LIV Golf Invitational chief executive Greg Norman says "the evolution of golf" has arrived following the conclusion of the breakaway circuit's first event.

Charl Schwartzel survived a shaky finish on the back nine to hold off South African countryman Hennie du Plessis by one shot at the Centurion Club near London.

He pocketed $4.75million for his triumph – golf's biggest ever prize pot – after his Stinger GC also finished top of the team leaderboard.

The 2011 Masters champion was one of seven major winners taking part in the first leg of the breakaway series, which has attracted controversy due to its Saudi links.

But with Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed and Pat Perez the latest to defect from the PGA Tour over the past few days, LIV Golf is only gaining more and more momentum.

"All I can say is that the evolution of golf has arrived," Norman, who first tried to set up a world tour in the 1990s, said at Saturday's presentation ceremony.

"For 27 years there have been a lot of obstacles put in our path, a lot of dreams have tried to be squashed but they couldn't squash us.

"Golf was always going to be a force for good. The fans wanted this. We wanted this for you. We wanted this for the players, for the caddies, for the players' families."

Schwartzel led from start to finish to claim a prize equal to the amount it has taken him four years to earn on the PGA Tour.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think we could play for that much money in golf," he said.

"As you could see I was taking a bit of heat down the stretch and there was a lot of money involved."

More big names are expected to be unveiled by LIV ahead of its second tournament in Portland at the end of June, before the series moves to New Jersey, Boston and Chicago.

Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes know they must "take a beating" in order to recover the lost ground they trail Red Bull and Ferrari by ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion will start seventh on the grid following another disappoint qualifying session in Baku, while team-mate George Russell will start in fifth.

Mercedes have remained dramatically off the pace of their rivals, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc sealing a fourth consecutive pole position in his title race with Max Verstappen.

Hamilton – who won on this track in 2018 – admitted he and his team are continuing to draw the same conclusions from their struggles, in what could be a bad omen for their prospects over the rest of the season.

"I'm not surprised [about the gap], I mean it was the same in Monaco," he told Sky Sports. "It was a really difficult qualifying session, we're constantly pushing.

"We have a very, very small window where we can work this car and everything we try doesn't give us what we want.

"So, we're making lots of changes, but we're always out with the same conclusion, which is most often bouncing, which loses us a lot of performance.

"All the performance is when you get the car low… so we said let's take a beating in our necks and backs to get the car as low as possible for the performance."

Russell, who is out to better his best-ever 15th-place finish at the circuit, posted in 2019, suggested improvements were harder to decipher from within the cockpit.

"The lap felt good, the car felt good but obviously it is pretty shocking when you cross the line and you are one and a bit seconds behind pole position," Russell said.

"We expect so much of ourselves and we are working so hard to bring more performance, but definitely this weekend has brought out the strengths and the weaknesses of all of us.

"To be honest, it truly is just not going fast enough.

"It feels ok from within, except when we are going down the straights because every single bump is the most rigid I have ever felt from any race car before.

"In the breaking zones, it is so bumpy down those straights and feels awful from within but through the corners itself the car feels good.

"So we know it isn't a balance thing getting the car in the right window with the set up, it is more we don't have the downforce and we are balancing a lot of limitations to try and get the downforce.

"We know there is a lot there but we don't know how to extract it."

Clayton Kershaw gave up a go-ahead home run to Thairo Estrada upon his return from injury, as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 on Saturday.

Kershaw has been sidelined since May due to an inflamed joint in his back, but his return has also coincided with Walker Buehler being placed on the Dodgers' injured list.

The three-time National League Cy Young Award winner pitched four innings, giving up three hits over 71 pitches, including the two runs that set up the Giants' win in the second inning.

The Dodgers claimed 13 hits in comparison to the five from their NL West rivals, but simply were not able to capitalise at the plate with runners in scoring position.

The Dodgers have now lost eight of their past 12 games, with the San Diego Padres now drawing level atop the NL West.

Judge rules for Yankees

Aaron Judge led the way for the New York Yankees, scoring two home runs in their 8-0 win over the Chicago Cubs.

It was a day to forget for rookie Cubs pitcher Matt Swarmer, who gave up six solo home runs out of a total seven hits over 90 pitches in five innings.

Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres, Jose Trevino and former Cub Anthony Rizzo went deep along with Judge as the Pinstripes claimed their 10th win in 11 games, moving to 43-16 for the year.

Trout leads Angels upon return from injury

Mike Trout returned for the Los Angeles Angels as they claimed a morale-boosting 11-6 win over the NL East-leading New York Mets.

The three-time American League MVP returned from a minor groin injury and led the way for the Halos in the win, scoring two home runs and claiming three hits from four at-bats.

Shohei Ohtani also went deep while going three-of-four, claiming their second win in three after snapping a 14-game losing streak on Thursday.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have a roster filled with All-Stars, but they will be down a big one for the foreseeable future.

Right-hander Walker Buehler will be shut down for six to eight weeks after he was diagnosed with a flexor strain in his right arm.

An MRI revealed the strain on Saturday, and he won’t be allowed to throw for six to eight weeks. Even if Buehler can start throwing in six weeks, he would have to build up arm strength and throw bullpens and batting practice before a likely minor-league assignment.

While the team expects the two-time All-Star to pitch again this season, the earliest Buehler could return would be late August or early September, with this recent setback coinciding with Clayton Kershaw's return from the injured list.

''He's our opening day starter, so to lose him in any capacity is a blow,'' manager Dave Roberts said. ''Hopefully, we'll get him back sooner than later.''

Buehler, who had Tommy John surgery soon after being drafted in 2015, hasn’t been as effective this season, going 6-3 with a 4.02 ERA in 12 starts.

He went 16-4 with a 2.47 ERA in 33 starts last season and finished fourth in the NL Cy Young Award voting.

''When you lose one of the best pitchers in the game, it's a big blow to anybody,'' Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said of Buehler's absence.

Buehler was forced to leave Friday night’s start at San Francisco after four innings and 70 pitches with elbow trouble. After the game, Buehler said he's dealt with occasional soreness in his elbow in recent years, and he expressed concern.

Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos revelled in his side's 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday, but insisted they will now face the best team in the NHL in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Lightning will now face the Colorado Avalanche after winning Game 6 and the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday, with Stamkos scoring both goals.

The 32-year-old put the reigning Stanley Cup champions up half-way through the second period, but the game seemed headed for overtime after Frank Vatrano equalised during a power play in the third.

The Lightning captain responded with another goal almost straight from the restart, getting on the end of a Nikita Kucherov pass in space to put his side back in front, likening it to a dream scenario afterwards.

He is aware of what awaits in Tampa Bay's hopes for a third-straight Stanley Cup, however.

"These are the games you live for as a kid," Stamkos told ESPN post-game. "It was everything I thought it was going to be and more, to give ourselves a chance to go to the finals three years in a row is amazing.

"To have a part in it tonight was certainly icing on the cake. It was just an unbelievable team effort, we deserved this one and we got it.

"The hardest thing to do is to win the championship and this group has been in the trenches. We know what it takes, but now we've got the best team in the league in the Colorado Avalanche. They have it all, that's what teams aspire to be."

Sweeping the Florida Panthers in the second round, the Lightning had to tough it out against the Rangers after going down 2-0 in the series.

Claiming Game 5 in New York before closing the series out on Sunday, Stamkos praised his battle-hardened team's ability to stay calm in adversity against a tough opponent.

"We know we didn't play our best the first two," he said. "We had that long break and didn't want to use an excuse, and they [the Rangers] had a couple of hard-fought series. They were executing and we weren't.

"We stuck with it. There's no panic on this team and what an effort. Tonight was amazing. To rattle off four against that team at this time of the year, it's pretty impressive."

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians said he would still be leading the team if Tom Brady did not decide to come out of retirement.

Not long after Tampa Bay’s playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams, Brady retired and the Buccaneers were left without a proven quarterback on their roster.

Less than six weeks later, the seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback opted to return and two weeks later, Arians announced that he would be stepping down as head coach and moving into a role in the Bucs' front office, with Todd Bowles becoming the new head coach.

The new Senior Football Consultant explained he was unwilling to leave Bowles with uncertainty at the quarterback position, with Blaine Gabbert and Kyle Trask on the roster.

"I was going the other way. I was thinking he wasn’t going to play," Arians said. "I was thinking about who are we going to get? Who wants to trade? There wasn’t anybody in the draft.

"That was obvious. Me, to the public, I was fine with the two we had: Blaine and Kyle. Because I’ve seen Blaine win with a good team behind him. Had Tom not come back, I probably would still be coaching. I couldn’t give Todd that situation.”

Because of the timing, rumours circulated that a rift existed between Brady and Arians, but Arians stuck to his line that he had already been thinking about quitting and did not want to leave Bowles with an unsettled quarterback situation.

Arians, who turns 70 in October, also said that he was “upset” with the hiring cycle and expected both Bowles and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich to get head coaching jobs. He also admitted that the upcoming season would have been his last anyway.

“I had a bunch of people lined up to take their jobs,” Arians said. “When they were both here and Tom came back, I thought it was the perfect time.”

Italy head coach Robert Mancini admitted he is surprised by his inexperienced side's start to the Nations League following their 0-0 draw with England on Saturday.

Without midfield lynchpin Marco Verratti and the likes of Federico Chiesa and Andrea Belotti, the Azzurri put in an encouraging performance in Saturday's Euro 2020 final rematch, earning a point at the Molineux Stadium.

With the majority of the squad earning less than ten caps before this international window, Italy lead Group 3 after three games on five points, ahead of Hungary, Germany and England, who are bottom of the group on two points.

While conceding Italy are in early stages of transition after their failure to qualify for the World Cup, Mancini revealed he expected this initial period to be more volatile.

"I’ll be honest, I did not expect this. I thought it would be worse," he confessed. "We still have a lot to work on, there’s a long road ahead full of dangers.

"We certainly need to score more goals and if Davide Frattesi had scored in the opening five minutes, it would’ve been a different game. He’ll get it next time.

"I didn’t expect us to do so well in these three weeks together. It’s important that we haven’t changed our style of football, even when the personnel did."

With relative experience compared to the new faces in the squad, Lorenzo Pellegrini has had to take on more responsibility for the Azzurri following their loss to Argentina in the UEFA/CONMEBOL Finalissima, scoring against Germany and Hungary.

More of a threat in the penalty area from midfield than a technical and creative fulcrum, the 25-year-old earned a third consecutive start on Saturday – something he had not done since 2018.

The Roma captain was praised for his versatility by his coach despite evident room for improvement.

“Pellegrini has his own style of football," Mancini said. "He’s not a 10 like Giuseppe Giannini, nor a 10 like Francesco Totti.

"I think he can become much better with time, because he is so good at both attacking and defending.

"At times he loses balls he shouldn’t, but if he improves that and a couple of other things, he can become simply extraordinary.”

Nick Kyrgios said he was racially abused by a spectator during his semi-final with Andy Murray at the Stuttgart Open on Saturday.

Murray won the match 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 to advance to the final, where he will play Matteo Berrettini on Sunday.

However, Kyrgios had greater concerns as he took to Instagram afterwards to say he was called a "little black sheep" by someone in attendance.

"When is this going to stop? Dealing with racial slurs from the crowd?" he wrote.

"I understand that my behaviour isn't the best all the time – but 'you little black sheep', 'shut up and play' – little comments like this are not acceptable. When I retaliate to the crowd, I get penalised. This is messed up."

Meanwhile, Murray's win saw him reach his first tour-level final on grass since 2016.

The three-time major winner upset Stefanos Tsitsipas in the previous round – his first win over a top-five opponent in six years – and followed that up against Kyrgios with another impressive performance.

"A lot of ups and downs, but I kept going and kept working and finally managed to get to another one. I am proud of the effort I have put in," Murray said after securing the win.

He moves up to 47th in the live ATP rankings – the first time he has been in the top 50 since May 2018 – and his clash with Berrettini will be his 70th career final.

"You're always battling yourself as well as the opponent, it's one of the difficult things about individual sports," he added in relation to Kyrgios' frustrations during the game.

"Nick has the potential to be one of the best players in the world, there's absolutely no question about that. But he obviously got very frustrated in the second set and made it a lot easier for me.

"I'm happy to be in the final. I've played well this week and I've got a great opportunity against Matteo tomorrow."

Tony Finau birdied the final hole for an eight-under 62 on Saturday to share the lead with Rory McIlroy, coming into the final round of the Canadian Open.

Finau had the best round of the tournament so far, scoring an eagle on the par-five ninth before making four birdies on the back nine.

The 32-year-old is looking for only his third PGA Tour victory, with his last win coming in a playoff over Cameron Smith in last year's Northern Trust.

McIlroy had a tricky uphill putt to also birdie on the 18th hole, despite an exceptional approach to set it up, but he had to ultimately two-putt to finish the round after his birdie attempt skimmed over the edge of the cup.

The 33-year-old has been in confident touch at St. George's this week and continued that on Saturday, posting a five-under 65 with assertive driving and wedge-play.

After a bogey on the par-three eighth, the Northern Irishman responded with three birdies over the next four holes, before managing another birdie on the par-five 15th.

The final hole would have been an apt punctuation mark for his third round, after scores of 66 and 68 over the opening two days.

McIlroy has had to wait three years to defend his 2019 title, with the Covid-19 pandemic forcing a cancellation of the tournament in 2020 and 2021.

He is among five players ranked in the world's top ten in a high-profile field at Toronto, coming into next weekend's U.S. Open, with Justin Thomas and Sam Burns joined by Wyndham Clark and Alex Smalley on nine-under.

Cameron Smith has recovered from an opening-round six-over 76 to finish on one-under after 54 holes, posting a 68 on Saturday, while world number one Scottie Scheffler scored a disappointing 71.

Germany head coach Hansi Flick said his side made "too many mistakes" as they were forced to settle for another Nations League draw in Hungary on Saturday.

Die Mannschaft were held to their third consecutive 1-1 stalemate in the competition after an early Hungary goal from Zsolt Nagy was quickly cancelled out by Jonas Hofmann.

Having also tied 1-1 in a friendly with the Netherlands in March, it is the first time ever that four successive Germany games have had the same scoreline.

Flick told the national team's official website after the game that he expected a tough encounter, but rued mistakes from his team, who were unable to create many clear chances.

"Ahead of the game, I said that this would be our second-toughest match after the England game," he said. "Hungary were a very compact unit, and we just didn't manage to play forward convincingly enough; we made too many mistakes.

"That said, we're still in a process of development. We need to make sure we learn our lessons from this game. We lacked a bit of conviction."

Germany remain third in Group A3 after England and Italy played out a 0-0 draw, and they host the Azzurri at Borussia-Park on Tuesday still looking for their first win of the tournament.

"I won't go on and start making any excuses: we wanted the three points today, and everyone in the dressing room is disappointed that we didn't get them," Flick added.

"Now, we have two days to recover – we'll play the eleven that we think is the most match-fit against Italy."

Captain Manuel Neuer made two excellent saves in the game to deny Hungary, who despite only having 32.9 per cent possession managed seven shots on target to Germany's one.

Neuer expressed his disappointment at two more points dropped but believes the team are on a "journey" and still hope to lift the World Cup in Qatar later this year.

"We're all disappointed, of course," the big stopper said. "We lacked determination and found it difficult to push forward. You do have to say that Hungary are a tough side to play against, though.

"We've always said that we're developing – we're on a long journey to lifting the World Cup. We want to show what we can do once again when we play Italy."

Darwin Nunez is reportedly on the brink of joining Liverpool and was left out of Uruguay's 5-0 friendly win over Panama on Saturday.

The striker's absence from the match in Montevideo was confirmed following the announcement of the teams.

A short message on Uruguay's Twitter page simply listed Nunez among four players who would play no part in the game, with no reason given.

That development came as speculation mounted around a mooted move to Liverpool, with Benfica reportedly set to receive an initial fee in the region of £68.3million (€80m).

The Reds have seemingly won the race for one of the most sought-after strikers in world football.

Nunez scored 34 goals in 41 games for Benfica in 2021-22 – including six in 10 in the Champions League, as he netted in both legs of the quarter-final against Liverpool.

The 22-year-old's signing would seemingly accommodate the sale of Sadio Mane, who has been the subject of interest from Bayern Munich ahead of his contract expiring next year.

In Nunez's absence on Saturday, Edinson Cavani struck either side of half-time for Uruguay.

The veteran front man linked up with Giorgian de Arrascaeta to net from close range six minutes before the break, then had his second within three minutes of the restart, converting from the spot after winning the penalty himself.

Further goals followed from substitutes Nicolas De La Cruz, Maxi Gomez and Diego Rossi to ensure a one-sided final scoreline.

Roberto Martinez felt Belgium had two Nations League points taken away from them by the VAR after Brennan Johnson's late equaliser gave Wales a 1-1 draw.

Youri Tielemans' 50th-minute strike looked as though it would prove enough for Belgium, who were without Thibaut Courtois and Romelu Lukaku in Cardiff.

But Wales, who had an early Ethan Ampadu strike contentiously ruled out by the video assistant, were grateful to see Johnson's 86th-minute leveller allowed to stand despite the linesman initially flagging for offside.

Martinez, however, was left furious by the decision.

"I can't analyse this game until I get an explanation from someone about that goal against. It was a shocking decision," Martinez told VTM. 

"The assistant referee makes the right decision, but somehow the VAR makes it in his head to overrule. Those lines are not parallel.

"We should have won this match. They took two points away from us tonight, it was simply offside.

"My players don't deserve this, because we defended really well."

The stalemate meant Belgium failed to capitalise on the Netherlands' 2-2 draw with Poland in the other clash in Group A4.

Martinez's side remain three points behind the Netherlands with three games played.

Gareth Southgate dismissed suggestions England's recent struggles are down to a conservative approach, instead ruing a lack of sharpness in the final third. 

England drew 0-0 with Italy on Saturday as the Three Lions were left rooted to the foot of their Nations League group with just two points from three games. 

Across the trio of matches played this month, England have scored just one goal – Harry Kane's penalty in the 1-1 draw with Germany. 

The Three Lions' performances have been widely criticised, and while they did create chances against the Azzurri, they were at times second best to a team undergoing something of a transformation. 

A common criticism of England throughout Southgate's time in charge has been that they lack an identity beyond their often pragmatic approach, but he did not want to entertain such an idea this time. 

Asked if he saw the performance as cautious, Southgate told Channel 4: "I don't see how you can really. 

"We tried to move the ball through a very good, well-organised team. We've got the ball into our forward players and we've given all of them a go, tried to refresh it because we know the state of the season we're at. 

"So, I think at the moment that little bit of sharpness in the final third isn't quite there, but I was pleased with the general performance." 

Tammy Abraham started in place of Kane in attack, with the Roma striker supported by Raheem Sterling, Mason Mount and Jack Grealish. 

While Sterling and Mount each managed three shots and Grealish laid on a game-high four key passes, Abraham mustered only two shots. 

One was a harmless off-target header and the other a wasteful finish after robbing Italy of possession inside their own area, as he scuffed wide of the right-hand post. 

Nevertheless, Southgate seemed encouraged by Abraham's display. 

"I said earlier in the week, we've been too reliant on Harry and Raheem for our goals," he continued. 

"Other players have got to step into that phase. A number of them do it for their clubs but at international level they've not managed to convert that. 

"So we've looked dangerous without getting the goals that are needed in the bigger games. 

"I thought Tammy was fine. I haven't seen that chance back from right at the start, but that's probably the one [England should have taken]. 

"We felt we needed to refresh the team when we did it [brought Abraham off] but I wasn't unhappy with Tammy's performance at all." 

England will hope to finally get their first win of their Nations League campaign on Tuesday when they host Hungary, to whom they lost in Budapest last weekend.