The Knicks and guard RJ Barrett are finalizing a four-year rookie extension that could be worth up to $120 million, a deal that for now ends several weeks of trade discussions for Jazz star Donovan Mitchell.
Yankees star Aaron Judge could end this MLB season as the new single-season AL home run king.
Aaron Judge hit his 50th home run of the season Monday night against the Angels, joining Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle as the only members of the storied Yankees franchise to record multiple 50-HR seasons.
The Korn Ferry Tour heads to Indiana as the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance tees off Thursday at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh. FIELD NOTES: Will Gordon and David Lingmerth, winners of the first two Korn Ferry Tour Finals events respectively, are both in the field and looking to continue their recent good form … Paul Haley II, however, is first on the season-long Eligibility Points List with a second-place finish last week at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship. He finished birdie, bogey to end two shots behind Lingmerth, but it was good enough to overtake Carl Yuan in the season-long points standings. Yuan is also in the field … Robby Shelton is the only two-time winner on Tour this year and he is playing in the finale. He won both the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX and the Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna … Michael Gligic, Henrik Norlander and Joseph Bramlett, winner of the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Championship, locked up their returns to the PGA TOUR with their respective performances at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship. All three men are in the field this week. COURSE: Victoria National Golf Club, par 72, 7,242 yards. Designed by Tom Fazio in 1998, the club is part of a private 18-hole facility which was built atop Peabody Coal Company’s abandoned Victoria strip mine located in the southwestern corner of Indiana, seven miles from Evansville. Those same strip mines were active from 1950 until 1977. The club hosted the Korn Ferry Tour’s United Leasing & Finance Championship from 2012-2018, during which the likes of Smylie Kaufman and Seamus Power won before eventually going on to win on the PGA TOUR. Victoria National started hosting the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in 2019. The club also hosted Legends Tour events in 2003 and 2004 and the U.S. Senior Amateur in 2006. KORN FERRY TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP 72-HOLE RECORD: Jonathan Byrd (2017), 24-under 260 total (Atlantic Beach Country Club) * Tom Lewis holds the Korn Ferry Tour’s low 72-hole total at Victoria National, winning the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Championship at 23-under 265. VICTORIA NATIONAL COURSE RECORD: 63; Chris Baker, 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Championship, Sebastian Vazquez, 2016 United Leasing & Finance Championship STORYLINES: The Korn Ferry Tour season comes to a close with plenty of PGA TOUR cards still on the line in the Hoosier State. There has been so much movement over the last two weeks and there will be so much more this week. Here’s a refresher on what’s on the line. Fifty PGA TOUR cards are awarded at the end of the season on Sunday at Victoria National. The first 25 were determined via the Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season Eligibility Points List; these 25 names were finalized after the Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna, although they are still jockeying for position during the three-event Finals. The next 25 cards (The Finals 25) are awarded via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals Eligibility Points List, which will be finalized Sunday at the conclusion of the championship. The top eight on the current list have crossed the fail-safe threshold (210 points) to secure #TOURBound status. The winner of both the cumulative season-long list and the player who earns the most points in just the three Finals events will both earn spots in THE PLAYERS. The season-long leader will also earn a spot in the U.S. Open … Hurly Long, Seung-Yul Noh and Sean O’Hair are tied for 23rd place on The Finals 25 and Patrick Fishburn is in 26th place. Chris Gotterup, Grayson Murray and Carson Young are tied for 27th place. Four-time PGA TOUR winner Aaron Baddeley is 30th. The aforementioned eight players, all who are hovering right around the line of demarcation, will be in Indiana looking to lock up PGA TOUR playing privileges for next season … Former Air Force Captain Kyle Westmoreland is chasing his first TOUR card after a T9 last week moved him to 17th on The Finals 25 … This is the final year of the current Finals format. Beginning in 2023, PGA TOUR cards will be awarded as follows: 30 from the Korn Ferry Tour, 10 from the DP World Tour, and five (and ties) from Q-School. LAST TIME: Joseph Bramlett pulled away from the pack to win by four shots and finished at 20 under. He joined a list of 24 other graduates who secured PGA TOUR membership through the Finals points standings. Bramlett and Trey Mullinax were in a tight battle late on Sunday before Bramlett outdistanced his competitors by posting seven birdies in an eight-hole stretch. “Extremely excited, yeah, I can’t wait,” Bramlett said. “It’s a really, really big deal.” (Note: Bramlett tied for sixth place last week at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship and locked up PGA TOUR status for next season.) Others who clinched their PGA TOUR cards with good showings last year at Victoria National were Mullinax, Hayden Buckley and Sahith Theegala, who just played in the TOUR Championship last week at East Lake and finished No. 28 on the FedExCup. Justin Lower earned the final card, edging Taylor Montgomery by 5.273 points. (Montgomery has since earned his TOUR card via the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season.) HOW TO FOLLOW (All times ET) Television: Thursday-Sunday, 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. (Golf Channel).
Reds reliever Ross Detwiler became the 450th different pitcher Albert Pujols has homered off of, a major league record.
Rory McIlroy won his third FedExCup on Sunday, shooting 66 to take advantage of Scottie Scheffler’s struggles. McIlroy’s 30-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole and his chip shot that bounced off the pin on 16 will be remembered as crucial moments on the season’s final holes, but the journey to becoming a FedExCup champion truly encompasses an entire year. This was a campaign of satisfying consistency for McIlroy. He finished outside the top 25 in just three of his 16 starts. He had 10 top-10s, including in each of the four majors for the first time in his career. His three wins were his most on TOUR in three years, and this was his fourth season of three-plus victories. And he finished atop Strokes Gained: Total, confirming statistically that he was the season’s most consistent player. McIroy’s season included rousing Sunday performances, as well as a heartbreaking finish at the game’s most historic venue. All of that led to him being crowned FedExCup champion for a third time. Here’s a look at five shots that tell the story of McIlroy’s successful season. 1. EAGLE PUTT THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT, Final Round Par-5 14th, The Summit Club McIlroy made a successful season debut, winning THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT for a landmark PGA TOUR victory and reassurance after an emotional Ryder Cup, where he and his European teammates were routed in record fashion. McIlroy held off a charge by The Open champion, Collin Morikawa, who also is a member at The Summit Club. Morikawa shot 62 in the final round to finish a shot back of McIlroy, who shot 66 on the final day. He seized control with a 35-foot eagle putt from off the green on the par-5 14th green and then played mistake-free down the stretch to stay ahead of clubhouse leader Morikawa. With the win, McIlroy became the 39th player to win 20 times on the PGA TOUR, an accomplishment that also earns him life membership. McIlroy was coming off a difficult season that saw him win just once and struggle to find consistency as he attempted to make swing changes. THE CJ CUP also was three weeks after the United States’ 19-9 win in the Ryder Cup. A struggling McIlroy sat out a session for the first time in his Ryder Cup career and became emotional in on-camera interviews after winning his singles match over Xander Schauffele for his lone point of the week. McIlroy went 1-3 at Whistling Straits. But this season-opening win proved to him that he was back on the right track. “I feel like the last couple weeks I’ve realized that just being me is good enough,” McIlroy said. “I know that when I do the things that I do well, this is what I’m capable of. “I’m capable of winning a lot of events on the PGA TOUR and being the best player in the world. It’s just a matter of me getting back to playing golf and playing golf my way.” He was right. 2. TEE SHOT TOUR Championship, First round Par-4 1st, East Lake Golf Club The 30-footer for birdie on 15 in the TOUR Championship’s final round is fodder for highlight reels. The chip that struck the pin on the next hole was the sort of break that’s hard to forget. But the shot that defines McIlroy’s third TOUR Championship win was his tee shot to start the tournament. Yes, the one that sailed out of bounds and resulted in an opening triple bogey. McIlroy began the week six shots off the lead. He was nine back after his opening hole and fell a shot farther behind with a bogey on the next hole. Spotting the No. 1 player in the world 10 shots over 70 holes usually isn’t a winning formula. But McIlroy fought to a 67 on that opening day thanks to eight birdies and an eagle. After that topsy-turvy opening round, McIlroy made just three bogeys over the final 54 holes. He shot 129 on the weekend to post the low 72-hole score of the week (17-under 263). He didn’t take his first lead until the 16th hole Sunday, but it was just in time for him to take home his third FedExCup. His final-round 66 allowed him to overtake Scheffler, who started the final-round with a six-shot lead. “To claw my way back and end up winning the tournament, incredible,” McIlroy said. “Just really proud of my resilience and how I sort of handled that start and just sort of stuck my head down and kept going all week and took advantage of the opportunity that I was given today.” 3. BUNKER HOLE-OUT The Masters, Final Round Par-4 18th, Augusta National Golf Club The Masters is the lone title missing from McIlroy’s resume. While his towering iron shots and booming drives seem tailor-made for Augusta National, the course has been the scene of heartbreak and disappointment for McIlroy as he seeks the title that stands between him and the career Grand Slam. It started in 2011, when he shot a final-round 80 after starting the day with a four-shot lead. He had six top-10s in a seven-year span from 2014-20 but none of those were a win, as he was often hampered by big numbers. McIlroy started the final round of this year’s Masters 10 shots behind Scheffler. Victory was likely out of reach, but McIlroy’s Sunday 64 provided some much-needed positivity before he takes his next crack at the green jacket. The round was highlighted by his bunker hole-out on the final green that included a raucous, if a bit awkward, celebration. “This tournament never ceases to amaze me. That’s as happy as I’ve ever been on a golf course,” McIlroy said. It also was the first of McIlroy’s top-10s in all four majors this year, the first time he’s accomplished that in his career. “I obviously didn’t get the win at Augusta, but I played a great final round,” McIlroy said. “It was one of the only Sunday evenings driving back from Augusta National where I’ve had a smile on my face. 4. APPROACH SHOT RBC Canadian Open, Final Round Par-4 17th, St. George’s Golf & Country Club Rory McIlroy had to wait three years to defend his RBC Canadian Open title, and do so on a different course. It didn’t matter. A second win north of the border came in similar fashion to his win in 2019, with an incredible final round to hold off a strong leaderboard. McIlroy started the final round of the 2019 RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Country Club tied for the lead with Webb Simpson and Matt Kuchar. McIlroy broke out of the pack by shooting 61 to win by seven. This year, McIlroy and Tony Finau shared the 54-hole lead and played in the final group alongside Justin Thomas. The trio combined to go 20 under in a memorable final round that saw McIlroy emerge victorious by making birdie on the final two holes to shoot 62. Finau and Thomas both shot 64. “I feel like it’s getting tougher and tougher to win on the PGA TOUR,” McIlroy said. “Just look at the two guys that I played with today. I went out with a lead and had to shoot 8 under par to get the job done. So the depth of talent on this TOUR is really, really impressive. And going up against guys like J.T. and Tony and coming out on top, that’s something to feel really good about.” After making bogey on No. 16, McIlroy pulled away with a birdie on the hardest hole of the day, the 486-yard, par-4 17th. The hole had allowed just nine birdies all day when McIlroy arrived. His 367-yard drive was the longest of the day by 30 yards. Then he hit his 127-yard approach to 2 feet to take a two-shot lead over Thomas, who bogeyed the hole, and Finau. For good measure, McIlroy hit his 145-yard approach to 18 to 4 feet for another birdie. That gave him a two-shot win over Finau. Thomas finished in third place, four back. “It feels really good,” said McIlroy. “For the Canadian Open, a national championship, to have a week like it’s had, three of the best players in the world going at it down the stretch, trying to win in front of those crowds and that atmosphere … it doesn’t get much better than that.” 5. PITCH SHOT The Open Championship, Final round Par-4 18th, Final round This season ended victoriously but the scene of McIlroy being driven away from the interview area at St. Andrews with his head resting on his wife’s shoulder also tells an important story about his year. Few players compete with greater awareness of history than McIlroy. There may not be anyone on the PGA TOUR that puts more emphasis on their legacy. That’s why a win at the Old Course would have meant so much for McIlroy, who started the final round of the 150th Open tied with Viktor Hovland for the lead, four shots ahead of the next-closest players (Cameron Smith and Cameron Young). Throughout the final round, however, McIlroy struggled to trust his reads or take advantage of the drivable par-4s and reachable par-5s. He hit all 18 greens that Sunday but took 36 putts in a 2-under 70, getting passed by Cameron Smith’s 30 on the back nine. “I knew that I needed to respond,” McIlroy said. “I just couldn’t find the shots or the putts to do that.” McIlroy missed a 20-footer for birdie on 14, long birdie putts on 15 and 16 and a 15-footer on the difficult 17th after Smith had executed a difficult two-putt from behind the Road Bunker. McIlroy needed to eagle 18, just as Young had done in the group ahead of him, to force a playoff with Smith. There was still an opportunity to rouse the crowd with one final shot on St. Andrews’ short home hole. But when McIlroy’s pitch raced past the hole, the worst nightmares of the partisan fans came true. “That night was tough,” McIlroy said. “The few days after it were OK, I guess. It probably took me three or four days to be, you know, to sort of get back to myself again. But I think what softened the blow a little bit, I felt — I should have got the ball up and down on 9, 12 and 14. … You could maybe say the third hole as well, but apart from that, I didn’t feel — I didn’t lose it. I think that’s what made it a little easier to get over.” Like in 2019, however, McIlroy rebounded from heartbreak at The Open – he missed the cut that year in the tournament’s return to his native Northern Ireland – to claim the FedExCup.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have placed All-Star right-hander Tony Gonsolin on the 15-day injured list with a right forearm strain.
More than 50 NFL experts rated players one to 100 based on how good we expect them to be during the 2022 season. Here’s our ranking.
Commanders coach Ron Rivera said news is positive on running back Brian Robinson, who was shot in D.C. on Sunday, and the door is open for the rookie to play later this season.
The Titans informed longtime punter Brett Kern that they are releasing him, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
