Harold Varner III made a triple bogey and shot 66, Jordan Spieth had a four-putt and shot 65 and Rory McIlroy used an indoor simulator to dial in his wedges en route to a 63 at the Charles Schwab Challenge Friday.
Yup, golf is back and it’s stranger than ever.
On the second day of golf’s return to action, the unusual surroundings of Colonial Country Club became more normal. What happened on the course did not. But as the PGA Tour heads to its first weekend of play in 14 weeks, it couldn’t have asked for a better leaderboard. Big names, great stories and some Canadian flavour were tangled at the top.
Varner III backed up his opening-round 63 with a round of 66 that included birdies on five of his last six holes. It’s the lowest 36-hole score of his career and the lowest score by a player posting a triple on his opening hole in the ShotLink era.
It would have been lower had it not been for an errant tee shot on his opening hole that led to the triple-bogey seven. The ball veered wide right and came to rest on a bridge, from which he had to take a penalty drop.
“Obviously not the start I wanted,” said Varner, “but it’s just a part of golf. If I would have tripled the last, it would have added up to the same.”
Varner rode a hot putter through the second round, draining 135 feet of putts, including a 31-foot bomb that started his finishing stretch. Clearly, he’s comfortable playing golf with the new protocols put in place by the PGA Tour, but he’s not necessarily enjoying the lack of galleries.
“I wish there was some fans tomorrow,” said the 29-year-old who is looking for his first PGA Tour win. “I like that a lot. I mean, when it comes to being around the guys, it’s very normal, but when it comes to fans and spectators, it’s not normal at all.”
Varner is being chased by a notable gang of golfers including Spieth, who made eight birdies on his day. As with Varner, it might have been even better except for one hole. On the third hole, he rolled his 29-foot birdie attempt four feet past the cup and then took three more swats before depositing it in the hole. He followed that with another bogey on the fourth hole before righting the ship with birdies on five and six.
“I played a really, really solid round of golf with a kind of 20-minute hiccup for a couple holes,” Spieth said, “and with eight birdies around this place, it’s nothing to complain about.”
Spieth, who has fallen to 56th in the world and hasn’t won since the 2017 Open Championship, hit 13 fairways on Friday, the first time he’s done that in three years. That’s quite an achievement considering he’s ranked 227th in driving accuracy this season and has suffered mightily from a wayward driver for some time.
The world’s top-ranked player, Rory McIlroy, posted a 63 that was bogey-free until his final hole. He credited improved wedge play from his opening round as the key to going five shots lower on Friday. And that improvement came after dark and in a house rather than a range.
“Actually, the rental home we’re staying in this week has a simulator in the basement,” he revealed, “and I’ve actually hit a few balls in there last night, and that helped.”
When the PGA Tour paused, McIlroy had logged a win and five other top-five finishes. Despite working on his game and practising during the weeks leading up to the restart in Fort Worth, Texas, he wasn’t certain if he’d be able to pick up where he left off.
“I learned a lot about my game yesterday just through 18 holes,” he said, “and you can do as much practice as you want and play as much as you want at home, but until you actually get into that competitive environment, you’re never 100 per cent sure of how your game is.”
Canadian Corey Conners is also within striking distance after two strong rounds. He jumped to a fast start with birdies on four of his first five holes, buoyed by some good putting. An exceptional ball-striker, when his putter is hot, his name is usually up near the top of the leaderboard.
“Putted pretty nicely the last few days,” said Conners. “Unfortunately made a couple bogeys coming in. I’m happy with where I’m at. I played pretty nicely again today. I’ve been putting quite well the last few days. Yeah, pretty happy about that.
“A lot of nice stuff happening, and feel good about things going into the weekend.”
LONDON – Canada will meet three-time champion Germany in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain this November.
Canada secured a berth in the quarterfinals — also called The Final 8 Knockout Stage — with a 2-1 win over Britain last weekend in Manchester, England.
World No. 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal anchored a five-player squad that included Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., and Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C.
The eight-team draw for the quarterfinals was completed Thursday at International Tennis Federation headquarters.
Defending champion Italy will play Argentina, the United States will meet Australia and Spain will take on the Netherlands. Schedule specifics have yet to be released but the Final 8 will be played Nov. 19-24.
Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz were unbeaten in doubles play last week to help Germany reach the quarterfinals. The country’s top singles player — second-ranked Alex Zverev — did not play.
The Canadians defeated Germany in the quarterfinals en route to their lone Davis Cup title in 2022. Germany won titles in 1988, ’89 and ’93.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Canada, fuelled by a 2-1 win over the U.S. and scoreless draw with Mexico, has jumped two places to No. 38 in the FIFA men’s world rankings released Thursday.
Of the top six CONCACAF teams, Canada was the only one to move up. Mexico was unchanged at No. 17 while the U.S. and Panama each fell two rungs to No. 18 and 37, respectively
Costa Rica slipped one spot to No. 50 and Jamaica two places to No. 61.
It marks Canada’s highest ranking under coach Jesse Marsch, who was hired in mid-May when the Canadians were ranked 50th. Since then, the team has climbed to No. 49, 48, 40 and now 38.
Canada has been as high as No. 33 in the men’s ranking, achieved in February 2022 under John Herdman with Canada, named the “Most Improved Side” in 2021 by FIFA, turning heads with an unbeaten run in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.
The new rankings encompass 184 internationals involving teams from all six confederations including 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, Oceania and South America.
The top 10 was unchanged with Argentina ahead of France, Spain, England, Brazil, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Colombia and Italy. But the gap at the top is closing with Argentina losing 2-1 away to Colombia and 3-1 at home to Italy.
Teams 10 through 15 were also unchanged. But there was movement after that in the form of Japan (, up two), Iran (No. 19, up one) and Denmark (No. 20, up one). Egypt (No. 31), Ivory Coast (No. 33), Tunisia (No. 36) and Algeria (No. 41) all jumped five places while Greece (No. 48) climbed six spots.
The biggest movers were Brunei Darussalam (No. 183) and Samoa (No. 185), who vaulted seven spots on the back of two wins apiece.
Qatar suffered the biggest drop, tumbling 10 places to No. 44.
San Marino remains at the bottom of the rankings in 210th place despite recording its first victory in more than 20 years, San Marino defeated Liechtenstein 1-0 on Sept. 5, ending a 140-game winless run since a 1-0 decision over the same opponent in April 2004.
Liechtenstein fell four places to No. 203.
Canada’s next match is an Oct. 15 friendly against Panama at Toronto’s BMO Field. The next men’s ranking will be released Oct. 24.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024
It has been a difficult start to the NFL season for quarterback Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers.
Carolina has dropped its opening two games after Sunday’s 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. And Young, the first player taken in the ’23 NFL draft, was 18-of-26 passing for 84 yards with an interception while being sacked twice.
As a result, veteran Andy Dalton will start Sunday when Carolina faces the Las Vegas Raiders (1-1).
According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., the Chargers’ win was the most accurately predicted moneyline selection by Proline bettors. A whopping 92 per cent of wagers were on Los Angeles beating Carolina with 92 per cent also picking the Chargers to cover -4.5.
In other action that went in favour of Proline bettors: Kansas City edged Cincinnati 26-25 (86 per cent correctly selected the Chiefs to win); Houston got past Chicago 19-13 (81 per cent); the New York Jets defeated Tennessee 24-17 (78 per cent); Pittsburgh beat Denver 13-6 (76 per cent), Washington beat the New York Giants 21-18 (73 per cent); and Seattle toppled New England 23-20 (62 per cent).
However, only five per cent of bettors had the Raiders upsetting Baltimore 26-23.
And there was one winner of Proline’s second week main NFL pool of $407,613.
In NFL futures bets after the second week of the season, the odds for offensive player of the year got shorter for running backs Breece Hall (Jets) and Bijan Robinson (Atlanta) and Detroit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. But they got longer for running backs Kyren Williams (Rams), Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco) and Jonathan Taylor (Colts).
Quarterbacks Bo Nix (Denver), Jayden Daniels (Washington) and Caleb Williams (Chicago) all had their odds for offensive rookie of the year go up while they went down for running back Ray Davis (Buffalo), tight end Brock Bowers (Raiders) and receiver Malik Nabers (Giants).
Quarterbacks Patrick Mahones (Chiefs), Aaron Rodgers (Jets) and Jalen Hurts (Eagles) all had their odds for regular season MVP go up. But quarterbacks Jordan Love (Packers), Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) and Joe Burrow (Cincinnati) all saw theirs go down.
Kansas City, Philadelphia and Houston had their Super Bowl odds increase while Green Bay, Baltimore and Cincinnati all decreased.
Not surprising, the week’s top events were all NFL games. In order, they were; Buffalo-Miami, Chicago-Houston, Cincinnati-KC, Raiders-Ravens; and Saints-Cowboys.
A Proline retail player cashed in a $26,183 winner from a $10 bet on a 12-leg major-league baseball parlay. Another won $24,602 from a $10 wager on a 12-leg NFL parlay.
A third received $1,737 from a $3 bet on a six-leg NFL parlay.
A digital bettor earned $2,927 from a $25 bet on a five-leg NFL parlay while a second had a $704.35 return from a $1 wager on a seven-leg NFL parlay.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
