ORLANDO, Florida: Tiger Woods and 15-year-old son Charlie ran off five straight birdies on the back nine Saturday for a 13-under 59 in the scramble format, giving them a share of the lead in the PNC Championship in Woods’ first competition since back surgery in September.
Woods said he scheduled that surgery — the sixth on his lower back in the last 10 years — to be sure he recovered in time to play with his son for the fifth straight year.
This is the first time they have shared the lead after the opening round, joined by the last two champions — Bernhard Langer and son Jason, and Vijay Singh and son Qass.
Woods hit an array of good shots, including a wedge to inches on the short par-4 seventh, but otherwise downplayed his game by suggesting he still had a lot of rust. This was more about spending 36 holes on a brisk day at the Ritz-Carlton Club Orlando with his son, a sophomore at Benjamin School in North Palm Beach.
His daughter, Sam, caddied for her father for the second straight year. Their mother, Elin, was among those in the gallery in a tournament that is all about family.
“We’re trying to pull off each and every shot for each other, and to ham-and-egg,” Woods said. “And I think we did that great pretty much the entire day. We picked each other up, which was great. And Charlie made pretty much most of the putts today.”
It helped playing in the same group with former British Open champion Justin Leonard and his son, Luke, a senior and teammate with Charlie at Benjamin School.
Langer extended his astonishing record on the PGA Tour Champions this year by winning for an 18th consecutive season. He and his son made eight birdies in a nine-hole stretch in the middle of the round, and they had an eagle on the 14th hole.
Singh and his son, who won this event in 2022, shot 28 on the back nine.
“There’s so many teams in the hunt,” Langer said. “It’s anybody’s game that is within three or four shots of the leaders, which is most of the field.”
Padraig Harrington and son Paddy, and Tom Lehman and son Sean, were at 12-under 60. The Lehmans looked to be leading when they were around the green on the par-5 18th, but then it took them four shots to get down in the scramble format, taking bogey.
Having Team Woods in the mix is enough to get attention.
“It’s great for the tournament and happy for them,” Langer said. “Should be fun for the crowd tomorrow to come out and watch everybody play.”
Woods hasn’t competed since the British Open in July.
For Team Woods, it’s a matter of not looking too far ahead. The father knows that all too well with his record-tying 82 titles on the PGA Tour. The son got a lesson in that this summer.
Charlie Woods qualified for his first US Junior Amateur, making it to Oakland Hills but not staying very long. He shot rounds of 82-80 and didn’t make it to match play. He also fell short in Monday qualifying for the Cognizant Classic on the PGA Tour and US Open qualifying.
But he said the US Junior was his biggest learning moment.
“It’s about focusing on my playing,” Charlie said. “I was so focused on winning and how I played that it kind of crept into how am I going to win instead of how I’m going to play the shot. And it kind of built up and that caused two very, very bad rounds of golf. But live and learn.”
His father listened to the answer and nodded.
“Learn,” Woods said.
The PNC Championship is for players who won a major or The Players Championship and a family member. Annika Sorenstam is playing with her son, while Nelly Korda is playing with her father. Steve Stricker — winner of seven senior majors — is playing with daughter Izzy, a freshman at Wisconsin.
Korda dazzled with a fairway metal out of the sand on the par-5 14th to set up eagle. Team Korda was four shots behind.
Tiger Woods and son Charlie share the lead at PNC Championship
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Tiger Woods and son Charlie share the lead at PNC Championship
- Woods hit an array of good shots, including a wedge to inches on the short par-4 seventh, but otherwise downplayed his game by suggesting he still had a lot of rust
- The PNC Championship is for players who won a major or The Players Championship and a family member
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen wins F1’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix to end Piastri’s streak
The Dutch driver built a commanding lead which was wiped out when the safety car bundled the field back up. He still held on to win ahead of Lando Norris, who overtook his McLaren teammate Piastri for second with five laps remaining.
Verstappen took his second win of the season, and first since last month’s Japanese Grand Prix, and denied Piastri — who finished third — what would have been his fourth win in a row.
Verstappen praised his Red Bull team’s “fantastic execution all round” as the team marked its 400th F1 race with a win.
“The start itself wasn’t particularly great, but I was still on the outside line, or basically the normal (racing) line, and I was like, ‘Well, I’m just going to try and send it round the outside,’ and it worked really well,” Verstappen said of his crucial overtake. “That, of course, unleashed our pace because once we were in the lead, the car was good.”
Norris’ late-race move on Piastri was almost a copy of Verstappen’s, though Norris had the advantage of being on fresher tires than his teammate.
“We had a good little battle at the end between Oscar and myself, which is always tense, but always good fun,” Norris said, admitting that Verstappen and Red Bull were “too good for us today.”
Piastri’s lead over Norris in the standings was cut to 13 points, with Verstappen nine behind Norris.
Hamilton bounces back
Lewis Hamilton recovered from 12th on the grid to finish fourth in his first race for Ferrari in Italy.
Hamilton profited from a late-race fight between his teammate Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon of Williams.
Albon complained Leclerc had pushed him off the track as they battled for fourth, and Hamilton passed both drivers before Ferrari eventually asked Leclerc to yield fifth to Albon.
George Russell was seventh for Mercedes, ahead of Carlos Sainz, Jr. in the second Williams. Isack Hadjar was ninth for Racing Bulls and Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda was 10th after starting last following a crash in qualifying.
An action-packed ‘farewell’ to Imola
Overtaking was expected to be rare in what could be F1’s last race for the foreseeable future at Imola. Instead, the Italian fans were treated to Verstappen’s spectacular move at the start and plenty of other overtakes.
The narrow, bumpy Imola track has been a favorite among drivers, who have relished its old-school challenge since it returned to the F1 schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, its status as Italy’s second race — only the United States also hosts more than one — makes its position vulnerable.
“If we don’t come back here, it is going to be a shame,” Piastri said Saturday.
Sunday’s race was the last under Imola’s current contract, and while it isn’t officially goodbye yet, there has been no word about next year.
Karachi beat Peshawar by 23 runs as PSL returns with glitzy ceremony
- Peshawar Zalmi skipper Babar Azam scores 94 runs from 49 balls in Zalmi’s chase attempt
- Pop stars Sahir Ali Bagga and Asrar Shah enthralled fans as PSL returned after May 9
ISLAMABAD: Peshawar Zalmi skipper Babar Azam’s 94-run innings came to naught as his team lost to Karachi Kings at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium by 23 runs on Saturday, as the Pakistan Super League (PSL) marked its return with a glitzy ceremony.
The PSL was suspended on May 9 due to hostilities between nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan. However, as both countries agreed to a ceasefire on May 10, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced the league would resume on May 17.
Kings captain David Warner led the scoreboard, scoring a fiery 86-run inning from 50 balls while James Vince smashed 72 runs from 42 deliveries. Khushdil Shah contributed with an impressive 43 runs from 15 balls as the Kings piled on 237-4 at the end of 20 overs.
“Match 27 Karachi Kings vs Peshawar Zalmi,” the PCB said in a statement. “Karachi Kings won by 23 runs.”
Former Pakistan captain Azam scored 94 runs from 49 balls, hitting four sixes in his innings before he got run out. Explosive opener Saim Ayub provided Zalmi with a strong start, scoring 47 runs from 31 balls while Tom Kohler-Cadmore chipped in with 20 runs from 15 balls.
PSL’s return after a week saw Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir watch the match live at the Rawalpindi stadium.
Pakistani pop stars Sahir Ali Bagga and Asrar Shah performed to enthrall the audience and pay tribute to the country’s armed forces before fans enjoyed a spectacle of fireworks at the stadium.
Journalism wins the Preakness two weeks after finishing 2nd in the Kentucky Derby
BALTIMORE: Journalism jostled with horses down the stretch, shrugged off the contact, burst through the lane and came from behind to win the 150th running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday.
The odds-on favorite was bumped by Goal Oriented near the quarter pole, and it looked like another second-place finish was coming two weeks after being the runner-up to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby. Journalism instead ran right by Gosger to give trainer Michael McCarthy his second win in a Triple Crown race.
“A lot of bouncing around there,” McCarthy said. “When I saw that, I kind of resigned myself to the fact it was another fantastic effort and maybe come up a little bit short. But it just goes to show the testament that this horse has. Couldn’t be prouder of him.”
Gosger was second by a half-length. Sandman was third and Bob Baffert-trained Goal Oriented fourth. Journalism went 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.37.
Umberto Rispoli became the first jockey from Italy to win any of the Triple Crown races.
“When I crossed the wire, the first things that comes up to my mind, it’s all of the 20 years of my career that pass in front of me,” Rispoli said. “I had to wait so long to be on a champion like that.”
Journalism handled the adversity and thrived on a warm day that dried out the track after torrential rain fell at Pimlico Race Course for much of the past week. Those conditions suited him better than the slop at Churchill Downs in the Derby
“This victory symbolizes so much about life,” co-owner Aaron Wellman said. “It took guts for Umberto Rispoli to power his way through a seemingly impossible hole getting side-swiped and threading the needle and powering on through. And it took guts from an incredible horse to somehow will his way to victory.”
Journalism paid $4 to win, $2.80 to place and $2.40 to show.
“He’s a remarkable horse,” Baffert said of Journalism. “I wanted to be on the lead and was behind horses. I knew was intimidated. He’s never run that way. He ran well, but he’s still too green for that.”
Sovereignty did not take part after his owners and trainer Bill Mott decided to skip the Preakness, citing the two-week turnaround, and aimed for the Belmont on June 7. That made this a fifth time in seven years that the Preakness, for various reasons, was contested without a Triple Crown bid at stake.
But Journalism staked his claim for 3-year-old horse of the year by winning the $2 million American classic race run at the old Pimlico Race Course for the last time before it’s torn down and rebuilt. While work went on around him before the postrace news conference, Wellman asked, “Are they already tearing this place down?”
Not yet, and not before Journalism could add a memorable chapter by squeezing through the space he had to win.
“I still can’t realize what this horse did,” Rispoli said. “It’s all about him. It’s a pleasure and privilege to ride a horse like him.”
The Preakness is set to be held at nearby Laurel Park, between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., next year before a planned return to the new Pimlico in 2027. McCarthy raved about the history at the place known as “Old Hilltop” and still remembers where he was when Sunday Silence beat Easy Goer at the wire in 1989 in a fashion similar to how Journalism won this time.
“Things kind of come full circle,” McCarthy said. “I’m sad to see this place go, but we’ll try to get back here next year, whichever locale it’s at.”
Journalism is the first horse to win the Preakness after running in the Kentucky Derby since Mark Casse-trained War of Will in 2019. He is the first Derby runner-up to follow that up by winning the Preakness since Exaggerator in 2016.
Only two others from the 19 in the Derby participated in the Preakness: Casse’s Sandman and fellow Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas’ American Promise, who did not have the same positive response as Journalism.
“The best horse won,” Lukas said. “He finished beautifully.”
Lukas, the 89-year-old who has saddled the most horses in Preakness history, referred to McCarthy once this week as “the new guy.” This was just McCarthy’s second, and he’s 2 for 2 after Rombauer sprung the upset as an 11-1 long shot in 2021.
This one was more emotional, with McCarthy and his wife still displaced from their home by the Southern California wildfires.
“We’ll get back there,” McCarthy said. “Everybody will get back there. We’ll rebuild. This is for Altadena.”
Nice take Champions League place, Saint-Etienne relegated in French season finale
PARIS: Nice romped to a six-goal win to secure Champions League qualification on the final night of the French season on Saturday, as Saint-Etienne were condemned to relegation back to the second tier.
Champions League finalists Paris Saint-Germain had already clinched the title while Marseille and Monaco wrapped up qualification for Europe’s elite club competition before the Ligue 1 campaign reached its climax.
However, one more spot at the continent’s top table remained up for grabs on the last day with fourth-placed Nice in pole position to take it if they could hold off the challengers of Lille, Strasbourg and Lyon.
The Ineos-owned club made sure of a top-four place by crushing Brest 6-0 on the Cote d’Azur with Gaetan Laborde scoring twice.
Ivorian international Evann Guessand put Nice in front with his 12th Ligue 1 goal this season, with Badredine Bouanani later netting a penalty before Terem Moffi and Ali Abdi also hit the target toward the end.
Nice will enter next season’s Champions League in the third qualifying round in early August and will have to win two two-legged ties to make it to the league stage.
Lille finish fifth and go into the Europa League after substitute Chuba Akpom’s late penalty secured a 2-1 win at home to Reims, while Strasbourg suffered a dramatic 3-2 loss against Le Havre in a result which created a stunning late twist in the relegation battle.
Le Havre needed to win and hope one of Reims or Nantes lost in order to escape the drop zone, and the Normandy side showed remarkable resolve to come from behind twice before snatching victory in extraordinary fashion.
Abdoulaye Toure’s second penalty of the game, in the ninth minute of stoppage time, propelled Le Havre out of the drop zone and means Reims will go into a play-off against second-tier Metz for the right to play in Ligue 1 next season.
Reims will now have to navigate the two legs of that tie either side of next weekend’s French Cup final against PSG.
Strasbourg’s defeat allowed Lyon to climb above them and take sixth place as they beat Angers 2-0 with Alexandre Lacazette scoring twice.
The former Arsenal striker’s brace allowed him to reach a double-century of goals for his boyhood club as he now prepares to leave Lyon, the club where he made his Ligue 1 debut in 2010.
Lyon are guaranteed European football next season and will be in the Europa League if PSG win the French Cup, which would mean Strasbourg go into the Conference League.
Saint-Etienne needed a positive result as well as favors from elsewhere in order to avoid being relegated but they slumped to a 3-2 loss at home against Toulouse.
Yann Gboho scored what proved to be the winner for Toulouse, as 10-time champions Saint-Etienne make an immediate return to Ligue 2.
PSG warmed up for their upcoming finals, including the Champions League showdown with Inter Milan in Munich on May 31, by coming from behind to beat Auxerre 3-1 in the capital.
Lassine Sinayoko put Auxerre ahead as the visitors threatened to spoil PSG’s title party, but Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored twice in the second half for the hosts either side of a Marquinhos header. Goncalo Ramos also had a penalty saved.
Marseille made sure of finishing second as they beat Rennes 4-2 at the Velodrome with Mason Greenwood scoring twice, including once from the penalty spot, while Adrien Rabiot also grabbed a brace.
Greenwood scored 21 goals in his debut Ligue 1 season to finish as the division’s joint-top marksman alongside PSG’s Ousmane Dembele.
Third-placed Monaco slumped to a 4-0 loss at Lens, for whom Neil El Aynaoui netted twice, while Nantes ensured their safety by defeating relegated Montpellier 3-0.
Sporting defend Portuguese title with final day win
- Sporting and Benfica were level on points going into their last match
- Benfica needed to better Sporting’s result to triumph but drew 1-1 at Braga
LISBON: Sporting Lisbon defended their Portuguese crown on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Guimaraes to hold off rivals Benfica on the final day of the Primeira Liga season.
Both Sporting and Benfica were level on points going into their last match after a tense 1-1 derby draw last weekend left the title race on a knife edge.
Benfica needed to better Sporting’s result to triumph but drew 1-1 at Braga, although even a victory would not have been enough as Rui Borges’ side triumphed and had the superior head-to-head.
Pedro Goncalves broke the deadlock in the second half and the division’s top goalscorer Viktor Gyokeres notched his 39th league goal of a stunning campaign to seal Sporting’s victory.
Manchester United coach Ruben Amorim led Sporting to last year’s title and after he departed in November was replaced by Joao Pereira, who only lasted six troubled weeks before Borges took over.
Sporting claimed their 21st Primeira division title and could make it a domestic double as they face Benfica next Sunday in the Portuguese cup final.
