I Dig Sports
Day receives treatment on course after tweaking back
Jason Day's Masters is suddenly in question.
After hitting his tee shot on the par-5 second hole Thursday at Augusta National, Day gingerly picked up his tee and immediately headed off to the side of the tee box to receive medical treatment on his back.
According to ESPN, Day re-injured his back after picking up his daughter, Lucy, before the round.
83rd Masters Tournament: Scores | @GolfCentral Masters tracker | Full coverage
Day withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month and told Golf Channel that an MRI revealed an annular tear in the disk between his L4 and L5 vertebrae along with additional “facet problems.” He's played three times since, tying for eighth at The Players, missing the cut at Valspar and failing to make it out of group play at the WGC-Dell Match Play.
Day did resume his round after being stretched out and went on to make birdie on the second hole.
Conners continues unlikely run with hot start at Augusta National
AUGUSTA, Ga. – This Masters was always going to be special for Corey Conners but Thursday’s opening round began even better than expected.
Playing in the day’s first group, the Canadian ventured out to the first tee early to watch Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player hit the ceremonial first tee shots.
“I was able to stand on the back of the tee and watch them tee off and really appreciate what they have done for the game of golf,” said Conners, who spoke briefly with Nicklaus who congratulated him for his victory last week. “Being in the first group following them, that was pretty special.”
Conners’ day only improved from there.
He was 10 strokes better than his last opening round at the Masters in 2015 when he struggled to an 80 on Day 1, but the way he’s been playing the last two weeks there was always going to be improvement.
Conners’ last six rounds include a 68 on April 1 and a playoff to qualify for the Texas Open, a career-changing week at TPC San Antonio with rounds of 69-67-66-66 for his first PGA Tour victory, and on Thursday he played Nos. 13-15 in 4 under par to move into the hunt at Augusta National.
It was another unlikely chapter in what has been a wildly unlikely few days for Conners who couldn’t have imagined he’d be in this position when he teed off last week in the Monday qualifier.
“I did not think it was likely [to play the Masters],” he laughed. “I’m a math and statistics guy and I didn’t think it was likely at all.”
Player, Nicklaus rail against the golf ball, green-reading books
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Modern technology struggles to get inside the gates at Augusta National Golf Club. Cell phones will get you thrown out, and green-reading books can be left in players’ courtesy cars.
It’s an idyllic trip back in time for some, but for Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, it’s simply a step in the right direction.
Nicklaus and Player reprised their annual role as honorary starters Thursday morning, kicking off the 83rd Masters with opening tee shots in front of thousands of eager patrons. The two men, who have combined to win nine green jackets, then went to the press building where they reminisced about decades spent together at the club as well as the state of technology in the modern game.
It was on that latter point that they formed a consensus.
“The golf ball has gotten ridiculous. I have so many things on that,” Nicklaus said. “The golf ball from 1930 to about ’95 gained about six yards. From 1995 to 2005, about 15 yards, and that’s a big difference. Probably the organizations won’t tell you that, but that’s exactly about what happened.”
It’s a familiar refrain from Nicklaus, who has railed against the technological advancements in the game for the last several years. He was joined in support by Player, who offered a warning that the governing bodies need to create a bifurcated ball of some sort, lest players begin driving the 445-yard first hole at Augusta National.
“We’d better start thinking. They are going to hit wedges to all the par-5s, and golf courses like St. Andrews, this marvelous golf course, is completely obsolete. They can drive probably six greens,” Player said. “So I don’t know where we’re going. And our leaders of such have got to get together now and form a ball for professionals that’s different to the amateurs. Let the amateurs have anything they’d like. … But we have got to stop this, otherwise it’s going to be a joke, in my opinion.”
Player didn’t just stop with his thoughts on the ball. The 83-year-old also expressed his distaste for green-reading books, which are not allowed at Augusta National and whose details was recently reined in by the USGA and R&A.
“Bobby Locke was the best putter that ever lived, and Tiger Woods was the best putter and so on. I never saw him take out a book to read the damn green,” Player said. “To read the green, you’ve got to look at a book. Well if you can’t read a green, you should be selling beans. It’s part of the game. Where are we going? Everything is so artificial.”
It's almost as if he was just laying up to an angle and a number off the tee.
Coming off a birdie at the the par-5 13th, Woods sniped his drive at the par-4 14th left of the fairway.
From 152 yards, he managed to loft his approach over the trees to 25 feet, setting up a putt for birdie.
The birdie pushed Woods to 3 under par through 14 holes and into a tie for the lead.
Marcos Alonso's late header helped Chelsea to a hard-fought 1-0 win away to Slavia Prague in their Europa League quarterfinal first leg on Thursday.
Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri fielded a strong XI in Prague, including an in-form Eden Hazard, who was outstanding in a two-goal outing on Monday as the Blues beat West Ham to move into third place in the Premier League.
However, the visitors found chances hard to come by over the course of the first 45 minutes as the league leaders in the Czech top flight dug in with a raucous home crowd urging them on in a scoreless first half.
Despite a lack of goals, the second half provided some entertaining end-to-end football, with Slavia Prague's Ibrahima Traore stinging Kepa Arrizabalaga's palms from distance on 70 minutes and Chelsea seeing a goal ruled out for offside shortly after.
Alonso's header from an inswinging Willian cross as full-time approached wound up being the difference for Chelsea, who return home for the second leg on April 18 with an important away goal giving them the upper leg for passage to the semifinals.
Spurs: No timeframe on Kane's 'significant injury'
Tottenham Hotspur's England striker Harry Kane suffered serious ankle ligament damage in Tuesday's 1-0 Champions League victory over Manchester City, the Premier League club said on Thursday.
Kane rolled his left ankle in the second half of the quarterfinal first leg after a hefty tackle on City defender Fabian Delph and left the field immediately.
Spurs gave no timeframe for when Kane might be fit again.
"Following assessment over the past two days, we can confirm that Harry Kane has sustained a significant lateral ligament injury to his left ankle following a challenge in our Champions League quarterfinal, first leg win against Manchester City," Spurs said on their website.
"Investigations are ongoing and he will continue to be assessed by our medical staff over the coming week."
Kane tweeted on Wednesday that he was "gutted to go off injured but every setback is a chance to come back stronger than ever."
Following Tuesday's win, Spurs boss Maurio Pochettino said: "It's very, very sad. It's going to be tough and we're going to miss him -- maybe for the rest of the season."
The England captain, who has scored 24 goals in all competitions this season, left the club's new stadium on crutches with a protective boot on his foot. Kane had previously missed six weeks of action after injuring the same ankle during a Jan. 15 Premier League match against Manchester United.
The club also confirmed that Dele Alli fractured his left hand during Tuesday's fixture.
The England midfielder will be assessed to determine his availability for this weekend's match against Huddersfield Town.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Ander Herrera is set to join Paris Saint-Germain this summer despite a last-minute attempt from Manchester United to keep the midfielder at Old Trafford, sources have told ESPN FC.
The Spaniard is on the verge of signing a three-year £180k-a-week deal to join the French champions when his contract expires at the end of the season.
Herrera's preference was to extend his stay at United but, after growing frustrated at a lack of communication from the club, is ready to commit his future to the Ligue 1 side. The move is set to be announced at the end of the season.
Sources have told ESPN FC that Herrera was left in the dark for three months at the start of the year and that it was only after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was confirmed as permanent manager that United made an improved offer to the 29-year-old -- bettering the terms on the table from PSG -- but by then it was too late.
Herrera, who missed the Champions League defeat to Barcelona with a muscle injury, is set to leave on a free transfer after five seasons following his £29 million move from Athletic Bilbao in 2014.
He has won the League Cup, FA Cup and Europa League and was named player of the year in 2017.
United could also lose Juan Mata for free in the summer. Sources have told ESPN FC that the Spaniard has been offered a one-year extension but with other Champions League clubs interested, the 30-year-old's future is still up in the air.
Captain Antonio Valencia is also set to leave on a free transfer after the club decided against triggering a one-year extension in the defender's contract.
Liverpool are in advanced talks with Nike over a new long-term kit deal which is expected to exceed the value of Manchester United's £750 million agreement with Adidas and become the biggest ever struck by a Premier League club, sources with knowledge of the negotiations have told ESPN FC.
The Anfield club's deal with suppliers New Balance -- worth £45m a year -- is due to expire at the end of the 2019-20 season and the American sportswear company, sources said, have a "matching clause" within their contract which enables them to retain and extend their deal by equalling any rival offer.
But have told ESPN FC that Nike are leading the battle to secure the Liverpool contract due to their readiness to put the club in the same earnings league as United.
Liverpool have also held discussions with Adidas and Puma in an effort to secure the highest possible figure for their new kit deal, but the club are deep into negotiations with Nike as they attempt to reach an agreement before the New Balance contract enters its final year.
Barcelona's £100m-a-year, 10-year deal with Nike, which began in 2018, is the biggest in football, eclipsing the £98m-a-year, 10-year deal struck between Real Madrid and Adidas in 2015.
And while Liverpool are unlikely to clinch a package of the same magnitude as Barca or Madrid, market research commissioned by the club's managing director, Billy Hogan, has shown that the five-time European champions can command a deal at the same level, or even higher, than United.
There were initial concerns at Anfield that Nike's deals with Barca, Paris Saint-Germain, Tottenham and Chelsea, and Adidas' big-money partnerships with Real, United and Bayern Munich, had saturated the market to the extent that Liverpool would not be able to command a United-style figure.
But the club has been told that the rarity value of their kit deal becoming available, combined with the prominence of the Liverpool brand, driven by manager Jurgen Klopp and star players Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Roberto Firmino, has strengthened their ability to secure a deal that would put them in the same bracket as football's global elite.
Liverpool, who are in contention win the Premier League and Champions League this season, announced record-breaking financial figures in February by posting a pre-tax profit of £125m for the year ending May 2018.
And the American-owned outfit are determined to maintain their financial strength by securing a kit deal which they believe reflects the club's global fanbase.
Arsenal beat Napoli 2-0 in the first leg of their Europa League quarterfinal tie on Thursday.
Aaron Ramsey's early strike and a Kalidou Koulibaly own goal in the 25th minute gave the hosts a straightforward win heading into next Thursday's second leg in Naples.
And it was the departing Welshman who opened the scoring on 14 minutes after a free-flowing attacking move by the Gunners -- the future Juventus midfielder nonchalantly passing into Alex Meret's net after an alert layoff by Ainsley Maitland-Niles inside the penalty area.
The goal marked Ramsey's third in eight appearances for the club since signing for the Serie A giants.
Unai Emery's squad went two goals up nearly 10 minutes later when Lucas Torreira's scuffed left-footed shot from the top of the box took a wicked deflection off Koulibaly before looping past Meret.
Lahiru Thirimanne stakes World Cup claim with 115 in one-day final
Galle 337 for 7 (Thirimanne 115, Hasaranga 87) vs Colombo (match abandoned due to rain)
Rain washed out the entire second innings of the final of Sri Lanka's Super Four Provincial Limited-Over tournament, but not before Lahiru Thirimanne threw his hat in the ring for a World Cup berth, hitting 115 off 128 balls.
Thanks in part to the platform that Thirimanne had set, the Galle team's lower middle order amassed some quick runs towards the close of the innings, to propel the team to an imposing 337 for 7. The most notable among the middle-order contributions was that of Wanindu Hasaranga, who struck 13 fours and a six in a 53-ball innings that yielded 87. Milinda Siriwardana, Minod Bhanuka and Lahiru Madushanka also produced quick runs through the final overs.
There were no standout performers from among Colombo's bowlers, with five players taking no more than one wicket apiece. Significantly, however, Akila Dananjaya - who had taken a five-wicket haul in his previous game - went wicketless in the final, conceding 63 from his nine overs.
Thirimanne's hundred means he ends the tournament as its second-highest run-scorer, with 213 at an average of 53.25 and a strike rate of 81.92. Only Angelo Mathews, who made 227 runs at an average of 56.75, fared better. With the team's regular openers Danushka Gunathilaka and Niroshan Dickwella having fared poorly throught the Super Four tournament, Thirimanne perhaps has an outside shot of making the World Cup squad. Dimuth Karunaratne - a potential captain - produced the second-highest run tally from among the opening candidates, hitting 165 at an average of 55.
The rain meant the selectors could not have a proper look at fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera. With Lasith Malinga and Isuru Udana virtually certain to feature in the World Cup squad, the selectors are understood to be mulling over several of their other fast-bowling options. Chameera took four wickets at an average of 23.00 in the three previous games.
With the Super Four tournament now concluded - Galle and Colombo shared the trophy - the selectors will finalise their World Cup squad over the next few days.
Phone: (800) 737. 6040
Fax: (800) 825 5558
Website: 
Email: 
