Mattress Mack vows to keep going after $9.5 million Super Bowl lossMattress Mack vows to keep going after $9.5 million Super Bowl loss
Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale’s lost bets on Super Bowl LVI have added to a string of high profile losses.
Day: February 14, 2022
Trade grades: Did the Canadiens get enough for Tyler Toffoli?Trade grades: Did the Canadiens get enough for Tyler Toffoli?
A pair of picks, depth forward Tyler Pitlick and an unsigned prospect head to Montreal in the deal, while the Flames get the veteran winger to bolster their Cup chances.
MLB lockout updates: After latest in-person negotiation, little progress is madeMLB lockout updates: After latest in-person negotiation, little progress is made
It’s time for another update on where baseball’s immediate and long-term future stand.
Power Rankings: The Genesis InvitationalPower Rankings: The Genesis Invitational
It was a nail-biter, it pinned all the senses, and it was a lifetime experience for the local fans. How do you follow that?! Oh, and Super Bowl LVI was contested on Sunday, too. In case you missed it, the Los Angeles Rams prevailed in front of a home crowd. A day before, residents of the Valley of Sun will remember where they were when recalling Sam Ryder’s hole-in-one in the third round of the WM Phoenix Open, and it’ll forever be the site of Scottie Scheffler’s breakthrough victory on the PGA TOUR. Exhilaration for all. Both have made the trip west to The Genesis Invitational between L.A. and the coastline. Naturally, a star-studded field is poised to attempt to tame The Riviera Country Club. More on the event, the course and the perks beneath the ranking of projected contenders. Tuesday’s Draws and Fades will include reviews of 2020 champion Adam Scott, WM Phoenix Open winner Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Sam Burns and Sahith Theegala among the notables. Tiger Woods hosts The Genesis Invitational. The timing is fitting given that the Cincinnati Bengals lost the Super Bowl. No, Tiger isn’t Bengal Tiger, he’s just Tiger, but he hasn’t prevailed on the biggest stage in L.A., either. As the focus of sports nationwide soon will be pivoting to March Madness, the label of a mid-major will be populating our consciousness. In that vein, you could say that this week’s PGA TOUR stop is a mini-major. The field is just 120 deep, and the winner is rewarded with 550 FedExCup points (for the second straight year) and a three-year membership exemption (for the third consecutive edition). Of course, there’s also the not-so-insignificant component of a $12-million purse of which $2.16 million is reserved for the champion. Super, indeed. It’s no wonder that all inside the top 11 in the Official World Golf Ranking are committed. Scheffler rose to ninth with his win. His victim in the playoff at TPC Scottsdale, Patrick Cantlay, climbed a spot to third. The Riviera Country Club is everything this field remembers and wants, so it’s the ideal backdrop. With no impactful changes yet again, the par 71 tips at 7,322 yards. It has since 2016. Kikuyagrass blankets all areas except the putting surfaces, and it’s not overseeded. The only layer of rough is just an inch-and-a-half tall, but it still doesn’t prevent the 7,500-square foot greens from defending par. Targets are larger on average primarily due to the subtle (and, in places, not-so-subtle) undulations. The Poa annua greens also are dialed into 12½ feet on the Stimpmeter. With exceptional weather expected all week, Riviera will present its best self. Save the potential for a morning marine layer a mile or so inland, there will be zero complications from the elements. Daytime highs might touch 70 degrees for the finale of the West Coast Swing before a slight cooling for its final round. During the 2020-21 super season that included 51 courses, Riviera ranked inside the five-toughest in percentage of fairways hit (47.24), greens in regulation (54.17), proximity to the hole (42’7”), conversation percentage inside 10 feet (86.14) and average distance of putts holed (68’9”). Max Homa defends the title this week. Before he outlasted Tony Finau in a playoff for which the duo qualified at 12-under 272, Homa concluded regulation slotted inside the top five in fairways hit, GIR, Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, SG: Tee-to-Green and putts per GIR. However, he paid off those prerequisites by co-leading the field in par-5 scoring. Riviera’s trio of par 5s is its weakness. Given the attention devoted to the par-4 10th hole, it might feel like it’s a beast. Quite the opposite, in fact, and that’s what makes it beautiful. The (in)famous 315-yarder was the easiest par 4 at Riviera in each of the last three years. It was inside the easiest 15 percent of 540 pars 4s in the super season. Go back to the previous full season of 2018-19 (pre-pandemic) and you’ll find it inside the easiest five percent. And no, it’s not a place to go eagle-watching. Exactly one eagle was converted in three of the last four editions. (There were four in 2020.) Last year’s field averaged 3.885 on the 10th, which means that anyone who played it in 1-under for four rounds at 3.75 picked up a fraction of a stroke. Homa did exactly that, with two birdies, one par and one bogey. The tournament can’t be won at No. 10, but it sure can make the difference. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Draws and Fades SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Ranking * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.
Gonzaga returns to No. 1 for third stint in ’21-22Gonzaga returns to No. 1 for third stint in ’21-22
Gonzaga has reclaimed the No. 1 ranking in Sports Betting News men’s college basketball poll, while Providence climbed into the top 10 and Wyoming earned its first ranking in more than seven years.
Source: Dolphins to hire Chargers’ Smith as OCSource: Dolphins to hire Chargers’ Smith as OC
The Dolphins are hiring Chargers assistant Frank Smith to be their new offensive coordinator, a league source confirmed to ESPN.
F1 to host three sprint races in ’22, revises point formatF1 to host three sprint races in ’22, revises point format
Formula One will have three qualifying sprint races in 2022 with points now given out to the top eight rather than just the top three, it was confirmed at Monday’s F1 Commission.
Gonzaga and Kentucky take top two spots in Power 36 college basketball rankingsGonzaga and Kentucky take top two spots in Power 36 college basketball rankings
See Andy Katz’s latest Power 36 men’s college basketball rankings for Feb. 14, 2022 where Gonzaga is back at No. 1 and Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe has powered the Wildcats up to the No. 2 spot.
10 college basketball questions as we enter the home stretch of the regular season10 college basketball questions as we enter the home stretch of the regular season
A little under a month away from Selection Sunday, here are 10 questions as we enter the final weeks of the regular season.
DraftKings preview: The Genesis InvitationalDraftKings preview: The Genesis Invitational
The west coast swing ends in the picturesque Pacific Palisades at The Genesis Invitational. The Riviera Country Club hosts and will play as a par 71, measuring 7,322 yards with poa annua greens. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $1.2M Pitch + Putt [$300K to 1st] STRATEGY The top 10 golfers in the world are in the field, which includes the likes of Dustin Johnson (+1600, $10,200), Rory McIlroy (+2200, $9,700), Cameron Smith (+2200, $9,100) and Collin Morikawa (+2000, $10,400). With its elevated Invitational status, a smaller field of 120 golfers will compete, with the top 65 and ties making it to the weekend. The smaller field gives you a better chance of getting your entire DFS roster through the cut, with 23% fewer players in the field than a regular tournament. Even with no water hazards, The Riviera CC notoriously plays difficult, ranking inside the top 10 in scoring relative to par over the past few seasons. The fairways are tough to hit, recording close to a 7% less hit rate than the TOUR average. Same goes in terms of hitting greens with about an 8 % fewer green-hit-in-regulation rate than the TOUR average due to heavy undulations that runoff to tight collection areas. When golfers miss these greens, gaining strokes Around-the-Greens (ARG) becomes more necessary than usual. We’ve seen winners here gain an average of 2.2 strokes ARG over the past five years. The par-3 sixth hole is famous for its bunker in the middle of the green, and the par-4 10th hole is arguably the best short par-4 on TOUR. The novelty eventually wears off with how difficult this course has played in years past, especially on the closing eight holes. The closing nine is a contributing factor to why we’ve only seen eight golfers since 2000 go on to win after having the 54-hole lead. Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green and those who are playing well Tee-to-Green are golfers we need to consider. Also, look at rostering players who perform well in par 4 efficiency on holes measuring 450 to 500 yards, with six in this range. For contrarian roster construction, build lineups will golfers who have distance Off-The-Tee. Even though it’s not a long course, past winners include Johnson, Bubba Watson (+4500, $8,500), who has won here three times, and J.B. Holmes. Last season, three golfers who finished inside the top 5 in driving distance here also placed inside the top eight for the tournament. GOLFERS TO CONSIDER Will Zalatoris (+2800 to Win, $8,800 on DraftKings) The last time we saw Zalatoris was in a playoff loss at Torrey Pines, where he led the field (on the South Course) in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green (12.4). Last season, a top-15 finish at The Riviera CC came thanks to excellent iron play and solid navigation of the poa annua greens, which is what he should recall rather than his struggles a few weeks ago in San Diego. Zalatoris was able to gain 4.9 strokes on Riviera’s greens last season, the highest he’s achieved in any tournament during his professional career. His ball-striking has been elite, gaining strokes with his irons in seven-straight measured events. The former Demon Deacon performs well on par 4s measuring between 450 to 500 yards, ranking fifth over the previous 24 rounds. Scottie Scheffler (+2200, $9,200) got his first win last week, and it’s time for Will’s this week. Marc Leishman (+6000 to Win, $7,900 on DraftKings) The Aussie is always a threat in California, with a win at Torrey Pines and two top-five finishes here dating back to 2016. Leishman has a knack for playing these traditional courses well, finishing top five twice at Augusta National along with a pair of top five finishes at Muirfield Village (Memorial). He’s gained strokes with his irons in eight straight Genesis Invitationals and has shown he can compete with the best in the world. Leishman ranks 33rd in par 4 efficiency on holes measuring 450 to 500 yards and 15th in par 5 efficiency in the previous 24 rounds. Si Woo Kim (+9000 to Win, $7,300 on DraftKings) This three-time winner should feel comfortable with how well he plays on the West Coast. A 26th-place finish last week, gaining 1.63 strokes with his irons and 1.91 Off-the-Tee on Sunday and three top 11s in his California events this season (Fortinet Championship, The American Express, Farmers Insurance) are enough to give him a nod this week. A win at the 2021 American Express and a third place in The Genesis Invitational in 2019 make him one of the favorites in this range. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $1.2M Pitch + Putt [$300K to 1st] Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. Place your golf bets at DraftKings Sportsbook or by downloading the DraftKings Sportsbook app. All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests. The contents contained in this article do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visit OPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA). 21+ (18+ NH/WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NH/NJ/NY/OR/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for full terms and conditions.