Audi sacked German driver Daniel Abt from their Formula E team because he “made a conscious decision to go against the rules” in an esports competition, the German carmaker said on Wednesday.
This year’s Dutch Grand Prix has been cancelled outright after the circuit confirmed it would not be part of Formula One’s rejigged 2020 calendar.
Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond is itching to get back onto the tee and reignite his PGA TOUR dream. Fuelled by an unprecedented sporting shutdown which saw him seek refuge in Orlando over the past two months, the 39th-ranked golfer in the world will be amongst the stars returning to action at the Charles Schwab Challenge when the TOUR resumes play June 11. Janewattananond, 24, is slated to feature in other tournaments including the RBC Heritage, the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide and World Golf Championships-FedEx St Jude Invitational, appearances he hopes will help him secure membership on the PGA TOUR. He can also look forward to starts in three of the four majors in the reimagined schedule. “These next few events, it’s going to be great,� Janewattananond said in a recent interview. “I won’t really care what I shoot honestly. I just want to play tournament golf again. … I’m lucky we get to play golf again as every tour around the world is closed.� Janewattananond has been away from his close-knit family since late February after opting to stay in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has been living in Orlando, Florida, with former PGA TOUR winner Daniel Chopra and his family. “I’ve tried to keep the spirit up. It feels like you’re in a tunnel and I’m trying to get to the end of the tunnel. It’s tough when you’re far away from home,� he said. While he misses his family dearly, Janewattananond has found comfort through his ‘adopted’ family. Janewattananond and his caddie, Camp Pulit, have been staying with the Chopras since March. “When the shutdown happened, I didn’t want to go back to Thailand as we weren’t sure how long the break would last,� Janewattananond said. “And then, our country shut down and it was too late to get home. We had a hotel room booked for two weeks but (Chopra) made us stay with him. It was good to have some familiar faces around. It felt like family.� Janewattananond has enjoyed staying with Daniel, his wife Samantha and their two children. Janewattananond says he has found renewed vigor for the game and has so enjoyed Bay Hill that he took up a club membership. If he secures his PGA TOUR card, Janewattananond will not hesitate to consider setting up base near the iconic club. He’s spent his time with the Chopras playing basketball and wakeboarding. When golf facilities reopened, Janewattananond and Chopra participated in one-day events on local mini-tours to get the adrenaline flowing again. “I just miss the travelling and going out to play, meeting new people,� Janewattananond said. “One day, we got up at 5 a.m., drove for two hours to the course and teed up. I shot 1 ynder in the first event and didn’t make my money back and in the second one, I shot 2 under and tied Daniel for third place.� The 46-year-old Chopra, who is of Indian-Swede parentage, won his first PGA TOUR event at the 2007 Ginn sur Mer Classic and two events later claimed the season-opening 2008 Sentry Tournament of Champions, beating Steve Stricker in a playoff. “Daniel has a golf net at home and I’ve been grinding,� Janewattananond said. “We’ve played golf almost every day together and Daniel’s a great guy and a great golfer. He loves a side game and when he needs to make a putt, it just comes up for him. I guess that’s why he’s a PGA TOUR winner. Casper, who is 10, is a good golfer too. I wasn’t as good as him when I was his age and he would hit balls all day long. I consider myself a range rat but he’s out-practicing all of us. It kind of gives us a boost for our love towards golf. It’s a good reminder.� With international travel and requirements differing from one country to another, Janewattananond is looking at extending his visa to remain in the U.S. beyond its current expiration in August. With the U.S. Open slated in September and Masters Tournament in November, he is keeping his options open to staying on in the country for remainder of the year. “If I go back to Thailand, I don’t know if we’ll have to go through quarantine or if it’ll be easy to return to the U.S. I’m happy here so maybe it’ll be better to stay on. No one expected this to happen in our lifetime. You’re just moving along and then this happens. A lot of people are more united and helping each other out and I think humanity will come out on the better side of this. “For Daniel and Samantha to open up their home to me and my caddie, they have helped me out so much. You see the nicer part of people and the best of people coming out to help one another.�
The European Tour plans to resume its season the last full weekend in July with six tournaments in England and Wales that will include COVID-19 testing and depend on the U.K. lifting its quarantine restrictions. It would start July 22 with the British Masters, hosted by Lee Westwood. The next five in the “U.K. Swing” are new tournaments the European Tour will pay for out of its tournament development fund. Three will be at former Ryder Cup venues — two at Celtic Manor in Wales, one at The Belfry in England. The purse at each new event is 1 million euros. The tour said it will add 500,000 euros for the U.K. Swing for charities — half for the markets they play, half for the top 10 players from a “mini money list” to decide. No spectators will be allowed at least for the UK swing. “There is no question that we’re back,” Keith Pelley, the tour’s chief executive, said in a conference call Thursday. The European Tour also set dates for four Rolex Series events — the Scottish Open and BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in October, the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa and DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in December. Pelley expects the rest of the schedule — with hopes for 24 events — to be announced later. He said the U.K. Swing depends largely on lifting the 14-day quarantine for players arriving from other countries. The PGA Championship in San Francisco is scheduled for Aug. 6-9. If the quarantine is not lifted, top European Tour players would have to choose between a major and four European Tour events with minimal prize money. “Hotels need to be in operation and the quarantine needs to be lifted to continue with these events,” Pelley said. He said he was encouraged and optimistic that will be the case, based on numerous conversations with government officials. “We wouldn’t be announcing these events without having had significant dialogue with the UK government,” Pelley said. “They know about the announcements. They’re worked feverishly with us.” The tour returns under an initiative called “Golf for Good,” which Pelley said will underpin the rest of 2020. The key points are the charitable contributions — 50,000 euros to the five venues and 250,000 euros for the leading 10 players from a money list of the U.K. Swing. He recalled a conversation with one European Tour partner in which Pelley said, “This might not be the biggest event that you have ever done in terms of crowds and hospitality, but it will be the most important event, and it should be the most emotional event.” The European Tour was last played March 8 at the Qatar Masters. Eight tournaments have been canceled, including a World Golf Championships event in Texas and the British Open. Nine others have been postponed, and officials across several tours worldwide have been trying to piece together the season. The majors set the framework with the PGA Championship going to Aug. 6-9, the U.S. Open planned for Sept. 17-20 in New York and the Masters moving to Nov. 12-15. Pelley did not take any questions on the Ryder Cup — with or without fans — except to say it remains on the schedule for Sept. 25-27 in Wisconsin. The Scottish Open, originally planned for July, moves to Oct. 8-11 and precedes the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. He said other events, such as the Irish Open and other key stops in continental Europe, were close to being announced. Pelley was quick to point out the tour’s strength — a worldwide tour — has become an obstacle from having to work with so many different governments and their regulations for the pandemic. “Moving 30 events with one in its place (Dunhill Championship in Scotland on Oct. 1-4) has been challenging,” he said. Andrew Murray, the tour’s chief medical officer, says testing will include an antigen test for the coronavirus when players arrive, along with daily thermal readings and questionnaires about their health. No media will be allowed at tournaments for the U.K. Swing, and the tour expects no more than 500 people on site. Pelley said fans and hospitality account for only 5% of revenue, so having fans is more important for optics than business. Even so, he expects tournaments to gradually have more spectators. However the rest of the season is put together, all will offer Race To Dubai points toward the conclusion. The European Tour said no one will lose status for 2021 and there will not be a Q-school at the end of the year.
Baseball players appeared likely to propose more regular-season games this year while holding to their demand for full prorated salaries, people familiar with their deliberations told Sports Betting News. Washington pitcher Max Scherzer, among eight players on the union’s executive subcommittee, issued a statement late Wednesday night calling management’s proposal for more salary cuts a non-starter. A day after Major League Baseball proposed a sliding scale of salary slashing for a pandemic-delayed season with an 82-game schedule in ballparks without fans, the union held a conference call Wednesday that included its executive board, player representatives and alternate player representatives, the people said.
Nats ace Max Scherzer says he wants transparency from the league to justify its proposed pay cuts. The players union appears to agree.
Seahawks left tackle Duane Brown missed a total of four regular season games and a playoff game due to injuries to his biceps and knee last season. However, Brown said on Wednesday that both injuries have recovered have he didn’t require any further corrective procedures this offseason. The biceps injury came early in the season [more]
Mostert’s average speed of 13.75 mph per touch ranked first among all qualifying running backs last season.
DeForest Buckner doesn’t expect much to change aside from the uniform he wears. He will continue to play the three-technique in a familiar scheme. “Going through the meetings, we ran some similar plays in San Francisco,” Buckner said Wednesday in a conference call, via Andrew Walker of the team website. “I’m just getting used to [more]
E2E: Scheduled – NFL Unified Sanity (191, scenario #0)(Test)
