The Lions have fired defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant. The move comes a day after allowing 382 receiving yards in a loss to the Dolphins, Detroit’s fifth straight defeat.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid said newly acquired wide receiver Kadarius Toney is healthy, but the team won’t rush him along as he learns the offense. Toney has not played since Week 2.
While there is a winner in every PGA TOUR event, it’s infrequent for any golfer individually to capture a victory. Now consider how rare it is to successfully defend a title. Or maybe not. RELATED: Play Pick ‘Em Live | The First Look Beginning with Viktor Hovland answering his 2020 title at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba with another a year ago, seven have turned the trick for the treat, including Max Homa (Fortinet Championship) and Rory McIlroy (THE CJ CUP at South Carolina) already this season. No matter your success, you’re always chasing something or someone. Scroll past the projected contenders to learn who’s in Hovland’s crosshairs, why it was unlikely that he won at all at El Camaleón Golf Course, and more. POWER RANKINGS: WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY Collin Morikawa, Jason Day and former champions Harris English (2013) and Matt Kuchar (2018) will be among the notables reviewed in Draws and Fades. Hovland is embarking on a goal that the previous 12 two-time defending champions have failed to fulfill – win three consecutive editions of the same tournament. It hasn’t been accomplished since Steve Stricker triumphed at the John Deere Classic in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Hovland was 13 years old when Stricker converted the threepeat. It already was unusual when Hovland took the title at El Camaleón the first time. A cursory glance at the champions on the course suggest that only ball-strikers of a certain age prevail. They found what Ponce de León never did – the Fountain of Youth. When Hovland was crowned the winner in 2020, he lowered the average age of the winners to 34. Granted, the tournament has evolved from an additional event in late winter (2007-2012) into a stand-alone competition in the fall (since 2013) but given how the peak years of talent have been getting younger, that’s still one for the old guard. When Hovland successfully defended, the emphasis on average age of the winners contributed more to the historical narrative than the overall direction of guys expected to be lifting the limestone chameleon trophy on Sunday. That said, the Norwegian, who turned just 25 in September, fulfills the archetype that has been rewarded time and again in the tournament. El Camaleón is a par 71. Paspalum blankets the property. In part because Mayakoba is a resort but also because winds off the Gulf of Mexico can be unforgiving, greens are managed to release no longer than 11 feet on the Stimpmeter. So, when the breezes are light and because the routing tips at just 7,034 yards (which reflects an increase of 17 yards from last year, all on the par-5 seventh hole), the tournament becomes a green-light special. Primary rough remains trimmed to just over two inches. In his title defense, Hovland established the tournament record by completing 72 holes in 23-under 261. The field’s scoring average of 69.097 also was a new mark. With largely favorable conditions forecast this week, at least after the opening round during which rain and storms are promised to threaten, that’s a fair target for the field of 132. Wind will affect a few shots at times, but it won’t be a primary challenge. Neither will be the par 3s. Once again, they were the easiest set of 50 courses all of last season. Hovland average 2.75 on them, but he also paced the field in par-5 scoring at a tidy 4.08. Although tee-to-green proficiency is priority A in every shootout, capitalizing on the par 5s will be necessary to linger on the leaderboard. NOTE: ShotLink is not utilized for this tournament. 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 & Fades WEDNESDAY: Pick ‘Em Preview SUNDAY: Payouts and Points, Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, 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.
With Jon Scheyer set to debut at Duke and Kyle Neptune at Villanova, Mike Lopresti looks at four vivid examples of coaches who took over programs following all-time greats.
NCAA Digital’s Andy Katz ranks the top 11 non-conference games to watch for the 2022-2023 men’s basketball season.
Here are the men’s and women’s basketball schedules and background for the Pac-12/SWAC Legacy Series, an educational and basketball partnership between the two conferences.
The last two winners on the PGA TOUR – Rory McIlroy and Seamus Power – have both represented Ireland in the Olympics. They were almost college teammates, as well. And not at a school that’s necessarily top of mind when you think of American powerhouses. East Tennessee State in Johnson City, Tennessee, competes in the small Southern Conference and in the Football Championship Subdivision (more commonly referred to as Division I-AA). Golf may be the school’s strongest sport, thanks in part to a pipeline from Great Britain and Ireland that included Power. The Buccaneers, led by Irishman Keith Nolan, finished third in the 1996 NCAA Championship – ahead of a Tiger Woods-led Stanford team – and twice played in the NCAA Championship during Power’s tenure. Power, who won his second PGA TOUR title Sunday at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, almost was preceded on campus by McIlroy, who won THE CJ CUP in South Carolina a week earlier to ascend to No. 1 in the world. McIlroy signed a letter of intent to play golf for the Buccaneers beginning with the 2005-06 season. “The youthful McIlroy brings an extensive and successful resume to Johnson City,” reads the news release from November 2004, which is still available online. McIlroy opted to stay in Ireland and play amateur golf, however, but ETSU’s coach at the time, Fred Warren, kept the signed letter of intent and had it framed. “I signed a letter of intent to play for ETSU, did my SAT, did everything like that so I (was) fully ready to come over and play college golf,” McIlroy said in 2015. “But at that point I knew that I really wanted to turn pro earlier than the four years he was going to be here. I had no intention of graduating at all, so I thought it was just better to play that full time amateur golf in Ireland. … By the time I was probably just getting out of college I had just won my first major, so sort of it was a good decision in the end.” The Ireland-to-ETSU connection actually was started by John Paul Fitzgerald, who played for the Buccaneers and became McIlroy’s caddie for several years. Next was Nolan, who finished T9 in that 1996 NCAA Championship and represented Great Britain & Ireland in the following year’s Walker Cup. Warren watched Power play at the 2005 European Boys’ Team Championship at Monticello Golf Club in Italy. If it had not been for the interest from East Tennessee State, Power was considering taking an accounting course at a university in Ireland, according to a New York Times article. Power still had doubts about attending ETSU even as he was on his flight bound for the States. “Where am I going?” Power told the Times. “I didn’t have a telephone. I didn’t have many dollars. If I land over here, and if something as simple as my coach isn’t at the airport to pick me up, I have no idea what I’m going to do.” According to a 2016 profile on PGATOUR.COM, Power’s scholarship actually became available after McIlroy decided to not attend East Tennessee. McIlroy played amateur golf until turning pro after the 2007 Walker Cup. Power started at ETSU in the fall of 2006 and graduated with an accounting degree in 2011. He also was a two-time conference champion. He spent several years on the mini-tours before playing his first full Korn Ferry Tour season in 2015. He was a PGA TOUR rookie for the 2017 season, but failed to make the FedExCup Playoffs in three of his first four seasons. He started 2021 ranked 429th in the world but has now risen to a career-best 32nd in the OWGR. He also is fifth in this season’s FedExCup.
Entering Sunday as the NBA’s last winless team, the Lakers finally broke through against the Nuggets to deliver Darvin Ham his first victory as a head coach.
As the series shifts to Philadelphia for three games, we break down what we’ve seen and what to expect.
What’s it like to experience NHL hockey at a college rink? We asked players from both teams, along with new fans, students and die-hards.
