The 37th Carifta Swimming Championships has come and gone, but the experience of representing one's country on one of the biggest stages in the region has left an indelible mark on the younger participants, in particular, to the point where they continue to revel in their accomplishments.
Jamaica's Kia Alert and Noland Barrett are two such swimmers, who though not new to national representation, basked in the fact that they rose to the occasion and displayed their immense potential with standout performances that assisted the country to its 45-medal tally, including 18 gold, 12 silver and 15 bronze.
The 27-member Jamaican team also placed fourth on the points standing with combined total of 559 points, behind host The Bahamas (1,096.50 points), who secured an unprecedented sixth-straight Carifta Swimming Championship victory. Cayman Islands (660 points), Trinidad and Tobago (639 points), and Barbados (486.50 points) were the other top five teams.
Alert, who competed in the girls’ 11-12 division, relished her second outing at the championship, as she earned most points for Jamaica. She copped gold in the 50m and 100m breaststroke, the 50m and 100m freestyle, as well as in the 50m butterfly, and those were complemented by silver in the 200m breaststroke and 200m individual medley (IM).
“I really felt like I was prepared enough to do really well, and I was excited just to put the hours of hard work on display, so I was really happy and proud hearing the National anthem after I won, knowing that all the hard work paid off,” Alert said.
“I also felt good about my other performances because I know I tried my hardest even on the third day when I had the 200m IM, 100m breast and 50m free, I tried my hardest and succeeded so I am really grateful that I came out healthy,” she added.
While delighted with her personal haul, Alert praised her teammates, Christanya Shirley and others, who in a consistent show of spirit and talent, also contributed significantly to Jamaica’s medal haul. That togetherness and pride she said is what swimmers count on to keep going, especially when things don’t go as expected in the pool.
“Team Jamaica’s performances deserve tremendous commendation. After a slow start, each member of the team gave their best and everyone contributed to our total points tally. For each day of the competitions there were several personal best performances seen, so even if swimmers did not medal, they did well enough to achieve PBs and that’s enough to be proud of,” Alert reasoned.
Meanwhile, the overseas-based Barrett, who had a credible outing at CCCAN last year, was making his debut at the Carifta Swimming Championships and contested finals in most of his events in the boys’ 13-14 category. He won gold in the 100m, 200m and the 400m freestyle events.
“Going into the Carifta Games I was excited to not only see my teammates I haven't seen in a while, but more importantly, to perform very well. I had a lot of fun being there and also dropping a lot of times and securing personal best, and while hearing the national anthem, I was proud that I was representing my country,” Barrett shared.
“So, I was really satisfied with my performances, I am more excited about the 400m free where I ended up dropping 11 seconds and I was really proud of how much I was able to accomplish on my first year and knowing that I have next year to do even better,” he noted.
Barrett contested the 13-14 age group alongside, Matthew Kennedy, Kai Radcliffe and others, who also produced credible performances.
Kennedy mined bronze in the 100m and 200m freestyle to go with his other top eight finishes, while Radcliffe, known for his breaststroke prowess, secured gold in the 50m and 100m breaststroke, and silver in the 200m breaststroke.
Radcliffe also flirted with the 50m breaststroke national age group record of 30.94s held by Kito Campbell, with his 30.98s-clocking.
Like Alert, Barrett, 14, pointed out that the team spirit was based on pride, passion and performance.
“I am proud of the team's performance, and I believe every athlete should be celebrated for their effort. All the coaches who prepared the swimmers for qualification and the championship should be proud of how they performed. We all stood strong, performed strong and gave out best to achieve what we did for Jamaica,” Barrett ended.
Luis Enrique has no qualms over going into battle with former club Barcelona as he attempts to end Paris St Germain’s quest for Champions League glory.
The 53-year-old Spaniard guided Barca, for whom he had made 300 appearances as a player, to European glory as manager in 2015 and was handed the task of repeating the feat with the big-spending French champions last summer.
The two sides go head-to-head in the first leg of their quarter-final showdown at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday evening with no question over where Enrique’s loyalties lie.
He told a press conference: “Of course I like Barcelona, but I’m very pleased to be here at PSG. I just need to focus on my job and this team and building confidence here.
“I think I’m capable of bringing trophies to this club and I’m full of desire to be at the top level in this tie.”
Enrique’s former team-mate Xavi – who he sent on as a late replacement for Andres Iniesta in the 3-1 2015 final victory over Juventus in Berlin – will be in the away dugout as the Catalan giants attempt to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 2019.
However, the PSG boss is not convinced his inside knowledge will do him any good.
Enrique, who will be without the suspended Achraf Hakimi, said: “I have to say that I don’t know Xavi at all as a coach. I know about him as a player – he was my team-mate – I know about him as a footballer, but not as a coach.
“I know the club very well, I know Barcelona and the players, but I don’t know if that could be an advantage. Maybe it could be the opposite.”
PSG, who are on a 27-game unbeaten run in all competitions, have not made the quarter-finals in three seasons, while five-time winners Barca have gone out in the group stage in each of the last two campaigns.
The sides are meeting in the last eight for the fourth time with Barca having come out on top in the last two in 2012-13 and 2014-15, with the French giants getting the better of their Spanish opponents back in 1994-95.
PSG held sway the last time they were last paired together – in the last 16 – three seasons ago when Kylian Mbappe’s hat-trick secured a 4-1 first-leg victory at the Nou Camp after Lionel Messi had opened the scoring from the penalty spot before both men scored in a 1-1 draw in the return.
However, perhaps the most remarkable tie in which the two clubs have been involved came at the same stage of the 2016-17 campaign when the Catalan giants returned from the Parc des Princes on the wrong end of a 4-0 scoreline to win 6-1 on home turf.
Barcelona reached the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in four years after beating Napoli in the round of 16 and boss Xavi was feeling the “excitement” for Wednesday’s tie.
“I think the word for tomorrow, after being out of the quarter-finals for four years, is excitement,” he said in a press conference.
“We can dream and we are very motivated.
“We are enjoying our best form of the season and we will face a team prepared to win the Champions League with one of the better coaches in Luis Enrique. I have all the respect in the world for them.”
Tiger Woods reiterated his belief that Rory McIlroy will definitely win the Masters during his career to complete the grand slam as McIlroy kept his own media duties to a minimum.
McIlroy was the last player to register at Augusta National around 30 minutes before his scheduled press conference, which started early and saw the world number two answer just seven questions.
One of those was in response to Woods having earlier insisted it was just a “matter of time” before McIlroy earns a green jacket to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Woods himself in having won all four major titles.
“It’s flattering,” McIlroy said. “It’s nice to hear, in my opinion, the best player ever to play the game say something like that.
“Does that mean that it’s going to happen? Obviously not. But he’s been around the game long enough to know that I at least have the potential to do it.
“I know I’ve got the potential to do it too. It’s not as if I haven’t been a pretty good player for the last couple of decades. But, yeah, it’s nice to hear it when it comes out of his mouth.”
Since winning the Open Championship in 2014, McIlroy has had nine attempts to win the Masters, his best finish of second in 2022 coming thanks to a stunning closing 64.
And despite missing the cut last year, McIlroy feels he has what it takes to claim a fifth major title at Augusta National and a first since the 2014 US PGA.
McIlroy, who famously held a four-shot lead after 54 holes in 2011 only to collapse to a closing 80, said: “I feel like I’ve got all the tools to do well this week.
“But to bring those tools out, I think one of the most important things is to enjoy it and smell the, I guess not the roses, the azaleas along the way.
“This is my 16th start in the Masters, so I feel like I’ve done it quite a few different ways, and I guess am just trying to bring a little bit of normalcy into what I sort of try to do week in, week out.
“I play 25 weeks a year, and there’s no point in doing anything different this week compared to other weeks, I guess.
“I wanted to play quite a bit leading up to this just to feel like my game was sharp or, if it wasn’t sharp, to try to get it in the best shape possible. I feel like I made a couple of good strides in that direction last week in Texas.
“I usually try to get into tournaments either Monday nights or Tuesday mornings, and that’s sort of what I’ve done this week.
“I came up here last week to play two practice rounds at the start of the week so I feel like I’ve already got most of my prep work done. So it’s just about going out there and being relaxed and being in the right frame of mind.
“Not trying to win it from the first tee shot is something that I’ve tried to learn. It’s a 72-hole golf tournament. I’ve won from 10 strokes back going into the weekend.
“This golf course gets you to chase things a little more than other golf courses, if you make a bogey or if you get yourself out of position, because it always tempts you to do something you think you can do.
“And I’m pretty confident in my golf game. I think I can do most things, but sometimes you just have to take the conservative route and be a little more disciplined and patient.”
Paul Townend will be on board I Am Maximus and Mark Walsh has opted to partner Limerick Lace after owner JP McManus finalised riding plans for his five-strong team in Saturday’s Randox Grand National.
The celebrated owner has enjoyed two famous victories in the world’s greatest steeplechase, memorably providing AP McCoy with an elusive first success aboard Don’t Push It in 2010 before the historic triumph of the Rachael Blackmore-ridden Minella Times three years ago.
McManus is set to be well represented once more at Aintree this weekend, with Irish Grand National hero I Am Maximus and his Willie Mullins-trained stablemate Meetingofthewaters his two shortest-priced runners.
William Hill on Tuesday suggested the latter, third in the Ultima at the Cheltenham Festival last month, could even go off favourite following a “massive gamble”, but with Townend in the saddle on I Am Maximus, the owner’s retained rider in Ireland, Mark Walsh, has interestingly sided with Gavin Cromwell’s Mares’ Chase heroine Limerick Lace.
Confirming riding arrangements, McManus’ racing manager Frank Berry said: “Paul is on I Am Maximus, Mark is on Limerick Lace and Danny (Mullins) is on Meetingofthewaters.
“Mark has never ridden I Am Maximus, so Paul will ride him. Mark had a difficult decision to make as he liked Meetingofthewaters at Cheltenham as well. It was a difficult decision, but he’s gone with the mare anyway, so he’s hoping she’ll get the trip.”
Berry said Keith Donoghue had been booked to ride Cotswold Chase winner Capodanno, while Jody McGarvey will do the steering on Janidil.
He added: “They’re all going there in good form, they’ll need a bit of luck in running on the day in the National as everyone knows, but hopefully they’ll give a good account.”
Hills make last year’s winner Corach Rambler their 9-2 favourite, with I Am Maximus 7-1 and Meetingofthewaters only a point behind at 8-1 after being cut from 10s.
Spokesperson Lee Phelps said: “The money started coming in for Meetingofthewaters last week and it has not stopped. Make no mistake, this is a massive gamble, and we’ve been forced to take more preventative action, cutting Willie Mullins’ runner to 8-1 from 10-1, having been as big as 14-1 less than a week ago.
“Most people would have expected last year’s winner Corach Rambler to go off favourite, but if this gamble continues at its current rate we think there’s a good chance Meetingofthewaters could be favourite come Saturday race-time.”
The well-fancied Kitty’s Light, a 14-1 shot with the same firm, appears almost certain to make the cut after Gordon Elliott revealed top-weight Conflated will instead run in the Melling Chase on Friday.
Conflated was one of 13 Elliott-trained horses still in contention for the event following the confirmation stage on Monday, but owners Gigginstown House Stud later said the prospect of running under 11st 12lb on testing ground over four and a quarter miles was a major concern.
The 10-year-old was also entered for Thursday’s Aintree Bowl over three miles and a furlong, but was not declared on Tuesday morning and is instead set to run over two and a half miles the following day.
“We had the option of the Aintree Bowl and the Grand National, but with the ground going the way it is we are going to run in the Melling Chase on Friday instead,” Elliott said in a stable tour for Attheraces.com.
“I thought he ran great in the Ryanair Chase (at Cheltenham, finished third), he hit the line well and I was very happy with his run.”
Conflated’s anticipated defection means all six horses with an allotted weight of 10st 6lb are now set to get into the final field of 34.
As Glengouly, Galia Des Liteaux and Panda Boy are rated 146, all three were already guaranteed a starting berth, but the same could not be said of Eklat De Rire, Chambard and Kitty’s Light.
As that trio have all been dropped 1lb to an official rating of 145 since the weights were unveiled in February, connections faced an anxious wait and a potential random ballot to decide which two of the three would creep in at the bottom if none of the horses above them were taken out.
Christian Williams, trainer of last year’s Scottish Grand National and bet365 Gold Cup hero Kitty’s Light, admitted to being relieved that barring a late change of mind from Elliott, that will no longer be the case.
He said: “It’s great that he’ll get in now, it’s good for the owners. The whole season has been geared towards the Grand National so it’s great that we’ve got in.
“The owners have been looking at it for the last three weeks and had everything upside down. They’ve been thinking about it for the last three weeks and I just stayed out of it.
“I think Gordon declared Conflated for the Bowl this morning, so one of the owners rang me and said ‘brilliant Chris, we’re in’, then Gordon took him back out! Anyway, it sounds like he’s running on Friday hopefully.”
Of Kitty’s Light, he added: “He’s flying, it’s just a shame with the ground because when we had him in a good place last year the ground was good and it looks like it will be heavy on Saturday.
“He might still have won the Scottish National last year if it was soft, you don’t really know do you? You can’t discount him on the ground until he actually goes out there as when we’ve run him on that sort of ground before we didn’t have him in the best of form and it wouldn’t have been his ideal trip.
“When he’s had his ideal trip it’s been in the spring and that’s when the ground has been good. We’ll see how he runs on heavy ground in the spring – there’s only one way to find out.”
Tiger Woods insists he can win a sixth green jacket and 16th major title, despite detailing the pain he faces on the vast majority of shots at Augusta National.
Woods has played fewer than five-and-a-half competitive rounds since undergoing ankle surgery in April last year after withdrawing from the Masters during the third round.
The 48-year-old returned to action in the Hero World Challenge in December and completed all 72 holes, but was forced to withdraw from the Genesis Invitational in February due to illness after six holes of the second round.
Woods had also suffered a back spasm which led to a dreaded shank on the 18th hole in round one, but stuck to his tried and tested answer when asked what he thought he could achieve this week.
“If everything comes together, I think I can get one more,” Woods said, adding with a smile: “Do I need to describe that any more than that, or are we good?”
Yet that question and answer came just minutes after Woods had candidly described the issues that the litany of injuries he has suffered over the years – including almost losing his right leg following a car accident in 2021 – cause him on anything but a perfectly flat lie.
“Every shot that’s not on a tee box is a challenge,” Woods conceded.
“The ankle doesn’t hurt anymore. It’s fused. It’s not going anywhere. So that’s fine. It’s other parts of my body that now have to take the brunt of it.
“The back, the knee, other parts of the body have to take the load of it and just the endurance capability of walking a long time and being on my feet for a long time (is an issue).
“Things just flare up. The training that we have to do at home, it changes from a day-to-day basis. Some days I just feel really good and other days not so much. I hurt every day.
“I thought that, when I was at Hero, once a month would be a really nice rhythm. Hasn’t worked out that way. But now we have major championships every month from here through July so now the once a month hopefully kicks in.”
While writing Woods off has proved a dangerous game in the past, making a 24th-consecutive cut at Augusta National, having equalled the record shared by Gary Player and Fred Couples last year, appears a far more achievable goal than winning.
“I think it’s consistency, it’s longevity and it’s an understanding of how to play this golf course,” Woods said of that potential landmark.
“That’s one of the reasons why you see players that are in their 50s and 60s make cuts here, or it’s players in their late 40s have runs at winning the event, just the understanding of how to play it.
“Now, you still have to go out and execute it, but there’s a lot of knowledge that goes into understanding how to play it. And, granted, every tee box has been changed since the first time I played. Every green has been changed.
“But the overall configuration of how they roll and how they move and the angles you take, that hasn’t changed.
“That’s the neat thing about this. I can still go through the mental Rolodex and bring out a few putts from the ’90s that still move generally in that direction and the effect that Rae’s Creek has on certain shots and putts. And it means a lot.”
Woods, who will partner Jason Day and Max Homa in the first two rounds, said he remained in discussions about becoming Ryder Cup captain in 2025 and also reiterated his view that Rory McIlroy would definitely win the Masters at some point to complete the career grand slam.
“No question, he’ll do it at some point,” Woods said. “Rory’s too talented, too good. He’s going to be playing this event for a very long time. He’ll get it done. It’s just a matter of when.
“I think that Rory will be a great Masters champion one day and it could be this week. The way he plays the game and the golf course fits his eye, it’s just a matter of time.”
After three grueling rounds of matches in the 24th KPMG Squash League, the teams now look forward to the quarter finals which are slated to start on Tuesday, April 9 at the Jamaica Squash Association's headquarters at the Liguanea Club in New Kingston.
The first set of matches which are scheduled for Tuesday will see Racketeers vs Team Big Shots (LC Court 4, 6pm) - Main Draw, Blown vs Premium Reserve (LC Court 5, 6pm) - Main Draw, while The Juniors vs Squashbucklers (LC Court 6, 6pm) - Plate and JDF vs Youth & Experience (LC Court 3, 6pm)- Plate. (Plate is a description for the losing teams who are playing for placement in the sixteen-team league).
The second set of quarter final matches is scheduled for Thursday, April 11 at the same venue. The scheduled matches will see Fantastic Warriors vs Court Crushers (LC Court 5, 6pm) - Main Draw, Saints vs Rampant Rollers (LC Court 4, 6pm) - Main Draw, AGI vs Bulldozers (LC Court 3, 6 pm) - Plate, and Samosas vs Campion Champions (LC Court 6, 6 pm) - Plate.
Defending champion AGI began their defense positively back in early March when they won all three matches played in the first round 3-0 over Squashbucklers but has since lost round two by a 2-1 score line to Racketeers and in the third round was decimated by Court Crushers 3-0.
Based on the results at the end of the group stage and based on defending champion AGI's results, a new champion will definitely be crowned this year.
The teams currently in the running for a place in the final include Racketeers, Team Big Shot, Blown, Premium Reserve, Fantastic Warriors, Court Crushers, Saints and Rampant Rollers.
The first two quarter final matches will be played concurrently on Tuesday with Racketeers taking on Team Big Shots on Court 4 and Blown facing off with Premium Reserve on Court 5. Both matches will begin at 6:00 pm.
Luke Littler has competition for the hottest young star in darts after 10-year-old Owen Bryceland enjoyed an astonishing weekend on the junior tour.
Bryceland, who makes 17-year-old Littler look like a seasoned professional, won back-to-back tournaments on the Foundation Tour in Coventry.
The Scot beat Mitchell Lawrie 5-1 in the Event 11 final and then Jack Howarth in the Event 12 showpiece to put himself in a strong position to qualify for the JDC Advanced Tour.
Bryceland highlighted the incredible level he is already able to play at as he produced the Foundation Tour’s highest ever average of 104.86 in his last-16 win over Joshua Machin.
As barometer for his standard, world number one Luke Humphries won the World Championship final against Littler with an average of 103.67.
Littler, who has won back-to-back Junior World Championships in 2022 and 2023, has taken the darting world by storm since his breakthrough at Alexandra Palace over Christmas.
He got to the final of the tournament on debut, won his debut events in the World Series, Player Championships and European Tour and currently sits on top of the Premier League table after back-to-back nightly wins in Belfast and Manchester.
Novak Djokovic returned to action at the Monte-Carlo Masters with a comfortable victory but Jack Draper was narrowly beaten while Carlos Alcaraz pulled out through injury.
The Spaniard, recently overtaken as world number two by Jannik Sinner, had been due to face Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round after receiving a first-round bye but is struggling with a forearm problem.
Alcaraz wrote on social media: “I have been working in Monte Carlo and trying to recover until the last minute from an injured pronator teres in my right arm, but it was not possible and I cannot play! I was really looking forward to playing… See you next year!”
The 20-year-old won his first title since last summer’s Wimbledon in Indian Wells last month but was then beaten by Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open.
It is an important part of the season for Alcaraz, who is due to defend his titles in Barcelona and Madrid over the next month. He has been replaced in the draw by Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego.
Djokovic played his first match since Indian Wells after choosing to skip Miami and then parting ways with long-time coach Goran Ivanisevic.
With former Serbian doubles specialist Nenad Zimonjic guiding him from the stands, Djokovic, now the oldest men’s singles number one in history, eased to a 6-1 6-2 victory over Russia’s Roman Safiullin.
The 36-year-old said on Sky Sports: “I’m very pleased. Even the games that I lost, I had break points in those games. Really good first match at the start of the clay season. I hope to maintain this rhythm.”
Draper took on 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz and for the second year in a row lost a very tight contest.
The British number two forced a deciding set and then broke Hurkacz, champion on clay in Estoril last week, when he served for the match at 5-4 but the Pole played a brilliant tie-break to win 6-4 3-6 7-6 (2).
Draper’s exit ends British interest in singles, with Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans also losing in the first round.
Jerome Reynier’s Lazzat maintained his unbeaten record with a taking Group success at Deauville in the Prix Djebel.
The three-year-old came into the race with a record of three wins from three runs, all of which were at Cagnes-Sur-Mer earlier this year.
No horse had ever got within three and a half lengths of him ahead of the Deauville Group Three and he had a Listed victory to his name having taken the Prix de la Californie last time out.
In a field of seven he was the 4-6 favourite and justified that price when impressing with a straightforward two-and-a-half-length victory over the Aga Khan’s Keran, with the David Menuisier-trained Devil’s Point another five lengths away in third.
“It was a change of scenery with a seven-furlong straight course and he didn’t mind it at all,” said Reynier.
“He doesn’t need anyone, today he went in front and off he goes. He won in good style and the time was much faster than the fillies (in the Prix Impudence).
“He came back and he was not even blowing at all, he’s got plenty left in the tank. He’s a very exciting prospect for this year.”
On next targets for the Territories gelding Reynier added: “There are two Group Threes, either the Prix Paul de Moussac at Longchamp in early June or Royal Ascot for the Jersey Stakes.
“We will see depending on the opposition for the Group race in Paris, because he’s got the French premiums it could be easier to keep him in France and try the easiest option with him.
“He is a gelding and we will see afterwards what we can do, we would be very excited to send him to Goodwood for the Sussex.
“We have Facteur Cheval aiming for the race as well, so we’re going to be like a French invasion coming across the Channel!”
Charlie Appleby’s Romantic Style cemented her French Classic credentials with victory in the Prix Imprudence.
The Night Of Thunder filly won twice as a juvenile, taking a Yarmouth novice and then finishing her season with success in the Listed Bosra Sham Stakes at Newmarket.
She was stepping up to seven furlongs in heavy ground in France, where she also faced a step up in grade when running at Group Three level for the first time.
Neither factor could hinder her, however, and under William Buick she prevailed by half a length from Christopher Head’s well-regarded filly Ramatuelle.
“I’m delighted, she’s a filly that we’d spoken about for this race for a while,” Appleby told Sky Sports Racing.
“Stepping up to a mile will be her maximum trip and we felt that if we had stayed at home and gone to Newbury for an English trial it would have been closer to an English Guineas, but I don’t think she’ll stay a mile over the English trip at Newmarket.
“We thought we’d be better coming here and it gives her more time between now and the French Guineas.
“William was delighted, said she was fresh but travelled sweetly in his hands.
“She did it all the right way round, she did travel but she travelled sensibly in behind a horse there and when she picked up I always felt they were going to be doing enough to stay in front.
“She’s a filly that’s got a natural pace in her pedigree, but she does give herself a chance to stay a mile. Coming back for the French Guineas will be our aim and that will probably be her maximum trip.”
Dujuan ‘Whisper’ Richards was on target twice to help Chelsea U-21s secure a comfortable 4-0 win over Aston Villa U-21s in Premier League 2 action at the Aston Villa Training Ground on Monday.
The 18-year-old opened his account in the 11th minute with a clever chip with his preferred left foot over the onrushing Aston villa keeper James Wright.
The Jamaican then doubled his tally and his side’s advantage with another left-footed finish, this time into the bottom left corner leaving Wright with no chance.
Chelsea’s other goals came from Deivid Washington in the 63rd minute and Tyrique George in the 95th minute.
Richards now has four goals in six appearances for the young blues who are now fourth in the PL2 table with 32 points from 18 games.
The former Kingston College standout has represented the Reggae Boyz on 10 occasions with his lone goal coming against Trinidad & Tobago in the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Jon Rahm insists his competitive edge has not been dulled by his move to LIV Golf as he bids to become just the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters titles.
Rahm’s shock move to the Saudi-backed breakaway competition came after he had previously pledged his loyalty to the PGA Tour and criticised LIV’s 54-hole format, with no cut and a shotgun start as “not a golf tournament”.
The two-time major winner has failed to win any of the five LIV events he has played but travelled to Augusta on the back of finishing fourth in Miami on Sunday and winning the team event at Doral.
“I’ve had a lot of fun playing in those events,” Rahm said. “The competition’s still there.
“Yeah, they’re smaller fields but you still have to beat some of the best players in the world and you still have to play at the same level you have to play on the PGA Tour to win those events.
“I understand there’s less people. I understand the team format’s a little different. I understand we’re going shotgun and things are a little bit different to how they are in a PGA TOUR event.
“But the pressure’s there. I want to win as bad as I wanted to win before I moved on to LIV. Going down the stretch when you’re in contention is the exact same feelings. That really doesn’t change.
“Winning is winning and that’s what matters.”
At this time last year Rahm had played eight PGA Tour events and won three of them, although his last two events before the Masters had seem him withdraw from the Players Championship due to illness and fail to advance from the group stages of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
“If anything, if I had to go based on how I feel today, on a Tuesday, I feel physically better than I did last year,” added Rahm, who started the first round with a four-putt bogey but still shot an opening 65.
“But then once competition starts, it doesn’t really matter. Once the gun goes off, whatever you feel is out the window. You’ve got to go out there and post a score.
“It wouldn’t be the first time we hear somebody not feeling their best and winning. The first one that comes to mind is Ben Crenshaw after he lost his swing coach and to come back after being at the funeral and win it.
“So it’s not something that I have in mind [fewer competitive rounds], but I do feel fresh and ready for it.”
Rahm faced the “quite daunting” prospect of making a speech at his Champions Dinner in front of what he described as an audience of “all the living legends in this game”.
That audience includes fellow LIV players and former champions Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Charl Schwartzel and Patrick Reed, but a lack of world ranking points for LIV events makes it much harder to earn a place in the year’s first major.
“There’s got to be a way for certain players in whatever tour to be able to earn their way in,” Rahm said.
“I don’t know what that looks like. But there’s got to be a fair way for everybody to compete. They’ll need to figure out a way to evaluate how the LIV players are doing and how they can earn their way.”
Nicky Henderson expects to know by Thursday evening whether his horses are over whatever was ailing them during the Cheltenham Festival, with Sir Gino and Shishkin all set for Aintree.
Henderson endured a miserable week in the Cotswolds and after racing on Wednesday of that week decided discretion was the better part of valour, pulling out all of his high-profile runners.
“Rather like before Cheltenham we’ve kept testing them and just like then, everything is fine – that’s the only worry really. It keeps telling us everything is fine,” said Henderson.
“The horses seem really well in themselves, the last work has all been done, they seem bright and perky and we’re looking forward to it.
“We’re going to know our fate pretty quickly. By Thursday night it will either be happening or it won’t be happening. Obviously we go with a fair amount of trepidation, but things seemed to have improved dramatically from the perspective of their work and everything at home.
“We’ve hardly run anything, but the two reasons we haven’t run anything, for instance at Hereford today I couldn’t make an entry on the card – I couldn’t find a horse who was qualified to run in any race, and of course the ground is desperate, so we’ll start at Aintree.”
After a quiet 10 days the Seven Barrows handler has been building them back up to peak fitness and Sir Gino, who had been odds-on for the Triumph Hurdle, will be first to test the water in the Boodles Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle.
“He was a horse that I honestly couldn’t find anything wrong with him, but we’d lost all confidence and I couldn’t face running a young horse like him,” Henderson told Sky Sports Racing.
“We’ve made no bones about it, we think he’s seriously good and I just couldn’t risk him. Joe Donnelly was wonderful because we had to take Sir Gino, Shishkin and Shanagh Bob out, all his, but there was no point in running them after the first two days.
“I trust in this fellow and he’s going to go out there carrying the Seven Barrows flag and I’m sure everyone is going to watch him like a hawk – I hope for all the right reasons.
“He won at Auteuil and as everybody knows, if you can handle that you can handle most things, and it was pretty soft on Trials day (at Cheltenham).”
Shishkin will then get his chance to shine in the Aintree Bowl having missed the Gold Cup.
“The last week seems to have been great, Nico (de Boinville) rode him in his last piece of work on Saturday and said he felt fantastic and he’s looked up for it all this week.
“I just think everything has gone right, but he’s had a funny old year. He didn’t start, then he threw away the King George and then he won the Denman. Whatever anybody’s opinion of the King George doesn’t matter, he was still running a great race. The Denman was more than an ideal preparation for the Gold Cup, but here we are in the same place so hopefully all systems go.”
Henderson also runs the mares Luccia and Marie’s Rock in the William Hill Aintree Hurdle.
He said: “Luccia was the one bright light at Cheltenham. The Champion Hurdle had fallen apart as far as we were concerned without Constitution Hill, but Luccia ran a fantastic race when she was a very close third.
“The only thing here is we are going up half a mile. We haven’t thought about it a lot and always felt she wouldn’t stay, but one day you have to try and if she does stay from next season’s point of view it gives her so many more options. The alternative was to wait for Punchestown and walk into Lossiemouth.
“Marie’s Rock is between here and the three-miler, but in this sort of ground two and a half will be plenty for her. She’s got stamina and goes in the soft, but it’s a very tough race.”
Carlos Alcaraz has withdrawn from the Monte-Carlo Masters with a right forearm injury.
The Spaniard, recently overtaken as world number two by Jannik Sinner, had been due to face Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round after receiving a first-round bye.
Alcaraz wrote on social media: “I have been working in Monte Carlo and trying to recover until the last minute from an injured pronator teres in my right arm, but it was not possible and I cannot play! I was really looking forward to playing… See you next year!”
The 20-year-old won his first title since last summer’s Wimbledon in Indian Wells last month but was then beaten by Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open.
It is an important part of the season for Alcaraz, who is due to defend his titles in Barcelona and Madrid over the next month.
He has been replaced in the draw by Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego.
Philippe Clement said Rangers faced a “crazy situation” as they prepared to travel to Dundee still unsure whether Wednesday night’s game would go ahead.
The cinch Premiership clash at the Scot Foam Stadium at Dens Park was rescheduled after it was contentiously called off 90 minutes before kick-off last month.
Dundee’s home game against Motherwell on Saturday was allowed to take place after a second pitch inspection, with the Fir Park club stating before their 3-2 comeback win they were “deeply concerned for the welfare of all players”.
Dundee managing director John Nelms told Sky Sports he was as “confident as we can be” the Rangers game would go ahead but pointed to April 16 or 17 as a contingency plan.
Gers boss Clement, whose side will leapfrog Celtic at the top of the table with a win, would prefer an early decision and said he was comfortable with the game being switched to a neutral ground to get it played before the split, saying: “In these circumstances it can be a logical choice.”
“It is a crazy situation in a top league that you don’t know the day before if the game is on or not,” said the Belgian, who confirmed Ridvan Yilmaz remained out with a knock and midfielder Ryan Jack had had a setback with a calf problem that could end his season.
“So that is a really weird situation. Okay, it can happen in extreme circumstances, but I don’t think it has happened in the last few years in all the top leagues.
“But now there is a problem every time it is raining in Scotland and it’s not that there are normally a lot of sunny days in Scotland.
“It is a bad situation for the league and for Dundee themselves, I don’t think they are happy with the situation.
“I haven’t seen the pitch, but it was clear when we were there the last time that it was dangerous for both sides and it was not playable, but I am not the one who decides, it is the referee who decides.
“I want a decision today because you want to prepare, but both clubs and the league are in talks about that.
“If it is not possible you want to see what the alternative is. We don’t have much time because there is a split in the league. These things give a bad image to the league and it needs to be solved.
“If you want to play in Dundee next week, what is going to happen if it rains next week? Strange for me because every time it rains there is a problem.”
As his squad got ready to travel to their hotel near Dundee on Tuesday afternoon, Clement asked for a decision to be made the day before the scheduled kick-off.
He said: “If we cannot play tomorrow, when are we going to play? Thursday?
“If it is Thursday I would like to know today so we can train tomorrow.
“If the decision is made tomorrow evening, we have one afternoon, evening in a hotel near to Dundee for nothing.
“I understand that games are cancelled in the last minutes, last hours in special weather circumstances, but this is something that is repeated every time it is raining so I think you can make an assessment today.”
Clement said there was a “big chance” long-term absentees Danilo and Oscar Cortes would not return before the end of the season.
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