Adayar, Luxembourg and Bay Bridge will clash in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot on Wednesday.
A field of six line up in the day two feature, which promises to be a mouthwatering affair despite the enforced absence of last year’s Derby winner Desert Crown.
Winner of the Epsom Classic himself in 2021, the Charlie Appleby-trained Adayar looked as good as ever on his return in the Gordon Richards Stakes at Newmarket.
Aidan O’Brien’s Luxembourg, meanwhile, was an all-the-way winner from Sir Michael Stoute’s Bay Bridge – who beat Adayar in the Champion Stakes at Ascot – in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh.
Born To Rock (Jane Chapple-Hyam) and Beautiful Diamond (Karl Burke) head the market for the Queen Mary, which also features intriguing American challengers in the shape of Bundchen (Wesley Ward) and Crimson Advocate (George Weaver).
In the Royal Hunt Cup, Frankie Dettori will carry the silks of the King and Queen aboard the John and Thady Gosden-trained Reach For The Moon.
Although Laurel was not declared for the Duke of Cambridge Stakes, it could still be a big day for the Gosdens and Dettori, as they also have Gregory in the 14-strong Queen’s Vase – where the Stoute-trained Circle Of Fire is the royal representative with Richard Kingscote in the saddle.
Rory McIlroy insisted he would endure the pain of another 100 near-misses as long as he finally ends his major championship drought.
McIlroy held a share of the lead when he two-putted the par-five opening hole of Sunday’s final round of the 123rd US Open, but that would prove his only birdie of a disappointing closing 70.
Wyndham Clark’s own 70 was enough to give the 29-year-old American his first major title at Los Angeles Country Club, while McIlroy has now recorded 19 top-10 finishes since winning his fourth in the 2014 US PGA.
Asked if it was exhausting to keep being asked about another missed opportunity, McIlroy said: “It is, but at the same time when I do finally win this next major it’s going to be really, really sweet.
“I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another major championship.”
McIlroy conceded his underwhelming final round had echoes of last year’s Open Championship, when he held a share of the lead, carded two birdies in a closing 70 and was overhauled by Cameron Smith’s brilliant 64.
“The last real two chances I’ve had at majors I feel like have been pretty similar performances, like St Andrews last year and then here,” the world number three added.
“Not doing a lot wrong, but I didn’t make a birdie since the first hole today. Overall when you’re in contention going into the final round of a US Open, I played the way I wanted to play.
“There was just a couple of shots, two or three shots over the course of the round that I’d like to have back.”
The first of those was a missed birdie putt from four feet on the eighth, which played the easiest hole in the final round, and the second his approach to the par-five 14th which plugged in the face of a greenside bunker.
McIlroy did get relief for an embedded ball, but failed to get up and down to save par and Clark’s birdie on the same hole moments later gave him what ultimately proved a vital three-shot lead.
“As I was walking up to it (on 14), it felt like it was a perfect full sand wedge. Hit it hard, get some spin on it,” McIlroy explained.
“Then while we were getting prepared for the shot, the wind started to freshen a little bit. Full sand wedge wasn’t getting there, so I said to Harry (Diamond, his caddie), three-quarter gap wedge would be perfect.
“I feel like I didn’t time the shot perfectly. I hit it when the wind was at its strongest and the ball just got hit a lot by the wind, and obviously it came up short.
“If I had it back, I think I had the right club and the right shot. I might have just had to wait an extra 15 or 20 seconds to let that little gust settle.”
McIlroy’s next chance to end his drought will come at next month’s Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, where he lifted the Claret Jug in 2014.
Asked when the countdown to the Open would begin, McIlroy joked: “Three minutes ago, I guess. I’ll play Travelers next week, I’ll play the Scottish Open, but I’m focused on making sure that I’m ready to go for Liverpool.”
England expect Bath centre Ollie Lawrence and Harlequins hooker Jack Walker to be available for World Cup selection after they both suffered injuries during training.
Premiership player of the season Lawrence is recovering from a knee injury, while Walker has a calf muscle problem.
Both players were hurt in England squad training last week and they are understood to each be facing a minimum of six weeks’ rehabilitation.
England’s opening World Cup warm-up game is against Wales in Cardiff on August 5, while head coach Steve Borthwick is due to name his final 33-player squad for the tournament two days later.
Lawrence and Walker will join a 38-strong group for treatment during England’s preparation camp in Brighton this week.
On this day in 2016, Andy Murray won a record fifth Aegon Championships title at Queen’s Club with victory over Milos Raonic.
Although he lost the first set and was 3-0 down in the second, Murray pulled off a great fightback to secure a 6-7 (5) 6-4 6-3 victory over the world number nine.
Victory also ensured his success was unparalleled at Queen’s with a record fifth title, moving him ahead of four-time winners including Roy Emerson, Boris Becker, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick, and John McEnroe.
“It’s a tournament that obviously means a lot to me,” Murray said afterwards.
“It’s been my most successful tournament by far, clearly. To be the first player to win five times is… it’s not an easy tournament to win.
“It always has a great field and the players I have beaten in the finals, a lot of times have been top players. It’s not like I have had easy finals.
“They have been top, top players, most of them top 10, some of them grand slam winners, grand slam finalists. That’s good.”
The win put the Scot in good stead ahead of preparations for Wimbledon, which was set to begin just eight days later.
Both players met again in the final as Murray won 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2) to become Wimbledon champion for a second time.
American Wyndham Clark won the 123rd US Open on Father’s Day, but his thoughts immediately turned to his late mother at Los Angeles Country Club.
Lise Clark introduced her son to the game of golf and was a massive influence on his career before her death from breast cancer in 2013.
Making just his seventh major start, Clark carded a closing round of 70 to finish 10 under par and a shot ahead of four-time major winner Rory McIlroy, with world number one Scottie Scheffler two strokes further back.
“I just feel like my mom was watching over me today,” an emotional Clark said at the presentation ceremony. “She can’t be here… miss you mom.
“She was so positive and such a motivator in what she did. She’d be crying tears of joy (now). She called me ‘winner’ when I was little.
“When she was sick and I was in college, she told me, ‘Hey, play big’. Play for something bigger than yourself. You have a platform to either witness or help or be a role model for so many people.
“I know she’d be proud of me. I feel like I have worked so hard and dreamed about this moment for long. So many times I’ve visualised being here in front of you guys winning this championship.”
McIlroy was left to rue making just a solitary birdie on the opening hole as his wait for a fifth major title and first since 2014 goes on.
“The golf course was playing really tricky and obviously the scores in the final few groups reflected that,” said McIlroy, who matched Clark’s closing 70.
“There was a couple of things that I probably would have done differently, but all in all, I played a solid round of golf.
“That one wedge shot on 14 (which plugged in the face of a bunker), missed birdie putt on eight – really apart from that, I did everything else the way I wanted to.
“It’s fine, fine margins at this level and at this tournament especially, but I fought to the very end. I obviously never give up.
“And I’m getting closer. The more I keep putting myself in these positions, sooner or later it’s going to happen for me. Just got to regroup and get focused for the Open at Hoylake in a few weeks’ time.”
The San Francisco Giants recorded their first sweep of a three-game series at Dodger Stadium in over a decade with Sunday's 7-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Logan Webb threw seven effective innings and LaMonte Wade Jr. and Luis Matos each had two RBIs as the surging Giants swept a three-game series from their storied rivals on the road for the first time since Aug. 20-22, 2012.
San Francisco has now won seven in a row overall and is 22-9 since May 15, the best record in the major leagues over that span. The Giants have also won nine straight on the road for the first time since April 23-May 15, 1966.
Webb won his second straight start by allowing two runs while scattering eight hits and two walks.
The slumping Dodgers left 11 on base and finished 2 of 13 with runners in scoring position in their fourth loss in five games. Tony Gonsolin struck out seven in 5 2/3 innings for Los Angeles but was tagged for seven runs.
Resurgent Reds finish sweep of Astros, extend win streak to eight
The upstart Cincinnati Reds continued an impressive run of their own with Sunday's 9-7, 10-inning win over the Houston Astros that completed a three-game series sweep of the defending World Series champions.
Cincinnati scored three times in the top of the 10th en route to its eighth consecutive victory, the team's longest winning streak since a 10-game surge in July 2012.
Jake Fraley led the Reds' offensively by going 2 for 4 with a home run and three RBIs. Spencer Steer added a two-run homer and Jonathan India had a solo shot for CIncinnati, which is now 13-2 on the road since May 26.
Alex Bregman and Yainer Diaz each went 3 for 5 with an RBI in the struggling Astros' ninth loss in 12 games.
Red Sox sweep doubleheader, series from rival Yankees
Brayan Bello struck out a career-high eight over seven outstanding innings to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 4-1 win over the New York Yankees that completed a doubleheader and series sweep of their longtime rivals.
In Sunday's opener, Connor Wong and Alex Verdugo had consecutive two-out RBI doubles during a three-run sixth inning that lifted Boston to a 6-2 victory. Verdugo added two hits and two runs scored in the nightcap, with one of those runs coming on a catchers' interference call in the fourth inning.
The Red Sox rolled to a 15-5 rout in Friday's series opener and have now taken five of six meetings from the Yankees this season. Boston went 6-13 against New York in 2022 and last swept a three-game series between the two AL East foes in June 2021.
Bello held the Yankees to one run on four hits while walking three, while Kenley Jansen fanned two in a scoreless ninth to record his 15th save.
Gleyber Torres accounted for all of New York's scoring in the opener with a two-run homer in the first inning. The Yankees have lost four in a row and are 4-8 since 2022 American League MVP Aaron Judge hurt his toe on June 3 and subsequently went on the injured list.
American Wyndham Clark held his nerve to win his first major championship in the 123rd US Open as Rory McIlroy once again missed out on a fifth title.
Clark, a 120/1 outsider at the start of the week, carded a closing 70 at Los Angeles Country Club to finish 10 under par, a shot ahead of McIlroy.
McIlroy’s only birdie of his own 70 came on the opening hole and his sole bogey on the 14th helped give Clark the breathing space he needed to complete a hard-fought but deserved victory.
The world number 32 only won his first PGA Tour title last month and had missed the cut in his previous two US Opens, while his best finish in any major was a tie for 75th in the 2021 US PGA.
In contrast, McIlroy has now recorded 19 top-10 finishes since winning the last of his four majors in the 2014 US PGA – a month after claiming the Open at Royal Liverpool, footage of which had influenced his somewhat conservative approach this week.
Starting the final round a shot off the lead, McIlroy made the ideal start with a two-putt birdie on the first and Clark did likewise, only for the American to three-putt the second.
Clark hit a superb approach to the par-three fourth and converted the birdie putt from five feet, before picking up another shot on the short sixth.
McIlroy missed from four feet for birdie on the par-five eighth, seemingly opening the door for Clark to extend his lead in the group behind.
But Clark found a bad lie in the tall rough with his approach and needed two attempts to escape before getting up and down from the back of the green to drop just one shot.
Another shot looked likely to go when Clark missed the ninth green and was faced with an awkward shot from the bank of a bunker, but he cleverly played beyond the flag and utilised the contours of the green to draw the ball back to seven feet and save par.
A flop shot Phil Mickelson would have been proud of ensured Clark also saved par on the 11th and he increased his lead when McIlroy’s run of 12 pars ended with a bogey on the 14th.
McIlroy was perhaps fortunate to get a free drop when his approach became embedded in the face of a greenside bunker, but he was unable to get up and down for par.
Clark then struck a brilliant approach on to the green from 282 yards and two-putted for birdie from 20 feet to extend his lead to three.
That cushion was short-lived as Clark bogeyed the par-three 15th and then found sand off the tee on the next as McIlroy crucially holed from seven feet for par up ahead.
With no chance of reaching the green, Clark laid up into the fairway before hitting a superb third to seven feet, only to miss the par putt.
But with McIlroy unable to find a birdie to increase the pressure, Clark bravely parred the last two holes to seal the win.
World number one Scottie Scheffler finished two shots behind McIlroy in third, with Open champion Cameron Smith fourth and Tommy Fleetwood, Rickie Fowler and Min Woo Lee sharing fifth.
Fleetwood had earlier come agonisingly close to making major championship history after carding a stunning closing 63, the Ryder Cup star missing from five feet for birdie on the 18th.
That would have seen Fleetwood shoot the first 62 in the final round of a major, the record having been set by Branden Grace in the third round of the 2017 Open and equalled by Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele on Thursday.
It is the second time Fleetwood has carded a 63 in the final round of the US Open – he also missed a short putt for a 62 at Shinnecock Hills in 2018 and finished a shot behind Brooks Koepka.
“Missed a six-footer on the first (for birdie), missed a five-footer on the last, and then everything in between was really, really good,” Fleetwood said with a smile when asked to sum up his round.
“I just need to be higher up the leaderboard coming into Sunday and then have another day like today.”
Asked about being the only player to shoot two closing 63s in the US Open, Fleetwood added: “It’s a nice little piece of history, of course, it is.
“And you can be disappointed with what I didn’t get out of today, but I think having something like that and shooting multiple 63s in a major, anything you can put in the memory bank and know your game can stand up on a major golf course and shoot low scores is really nice to have.”
After missing out on the 2000 Guineas due to injury, Huntsman signalled his readiness to challenge for the St Leger next month, as he won the Mr Lover Lover Trophy, a Restricted Allowance II event for native-bred three-year-olds (non-winners of two) and imported three-year-olds and upward (maiden), in impressive fashion at Caymanas Park on Sunday.
Trained by Ian Parsard, Huntsman, who was out for the third time in his budding career, dismantled the field by some 16 lengths and completed the nine furlongs and 25 yards (1,820m) journey in a respectable 1:58.2. The splits were 27.3, 53.1, 1:17.2 and 1:43.2.
This was Huntsman's second win, with his next performance being a second-place finish behind 2000 Guineas winner and leading St Leger contender, Mojito. As such, the 10-furlong St Leger to be contested on July 1, promises a great confrontation between the two and there are still some late-developing three-year-olds likely to have an impact.
Though he welcomed the win as a good indicator that Huntsman is more comfortable over distances, Parsard said it is still a wait-and-see approach with Huntsman regarding the St Leger, as his main target is the blue riband Jamaica Derby over 12 furlongs.
"I didn't think he had a realistic chance against Mojito in the Guineas, I think Mojito is way ahead of the three-year-old crop quite frankly, and I think coming out of the (eight-furlong) shoot, we wouldn't have had much of a chance," he said I'm reference to Huntsman's absence from the opening Classic event.
"We have to be a little bit gingerly with this horse, he has some issues, but we decided to take our chances coming two turns, so we will see, at least he won here so we will keep going. He is making good steady progress, he didn't have a lot of competition so he was allowed to dictate the pace, but in the Classic races, he won't have that luxury so hopefully we will see if he can progress from here. If he comes out of this well, then we will shoot for the St Leger, but the main objective is the Derby," Parsard added.
Partnered with jockey Reyan Lewis, Huntsman left the gates well and was kept slightly outside Burlap (Dane Dawkins) in the clubhouse turn before gaining the ascendancy on the backstretch.
Despite being in a tight hold, Huntsman continued to widen the gap, especially after leaving the half-mile, and from there it became a mere formality as his rivals had no response to his devastating late kick.
Burlap was best of the rest in second position with From Sheer To Ben (Anthony Thomas) and Life Is Life, finishing third and fourth respectively.
Huntsman was one of two winners for Lewis on the nine-race card, as the leading rider also won aboard Inspire Force for trainer Philip Feanny in the seventh race.
Also with two winners on the day were former three-time champion jockey Anthony Thomas and current champion jockey Dane Dawkins.
Thomas piloted Aava Jaelyn in the sixth race for trainer Donovan Thompson and Mrs Lyndhurst for trainer Steven Todd in the eighth race, while Dawkins won aboard Casual Peach for trainer Barrington Bernard in the fourth race and Get A Pepsi for trainer Errol Burke in the last race.
Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald hit out at the USGA after amateur Gordon Sargent saw a putt at the US Open amazingly bounce out of the hole.
Sargent’s par attempt from two feet on the 18th hole in Sunday’s final round was struck perfectly into the centre of the cup, but leapt back out on to the green.
The 20-year-old was still guaranteed to finish as the leading amateur following a 69 which left him four over par, but Donald was not impressed with the tournament organisers.
“This is unacceptable! Does the @USGA go fix this mid round? This should never happen,” Donald wrote on Twitter.
The USGA said the bizarre situation had been caused by the hole being damaged by a player or caddie in the previous group of Ryan Gerard and Mackenzie Hughes.
“A member of the group ahead inadvertently adjusted the hole liner when removing the flagstick,” the USGA said. “Unfortunately, we were not informed of any damage. It has since been adjusted back into place.”
The Phoenix Suns and Washington Wizards are close to completing a blockbuster trade that will send three-time All-Star Bradley Beal to Phoenix and veteran guard Chris Paul to Washington, ESPN reported Sunday.
Washington will also acquire guard Landry Shamet and multiple second-round picks, and the deal is also expected to include a swap of draft picks.
Beal's agent, Mark Bartelstein, confirmed to ESPN that the teams have a framework for a trade in place and his client will waive his no-trade clause.
"This was an extremely complicated process with so many different hurdles to get through, and [Wizards owner] Ted Leonsis and [Wizards president] Michael Winger were unbelievable partners in making this happen," Bartelstein said.
After missing the playoffs in four of the past five seasons, Beal now joins a star-laden Suns squad that figures to be among the preseason favourites in the Western Conference. The move gives Phoenix three of the league's 10 players to average 23 or more points per game in each of the last five seasons in Beal, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.
Beal had spent his entire 11-year career with the Wizards, who selected the former University of Florida star with the third overall pick of the 2012 draft, and had shown great loyalty to a franchise that has failed to get past the first round of the playoffs in six consecutive seasons. He re-signed with Washington on a five-year, $251 million max contract last summer.
But with Beal turning 30 later this month and the Wizards coming off a 12th-place finish in the Eastern Conference, the sharpshooter had become more open to a trade.
"From the day that Ted drafted Brad he has been by our side along with [former general managers] Ernie Grunfeld and Tommy Sheppard.," Bartelstein told ESPN. "They've always had Brad's back in every way, and now we have experienced the exact same thing with Ted and Michael Winger. We are extremely grateful."
Beal has averaged 23.2 points per game in each of the past two seasons but has been slowed by injuries in both, as he played in just 40 games in 2021-22 and 50 last season. He shot a career-high 50.6 per cent from the field in 2022-23, however, and is a career 37.2 per cent shooter from 3-point range who has averaged 22.1 points in 695 overall games.
It's unclear if the rebuilding Wizards intend to keep Paul. The 38-year-old's $30.8 million salary for 2023-24 is partially guaranteed, and ESPN reported it's possible the proposed trade could include a third team that would send Paul to a contender.
Shamet, a 38.8 per cent career 3-point shooter who has averaged 8.9 points per game over five NBA seasons, just completed the first season of a four-year, $42.5 million extension - though the final two years of that deal are non-guaranteed.
Max Verstappen completed another crushing performance in Canada on Sunday to match Ayrton Senna’s tally of 41 victories – and then promised to keep the good times rolling.
A day after taking pole position in the wet, Verstappen reigned supreme in the dry at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to beat Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton and move into joint fifth in the pantheon of Formula One winners.
Even an early collision with a bird could not stop the flying Dutchman, with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner revealing that his star driver completed the majority of Sunday’s 70-lap race with part of the animal lodged in his brake duct.
Verstappen will not celebrate his 26th birthday until September, but his sixth victory from the opening eight fixtures of the year leaves only Hamilton (103), Michael Schumacher (91), Sebastian Vettel (53) and Alain Prost (51) ahead of him in the record books.
“When I was a little kid driving go karts, I was dreaming about being an F1 driver and I would never had imagined I would win 41 grands prix,” said Verstappen, who also notched up Red Bull’s 100th victory in the sport.
“To tie with Ayrton is incredible and I am proud of that but I hope it doesn’t stop here. I hope we keep on winning more races.
“It is also a great achievement for the team. We knew this was the first opportunity to win 100 races. I am happy that is done, but I hope we will win more than 100 so the new target is 200.”
Remarkably, Verstappen has won 15 of the last 19 races in F1, with Red Bull failing to taste victory on just one occasion in that streak.
Red Bull could yet become the first team to win every race in a single season. And with Verstappen at the wheel – rather than team-mate Sergio Perez who finished only sixth on another trying weekend for the Mexican – they have every chance.
Verstappen’s triumph – his fourth in succession – was all but sealed on the short dash to the opening chicane after he fended off a slow-starting Alonso.
Hamilton, who gazumped Alonso, set his sights on Verstappen’s Red Bull gearbox, but by the end of the opening lap, the seven-time world champion was eight tenths back – and when a virtual safety car was deployed on lap eight after Logan Sargeant broke down in his Williams, the gap was the best part of three seconds.
With Verstappen racing off into the distance, Alonso was the filling in a Mercedes’ sandwich. But that changed on lap 12 when George Russell slammed into the wall on the exit of Turn 9.
Russell’s front wing snapped in half, while his right-rear tyre dangled off his Mercedes. With debris littering the circuit, the safety car came out and the main players stopped for new tyres as Russell pulled in for repairs.
After changing all four tyres, Hamilton was released into Alonso’s path. Alonso said he had to slam on the anchors to avoid running into the back of the Mercedes man, and the flashpoint was duly noted by the stewards, and latterly investigated, but the British driver would escape without punishment.
The safety car came in five laps later and Verstappen executed a fine getaway to leave Hamilton trailing. Indeed, after the opening two turns, he was already one second up the road.
Rather than looking ahead, Hamilton’s attention was occupied by Alonso behind. And on lap 22, the Spaniard dived past Hamilton with a fine move at the final chicane.
Hamilton had a nibble back at Alonso as they raced to the opening corner, but the evergreen Spaniard held his nerve to keep the Mercedes man behind. Russell raced back from last to eighth before he was forced to park a Mercedes riddled with excessive brake wear with 15 laps remaining.
Verstappen took the chequered flag 9.5 sec clear of Alonso. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished fourth and fifth respectively for Ferrari. Alex Albon crossed the line a commendable seventh in his Williams.
Tommy Fleetwood came agonisingly close to making major championship history as the battle for the 123rd US Open looked set to be an unusually low-scoring affair.
Fleetwood began the final round 12 shots off the lead, but carded a stunning closing 63 at Los Angeles Country Club to surge through the field.
And it could have been even better for the Ryder Cup star as he missed from five feet for birdie on the 18th.
That would have seen Fleetwood shoot the first 62 in the final round of a major, the record having been set by Branden Grace in the third round of the 2017 Open and equalled by Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele on Thursday.
Fleetwood birdied the second, holed from six feet for eagle after driving the green on the short par-four sixth and birdied the eighth and ninth to reach the turn in 30.
The back nine has played far tougher than the front all week, but Fleetwood hit a brilliant tee shot on the 295-yard 11th to set up another birdie and then holed from 20 feet for eagle on the 14th.
A bogey on the 16th looked to have ended his chances of a 62 until he hit a superb approach to the last, only for the birdie chance to go begging.
It is the second time Fleetwood has carded a 63 in the final round of the US Open – he also missed a short putt for a 62 at Shinnecock Hills in 2018 and finished a shot behind Brooks Koepka.
The semi-final match-ups have been set in the Suncorp Super Netball League after the top two teams lost on the weekend of the league.
The weekend results mean that Romelda Aiken George’s Swifts will take on Shamera Sterling’s Thunderbirds at Qudos Bank Arena on Saturday, June 24, the in the first of two semi-final clashes. The winner will face victor of the West Coast Fever/Melbourne Vixens clash at the RAC Arena on Sunday, June 25.
On Saturday, league leaders New South Wales Swifts fell victim to the Adelaide Thunderbirds who won the electrifying encounter 60-57 at the Ken Rosewall Arena. Thunderbirds led 32-29 at half-time but by the end of the third both teams were locked on 42 points apiece heading into the crucial fourth quarter.
Thunderbirds edged it taking the quarter 18-15 to seal victory.
Eleanor Cardwell scored 25 goals and Lucy Austin 16 for the Thunderbirds, who moved back into second place with their ninth win of the season and broke a nine-game winning streak by the Swifts for whom Romelda Aiken George scored 27 which included her 8000th goal in the league. Helen Housby supported with 11 goals.
Defending champions West Coast Fever slipped back to third after going down 65-62 Collingwood Magpies at the Silverdome to record their fifth loss of the season.
In her last match as a Magpie, Shimona Nelson scored 51 goals which proved to be enough to overcome the 53 scored by Fever’s Jhaniele Fowler and help script the franchise’s fairytale ending.
Meanwhile, the Sunshine Coast Lightning burned the Queensland Firebirds 66-60 and GIANTS defeated Melbourne Vixens 60-57.
Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton sealed a second World Cup of Darts trophy for Wales with a clinical performance in their 10-2 victory over Scotland’s Gary Anderson and Peter Wright in Frankfurt.
The 2020 champions had beaten Belgium in a nervy 8-7 thriller to reach the title decider against the Scots, who had eliminated German hosts Gabriel Clemens and Martin Schindler to set up the all-British final.
Price and Clayton quickly cruised to a 3-0 lead before Wright took out 93 to hold and secure the Scots’ first winning leg.
Victories in five successive legs for Price and Clayton, however, gave the Scottish duo a mountain to climb but they clawed back another leg win through Anderson’s 12-darter to make it 8-2.
That was the end of the celebrations for ‘The Flying Scotsman’ Anderson and PDC world number two ‘Snakebite’ Wright, however, as Wales soon found themselves one away thanks to Clayton equalling his match-highest 116 checkout in the 11th.
Price was off-target in the 12th, missing three darts at double 18 before Clayton stepped up to seal the result.
The Iceman Price credited his team-mate for the win, telling Sky Sports: “Honestly I think I struggled a little bit in that game. Jonny was the one to pick our trophy up. He won it for us tonight.
“He was fantastic at scoring, checking out. I was there in between but he was clinical. Fair play to Jonny. What a player, absolute gentleman as well.
“It’s a difficult sport against the best players in the world week-in and week-out and to win by that margin is a little bit flattering. We’re thrilled to win and Jonny carried me tonight, so happy days.”
The Scots were still in good spirits as Anderson lavished praise on his opponents, though joked he might not feel so festive come the end of the year.
He said: “The Welsh have got a cracking darts team. We tried, and we’re not getting any younger bit we’ll still try.
“You’ve got Gerwyn, what he’s done in darts over the last few years and you’ve got the Ferret (Clayton) – I ain’t sending him no Christmas card this year.”
The final was a much smoother affair for the 2023 champions than their semi-final, which saw them narrowly evade a Belgian comeback.
Dimitri van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts had already ensured there would be a new winner in the revamped tournament after ousting defending champions Australia to reach the last eight.
Price and Clayton, who lost to the Aussies in last year’s final, looked to have put the contest in cruise control when they were two legs from advancing at 6-3 but the Belgians rallied to force a deciding leg.
Scotland, meanwhile, dashed Clemens and Schindler’s dreams of reaching a fairy-tale final in front of the home support after the Germans had shocked England’s top-seeded Rob Cross and Michael Smith to advance with an 8-3 victory in the quarter-final.
Clemens and Schindler won three successive legs to make it 7-2 and it ultimately proved too significant a deficit for Cross and Smith to overcome.
Lewis Hamilton said he was honoured to be fighting two world champions after finishing behind Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso at the Canadian Grand Prix.
In his newly revamped Mercedes machine, Hamilton claimed his second podium in succession, a fortnight after he finished runner-up to Verstappen at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya.
“It is quite an honour to be up there with two world champions,” said Hamilton. “I was really excited to be third, and just trying to be in that mix.
“We didn’t have the pace today. We knew this would not be our strongest circuit because we struggle in the low-speed corners, and that was where I was losing time to Fernando and Max.
“But we are chipping away and I do believe we will get there at some stage. Our pace was better today so we are going in the right direction.”
Hamilton scored just one top-three finish in the opening six rounds of the year but the seven-time world champion will now head to the next round in Austria on July 2 with the momentum of two strong showings in Barcelona and Montreal.
The 38-year-old started third, and was up to second at the opening corner after he breezed past a slow-starting Alonso.
Hamilton kept ahead of Alonso at the first round of pit stops, but he could do little to prevent the evergreen Spaniard from regaining second place on lap 22 of 70.
“Aston Martin took a step ahead of us this weekend with their upgrades but we are working on bringing more upgrades to move forward,” added Hamilton.
“It is great to have this consistency and to be up on the podium.”
For Verstappen, the Red Bull man completed an emphatic lights-to-flag victory to finish 9.5 seconds clear of Alonso and move 69 points clear at the summit of the world championship.
It marked the Dutch driver’s 41st win in Formula One – to draw him level with triple world champion Ayrton Senna – and a century for Red Bull.
“To win the 100th grand prix for the team is incredible,” he said. “It is amazing and I never expected to be on these kind of numbers for myself, too.”
Max Verstappen completed another crushing performance to win the Canadian Grand Prix and match Ayrton Senna’s tally of 41 victories.
The Dutchman led every lap at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to draw level with Senna and extend his championship lead.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso finished runner-up, with Lewis Hamilton third for Mercedes. Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell retired on lap 55 of 70 following an earlier prang with the wall.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished fourth and fifth respectively for Ferrari, with Sergio Perez sixth. Alex Albon crossed the line a commendable seventh in his Williams.
Verstappen, who notched up Red Bull’s 100th win in Formula One, now leads Perez by 69 points on his unstoppable march to a hat-trick of titles.
A day after taking pole position in the wet, Verstappen reigned supreme in the dry to emulate Senna and move into joint fifth in the pantheon of F1 winners.
Verstappen was not even born when Senna won his 41st and final race at the 1993 season-ending Australian Grand Prix. Senna lost his life the following year in Imola following a fatal crash at the Tamburello curve, aged just 34.
Verstappen will not celebrate his 26th birthday until September, but his sixth victory from the opening eight fixtures of the year leaves only Hamilton (103 wins), Michael Schumacher (91), Sebastian Vettel (53) and Alain Prost (51) ahead of him in the record books.
Remarkably, Verstappen has won 15 of the last 19 races in F1, with Red Bull failing to taste victory on just one occasion in that streak.
Indeed, Red Bull could yet become the first team to win every race in a single season. And with Verstappen at the wheel, they have every chance.
Verstappen’s triumph was sealed on the short dash to the opening chicane. Alonso was slow away from his marks, and Hamilton leapfrogged the green Aston Martin machine to take second spot.
Hamilton set his sights on Verstappen’s Red Bull gearbox, but by the end of the opening lap, the seven-time world champion was eight tenths back – and when a virtual safety car was deployed on lap eight after Logan Sargeant broke down in his Williams, the gap was the best part of three seconds.
With Verstappen racing off into the distance, Alonso was the filling in a Mercedes’ sandwich. But that changed on lap 12 when Russell slammed into the wall on the exit of Turn 9.
Russell’s front wing snapped in half, while his right-rear tyre dangled off his Mercedes. With debris littering the circuit, the safety car came out and the main players stopped for new tyres as Russell pulled in for repairs.
After changing all four tyres, Hamilton was released into Alonso’s path. Alonso said he had to slam on the anchors to avoid running into the back of the Mercedes man, and the flashpoint was duly noted by the stewards, and latterly investigated, but the British driver would escape without punishment.
After five laps behind the safety car, Verstappen executed a fine getaway to leave Hamilton trailing. Indeed, after the opening two turns, he was already one second up the road.
Rather than looking ahead, Hamilton’s attention was occupied by Alonso behind. And on lap 22, the Spaniard dived past Hamilton with a fine move at the final chicane.
Hamilton had a nibble back at Alonso as they raced to the opening corner, but the evergreen Spaniard held his nerve to keep the Mercedes man behind.
A second round of pit stops followed and Hamilton set about reeling Alonso in. But Russell’s race came to an end while running in eighth with 15 laps remaining when he was told to park a Mercedes riddled with excessive brake wear.
Alonso was also struggling with a brake problem and Hamilton sensed blood. “Hamilton is 1.9 seconds behind,” Alonso was told with eight laps to run.
“Copy,” replied the 41-year-old. “Leave it to me.” Alonso was true to his word, holding off Hamilton’s advances.
Verstappen ran across the second chicane with a handful of laps to run.
“I nearly knocked myself out on that kerb,” said the Dutchman with a chuckle before taking the flag 9.5 seconds clear of Alonso with Hamilton 4.5 sec further back.
Defending champion Matteo Berrettini has withdrawn from next week’s cinch Championships at Queen’s due to an abdominal injury.
The 27-year-old Italian missed the clay court season due to a stomach muscle tear and lost 6-1 6-2 to Lorenzo Sonego last week on his return to action in Stuttgart.
Berrettini joined an elite group of players last summer when beating Filip Krajinovic in the cinch Championships final to become one of eight players in the open era to successfully retain the Queen’s Club crown.
The world number 21 was runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2021 – he withdrew last year after testing positive for Covid – and it remains to be seen if the Italian will be fit enough to compete at SW19 next month.
Top seed and world number two Carlos Alcaraz will make his debut at Queen’s and faces qualifier Arthur Fils in the opening round.
Alcaraz, 20, has limited experience on grass and will be hoping for an extended run in his bid to improve on his best result on the surface, which was in reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon last year.
Unseeded record five-time champion Andy Murray faces a tough opening match against Australian world number 18 Alex de Minaur.
The 36-year-old Scot heads to Queen’s in fine fettle after back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour titles on grass at Surbiton and Nottingham as he continues his build-up to Wimbledon.
British number one Cameron Norrie, Wimbledon semi-finalist last year and the fifth seed at Queen’s, will play Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in the opening round.
Second seed Holger Rune, beaten by Norway’s Casper Ruud in the French Open quarter-finals, will bid to win his first tour-level match on grass when he faces American Maxime Cressy.
American third seed Taylor Fritz, a two-time title-winner on grass after victories at Eastbourne in 2019 and 2022, will play Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the first round.
Hollywood loves a sequel and golf is no different, with Los Angeles Country Club already slated to host the US Open again in 2039.
However, the odds might be against the North Course becoming part of a long-running franchise considering the reviews of the course have not exactly been of the five-star variety.
“I just think the golf course is interesting, to be polite,” was the best review defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick could come up with.
“There’s just too many holes for me where you’ve got blind tee shots and then you’ve got fairways that don’t hold the ball. There’s too much slope.
“I think the greens certainly play better when they’re firmer. They’re rolling really, really well. Some of the tee shots are just a little bit unfair. You hit a good tee shot and end up in the rough by a foot and then you’re hacking it out.
“Meanwhile someone has hit it miles offline the other way and they’ve got a shot. Yeah, not my cup of tea.”
Two-time champion and US PGA winner Brooks Koepka pinpointed some of the problem areas in an interview with GolfWeek.
“On eight, you can hit it where it barely lands on the left side and still miss the fairway right,” he said. “And everybody hits it to the same spot on three. Like why don’t we just play it from the wedge area? It makes no sense.”
The sloping fairway on the 10th caused a similar issue and even players who said they like the course, including world number one Scottie Scheffler, had some issues with the set-up.
“It can be frustrating at times with how firm the greens are and how much softer the fairways are,” Scheffler said.
“On seven yesterday (Friday) it’s just frustrating that my ball lands just short of the green yesterday and barely gets onto the green.
“Max’s (Homa) ball lands a foot on to the green and goes over the green. The only guy who actually got a look for birdie was Collin (Morikawa) and he yelled ‘fore’ because he thought he was going to hit the volunteer in the left rough.”
The layout and topography of the course has also been criticised for contributing to a lack of atmosphere, with the USGA limiting the daily attendance to 22,000, with around 9,000 tickets on general sale.
Grandstand seating around the 18th green is also severely restricted for various reasons, with the first hole running parallel, the ninth green and 10th tee being in close proximity and, perhaps most importantly, no enthusiasm from members to erect a grandstand directly in front of their clubhouse.
Tournament organisers told Golf Digest they are considering allowing spectators to walk down the 18th fairway behind the final group on Sunday, as long as there is no prospect of a play-off.
Of course, whoever lifts the trophy on Sunday evening will probably not care about any issues with the course, with joint leaders Rickie Fowler and Wyndham Clark seeking a first major title and Rory McIlroy his fifth after a wait of 3,234 days.
The last 24 US Open winners – and 48 of the last 49 – were within four shots of the lead entering the final round, meaning Scheffler and Harris English also come into the equation.
With popcorn in hand it will make for fascinating viewing.
A bit of La Liga glitz and glamour hit Gowran Park on Sunday when Maxux made an impressive debut in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies & Mares Maiden.
The Joseph O’Brien-trained three-year-old is owned by Real Madrid player Álvaro Odriozola who recently tasted Copa del Rey glory with the Spanish giants but takes a keen interest in both racing and breeding in his spare time.
The daughter of Frankel is a sister to Cunco, the Group Three winner who was the first of the sire’s progeny to make the racecourse – and she went someway to justifying the 200,000 guineas she commanded at the sales, making good headway to work her way into the contest before pulling clear in the closing stages to register four-and-three-quarter-length victory at 12-1.
Assistant trainer Brendan Powell said: “She is very relaxed and chilled out at home. She is a typical Frankel. She has got an engine, will stay further and Mikey (Sheehy) said he thinks she could be pretty smart.
“She loved the ground and will stay up to a mile-and-a-half no problem. We will try and get a bit of black type with her and she will be a nice broodmare prospect for her owner down the line. His big passion is breeding so hopefully this is a smart one for him.”
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