Sports

A season unlike any other comes to a thrilling conclusion at the TOUR Championship

Published

4 years ago

September 3, 2020

The PGA TOUR’s Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards are
up for grabs, as well. Those races are still too close to call. Like the
FedExCup, they could come down to the final putt at Atlanta’s East Lake
Golf Club.

The rookie race comes down to Scottie Scheffler and
Viktor Hovland. Scheffler could be the second consecutive player to win
the Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year and PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year
awards in consecutive years. Sungjae Im did it last year. Before him,
only one player, Stewart Cink, had accomplished that feat.

Scheffler,
who’s 17th in the FedExCup, finished fourth in both a FedExCup Playoffs
event (THE NORTHERN TRUST) and a major (PGA Championship). He also had
two third-place finishes this season, and shot a 59.

Viktor
Hovland, on the other hand, has something Scheffler does not: a win.
Hovland’s came at the Puerto Rico Open. He also finished third in the
Workday Charity Open and ranks 27th in the FedExCup. He probably needs
to surpass Scheffler this week to have a chance at taking home top
rookie honors.

The race for Player of the Year is much more wide open.

At
least one-fifth of the TOUR Championship field has a chance at the
Player of the Year trophy, which is voted on by the players. Justin
Thomas leads the TOUR with three wins this season, including the World
Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Another five players
have won twice this season (strangely, we’ve seen more multiple winners
in this shortened season than we did last season). Any of those two-time
winners can lay claim to the Player of the Year Award if they win the
FedExCup. Not only would the TOUR Championship be their third win of the
year, but it would come with the prize of the FedExCup, which awards
season-long excellence.

The group of players with two wins
includes Johnson, Rahm, who has conquered two of the four hardest
courses this season (Muirfield Village, Olympia fields); Webb Simpson, a
medium-length driver thriving in an era of long hitters; Brendon Todd,
whose comeback from oblivion would undoubtedly garner votes from his
peers; and Morikawa, who was beat out by Matthew Wolff for college
golf’s top awards in 2019 but could be PGA TOUR Player of the Year a
year later.

Morikawa starts the first round at East Lake five
strokes behind Johnson. It’s the same position in which McIlroy started
before winning last year’s TOUR Championship and FedExCup.

This
is the second year of the TOUR Champioship’s staggered start. Johnson,
the FedExCup leader, starts at 10 under. Rahm is 8 under. And players
farther down the FedExCup standings will start farther behind Johnson.
Then, come Monday, the final leaderboard also represents the final
FedExCup standings.

One scoreboard. One championship. One trophy.

The
unique format plays mind tricks on the world’s best players, disrupting
their routines and throwing them out of their comfort zones.

Many
would consider the two-shot lead an advantage, but it’s not that easy.
At most tournaments, a player doesn’t hold a lead until Thursday night.
Johnson has been leading the TOUR Championship since he left Olympia
Fields on Sunday night. That wears on a player.

“You essentially
have the pressure of the FedExCup on your shoulders four days in a row,
even though you still need to play really good golf for four rounds,”
Rahm said. “It’s in your mind. Right? We’re constantly getting reminded,
you’re No. 1, you’re No. 2, or your No. 3. I think if you’re behind it
almost helps just because you already know where the leader is at.”

Thomas,
who’d won the FedExCup just two years earlier, arrived at last year’s
TOUR Championship in the pole position of the FedExCup. He couldn’t
maintain the advantage, though, eventually finishing five behind McIlroy
(even with the starting advantage).

“It was weird. Nobody in
golf can say that they have ever teed up on Thursday with a two-shot
lead and leading the entire field, so I (didn’t) know how to react, and
nobody really would,” Thomas said recently. “But I feel like I didn’t
handle it as well as I should have.”

Whoever handles it the best
this week can lay claim to being the best player in a PGA TOUR season
unlike any other. That’s a prize worth fighting for.

Source: – pgatour.com

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Sports

Canada’s Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Routliffe pick up second win at WTA Finals

Published

1 day ago

November 5, 2024

Anne Joseph

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.

The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.

The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.

Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.

Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.

The final is scheduled for Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.

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Allen nets shutout as Devils burn Oilers 3-0

Published

1 day ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.

Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.

The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.

Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.

TAKEAWAYS

Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.

Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.

KEY MOMENT

New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.

KEY RETURN?

Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.

OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN

The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.

The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.

UP NEXT

Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.

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Mahomes throws 3 TD passes, unbeaten Chiefs beat Buccaneers 30-24 in OT

Published

1 day ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.

DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.

Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.

Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.

Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.

It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.

The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.

Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.

Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.

The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”

Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.

The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.

Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.

UP NEXT

Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

Chiefs: Host the Denver Broncos on Sunday.

—

AP NFL:

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