New England’s cap constraints likely contributed to the departure of the cornerback, who could fit the Panthers, Packers, Buccaneers or Chiefs.
Jon Rahm is hopeful that he can emulate compatriot Seve Ballesteros by becoming only the second three-time winner of the Spanish Open.
Brooks Koepka did not have many details to share regarding his upcoming post-Thanksgiving showdown with long-hitting Bryson DeChambeau – the newest addition to Capital One’s The Match series that will air Nov. 26 on TNT. Asked when conversations for such a mano-a-mano television event even began, Koepka smiled and answered, “You can ask Bryson.” But on the eve of competing in the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas, Koepka did convey considerable respect for DeChambeau’s significant transformations, and had praise for DeChambeau’s surprising performance at last week’s Professional Long Drivers Association’s World Championship. DeChambeau made it through to the quarterflnals at the Long Drive, falling just shy of the four-man finale. DeChambeau achieved a swing speed of 219 mph and his longest drive on the grid was 412 yards. Kyle Berkshire eventually would win his second title (his winning drive measured 422 yards). A few of DeChambeau’s peers on the PGA TOUR could not help but take notice of his spirited march through the competition. Koepka said Wednesday that adding length has become a huge theme on the PGA TOUR, and will continue to have a big impact as younger players make their way out to the game’s top level. “I think you kind of saw it maybe coming out of COVID,” Koepka said at TPC Summerlin after playing nine holes in a pro-am. “I think you saw even other guys (other than DeChambeau) trying to hit it further. Swing a little harder, trying to maximize their distance. I think it’s going to change the game of golf forever, personally. If you’re going to hit it that far and you find a couple fairways, it’s tough to beat. It does get very difficult when you got wedge into hole where guys got 6-iron. Your odds are going to be in your favor. “That’s what he (DeChambeau) has done. It’s impressive to be able to actually change a body, change the way you swing, and yet still compete out here. I think that’s probably the most impressive thing. It’s one thing to do it and then just kind of mess around with it at home but not bring it to an actual tournament. So the fact he’s able to do that, the fact he did at the Long Drive, I don’t think anybody really thought he was going to get that far. The fact he did was quite impressive.” This new PGA TOUR season is but a few events old, but the driving average on TOUR thus far is 304.7 yards. A year ago, the average distance TOUR players hit their drives was 296.2. DeChambeau led all players in distance last season, averaging a record 323.7 yards through 83 rounds. Koepka doesn’t exactly bunt it off the tee; he averaged 310.7 yards and ranked 12th. Scottie Scheffler partnered with DeChambeau in two Four-ball matches at the 43rd Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits two weeks ago, and knew DeChambeau was as excited about the Long Drive as he was about the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. “He was definitely pretty interested in it last week,” Scheffler said. ”We had a great time playing together. He’s a great (Four-ball) partner and he’s a great alternate-shot player as well because he’s such a talented player. We had a great time in the team room. “His performance in the Long Drive was pretty cool. I think he told us his goal for the Long Drive was to make it to the final 16, I think he said that would have been a really big accomplishment for him. … I’m sure he’s feeling really good about his performance. It was pretty fun to watch.” Koepka, 31, is playing for the sixth time at Shriners (he was a runner-up in 2017), and will play next week at THE CJ CUP @ Summit, a second event in Vegas. Koepka said his 2020-21 season, which was slowed by knee and wrist injuries, was a disappointment, and that this season he’d like to not only win multiple events, but stay healthy throughout. One aspect of his game that held him back last season: Green-reading. He said he has worked on integrating AimPoint into his routine to better read breaks on the greens, which hopefully will lead to better results with the putter. “I’ve fallen off, to be completely honest,” said Koepka, an eight-time TOUR winner and four-time major champion now ranked ninth in the Official World Golf Ranking. “I’ve fallen off going to World No. 1, injuries, all this stuff, and I haven’t been where I expected myself to be. I think that’s been the disappointing part, so I was kind of kicking myself and trying to figure out how to get better, and that (AimPoint) was just one of the ways. “… There’s some things where you’ve got to keep improving year after year. You look at it, traditionally, 30 or 35 is when guys have their prime out here, and I’m just kind of starting that prime at 31. So hopefully that holds true. But you got to find a way.” Koepka and DeChambeau, who bantered through social media through much of 2021, will partake in a 12-hole match on Nov. 26 at the Wynn Golf Course at Wynn Las Vegas. DeChambeau, ranked seventh in the world, was part of a previous version of The Match, joining NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers in taking down the tandem of Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady. Koepka and DeChambeau were teammates on the winning U.S. Ryder Cup team two weeks ago, and, at the behest of U.S. team member Justin Thomas, even embraced in a playful embrace following the team’s final media session. As for more details on The Match? We’ll have to wait for those. “I think we’re excited,” Koepka said. “It’s going to be good. You’ll see it.”
Brooks Koepka did not have many details to share regarding his upcoming post-Thanksgiving showdown with long-hitting Bryson DeChambeau – the newest addition to Capital One’s The Match series that will air Nov. 26 on TNT. Asked when conversations for such a mano-a-mano television event even began, Koepka smiled and answered, “You can ask Bryson.” But on the eve of competing in the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas, Koepka did convey considerable respect for DeChambeau’s significant 2020 body and game transformations, and had praise for DeChambeau’s surprising performance at last week’s Professional Long Drivers Association’s World Championship. DeChambeau made it through to the Round of eight at the Long Drive, falling just shy of the four-man finale. DeChambeau achieved a swing speed of 219 mph and his longest drive on the grid was 412 yards. Kyle Berkshire eventually would win his second title (his winning drive measuring 422 yards). A few of DeChambeau’s peers on the PGA TOUR could not help but take notice of his spirited march through the competition. Koepka said Wednesday that adding length has become a huge theme on the PGA TOUR, and will continue to have a big impact as younger players make their way out to the game’s top level. “I think you kind of saw it maybe coming out of COVID,” Koepka said at TPC Summerlin after playing nine holes in a pro-am. “I think you saw even other guys (other than DeChambeau) trying to hit it further. Swing a little harder, trying to maximize their distance. I think it’s going to change the game of golf forever, personally. If you’re going to hit it that far and you find a couple fairways, it’s tough to beat. It does get very difficult when you got wedge into hole where guys got 6-iron. Your odds are going to be in your favor. “That’s what he (DeChambeau) has done. It’s impressive to be able to actually change a body, change the way you swing, and yet still compete out here. I think that’s probably the most impressive thing. It’s one thing to do it and then just kind of mess around with it at home but not bring it to an actual tournament. So the fact he’s able to do that, the fact he did at the Long Drive, I don’t think anybody really thought he was going to get that far. The fact he did was quite impressive.” The 2021-22 PGA TOUR season is but a few events old, but the driving average on TOUR thus far is 304.7 yards. A year ago, the average distance TOUR players hit their drives was 296.2. DeChambeau led all players in distance, averaging 323.7 yards through 83 rounds. Koepka doesn’t exactly bunt it off the tee; he averaged 310.7 yards and ranked 12th. Scottie Scheffler partnered with DeChambeau in two four-ball matches at the 43rd Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits two weeks ago, and knew DeChambeau was as excited about the Long Drive as he was about the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. “He was definitely pretty interested in it last week,” Scheffler said. ”We had a great time playing together. He’s a great best-ball (four-ball) partner and he’s a great alternate-shot player as well because he’s such a talented player. We had a great time in the team room. “His performance in the Long Drive was pretty cool. I think he told us his goal for the Long Drive was to make it to the final 16, I think he said that would have been a really big accomplishment for him. … I’m sure he’s feeling really good about his performance. It was pretty fun to watch.” Koepka, 31, is playing for the sixth time at Shriners (he was a runner-up in 2017), and will play next week at THE CJ CUP @ Summit, a second event in Vegas. Koepka said his 2020-21 season, which was slowed by knee and wrist injuries, was a disappointment, and that this season he’d like to not only win multiple events, but stay healthy throughout. One aspect of his game that held him back last season: Green-reading. He said he has worked on integrating AimPoint into his routine to better read breaks on the greens, which hopefully will lead to better results with the putter. “I’ve fallen off, to be completely honest,” said Koepka, an eight-time TOUR winner and four-time major champion now ranked ninth in the Official World Golf Ranking. “I’ve fallen off going to World No. 1, injuries, all this stuff, and I haven’t been where I expected myself to be. I think that’s been the disappointing part, so I was kind of kicking myself and trying to figure out how to get better, and that (AimPoint) was just one of the ways. “… There’s some things where you’ve got to keep improving year after year. You look at it, traditionally, 30 or 35 is when guys have their prime out here, and I’m just kind of starting that prime at 31. So hopefully that holds true. But you got to find a way.” Koepka and DeChambeau, who bantered through social media through much of 2021, will partake in a 12-hole match on Nov. 26 at the Wynn Golf Course at Wynn Las Vegas. DeChambeau, ranked seventh in the world, was part of a previous version of The Match, joining NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers in taking down the tandem of Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady. Koepka and DeChambeau were teammates on the winning U.S. Ryder Cup team two weeks ago, and, at the behest of U.S. team member Justin Thomas, even embraced in a playful embrace following the team’s final media session. As for more details on The Match? We’ll have to wait for those. “I think we’re excited,” Koepka said. “It’s going to be good. You’ll see it.”
New England’s cap constraints likely contributed to the departure of the cornerback, who could fit the Panthers, Packers, Buccaneers or Chiefs.
The Patriots are releasing four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Stephon Gilmore, with a source telling ESPN that the sides could not agree to terms on a restructured contract.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jim Furyk is hosting his first PGA TOUR Champions event at this week’s Constellation Energy FURYK & FRIENDS. He compared his hosting duties with competing in a major championship because of the excitement and nerves he felt when he woke up Monday. “I think it will be an emotional week,” he said Tuesday. His inaugural event has attracted a strong field that also includes Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington, Ernie Els and Steve Stricker. Furyk, 51, has won three times this season on PGA TOUR Champions, including the U.S. Senior Open. He sat down with PGATOUR.COM at Timiquana Country Club to discuss his new event, as well as his decorated PGA TOUR career. He talked about the role that self-belief had in his progression from a solid college player to a 17-time TOUR winner, as well as the most important shot he hit that no one saw. He told the story of how watching Nick Faldo hit wedges at the Masters changed his career and described playing with Tiger in his first win, a scene he described as “chaos.” (Note: Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.) PGATOUR.COM: What made you want to host an event? JIM FURYK: Well, we had our event that we called Furyk & Friends for 10 years and we had a nice little niche and we were raising about half a million dollars each year for charity. We were raising some good money, but we also didn’t have a formula for growth. It was an opportunity more than anything else. It was an opportunity that Tabitha and I talked about and an opportunity for us to really showcase our city in Jacksonville and then also raise more money for charity. PGATOUR.COM: You moved to the Jacksonville area in 1996. Did you expect that you’d stay 25 years and, on a professional level, did you think the next 25 years would hold what they did? JIM FURYK: I bought a townhome and it was just kind of a, ‘Let’s just see what Jacksonville has to offer.’ I had heard a lot about the water, the practice facility at TPC, the cost of living and the quality of living. It just became home. We raised our kids here. Our foundation’s here. But no, I never had the idea that in 1996 that this would be like my permanent home. As far as my career, I was a good junior player and highly recruited. I was a solid college player, but, even on my own team, I wasn’t the can’t-miss kid or the guy agents were seeking after. Some of that was a blessing for me. I didn’t sign a big contract with an equipment contract and feel pressure to come out and be one of the top players on TOUR. I got to improve at my own rate. By the time I won my first event, I felt like I could handle it. In 2003, I won my first major and people asked, ‘What’s different now?’ and I was like not much. I always felt like I was lucky in that whatever I accomplished I was ready for. I didn’t go out in my second year and back into winning a big event and like, ‘Uh oh.’ I was ready for it. But I never imagined leaving college that I was going to have an almost 30-year career, win 17 times, play in nine Ryder Cups, be the Ryder Cup captain. I couldn’t have even dreamed of that. PGATOUR.COM: What’s the most important shot in your career that no one saw? JIM FURYK: The most pressure I ever felt in my life was in Q-School, and that includes major championships or Ryder Cup. In my second Q-School, in the finals in 1993, I made the four-round cut on the number and I got my TOUR card on the number (Note: At the time, Q-School was a six-round event with a 72-hole cut). It was a stressful, stressful week. We were playing in Palm Springs at PGA West. I made the fourth-round cut on the number, making a 15-footer for birdie on the last hole, thinking I had to two-putt. What happens if that doesn’t go in and I don’t make the fourth-round cut? In the final round, the last two holes were a par-3 with water short. One of the guys I was playing with, we were tied, he hit it in the water and made double. I scraped it up on the middle of the green somewhere and two-putted. I hit an OK drive on the last hole – think about how long ago this was, and I can remember the shots – and I had to hit a 4-iron into this green. Pin is front-left on a lake. I hit the ball 30 feet long and right of the hole. With a 4-iron, it was a pretty good shot. I had a putt coming over a ridge and it lipped out. I had a tap-in for par but I wasn’t sure if I had to make birdie or par. I was the first group out and I had to wait two-plus hours for scores to come in. The top 40 and ties earned their TOUR cards and I tied for 37th. PGATOUR.COM: What was the secret to your longevity? JIM FURYK: I was able to stay pretty healthy. I do things differently than a lot of players, but I think the belief that it was going to work, and sticking by it, was able to give me the longevity. I had to refine it, I had to get better, I had to get more consistent, but I had the belief that it was good enough. My goals were never all that short-sighted. I wrote goals down during my career, but I never wrote down that I need to win two tournaments this year or win $1 million. They were never even that I need to hit 70% of the fairways. My one goal each and every year was to improve and to look back 12 months from now and say that I’m a better player because of X, Y and Z. There was always this quest and search for how to improve. It’s easy at times to identify your weaknesses. It’s really difficult to put your finger on how to address them, though. My dad was always very good at helping me get better at those things and creating a path or a way to do it. Sometimes, you can’t get it tomorrow. It may take six months. When I first went out on TOUR and played my first Masters in 1995, I remember watching Nick Faldo hit some wedges next to me in that old practice area. He was hitting this beautiful, low, driving wedge shot that landed so soft. I didn’t want him to see, but I was watching what he was doing. He walked away after about 15 minutes and I asked my dad, ‘Did you see that? That’s how I want to hit wedge shots.’ I knew that if I wanted to take the next step I would need to get better from 100 yards and in. And so, I worked on what my dad said for two years, relentlessly, in that back area of TPC and turned myself into what I thought was one of the best wedge players on TOUR. I wouldn’t have been able to do that on my own. I would identify that I needed to get better but he helped me get there and I put the work in. PGATOUR.COM: This week’s Shriners Children’s Open comes 25 years after Tiger Woods earned his first win there. You played with Tiger that Saturday. What do you remember about that round? JIM FURYK: The TOUR was totally caught off-guard by his presence and the chaos it created at golf tournaments. It was almost unsafe. It was like we had to fight our way from one green to the next tee. It was total chaos. And I think that led to hiring the security staff we have now. At the time, we were using like concert security that didn’t know much about golf and the plans for us around the golf course weren’t that good. My day was a mess. I was just frustrated. It took awhile. We just didn’t understand what his presence was going to mean, even then. We were naïve. I think Tiger was probably more prepared for it than anyone. PGATOUR.COM: What is it about the game that you’re still grinding at 51? JIM FURYK: Early in my career, I would have told you something different. When I was 25, it was a fear of failure. Larry Bird used to wake up and he’d had a dream that he went 0-for-28 and couldn’t make a shot. That fear of failure kept me driven. Now it’s just pride. The guys out here have had great careers. We just have a lot of pride in our craft. I put the work in because I don’t want to put a product out there that I’m not proud. I have a lot of pride in what I do. I enjoy practicing. I enjoy trying to get better. I enjoy being going off by myself with a bag of shag balls and hitting flop shots, trying to figure out different ways to do it. I’ve liked the serenity and peacefulness. I can get lost in it. An hour can go by and it feels like five minutes. I’ve always enjoyed getting better.
Which NFL team buys in to analytics the most? Which teams remain skeptical? And which metrics matter most? We surveyed team staffers from around the league for the inside word.
For Matthew NeSmith, it all started with a fire truck. He and his teammates on the University of South Carolina golf team would raise money for Curing Kids Cancer each year by pulling 14,000 pounds of steel and ladders and hoses across a finish line about 15 feet away. The first responders and golfers and other teams who participated got into the spirit of the event by dressing up in superhero costumes and bunny rabbit suits to honor a child living with cancer, or one who had passed away. “It would be great,” Matthew said. “Like if one was an 8-year-old girl, and they’d be like, what do you want us to wear and she’d be like, I want y’all to be ballerinas. And so, all the fire truck people would be wearing tutus. It was just a really fun time.” For his wife, Abigail, who was a member of the Gamecocks’ equestrian team, it was the CKC Pony Days each spring and fall. Patients from the Prisma Health Children’s Hospital came out to the farm where she practiced to ride horses and play games like the egg-on-a-spoon relay. “We had best time doing things like that,” Abigail says. “Just meeting the families and getting to know them and just providing a day that nobody was thinking about what was really going on.” Along the way, Matthew and Abigail got to know Clay and Grainne Owens, the co-founders of CKC, and their three sons. Clay and the three boys are all USC graduates and the two families bonded over a shared love of football and helping others. Grainne even offered Abigail a full-time job with CKC as she was preparing for graduation. The inspiration for CKC was the Owens’ son Killian, who died in 2003 after a four-year battle with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia that included chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. One of his physicians mentioned an experimental treatment that might have saved his life, but the doctors didn’t have the finances to get it out of the lab and into treatment. Grainne remembers wondering why the doctor told her about this therapy, one that could have been 11 times more effective than the drug that was being used to treat her son. That’s when she realized she needed to raise money so other families wouldn’t be denied. “He says to this day, he doesn’t really know why he said it because he would never normally tell a family about something their child couldn’t have,” Grainne says. “But I know why — it’s because that was what I was meant to do.” So Grainne started CKC, sitting at her kitchen table and sending emails until 2 o’clock in the morning asking people to help. She assembled a medical “dream team” of doctors to serve on an advisory board to review grant applications and decide which trials to fund. And to date, thanks to donors and fire truck pulls and golf tournaments, as well as college football helping to spread awareness, CKC has raised more than $20 million. “I never dreamed ever that we would make $20 million,” Grainne says. “I mean, not in a million years, I would never – I would have laughed at you if you told me that.” So, when Matthew NeSmith won the Birdies Fore Love competition at the Shriners Children’s Open last year, there was no question what the couple would do with the $50,000 grant he earned for the charity of his choice. It went to CKC. Matthew knew he had a chance to win the Birdies Fore Love competition in Las Vegas last year entering the final round. He didn’t tell Abigail because he didn’t want to get her hopes up, and he didn’t mention it to the Owens because he didn’t want to let them down if he didn’t win. Sunday’s 68 landed Matthew in a tie for eighth and his total of 26 birdies turned out to be good enough for the Birdies Fore Love title that week. Not before a few anxious moments, though, as Harold Varner and Abraham Ancer pressed him down the stretch. “I remember watching them on 18 pretty much feeling like I was going to win the golf tournament,” NeSmith said, chuckling. “I needed them not to make birdie. … So, I was like I want y’all to play good, I want y’all to play good. But I need, I would love to make this phone call for my wife and the Owen family.” As soon as he got back home to Aiken, South Carolina, Matthew and Abigail called Grainne. He says it was one of the most rewarding things he’s ever done in his golf career because “I believe in what they do.” “She was excited,” Matthew recalled. “She was like, really? I was like, yeah. And she was like, that’s amazing. I was like, I know, I thought it was amazing, too.” Donations like the one the NeSmith’s made to CKC help encourage the kind of research that went into CAR-T cell therapy. T-cells normally fight infections, but this trial found a way to genetically re-engineer them to target the proteins on cancer cells. Then the T-cells are put back in the patient and their own immune system fights and kills the cancer. “It’s a true sort of medical miracle, really,” Grainne says. “It got approval from the FDA back in 2017 and we were partly responsible for making that happen. So that makes me feel really good.” For the NeSmiths, the work CKC has done can also be measured in the kids and families they met during the five years Abigail worked at the charity, as well as the many fund-raising events they’ve attended over the years, including Monday’s golf tournament in Dallas that raised more than $376,000. One was a young boy named Eli whose cancer had relapsed. Matthew made videos and sent them to Eli as his health declined. And there was Richard, who had a brain tumor, but found joy in riding a horse that the USC equestrian coach brought to his home just days before his death. Another was Aurora, who was also “on her way to heaven,” Abigail says. She loved unicorns and her dad brought her out on a rainy Pony Day. “She was so kind and sweet,” Abigail recalls. “She couldn’t see at this point, but she painted this little horse we had. It was just so special.” Grainne, who found out she had breast cancer a year ago, and the people who work at CKG are driven by all those children – the ones who can’t be saved as well as the ones who are survivors. The $20 million-plus is great but she knows she needs to do more. “There’s always a child I know who’s not doing well, who depends on us,” she says. “There’s always another family who might lose their child. And that’s what I think about, especially having gone through it myself last year. “I watched my child go through it, but watching my family watch me go through it was hard because I didn’t want them to worry. But it just made me more determined to help the children.” So, what would her late son Killian, the one she says looked like a cherub, think about what has become her life’s work? “Oh, I think he’s with us every day,” Grainne says. “I think that we’ve been as successful as we have because of him. I think he watches over us all the time. He’s my little guardian angel. … “I think he was sent here just for this. It’s hard, but I know that one day I’ll see him again and I think he’ll be very happy.”
Ovechkin is at 730 goals, with his sights set on Gretzky’s record of 894. Teammates past and present, along with NHL stars and Hall of Famers, weigh in.
