
I Dig Sports
'Lucky break' propels Schauffele to closing eagle, 66
Published in
Golf
Thursday, 13 June 2019 12:16

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Even Xander Schauffele’s mis-hits turned out OK Thursday at the U.S. Open.
Schauffele was cruising along at 3 under par when he toed his tee shot on the par-5 finishing hole. His ball appeared destined for the water, but his ball kicked off a rock and skittered down the fairway, leaving just 168 yards to the flag. He hit an 8-iron to 12 feet and poured in the eagle putt to post 66, tied for the early lead with Rickie Fowler and Louis Oosthuizen.
“Very fortunate and happy we capitalized on a really lucky break,” he said.
This is just Schauffele’s 10th career major start, but he continues to impress in the game’s biggest events. The 25-year-old has missed just one cut with four top-6 finishes, including a tie for second earlier this year at the Masters. He tied for 16th last month at the PGA Championship.
“The mentality changes, a little more focused coming into the week, extra preparation,” Schauffele said. “You just kind of dive a little bit deeper into the preparation, and I feel like the team and I have done a decent job of doing that.”
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For second time this year, Snedeker birdies Pebble's 18th from the rocks
Published in
Golf
Thursday, 13 June 2019 12:09

It's not a glitch in the matrix. You have seen Brandt Snedeker do this before.
Snedeker on Thursday made his second birdie of 2019 from the rocks along Pebble Beach's iconic 18th hole.
After his drive narrowly avoided the Pacific Ocean, Snedeker played his second shot back over the sea wall and onto the golf course. Following a flagged approach from 147 yards, he was in for birdie.
Weirdly, it's not as impressive as the last time he did it, back in February at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
So if you see Snedeker aiming down the coastline the next three days, don't worry — he knows what he's doing.
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Rory Sabbatini was making his way around Pebble Beach in mediocre fashion on Thursday, as he came to the tee of No. 12 at 1 over.
On the 202-yard par 3, Sabbatini watched his shot go up, come down, bounce twice, clank against the flagstick and settle in the hole for an ace. Then he let out a perfect 'OMG-I-just-made-it' shriek.
That would mark the 45th ace in U.S. Open history, the first in five years, since Zach Johnson in the final round at Pinehurst in 2014. Sabbatini’s ace was the eighth in U.S. Opens held at Pebble Beach.
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Lucas Bjerregaard was playing unspectacularly through eight holes Thursday at the U.S. Open. However, he was only 3 over as he stepped on the tee at Pebble Beach's par-5 18th hole, his ninth hole of the day.
That's when disaster struck.
Bjerregaard made a sextuple-bogey-11 to plummet down the leaderboard at 9 over.
The 11 still isn't anywhere close to the highest single-hole score in U.S. Open history. That unfortunate feat belongs to Ray Ainsley, who carded a 19 on the par-4 16th hole at Cherry Hills in 1938.
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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Coming off his lowest round in the U.S. Open in the last three years and within reach of the early lead, Sergio Garcia had plenty of reason to smile after the opening round at Pebble Beach. Instead, the Spaniard’s outlook on things was gloomy at best.
Garcia shot a 2-under 69 in his opener, making an eagle on the par-5 sixth hole in addition to three other birdies. But after the round he remarked that he was surprised by his own performance given how he felt entering the week, which he described as “horrible.”
“The game doesn’t feel good at the moment. It’s as simple as that,” Garcia said. “We go through some of these stretches, and unfortunately I’m picking the wrong part of the year to go through one of those.”
Garcia is down to 30th in the latest world rankings, having missed the cut in each of his last two starts. But he does have four top-10 finishes to his credit since February, including a pair of WGC events. Still, Garcia’s outlook was nothing short of dour after closing out a round that left him within three shots of the first-round lead.
“I mean, I don’t think I have much of a chance of winning this week the way I’m feeling,” he said. “But, you know, the planets have aligned before (at the 2017 Masters). If they do again and it helps me, then it’s a good thing.”
Garcia entered this week on a string of seven straight missed cuts in majors, a drought that dates back to the 2017 PGA at Quail Hollow and includes an early exit last month at Bethpage after rounds of 74-71. While he appears in position to stick around for the weekend at Pebble, Garcia wasn’t exactly brimming with optimism after a round where he mixed good shots with ones where he “looked like a 25-handicapper.”
“The thing is, when you’re feeling better, when you’re feeling well, your misses are a lot more under control,” Garcia said. “And it feels like when I’m missing at the moment, I’m not very much under control.”
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Amy Jones keeps form rolling as England's top order set up big win, 3-0 series sweep against West Indies
Published in
Cricket
Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:54

England 258 for 4 (Jones 80, Taylor 70) beat West Indies 131 (Kycia Knight 38, Cross 2-16, Ecclestone 2-27) by 135 runs (DLS method)
Entertaining batting from Amy Jones and Sarah Taylor led England to a comprehensive 135-run victory over West Indies at Chelmsford and a 3-0 sweep of their ODI series.
Jones's 80 off 83 balls was her fifth half-century in six ODI innings and added to her 91 in the series opener in Leicester, leading to her being named Player of the Match and Player of the Series on her 26th birthday.
Jones put her form down to "increasing confidence on the back of some good scores" and hard work on her batting.
"I've had the backing to open the batting and that's where I love batting and I feel really comfortable there," Jones said.
It was a rock-solid performance by England's top order with Tammy Beaumont falling just short of her fifty and Heather Knight putting on a wonderful cameo of 40 runs off just 19 deliveries to lay the foundation for victory in a match reduced to 39 overs per side after a rain delay of nearly two and a half hours in the 11th over of the match.
Having won the toss and sent England in, West Indies were simply outplayed again, left with far too much to do chasing a target of 267 revised under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method as England kept the pressure on with the ball and in the field.
Bryony Smith, the 21-year-old from Surrey, made her ODI debut having played three T20Is in the tri-series with Australia and India in Mumbai early last year. Usually an opener for her county, Smith was slated to bat at No. 7 and, while her services weren't needed with the bat, she was amongst the wickets in her eight overs of off-spin, claiming 1 for 20. Kate Cross was the pick of the England bowlers with 2 for 16 off six overs, while Sophie Ecclestone also claimed two.
Adding to West Indies' woes ahead of their three-match T20I series starting against England next week, captain Stafanie Taylor left the ground for scans after injuring her hand while fielding. Britney Cooper - called into the touring party to replace Deandra Dottin, who was a late omission with a shoulder injury - was battling illness throughout this match but she will have the best part of five days to recover before the first match at Northampton on Tuesday.
When play resumed after the rain, Jones, unbeaten on 16, and Beaumont, not out 27, really started scoring freely. Beaumont appeared aggrieved at being adjudged lbw to Afy Fletcher on 46 attempting one of several reverse sweeps from the England line-up, suggesting she believed she had got bat on ball.
Her dismissal brought Sarah Taylor to the crease and the England wicketkeeper answered some probing questions about her batting that had arisen since her last ODI score of note, a century against South Africa scored a year and a day - or nine innings - ago. Her 70 off 61 deliveries was full of magnificent stroke play, including more reverse sweeps, until she scooped Hayley Matthews to Shamilia Connell at third man.
Connell had already taken a sharp catch that flew to her at mid-wicket to dismiss Dani Wyatt, who came in when Jones took on a Matthews short ball and skied it to a diving Cooper at deep mid-wicket.
Knight then put on a wonderful display, picking off runs, including two big sixes, to push her side to another daunting total for a West Indies outfit that has struggled all round, but particularly with the bat, so far on this tour. The fact that Kycia Knight's 38 in this match was their second-highest individual score behind Chedean Nation unbeaten 42 in the series opener put the magnitude of West Indies' task in perspective.
Knight fell to a typically sharp catch behind the stumps to Sarah Taylor when she got a faint outside edge on a Cross delivery and Nation was unhappy in the extreme when she was given out lbw to Ecclestone with replays suggesting there may have been nothing but bat on ball.
But it was Fran Wilson - coming into the side with Smith and Jenny Gunn as Nat Sciver, Katherine Brunt and Laura Marsh were rested - who effected the dismissal of the match, if not the series. Diving to her left at cover, Wilson managed to grab the ball whilst horizontal in mid-air to dismiss Matthews off Cross with a catch that was nothing short of spectacular.
With Stafanie Taylor unable to bat, West Indies were an important player down and Knight described England's performance as their best of the series.
"We've just been really clinical, really ruthless, in what we've done and the most pleasing thing is different people have stood up at different times and we've just been really professional and it's really good signs," Knight said. "Winning's become a real habit so we just want to keep that going as long as we can."
The win lifted England above Australia at the top of the ICC Women's Championship standings, although England have played six matches more.
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Hazlewood learns lessons from past Ashes disappointment
Published in
Cricket
Thursday, 13 June 2019 16:20

A few days after the 2015 Trent Bridge debacle, Josh Hazlewood cut an even more agitated figure than the rest at Northampton when advised by the Australian selectors Darren Lehmann and Rod Marsh that his first Ashes series was over with one Test remaining. Four years on, he feels better prepared for his second tilt at a series in England having not lasted the distance four years ago, despite coming off a six-month lay-off due to his back injury.
Hazlewood's Test career was just five matches old when he took the new ball in Cardiff but he had made an impressive start with 24 wickets at 19.08 against India and West Indies. His overall figures for the Ashes of 16 wickets at 25.75 did not look shabby but at key moments he struggled for consistency and admits he was running out of steam before he was dropped for the final Test. His replacement, Peter Siddle, took six wickets as Australia won the dead rubber at The Oval in a selection shift it has since been admitted should have happened earlier.
"I was pretty fresh heading into that tour," he told ESPNcricinfo before departing on the Australia A tour that preludes the Ashes. "I felt like I started really well in the Ashes, on the back of a good West Indies tour and home summer, but it caught up with me body-wise in the third and fourth Test. I think my body let me down more than by skill. I was chasing my tail a bit from there in my first big 12-month cycle of bowling. That was the hardest part."
Australia are aiming to end an 18-year Ashes drought in the UK having not won a series since 2001. Starting with the iconic 2005 tour repeated batting line-ups have been undone by swing, seam and spin at various stages but another key factor, certainly in 2015, was the inability of the Australia bowlers to harness the powers of the Duke ball with the same effectiveness of the England attack. Hazlewood often strayed into the pads or hip of Alastair Cook, allowing the moving new ball to get away from him. It's something he acknowledged four years ago.
"The [different] Dukes ball in the West Indies I found pretty easy to handle," Hazlewood said in late 2015. "I think it was the overhead conditions as well that played a part in England, just to land that ball in the same spot over and over, it's quite easy in Australia with the Kookaburra where it doesn't do as much off the wicket and in the air. It was a bit more a challenge, especially on those two wickets in Tests three and four. We saw how well the English guys did it, and it's something to work on for next time, definitely."
Since then a variation of the Dukes ball has been used for parts of the Sheffield Shield season over the past two summers and Hazlewood is confident that the attack has built up the skills required to exploit conditions with a key element - not chasing wickets.
"We've seen how Anderson bowls all the time and if you are going to try and copy anyone he's probably the man to take a leaf out of his book"
"That's part of international cricket, adapting to different conditions and different balls," he said. "Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad have bowled a hell of a lot more deliveries with it than us so they'll be a head start there. But we have learnt a fair bit and even playing with the variation in Sheffield Shield, just controlling that swing and seam, the more you do it the better you'll get.
"We are pretty confident with it these days, think it's about not trying to do too much with it, still being that patient bowler I am without trying to bowl that miracle ball. You see it seam and swing and you can try and do too much, it's about bashing away."
One of the main reasons the selectors are leaving naming the Ashes squad so late - it will be announced after Australia play Australia A at the end of July - is to assess how a collection of pace bowlers operate with the Dukes ball in England. Siddle, who is playing for Essex instead of being part of the A squad, is also firmly in the mix as the management try to ensure mistakes of 2015 are not repeated.
With five Tests in six weeks Hazlewood acknowledges it will be unlikely that the same attack will play throughout - particularly from a personal point of view with his recent back injury - but can also see the value in being more flexible with selection based on the individual characteristics of grounds. The pace of James Pattinson is already being earmarked for the flatter surfaces, such as Lord's and The Oval.
"Horses for courses for sure, that's around the world but I think more so in England where there are some flatter wickets as well as the greener tinged ones where more might happen," he said. "You might need a bit more airspeed on those flat wickets and seam bowlers on the greener wickets. England will probably go down that path as well, they have some guys with good airspeed now as well. It's about summing up the conditions."
However, while he knows English conditions will sometimes demand he moves away from the length he would operate on in Australia he doesn't believe he has to significantly change his style of bowling. "I still think you want to be hitting the knee roll and top of the stumps. Whatever length that takes is what I always aim to do. You get a bit more zip in Australia from back-of-a-length so you can still nick guys off whereas in England they might have time to react or leave it so it does make you push up a bit further. We've seen how Anderson bowls all the time and if you are going to try and copy anyone he's probably the man to take a leaf out of his book."
With inputs from Daniel Brettig
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Shikhar Dhawan's fractured left hand will be assessed after 10-12 days and India captain Virat Kohli hopes the batsman's positive mindset will help his recovery.
Dhawan was injured in the match against Australia played on June 9, during which he scored a century, and therefore the earliest he will go through an examination of how much his fractured hand has mended can only be made after approximately June 21.
"Dhawan is going to be in a plaster for a couple of weeks. After that we will assess where he stands," Kohli said. "Hopefully, the injury heals quickly and he will be available for the latter half of our league games and semi-finals for sure.
"From that point of view, we want to hold him back, keep him here because he wants to play. I think that kind of mindset will help in healing the injury as well as he really wants to play."
However, it will not be his ability to bat alone that will be under question. India fielding coach R Sridhar said that the assessment will have to include the load that his hand will be put under once it has mended sufficiently to undergo heavier examination.
Sridhar said that "throwing won't be a problem as it is not his dominant hand" - Dhawan is a natural right hander who bats left handed. What will need to be studied carefully is "the impact while fielding and catching, specially is he is a slip fielder".
Following the washout against New Zealand it is possible Dhawan will miss on not one but India's next two matches, against Pakistan and Afghanistan. Sridhar said that as far as his department goes, Dhawan would be tested out after 10-odd days, "with lighter balls first and gradually move on to the cricket ball and see how it goes from there, but yes that will be a challenge".
Rishabh Pant has been called into the squad as cover but will not officially be added unless Dhawan fails to recover. Once a player is ruled out of the tournament through injury he can't be brought back unless another player is injured and the ICC technical committee is satisfied with the replacement. In the short-term India will use KL Rahul in the opening position.
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Years after rift, Williams, Vitt say they're friends
Published in
Breaking News
Thursday, 13 June 2019 11:40

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Gregg Williams didn't want to go there. Neither did Joe Vitt.
The New York Jets' assistant coaches, reunited seven years after they were adversaries in the New Orleans Saints' Bountygate scandal, bristled Thursday when asked about their relationship.
"Is this a National Enquirer question?" Vitt snapped. "I like Gregg. He's a friend."
Earlier, Williams offered a similar response.
"Not a question. Next question," he said before the Jets' final offseason practice. "He's a great friend of mine. He'll always be a great friend. I don't care what you've written. Go ahead, somebody else [ask a question]."
Williams and Vitt were hired in February as the Jets' defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach, respectively, but this was the first time the assistant coaches were made available to the media.
The reunion has sparked interest because Vitt testified against Williams in the Bountygate scandal when both were Saints assistants. In the hearings, conducted by former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, Vitt accused Williams of lying in his testimony.
Williams wound up being suspended indefinitely (then reinstated 11 months later), while Vitt received a six-game ban. Now they are together on coach Adam Gase's first staff.
Vitt also happens to be Gase's father-in-law, adding another layer of intrigue.
Some also have wondered about the Gase-Williams dynamic because they are both alpha personalities and are working together for the first time.
Williams spoke glowingly of Gase, saying he has admired him from afar.
"Respect and trust [are] earned, and he has earned my respect and earned my trust now that we're working together on the same thing," Williams said. "It's been fun, OK? He's a very good coach, has a very good mind, has a challenging mind conceptually on what we're doing [on defense]."
The Jets hope that Williams' fiery coaching style will fuel a defense that finished 29th in yards allowed last season. They have high expectations after signing Pro Bowl middle linebacker C.J. Mosley and drafting defensive tackle Quinnen Williams with the third overall pick.
Williams didn't make any bold predictions for the defense, but there is no doubting his self-confidence.
"My secrets get out," Williams said. "The reason I keep getting hired is culture -- and culture beats strategy any day of the week."
"Attitude does come first," he added. "I tell them, 'Attitude is everything. Pick a good one today.'"
Williams, 60, has been coaching in the NFL since 1990, and he has no intention of retiring any time soon.
"People ask me all the time, How much longer am I going to do this? I love what I do. I'm a competition-aholic," he said. "When I walk into a room and nobody will pay attention anymore, it's time to do something else."
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Silver hopeful reformed lottery rules end tanking
Published in
Basketball
Thursday, 13 June 2019 19:47

NBA commissioner Adam Silver, speaking Thursday to ESPN's Rachel Nichols, praised the league's reformed draft lottery system while saying he hopes that it changes the "destructive" mindset some teams and fans have about tanking.
"Where I think it's the greatest success is, hopefully it'll stop fans in those markets from rooting for their teams to perform poorly," Silver said prior to Game 6 of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. "Because that race to the bottom is just destructive, I think, for everyone. Corrosive for players and franchises, and I think, in some cases, even some executives who knew better felt they couldn't withstand the pressure from the communities, from the media in some cases, saying, 'Why are you operating at this level when you should either get much better or much worse?'"
In a week, the New Orleans Pelicans will be on the clock for the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, landing the top slot at the draft lottery in May despite having only a 6 percent chance. Under the old system, the worst three teams had a 25 percent chance at the top pick. Under the reformed rules, it was 14 percent.
"I think in this case now with the change in the lottery, people are going to realize that there's only one way to build a franchise," Silver said. "Of course, you need to get great players, but at the same time you need to build culture, you need strong management, you need strong coaching. And players incrementally get better year after year. I mean, look at these two great franchises. It's wonderful from a league standpoint to see the Warriors and the Raptors, two incredibly well-run franchises from top to bottom, here representing the league."
The Raptors, for example, are in the NBA Finals despite not having a single lottery player on their roster. Kawhi Leonard (drafted 15th overall) has stated his case this postseason as maybe the game's best overall player -- something Silver suggested himself -- and has benefited from the Raptors' plan to manage his workload with regular rest throughout the season.
Silver, though, noted Leonard's plan for "load management" is different than others and didn't seem to endorse the idea in a general sense.
"That term 'load management' is generally used in regard to rest," Silver said. "That's not what the protocol was for Kawhi. We had a player coming back from having missed almost an entire season, and that was a protocol designed by doctors, physical therapists, as a way to bring him back to full health. So it's very different, I think, for a player who is otherwise completely healthy who then chooses to sit out."
The Warriors -- who trail these Finals 3-2 -- have been the preeminent superteam of the past five seasons, but their postseason has been heavily disrupted by injuries, most notably to Kevin Durant, who tore his Achilles in Game 5. Silver called the injury "devastating" and noted the impact it will have on the league overall with the expectation Durant will miss most, if not all, of next season.
"I feel, of course, for him personally," Silver said. "I think beyond that, as a league, we're only as big as our players, and he's one of the greatest stars in the league, so it'll be a huge loss not to have him. Of course, having said that, other players will step up, but he's a unique player. I think the caliber at which he plays, the spirit and the passion he brings to the game, puts him in that very elite category. So all we can do is root for him to come back at full speed, and I know it won't be for a lack of effort on his part. I'm sure he's going to begin rehabbing the moment his doctors allow it."
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