Webb Simpson (64) catches fire late, wins RBC Heritage at Harbour Town | Canada News Media
Connect with us

Sports

Webb Simpson (64) catches fire late, wins RBC Heritage at Harbour Town

Published

 on

With a round of 64 and five birdies in his last seven holes, Webb Simpson won the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town by one over Abraham Ancer. Here’s how play finished up in the dark Sunday night following a two-hour, 46-minute, late-afternoon weather delay on Hilton Head Island:

Leaderboard: Simpson (-22), Ancer (-21), Daniel Berger (-20), Tyrrell Hatton (-20) Sergio Garcia (-19), Joaquin Niemann (-19), Brooks Koepka (-18)

What it means: This is Simpson’s seventh PGA Tour victory and his second this season, a follow-up to his playoff win over Tony Finau in early February at TPC Scottsdale. He is putting together, in limited action, one of the best seasons of his Tour career. In just seven starts, Simpson has racked up two wins, a second, a third, a tie for seventh. The three-time Ryder Cupper entered the week sixth on the U.S. points list, in the final automatic qualifying spot, and figures to be a lock for Whistling Straits – assuming of course the matches are played. With the victory, Simpson joins Justin Thomas and Brendon Todd as two-time winners on Tour this season. He ascends to No. 1 on the FedExCup points list and No. 5 in the Official World Golf Ranking, on which he is the third-highest-ranked American, behind Thomas and Koepka.


‘Blown away’ by scores, Simpson wins rare birdie-fest at Harbour Town

How it happened: Tied for the overnight lead at 15 under and playing in the second-to-last pairing, Simpson played his first 11 holes in just 2 under, before catching fire in the fading sun. He ripped off five birdies in six holes from Nos. 12-17, breaking out of a leaderboard logjam and taking the outright lead with a 15-footer at 16 and going up two with an 18-footer at 17.

With a par at the last, Simpson set a new 72-hole tournament scoring record of 22-under 262, besting Brian Gay’s total from 2009 by two. (Gay won by 10 shots that week.)

Best of the rest: Coming up the 72nd fairway behind Simpson, Ancer had an opportunity to force a playoff with a birdie at 18 but couldn’t get his 34-footer to fall. Tied for third, Hatton and Berger were both hunting their second wins in as many starts, with Hatton taking the last event before the layoff, the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, and Berger the first event after the layoff, last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial.

Round of the day: Finishing his round before the weather delay and more than six hours before the final group, Dylan Frittelli fired the round of the week with a career-low, bogey-free, 9-under 62. He played the back nine in 29, with three different pairs of back-to-back birdies at Nos. 11-12, 14-15 and 17-18, and sat on the clubhouse lead during the weather stoppage.

Biggest disappointment: One of four men tied for the overnight lead and playing alongside Simpson, Ryan Palmer never factored. He carded four birdies against two bogeys and couldn’t keep pace on a leaderboard littered with low scores, settling for 69 and a tie for eighth, five back.

Shot of the day: Koepka’s tee ball to 3 feet at the 329-yard, par-4 ninth:

It was one of two eagles in a round of 65 that propelled Koepka to his best finish of the season: a solo seventh.

Quote of the day: “It was a crazy day. Honestly, I’m speechless right now. We had that big delay, I texted my good friend … to see if I could stay at his house here tonight. It looked like we weren’t going to finish, but we went back out, the Tour did a great job getting us out there pretty quickly, only had a 20 minute warmup. It was a long day on the golf course as well, I didn’t really get it going until 12, and then the putts started going in, and I was getting confident, and it’s amazing to be standing here right now.” – Simpson

Source: – Golf Channel

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Red Wings sign Moritz Seider to 7-year deal worth nearly $60M

Published

 on

 

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million.

The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenseman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.

Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenseman drafted in 2019.

He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.

Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.

Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.

Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.

The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight postseasons ended in 2016.

Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.

Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.

___

AP NHL:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Veterans Tyson Beukeboom, Karen Paquin lead Canada’s team at WXV rugby tournament

Published

 on

 

Veterans Tyson Beukeboom and Karen Paquin will lead Canada at the WXV 1 women’s rugby tournament starting later this month in the Vancouver area.

WXV 1 includes the top three teams from the Women’s Six Nations (England, France and Ireland) and the top three teams from the Pacific Four Series (Canada, New Zealand, and the United States).

Third-ranked Canada faces No. 4 France, No. 7 Ireland and No. 1 England in the elite division of the three-tiered WXV tournament that runs Sept. 29 to Oct. 12 in Vancouver and Langley, B.C. No. 2 New Zealand and the eighth-ranked U.S. make up the six-team WVX 1 field.

“Our preparation time was short but efficient. This will be a strong team,” Canada coach Kevin Rouet said in a statement. “All the players have worked very hard for the last couple of weeks to prepare for WXV and we are excited for these next three matches and for the chance to play on home soil here in Vancouver against the best rugby teams in the world.

“France, Ireland and England will each challenge us in different ways but it’s another opportunity to test ourselves and another step in our journey to the Rugby World Cup next year.”

Beukeboom serves as captain in the injury absence of Sophie de Goede. The 33-year-old from Uxbridge, Ont., earned her Canadian-record 68th international cap in Canada’s first-ever victory over New Zealand in May at the Pacific Four Series.

Twenty three of the 30 Canadian players selected for WXV 1 were part of that Pacific Four Series squad.

Rouet’s roster includes the uncapped Asia Hogan-Rochester, Caroline Crossley and Rori Wood.

Hogan-Rochester and Crossley were part of the Canadian team that won rugby sevens silver at the Paris Olympics, along with WXV teammates Fancy Bermudez, Olivia Apps, Alysha Corrigan and Taylor Perry. Wood is a veteran of five seasons at UBC.

The 37-year-old Paquin, who has 38 caps for Canada including the 2014 Rugby World Cup, returns to the team for the first time since the 2021 World Cup.

Canada opens the tournament Sept. 29 against France at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver before facing Ireland on Oct. 5 at Willoughby Stadium at Langley Events Centre, and England on Oct. 12 at B.C. Place.

The second-tier WXV 2 and third-tier WXV 3 are slated to run Sept. 27 to Oct. 12, in South Africa and Dubai, respectively.

WXV 2 features Australia, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa and Wales while WXV 3 is made up of Fiji, Hong Kong, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Samoa and Spain.

The tournament has 2025 World Cup qualification implications, although Canada, New Zealand and France, like host England, had already qualified by reaching the semifinals of the last tournament.

Ireland, South Africa, the U.S., Japan, Fiji and Brazil have also booked their ticket, with the final six berths going to the highest-finishing WXV teams who have not yet qualified through regional tournaments.

Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team WXV 1 Squad

Forwards

Alexandria Ellis, Ottawa, Stade Français Paris (France); Brittany Kassil, Guelph, Ont., Guelph Goats; Caroline Crossley, Victoria, Castaway Wanderers; Courtney Holtkamp, Rimbey, Alta., Red Deer Titans Rugby; DaLeaka Menin, Vulcan, Alta., Exeter Chiefs (England); Emily Tuttosi, Souris, Man., Exeter Chiefs (England); Fabiola Forteza, Quebec City, Stade Bordelais (France); Gabrielle Senft, Regina, Saracens (England); Gillian Boag, Calgary, Gloucester-Hartpury (England); Julia Omokhuale, Calgary, Leicester Tigers (England); Karen Paquin, Quebec City, Club de rugby de Quebec; Laetitia Royer, Loretteville, Que., ASM Romagnat (France); McKinley Hunt, King City, Ont., Saracens (England); Pamphinette Buisa, Gatineau, Que., Ottawa Irish; Rori Wood, Sooke, B.C., College Rifles RFC; Sara Cline, Edmonton, Leprechaun Tigers; Tyson Beukeboom, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England);

Backs

Alexandra Tessier, Sainte-Clotilde-de-Horton, Que., Exeter Chiefs (England); Alysha Corrigan, Charlottetown, P.E.I., CRFC; Asia Hogan-Rochester, Toronto, Toronto Nomads; Claire Gallagher, Caledon, Ont., Leicester Tigers (England); Fancy Bermudez, Edmonton, Saracens (England); Julia Schell, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England); Justine Pelletier, Rivière-du-Loup, Que, Stade Bordelais (France); Mahalia Robinson, Fulford, Que., Town of Mount Royal RFC; Olivia Apps, Lindsay, Ont., Lindsay RFC; Paige Farries, Red Deer, Alta., Saracens (England); Sara Kaljuvee, Ajax, Ont., Westshore RFC; Shoshanah Seumanutafa, White Rock, B.C., Counties Manukau (New Zealand); Taylor Perry, Oakville, Ont., Exeter Chiefs (England).

Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform, formerly known as Twitter

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Vancouver Canucks star goalie Thatcher Demko working through rare muscle injury

Published

 on

 

PENTICTON, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he’s been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season’s playoffs.

The 28-year-old all star says the rehabilitation process has been frustrating, but he has made good progress in recent weeks and is confident he’ll be able to return to playing.

He says he and his medical team have spent the last few months talking to specialists around the world, and have not found a single other hockey player who has dealt with the same injury.

Demko missed several weeks of the last season with a knee ailment and played just one game in Vancouver’s playoff run last spring before going down with the current injury.

He was not on the ice with his teammates as the Canucks started training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, but skated on his own before the sessions began.

Demko posted a 35-14-2 record with a .918 percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts for Vancouver last season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version