Gloucester head coach George Skivington has committed his future to the club by signing a new "long-term deal".

The former lock retired from playing because of injury in 2016 after spells at Wasps, Leicester and London Irish.

"I'm massively grateful to the club for giving me this contract. The club did take a punt on me," Skivington said.

"There were higher profile coaches that they could have gone for which would have been the easy option in terms of people's perceptions.

"My ambition is to prove them right and show them that they've hired the right guy and I'll continue to do that. We want to be a successful club year after year."

While Gloucester finished 11th in the Premiership in Skivington's first year at the helm, they have made big strides this season and are currently in fifth place, having pushed for the top four play-off spots for most of the campaign.

The success of the team's driving maul this season, to become the most formidable in the league, has typified Gloucester's improvement and is something Skivington is keen to create a culture around.

"It's probably the best area of the game for showing how tight you are as a group," he told BBC Sport previously.

Gloucester chief executive officer Lance Bradley added: "We have a long-term vision for success both on and off the field, and George has made, and continues to make, a significant contribution towards that," said

New York Rangers winger Ryan Reaves had some regrets after Game 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes. Not about the result, which was a 3-1 Rangers victory at Madison Square Garden that cut their series deficit to 2-1. But about the immediate aftermath.

Reaves was on the ice at the final buzzer when Carolina forward Max Domi gave Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren a cross-check in New York's zone, leading to the two wrestling to the ice. Meanwhile, Hurricanes defenseman Tony DeAngelo was trading words with the Rangers' bench, causing an irate coach Gerard Gallant to snap back.

"You never want to see a guy chirping your bench," Reaves said. "I wish I would have seen that. I was looking more at the Domi/Lindgren thing. It happens in playoff games. I guess guys feel a little braver because they know scrums like that aren't going to result in anything. I wish I were a little quicker to the scrum, for sure. I wish I would have grabbed him first."

Gallant memorably called it "the bulls--- at the end of the game that they initiated," and decried what he saw as a futile attempt by the Hurricanes to send a message ahead of Tuesday night's Game 4.

"The game is over," the coach said. "They're not sending any message. We've got the guy that can handle all their guys if we want to."

Did he mean Reaves, one of the NHL's last remaining enforcers?

"I never said his name," Gallant said with a laugh Monday.

Gallant coached Reaves with the Vegas Golden Knights before they both joined the Rangers. "He did his job perfectly [in Vegas]. It's not about going out there and fighting. What's he fought, twice this year?" asked Gallant. (It was three times.) "He's just an insurance blanket for you there. Our guys know we have him there."

In a brief few moments at the end of Game 3, the second-round series between the Rangers and Hurricanes became a series Reaves would love. Emotions boiled over. Penalties were earned. Trash was talked.

"I just think it's going to [happen] in the playoffs, when you play the same team over and over again," Gallant said. "It's going to happen naturally. I don't think it's a thing where guys say 'OK, now we've gotta be nasty. We've gotta start a scrum. We've gotta start eye-gouging guys.' It's never like that."

The Hurricanes deny there was "message sending" at the end of Game 3. Coach Rod Brind'Amour responded as if he were taken aback by Gallant's claim.

"He really said that?" he said, noting that players such as Martin Necas and Jesperi Kotkaniemi were on the ice when Domi mixed it up with Lindgren. "I don't know what he's talking about. We don't really have guys that send messages."

"I don't know what message we were sending," rookie forward Seth Jarvis said. "We played until the final buzzer and then stuff got out of hand."

But the Rangers are clearly looking to use the incident as a green light for more physicality in the series, which Gallant believes is to their benefit.

"I like to see our guys get a little pissed off once in a while," he said. "We play better. It helps us get more focused a little bit."

Reaves agreed. "Some of those top guys getting a little more physical," he said. "I think our team thrives on that. Some teams shy away. I think we do well with that."

Obviously, there are limitations to that physicality. While the Hurricanes have sputtered on the power play on the road, going 1-for-19 in the playoffs, the Rangers don't want to tempt fate by taking irresponsible penalties. They've benefitted from being one of the most disciplined teams in the playoffs, averaging 3.30 penalties per 60 minutes, behind only Colorado in staying out of the penalty box.

"You don't want to go get outside your game," defenseman Justin Braun said. "You don't want to be taking stupid penalties in a series that's this tight. You gotta have that physicality but you've gotta keep your head."

That said, the Rangers will remember Domi wrestling with Lindgren after the buzzer. They'll remember DeAngelo at the benches, increasing the heat he already had with his former team. The question is, will that manifest into some extra physicality coming the way of those players in Game 4?

Reaves pondered that question Monday, bobbing his head while a prolonged "ummmm" hummed through his mouth. A smile slowly crept across his face.

"I don't want to say anything stupid here," he said, drawing a laugh. "I'm sure [our] guys aren't going to shy away from finishing checks on those guys. There's going to be some added nastiness when a specific player does something."

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid is putting on a master class of postseason performance, and it's pushing the Edmonton Oilers to greater heights.

Take, for example, McDavid's play in Game 2 of Edmonton's second-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Calgary Flames. The Oilers were trailing 3-1 after a disallowed goal, and McDavid had just set up a subsequent goal for Leon Draisaitl that was also called back.

Frustrating? Not for McDavid. Shortly thereafter, Edmonton's captain took control and dangled through Calgary's defense to score against Jacob Markstrom.

Edmonton's bench exploded. The Oilers were back in business. And Calgary would not score again as Edmonton went on to win 5-3 and even the best-of-seven series at 1-1.

McDavid didn't have much to say about his goal -- "I'm just happy to contribute," he said afterward -- but there was no mistaking its impact, or the one McDavid is having in these playoffs.

And if McDavid isn't going to talk about his play, there are plenty of people around him willing to pick up the slack.

"The way this guy is playing right now, it's special," Oilers interim coach Jay Woodcroft said. "He's driving our team forward. Connor is the best hockey player in the world. He's willing to pay a price to win. He's driven to win. He has an effect on everybody in our organization with that desire to take his game to the next level."

"I think he's pushing his own limits, right? And that's what special players do," forward Zach Hyman added. "He's taken his game to another level, and that's hard to do already. But he's leading our team in every aspect. He's doing it all. He's a huge reason we're here."

"Here" for the Oilers is now leading their series with Calgary 2-1 after a 4-1 blowout in Game 3 on Sunday. McDavid had three points in that game, teeing up two of Evander Kane's three goals and another by Hyman. But McDavid's dominance goes beyond the scoresheet.

He can also get inside your head.

"We've let one guy beat us a few nights now," Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk said after Sunday's loss. "Just back to the drawing board and figure out a way to stop him. Pretty much, they've got one player that plays half the game and he's playing some great hockey right now and we've got to find a way to stop that."

Given the layers to McDavid's contributions of late, it'll be like halting a freight train:

• He can effortlessly attack the offensive zone with unparalleled speed.

• He can execute under pressure to keep a play alive.

• He battles defensively to create offense.

• He's engaged physically, throwing the second-most hits (12) for Edmonton in this Battle of Alberta series, and has levied its third-most hits (33) through 10 playoff games.

The list could go on from there. McDavid has only gotten sharper since the Oilers opened their first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings, pounding on the brick wall that was Jonathan Quick until he could drag Edmonton through to a seven-game series win.

McDavid leads the NHL postseason field in points (23), same as he did in the regular season (123). He is a Hart Trophy finalist once again this season. But it's not those accolades that set him apart. And it's not why Woodcroft is willing to put his superstar on the ice when Edmonton is protecting a critical lead under duress, as it was late in Game 2.

"What I saw was a leader who, when the game was on the line, was prepared to be in a shooting lane," Woodcroft said. "When the goalie is pulled and we're killing a penalty, he was out there for a reason. He put his body on the line so we would win. And that type of self-sacrifice is what it takes to win this time of year."

The McDavid Effect by the numbers

One look at McDavid and he passes the eye test. His postseason stats flesh out an even greater story.

In Sunday's Game 3, McDavid became the first player in Stanley Cup playoffs history with nine multipoint contests through his first 10 games.

The outlier there was a pointless night in Game 4 against L.A. (a shutout for Quick). Since then, McDavid has recorded multiple points in six straight contests, marking the longest such streak since Evgeni Malkin achieved the same feat in 2009 (and eventually won the Conn Smythe when Pittsburgh hoisted the Cup). Only Wayne Gretzky (eight-game streak in 1983), Darryl Sittler (seven in 1977) and Tony Currie (seven in 1981) have done better.

The 23 points McDavid has accrued is tied (with Boston's Rick Middleton in 1983) for the fourth most through the first 10 playoff games, trailing only Gretzky (29 in 1983 and 25 in 1985) and Mario Lemieux (25 in 1992).

All told, McDavid has produced sparkling individual numbers, while skating alongside other top talents in Draisaitl and Kane. His figures are only one piece of the puzzle, though.

"[What] it shows," said Oilers goalie Mike Smith, "is that when your best players are playing the best hockey of their careers in the playoffs, your team has a really good chance to win."

And how.

According to Stathletes data, the Oilers have generated 34 scoring chances (11.3 per game) against the Flames when McDavid is on the ice. Without him, Edmonton has created just 17 scoring chances (5.7 per game) and allowed 42 scoring chances against (14.0 per game).

He also leads all skaters this series in expected goals per 60 minutes (5.52). Draisaitl is second, with 5.18. Kane is third, at 3.82.

Through the Oilers' first 10 playoff games, Edmonton has out-chanced opponents 102-47 with McDavid on the ice, for a staggering +55 differential. By comparison, the Oilers have 62 scoring chances without McDavid on the ice and have allowed 101 scoring chances.

As a team, Edmonton has generated 28 goals at 5-on-5 in the postseason; McDavid has been out there for 17 (or 60.7%) of them.

With McDavid in the mix, the Oilers have given up only 169 shot attempts (16.9 per game) in these playoffs, compared with 376 (37.6 per game) when McDavid is on the bench.

It's an astonishing reflection on McDavid's overall game and represents the sheer volume of ways he makes Edmonton better. He's already widely acknowledged as the NHL's best player, but McDavid hasn't stopped reinventing and tweaking and improving. It's that commitment to excellence that impresses teammates most.

"He continues every year, in every important situation, to take another step and bring his game to another level," Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. "I think this playoffs he's been physically hitting guys, he uses his body to protect the puck and get on the forecheck. We see that as a group, and obviously he makes the plays at every chance [that are] available and creates something out of nothing in so many situations. But for our group, when he's your captain and he's doing that [other stuff], you want to follow that and you want to follow his example."

'Driven to be the best in the world'

Whenever McDavid touched the puck in Game 3, a roar would erupt at Rogers Place. Chants of "M-V-P" rained down with regularity from the thousands in jerseys bearing his name.

When McDavid laid an open-ice hit on Flames pest Tkachuk in the first period, a crescendo of cheers. When McDavid's speed drew an interference call against Calgary's Trevor Lewis, an ear-splitting whoop.

That's the power McDavid wields. No words necessary.

"Do I think it's special what Connor's doing?" Woodcroft asked. "You don't need me to tell you that."

McDavid won't provide much insight on his excellence, either. All his best talking gets done on the ice.

In that respect, what else can be said? McDavid is more than a game-changer. He's a series-breaker. And he's blown this one wide open for Edmonton as it heads into Game 4 on Tuesday (9:30 ET, ESPN) with a chance to put Calgary on the brink of elimination.

Which would be just another day at the office for McDavid.

"Every aspect of Connor in terms of the professional hockey player is business-oriented," Woodcroft said. "He is driven to be the best in the world. He is driven to find marginal gains on a day-to-day basis. During crunch time or adverse times in games, what you're seeing is somebody who is still maintaining his character. In his play, you see an elevation or willingness to do just a little bit more. And I think that type of effort and leadership is contagious. And I think it resonates with our players."

With two more wins against Edmonton's provincial rivals, he'll be doing it on an even bigger stage.

Annika Sorenstam celebrated shooting the lowest round in LPGA Tour history by cooking fish soup for dinner with her sister, Charlotta. What was in the soup? Charlotta couldn’t remember and didn’t care. The evening was a blur after Annika made history that day by carding a 59 at the 2001 Standard Register Ping at Moon Valley Country Club in Phoenix, Arizona.

Sorenstam’s record-setting round wasn't the topic of conversation that night as the 10-time major champion dined with her sister. By then, the Swede had spent a decade in partnership with Vision54, comprised of performance coaches Pia Nilson and Lynn Marriott, who helped Sorenstam learn how to separate her identity as one of the greatest golfers of all time from who she was off the golf course.

“I feel it’s very important to find balance in life. Life cannot just be competition,” Sorenstam recently told GolfChannel.com. “When you are off, be off. Take a complete break and enjoy whatever your hobbies are.”

Sorenstam says she divided her time on tour into three modes: rest, tournament and practice. When she was in rest mode, working out or cooking were two of the hobbies Sorenstam enjoyed most. Whipping up dinner was one of the ways she escaped from the game and, despite the pressure that came with playing as the No. 1 player in the world, it was a disconnect that Sorenstam says she easily made.

For others, the separation hasn’t been so simple.

Jennifer Kupcho began playing golf at age 5. By the time she won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2019, at 21, she’d been playing golf for nearly her entire life. She competed for Wake Forest, ascended to No. 1 in the amateur ranks, and earned LPGA Tour membership, which she took up after wrapping her college career.

At the same time, Kupcho wondered: Who am I as a person? What she had achieved on the golf course was so intertwined with her identity as a person that the frustration of hitting a duffed chip or a missed putt often resulted in an outward reaction that exposed her inner-demons. She needed an outlet from golf.

Nilsson and Mariott say players like Kupcho begin to realize that their singular role as a golfer is not sustainable as they reach their mid-20s, but by the same token, they often resist adding another role to their life because they believe it will impact their performance. Vision54 says they help players introduce a hobby to their lives through discussion and by sharing examples of other players' success. Once they’re open to taking on an additional activity, Vision54 recommends players do so gradually.

“All of us need a break from a ‘work role’ to recharge and be motivated,” Nilsson said. “It makes you better when you work. [It’s] the same for us as a coach, and anyone else, no matter [what] profession. Golf is what you do, and it’s not who you are.”

In 2020, Kupcho knew she needed to make some changes to improve her mindset as she adjusted to her first full season as a pro. The timing couldn’t have been worse.

The world was submerged in a pandemic that led the LPGA to take a three-month hiatus, forcing many players into isolation. Even when the tour returned in July 2020, few options were available due to COVID-19 protocols which limited players' activities to competing, practicing and sitting in their hotel room. How could Kupcho escape the game or her thoughts?

To fill the time, Kupcho began reading again, an activity she had abandoned upon leaving Wake Forest. She also began playing the video game "Fortnite" as a fun way to stay in touch with friends, instead of passively talking on the phone.

“Going from being a really serious golfer when I first came out on tour and getting upset over bad shots, doing those changes in 2020 helped me calm down,” Kupcho said last season.

Nilsson says in her team’s 30 years of coaching, they’ve never seen a player become successful by micro-focusing on their singular role as a golfer.

Vision54 has worked with several top-ranked players, including multiple world No. 1s, some of whom they say have no idea who they are as a person. The issue is many of the world’s best players have their identity entangled with performance, media, fans, and sponsors.

“They think if I only micro-focus for X-amount of years, that will make me most successful. After I am done playing, I can have other roles,” Nilsson said about players who have resisted enjoying other aspects of life. “They burn out, and they can become very unhealthy and feel that they are a good human as long as the performance is good. They can feel that others only like them when they play well.”

In addition to adopting a hobby, Vision54 also helps golfers adopt a role that allows them to simply be themselves. Nilsson says it's critical for players to identify who they would be if golf wasn’t an option.

“Either their golf performance tanks, or they are just not happy, healthy human beings,” Vision54 says in training documents designed for players’ support teams, which emphasize the importance of establishing that separate identity away from golf. “Who they are as a human being is always more important than their performance, and it’s the only way sustainable, great performance can happen."

When Kupcho is at home in Arizona with her new husband, Jay Monahan, she says she practices for a few hours, and then does something else to avoid spending all her time at the golf course. She watches Netflix, plays "Fornite" and has embraced her new role as a wife. These changes have made Kupcho happier away from the game, and it’s bled into her performance on the golf course. In April, she notched her first tour win and first major title at the Chevron Championship.

“It's what we've been doing our whole life,” Kupcho said about golf. “I think it's really important to just be able to separate your life. Golf is not the only thing that defines you.”

Patty Tavatanakit, a major champion and pupil of Vision54, has been masterful at making this separation.

Tavatanakit was chasing Kupcho at the Chevron Championship in April. Even during a major week, she reiterated how important it is for her to get away from the game.

“I love doing nothing. Just lay around, watch Netflix, or go hang out with friends,” Tavatanakit said during the championship. “When I'm off the golf course, I don't like to think that I'm a golfer.”

The Wednesday of the season’s first major championship, Tavatanakit says she played the pro-am and then left the golf course. She knew her limitations and what she needed and it wasn’t to spend more time practicing.

“If I need to leave the golf course, I'll leave regardless of where I am,” Tavatanakit explained. “I just didn't feel like being here. That's what works best for me, just knowing when to stop at this sport.”

Sorenstam knew when she needed to stop, too. In 2008, after 13 years and 72 wins on tour, Sorenstam retired from professional golf in order to focus on her new role as a mom.

Sorenstam decided she needed to make a clean break from her role as a golfer, and with her husband, Mike McGee, had two children, Will and Ava.

“I took my competitive fire and put it towards my foundation and inspiring the next generation of junior girls,” Sorenstam said about shifting into her role as a philanthropist after retiring from golf. “I have focused my efforts on growing the game and providing playing opportunities for girls around the world.”

As society and cultural norms have shifted, fewer players have followed Sorenstam’s path and instead maintain roles as both a full-time player and a parent. The Smuckers Child Development Center has afforded more players the opportunity to maintain both identities by providing daily childcare services at every tour stop.

“This generation wants to be able to do both, and there are more options to get support in doing it,” Nilsson said about the growing number of mothers on tour. “The childcare on tour is, as an example, so helpful for them. More women have other careers along with a family, so it’s not just happening in golf.”

Establishing an identity away from golf can be a challenge for women who have played the game as long as they can remember. Golf is what you do, and not who you are, is the mantra that Vision54 preaches to its players and one that has been adopted, with success, by major champions like Sorenstam, Kupcho and Tavatanakit. Whether it's cooking, playing video games, or simply learning when it's time to leave the golf course, these practices are essential for the women competing at the highest level to maintain a healthy balance in both golf and in life.

“I’m a different person off the golf course, and it's not related at all,” Kupcho said. “It really made me a happier person, in general.”

Here are the groups for pool play at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas, Nevada. Click here for the bracket.

Three days of group play will first be contested before the single-elimination bracket is set. The Round of 16 and quarterfinals are scheduled for Saturday while the semifinals, final and third-place matches will be played Sunday.

For group play, players will play each of the other members of their group in 18-hole matches, with wins being worth one point and ties a half-point. The player with the most points advances to the Round of 16. In the case of a tie, a stroke-play, hole-by-hole playoff determines the group winner.

Group 1

Minjee Lee (1)
Caroline Masson (32)
Brittany Altamore (33)
Youngin Chun (64)

Group 2

Atthaya Thitikul (2)
Alison Lee (31)
Amy Olson (34)
Tiffany Chan (63)

Group 3

Hyo Joo Kim (3)
Matilda Castren (30)
Sarah Schmelzel (35)
Allisen Corpuz (62)

Group 4

Danielle Kang (4)
Pajaree Anannarukarn (29)
Eun-Hee Ji (36)
Kelly Tan (61)

Group 5

Jennifer Kupcho (5)
Stacy Lewis (28)
Lauren Stephenson (37)
Emma Talley (60)

Group 6

Hannah Green (6)
Sophia Popov (27)
Jenny Shin (38)
Haeji Kang (59)

Group 7

Nanna Koerstz Madsen (7)
Yealimi Noh (26)
Elizabeth Szokol (39)
Paula Reto (58)

Group 8

Anna Nordqvist (8)
Gaby Lopez (25)
Chella Choi (40)
Cheyenne Knight (57)

Group 9

Jeongeun Lee6 (9)
Moriya Jutanugarn (24)
Ashleigh Buhai (41)
Maude-Aimee Leblanc (56)

Group 10

Ayaka Furue (10)
Carlota Ciganda (23)
Angel Yin (42)
Pauline Roussin-Bouchard (55)

Group 11

Georgia Hall (11)
Mina Harigae (22)
Perrine Delacour (43)
Annie Park (54)

Group 12

Madelene Sagstrom (12)
Ryann O'Toole (21)
Wei-Ling Hsu (44)
Albane Valenzuela (52)

Group 13

Lizette Salas (13)
Hye-Jin Choi (20)
Su Oh (45)
Aditi Ashok (52)

Group 14

Charley Hull (14)
Ariya Jutanugarn (19)
Esther Henseleit (46)
Lilia Vu (51)

Group 15

Ally Ewing (15)
So Yeon Ryu (18)
Jasmine Suwannapura (47)
Jodi Ewart Shadoff (50)

Group 16

A Lim Kim (16)
Megan Khang (17)
Andrea Lee (48)
Stephanie Meadow (49)

DALLAS – Sean Crocker found form at just the right time and qualified for his first U.S. Open, among 13 players in Dallas and three in Japan who earned spots at The Country Club next month.

The 36-hole qualifiers were the first of 11 that will fill the field for the U.S. Open, to be played June 16-19 outside Boston.

Crocker, born in Zimbabwe and raised in California through his college years at USC, had gone nine straight tournaments on the DP World Tour without making a cut until a tie for seventh in Belgium last week. He flew to Texas and delivered rounds of 64 at Royal Oaks and 67 at Lakewood Country Club.

He was joined at 11 under par by Kurt Kitayama, Matthew NeSmith and Jinchiro Kozuma, who missed the cut at the PGA Championship and stayed in the region for the U.S. Open qualifier.

Mackenzie Hughes was among four Canadians who qualified in Dallas. Travis Vick, who plays at Texas and reached the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur last summer, was the lone amateur to qualify. Dallas was one of the larger fields because of the PGA Tour event at Colonial this week.

Graeme McDowell, who won the Open in 2010 at Pebble Beach, missed the 6-for-2 playoff in Dallas by one shot. Matt Kuchar also failed to qualify and is likely to miss the U.S. Open for the first time in 15 years.

Tomoyasu Sugiyama, Daijiro Izumida and Todd Sinnott of Australia were the three who qualified in Japan.

The other nine qualifiers will be June 6, the Monday before U.S. Open week.

TULSA, Okla. – Earlier this year, one of Justin Thomas’ playing partners in the Genesis Invitational pro-am asked him about his interests, what he’s into.

You know, some guys cop cars. Others collect expensive bottles of wine.

Thomas paused for a moment.

“I just want to win tournaments,” he said.

It sounds like a dangerous line of thinking in a sport in which Thomas wins only 8% of the time (and that’s among the best on Tour), but that’s how he’s wired. That’s how he’s been trained. His cold-blooded mentality, borrowed from his boyhood idol, has powered Thomas to this point – at 29, he’s already a sure-fire Hall of Famer – and he’s learning how to strike the balance of being insatiable while not intolerable. That being easier on himself doesn’t have to mean dulling his sharper edges.

“He plays golf for the right reason,” said his college coach, Alabama’s Jay Seawell. “He doesn’t play for a living. He plays for the life of that arena. He can tie himself up in a knot because he wants to win so badly that he gets ahead of himself. But his motor is to win. He doesn’t try to swing or play perfect – he plays to win. Any result other than that is unfulfilling.”

Winning is an elusive art, and Thomas seemed to master it early. Though some parents push their child too quickly into the spotlight, Thomas’ were content to watch him beat up on kids his age at the local and state level, each tournament title producing a series of memories and moments that were stored for later access. Beginning when his son was in elementary school, Mike Thomas kept golf balls from each of Justin’s victories and stored them in a display at his club, Harmony Landing in Goshen, Kentucky. By the time Justin left home to play for the Crimson Tide, the golf ball collection had reached the low-100s. 

All of that winning bred unrealistic expectations of more winning. In his first college tournament, Thomas roared home with a back-nine 30 to torch the field by five. But in his next start at Olympia Fields, he was already pressing: more, more, more. Unable to get cooking in the first round and growing increasingly frustrated, he compounded his mistakes by making a par-5 bogey, then played the last four holes in 4 over to shoot 75. Seawell pulled his young star aside. “Your attitude was so agitated because you wanted to win that you shot yourself out of it,” he said. Struggling again the next day, Thomas came to the same par 5, but this time he buckled down and made birdie, then added two more coming home to break par, a small victory. Afterward, the elder Thomas approached Seawell and thanked him for the tough love. It was just what Justin needed – and he needed to hear it from someone else.

“Justin was a quick study and coachable,” Seawell said. “That’s what I learned that day.”

A decade later, at the PGA Championship, another member of Thomas’ team delivered a much-needed pep talk. Thomas had been on edge all week at Southern Hills. He was coming off a 23-under performance at the Byron Nelson, his seventh top-10 in 12 starts, but he was still trophy-less over the past 14 months. His lofty world ranking was dropping. He was growing restless. And he wasn’t about to let this old habit – winning – die hard. On the range Wednesday, Thomas’ normally reliable swing began to fail him; he couldn’t find the center of the clubface. He started snipping at his dad, until Mike suggested throwing down an alignment stick and just hitting shots: fades, draws, stingers, floaters. “Immediately I just started flushing it,” Justin said.

Thomas carried those good vibes into the first two rounds, when he shot a pair of 67s while playing on the worst side of the draw. Though he might not have been in the lead through 36 holes, no one carried more confidence into the weekend. Wicked weather blew into the area Saturday, with 25-mph winds out of a different direction, conditions that should have suited Thomas’ peerless shot-making. Instead, he made three late bogeys during a third-round 74 that dropped him seven shots back. It seemed like yet another mystifying score for Thomas, who despite his sterling Tour record had admittedly underwhelmed in the majors since his breakthrough at the 2017 PGA.

“It’s easy to start letting some doubt creep in,” he said, “like, All right, what’s going to happen? When is it going to happen? IS it going to happen?”

Thomas stormed into the scoring tent, blew past the media and marched straight to the range.

That’s when his caddie, Jim “Bones” Mackay, stepped in.

Despite working together for a few events previously, Thomas and Mackay are still in the feeling-out phase of their relationship. Thomas had enjoyed a successful run with another top caddie, Jimmy Johnson; Mackay, meanwhile, worked for 25 years with Phil Mickelson before parting ways in 2017. After hanging up his caddie bib, Mackay proved a natural fit as an on-course reporter on TV, and he told his wife, Jennifer, that the only player he’d put down the microphone for was Thomas. “He has more shots than anybody on Tour: high, low, left, right, whatever,” Mackay said. “His hands around the greens. The guy is really, really good, and I wanted to be around it.”

And now, his new boss needed him – even if Thomas didn’t yet know it.

“I’m fully confident in saying that I wouldn’t be standing here if he didn’t give me that talk,” Thomas said. “He was just like, Dude, you’ve got to stop being so hard on yourself. You’re in contention every single week we’re playing. You don’t have to be perfect. Just don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Added Mackay, “There was nothing to be worried about. There was nothing about his game that gave you pause or concern.”

Before the final round, Mike Thomas thanked Mackay for conveying the timely message. “I know as a father, if I’d have said it, he’d have been like, ‘You’re just stroking my ego’,” Mike Thomas said. “But Bones said them, and it hit home for him.”

It’s a credit to Justin Thomas, of course, that he’s mature enough to accept outside voices, that he’s capable of compartmentalizing the daily disappointment to realize the greater opportunity. But it also highlights how adroitly Mike Thomas navigates his unique responsibilities: He is the trusted swing coach of the No. 5-ranked player in the world, but he’s also a devoted father trying to guide his son through his wildest dreams.

“His mom [Jani] and dad did a really good job – they should write a book on how to come alongside a special talent,” Seawell said. “It’s the brilliance of them. They don’t have to be the center. Sometimes Mike has really good wisdom as a dad and coach, but he’s also really comfortable with other people coaching in those moments. It takes tremendous humility and trust. But Mike allows and appreciates others pouring into his son.”

Buoyed by Bones and trusting his talent, Thomas ripped off five birdies in the last 10 holes Sunday to tie the low round of the day, a 3-under 67, that gave him the clubhouse lead. But winning is hard, and winning is learned, and Thomas watched as rookie Mito Pereira – winless on the PGA Tour – played a series of nervy shots before collapsing on the 72^nd hole. Given new life, Thomas’ killer instincts took over: He birdied the first two holes of the aggregate playoff to defeat Will Zalatoris, another winless up-and-comer, for his second career major. Order had been restored.

“He’s just won so much that he was pressing,” Mike Thomas said afterward. “He was definitely pressing some. Hopefully this will take some weight off and he can go on a nice run.”

When it was over, Thomas floated to the edge of the green and squatted to collect his thoughts. Even for the superstar so accustomed to winning, the achievement landed hard. Overwhelmed, he lost his balance and nearly toppled over, needing to steady himself with his right hand. He pulled the brim of his hat over his eyes while Mike massaged his shoulders. Then the father kneeled beside the son, their heads lowered. No words were exchanged, because nothing needed to be said, and when they both rose, their eyes were wet with tears. There was no greater feeling.

Rose Zhang’s remarkable freshman year at Stanford continued to get better as she was named on Tuesday the Annika Award winner as the most outstanding female NCAA DI college player this season.

Zhang is the top-ranked amateur in the world. She captured the individual national championship title on Monday at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, her fourth victory in her maiden season.

“It is truly an honor to win the 2022 Annika Award and to have my name alongside all of these great players who won this award previously,” said Zhang. “It is safe to say I know every one of these names. Just seeing all of these names and being given this award by the greatest player ever in Annika [Sorenstam] brings a lot of inspiration to me to keep getting better.”

Zhang, who turned 19 on Tuesday, followed Stanford teammate Rachel Heck in winning this award. Other to have won include: Natalie Srinivasan (Furman, 2020); Maria Fassi (Arkansas, 2018-19); Leona Maguire (Duke, 2015, 2017); Bronte Law (UCLA, 2016) and Alison Lee (2014).

“Rose has had an amazing freshman year at Stanford, culminating this week in capturing the NCAA individual national championship,” said Sorenstam, who won the 1991 NCAA individual championship at Arizona. “I’ve seen her play the past few years at our foundation tournaments and have watched her grow. Golf is in good hands when you have players like Rose.”

Zhang – along with Heck – is now trying to lead the Cardinal to its first NCAA women’s team title since 2015. She has also won the 2020 U.S. Women's Amateur and the 2021 U.S. Girls' Junior.

West Ham United forward Jarrod Bowen has earned his first ever England call-up for next month's Nations League matches but Manchester United's Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho have not been included once again.

England boss Gareth Southgate named a 27-man group on Tuesday for four games which begin with trips to Hungary and Germany before hosting Italy and the return fixture against Hungary at Molineux.

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Bowen has been in superb form for the West Ham this season, registering 12 goals and 10 assists in the Premier League.

"We were certainly thinking about involving him [Bowen] in March before he got injured," Southgate told a news conference at Wembley. "He's a goal threat, he's direct," he added of Bowen who came through the ranks at Hereford United and Hull City.

"His journey is really interesting in terms of experiences he's had. It's a reminder you don't just have to be at an elite academy and come through that pathway. Playing in the lower divisions and to have that experience is a great route to go.

"He works incredibly hard for the team, which we want all our forward players to do. He's thoroughly deserved his call up."

Rashford and Sancho have both missed out on selection for the second consecutive time after United's disappointing campaign concluded with a 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace on the final day of the Premier League season but Harry Maguire keeps his place.

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson and Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings also miss out on a place in Southgate's squad.

"[Henderson] played 60 plus games this season," Southgate added. "He's going into the Champions League final as well. He's 32 years old. I don't need to know any more about him either. Everybody else is getting a week off now."

Leicester City defender James Justin has also been called up to the senior team for the first time in his career after returning in January from a year out with a serious knee injury.

There was no place for Justin's Leicester teammate James Maddison while Arsenal's Emile Smith Rowe was also omitted but AC Milan's Fikayo Tomori, Leeds United's Kalvin Phillips, Newcastle United's Kieran Trippier and Manchester City's Kyle Walker have all been recalled -- meaning there are five recognised right-backs selected.

Maddison had been hopeful of breaking into the squad after finishing the season by scoring in each of his final four games, ending the season with 16 goals and 11 assists -- the best record by a Leicester player since Riyad Mahrez in 2017-18.

"We just feel that we're very happy with the players that have been with us in that area of the pitch," Southgate said. "He's competing with [Mason] Mount, [Phil] Foden, those types, in the role where he's at his best. There are a couple of positions where there's a lot of strength in depth, and there will always be a player you don't pick, but to do that you'd have to leave somebody out, and they will probably be equally or more deserving."

However, his wait for a first call-up since November 2019 but Tomori is included having last featured for England in October 2021, shortly after he left Chelsea to join Milan, who went on to win their first Serie A title in 11 years with the centre-back playing a pivotal role.

Phillips missed 16 matches for Leeds between December and March with a calf injury but returns to the international setup having been named England's Player of the Year after playing a pivotal role in last summer's run to the Euro 2020 final.

Walker was rested for the last camp in March but returns to the group as Southgate planned at the time while Trippier, who scored in England's 2018 World Cup semifinal defeat to Croatia, is recalled after being sidelined for 13 games with a metatarsal fracture.

England squad

Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Nick Pope (Burnley), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal)

Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Conor Coady (Wolves), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Reece James (Chelsea), James Justin (Leicester City), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), Fikayo Tomori (AC Milan), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle United), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Ben White (Arsenal)

Midfielders: Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Conor Gallagher (Crystal Palace), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Kalvin Phillips (Leeds United), Declan Rice (West Ham United), James Ward-Prowse (Southampton)

Forwards: Tammy Abraham (AS Roma), Jarrod Bowen (West Ham United), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Jack Grealish (Manchester City), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)