LA Clippers All-Star Paul George, whose frustration has been building this season over not getting foul calls despite drawing contact in the paint, said the NBA has to look into the lack of calls for the Clippers on Wednesday night at the Dallas Mavericks.

George said he felt the Clippers physically attacked the rim, only to go to the line 11 times in a 105-89 loss at American Airlines Arena. He said he wants the Clippers to send in video for the league to study.

"We're putting a lot of pressure at the rim," George said after the loss. "It's insane that we're not getting these calls. But it is what it is. It's nothing new to me. Hopefully, we'll send a bunch of clips in. League's gotta take a look at this."

When asked to characterize his discussions with officials following non-calls against the Clippers, George said, "Just a bunch of lies."

"Can't go too much further than that -- it's a bunch of lies," George said. "They know what's going on."

The Clippers' lack of trips to the line were not to blame for Wednesday's loss. Their 9-of-32 shooting from 3-point range and Luka Doncic's 42 points and nine assists for Dallas helped decide the game.

But the lack of favorable calls has been a subject of frustration for the Clippers (26-16) this season. George has drawn contact during games on drives into the paint but has vented about not getting his share of whistles.

George has admitted, though, that this has been a trend throughout his career. He entered Wednesday averaging 4.0 free throw attempts this season after taking an average of 4.5 foul shots per game last season. Those figures represent a significant drop from the career-high 7.0 free throw attempts he averaged in 2018-19.

Kawhi Leonard was asked what the Clippers can do differently after attacking the paint and coming away with few calls.

He referred to a specific play during Wednesday's game and said of the officials, "They looked at my missed dunk for 30 minutes, it seemed like. Everybody [saw] him hit my hands, so I don't know."

Leonard went 1-of-4 from the free throw line against the Mavericks (21-18).

"Once we get there, gotta knock it down," he said. "We were 6-for-11 tonight, and I'll take the lead on that one, being my fault. We just got to keep going, keep pushing, don't worry about it, just play stronger and make those layups and floaters that we're trying to get to."

"Just make every shot you shoot," Leonard added. "That's all we can do."

According to Second Spectrum, the Clippers average 6.6 shots per game in the paint that lead to a foul. That is the fourth fewest in the NBA this season, behind only the Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns.

While the Mavericks went to the line only one more time than the Clippers, they made 10-of-12 from the stripe. The Clippers went 6-of-11 at the line but received four foul calls on shots in the paint in Dallas, tied for fifth fewest for the Clips in a game this season, according to Second Spectrum.

"I mean, our job is to be aggressive, attack," George said. "We can't do much more than that, right? If they not gonna call it, they not gonna call it. And that's the suck part about it, because we're not flopping players. We're not players that's like throwing our bodies into other players."

Of the 27 players selected as an All-Star this season, George has the ninth-highest percentage of fouls called on shots in the paint. Leonard has the 14th-highest percentage out of the 27 players, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information.

Earlier this season, George said he thought flopping was "bad for basketball." But he also credited players who excel at it because of their ability to get calls, and he referred to them as "offensive geniuses."

"We play physical, no different than any other player in this league, you know?" George said. "There's nothing more that we can do. We're attacking, we're putting pressure at the rim, again. There's nothing that I feel -- unless we just start diving and playing a flopping game -- there's really nothing much that we can do."

After Giannis Antetokounmpo hit a turnaround jumper in the lane to cap a personal 7-0 run and give his Milwaukee Bucks what turned out to be an insurmountable lead in an eventual 109-105 victory over the 76ers on Wednesday night, he celebrated by sitting down on the court inside Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center and staring straight into the camera with a smile on his face.

That smile remained as he walked back to the huddle and as the few fans allowed into the building showered Antetokounmpo with boos. But with a win in hand after a dominant performance -- 32 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists in 43 minutes -- the smile was still on Anteokounmpo's face following the game when he was asked why he chose to celebrate that way.

"Is there something wrong with having fun?" Antetokounmpo said. "I don't think there's anything wrong with having fun. I just like to have fun. In the first half, I was not having fun. I kind of, you know, talked to myself at the half and said, 'No matter how bad the game is, you can't forget what you have to do, which is have fun.'

"Obviously, there's a couple times where I exaggerate, but I don't want to take anything back. I wasn't thinking, 'Oh, I'm going to sit down.' I was having fun. I was talking to my teammates -- I was talking to them. I was just trying to be in the moment. But I was just having fun."

Antetokounmpo kept his playful attitude later Wednesday, tweeting a photo of his sit-down celebration along with the caption, "Sit back relax and enjoy the show."

It wasn't nearly as much fun for the Sixers, who held the Bucks to 12-for-45 shooting in the first half overall, including 1-for-17 from 3-point range, and led by as many as 19 points, before blowing it late. Philadelphia fell out of first place in the Eastern Conference thanks to the Brooklyn Nets winning at the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night.

Sixers center Dwight Howard, in particular, took exception to Antetokounmpo's celebration.

"I wanted to go and Stone Cold Stunner him, but I had already got one tech," Howard said, referring to a move popularized by WWE wrestler "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. "It's basketball. He wanted to have fun, but we'll see these guys again. Today, we allowed them to get back into the game. We did it. We can't control that.

"But he had a hell of a game. Hit some tough shots late at the end of the game, reigning MVP, and he had a great game. I'm not one to talk trash or say anything negative, but we'll see them again and it'll be a different result."

There was one rather large presence missing from this game: Sixers superstar Joel Embiid, who sat on the sideline in loafers and a hoodie and remains out with a bone bruise in his left knee suffered in a fall on Friday during a win at the Washington Wizards. But the energy and intensity on both sides felt reminiscent of a playoff game -- and was a reminder of what could be in store in June, when these teams would currently be scheduled to face off in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Still, the Bucks nearly threw away the game, blowing a seven-point lead in the final minute of regulation, thanks to Sixers guard Furkan Korkmaz hitting a 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds to go to tie the score at 93. That's when Antetokounmpo saved Milwaukee in overtime.

Ultimately, Milwaukee pulled out the kind of hard-fought, physical victory on the road that it will need this spring if it wants to break through and reach the NBA Finals for the first time since the 1970s.

"We knew we were playing terrible on the offensive end, missing shots," Bucks forward Khris Middleton said. "But at the same time, we all stayed together, we stayed positive and we knew there's a lot of game left and we'd have a shot as long as we kept playing defense and kept playing the right way on the other end.

"At some point, the game was going to turn and we were going to go on a run, and thankfully, it did."

It did, in large part, because of Antetokounmpo's heroics. After Howard uncharacteristically made a long jumper to tie the score at 98 with 3:08 to go in overtime, Antetokounmpo scored on three straight possessions -- a hard left-hand drive for a layup; a pull-up 3-pointer; and a hesitation, turnaround jumper in the lane -- to make it 105-98 with 1:12 remaining, all but ensuring the Bucks would win.

"When the game starts, you try to get into your rhythm, but you're not stepping the right way. ... It's just hard to get into a rhythm," said Antetokounmpo, who scored 28 of his 32 points in the second half and overtime. "And the way I try to get into a rhythm is to get everybody involved. I try to move the ball a little bit, move my legs, move my body a little bit. But going into the second half, I wanted to be a little more aggressive, but I knew I could not come right out of the gate and be aggressive. I had to slowly build up to it.

"But going down the stretch, I was just trying to be aggressive. ... My teammates need me to keep making the right play, and they need me to stay aggressive, so that's what I tried to do."

The jokes continued into Antetokounmpo's Zoom call, as he at one point ordered a cheesesteak -- making sure he got one with Cheez Whiz on it -- and he was asked where he came up with the idea to sit on the court.

"Guys, I haven't seen that," he said. "That's what I wanted to do at the time, and that's what I did. I haven't seen it. But as I said, I was just trying to have fun. Trying to enjoy the moment."

It turns out Antetokounmpo wasn't the only one to have never seen it before.

"I was shocked myself when I saw him do it," Middleton said with a laugh. "But I don't think it was out of any sign of disrespect, though I know some people might take it that way. Knowing him, these past weeks, months, whatever, he wants to have fun.

"I'd never seen it before, either, but I'm glad he did it with a smile after a rough patch in that game."

DALLAS -- Sometimes, it doesn't matter who defends Luka Doncic. Case in point -- or 42 points, actually -- Paul George, the LA Clippers superstar whose name always comes up in conversations about the NBA's premier perimeter stoppers. Doncic made the four-time All-Defensive selection look foolish on numerous occasions during his masterful performance in the Dallas Mavericks ' 105-89 win on Wednesday.

Doncic, who finished with 42 points on 16-of-28 shooting and nine assists, didn't do all his damage against George. Kawhi Leonard didn't have any luck on him, either. Neither did Nicolas Batum. Or anyone else the Clippers threw at the 22-year-old All-Star. And it wasn't for a lack of effort.

"For the most part, defensively, I thought we did a good job even though Luka torched us," Clippers coach Ty Lue said.

George got the worst of it. According to Second Synergy data, half of Doncic's points came when he was matched up with George in the half court. Doncic had 21 points on 15 shots -- on 70% effective field goal percentage -- and dished out five assists with no turnovers when guarded by George.

"I thought we played great defense," George said, "but they hit some really, really tough shots, and they made some really, really big plays."

The play that produced the most gasps was probably a Doncic miss. If Doncic swished that particular step-back shot, it would have been a viral highlight within seconds, as he slammed on the brakes and crossed over so suddenly that George stumbled to the hardwood, putting both hands down to break his fall as Doncic released the shot.

It wasn't quite as nasty as James Harden's crossover and step-back jumper a few years ago that caused former Clippers forward Wes Johnson to involuntarily take a seat in the middle of the court. But this was against Paul George, not some journeyman.

Doncic's last bucket, a dagger floater with 1:27 remaining, came after another move that made George's hand go to the floor to prevent himself from falling. It was a behind-the-back crossover on the right wing, where George stayed after regaining his balance, getting a nice view of Doncic finishing in the lane.

"I'm not going to say anything about Paul George, who may have slipped on the floor or something like that, but Luka's a great player," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said, emphasizing the respect he had for George and the Clippers. "He has the ability to make these stop-on-a-dime plays that are really exceptionally special."

There aren't many answers for Doncic when he is shooting efficiently from 3-point range, which he has done on a regular basis recently. Doncic has shot 43% from deep in his past 14 games -- and 50.5% from the floor overall -- averaging 30.5 points and 9.2 assists in that span. Not coincidentally, the Mavs (21-18) have won 11 of 14 games, marching back into the Western Conference playoff picture after falling five games under .500.

It's no secret Doncic wants to take step-back shots going to his left, particularly from the left wing. The Clippers (26-16) know that better than anyone, considering it's the shot and spot of Doncic's unforgettable overtime buzzer-beater to punctuate a 43-point triple-double in a bubble playoff victory over them.

Yet Doncic was still 6-of-11 from 3-point range on Wednesday, including a four-point play when he paused after stepping back, leaned in and drew contact from Leonard as he let the shot go.

"At times, we let him get to the left step-back too much, and he got comfortable," Leonard said. "He got hot and made shots, and it's hard to turn off that water once a great player like that gets rolling."

ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this report.

By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor

Testing yourself against the best is a sign of personal progress in sport. Amrican Amanda Sobhy will relish that opportunity after reaching the final of the women’s CIB Black Ball Open, where she will face world No.1 Nour El Sherbini.

World No.7 Sobhy beat El Sherbini in the quarter-final stage of this PSA World Tour Platinum event last year. Tomorrow she will attempt to repeat that result with so much more riding on the result.

Sobhy reached the final by beating Salma Hany 3-1 after surrendering a tight opening game. El Sherbini continued her imperious run of form in Cairo by stopping New Zealand’s Joelle King in straight games.

Sobhy and El Sherbini memorably faced each other in the last eight of this tournament in December last year when the American achieved a shock victory in a thrilling five-game battle.

For Sobhy, it will be her first PSA Platinum final since the 2016 Hong Kong Open and four years after she had surgery on a career-threatening Achilles injury.

The American showed little signs of fatigue from her thrilling 66-minute battle with France’s World No.3 Camille Serme the night before as she recovered well to produce a calm and collected performance against an in-form Hany.

After losing a close first game, Sobhy took control of the match to win 10-12, 11-7, 11-2, 11-7 in 45 minutes.

“She started really strong and I started a bit flat from yesterday and the high of it,” said Sobhy afterwards.

“It took a while for me to get myself going, but I started to feel my groove in the second. I felt like I was running a bit more and my movement was getting a bit better. I was pressing up on the T instead of being a bit passive and just told myself to stay aggressive and take it to her. If I was going to lose then I was going to go down fighting.

“This is my first final post-injury. Four years ago on this date I had my surgery on my Achilles and now to see I’m in the final of a Platinum is something special, so I’m going to give it my all.”

El Sherbini will feature in her third final at the event as she looks to get her hands on the CIB Black Ball Open trophy for the first time in her career following two runner-up finishes in 2019 and 2020 to Raneem El Welily and Hania El Hammamy.

King had upset the form book in the last round with her victory over former champion El Hammamy. However, the 32-year-old was unable to maintain that run today as El Sherbini showed her class and was firing on all cylinders to prevail 11-5, 11-8, 11-4.

“It feels amazing,” said El Sherbini afterwards. “I’m really glad I won it in three. It was a very tough three games. Joelle played amazing yesterday, when she beat Hania, one of the top players now on her form.

“I was really looking forward to this one. I’m really glad I played well and hopefully I keep going.”

The final will take place tomorrow (March 18) and play begins at 20:30 (GMT+2). All of the action will be shown live on SQUASHTV and the channels of contracted broadcast partners.
Women’s 2021 CIB PSA Black Ball Squash Open, Black Ball Sporting Club, Cairo, Egypt.

Semi-Finals:
[1] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt [7] Joelle King (NZL) 3-0: 11-5, 11-8, 11-4 (35m)
[6] Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt [8] Salma Hany (EGY) 3-1: 10-12, 11-7, 11-2, 11-7 (45m)

Final (Thursday March 18):
[1] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) v [6] Amanda Sobhy (USA)

Pictures courtesy of PSA

Bangladesh's head coach Russell Domingo believes his team have a "great opportunity" to upset New Zealand in the upcoming three-match ODI series that starts in Dunedin on Saturday. Bangladesh have never beaten New Zealand in their backyard before, but Domingo, who as South Africa's head coach won in two tours in 2014 and 2017, said that the build-up towards the 2023 World Cup can get a major boost if the visitors can pull off their maiden series win in New Zealand.

"It is a great opportunity for us to do something that no Bangladeshi side has done before," Domingo said. "We are all excited by it. It is my first tour to New Zealand with Bangladesh. I have been here previously with South Africa. I know it's a tough place to tour, but it is a great opportunity for some of these younger players. There's a World Cup three years away and New Zealand is one of the top sides in the world. If you want to be serious contenders in India, you have to put in big performances in a series like this."

Bangladesh beat West Indies at home 3-0 in January, while New Zealand haven't played any ODIs since March last year. Domingo said that ODIs are Bangladesh's strongest suit, and with a fast-bowling attack that has depth, they can potentially surprise New Zealand.

"I think the 50-over format is our strongest format at the moment. If you look at the team's performance in the World Cup and if you look at the averages of the players, we have some good numbers in one-day cricket.

"I think we have some good young fast bowlers who are coming through that maybe New Zealand haven't seen before. They maybe weren't expecting to see. We have got some good potential, guys like Hasan Mahmud and Taskin Ahmed are bowling nicely. We are excited about some of our fast bowlers."

Domingo said that he expects a high-scoring encounter at the University Oval in Dunedin although the 11.00am start can be an advantage to the bowlers as he has spotted considerable moisture on the pitches during the morning.

"I have been following domestic cricket quite a bit. I think average score in this venue is about 307 runs. I think the boundary is pretty short in some sides, 65 metres. We are expecting some good runs.

"(It is) difficult to say with an 11am start. Quite a bit of moisture this morning. It will be interesting to see what happens in the first hour."

Bangladesh could also get some leeway in the absence of Kane Williamson (elbow injury) and Ross Taylor (hamstring injury), but Domingo has warned that taking New Zealand's replacements lightly could be dangerous for his side.

"It is a bit of a boost for us, not having (Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor) in the first game in particular. But we know that new players are always keen to establish themselves, so they will be highly motivated to do well," he said.

Domingo was pleased with how his players responded to the two-week quarantine, including the first seven days of in-room isolation, since arriving in Christchurch in mid-February. The Bangladesh team spent the last week in Queenstown in a training camp that was added after the initial tour schedule had to be changed.

"Quarantine allows you a bit more time to prepare when you do get out it. I think the initial schedule had us playing our first ODI three days after the Christchurch lockdown so the rescheduling has been very good for us. After we had couple of individual sessions in Christchurch, we spent a good week in Queenstown.

"The preparation has been spot-on. The guys have been fantastic. Lockdown was tough but no complaints from any of them. I am really proud of the way the guys have gone about their work in the last three weeks," he said

Bangladesh's not-so-secret weapon on this tour has also been Daniel Vettori, their spin-bowling coach who joined the side after missing out for 12 months due to Covid-related travel restrictions from New Zealand. Domingo said that Vettori has been a refreshing inclusion, as he has intimate knowledge of conditions and players in New Zealand.

"It is great to have Daniel (Vettori). He has been working with us for the last one year. He has been in and out of Bangladesh. We haven't seen him for a while because of Covid but it is great to have his knowledge and experience here, not just about the venues but some of the players too.

"He has connected with some of our bowlers and batters. We know what an important a batter Dan was for New Zealand. He has given us a fresh energy and dimension that maybe we didn't have in the past."

Georgia Tech star Moses Wright, the ACC player of the year, will miss the Yellow Jackets' first-round game against Loyola Chicago in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, sources told ESPN on Wednesday night.

Wright also likely will be out if Tech beats Loyola Chicago and advances to face the winner of Illinois-Drexel, sources said.

A 6-foot-9 senior big man, Wright was playing as well as anyone in the country over the past few weeks of the regular season. He had 26 points and 10 rebounds against Virginia Tech, followed by 31 points and 16 rebounds against Syracuse, then he went for 29 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and three blocks in a win over Duke.

Wright averaged 17.4 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.6 blocks per game.

Coach Josh Pastner likely will have to play a smaller lineup for longer stretches on Friday against Cameron Krutwig and Loyola Chicago, as Georgia Tech rarely took Wright off the floor for more than a few minutes per game. Expect 6-foot-10 sophomore Rodney Howard to see an expanded role; he played double-figure minutes just five times this season, but he did see 18 minutes in an ACC tournament win over Miami.

The Yellow Jackets, winners of the ACC tournament, have won eight straight games entering the NCAA tournament.

The news about Wright's availability was first reported by Stadium.

Vanessa Bryant, the widow of Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, revealed portions of her lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's and Fire Departments in a series of Instagram posts on Wednesday.

The 12 posts, which she shared with her 14.4 million followers, name the officers who allegedly shared photos of the helicopter crash scene where her husband and 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, died.

According to the case, she shared her initial concern for the privacy of the crash site almost immediately with Sheriff Alex Villanueva. Despite assurances provided by Villanueva at the time, a subsequent investigation by the LASD showed that one deputy took between 25 and 100 photos on his personal cell phone -- including some focused solely on the victims' remains.

Many of those photos, the suit alleges, were quickly shared through text message and the AirDrop feature on iPhones to other deputies within the Sheriff's Department who had no connection to the investigation.

Bryant highlighted the names of the officers -- Joey Cruz, Rafael Mejia, Michael Russell and Raul Versales -- with red markings on her initial post. Earlier this month, she won a case against the L.A. County Sheriff's Department to have the names of the four deputies released.

Mejia is alleged to have stored photos from the crash site in his personal phone and shared them with others, unprompted, "for no reason other than morbid gossip," the suit says.

Mejia is also alleged to have sent the photos to Cruz, a trainee deputy with the Sheriff's Department, who shared the photos with Russell, showed them to a family member and also boastfully displayed them to patrons and the bartender at a sports bar in Norwalk, California, several days later.

One of the patrons at the bar, who heard the bartender describe the gory details of the photos shown to him by Cruz, emailed a complaint to the Sheriff's Department later that night.

Russell is alleged to have saved the photos in an album on his personal cell phone and shared the photos with a friend who worked in a different police station with no involvement in the investigation.

Versales, a deputy with the Sheriff's Department, is alleged to have obtained and shared photos from his personal cell phone on the day of the crash -- including to Mejia -- with individuals with no official purpose to view them.

The suit also alleges that several of the named officers made false statements about their possession of and knowledge about the crash photos during the LASD investigation.

It has been nearly 14 months since Jan. 26, 2020, when Kobe Bryant, Gianna and seven others were killed when the helicopter they were occupying crashed into a hillside in Calabasas, California.

Golden State Warriors star guard Stephen Curry suffered a tailbone contusion at the end of the third quarter of Wednesday night's win against the Rockets in Houston and did not return.

The injury occurred on the final play of the third quarter, after Curry missed an off-balance 3-pointer. His momentum took him off the floor and pushed him toward the risers by the Rockets' bench. He appeared to trip on the first level of risers and was unable to break his fall.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr called the injury "kind of scary" but said after the game that he doesn't think Curry will miss much time.

"He says he's going to be fine long term," Kerr said. "It's going to bother him though for definitely the next few days. No idea if he'll play in Memphis [on Friday], but he seems to be feeling like he'll be OK over the next week or so, but we'll see ... and please don't take that to mean that I'm saying he's going to be out for a week. He could be practicing [Thursday] for all I know, but we'll give you an update as soon as we have one."

Kerr said Curry did not get X-rays after the game and did not expect him to undergo additional tests.

"I didn't see it at first and then after the buzzer sounded I saw everybody getting up to look at what was happening," Kerr said. "So it was scary. He told me after that he started backpedaling and normally he would have basically fallen back into the fans sitting courtside, but there's nobody there, obviously. So he said he sort of took that step expecting to stop and he just kept going and fell right on his tailbone, on that piece of metal on the sidelines that holds the stands in place."

HIGH POINT, N.C. – A pair of NASCAR Xfinity Series regulars will drive Silver Hare Racing-prepared TA2 Camaros during this weekend’s Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli Pro-Am event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.

Harrison Burton and Brandon Jones, both four-time winners in the Xfinity Series for Joe Gibbs Racing, are no strangers to Trans Am competition, having made multiple starts between 2018 and ’20.

Both drivers will be working around their Xfinity Series commitments on Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

In addition to fielding multiple full-season, Trans-Am TA2 entries, Silver Hare Racing uses the TA2 platform to provide road course driver development and testing opportunities to NASCAR teams.

Burton and Jones are using the Pro-Am event to gain valuable seat time ahead of the ROVAL race that is part of the Xfinity Series playoffs in October.

“We’re really looking forward to having Brandon and Harrison join us at the ROVAL,” said Silver Hare Racing team manager Michael Self. “Both are not only great drivers that I’ve had the chance to work with and race against, they’re also great people and good friends of mine. I’ve watched both of them win through their racing careers and climb from the NASCAR K&N level up through the Xfinity series, so it’s really special for me to have them competing in the Silver Hare TA2 cars this weekend.

We’re putting a big focus on road course driver development at Silver Hare Racing and having two winning Xfinity Series drivers in our cars at a NASCAR playoff track really highlights our program.”

The Charlotte ROVAL Pro-Am event is the first of back-to-back Trans Am weekends. The series visits Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga., next weekend.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Lee Westwood’s streak of runner-up finishes is longer than some might realize.

He was second to Bryson DeChambeau at Bay Hill two weeks ago, then was second to Justin Thomas at The Players Championship last week. And on Tuesday, he played alongside 19-year-old son Sam at Augusta National while finishing two days of prepping for next month’s Masters.

“I set him a target of 83 and he chipped in on the last for birdie for 82,” Westwood said. “So, he won the money.”

Add it all up, and it’s been a lot of golf lately for the 47-year-old Westwood. He’s playing a fourth consecutive event this week at the Honda Classic at PGA National, which starts Thursday. The back-to-back second-place finishes, minus the unofficial one following his son’s chip-in at Augusta, have seen Westwood climb 20 spots in the world ranking to No. 19.

Even while acknowledging that he's a little tired right now – “my legs are feeling it a little bit," he said – Westwood didn’t consider skipping Honda, an event that he’s tried to remain loyal to for years, even after the grind of contending on two tough courses in consecutive weeks and squeezing in 54 holes of practice at Augusta National to start this week.

“It’s one of my favorite tournaments of the year,” Westwood said. “I really enjoy this golf course. I find it a good challenge. There’s a lot of shots out there where you’ve really got to commit and play the shot. I love the challenge of the Bear Trap. It’s always a bit blowy, which I like, as well.”

The Bear Trap, named for Jack Nicklaus, is PGA National's three-hole defining stretch spanning Nos. 15 through 17, two par 3s sandwiching a par 5. It's not uncommon for the wind to blow in three different directions on those holes.

Defending champion Sungjae Im is back this year at the Honda after prevailing in 2020 with a 6-under 274, the highest winning score at PGA National since Mark Wilson shot 275 and won in a playoff in 2007.

Daniel Berger, who makes his home near PGA National, was to have been the highest ranked player in the field at No. 15; Berger missed his pro-am round Wednesday with a rib injury and later withdrew from the event. Five former world No. 1s are playing: Adam Scott, Luke Donald, Vijay Singh, Martin Kaymer and Westwood.

Tournament officials are allowing 10,000 fans per day at the Honda, and if form from the last two weeks holds, plenty of them will want to see Westwood. There’s no metric to precisely chart on-course popularity, but his has seemed to soar of late.

“I think I’ve always been fairly popular, but it seems to have gone up a level, and it’s just great to have crowds back in and fans back in, get in a few cheers and making birdies for them and playing well for them and bringing some enjoyment to the people that are allowed in,” Westwood said. “I struggled when we came out of lockdown playing without crowds. I was enthusiastic, but it wasn’t the same buzz. I’ve played in front of crowds for 27 or 28 years now, and I found it very difficult. It’s great that I feel even more popular now, and it’s nice to be playing in front of people.”

It’s obviously not unheard of for European players to be revered in the U.S.; Ireland’s Padraig Harrington has long fallen into that category.

Harrington is not surprised that Westwood’s popularity has seemed to surge over the past few weeks.

“Lee was, at one stage, the best player in the world,” he said. “He’s kind of got through that phase. He’s now come back as an older player and even for his nonfans, they respect what he’s doing. They’re not looking at him as the opposition.”

Westwood will have Sam, his son, caddying for him this week. Helen Storey, Westwood’s fiancée and caddie for the last two weeks, is getting the week off. Sam gets the call to work again at the Masters; Storey will work the PGA Championship and The Open. As for any Ryder Cup assignment – if Westwood gets there, as would be expected – that is still unclear.

“I just like being out there with the both of them,” Westwood said. “Both keep me relaxed. We have good chats out there.”

They must be doing something right. Westwood is playing as well as anyone in the world of late. And the fans are clearly appreciative.

“Maybe if he was in the pinnacle of his career, maybe if he was 30 years of age, he would be seen as an outsider,” Harrington said. “But now he’s seen as a warm and friendly guy.”