Georgia, which fired Tom Crean after four seasons on Thursday, moved quickly to secure Mike White from rival Florida to be the Bulldogs’ next coach, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Borzello on Sunday.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Ireland’s Shane Lowry made a hole-in-one from 124 yards at the 17th hole in the third round of THE PLAYERS Championship on Sunday night. He used a pitching wedge, and the ball landed 10 feet past the front pin before backing up, clanking into the flagstick and dropping. Lowry screamed and celebrated with playing partner and Ryder Cup teammate Ian Poulter as the crowd around the iconic island par 3 went wild. It was the 10th hole-in-one all-time on 17, and the first since Ryan Moore aced the hole in the first round of the 2019 PLAYERS. It was the second ace on the PGA TOUR for Lowry, who also made a hole-in-one at the 2016 Masters. He picked the ball out of the hole and threw it into the crowd, later signing it for a lucky fan. The winner of the 2019 Open Championship, Lowry came into the third round at 1 under par. He had bogeyed the par-5 11th hole and birdied the 14th and 16th holes before his fateful swing on 17. The hole-in-one moved him to 4 under par for the tournament, four off the lead as players began the third round. The ace was a far cry from the action on 17 on Saturday, when a stiff headwind gave players fits and led to a succession of water balls that doomed the chances of Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa and others. Lowry, a two-time TOUR winner, finished second at The Honda Classic last month.
Kevin Durant told New York City mayor Eric Adams to “figure something out” in regards to the city’s vaccination policy after leading the Nets to a win on Sunday.
For the second time this offseason, Cincinnati parted with a valuable starting pitcher. This time, Minnesota took advantage of the opportunity.
Tennessee beat Texas A&M 65-50 on Sunday to claim its first men’s SEC basketball tournament title in 43 years.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Sam Burns bundled up to fight near-freezing temperatures at the start and closed out his second round with a 75-foot eagle putt and an 18-foot par to share the lead with Tom Hoge after 36 holes in the rain-delayed Players Championship. Hoge has been atop the leaderboard for four days at the TPC Sawgrass. He played golf on only two of those days. The Pebble Beach winner opened with a 66 on Thursday and because of rain delays, didn’t start his second round until Sunday morning. The temperature was 35 degrees Fahrenheit (1.6 degrees Celsius) in the morning with a light wind. Hoge closed with a pair of tough pars for a 71. Burns made his eagle on the par-5 16th and his big par on the final hole for a 69. They were at 7-under 137. Erik van Rooyen, the South African who played his college golf at Minnesota, holed a wedge for eagle on the par-5 ninth hole to close out his 67 and leave him one shot behind with Harold Varner III, who had a 69. This week is all about the weather. Four inches of rain that saturated the Stadium Course led to five hours of delays on Thursday, four hours of play on Friday and a late start — noon on Saturday — to get the course ready. Sunday at TPC Sawgrass typically decides the winner. This time it was all about who got to keep playing into Monday evening. Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler can count themselves among the fortunate. They finished the second round Saturday at 2-over 146 and appeared certain to miss the cut with the final two groups finishing up the round. And then Scott Piercy, who appeared safe at 2-under par, hit two shots into the water on the island-green 17th and made a quadruple-bogey 7 that knocked him to 2 over. Piercy bogeyed the 18th and wound up missing the cut. Others didn’t get off so easy. The strongest field of the year won’t include three of the top 10 players in the world — Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. One thing made clear at the halfway point was who lucked out on the tee times. The top 15 players going into the third round all had the early-late side of the tee times, meaning they faced mostly calm and rain-soaked conditions on Thursday and avoided the ferocious wind that wreaked havoc on the Stadium Course on Saturday. Burns was watching most of Saturday on TV. “I just felt bad for the guys that had to play,” he said. “You never wish that upon your opponents. It’s unfortunate. Over your career, you have good waves and bad waves. … There’s only so much you can control out there, and weather is not one of them.” Burns did his part after a sloppy start to his back nine, including what he described as one of the worst shots he ever hit, a 7-iron that went 126 yards into a bunker on the 10th hole. The bonus was his eagle putt on the 16th after a shot that avoided water by some 5 yards and left him a putt from the front of the green to a back pin. Kevin Kisner was among those on the wrong side of the draw, and his only wish was that players on Sunday morning suffered in the cold weather. That wish was granted. Hoge found himself layering up with three sweaters and even that wasn’t enough. But he played good golf, too, playing bogey-free for the final 17 holes. Even with the realization that it was Sunday afternoon, the tournament was more like a Friday afternoon. There’s still a long way to go, and 32 players were within five shots of the lead. That included Jon Rahm, who played Sunday morning and shot 72, and Dustin Johnson, who had a 73 on Saturday that felt much better. The average score was 74.46, about a full stroke lower than it was at the end of Saturday to reflect how much better the conditions were, even in the cold. Rahm hit one shot on Saturday when the round was stopped by darkness. It turned out to be a decent break because he returned for the next 71 shots without as much wind. “I was able to play a rather mediocre round of golf and post a decent score and I’m still in the hunt for this tournament,” he said. “So I consider myself lucky.”
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Hayden Buckley was ready for the moment. The small-town Mississippi native who relishes a chip on his shoulder, Buckley arrived at No. 17 tee in the second round of his first PLAYERS Championship at 1-under for the tournament. After various delays across the first three days, Sunday brought a continued challenge with brisk temperatures and steady winds. (The opening round was completed Saturday, with Round 2 completed Sunday). Buckley stood safely inside the cut line numbers-wise (1-over, with the potential to move to 2-over). With water in play at any moment on the iconic 17th and 18th holes at TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course, though, no position on the leaderboard is quite comfortable. Harkening back to his Korn Ferry Tour days, the University of Missouri alum embraced the moment. Buckley found the green at the island-green par-3 17th, found the fairway and green at the par-4 18th which features water down the entire left side, and two-putted for par on each hole. He signed for rounds of 72-71, 1-under total through 36 holes. The PLAYERS First Timer is onward to Rounds 3 and 4 at TPC Sawgrass, three inside the finalized cut line of 2-over. “We feel like we’ve practiced that stuff hard enough to where (the stage) doesn’t bother us as much anymore,” said Buckley after signing his card on Sunday afternoon, with less than an hour to prepare for the start of his third round. “Sarasota, last year on the Korn Ferry Tour, had a big putt to win (the LECOM Suncoast Classic) … we’ve had a lot of things happen. Played in the U.S. Open, big tournaments, No. 16 at (the WM) Phoenix (Open) to where we feel comfortable. “We get through those holes better than we would have a year or two ago. We know our ball-striking is something we can rely on.” When the initial field for THE PLAYERS was released, Buckley was the last man in, but he moved to first alternate after Ryan Brehm qualified with his victory at the Puerto Rico Open. Approximately two hours after Brehm’s win in Puerto Rico, Buckley moved back into the field by way of Bryson DeChambeau’s withdrawal. It brought back memories of the 2021 LECOM Suncoast Classic, also in Florida in the early portion of the year, where Buckley gained entry Thursday morning after arriving at the driving range as first alternate. Buckley thrives on uncertainty, but one thing is certain. He’s 1-for-1 in cuts made at THE PLAYERS Championship. “It’s nice,” he said. “I wanted to make this cut. I think if I can keep hitting fairways and having chances, I think we’ll have a good chance to play well (across the final 36 holes).” Other PLAYERS First Timers from the Korn Ferry Tour Class of 2021 to make the cut … • Taylor Pendrith, T5 at 5-under, carding rounds of 68-71. • Will Zalatoris, T11 at 4-under, carding rounds of 69-71. • Lucas Herbert, T49 at even-par, carding rounds of 70-74. • Lee Hodges, T65 at 2-over, carding rounds of 72-74.
The Bucks fear rotation player DeAndre’ Bembry will miss the rest of the season after injuring a knee Saturday, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Is the Mercedes juggernaut finally over? Is the Ferrari hype justified? Laurence Edmondson ranks the F1 grid ahead of the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs, favorite Classic Causeway cruised home in the Tampa Bay Derby (G2) by 2 1/2 lengths over Grantham and Shipsational. Also on the card, Dolce Zel won the Florida Oaks (G3), Bleecker Street won the Hillsborough Stakes (G2), Scalding won the Challenger Stakes (G3), and Heaven Street won the Columbia Stakes. Get the results, charts, and photos here.
