Bart Bryant, a three-time PGA Tour winner, died Tuesday in a car accident, according to the Tour. He was 59.

Bryant's was a story of professional perseverance. He won his first PGA Tour event at 41, when he captured the 2004 Valero Texas Open in his 187th start. The following season, he won the Memorial Tournament and the Tour Championship.

Not only did Bryant capture a pair of the Tour's top prizes, he beat its biggest names to do so. He edged Fred Couples by a shot and beat Tiger Woods by four, to earn the Memorial trophy from Jack Nicklaus. He then cruised to victory at East Lake in '05, beating runner-up Woods by six.

Bryant, born in 1962 in Gatesville, Texas, went on to twice on the PGA Tour Champions, including in his first start in 2013. He was the circuit's 1,000th winner.

He is survived by wife Donna, daughters Kristen and Michelle and his stepchildren. His brother, Brad, was also a Tour winner. Bart Bryant was preceded in death by his first wife, Cathy, who succumbed to brain cancer in 2017.

“The PGA Tour is saddened by the tragic passing of Bart Bryant and our hearts go out to his family and friends during this difficult time,” said PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. “The Bryants have been a part of the PGA Tour family for over four decades and we are grateful for the impact and legacy he made on our organization and countless communities. Bart will be dearly missed."

The field is set for the inaugural Charlie Sifford Centennial Cup.

Howard, Florida A&M, Alabama State, Texas Southern and Livingstone College (Division II) will compete alongside host Johnson C. Smith in a Presidents Cup-style competition between historically Black colleges and universities.

The event will be held Aug. 29, about a month before the top Americans and international players compete in the Presidents Cup.

Following the conclusion of the Charlie Sifford Centennial Cup, U.S. captain Davis Love III and International captain Trevor Immelman will make their wildcard selections for the Presidents Cup. Those picks will be made live on Golf Channel from Quail Hollow's Green Mile Club.

The format for the Centennial Cup calls for the players to be split into teams of 12 with a four-ball competition in the morning and a singles session in the afternoon. The teams qualified for the event based on their 2022 Golfstat ranking.

Since it was first introduced to the public, Rory McIlroy has been the most outspoken critic of LIV Golf and the proposed rival tour, telling reporters in 2020 he wanted to be “on the right side of history with this one.”

That hard line has softened in recent years, although he did opine earlier this year that a move by the top players to remain loyal to the PGA Tour had virtually ended the LIV Golf threat. “Who else have you got to fill the field?” he asked in February at the Genesis Invitational.

Dustin Johnson was one of those top players who appeared to step in line with the Tour, but that commitment didn’t last long. Johnson was among the 42 players who appeared on the field list for the first LIV Golf Invitational Series event that’s scheduled to be played next week in London.

On Wednesday at the Memorial, McIlroy was asked about the Tour members – who were denied conflicting-event releases into the LIV events and will likely face sanctions, fines or suspensions if they do play – who will be at the Centurion Club next week.

“I have some very close friends that are playing in this event in London, and I certainly wouldn't want to stand in their way, for them to do what they feel is right for themselves,” McIlroy said. “It's not something that I would do personally. But I certainly understand why some of the guys have went, and it's something that we are all just going to keep an eye on and see what happens over these next few weeks.

"But I certainly don't think the field is anything to jump up and down about. Look the field this week. Look at the field next week in Canada. They are proper golf tournaments."

Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell joined Johnson on the field list for the first LIV tournament and McIlroy appeared to be speaking to his former European Ryder Cup teammates when he was asked if he thought the “breakaway” members wanted to play the PGA Tour any longer.

“Not really, I guess,” McIlroy said. “You have some guys in a position where they are literally not guaranteed a job next year. It's hard to stay in the top 125 [on the FedExCup list] out here, especially when you're a guy in your 40s and maybe you don't hit the ball as far as you're used to.

“Someone that isn't guaranteed their Tour card next year, another entity comes along and says, we'll guarantee you this amount for three years, plus you're playing for a ton more prize money, and you're playing less events, you can spend more time with your family. I mean, whenever you sit down and look at some of those things, it's very appealing to some of those guys that are in that position.”

McIlroy is one of four player directors on the Tour’s policy board.

French President Emmanuel Macron and government members said they are "sad and sorry" for 2,700 Liverpool fans who had a ticket but couldn't get into the stadium amid disorder and chaos at the Champions League final in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, where Liverpool lost to Real Madrid 1-0.

The issue was discussed at the weekly Cabinet meeting at the Elysee presidential palace on Wednesday, French government spokesperson Olivia Gregoire said.

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"Could we have done things better or could it have been better handled? Yes," she told reporters. "Can we improve things, especially in view of the future sports events? Certainly."

Saturday's events prompted concerns in France and abroad about the country's ability to host major sporting events. France will host the Rugby World Cup next year and the 2024 Olympics.

In the wake of the chaos, Liverpool fans' leadership groups complained about heavy-handed policing and poor organization on a troubling night that saw children and elderly people among those getting sprayed by tear gas.

Repeated allegations of brutality have been made against French police in recent years, notably during the Yellow Vests protests against the government, amid calls for police to exercise greater restraint. French police have also struggled to get a grip on fan violence at domestic soccer matches this season.

Liverpool said they have already collected more than 5,000 testimonies from supporters who traveled to France to attend the final. Liverpool chief executive Billy Hogan has reviewed some of the information and said he was "horrified by the way some men, women, children -- able bodied, less able bodied -- have been indiscriminately treated," both before and after the match.

According to the French Football Federation (FFF), 35,000 people without tickets or with "fake" tickets made their way to the Stade de France. It said they created disorder by blocking access to the stadium and preventing fans who had real tickets from getting into the venue.

European soccer's governing body, UEFA, has also started to gather evidence about issues outside the Stade de France that marred one of the world's biggest games in sports.

Gregoire expressed sympathy for 2,700 Liverpool fans, "fathers, mothers with their children disgusted they couldn't attend a sports event they were waiting for. The President of the Republic and all the government were sad and sorry for these people."

Gregoire said that interior and sports ministers will provide further details as they answer questions at a Senate's commission on Wednesday afternoon.

Hogan also drew attention to what happened after the match.

"I do think it's important to recognize we've all been rightly focused on the access issues at Stade de France," he said. "I think it's also important we don't lose sight of what happened after the match. I think we've all seen videos, photos, I've read a number of stories of [fans'] absolutely horrific experiences leaving the stadium as well -- crimes being committed, muggings taking place."

Alan Pardew has left his managerial and technical director role at CSKA Sofia in protest after his Black players were racially abused by the club's own supporters.

Pardew and Alex Dyer, the club's first Black assistant manager, have departed with immediate effect, citing the racist abuse of Sofia players.

CSKA lost to bitter rivals Levski Sofia in the Bulgaria Cup final last month and before their next game against Botev Plovdiv, four of the team's Black players had bananas thrown at them by fans.

The squad initially refused to play the game but subsequently took to the pitch and Pardew said the incident played a role in him deciding to leave the club.

"The events before and after the match against Botev Plovdiv were unacceptable not only for me, but also for my assistant Alex Dyer and for my players," he told the club's official website.

"Our players decided to play out of loyalty towards the club. This small group of organised racist fans, who tried to sabotage the game, are not the fans I want to coach the team in front of. That's definitely not the right way for CSKA because such club deserves a lot more.

"I would want to express my gratitude towards all true CSKA fans for their support and passion. I also want to thank Grisha and Dani Ganchev [the club owners] for their efforts to bring the club forward despite all the challenges and circumstances.

"It's been a privilege and honour to serve this great club. Unfortunately, my time here has come to an end."

LIVERMORE, Calif. and MESA, Ariz. -- As Julio Benitez sits in a hotel conference room during Real Salt Lake's preseason preparations in February, his hand is pressed against his chest, in the shape of a claw. It's as if he's searching for a piece of his heart that is no longer there, but he knows that there is now a hole where there was once a whole. What's gone can't be replaced.

"It's always going to be like that," he said, his face creased with sorrow. "There will always be that one piece missing."

At that point, it had been little more than a year since Benitez's father, Juan, died from COVID-19. In that time, Julio has been forced to navigate an agonizing path, one full of life choices that a 15-year-old shouldn't have to make, all while coping with a staggering loss. At the time of his father's death, Benitez was a midfielder in Real Salt Lake's academy, an amateur working toward a professional contract, although nothing was guaranteed. What, then, was the best way to provide for his family? Would it -- or even could it -- include soccer? How could he perform on the field and chase his dreams while processing the weight of his grief?

Benitez's path is far from its end, but there has been growth of late. He signed a homegrown contract earlier this year, and while he recently returned to training after being sidelined by a concussion, the RSL brass is impressed by his ability to adapt to the faster, more physical demands of playing at the professional level. He has made two appearances this season with the Real Monarchs, Salt Lake's reserve side, and while Benitez still has some growing to do, a skill set that includes ability on the ball and an unquenchable will to win bodes well. And yet his mind always drifts back to his family, his mother, Dulce, along with his three brothers and four sisters.

"My family tells me not to worry about much and just play soccer. Don't worry too much about them." he said. "My mom, she's always telling me, 'We're doing fine, we're OK. Just as long as you're fine and you're doing what you love, we're fine over here as well.' So I just always keep that in mind. I do this for my family mostly. Everything I've done is for them."

All in the family

Benitez was born in Chandler, Arizona, but has spent the bulk of his childhood in nearby Mesa, living in a mobile home park called Fiesta Village. There is an aura of hard work about the household, a minivan with a dented rear door parked outside. There is a sense of family as well. Two of his younger siblings, Lucio and Victoria, are in full gallop about the place, playing with the family dogs -- Frosty, Buddy, Loco and Hazel. As I sit with Benitez's older brothers, Juan Jr. and Jesus talk about pickup games in the neighborhood streets around the home, including the time Jesus got his head split open during an impromptu stint in goal.

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"I was saying that I was Memo Ochoa," Jesus said, in reference to the longtime Mexico goalkeeper.

That passion for the game was instilled by their father, who, when he wasn't working in construction, watched his sons practice or play as much as possible.

"That was the only connection me and him really had," Julio said. "He would work all day, get off of work, eat after, and then he'd be like, 'Are you're ready to go practice?' And if I wasn't ready, then I wouldn't go. He wouldn't even take me or anything. But every day after his work, he would come back. He'd be tired, but he would still take me to practice and everything. So yeah, that's how we created that bond. It was just soccer. He would take me everywhere."

Julio's appetite for the game didn't end with organized practices and games. All he and his siblings needed was a sliver of daylight and a ball.

"When my dad would take Julio to practice, he would come back and just keep playing," Juan Jr. said of his kid brother. "He'd start playing here, just go out and play with his friends. For goals we'd use cones, backpacks, rocks."

The elder Benitez was his sons' first coach, and his desire to dole out advice didn't stop as they rose through the ranks of Phoenix-area youth soccer, a tendency that wasn't always appreciated by his boys' club coaches. Julio recalled more than once his coaches asking his dad to cease with the in-game instruction, not that it did anything to stop him.

Julio was helped by the fact that his older brothers were also immersed in the game. Competing with them allowed him to play up an age group, forcing him to get by on skill and street smarts.

"Younger brothers always have a little edge because they have big brothers and [Jesus] was very, very talented," said Jimmy Deutsch, one of Julio's first coaches at a Phoenix-area club called Barcelona Arizona. "So from the beginning, Julio was just a very good, solid player. He understood the game at a very high level."

Games were a family affair, with the Benitezes laying out the proverbial blanket on the hill to take in the day, even as Juan Sr. had his younger children tugging at his sleeve.

Often it was left to Julio to help keep an eye out for the younger members of the family. It instilled a maturity and an unselfishness in Julio that permeated everything he did. One of his club coaches, Rafa Sifuentes, recalls how if he bought Julio a Gatorade after a game, the boy would just give it to one of his siblings. Offers to buy him meals were met with the similar resistance.

"Julio would be like, 'No Coach, you don't have to do that,'" Sifuentes recalled. "I'd be like, 'I don't have to do it. I want to do it.' But that's the type of person he is. He would give you the shirt off his back, not only for his brothers and sisters but his teammates."

Benitez's unselfishness is reflected in the way he performs on the field. As a holding midfielder, he tracks the ball across the field, getting in tackles or connecting passes to kick-start attacks. And even though he looks undersized for the role -- his height is listed at a generous 5-foot-8 -- he did whatever the situation demanded, an awareness that started at home.

"I've asked him if he changed diapers and he'd say, 'Of course, I have to change diapers.' So I think just being a part of a family where he's putting in the work, he's helping, he's being one of the adults to help his family out," said Mike Kraus, the director of RSL's Arizona academy. "Then when you get on a field and it's soccer and doing something you love, then it's like, 'Oh, this is easy to give for this and to help others and cover guys. And if they need a little bit of help, OK, I'll cover for them. I'll do their role for them.' Whatever he's got to give, I mean, every single game that he plays, his tank is empty at the end of the game."

Kraus was among the coaches who opened doors for Benitez, getting him into RSL's Arizona academy and later pushing him onto the team's full academy in Herriman, Utah. Once there, Benitez continued to impress and his leadership was such that he was named captain of the U.S. under-15 national team. His ability to influence the game from the center of midfield also caught the eye.

"I remember seeing him as just a bulldozer out there, dictating the game from the middle of the field," RSL academy director Tony Beltran said. "I remember immediately being intrigued by the way in which he stood out on the field.

"There's just such life in him. It's why others are drawn to him. It's why he's a natural leader in our residency. It's why kids his age, and frankly, kids older than him, look up to him."

The scourge

At the current stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, even as the U.S. death toll surpasses 1 million, there is a cultural numbness to the damage. Yet the reality is that families have been devastated, both economically and emotionally. According to The Washington Post, the number of relatives impacted by the death of a loved one due to COVID-19 is 9 million. The disparities in health care access were laid bare, as were the ways that COVID-19 struck minority communities harder.

In late 2020, the pandemic had been around eight months, and there was still plenty that was unknown about the disease. And there was worse to come. When the surge hit in November and December of that year, it overwhelmed the U.S. health care system.

"Our resources were so limited," said Dr. Shaila Karan, a Phoenix-area internist who has treated COVID patients at the Mayo Clinic and HonorHealth but was not involved in the care for Juan Sr. "I remember wearing one mask for seven days, eight days and then getting another mask because our supplies were very short at the time. We were in uncharted waters for sure. We didn't know what this disease was all about. We didn't know how to treat it accurately because every patient behaved so differently, and in such an unpredictable manner."

She also witnessed the toll it took on the children of those who perished, and the responsibilities they had to take on. In one instance, she observed how a teenager filled the role of translator for the rest of his family.

"I couldn't imagine how a kid was given the responsibility to certainly be the face of their family when they're 15 and 16," she said. "So those were very hard and very challenging times. I can't tell you how many teenagers have suffered with mental trauma."

It was in late 2020 that this tidal wave of disease and grief enveloped the Benitez family. With the pandemic raging, RSL's academy shut down that November, and Julio was sent home to Mesa. Shortly after he arrived, his father fell ill. Benitez recalled seeing his father lying on the couch in the family's living room, his eyes red. He was coughing and sweating. He resisted going to the hospital until Dulce said she couldn't see him like this. At that point, the magnitude of what was happening hit home for Julio.

"I was just like, 'S---. What now?' The only support was my dad," he said. "So I'm like, 'I have to start working or else what's going to happen? Who is going to support the family?' The only person that was financially helping us was my dad. I couldn't really do much about it, other than go find work."

And so Julio set about a punishing schedule. He would start as early as 5 a.m. to do landscaping work, construction or cabinet making -- "fast jobs," as he called them -- for which he could get paid at day's end. Then he would head to training with one of the RSL Arizona teams in the evening, when he was better able to stay in soccer shape.

Even as his father's condition rose and fell, he didn't share his situation with anyone. If the eyes are the window to most people's soul, in Julio's case it was his voice. He was often the most vocal player on the field, but not anymore.

"I could see, he lost the [passion], he lost that on the field," said Sifuentes, who is now with FC Arizona. "But you're talking about a 15-year-old kid at the time."

Sifuentes knew of Benitez's workload, and would often talk about what the teenager did during the day. At last, Benitez confided to Sifuentes that his father was ill, and the toll that was taking. The Benitezes could only communicate with Juan Sr. via FaceTime.

That toll would only increase. Juan Sr. died on New Year's Eve, just 51 years old.

"He was our soul," Juan Jr. said. "We always relied on him. He was our role model."

The decision

It was at this point that Julio, in his mind, was faced with a stark choice, one that was less an ultimatum and done more out of sheer desperation.

"I just told them, 'If I don't get paid when I go to Utah, I'm not going. I'm staying here in Arizona and working,'" he said. "I don't want to say there was any pressure. It was what needed to be done."

Word had already filtered up through the RSL hierarchy of the difficulties that Benitez faced. Kraus and Sifuentes encouraged Benitez to think long term and know there was another way to help his family. RSL came through, and they arranged for him to sign a contract with the Real Monarchs. He signed the deal March 17, 2021. (Benitez has since signed a full homegrown deal with RSL's first team.) Beltran stressed that the signing wasn't done out of charity, and that Benitez had long been targeted as a future pro.

"As soon as we had the context, it was a very obvious and easy internal conversation," Beltran said. "Julio was already an elite player within our system, and one that we were tracking for a professional contract. He had earned everything that was in front of him, everything that was coming to him, but the circumstances being what they were, it expedited that process a little bit on our end."

That would mean leaving the family and heading back to Utah, but he did so with their blessing.

"I just told him that it was his dream to keep playing, and just keep going and my dad will be with him no matter what," Juan Jr. said.

With the pandemic still in force, a contract was mailed to Benitez for him and his mother to sign in the obscurity of Fiesta Village. When asked about how she felt for her son to sign such a deal, Dulce wiped away a tear, and just said, "Orgullosa." Proud.

There was happiness in accomplishing such a lofty goal, coupled with sadness that his father wasn't there to see that dream fulfilled. Sifuentes recalled how he watched Benitez try to play in an academy game six weeks after Juan Sr. died, but it came too soon. The memories were too fresh, the burden too heavy. He saw a distraught Benitez trudge off the field at halftime.

"I said, 'What's wrong?' The look on his face," Sifuentes said. "He said, 'I can't play, I can't stop thinking about everything.' I said, 'If you can't play, you can't play.'"

By spring, Benitez was back in Utah, and gradually found himself on firmer footing, but it seemed that with each milestone there was an opportunity to reopen an old wound. Such was the case with his professional debut on June 23, 2021, in a USL Championship game against the Tacoma Defiance.

"The first few games were challenging," Julio said. "Sometimes, I'm like, 'Damn, I still can't believe it.'"

The way forward

That emotional component, even when he's on the field, has been the toughest to deal with. Benitez spoke of needing to get his confidence back, but he's also talking about rediscovering the joy associated with playing.

Benitez's voice brightens at the pointers RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni -- himself a holding midfielder in his playing days -- has doled out, especially as it relates to being on the move when he makes his first touch with the ball. "Otherwise you'll get crushed," Benitez said.

There are also signs of healing back home. Benitez noted how his mother is starting to smile more and get out more often. He also feels he's ready to have more conversations with his younger siblings, the youngest of whom is just 5 years old, to explain to them what happened. He knows he can't keep it bottled up inside forever.

"They're so small, they don't know what was going on," he said. "So I really want to tell them and converse with them. Tell them how life really works. This really happened."

Kraus went and saw RSL play in Tucson during preseason, and afterward there was Benitez, signing autographs and smiling among friends and family. Some of the delight the young midfielder took from the game was beginning to creep back.

"That was a very cool sight," Kraus said.

Benitez is now ready to push on. He knows that the best way to honor his father's memory is to keep grinding. Now that he's back in training, his career can begin to advance again, although he'll likely remain with the Monarchs for the rest of the season. After that, the push for minutes with Real Salt Lake will intensify. There is also an awareness that he can help his family the most by helping himself.

"I really don't want to see them struggle as much, so it really pushes me," Benitez said of his family. "This is what has to be done, and we try to get it done the best way possible."