April 11, 2024 12:53 pm
(AP) – The Masters got underway Thursday after a 2 1/2-hour weather delay on Thursday when Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson hit the ceremonial first shots. Most of the heavy rain expected at Augusta National missed the club, though high winds were still expected to make for a difficult day. Those teeing off late, including Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson, were unlikely to finish before dark, which means they will have long days finishing Friday before playing their second rounds. Jon Rahm is the defending champion after rallying on a marathon Sunday to overcome Brooks Koepka last year.
April 10, 2024 4:30 am
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — The Masters is more than just the first major of the year. It’s the first time the whole gang is back together. The question is for how much longer. The 13 players from LIV Golf join the rest of the players in an 89-man field at Augusta National. Masters Chairman Fred Ridley is leaning on invitations in his belief they can get the right players. He believes the Official World Golf Ranking is legitimate. The Masters always reviews the criteria. Ridley did not announce any changes in his news conference. For now, the focus is on winning a green jacket.
April 11, 2024 4:32 am
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Former NFL linebacker Terrell Suggs has been arrested after allegedly threatening another man and showing a handgun during a dispute in a Starbucks drive-thru line. Scottsdale Police arrested Suggs and charged the former Baltimore Ravens player with threatening and intimidating and disorderly conduct with a weapon. The incident on March 10 began after a black Range Rover driven by Suggs passed the ordering speaker at Starbucks and had to back up to place his order, backing into the other vehicle.
April 10, 2024 2:12 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pirates two-time All-Star closer David Bednar is off to a rough start. Bednar blew his third save in four opportunities this season in a 5-3 loss to Detroit. The 29-year-old Bednar, a Pittsburgh native, was booed after letting a two-run lead slip away. Pirates first baseman Rowdy Tellez chastised the fans for their behavior, calling it “unacceptable.” Bednar says control issues are his biggest problem at the moment. He added he plans to get with the coaching staff to figure out what the issue is. Even with Bednar struggling, the Pirates are off to a 9-3 start heading into a four-game series at Philadelphia. (Photo: AP)
April 10, 2024 4:34 am
The women’s NCAA championship game drew a bigger television audience than the men’s title game for the first time, with an average of 18.9 million viewers watching undefeated South Carolina beat Iowa and superstar Caitlin Clark. The Sunday afternoon game on ABC and ESPN outdrew Monday’s men’s final between UConn and Purdue by four million. The Huskies’ 75-60 victory averaged 14.82 million on TBS and TNT. The women’s final was the second most-watched non-Olympic women’s sporting event on U.S. television, trailing only the 2015 Women’s World Cup final between the United States and Japan.
April 10, 2024 4:35 am
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — John Calipari says he is stepping down as Kentucky’s men’s basketball coach after 15 years. He say the “program probably needs to hear another voice” amid reports that he’s closing in on a deal with Arkansas. Calipari posted a video on X in which he said that after talking with his wife, Ellen, he decided a change was needed. He didn’t specifically mention the Arkansas opening. The Hall of Famer simply said, “There have been opportunities that have been presented to us, so we’re discussing them as a family.” Calipari leaves a Wildcats program he guided to the 2012 NCAA championship among four Final Four appearances.
April 8, 2024 4:31 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Bryan Reynolds hit his 100th career home run as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Detroit Tigers 7-4. Connor Joe and Jared Triolo had two hits and two RBIs for the Pirates as Pittsburgh improved to 9-2. That’s tied with the New York Yankees for the best record in the majors. Mitch Keller struck out nine in six innings to pick up his first win of the season. Detroit’s Reese Olson allowed six runs on nine hits with three walks and three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. The Tigers have dropped four of five after starting 5-0.
April 9, 2024 4:29 am
TORONTO (AP) — Jake McCabe scored at 1:30 of overtime and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2. Auston Matthews got his NHL-leading 65th goal of the season to go along with an assist, while Matthew Knies also scored for Toronto. Ilya Samsonov made 30 saves. Rickard Rakell and Drew O’Connor scored for Pittsburgh, which is now 6-0-3 over its last nine to get back into the Eastern Conference playoff race. Alex Nedeljkovic had 20 saves. The Penguins are tied with Detroit for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, and trail the New York Islanders by one point for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
April 9, 2024 4:34 am
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — UConn delivered the latest of its suffocating basketball beatdowns, smothering Purdue for a 75-60 victory to become the first team since 2007 to capture back-to-back national championships. Tristen Newton scored 20 points for the Huskies, who won their 12th straight March Madness game — not a single one of them decided by fewer than 13 points. UConn was efficient on offense but won this with defense. The Huskies limited the country’s second-best 3-point shooting team to a mere seven shots behind the arc, and Purdue only made one. Meanwhile, UConn allowed Zach Edey to go for 37 points on 25 shot attempts.
April 9, 2024 4:34 am
BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — South Carolina’s victory over Caitlin Clark and Iowa in Sunday’s women’s NCAA championship game had a preliminary audience average of 18.7 million on ABC and ESPN. The only sporting events in the United States to draw a bigger TV audience since 2019 have been football, the World Cup and the Olympics. The audience numbers are expected to increase when Nielsen releases its final numbers on Tuesday. Nielsen says the audience peaked at 24 million. It’s the most-watched basketball game since 2019, when the men’s NCAA title game between Virginia and Texas Tech averaged 19.6 million on CBS.
