No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 2 Arizona, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Purdue, No. 5 Kansas, No. 6 Kentucky and No. 9 Texas Tech all lost on a historic day that could have implications on Selection Sunday.
It was a historic Saturday in college hoops, and Joe Lunardi assessed where the bracket stood when the dust settled.
It was a historic Saturday in college hoops, and Joe Lunardi assessed where the bracket stood when the dust settled.
Ja Morant set a Grizzlies regular-season franchise record after he dropped 46 points to beat the Bulls on Saturday night.
Matt Hagan made the quickest Funny Car run in four years Saturday, giving the new Tony Stewart Racing NHRA team its first No. 1 qualifier at the NHRA Arizona Nationals.
Cole Custer persevered through four late restarts to win a protracted NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Fontana on Saturday night, claiming the title at his home track for the second time.
For the latest installation of the NHL’s Stadium Series, the Nashville Predators and Tampa Bay Lightning have some exceptional pregame fits for the occasion.
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Argentina’s Martin Contini never had played in a PGA TOUR event before this week’s Honda Classic at PGA National. What better way to introduce himself to thousands of fans than to climb into the middle of the bleachers next to the 18th green at the Champion Course after hitting his second shot up there? Contini sat down, said hello, even waved to an NBC camera, the well-served fans loving every moment. He did so with a smile on his face, and why not? Having survived a longshot Monday qualifier – 130 players, four spots – just to get here, the 27-year-old is playing on house money. He shot 2-under 68 on Saturday, and finds himself tied for seventh heading into Sunday. Contini is one of a handful of dreamers and new faces who have made the most of a great opportunity this week at The Honda Classic, a $8 million PGA TOUR stop in its 50th year. Three of the four players who made it through qualifying at West Palm’s Banyon Cay are still playing, including left-hander Rick Lamb, who survived a 16-for-1 spot playoff early Tuesday morning. Lamb is 31, a pro for nearly a decade, and has played a season on the PGA TOUR, so he is not as caught up in the bright lights as some others. He has Korn Ferry Tour membership as a past champion (2016 LECOM Health Challenge, where he also was a Monday qualifier), but he is not expecting to get any starts from that. So he’ll chase the PGA TOUR and try to get into events via the Monday route. It may be easier hitting all the numbers in Saturday’s PowerBall. Lamb, who shot 70 and is in the middle of the pack (T-35) at 2-over 212, had to summon some heroics not once, but twice this week. First came the 16-for-1 playoff at Banyon Cay that spilled into Tuesday. The playoff began on a reachable par 5, and Lamb knew somebody was going to do something special. He wanted to make sure it was him. He hit driver and 4-iron to 40 feet and rolled in the eagle putt. Nobody matched it. On Friday, Lamb stood in the ninth fairway (his 36th hole) at PGA National’s Champion on the wrong side of the cut line. He needed birdie, hit an approach to 10 feet, and ran in the putt to finish at 2-over 142 and earn a weekend time. In golf, there is nothing given. “Pretty much every other professional athlete has a guaranteed contract, they know what they’re making (salary-wise),” Lamb said Saturday. “They just go out and try to perform their best. For us, there’s another layer of pressure that, if you don’t make the cut, you’re not making any money that week.” Andrew Kozan is a young local professional playing the Korn Ferry Tour who grew up playing PGA National (he was a member from age 7 to 15), attending The Honda with his parents each year. He, too, had planned to participate in Monday qualifying, but a phone call on Sunday night from tournament co-chair Gary Nicklaus would alter those plans. Kozan was given the tournament’s final sponsor exemption. Shortly after sun broke Saturday morning, Kozan, 23, stood on the 18th fairway, the only player on the golf course. Facing 258 yards into the green at the par-5 18th hole, he was given the option not to finish his second round in darkness Friday evening, so chose to return first thing Saturday morning. (The other two players in the group, who were missing the cut, decided to finish and depart). Kozan made a safe par to complete his second-round 75, making the cut on the number, then went off alone as the first player out in the third round, shooting 68. There would be only 13 scores all day in the 60s. He had his feet up before lunch, which is one effective way to climb the leaderboard at Honda. The Champion Course took its pound of flesh on Saturday, the field averaging more than two shots over par. The Bear Trap alone (holes 15-17) accounted for 13 double bogeys and five “others.” By day’s end, Kozan was inside the top 20, and with a good round on Sunday, he can collect his largest paycheck as a professional. (Previously, it was the $30,000 he earned at Korn Ferry Q-School. How long has Kozan pictured himself inside the ropes, playing the Honda? “Every day since I was probably 7,” he said. “Honda’s in what, February, March? They started putting the stands up in December. You always want to go out and play as close to the event as you can, putt with the stands up, just to feel like you’re playing the event. I mean … it’s a dream come true this week.” Same for Contini. He likely has the best shot from the Dreamer Division to potentially make something big happen on Sunday. “The cut was great, but I didn’t want it to stop there, so I’m going to try to reach the top 5 tomorrow,” he said. Such a finish (any top 10) would get Contini into the PGA TOUR’s Puerto Rico Open next week. Walking along with him on Saturday he had his brother and his uncle, who hopped on a plane once Contini surprised them with a phone call telling them he had earned his way into the event. Contini treated his relatives to a wild finish at 18. He drove it into the left rough, 250 yards from the flagstick. With water short and right, he tried to get his second shot somewhere in or around the left greenside bunker. But the ball jumped on him, flying midway into the stands like a home run ball the Florida Marlins would envy. He went into the stands to fetch it, his ball resting under a spectator’s feet in the middle of the crowd. What to do? He took a seat next to the fan. It was pure fun up there. “I should go find him and give him the ball,” Contini said after he had signed his scorecard. “I’m going to do that.” So much at stake in the final round. At Honda, it will be about more than the man who will leave with the trophy on Sunday. Contini was asked what a high finish would mean to him. After all, with the Korn Ferry Tour on a three-week hiatus, he expected to be off this week, and getting some rest. He smiled. “It would mean the world,” he said.
Warriors forward Draymond Green, who has been rehabbing a lower back injury since Jan. 9, returned to practice Saturday in what coach Steve Kerr said was “a very positive step.”
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Daniel Berger wasn’t flawless. He just kept avoiding big problems, which almost nobody has managed to do at PGA National this week. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Inside the Field: Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard That’s why he remains the leader of The Honda Classic. Berger started with a three-shot lead and ended with a five-shot advantage, after his round of 1-under 69 moved him 18 holes away from winning a tournament a 15-minute drive from his home. Shane Lowry (67), Chris Kirk (71), Sepp Straka (69) and first-round leader Kurt Kitayama (71) were tied for second at 6 under. Only 13 of the 73 players who made the cut shot below par Saturday. Nobody went low, and unless Berger starts making many mistakes, somebody is going to have to on Sunday in order to deny him a fifth PGA TOUR victory. Lowry had the day’s best round — and that was just 3 under. “I’ve drove the ball in play and I’ve managed to putt pretty good,” Lowry said. “My putting felt pretty average at the start of the week. I found something as the week went on.” He needs to find something more. Or more specifically, hope that Berger misplaces something. “Obviously you want to go out and catch him tomorrow, but I don’t think you can go and catch anyone on this golf course,” Lowry said. “You just need to do your thing and shoot the best score you can and hopefully it will be somewhere near good enough.” Andrew Kozan, Curtis Thompson, Billy Horschel and Kevin Streelman all shot 68s on Saturday, though in all four cases, that simply meant just getting to even par for the week and nowhere near Berger. “It played a lot tougher today,” Kitayama said. There were hints that Berger might come back to the pack, starting from his first tee shot of the day when he pulled the ball into the left rough. The left rough awaited him on No. 4 as well, as did a greenside bunker on No. 7. He saved par each time, and again on No. 10, when he two-putted from 65 feet to keep the card flawless. The only mistake came on the last, his lone bogey of the day. Kirk was the closest for a while, just three shots back as he headed to the par-4 14th. But a trip into the trees led to a double-bogey, and Berger backed off his putt before coolly rolling in a 5-footer to save par yet again. Armed with a five-shot lead, Berger went for it at the par-3 15th, the start of the three-hole stretch known as the “Bear Trap” that typically frowns on aggression. He went at the flag, kept the ball below the wind and watched it settle 7 feet from the hole. The birdie putt was center-cut, getting him to 12 under — six shots ahead of the nearest challengers at that moment. Kozan was perhaps the day’s biggest success story. He waited 12 hours to play four shots, then played 68 more shots in the next three hours or so. Kozan stopped play on the par-5 18th fairway Friday night because of darkness, a wise move since he needed par to make the cut. After five hours of sleep, he was at the course by 5:40 a.m. Saturday to warm up and resumed play at 6:47. He used a couple short irons to get to the green from about 260 yards out, then two-putted for the par that allowed him to make his first PGA Tour cut. That was at 6:59. At 7:35, he teed off in a solo group to begin the third round and at 10:51, he rolled in a 4-footer for birdie to end a third round of 2 under 68. “Nothing to lose,” Kozan said. And quite a bit to gain. Kozan’s biggest check as a pro so far is $29,333 for finishing second last year at the Korn Ferry Tour’s qualifying school. He could top that Sunday; anyone finishing alone in 43rd or better at the Honda is assured at least $30,000, and Kozan was tied for 19th.
