I Dig Sports
CONCORD, N.C. — Speedway Motorsports Inc. officials announced Thursday that Sonic Financial Corp., a company owned by O. Bruton Smith and his family, has made a non-binding offer to purchase all outstanding shares of SMI common stock.
Smith is the founder and majority stakeholder of SMI, which operates eight tracks holding dates on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule.
The offer is similar in nature to an offer made by NASCAR in November to acquire all outstanding shares of Class A and Class B stock of International Speedway Corp., with the intention of taking that track-operation company private.
If Sonic’s offer of $18 per share is accepted and approved, it would make Speedway Motorsports a privately held company. The offer must be approved by the holders of a majority of the common stock not owned by the Smith family.
SMI’s board has formed a special committee — comprised of Mark M. Gambill, James P. Holden and Tom E. Smith — to consider the Sonic offer.
Of note, Tom E. Smith is not related to Bruton Smith or his family.
Sonic Financial Corp. spelled out reasoning for making its offer in a letter to the SMI Board of Directors.
“As you know, NASCAR racing has faced several challenges in recent years, and the company has been impacted by these challenges,” read the letter. “NASCAR has indicated the sport would benefit from structural change.”
In addition to the approval of a majority of the common stockholders, a special committee of independent and disinterested directors must also approve the sale of stock.
SMI will continue to operate as it has in the past until both conditions are met.
“The company cautions stockholders and others considering trading in its securities that the Board has only received the non-binding proposal letter from Sonic Financial, and no decisions have been made by the Special Committee with respect to the company’s response to the proposal,” read an SMI release.
“There can be no assurance that any definitive offer will be made, that any agreement will be executed or that this or any other transaction will be approved or consummated.”
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FRENCHTOWN, N.J. — In racing, there’s always a hot new idea or trend that everyone just has to have.
A new part or chassis design will come along and once someone wins with it, everyone will instantly jump on board. It could be something completely unheard of or something old that’s made its way back around again.
It can be something as simple as the graphic styles on the race car or something more complex like the design of the rear suspension.
Just like anything else in life, it’s all about staying ahead of the curve and paying attention to the trends.
The biggest recent development in dirt modified racing is that J-Bars and 4-links have made their way back into the picture. These are things that some people were winning races with two decades ago.
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Don’t get me wrong, there are still a lot of secrets. Everyone still tries to cover things up on their race car so nobody can see what they have, but eventually everyone catches on to what you’re doing.
I recently caught myself in the same situation. I was going through the pits doing promotional work for a client. I was going around taking photos to promote some drivers running our products and got yelled at for taking a picture of the back of someone’s race car.
People work hard to make gains and get ahead, and they don’t want anybody coming into their pit taking pictures of their secrets to share with the world. That one secretive part they spent all winter working on, I could have unintentionally snapped a picture of it and posted it. Their secret would be gone just like that.
I learned my lesson to ask before I get all up under the back of someone’s race car to take a picture. I know how hard it is to bust your butt to try and get ahead of the game.
When you see cars covered with tarps or mats, there’s obviously something there they don’t want you to see.
If you really want to play head games, you put a tarp over your car on the same side everyone else is covering, all meanwhile, you aren’t running what everyone else is running, you have something else, something even better. See what I mean? Even covering your race car becomes a trend.
This sport is constantly evolving with more and more rules being added or changed every year; things that didn’t used to work, do now. It used to be the guy with the best engine who won the most races. Now, just about every team has the necessary horsepower. It’s not just your engine package anymore.
Back in the day when the 4-link was too complicated for everyone to figure out, a lot of the teams couldn’t afford a powerful enough engine for that package. Now, everyone has enough horsepower to get the 4-link system to hook up.
There was a time when drivers were just drivers. Today, a driver needs to know the car better, or at the least be able to communicate with a crew chief who has car setup mastered.
An example would be years ago at the New York State Fairgrounds mile in Syracuse, everyone was designing their bodies to be sleek and low drag. Then the last few years that race was run, it was won with a standard short-track body because everyone had enough power that the car needed more downforce.
Let’s take it to a fan’s perspective. Back in the day, fans could really get into racing because they could learn from what the drivers were doing on the race track and apply it to their hot rods or their street cars. Today, the race cars barely resemble street vehicles, making it harder for the fans to relate to the cars.
From the fans’ point of view, they just see two different colored race cars. The color of the car obviously isn’t the reason the red car outran the yellow car.
One thing that has evolved from that to make it more exciting for the fans is race monitor. Now with race monitor you can keep track of your favorite driver’s lap times versus other drivers, you can watch their line on the track and see when they got faster or slower.
What the fans see from the grandstands is one driver outdriving another to win the race. But it’s really not that simple. There’s a lot more that goes on behind the scenes to make that one driver and his car go faster than the others.
Every race team is out there working on the next best thing to set the world on fire. Some of these hot licks are new and some have made their way back around. As our sport is ever evolving, so are our drivers and race cars with every new trend thrown their way.
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BOSTON -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy is aware that Boston fans sometimes have a love-hate relationship with longtime goaltender Tuukka Rask.
After Rask's resounding Game 7 performance on Tuesday night, Cassidy said: "Hopefully he's converted a few.
"I hope fans recognize what he did tonight. I think you have to, as a fan, acknowledge when a player plays well. I know in this town when you don't, you hear about it -- that's fine, too. But tonight he played well, and hopefully the people get behind him."
Rask stopped 32 of 33 shots as Boston defeated Toronto, 5-1, in Game 7 of their first-round series. It's the second straight year Toronto's season ended in this fashion.
Boston's first three goals were scored by bottom-six forwards -- Joakim Nordstrom, Marcus Johansson and Sean Kuraly -- but the star of the night was Rask, the 32-year-old Finn.
"Hopefully, he can continue to build on his playoff legacy. It's a big Game 7 win," Cassidy said. "I believe he was our best player."
Rask's cap hit is $7 million, which is the fourth-highest among goalies in the league. Despite winning a Vezina Trophy in 2014, leading Boston to consistent regular-season success and long playoff runs, Rask is often polarizing among fans. It began in the 2010 playoffs, when Rask allowed 15 goals in four games as the Flyers became the third team in NHL history to come back from a deficit of 0-3 to win a playoff series.
When asked if a Game 7 will help cement his legacy, Rask said: "The big audience will decide that. I just try to prepare myself the same way every game. It helps with experience, you don't want to get too high or too low."
Rask posted a .928 save percentage in the seven-game series, with a 2.32 GAA.
The Bruins limited Rask's workload this season, thanks in part to strong play from backup Jaroslav Halak. Rask took a brief leave of absence for personal reasons in November and also missed 12 days in January after sustaining a concussion. Rask started only 45 games -- his fewest since becoming Boston's regular starter. It was down from his 53 starts last season and significantly down from his career-high of 67 starts (and 70 appearances) in 2014-15.
"We limited his workload this year and wondered how it was going to affect him in the playoffs," Cassidy said. "And I think tonight, hopefully, we got some residual effects of that."
"The workload hasn't been too much," Rask said. "So I feel fresh."
Rask especially shined in the second period, as Toronto amped up the pressure with 13 shots on goal. "We broke down, we had a tough time getting the puck out of our own zone," Cassidy said. "He was there for us."
Added captain Zdeno Chara: "They were putting a lot of pucks on net, in the slot, a lot of shots, rebounds, and I thought he was in good position and controlling the rebounds and the shots. I thought he was obviously a difference-maker."
Toronto has lost each of its last three Game 7s -- all against the Bruins. No team in Stanley Cup playoff history has lost three straight winner-take-all games to the same opponent. The only other team in NHL, MLB and NBA playoff history to lose three consecutive winner-take-all games to the same opponent is the Pat Riley-led Miami Heat against the Knicks from 1998 to 2000.
The Bruins will now face the Columbus Blue Jackets in the second round, with Game 1 on Thursday night. The Blue Jackets beat the NHL's top-seeded Tampa Bay Lightning in a shocking first-round sweep. Tampa Bay had matched the NHL record for regular-season wins, with 62.
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BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins were amped up for Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night -- then got an extra boost late in the first period from a famous fan.
With 4:29 remaining in the first period, the jumbotron at TD Garden panned to New England Patriots wide receiver and Super Bowl LIII MVP Julian Edelman, who chugged a beer with impressive focus. The crowd began roaring -- and apparently the Bruins' bench did, too.
"Julian Edelman chugging a beer was awesome," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said after the game, when asked about the crowd environment. "Probably got everyone fired up -- including us. Good for him."
The Bruins were leading 1-0 at the time, and went on to defeat the Maple Leafs, 5-1, to advance to the second round. It's the second straight year Boston knocked out Toronto in a Game 7.
"We'll return the favor, at some point down the road," Cassidy said of Edelman's chug. "But I thought it was outstanding. That's Game 7 playoff hockey for you, right there."
Edelman was the honorary banner captain for the Bruins before the game, along with Special Olympics Massachusetts athlete Meghan Colby.
As a guest of the Washington Capitals for Game 5 of their first-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes, Washington Redskins linebacker Ryan Kerrigan also chugged a beer on camera. Kerrigan chugged his beer through his shirt -- the same way Capitals winger T.J. Oshie did it for the Capitals' Stanley Cup parade last summer.
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San Jose Sharks captain Joe Pavelski had to be helped off the ice in the third period of Tuesday's Game 7 against the Vegas Golden Knights after his head hit the ice after he was cross-checked by Cody Eakin during a faceoff.
Eakin was given a five-minute major and a 10-minute game misconduct.
The incident happened at the 10:47 mark in the third. On a faceoff in San Jose's offensive zone, Eakin cross-checked Pavelski in the chest. Paul Stastny then hit Pavelski as he fell to the ice, with his helmet slamming down.
Pavelski appeared to be knocked out, and blood poured out of his mouth, which was injured after he took a puck to the face while scoring a goal in Game 1.
"You see our leader go down, he's out cold on the ice and it was kind of like he was seizuring up a little bit so tough to see," teammate Logan Couture said.
The officials huddled as a dazed Pavelski was helped to the locker room.
"He's the heart of this team, and to see him go down like that and suffer like that was heartbreaking for us," said center Joe Thornton. "That power-play unit, it won us the game. The boys got together and said this is for Pavs. We love him. It was just a matter of will, and we willed that one for him."
Trailing 3-0 at the time of the penalty, the Sharks rallied behind their captain, thanks to two goals from Logan Couture, one from Tomas Hertl and then the tiebreaker from Kevin Labanc, who assisted on the first three goals. It marked just the second time a team had scored four goals on one major power play in a playoff game.
After Vegas tied the score in the final minute to send the game to overtime, Barclay Goodrow clinched the series for the Sharks, scoring with 1:41 left to give San Jose a 5-4 win.
The Sharks will face Colorado in the Western Conference semifinals.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Jonathan Marchessault stood in the Vegas Golden Knights' locker room after their Game 7 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks, a defeat that ended the second-year franchise's season in astonishing fashion.
He expressed concern for Sharks captain Joe Pavelski, who bled profusely after he tumbled and slammed his head on the ice in the third period. But then Marchessault said, angrily and unequivocally, that the five-minute major penalty to Cody Eakin that resulted from that injury -- during which San Jose erased a 3-0 deficit with four quick power-play goals -- "stole" Game 7 from the Knights.
"It's a f---ing joke. To call five minutes for that? It changed the whole outcome of the game," Marchessault said after a 5-4 loss to the Sharks on Tuesday night. "Like, seriously, what is that? It's so disappointing. The game's not even close. It's 3-0. Call a [two-minute minor]? OK. But a five? For something you don't even see? You just call the outcome. It's a f---ing joke. It's embarrassing. That's what it is."
Here is the Cody Eakin five-minute major for cross-checking on #SJSharks captain Joe Pavelski #VGKvsSJS pic.twitter.com/mEGVgzpcOb
— SiriusXM NHL Network Radio (@SiriusXMNHL) April 24, 2019
In what Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said was "the craziest game I've ever seen," the Knights had a 3-0 lead in the third period with goalie Marc-Andre Fleury stopping everything in sight. A second-round date with the Colorado Avalanche seemed inevitable. But the Sharks had already shown during this series that there are no inevitabilities, rallying from a 3-1 series deficit and earning a Game 7 after a double-overtime win in Vegas.
Midway through the third period, Pavelski won a faceoff from Eakin, who then delivered a cross-check to the Sharks center's chest. Pavelski stumbled backward and collided with Vegas forward Paul Stastny, who knocked him off his skates. Pavelski fell straight to the ice on the right side of his head, his helmet slamming hard, and began bleeding. Brent Burns and other Sharks players surrounded their captain, calling for the training staff. Pavelski eventually sat up, and gingerly skated to the bench, his teammate Joe Thornton pressing a towel against his head. He was eventually helped to the locker room.
Neither of the two referees, Eric Furlatt or Dan O'Halloran, signaled for a penalty as play went on. But as Pavelski was being treated on the ice, a significant call was made: Eakin was given a major penalty for cross-checking and a game misconduct with 10:47 left in the period.
A major penalty for cross-checking, by rule, is "at the discretion of the referee based on the severity of the contact" on the play.
"Furlatt said, 'It looks pretty bad.' If it looks pretty bad, then clearly you did not see it," Marchessault said. "It's a faceoff. It's a push. Probably 50 percent of the faceoffs, players -- if they lose -- they probably give a small cross-check, right? If you want to call the cross-check, fine, call it. It's a cross-check. But seriously, he falls bad. It's unfortunate. Don't get me wrong: I'm a huge fan of Joe Pavelski. And he went down, and I really hope he's OK and he comes back. But that call changes the whole outcome. It changes the whole future of us and the outcome this year. It's a joke. I would be embarrassed if I was them."
The NHL, through a pool reporter at Game 7, issued a statement from series officiating supervisor Don Van Massenhoven: "The referees called a cross-checking penalty for an infraction that caused a significant injury. In their judgment, the infraction and its result merited a major penalty."
Requests by the pool reporter to further clarify which official made the call, or the process behind making it a major penalty, were denied.
Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said after the game that the on-ice officials described a scene that didn't actually occur.
"They said he cross-checked him across the face, and as we all saw, that didn't happen," Gallant said. "There was no high-stick that hit him in the face. When Stastny came out, he fell and banged his head on the ice. That's the unfortunate part of it. It was an awful call. We've all seen it. It's too bad we end up losing because of that because we're in control of the hockey game."
One team's frustration is another team's opportunity, even if the odds were stacked against them. According to MoneyPuck.com, the Sharks had a 1.19 percent chance to win the game when they were given the five-minute major.
But probabilities can't always account for variables, such as how San Jose used the Pavelski injury as a rallying cry on their bench.
"You see our leader go down. He's out cold on the ice, and it kind of looked like he was seizuring up a little bit. So tough to see, man. Real tough to see," Sharks center Logan Couture said. "But you've got to give credit to [Thornton]. As soon as we got to that bench, he said, 'You guys go out and you get f---ing three goals right now.' And I mean, when a guy that's played 20 years orders you around like that, bosses you around, you've got to go do it. So we did. We got four."
Vegas began losing control just six seconds into the penalty kill, as Couture sent a wrister that Fleury whiffed on to make it 3-1. Tomas Hertl followed that at 10:09, a deflection from the slot of an Erik Karlsson point shot, with Fleury completely screened by Timo Meier. Couture struck again at 12:53, and the Knights' lead had evaporated within 3 minutes, 33 seconds. Then it was Kevin Labanc, who earlier in the game was handcuffed by a bouncing puck and missed a gaping open net, converting for the 4-3 lead.
Four minutes and seven seconds of power-play time. Four goals, and a Game 7 lead, thanks to a power play that had been 4-for-25 entering the game. It was the first time all series that a team that had the lead ever trailed in a game in which it held it.
But that's the kind of effort the Sharks mustered when their captain went down.
"He's the heart of this team, and to see him go down like that and suffer like that, it was heartbreaking for us," Thornton said of Pavelski. "That power-play unit won us the game, but you know, the boys, they got together and they said, 'This is for Pav.' So we love him. It was just a matter of will, and we willed that one for him."
The Knights, however, still had a rally of their own, getting a goal from Marchessault with 47 seconds left in regulation with Fleury pulled for an extra skater. The game went to overtime, where both Fleury (43 saves) and San Jose goalie Martin Jones (34 saves) put on respective clinics. But spare forward Barclay Goodrow, on just his second shift of the overtime, scored at 18:19 to eliminate the Knights.
The Sharks became only the second team in NHL history to overcome a three-goal, third-period deficit to win a Game 7, joining the 2013 Boston Bruins.
"They scored four goals on the power play. They came clutch. They feed off the bad call, they come back, 4-3, and get the big goal in overtime. You have to give them credit at some point. They're a great hockey team," Marchessault said.
"But it's embarrassing."
He said this instant classic Game 7 has been tainted, comparing the plight of his team to that of the New Orleans Saints, and the infamous pass interference non-call in the NFC Championship Game that helped the Los Angeles Rams reach the Super Bowl.
"It's the same thing as with that football team. The Saints. It changes the whole outcome," Marchessault said.
"They called a bad call, and look where we are. Summer starts, and it's f---ing five months now until game one of the regular season starts. It's awful. You think we were ready to get our summer going here? We're a great team. It's unbelievable."
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Stanley Cup Playoffs Daily: Leafs, Knights ousted, and another Game 7 on tap
Published in
Hockey
Wednesday, 24 April 2019 05:13
This might have been the craziest first round in Stanley Cup playoff history, and Tuesday night featured one of the wildest Game 7s you'll ever see. And oh yeah, there's another Game 7 in store on Wednesday.
Here's a recap of Tuesday night's action (check out replays of every playoff game on ESPN+) and what to watch for Wednesday night in today's edition of ESPN Stanley Cup Playoffs Daily:
Jump ahead: Last night's games | Three Stars
Play of the night | Today's games | Social post of the day
About last night ...
Game 7: Boston Bruins 5, Toronto Maple Leafs 1 (Bruins win series 4-3) Are the Maple Leafs cursed? As long as they keep facing the Bruins in the playoffs, they might be. Toronto has lost each of its last three Game 7s -- all against the B's. No team in Stanley Cup playoff history has lost three straight winner-take-all games to the same opponent. The only other team in NHL, MLB and NBA playoff history to lose three consecutive winner-take-all games to the same opponent is the Pat Riley-led Miami Heat against the New York Knicks from 1998 to 2000.
For Boston, Tuukka Rask was exceptional and bottom-six forwards Joakim Nordstrom, Marcus Johansson and Sean Kuraly provided huge goals, while Patriots receiver Julian Edelman was credited with an assist by Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy in his postgame comments:
����l��CASSIDY THANKS EDELMAN������#Bruins Head Coach thanks #Patriots WR @Edelman11 for chugging a beer and getting the @tdgarden crowd fired up during #Game7 of #Bruins win over #LeafsForever #TORvsBOS #Edelman @Patriots #WBZ pic.twitter.com/hjVbghSkRf
- Scott Sullivan (@SliceOfSully) April 24, 2019
Game 7: San Jose Sharks 5, Vegas Golden Knights 4 (OT) (Sharks win series 4-3) We'll be talking about this game for years. The Golden Knights looked like they were surely going to win it after building a 3-0 lead by the third period. Then Joe Pavelski went down with an ugly injury, Cody Eakin was given a five-minute major for his role in that injury, and the Sharks rallied around their teammate in quite spectacular fashion.
The Sharks scored four goals during the major to grab the lead. Jonathan Marchessault tied it late, and that led us to overtime. (According to MoneyPuck.com, the Sharks had a 1.19 percent chance to win when they were given their five-minute power play with 9:13 left in the third period.) It took nearly the entire 20-minute OT period, but none other than Barclay Goodrow scored a beauty of a game winner after taking a feed from Erik Karlsson:
The winner....Goodrow....What a feed from Karlsson..dime... pic.twitter.com/YBH7cLchzB
- Bucci Mane (@Buccigross) April 24, 2019
Three Stars
1. Barclay Goodrow, RW, San Jose Sharks
After one of the wildest playoff games, it felt appropriate that a wild card scored the game winner. Only Lukas Radil (2:36) had less ice time than Goodrow for the Sharks on Wednesday night. But he looked like a scoring dynamo on his series clincher.
2. Tuukka Rask, G, Boston Bruins
The Bruins goaltender was sensational, stopping 32 of 33 shots. "I hope fans recognize what he did tonight," Cassidy said afterward. "I think you have to, as a fan, acknowledge when a player plays well. I know in this town when you don't, you hear about it -- that's fine, too. But tonight he played well and hopefully the people get behind him."
3. Kevin Labanc, RW, San Jose Sharks
The 23-year-old was all over the Sharks' five-minute power play in the third period, scoring a goal and adding three assists. He's the first player in NHL history to score four points in a period in a Game 7.
Play of the night
0:28
Goodrow's OT goal gives Sharks Game 7 victory
Barclay Goodrow nets the winning goal in overtime as the Sharks knock off the Golden Knights in Game 7 to advance to the Western Conference semifinals.
Another look at the goal that ended it all.
Dud of the night
The play that started San Jose's furious rally. You be the judge if it was an unfortunate, awkward fall or deserving of a five-minute major.
Here is the Cody Eakin five-minute major for cross-checking on #SJSharks captain Joe Pavelski #VGKvsSJS pic.twitter.com/mEGVgzpcOb
- SiriusXM NHL Network Radio (@SiriusXMNHL) April 24, 2019
On the schedule
Carolina Hurricanes at Washington Capitals, Game 7, 7:30 p.m. ET (series tied 3-3)
This one has been a tale of two cities, and one which would entertain Charles Dickens himself. The Canes have impressed in all three games in Raleigh. But the Caps have looked terrific in Washington, led by the unstoppable duo of Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. You'll hear a lot about Justin Williams being Mr. Game 7. The Hurricanes forward (and former Capital) has more points in Game 7s (14) than any other player in NHL history. It would be an upset if the Canes (playing in their first postseason in a decade) knocked out the defending champs on their home ice, but ... let's just say stranger things have happened already in these playoffs.
Social post of the day
Zdeno Chara has quietly become one of the league's best Instagrammers this season.
Thank you Boston for bringing your best tonight. #madeforthis
A post shared by Zdeno Chara (@zeechara33) on
Quotable
"It's a f---ing joke. It's embarrassing. That's what it is. It changed the entire outcome of the game, and the season." -- Golden Knights winger Jonathan Marchessault on the five-minute major.
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Notes: Thomas launches charity foundation for kids, military
Published in
Golf
Tuesday, 23 April 2019 15:10
Justin Thomas is the latest PGA Tour player to launch a foundation, and it wasn't anything he threw together overnight.
''We've been talking about it the last couple of years,'' Thomas said. ''My mom has done an unbelievable job of making sure everything was done properly. We've talked to so many other athletes, their wives, people who have run other foundations who said, 'If we had to do it over, make sure you to do this or do that.' There's no reason to do it if it's not done right.''
The Justin Thomas Foundation officially launched last Wednesday in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. It featured a dinner with 544 guests and a waiting list, always a sign of support. Along with a silent auction, Thomas invited an auctioneer for other items because, he said, ''I'm not very good at talking real fast to get people to donate money.''
Peter Jacobsen conducted a fireside chat with Thomas, who at 25 has nine victories, a major at the PGA Championship, a FedExCup title and has reached No. 1 in the world. Kelley James provided the entertainment.
Thomas grew up in Louisville, where father Mike was the longtime pro at Harmony Landing.
''I wanted it to be local because of how special Louisville is to me,'' he said.
Thomas said the three cornerstones of the foundation would be children in need, military families and junior golf. Charities the foundation initially plans to support are the Boys and Girls Club of Kentuckiana, The First Tee of Louisville, Folds of Honor, The First Tee of Tuscaloosa, Kentucky Golf Foundation and Convoy of Hope.
The next step?
''As I said at the dinner, I need to make sure I'm playing good golf so I can help fund this thing,'' Thomas said with a laugh.
EARLY START
Captain Tiger Woods and part of his U.S. team can expect to be bleary-eyed at the Presidents Cup this year.
Woods announced Tuesday that his Hero World Challenge will return to the Bahamas in December and end on Saturday (Dec. 7) instead of Sunday to give him and some of the players a little extra time to get to Australia for the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne.
The matches start Thursday, Dec. 12. Even leaving the Bahamas on Saturday, a charter would not arrive until Monday morning. This will be the latest the Presidents Cup has ever been played. The first time in Melbourne - 1998, the only International victory - ended on Dec. 12.
Still to be determined is who makes the teams, and who plays in the Bahamas.
The Hero World Challenge will be held the same week as the Australian Open, which was moved to the week ahead of the Presidents Cup with hopes of attracting a stronger field as it did in 2011, the second time Royal Melbourne hosted the Presidents Cup.
ONE COURSE, TWO TOURS
Meghan MacLaren of England will be playing with the men for the third time this year, even if she's not on the same golf course.
MacLaren missed the cut in the Vic Open in Australia, in which men and women competed in separate competitions for equal prize money. She was runner-up to Daan Huizing in the Jordan Mixed Open, in which players from the Challenge Tour, Ladies European Tour and Staysure Tour (Europe's 50-and-over tour) competed against each other on the same course.
Next up is the Lalla Meryem Cup on the LET in Morocco, held the same week as the Trophee Hassan II on the European Tour. The men are competing on the Red Course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, while the women are playing on the neighboring Blue Course.
All players use the same driving range, practice green and players' lounge.
''Any time the men and women are in the same environment it creates a different kind of buzz for the players, because I think there's a lot of mutual respect and also enjoyment that we're all connected by creating a living through the game of golf,'' MacLaren said. ''The more opportunities there are for women's golf to raise its profile, the more I think investment and interest in it will grow.''
BACK BROTHERS
Rory Sabbatini and Brian Gay are teammates in the Zurich Classic this week, a partnership linked by bad backs and a company that helped them.
Both players have had total disc replacement surgery through Pennsylvania-based Centinel Spine. Along with being partners in fourballs and foursomes at the TPC Louisiana, the idea is to help promote solutions for spinal injury and disease.
Gay has the company's logo on his apparel and golf bag, while Sabbatini has the logo on his hat and bag.
DJ'S SUNDAYS
Hilton Head was the latest example of Dustin Johnson not getting the most out of his opportunities.
He was one shot behind going into the final round of the Valspar Championship when he failed to make a single birdie for the first time in 31 tournaments worldwide, shot 74 and tied for sixth.
He closed with a 68 and finished one shot behind Tiger Woods at the Masters, but he went 31 holes - from the 10th on Friday until the 16th on Sunday- without making a birdie on anything but a par 5.
And then in the RBC Heritage, he lost a one-shot lead going into the final round with a 77.
Johnson has now only converted five out of nine times on the PGA Tour when he has led going into the final round. In three of those events he failed to win, he closed with a 77 or worse. The others were a 77 in the 2017 HSBC Champions, where he lost a six-shot lead, and an 82 in the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where he led by three going into the final round.
Johnson shot 71 in the final round at Doral in 2011 and finished two behind Nick Watney.
PRESIDENTIAL UPDATE
Now that the Tour Championship will offer world ranking points through standard 72-hole scores, the PGA Tour has moved the deadline up by one week for players to qualify for the U.S. and International Presidents Cup teams.
The American team is based on FedExCup points starting with the 2017 BMW Championship (double points in the current season), while the International team is based on world ranking points accumulated from last year's Dell Technologies Championship outside Boston.
The original plan was for qualifying for eight automatic spots on both teams to end at the Tour Championship.
However, no FedExCup points will be available at the Tour Championship – instead, players will start at various points under par depending on their FedExCup ranking. But with world ranking points being available for International team players, the tour decided to end qualifying one week early at the BMW Championship.
Tiger Woods and Ernie Els then would get four captain's picks.
DIVOTS
Lucas Bjerregaard, who beat Tiger Woods in the quarterfinals of the Match Play, has taken special temporary membership on the PGA Tour. That means the Dane can have unlimited sponsor exemptions the rest of the season in his bid to get a full card. Matt Fitzpatrick of England previously took special temporary membership. That means 46 of the top 50 in the world ranking have some form of PGA Tour membership. ... Matt Kuchar has two victories and two runner-up finishes this season. The last time he had two wins and two second-place finishes was in 2013. ... The Lakewood Club in Alabama has been selected to host the U.S. Senior Women's Amateur in 2020.
STAT OF THE WEEK
Justin Thomas at the 2017 PGA Championship is the last major champion who wasn't wearing a Nike swoosh on his clothing.
FINAL WORD
''Probably about three years ago ... we didn't know how long he was going to play for because he was struggling to play five tournaments a year. So to be able to do that, it's very impressive, and we'll see where he goes from there.'' - Sergio Garcia, on Tiger Woods winning the Masters.
Note: Doug Ferguson is a golf writer for the Associated Press.
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College notebook: Ole Miss scripts SEC shocker; Fisk wins again
Published in
Golf
Tuesday, 23 April 2019 16:43
This is the stuff they write movies about.
What Ole Miss did Sunday at the SEC Championship – rallying behind a once-little-used freshman, defying the odds against the conference’s best with a series of jaw-dropping moments and making the improbable probable with the program’s first conference title – certainly couldn’t have been scripted any more perfectly.
Let’s start with the unlikely star. Macy Somoskey, a mechanical engineering major from Sanford, Fla., doesn’t attend Ole Miss on an athletic scholarship but rather an academic one. She played just one tournament in the fall and didn’t even crack the Rebels’ lineup until March. Her scoring average this season? 76 and change.
Even at the SEC Championship, she tied for 57th in the stroke-play portion at Greystone Golf Club in Birmingham, Ala.
Yet when the pressure heightened, Somoskey rose to the occasion. She won the deciding point against Florida standout Marta Perez in 19 holes to send the Rebels to the semifinals. She then took down Georgia’s most experienced player, Rinko Mitsunaga, in 21 holes.
“My confidence definitely grew as the matches went on,” Somoskey said, “but it was still incredibly nerve-racking.”
Finally, she completed a 62-hole match-play run with a 22-hole win over South Carolina’s Lois Kaye Go, a match that Somoskey kept alive by sinking a 50-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole.
“It was really special to see what she did out there and pull through with such clutch moments,” Ole Miss coach Kory Henkes said. “I’ve watched that putt [on 18] probably 50 times and get chills every time I watch it.”
Not bad for a player with little match-play experience. Of course, Ole Miss is new to this kind of success, as well. It was just last year that the Rebels qualified for their first SEC Championship.
Now, they have their first SEC title after winning as the eighth seed entering match play and taking down Florida, Georgia and a South Carolina team that beat Ole Miss, 4-1, at the Liz Murphey earlier this month. And despite being ranked 35th in the country, the Rebels appear to be no fluke behind the strong one-two punch of Julia Johnson and Conner Beth Ball, who have combined for 10 top 10s this season, and the suddenly clutch-as-nails Somoskey.
As Ole Miss’ athletic slogan says, this could be the “new normal.”
When the Ole Miss team arrived back in Oxford on Sunday evening, it was greeted by the men’s golf team, as well as other student-athletes, coaches, administrators and fans. The players wore their SEC champion t-shirts to class on Monday and that night donned their winning caps at the Rebel Choice Awards.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” Henkes said. “I think I’ve finally had time to look at all the social-media posts and watch all the videos clips and just realize how truly spectacular this past week has been and how amazing of an accomplishment this was for all of the girls.
“I think this really has put Ole Miss golf on the map and it’ll be fun to see where we go from here.”
The story continues.
EXTRA CREDIT
For a full recap and scores of every Division I women's conference championship, click here.
TOP OF THE CLASS
While Oklahoma State’s dynamic duo of Matt Wolff and Viktor Hovland are dominating the headlines, Steven Fisk has one fewer win than the two of them … combined.
The Georgia Southern senior picked up his sixth individual victory of the season – and ninth of his career – at the Sun Belt Conference Championship on Tuesday at Sandestin Resort’s Raven Course. The triumph, Fisk’s second Sun Belt crown, came after Fisk topped Arkansas State’s Luka Naglic in a one-hole playoff.
After opening the tournament in 75, Fisk shot 15 under in his final 36 holes.
“A great example of the perseverance and determination this young man has,” said Georgia Southern coach Carter Collins.
Fisk is now the Eagles’ all-time wins leader, passing Jodie Mudd, and school’s only two-time Sun Belt champion.
Of course, what Fisk did a day earlier was arguably even more impressive. A season after nearly shooting college golf’s first 59 and instead settling for 60, he flirted with a sub-60 score again in the second round at Sandestin.
Fisk made 10 birdies and shot 10-under 61, a round that included pars on three of his final four holes.
“I’ve actually had a couple of rounds lower than 61 before, so it was a comfortable enough of a situation and something that I’ve done in competition and knew how to handle,” Fisk said.
While Fisk’s Georgia Southern team still has to earn its NCAA regional invite via match play on Wednesday, Fisk should be guaranteed at least a ticket as an individual. What would be even better is if the mid-major marvel gets matched with Wolff and Hovland in a regional.
SOCIAL LIFE
As if you needed another reminder that match play is the most exciting way to crown a champion. Here’s some more reaction from Ole Miss’ epic win.
ON TAP
While the women’s regional fields will be set Wednesday night, men’s conference championships are in full swing. The Pac-12 finishes up play Wednesday, but the Big Ten, SEC and Big 12 all will contest their championships later this week and into the weekend.
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Arsenal manager Unai Emery has hit out at criticism of under-fire defender Shkodran Mustafi, telling fans that he "doesn't agree" with personal insults towards the German international or any of his players.
Mustafi was at fault for two Crystal Palace goals as Arsenal fell to a 3-2 home defeat last Sunday, first losing striker Christian Benteke at a free-kick before allowing Wilfried Zaha to race through to score Palace's second, and has been questioned for his performances in recent weeks.
The defeat was a missed opportunity for Arsenal to boost their hopes of finishing in the top four and qualifying for the Champions League, while Mustafi found himself on the receiving end of some of the Arsenal fans' frustrations.
Emery's side can take back fourth place if they win at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday and ahead of the game the Arsenal coach launched a public defence of the defender, urging fans to get behind the team during their crucial run-in.
"I know it is not easy and they are going to criticise when they are in the stadium and also when they are watching on TV," Emery said. "But personal insults I don't agree with. Insults I don't want. I think it is not necessary to be insulting.
"If I protect the players, first it is for the confidence. I do criticise them -- but only inside when I am working and we are speaking. I use my conversations with them individually and collectively and sometimes I criticise them. But outside I want to protect them. I prefer that as I think we need to be together."
He added: "I protect Mustafi because I believe in him.
"He is a very good centre back, he has the habit of doing the sliding tackle and using anticipation against the opposition. He can win one, win two, win three, win four -- but if he loses one he is in the picture and if he concedes a goal he is the big picture. Sunday was like that.
"I have spoken to him. I told him 'You are young, you can improve and you need to work hard because you have a big quality for a centre back.'"
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