Glass half full – they’re back playing competitive golf. Glass half empty – they’re done after 36 holes.
The top of the leaderboard at the Charles Schwab Challenge is stacked with class players who defied a three-month COVID-19 enforced break to set the equal lowest cut ever at Colonial Country Club, 2-under 168 (2010).
But amongst those outside the top 65 and ties are a bevy of superstars and big names.
The top five players in the world lined up at Colonial Country Club on Thursday. Come Saturday, just three of them remain.
Jon Rahm could have become world No. 1 with a win, provided Rory McIlroy was worse than third place alone, but that goal will have to wait after one of the pre-tournament favorites shot 69-71 to miss the weekend by two shots.
It was also an early exit for world No. 5 Dustin Johnson who was four shots off the pace with his 71-71 effort.
Phil Mickelson (69-71) showed a little rust in his recent charity match against Tiger Woods and that continued in Texas. At least he got one more round this time out.
Among those to be under par through two rounds but still going home early were defending champion Kevin Na (72-67), Matt Kuchar (71-68), Sergio Garcia (69-70), Graeme McDowell (69-70) and first round surprise packet Tom Lehman (65-74).
Rickie Fowler (73-69), Jason Day (70-72) and Webb Simpson (73, 69) were unable to find their best efforts. Same could be said of Colonial member Ryan Palmer (72-72) who started with the honor of playing the first shot of the tournament but failed in his goal of also playing the last shot.
Former FedExCup winner Bill Haas and major winners Shane Lowry and Jimmy Walker found themselves well off the pace.
OTTAWA – American receiver Justin Hardy will miss the Ottawa Redblacks’ regular-season finale Friday.
Hardy, who leads the CFL in receptions (97) and is second in receiving yards (1,343), was listed off Ottawa’s depth chart Thursday. Hardy was named Wednesday as the Redblacks’ nominee for the league’s outstanding player award.
American Andrew Miller will start in Hardy’s place.
Ottawa (8-7-1) concludes its regular season hosting the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (7-10). The Redblacks have already clinched third in the East and will visit the Toronto Argonauts (10-7) in the division semifinal Nov. 2.
Hamilton has been eliminated from playoff contention.
Incumbent Dru Brown is listed as Ottawa’s starting quarterback.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
BOLOGNA, Italy (AP) — AC Milan’s weekend match at Bologna in Italy’s top soccer league has been postponed, Bologna officials announced Thursday following extensive flooding in the central Italian city.
The Serie A match had been scheduled for Saturday.
Bologna is the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region, large parts of which have been hard hit by torrential rains and bad weather for days.
The game was not immediately rescheduled.
“Following the flood that affected Bologna, intense work is underway to clean up the situation,” the city of Bologna said while announcing the game postponement on X.
BASEL, Switzerland – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov advanced to the quarterfinals of the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Roberto Bautista Agut on Thursday.
Shapovalov used a strong service game to overcome the Spanish veteran for the win at the ATP 500 event in just under one hour 40 minutes.
The 25-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., fired 18 aces, including one to set up match point in the second-set tiebreaker, and won 79 per cent of first-serves and 63 per cent of second-serve points.
Shapovalov, a former top-10 player on the ATP Tour, entered this year’s Swiss Indoors ranked 95th and will appear in just his second quarterfinal of the season.
He improved to 3-0 against Bautista Agut, who he beat in July en route to a quarterfinal appearance in Washington.
Shapovalov will next face the winner of a match scheduled for later Thursday between defending champion Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal and France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
