Nelly Korda and the US keep rolling in Solheim Cup and lead Europe 10-6

Nelly Korda of Team USA plays a shot from a bunker on the 12th hole during foursomes matches against Team Europe during the second round of the Solheim Cup 2024 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club Saturday. (Reuters)
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Updated 15 September 2024
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Nelly Korda and the US keep rolling in Solheim Cup and lead Europe 10-6

  • US captain Stacy Lewis watched her role players excel, and the Americans concluded a warm, breezy day at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club with a 10-6 advantage
  • The US needs 4 1/2 points from a dozen singles matches to win the cup, and Europe needs eight points to retain it

GAINESVILLE, Virginia: Alison Lee sparked a shirtless caddie celebration by spinning a wedge into the cup for eagle. Andrea Lee holed a bunker shot to set up Rose Zhang’s walk-off eagle one hole later. And Megan Khang paused for 10 seconds to let gravity help her out on a critical birdie putt.

The wait was worth it for the US, which maintained a four-point lead over Europe in the Solheim Cup on Saturday.

With top-ranked Nelly Korda getting an afternoon break after winning the leadoff point in three consecutive sessions of team matches, US captain Stacy Lewis watched her role players excel, and the Americans concluded a warm, breezy day at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club with a 10-6 advantage.

“They’re playing the way I expected them to play, so I’m not surprised at all,” Lewis said. “But at the same time, to do it on this stage and in these moments and to pull these shots off and to make the putts and to do it with the joy that they’re doing it with, it’s the coolest part to me.”

Europe, which has captured the Solheim Cup the last three times, won the last two matches to conclude a 4-4 day. But the team in royal blue and yellow will need its largest comeback in Sunday singles to make it a record four in a row. The US rallied from four points down to win in Germany in 2015.

The US needs 4 1/2 points from a dozen singles matches to win the cup, and Europe needs eight points to retain it. Captain Suzann Pettersen drew inspiration from the European Ryder Cup team’s rally from the same deficit to win at Medinah in 2012.

“I was on the opposite side in Germany, and I know what it feels like,” Pettersen said. “Everyone remembers Medinah. I mean, it’s a tough task.”

Lewis has relied on data to find the right combinations, whether keeping Korda and Allizen Corpuz together for alternate shot; sending rookie Lauren Coughlin out with three partners; or giving Zhang a comfortable pairing with Andrea Lee, her fellow Stanford Cardinal.

“I know their games backwards and forward, and it’s allowed me to create some really good pairings,” Lewis said.

Korda and Corpuz fell behind early against Carlota Ciganda and Emily Pedersen but turned it around on the back nine and got a break when Corpuz hit a worm-burner of a fairway wood into the par-5 14th hole that avoided the water and settled within 20 feet. Korda put her hands on her head in disbelief and Lewis gave Corpuz a shoulder rub in the fairway.

Korda holed the putt for eagle, her second in a row on a hole the US has dominated, and she and Corpuz became the first American duo to go 4-0 in foursomes after winning twice last year in Spain.

“The Americans have played unbelievable. I don’t know how many eagles they’ve had. It seems like they’ve had double figures,” Hall of Famer and European assistant captain Laura Davies said. “They’ve just played great golf. Out-putted us at the moment. Deep squad of players. We’ll never say never, but it is going to be very, very difficult to get the cup back.”

A day after transportation problems prevented most fans from getting to the golf course for the opening tee shots, a situation that LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan took responsibility for, the grandstands surrounding the first tee were full and fans lined the gallery ropes shortly after 7 a.m.

The only thing that kept them quiet was a slow start by the Americans, but it got loud once Korda started rolling.

In the first afternoon better-ball match, Anna Nordqvist and Madelene Sagstrom were 2 down to Khang and Alison Lee when Nordqvist birdied the par-3 11th hole. Khang’s tying putt hung on the lip for 10 seconds before dropping, and she confirmed with a rules official that she had not waited too long for the ball to move.

Needing two putts to win the 14th, Khang made her 15-footer for eagle anyway, setting up the latest fist-pumping celebration for the Americans’ loudest cheerleader, who was next to the green in a cowboy hat when Corpuz hit her approach hours earlier.

Khang and Lee closed it out on the next hole for a 4-and-3 victory, Lee’s first in a Solheim Cup match since 2015. She gave the US an early lead with her wedge from 86 yards for an eagle 2 on the second hole, and the Americans’ caddies stripped from the waist up and chest-bumped to pay off a bet with Lee that they agreed to on the tee box.

“Literally holed out five minutes after that conversation. Great motivation,” Lee said.

Zhang and Andrea Lee never trailed in their 6-and-4 victory over Linn Grant and Celine Boutier. Zhang, the youngest US player at 21 who had a forgettable Solheim debut last year, joined Korda and Coughlin by winning all three of her matches.

Pettersen benched Leona Maguire, a valuable contributor in the last two Solheim Cups who has played poorly this year, for both sessions. Rookie Albane Valenzuela also sat out all day, while Charley Hull and Pedersen played four matches each.

Hull delivered. The excitable English player hit a 300-yard-plus drive on the par-4 18th to set up a wedge to tap-in range by Esther Henseleit for a 1-up victory in foursomes over Ally Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho, then did it again as she and Georgia Hall beat Corpuz and Lilia Vu 2 up in better ball.

Lexi Thompson improved her record in alternate shot to 7-2-1 in what is likely her final Solheim Cup, teaming with the unbeaten Coughlin to make four birdies in six holes on the back nine and beat Maja Stark and Hall, 4 and 3.

Thompson and Ewing were beaten 2 and 1 by Ciganda and Pedersen in fourballs. Ewing has lost her last six Solheim Cup matches.


Beckham and Neville part of new ownership group at English soccer club Salford

Updated 08 May 2025
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Beckham and Neville part of new ownership group at English soccer club Salford

  • Butt, Giggs, Scholes and Phil Neville are no longer shareholders
  • Beckham also is a co-owner of Major League Soccer club Inter Miami

LONDON: David Beckham and Gary Neville are part of a new consortium to have taken ownership of English fourth-tier soccer club Salford City.
The club were previously owned by Beckham, Neville and other former Manchester United teammates in their so-called “Class of ‘92” — Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Phil Neville — along with Singapore businessman Peter Lim.
A new ownership group, containing Beckham, Gary Neville and other shareholders from the United States, India and England, has bought Salford and have committed to “invest significantly in the club, the team and their facilities,” Salford said on Thursday.


Butt, Giggs, Scholes and Phil Neville are no longer shareholders but “will continue to contribute to the next step of this journey with roles in the club,” Salford said.
Beckham grew up in Salford and said he had “such fond memories of my time living there and the place and its people played such an important part in my early life in football.”
“Salford City is at the heart of its community ... it has a rich history and I am delighted to be a part of the next chapter.”
Beckham also is a co-owner of Major League Soccer club Inter Miami.
Neville said the consortium contains “a diverse range of minds and expertise, held together by a love of football.”
“Football will come first, however it’s critical that we drive the club toward sustainability in the next four, five years,” Neville said. “I can’t wait for the next part of this journey.”
Salford finished in eighth place — outside the playoff spots — in League Two this season.
Beckham said he has been inspired by Wrexham’s rise through English soccer under the ownership of Hollywood celebrities Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney since 2021.
“I’m not saying this is why we’re doing it because it’s not,” Beckham told The Athletic in an interview. “But I’ve spoken to Ryan about it so many times now and he said the feeling around the city, the feeling around the club, is so exceptional. That’s the kind of thing that we want to create.”
Beckham added that the dream was to take Salford to the Premier League.
“But there’s a lot of hard work and a lot of investment to be done up until that point,” he said.


Extraordinary developments are affecting cricket’s top echelons

Updated 08 May 2025
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Extraordinary developments are affecting cricket’s top echelons

  • Political tensions threaten to further stoke the rivalry between India’s and Pakistan’s cricket teams

Cricket’s changing landscape is generating unanticipated situations. These are occurring not just because of cricket but also because of geopolitics. These are most notable on the Asian subcontinent where increased tensions threaten to cause further fissures in the rivalry between India’s and Pakistan’s cricket teams.

The 2025 Asian Cricket Council Cup is scheduled to be held in September in T20 format, involving eight countries. These are the five full members of the ACC — India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan — plus three that emerged from a qualification process. They are the UAE, Hong Kong and Oman. Teams have been divided into two groups of four, the top two teams from each group qualifying for a single-group Super Four stage. 

It has never been made clear which country or countries would host the tournament. In July 2024, the ACC’s Invitation for Expression of Interest indicated that India would be the hosts. Later reports suggested that India and Sri Lanka would be joint hosts. Now, rumours are rife that the tournament may be cancelled or switched to a neutral venue. More extreme suggestions are to expel Pakistan from the tournament and disband the ACC, replacing it with a different composition that excludes Pakistan.

Security is, of course, the overriding concern and in the current febrile atmosphere where trust between the parties is broken, this will be difficult and expensive to provide.

The Indian team’s coach, Gautam Gambhir, is reported to have said “that India should refrain from playing against Pakistan till terrorism is stopped and something is done.”

This view seems to gel with those of Rajeev Shukla, the vice president of the Board for Control of Cricket in India, who recently declared that bilateral cricket with Pakistan “would never happen.”

Currently, the prospects of the two countries playing cricket against each other are not very propitious. India’s stance is hardening by the day and the Asia Cup would appear to be in jeopardy.

Matters are made more complicated by the fact that the ACC’s current president is Mohsin Naqvi, who is also chair of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Pakistan’s interior minister. At the time of his election as ACC president in February 2022, he said that he was “committed to working with all member boards to accelerate the game’s growth and global influence, together unlocking new opportunities, fostering greater collaboration and taking Asian cricket to unprecedented heights.”

Harold Wilson, a former British prime minister, is widely credited with saying, nearly 62 years ago, that “a week is a long time in politics.” This epithet can certainly be applied to the situation in which Naqvi finds himself, given his initial aspirations.

In the past week, the already sticky relations between Pakistan and India have worsened significantly. How difficult it must be for him now to balance the presidency of the ACC with statements as interior minister about how Pakistan might react to any acts of aggression by India.

While pondering the deteriorating relations between India and Pakistan and their unfortunate impact on international cricket, I received an email from a Pakistani whom I met at the Chiang Mai International Sixes in 2023. Syed Usman Javaid led a team, called the Doosras, to play in the tournament. After talking with him, it was clear that the team was not like a usual cricket team in Pakistan. It is a community, character and leadership-building initiative that welcomes people from all backgrounds.

The trip to Thailand was the Doosras first international venture and I featured their experience in a column titled “Amateur Cricket Shows Game Can be Force for Good.” In his email, Usman informed me that, after the Thailand trip, the Doosras initiated a five-month training and fitness program for team members — with the incentive of a tour to Sri Lanka at the end. This took people who could not run 300m at a stretch to compete and complete 10-kilometer races at the Islamabad night marathon.

In 2025, the Doosras have their eyes set on Nairobi, Kenya, where they aim to take part in the Rhino Cup in June to help raise funds for Rhino preservation. This will also involve work with a local NGO to use cricket for character development, creating connections with people in Kenya and playing three one-day games. Amid all the current political wrangling on the subcontinent, it is heartening that altruistic motivations can prevail.

Some distance from the subcontinent, it was a surprise to learn of a bold move by New Zealand Cricket to become the first national governing body to invest in an overseas T20 franchise. This will be in the Major League Cricket in the United States, which is expected to expand from six to eight teams by 2027. One of these is to be launched by True North Sports Ventures, which is majority owned by MLC co-founders Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan, the league’s former chief executive.

The investment arm of the San Francisco 49ers is among the private equity investors in the venture and NZC is a foundation investor. It will provide high-performance support and expertise, operational support and expertise in cricket infrastructure and turf management. Toronto and Atlanta have been mentioned as possible venues. If the former is chosen it would represent an expansion into a Canadian market that already has its own T20 franchise.

NZC is very conscious that it has already lost several of its leading players to franchise cricket and may be in danger of losing others. It has always punched above its weight in international cricket but a player drain would endanger that ability. The MLC initiative is a strategic move to aid the sustainability of NZC by diversifying its revenue streams, expanding its global brand and providing controlled opportunities for its players and coaches.

An expanded MLC will lead to an increase in the number of matches played and, possibly, a longer duration of the competition in an already crowded calendar. In 2025, the month-long MLC will start earlier than in the two previous editions. This is an attempt to occupy a slot between mid-June and mid-July that does not clash with The Hundred in England and Wales in August and the Caribbean Premier League between mid-August and mid- September.

In pursuing its objective of expanding the game’s reach, cricket’s governing body, the International Cricket Council, has chosen not to regulate or control the number of franchise leagues. At the same time, the participation of the two countries with the greatest power to attract audiences in international events is in jeopardy. In turn, this has serious implications for the ICC’s future revenue generating abilities.

In the face of the reality of challenging issues faced at the apex of cricket, it is always comforting to be reminded that, at grass roots level, the game is played and followed for the purposes of human enjoyment and development, as is the case with the Doosras.


Osaka inspired by Agassi’s comeback as she embraces clay court grind

Updated 08 May 2025
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Osaka inspired by Agassi’s comeback as she embraces clay court grind

  • “I’m okay playing on Court 16 if I have to anyways. The reason I came back wasn’t to play on center courts all the time, it’s because I really enjoy the game“
  • Osaka beat Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan 6-1 7-5 last week in the final of the L’Open 35 de Saint-Malo

Four times Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka said this year’s clay court swing feels different as she enters it with momentum, having picked up wins and confidence in the recent weeks.
Osaka beat Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan 6-1 7-5 last week in the final of the L’Open 35 de Saint-Malo, a WTA 125 tournament, to win her first clay-court title at any level. It was also her first WTA title since becoming a mother in July 2023.
“I wanted to rack up experience on clay. I didn’t really have too much of an ego playing that tournament,” Osaka told reporters after defeating wild card Sara Errani 6-2 6-3 in the first round of the Italian Open on Wednesday.
“I’m okay playing on Court 16 if I have to anyways. The reason I came back wasn’t to play on center courts all the time, it’s because I really enjoy the game.”
Osaka said her decision to drop down to play in Saint-Malo was inspired by American great Andre Agassi, who rebuilt his career in the late 1990s by competing on the ATP Challenger Tour.
“I remember reading (Agassi’s) book. There was a moment where... he was saying he was flipping his own scoreboards. Someone came and yelled, ‘Image is everything!’ I would say that section of the book crossed my mind more,” she said.
The former world number one has often struggled on clay, having never gone past the third round at the French Open, where she is set to feature in the main draw later this month. Osaka plays ninth seed Paula Badosa in the Italian Open on Thursday.
“I feel like clay is very strength-reliant,” Osaka said.
“It’s something that I prioritized this year and I think it’s working. I’m going to keep pushing forward that way. I’ll let you know what happens in Roland Garros.”


Bayern’s Kompany ready to catch some z’s after Bundesliga title win

Updated 08 May 2025
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Bayern’s Kompany ready to catch some z’s after Bundesliga title win

  • The Belgian, in his first season at the club, said the constant preoccupation with the next match during the season did not really allow him to really enjoy the simple pleasures

BERLIN: Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany wants nothing more than a good night’s sleep after his team won the Bundesliga title last week with two matches left to play.
The Belgian, in his first season at the club, said the constant preoccupation with the next match during the season did not really allow him to really enjoy the simple pleasures.
“Sleep, really sleep,” Kompany said in a club interview when asked what he was most looking forward to after the title win.
“You constantly have the pressure of the next game. You achieve something but then you have to start building for the next achievement.”
It was by no means an easy domestic season for Bayern and Kompany, with the club facing stiff competition from last year’s champions Bayer Leverkusen, who also eliminated the Bavarians in the German Cup.
Bayern were also eliminated by Italy’s Inter Milan in the Champions League quarter-finals.
“Sometimes you have these moments with the family during the year, but then your head is somewhere else,” Kompany said.
“Now in the next few weeks I will leave some of that behind. But you can only do that after winning.”


FIFA picks 8 host cities for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil

Updated 08 May 2025
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FIFA picks 8 host cities for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil

  • Infantino: From stunning beaches to cosmopolitan cities, the world will experience the energy, color and warmth that only Brazil can offer
  • The host city selection process started in August of last year

SAO PAULO: Football’s international governing body has confirmed eight host cities for the 2027 Women’s World Cup to be held in Brazil.

FIFA announced the venues for the month-long tournament on Wednesday but hasn’t decided yet where the opening match and the final will take place.

All eight sites were among the 12 used for the men’s World Cup in 2014: Rio de Janeiro (Maracana Stadium), Sao Paulo (NeoQuimica Arena), Belo Horizonte (Mineirao Stadium), Brasília (Nacional Stadium), Fortaleza (Arena Castelao), Porto Alegre (Beira-Rio Stadium), Recife (Arena Pernambuco), and Salvador (Arena Fonte Nova).

“From stunning beaches to cosmopolitan cities, the world will experience the energy, color and warmth that only Brazil can offer,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.

Some members of Brazil’s soccer confederation have said they want to hold the opening match at Sao Paulo and the final at the 78,000-seat Maracana, as it did in the 2014 World Cup.

Curitiba, Manaus and Natal, all venues for the men’s World Cup, were not included in the women’s tournament bid book. Belem was also left out.

The host city selection process started in August of last year. At the 2014 World Cup, players, fans and coaches criticized the choice of 12 host cities for a tournament that was widely spread across the country.

For this tournament, set for June 24-July 25, 2027, almost all host cities are either on the Brazilian coast or close to it, with the exception of the capital, Brasilia, and Belo Horizonte, two of the nation’s most populous cities.

Brazil will host the women’s tournament for the first time. Brazil is a five-time World Cup champion in men’s football but has never won the women’s global title.