Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka both shot 70 Saturday to set up a mouth-watering final pairing at the US PGA Championship.
At seven under par for the tournament, Mickelson holds a one-stroke lead over his countryman entering the final round at Kiawah Island's Ocean Course after saving par on 18 while Koepka bogeyed the last.
The 50-year-old Mickelson is the fourth player aged 50 or older to lead a major after three rounds in the modern era, which began in 1934.
The others were Tom Watson at the 2009 Open Championship, Greg Norman at the 2008 Open, and Julius Boros at the 1973 US Open -- none of whom ended up holding on for the win.
Mickelson has been resilient this week in South Carolina, though, steadying himself Saturday after going bogey-double bogey on 12 and 13 to make par on the final five holes.
While Mickelson's resurgence has excited the fans, Koepka remains a model of consistency at the PGA.
He has finished at least tied for fourth in 12 of the last 13 rounds at the major, and he could become the first player to win the same major three times in a four-year stretch since Watson won the Open in 1980, 1982 and 1983.
Mickelson will be shooting for his sixth major title and first since the 2013 Open, while Koepka seeks his fifth.
Louis Oosthuizen, who shared the lead with Mickelson entering play Saturday, managed just three birdies on the day on the way to an even-par 72 that left him five under for the tournament.
American Kevin Streelman (70) is at four under, while Oosthuizen's South African countrymen Branden Grace and Christiaan Bezuidenhout are at three under after even-par rounds of their own.
Bryson DeChambeau (71) was unable to gain ground on the leaders and enters Sunday five back of Mickelson along with Gary Woodland (72) and Joaquin Niemann (71).
Jordan Spieth matched Billy Horschel for the low round of the day with a 68, and he sits at even par for the tournament along with Rickie Fowler (69) and Keegan Bradley (72).
Reigning Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama fell from contention with a 76, putting him at one over with the likes of Shane Lowry (73), Padraig Harrington (73) and Ian Poulter (73).
Anthony Joshua has been ordered to fight Oleksandr Usyk after hopes for a summer showdown with Tyson Fury faded this week.
The WBO on Saturday sent a letter ordering the unified heavyweight titleholder to fight Usyk (18-0), the sanctioning body's mandatory challenger.
While Joshua (24-1) holds the WBO, IBF and WBA belts, Fury (30-0-1) claimed the WBC title from the previously unbeaten Deontay Wilder (41-1-1) in their February 2020 rematch following a draw in their initial bout.
On Monday, a judge in the United States ruled that the dethroned champion had the right to face the Briton for a third time before September 15.
Two days later, the WBO sent Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn a letter giving him 48 hours to show cause why it should not mandate a title defense against Usyk.
On Friday, Hearn asked the body for an extension until Monday, but the WBO denied that request Saturday.
The WBO gave the Joshua and Usyk camps 10 days to finalise an agreement for a fight, or the body will order a purse bid.
Should that happen, the letter said, Joshua would receive 80 per cent of the minimum $1million bid and Usyk 20 per cent.
Charles Leclerc's chances of starting his home grand prix in pole position appeared to have received a boost on Saturday, with Ferrari finding no gearbox damage in initial checks.
Leclerc took pole for the Monaco Grand Prix in dramatic circumstances earlier in the day when he crashed while top of the timesheets.
The crash forced qualifying to be halted early. Leclerc flicked off one barrier and went hurtling into another just as his rivals – including second-placed Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas in third – seemed ready to mount a challenge in the closing moments of the session.
Leclerc admitted he was worried the impact and the damage to his car may mean its gearbox required replacing, which would see him given a grid penalty.
However, tests conducted by Ferrari found no "serious damage" to the gearbox, though further checks will be carried out on Sunday to ensure it is useable.
This update came after the post-qualifying news conference, in which Leclerc said: "I have mixed feelings a little bit, because with the crash I don’t know where I’m starting tomorrow yet. It depends on the damage on the car."
It was the first time Leclerc had made it to Q3 on his home circuit.
"Well, it didn't feel great to go Q3, as at least we were expecting to go through to Q3," he said.
"It would have been a big disappointment if I was not going into Q3, 2019 was a hard one to take as we definitely had the potential to be up there but we couldn't finalise it after the mistake we have done in Q1. Hopefully we will end up this weekend on a high, which never happened at home."
Meanwhile, two weeks after securing a 100th pole position of his Formula One career, championship leader Lewis Hamilton had to settle for seventh on the grid.
"[The car] didn't feel too bad on Thursday, and then we made some changes and it felt pretty terrible today, so of course we go back to the drawing board," Hamilton said.
"I think from my point I just had such a lack of grip out there, which then leads you to overdrive and start trying to get more from it to no end – it doesn't improve.
"Today was a question of tyres, the tyres were just not working. I was sliding around. I've not spoken to the engineers just yet. Valtteri did a better job at the end of the day."
Hamilton's poor run means that title challenger Verstappen is well placed to take advantage.
"It's always important to score a lot of points, but of course you need to be ahead of your main rivals as much as you can," said the Red Bull driver.
"So today was good – but of course we need to finish that off tomorrow."
Phil Mickelson reached the turn at Kiawah Island's Ocean Course four shots clear of his nearest US PGA Championship rivals, before sinking a birdie on the 10th.
Mickelson – a PGA championship winner in 2005 – was in sensational form in South Carolina over the first two days and carried the same level of performance into Saturday's play.
He was four under through the first eight holes, though did make his first mistake of the day on the ninth, dropping his drive short and left of the green, but recovered to make par.
That had him on 32 through nine, with Louis Oosthuizen, tied for second on five under, going through in 36.
Tied with Oosthuizen were Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama and Branden Grace, while Brooks Koepka was at four under when reaching the turn, but nosed himself up to T2 with a 12-foot putt.
But the chasing pack were further behind when Mickelson rolled a birdie putt in on the 10th to move to 10 under.
Paula Badosa continued her fine season with a victory at the Serbia Open, having also reached her maiden WTA singles final on Saturday.
Badosa had to play two matches on Saturday, first progressing to the final by beating lucky loser Viktoriya Tomova 6-1 6-2.
The Spaniard's straight-sets win took only 63 minutes, so she still had plenty in reserve heading into the showdown with qualifier Ana Konjuh, but Badosa did ultimately not need the energy.
She was 6-2 2-0 up when Konjuh – who defeated Maria Camila Osorio Serrano earlier on Saturday – retired due to a right hip injury, sealing Badosa's triumph.
Badosa, 23, rounded off a successful week without having dropped a set. She had previously reached two semi-finals in her last two tournaments – in Charleston and Madrid, both against Ash Barty.
Toulouse won a record fifth European Champions Cup and their first since 2010 thanks to a 22-17 win over La Rochelle, who played much of the match a man light.
Both sides traded penalty blows during a feisty opening at Twickenham, with the scores level at 6-6 in the 27th minute thanks to Ihaia West's successful kick for La Rochelle.
But they suffered a massive setback just a few moments later as Levani Botia floored Maxime Medard with an ugly high hit.
As Botia walked off towards the sin-bin, the television match official ensured his punishment was upgraded to a red card, the first ever in a Champions Cup final.
Yet La Rochelle made it to the break with a 12-9 lead, with West's four kicks to Romain Ntamack's three the difference after a compelling – albeit brutal – first half.
West missed the target early in the second half, though, and Ntamack again evened the score as Toulouse started to up the ante.
La Rochelle were putting up a good fight with their 14 men but Toulouse finally got the match's first try with an hour played, Juan Cruz Mallia going over out wide after being fed by Selevasio Tolofua.
Toulouse looked to be coasting home as they went 22-12 up with the conversion, though a Tawera Kerr-Barlow try with five minutes to go made life a little nervy.
However, Toulouse held on to seal their fifth European crown and surpass Leinster on four, with La Rochelle's maiden appearance in a final ending in disappointment.
Rising star Casper Ruud continued his impressive 2021 with a straight-sets win over Denis Shapovalov in the Geneva Open final to win his second career title.
The world number 21 prevailed 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 in the first top-level meeting between the two players to add to the Argentina Open crown won – also on clay – in February 2020.
Ruud did not face a single break point in the match, which lasted an hour and 40 minutes, and needed only one break conversion himself to see off second seed Shapovalov.
"It's tough to find all the words," said Ruud, who has a 15-4 record on clay this year.
"It was such an amazing week here in Geneva. I was always looking forward to coming to this tournament.
"I watched it on TV for many years when I was younger and it always seemed like a nice place, so I guess I know why I wanted to come here.
"It's been going well and this week has been unbelievable for me."
Looking to lay down a marker ahead of the upcoming French Open, where he reached the third round last year, third seed Ruud took little time to get going against Shapovalov.
However, the first set went the way of the serve to set up a tie-break, which the Norwegian eventually took with his fifth set point after Shapovalov won four points in a row.
Shapovalov was competing in his third tour-level final after winning the Stockholm Open and losing in the Paris Masters final in 2019, but he struggled to break his opponent.
Ruud earned a break in the fifth game of the second set and saw the job through to keep his momentum going ahead of the second grand slam of the year.
Asked about his aims for Roland Garros, Ruud said: "Well, it's the toughest clay court tournament of the year.
"This season I am playing well on the clay and I'm looking forward to Paris. I hope I can make the second week, that's all I can say.
"If I'm in the second week I will be very happy of course."
Lorenzo Fortunato was a surprise but deserved winner on a brutal stage 14 of the Giro d'Italia, as overall leader Egan Bernal stretched his lead in the race for the maglia rosa.
Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team rider Fortunato was part of an 11-rider breakaway as the peloton climbed the iconic Zoncolan in the final stages of the 206.5 kilometre ride from Cittadella.
Together with Jan Tratnik (Bahrain Victorious), Fortunato slipped away from the rest of the pack and then attacked solo on the toughest part of the climb with around 2.3km left.
Tratnik was in view with around 1,000 metres to go but Fortunato held on for a win on what is his Grand Tour debut.
"The breakaway went easy all day but at the start of the Zoncolan I attacked and stayed behind Tratnik. My legs are very good and I'm very, very happy," he said after the stage.
Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) finished fourth on the stage, having responded to a late attack from Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) and responding with a move of his own on the Briton with only a few hundred metres remaining.
Yates is now second overall, one minute and 33 seconds back, with Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) a further 18 seconds behind in third.
Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana Premier Tech) had started the day second in the General Classification but could not reply to the moves made by Bernal and Yates, and now finds himself fourth overall.
"I think it’s a good gap, but I need to have focus," Bernal said.
"Everything can happen in the Giro. It looks like 1:30 is enough time but you never know. I need to be calm with the gap."
STAGE RESULT
1. Lorenzo Fortunato (Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team) 5:17:22
2. Jan Tratnik (Bahrain Victorious) +00:26
3. Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) +00:59
4. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) +1:43
5. Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) +1:47
CLASSIFICATION STANDINGS
General Classification
1. Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) 58:30:47
2. Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) +1:33
3. Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) +1:51
Points Classification
1. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) 135
2. Giacomo Nizzolo (Team Qhubeka Assos) 126
3. Davide Cimolai (Israel Start-Up Nation) 113
King of the Mountains
1. Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroen Team) 96
2. Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) 57
3. Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) 50
Coco Gauff was in superb form as she dispatched Wang Qiang 6-1 6-3 to win the Emilia-Romagna Open, the teenager's second career title.
Third seed Gauff needed just 74 minutes to seal a straight sets success, with her Chinese opponent unable to lay a glove on her.
The 17-year-old, who had previously won the 2019 Linz Open, enjoyed a run to the semi-finals at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia last week and looks in fine fettle heading to the French Open.
She dropped only one set during her charge at Parma, a triumph which takes her into the top 30 in the WTA rankings and ensures that she will be seeded for the French Open.
Gauff had won 19 of her last 25 WTA Tour matches heading into Saturday's contest, and had little trouble in making it 20.
A brief rally from Wang at the end of the start of the first set was not enough to stop Gauff, who saved all four of the break points she faced throughout the contest.
She now has the chance to complete a clean sweep in Parma, as she pairs with Caty McNally in the doubles final, against Darija Jurak and Andreja Klepac.
Stefanos Tsitsipas was happy to be kept "humble" as he needed three sets to defeat teenager Lorenzo Musetti in the Lyon Open semi-finals.
The world number five won his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Monte Carlo and reached the final in Barcelona before cruising into the last four in France without dropping a set.
However, he was forced to come from behind to beat Musetti 4-6 6-3 6-0 on Saturday to set up a showdown with Cameron Norrie.
Musetti, who broke into the top 100 for the first time this year after losing to Tsitsipas in the semi-finals in Acapulco, broke at 2-2 in the opening set as he caused havoc with drop shots.
It was not until Tsitsipas moved 5-3 ahead in the second set that the Italian's resistance finally seemed to break as he failed to win another game.
"It was important I had a match like this," Tsitsipas said. "It makes me stay humble and focus on some detailed things I can potentially improve and get better at on clay.
"I had to stay calm. It was difficult to be a set down and have to kind of refresh myself and come anew in the second set. He was still putting [in] a lot of work and making me work for every single point. It wasn't easy."
Tsitsipas will contest the final against Norrie, who got better as the day wore on across his quarter-final and semi-final matches.
Norrie concluded a 6-3 3-6 6-3 win over Arthur Rinderknech before dispatching eighth seed Karen Khachanov 6-1 6-1 in superb fashion.
"Everything was working well: serving well, returning well, anticipating the ball well," said the 25-year-old, who reached his second Tour final at this year's Estoril Open.
"I came forward when I needed to and was aggressive with good depth. It was nice to come through like that.
"I had a tough loss in my last final so it's nice I can get another opportunity so soon. It's going to be tough against Stefanos. He's in the zone as well, so it's going to be an interesting final."
Charles Leclerc took pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix in dramatic circumstances as the Monegasque driver crashed while top of the timesheets, bringing an early end to qualifying.
Ferrari driver Leclerc flicked off one barrier and crunched his car into another just as his rivals were building up to challenge his supremacy in the final minute of the session.
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton had to settle for seventh on the grid, a fortnight after registering his 100th career pole.
Leclerc admitted he was worried the impact and the damage to his car may mean its gearbox needs replacing, which would see him given a five-place grid penalty and hand over pole to Max Verstappen.
"I am [worried], but let's see," Leclerc said.
Reflecting on the sudden end to Q3, Leclerc said: "It's a shame to finish in the wall. It doesn't feel the same, but at the same time I'm incredibly happy about my first-time lap.
"The first corner was quite tricky. I didn't do a great first corner, but then in the second and third sector I nailed it. I'm just very, very happy to be on pole.
"It was very, very difficult to manage myself mentally after Q2 – I could feel I was quite emotional in the car, but I told myself, 'now it's Q3 and it's time to put everything together', and I managed to do so."
Behind Leclerc and Red Bull's Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas took third place in qualifying for Mercedes, one spot ahead of Leclerc's Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz.
Leclerc might have left his fellow drivers frustrated with the timing of his crash, but the 23-year-old said: "I'm incredibly happy. It's tomorrow that we score points, but I have to say that is a big surprise for everyone to be on pole and in fourth place for tomorrow.
"I've always been very unlucky here, so let's wait and see."
Verstappen may have been primed to snatch pole from Leclerc on his final lap and said: "It was unfortunate, of course, with the red flag. I felt really comfortable. It was all going really well, but of course the red flag ruined the chance for pole, but we'll see.
"You always plan around the best possible strategy and it was working out well – it's just a shame about the red flag."
Leclerc has been on pole seven times previously in his career but has yet to experience any success in Formula One at his home track.
Bottas was another driver frustrated to miss out on a clear final lap.
"For me it's disappointing I didn't get my last run with the red flag, but that's how it is sometimes," Bottas said. "I left everything out there for the last run.
"The first run [in Q3] wasn't enough for pole, but in the second run with the first lap we did I was feeling good, I was quite a bit down on my lap time so I'm gutted.
"I think we made good progress throughout the weekend with the car. We should have had a shot at pole with the last run, so we'll try everything we can tomorrow with the race. It's Monaco; anything can happen."
Fernando Alonso, a two-time former winner of this race, was knocked out in Q1 after managing only the 17th quickest lap.
Alonso, once a Ferrari driver but now at Alpine, said on BBC 5 Live: "Confidence was good. I was able to push the car and extract the maximum. We didn't have the pace. The whole weekend we've been struggling a little with the pace.
"We would have expected more from Monaco on our package but we didn't deliver. The race is going to be difficult, starting at the back, but let's see what we can do."
Lando Norris qualified fifth in the McLaren, but team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was a lowly 12th, while Pierre Gasly also finished ahead of Hamilton, taking sixth place.
Mick Schumacher, whose father Michael won this race five times, suffered a major blow in final practice when his Haas clattered heavily into roadside barriers after emerging from Casino Square.
Schumacher was not injured, but his team reported "chassis damage" to the sorry-looking car and pulled the 22-year-old out of qualifying.
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION
1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1:10.346
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.230s
3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) +0.255
4. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +0.265
5. Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.274
6. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) +0.554
7. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +0.749
8. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) +1.073
9. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) +1.227
10. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) +1.433
Richie Mo'unga plundered a hat-trick as the Crusaders demolished the Reds 63-28 in Brisbane, with the champions of New Zealand swamping their Australian counterparts in Super Rugby Trans Tasman.
In just the second round of the competition, the Canterbury giants showed off their prowess and Mo'unga served up a dazzling offering of his quality.
The All Blacks fly-half was in inspired form from the off, and by the half-hour mark he had already snagged a pair of clinical tries and set up Sevu Reece to dart in for another stunning score. With Cullen Grace also sprinting through for a try, and Mo'unga clinical from the tee, the rampaging Crusaders were 28-0 ahead after just 29 minutes.
Tate McDermott got the Reds on the board with their first try, but the Crusaders kept the points flowing, Reece dashing in at the right corner to increase their lead to 35-7 early in the second half, before Mo'unga got his third try after 55 minutes, dotting down near the posts to allow himself an easy conversion.
A penalty try, accompanied by a yellow card for Harry Hoopert, nudged the Crusaders 49-7 ahead, but curiously the 14-man Reds then enjoyed their best spell, as Harry Wilson and Suliasi Vunivalu scored classy tries to reduce their deficit to 49-21 going into the final 15 minutes.
Hopes of further damage limitation were crushed when Tamaiti Williams powered over and Codie Taylor added another try to emphasise a devastating team performance, before Brandon Paenga-Amosa barged in for a last-gasp consolation.
Luke Jacobson earlier crossed twice as the Chiefs ran in six tries in a 40-19 victory over the Brumbies in Hamilton.
The hosts overwhelmed their visitors, with Jacobson landing a first-half double, collecting from the back of the scrum and crossing from close range each time, and further tries coming from Tupou Vaa'i, Damian McKenzie, Alex Nankivell and Anton Lienert-Brown.
McKenzie booted five conversions, with the result never in doubt. The Brumbies responded through tries from Len Ikitau, Tom Cusack and, right at the death, Rob Valetini.
Wing Bryce Heem grabbed a hat-trick for a rampant Blues side whose second-half dominance secured a 48-21 win against the Waratahs.
Armed with a 22-14 half-time advantage, the Blues raised their game for the second 40 minutes and pulled away, inflicting a 10th straight defeat of the season on the visitors to Eden Park.
Justin Burrowes shot a three-under-par score of 69 Friday to extend his lead to eight strokes on day two of the Alliance National Amateur Golf Championship at the Caymanas Golf Club.
Following his opening-round score of 73 on Thursday, Burrowes, the only golfer to post an under-par score so far in the championship, has a two-day score of 142.
Dr Mark Newnham is currently in second place following his second-round score of 74, for a combined score of 150. Newnham shot a 76 in the first round that had left him fourth on the leaderboard.
Meanwhile, defending champion William Knibbs is a further three strokes back after a particularly rough round. He shot 79 to go along with his 74 on day one for a two-day total of 153, 11 strokes off the leader.
Burrowes believes consistency was key to his play on Friday.
“Today (Friday) was, I would say kind of more of the same as yesterday (Thursday). I just felt like I made more putts today, definitely driving it well, hitting it well, doing all the parts of the game pretty well right now,” said Burrowes, who made three birdies on the front nine as well as two more on the back that were cancelled by two bogeys.
“It was just about execution and today I went out and executed pretty well. Still, something to build on, I still missed a few putts I thought I should have made but all in all the conditions today were pretty tough with the rain and the wind. I felt like I managed it pretty well but still I know I left a couple out there and tomorrow (Saturday) that's what I am going go after."
Among the ladies, day one leader Jodi Munn-Barrow held her lead after shooting five over par 77 on day two. Her round included three bogeys and a double bogey for a combined total of 149 (72 and 77). "Today was also another difficult day. It started out being very hot and extremely windy and then the rains came. We had to stop and then go back on the course so it was very difficult to maintain concentration,” she said.
“(The) course played tough again but overall pleased with my game. I felt like I kept it together well for the 18 holes even with the distractions that were there, so I am hoping I can do the same tomorrow and put up another good score."
Second place Samantha Azan shot 16 over for an 88 to close day two on 169. She is followed by Winni Lau, who shot 90 on both days for a total score of 180.
Scores for the Ladies 13 - 24 category are Valerie Grant 105 (206) and Suzan White 110 (216).
The Men 7-12 category had two golfers with scores of 78 for Thajae Richards for a total of 166 who still leads Richard White, who shot 93 and now totals 190.
There is a new leader in the Men Senior 0-12 category with Tony Allison 80 (162) ahead of former Cricket West Indies president Dave Cameron 77 (164) in second and Vikram Dhuman 90 (170) copping the third spot.
The Men Super Senior 0-12 also has a new leader in George Hugh with a 76 (158). The day one leader, former JGA president Wayne Chai Chong shot 80 (159), while Robert Chin 79 (160) is in third.
The final male category - Men Super Senior 13 and over, with one occupant - Desmond Brown scored 92 for a two-day total of 189.
The golfers will tee off at 7:30 am on Saturday.
LeBron James has compared Chris Paul's basketball IQ with stars Rajon Rondo and Draymond Green ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers' playoffs series against the Phoenix Suns.
The Lakers won through their play-in game against the Golden State Warriors, earning seventh seed and the right to take on the second seed Suns, who are led by experienced point guard Paul.
Four-time NBA champion James has remarkably never faced 11-time NBA All-Star and high school friend Paul in the postseason.
Rondo and Green are widely known for their basketball intelligence and James identified Paul among those lofty standards.
"It's going to be comparable to playing against Rondo in a series, playing against Draymond in a series," James said during a video conference call on Friday.
"You have those out-of-this-world IQ type guys and fierce competitors, at the same time so it's the same thing.
"Every time I faced Rondo in the past, I knew I had to be not only on my A-game as far as my game, but also my mind as well and that's the same with Draymond, every time you go against those Warriors teams.
"I've had experiences with those two guys, so that will definitely help me in matching up with CP [Paul] because I know the competitor and I know the IQ of the basketball player that he is."
The Lakers may be the seventh seed but head into their series with the Suns as the bookmakers favourites, having been 2019-20 champions.
The Suns surprised a lot of people by ending their long playoffs wait and finishing as high as second in the Western Conference.
Suns coach Monty Williams insisted that being considered underdogs did not faze his side.
"We all hear it," Williams said on Friday. "Ultimately you got to get out there and compete for 48 minutes, and that's what we plan to do.
"Did anybody think we were going to win 51 games this year? In a shortened season? Don't think so. So why would we listen to those people now?"
On facing the reigning champions first up, he added: "Our guys aren't bitter. We're looking forward to competing against the Lakers.
"We're not upset or feel like anybody's done something to our Cheerios. We have to go play the Lakers."
Phil Mickelson and Louis Oosthuizen topped a leaderboard filled with major winners at the US PGA Championship, setting up a fascinating weekend at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.
Mickelson started early and roared to the finish, carding five birdies on the back nine on the way to a 69 that left him at five under par for the tournament before Oosthuizen shot 68 in the afternoon for a share of the overall lead.
Two-time US PGA winner Brooks Koepka (71) was one stroke back after recording a pair of eagles on Friday, followed by 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama (68) at three under.
Oosthuizen's fellow South Africans Branden Grace (71) and Christiaan Bezuidenhout (70) also were two back of the leaders.
First-round leader Corey Conners (75) and 2019 U.S. Open winner Gary Woodland (72) were at two under, with reigning U.S. open champion Bryson DeChambeau (71) dropping back to one under after a bogey on 18.
Players battled windy conditions throughout the day and had an especially difficult time with the last two holes.
Oosthuizen lost his chance to stand alone atop the leaderboard with a bogey on 18 that ensured no one would post a bogey-free round on the first two days of competition, while Grace dropped three strokes on 17 and 18 to mar an otherwise stellar round.
Rory McIlroy (72) saw a move for contention disintegrate with bogeys on the final three holes that left him eight back of the leaders entering Saturday, and Jordan Spieth (75) was in the same spot after bogeys at 17 and 18.
The four-time major champion Koepka had perhaps the most erratic day of any contender, carding just one birdie to go with his eagles at the seventh and 11th and four bogeys.
Among the notables missing the five-over cut line by one stroke were Dustin Johnson (74), Sergio Garcia (73), Adam Scott (72) and Justin Thomas.
Former major winners also missing out on the weekend include Zach Johnson (78), Jason Dufner (81), Martin Kaymer (77), Rich Beem (77), Charl Schwartzel (79) and John Daly (86).
The 2009 US PGA Championship winner, Y.E. Yang, was disqualified after signing an incorrect scorecard but would have missed the cut anyway.
The play-in tournament may be here to stay with NBA commissioner Adam Silver stating that his personal preference is for it to continue beyond this season.
Teams ranked seventh to 10th in both the Western and Eastern Conference have faced off in the play-in tournament for the seventh and eighth seeds in the 2020-21 season.
The additional spots available for the playoffs added intrigue late in the NBA season, with 24 of the 30 franchises maintaining the possibility of playing in the postseason in the final fortnight.
The play-in tournament has been criticized for being unfair, with Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James publicly vocal in his dislike of the concept.
"Whoever came up with that needs to be fired," James said earlier this month.
But Silver defended the play-in tournament, insisting it added vital viewership interest to the season, given the incentives for teams to compete.
"I haven't made any secret that I want it to be [around long term]," Silver told ESPN Radio.
"I have two constituencies I need to convince of that. One is the 30 teams, and I think for the most part they've supported it. I understand the sentiment if I were a team - a seven-seed in particular - the notion [that] after a long season, you could potentially play out of the playoffs. I understand those feelings.
"I think at the same time, the teams recognize the amount of additional interest we've created over the last month of the season plus those play-in games make it worth it.
"Of course, the other constituency is the players. For example, one player, who is on the executive committee of the union, said to me yesterday that he really likes the play-in tournament but he felt it could potentially be a bit unfair.
"For example, if you were the seventh seed and you were a significant number of games ahead of the eight-seed, the notion that you could somehow lose two games and be out of the playoffs seems unfair."
The sides who finished seventh in both conferences won their play-in games to claim seventh seed, while the Washington Wizards eventually took the eighth seed in the East with victory over the Indiana Pacers after finishing eighth.
The Golden State Warriors, who finished eighth on the Western Conference standings, play the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth seed in the last play-in game on Friday.
Silver said it is possible that the league will tinker with the current play-in format.
He added: "I'm going to wait only because I know there's people on both sides of it.
"Beyond the individual ratings, and some games have been pretty good and some haven't been as close, but putting aside those games and adding those games to our schedule and the amount of interest in them is where I think the play-in tournament had an impact.
"[It] was causing teams who frankly otherwise may have thrown in the towel some number of weeks back to fight for those last playoff spots."
For the second season in a row, the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks meet in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
It is the same, only different.
A year ago, when the league moved en masse to Florida to finish a season badly disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, the Mavs went up against a team expected to not only make it beyond the first round, but several more after that.
The Clippers were tested, eventually prevailing by a 4-2 scoreline. However, they fell at the next hurdle, letting slip a 3-1 series lead in the Western Conference semi-finals against the Denver Nuggets. That defeat, and particularly the nature of it, has loomed over them since. Their attempts to bury the memory of such a dramatic collapse begin on Saturday against familiar foes.
Dallas ended the regular season as the fifth seeds in the West, though their 42-30 record was not a huge improvement on a year ago, when a 43-32 finish was good enough to only get seventh spot.
However, since the All-Star break, they have gone 24-14. In Luka Doncic, they have a superstar who has shown little interest in sticking to the schedule, developing at such a rate that, despite averaging 27.7 points per game in his third season, it is perhaps a little surprising he did not force himself more into the MVP conversation.
Doncic had to carry much of the burden against the Clippers a year ago. Kristaps Porzingis' impact diminished due to a knee injury that eventually forced him to miss the final three games. He had also managed to get thrown out in the opener too, having taken umbrage at the attention his young team-mate was receiving to get a second technical foul.
Still, even with a healthy Porzingis available this time around, Dallas will ride or die on the performances of Doncic, whose first playoff experience saw him finish up averaging 31.0 points and 8.7 assists.
Looking back, it seems astonishing that two teams passed up the opportunity to select the dynamic, do-it-all guard in 2018, while a third – the Atlanta Hawks – opted to trade him away to get Trae Young.
At 22, the Slovenian has scored 5,115 points through 199 regular-season games. To put that number into context, LeBron James had 5,097 to his name when he reached the milestone of 200 outings.
Indeed, since 1985-86, the only player to manage 4,000 points, 100 or more assists and hit at least 500 three-pointers though their first 200 games is Damian Lillard – and Doncic is well ahead in all three categories.
His buzzer-beating shot at the end of overtime in the fourth game against the Clippers tied the series at 2-2 in 2020, but that was as good as it got for Dallas. This time around, they hope to make sure the outcome is different.
For that to happen, though, they will have to find a way of keeping quiet a superstar coming off a career year – and whose name is not Kawhi Leonard.
Paul George admitted to finding life difficult in the bubble. "I was just in a dark place," he said after helping the Clippers edge ahead 3-2 in the Dallas series. "I'd checked out. These past couple of games it was just difficult but shout out to the people who stood behind me and were in my corner."
While averaging 18.5 points in the end, he was successful with only 20 of his 69 attempts through the opening four games against the Mavs, including going 2-of-15 from deep in the third and fourth meeting.
This season, however, he has looked far more at home, in more ways than one.
The seven-time All-Star finished the regular season averaging 23.3 points, including shooting an impressive 41.1 per cent from beyond the arc (up on his overall mark of 38.4 per cent). Under Ty Lue, the team as a whole averaged 41.1 per cent from beyond the arc, ranking them first in the entire league.
Leonard remains the number one for the Clippers – he was the only player to average at least 24.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game in the regular season – but George will be pivotal to his team's hopes of making a deep run, in the process exorcising their playoff ghosts.
Forget familiarity breeding contempt: these teams getting acquainted again in a seven-game series offers up an absorbing clash where both have a point to prove.
Phil Mickelson played himself right into contention to become the oldest major champion in history after taking the clubhouse lead on day two of the US PGA Championship.
The 50-year-old looked in good shape in his first round on Thursday and he went a step further on Friday, finding himself top of the leaderboard having gone around the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island in 69.
It meant the American was on five under for the tournament, and he was leading by two shots shortly after he had finished for the day.
For much of Friday it looked as though Branden Grace was going to be in charge, the South African sitting pretty at six under for the tournament as he stepped up to the tee on the 17th.
But he finished his round with a double-bogey and a bogey as the breezy conditions took their toll on the two holes regarded as the toughest on the entire course, meaning he walked off after his final hole three under for the tournament.
Mickelson had similar issues on the same two holes earlier in the day after starting on the 10th, though the five-time major winner only dropped two shots across the 17th and 18th – it clearly was not enough of a wobble to really impact his mood.
The 2005 US PGA Championship winner has not had a single top-10 finish on the PGA Tour this season, but he has a great chance to end that here.
Opening up on his brilliant start at Kiawah Island, he said: "Physically I've felt as good as ever, I've been able to perform to play the shots, but I haven't been able to be as present or sharp mentally to visualise the shots I want to play.
"Meditation has been a big part of me being able to play the shots I want. It's gotten more difficult as I've got older to focus. Your mind is like a muscle, you have to exercise.
"That's what I've been doing, some days playing [as many as] 40-45 holes to make sure I can concentrate longer than just 18."
Mickelson carded five birdies after the turn, playing a huge role in putting him into contention to surpass Julius Boros as the oldest ever major winner at 48 in 1968.
Additionally, he is the first man aged 50 or over to be in top-five contention after 36 holes at a major since 2013.
His form here is made all the more remarkable by the fact he needed a special exemption to even qualify for next month's US Open, given his current ranking of 115.
"I'm having a lot of fun," he added. "To play well, to know I'm playing well heading into the weekend, to be in contention, to have a good opportunity, I'm having a blast. I'm excited for the weekend."
Ian Poulter looked to be putting himself into contention as well only to fall apart in the latter stages of his round, carding four bogeys in his final five holes – he was previously six under for the day.
Similarly, overnight leader Corey Conners' dropped down to two under for the tournament thanks to a difficult three-over second round.
Meanwhile, world number one Dustin Johnson will almost certainly not be returning on Saturday as he followed up a shocking first day with comparatively poor two over on Friday, leaving him on six over.
Jordan Spieth faces a nervy wait, he sits at four over following a second-round 75.
Stefanos Tsitsipas insists it must be purely business when he tackles Italian teenager and fellow tennis artisan Lorenzo Musetti in the Lyon Open semi-finals.
Ahead of a tilt at the French Open, for which he is among the favourites, world number five Tsitsipas has been tuning up his game at this week's ATP 250 tournament.
The Greek star was sharp in posting a 6-3 6-4 win over Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka, and 19-year-old Italian Musetti awaits him on Saturday.
Tsitsipas dropped just four games when he crushed Musetti in an Acapulco semi-final in March, but he senses more of a threat this time from the exciting youngster.
"We played in different conditions. Acapulco was a hardcourt match and with altitude," said Tsitsipas, speaking on Amazon Prime. "The conditions here are different. He's someone who enjoys playing on clay.
"We share a similar game style I think with a one-handed backhand, which is beautiful to see, but tomorrow it's going to be serious business I knew he can play good on this surface. I know he can elevate his game, so it's important for me to be in the semi-finals."
Musetti overcame Slovenian Aljaz Bedene 6-3 7-6 (7-2) in their quarter-final, scrambling through a chaotic second set in which he trailed 5-2 at one stage but then reeled off four straight games, only to fail to serve out.
Thankfully for the youngster, he pulled through the tie-break.
"It was a crazy end," said Musetti. "I was 6-5 up, and at 30-30 played a really bad volley and hit an underarm serve. Sometimes I go out of my mind. I am really proud of myself as I was 2-5 down in the second set and I stayed focused. I tried to play each point at my best."
Russian Karen Khachanov marked his 25th birthday with a 6-1 7-6 (7-3) win over Frenchman Richard Gasquet, veteran doyen of the single-handed backhand.
Khachanov faced a wait to learn who he must face in the semi-finals, however, with Cameron Norrie and Arthur Rinderknech level at one set all overnight, after rain forced an early end to play.
At the Geneva Open, Norway's Casper Ruud will tackle Canadian Denis Shapovalov in Saturday's final.
Ruud saw off Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-3 6-2, while Shapovalov earned a 6-4 7-5 win against Uruguayan qualifier Pablo Cuevas.
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