the tournament in engaging and fun ways. In 2020, Waste Management is introducing the WM Green Scene – an interactive area where fans can learn about recycling and can shoot, flip and dunk recyclables into bins. On Green Out Day (Saturday of tournament week), the tournament will unveil new caddie bibs in honor of the company’s drivers and its commitment to safety. There will also be lots of new social media activations this year. There’s the #BinThereDoneThat contest – fans can take videos of themselves tossing empty bottles or cans into recycling bins in crazy ways to try to win a 2021 VIP tournament package – and #RecycleRight with Red Bull, where fans are encouraged to toss their empty Red Bull cans into a massive interactive display. More than 4,000 of the cardboard recycle and compost bins used at the tournament are actually made by recycled paper and cardboard by Pratt Industries. “Waste Management and Pratt have a 20-plus year relationship that has stood the test of time,� said Shawn State, the president of Pratt Recycling. “Recycling not only is creating jobs, but by purchasing products with recycled content, you are creating a demand for materials collected in recycling programs.� Recycled materials generated at this year’s Waste Management Phoenix Open will go on to help create even more new products in the future. For example, Puma will produce hats from recycled plastic bottles. Worn by defending champion Rickie Fowler that week, they’ll be available to fans in the merchandise tent. Loudmouth Golf has sourced REPREVE recycled fibers to produce the Waste Management Phoenix Open Party Pants – on sale in the merchandise tent for the first time in 2020. With each pair sold, Waste Management will make a contribution to an environmental cause or organization. “The fabric is so luxe, you won’t believe you’re wearing fabric made from recycled water bottles. Now you can help the earth and look great doing it,� said Scott “Woody� Woodworth, the founder of Loudmouth. New for 2020, Waste Management will be working with vendors to eliminate the use of plastic straws and food wrappers. Recyclable aluminum cups will be replacing compostable plastic cuts in one of the large hospitality tents. The tournament will also purchase 100 percent renewable electricity from the Arizona Public Service, and will once again be a carbon neutral event. So while the best golfers in the world will be competing on the course at this year’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, the world will continue to be a livable place thanks to Waste Management and its campaign to encourage all of us to recycle right.
Renault has confirmed Pat Fry will join its team as technical director next month, taking on the role left vacant by Nick Chester at the end of last year.
Kobe Bryant became “addicted to tennis” in retirement and spoke with Naomi Osaka.
Welcome to this week’s Stats Insider, where we’ll take a closer look at Marc Leishman’s win at the Farmers Insurance Open. Leishman moved to seventh in the FedExCup with his fifth career victory. 1. PRIME TIME: Golfers traditionally hit their prime in their 30s, and that’s definitely the case for the 36-year-old Leishman. The 2009 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year had one win in his first 206 starts. He has four in his last 70, a span that started with his win in the 2017 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Only five players have more wins on TOUR since 2017: Justin Thomas (11), Dustin Johnson (8), Brooks Koepka (6), Rory McIlroy (5) and Bryson DeChambeau (5). RELATED: Leishman finally tames Torrey Pines | Winner’s Bag 2. STRONG FINISH: Leishman started the final round in seventh place, four shots behind 54-hole leader Jon Rahm. Leishman got off to a hot start, making seven birdies in the first 13 holes. He birdied the first two and made the turn in 31 before adding birdies on 11 and 13. He made his only bogey on 17 but came back with a final-hole birdie that proved to be the difference. Leishman’s Sunday 65 matched the lowest final-round score by a winner at Torrey Pines since the course was renovated in 2001 to make it tougher for the 2008 U.S. Open. Rahm (2017) and Jose Maria Olazabal (2002) also shot that score in the final round of their wins. Rahm finished second to Leishman on Sunday. Leishman’s round also was three strokes lower than anyone else who started the final round in the top 10. 3. PUTTING PROWESS: Leishman led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting by more than two strokes. He gained +8.0 strokes on the greens in the three measured rounds (there is no ShotLink on Torrey Pines’ North Course). Rahm was second in Strokes Gained: Putting at +5.9. Leishman holed 10 putts from outside 10 feet in the three ShotLink-measured rounds. He was 7 for 10 (70%) from 10-20 feet. This was just the second time in his career that he led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting. He also did it in his runner-up finish at the 2018 AT&T Byron Nelson. Leishman gained more than half those strokes in the final round. He gained +4.8 strokes on the greens in the final round after making every putt he faced from 10-20 feet. He was 3 for 3 from 10-15 feet in the final round and also made his lone attempt from 15-20 feet. 4. NARROW ROAD: Leishman hit just three fairways in the final round. That ties the fewest recorded in the final round by a winner in the last 30 years. It’s been done five times in that span. Three of the five players on the list – Leishman, Geoff Ogilvy and Steve Elkington – are Australian. Leishman hit less than half his fairways for the week (27 of 56) to rank T58 in driving accuracy. Torrey Pines traditionally has some of the hardest fairways to hit, though. The field hit 54% of the fairways in this year’s Farmers Insurance Open, making Torrey Pines’ fairways the fourth-hardest to hit this season. They were the hardest to hit in each of the previous two seasons. 5. ROUGH STUFF: Because everyone is missing fairways at Torrey Pines, the ability to hit quality approach shots from the rough is a key skill. That’s why players like Jason Day and Tiger Woods have excelled at Torrey Pines. Having a good short game can help, as well. That’s another strength of Woods, Day and another multiple-time winner at Torrey Pines, Brandt Snedeker. Leishman finished fifth in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green at Torrey Pines (+4.7 strokes), 14th in greens hit (52 of 72) and fourth in scrambling (75%, 15 for 20). He missed the fairway 23 times on a par-4 last week but was 2 under par on those holes. He missed 18 fairways on par-4s on the South Course, but played those 18 holes in even par. There were 34 players who missed at least 20 fairways on par-4s at Torrey Pines. Only two of those players were under par on the par-4s where they missed the fairway: Leishman and Zack Sucher. Both were 2 under par.
It’s a complicated formula, one we’ll be discussing until the team is set in June. So we break down who gets in, how they get in and Tiger’s chances of getting in.
It’s a complicated formula, one we’ll be discussing until the team is set in June. So we break down who gets in, how they get in and Tiger’s chances of getting in.
No offense to Texas, Ohio and California, but when it comes to producing NFL talent, no area of the country is more prolific than South Florida.
Formula One world champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were among those in the motorsport community who paid tribute to Kobe Bryant following the news of his death on Sunday.
