Scheffler shows off gold as McIlroy tries to flip script

Scheffler shows off gold as McIlroy tries to flip script
Scottie Scheffler hits onto a practice green at the St. Jude Championship golf tournament Wednesday in Memphis, Tenn. The tournament is scheduled to begin Thursday. (AP)
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Updated 15 August 2024
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Scheffler shows off gold as McIlroy tries to flip script

Scheffler shows off gold as McIlroy tries to flip script
  • Top-ranked Scheffler, whose seven wins this year also include the Masters, and McIlroy launch their FedEx Cup playoff bids in the St. Jude Championship on Thursday in Memphis
  • McIlroy, the only three-time winner of the FedEx Cup, hopes the playoffs can bring a bright finish after his near misses

WASHINGTON: Scottie Scheffler was showing off his Olympic gold medal on Wednesday and preparing to chase a first PGA Tour playoff title, while Rory McIlroy hopes to “flip the script” on a heartbreaking year in the next few weeks.

Top-ranked Scheffler, whose seven wins this year also include the Masters, and McIlroy launch their FedEx Cup playoff bids in the St. Jude Championship on Thursday in Memphis.

“It’s been nice to be able to get some wins for some good play. The Olympics were a lot of fun,” Scheffler said. “It’s great to be back home and ready for the playoffs.”

Scheffler, who also became a father this year, is competing for PGA Player of the Year honors with Xander Schauffele, the British Open and PGA Championship winner.

Asked to select between Schauffele’s two majors and Scheffler’s season, McIlroy backed Scheffler.

“Scottie’s. I think winning the Masters, an Olympic gold medal, winning whatever it is, six times, it’s pretty hard to top that,” McIlroy said.

“He always seems to find a way to hit the shots or hole the putts. I’ve described Scottie as relentless and this is just another example of that.

“He has had an incredible couple of years. It was sort of like once he won that first one, it’s just like the floodgates have opened and he’s found a next gear and a next level.”

Scheffler, 28, was Player of the Year the past two seasons and this year has won at Bay Hill, the Players, the Masters, the Heritage and Memorial and Travelers titles plus Olympic gold.

Taking a playoff crown in two weeks at East Lake in Atlanta would cap an incredible campaign.

“I don’t really think about exclamation point or anything like that, but definitely want to win the FedEx Cup,” Scheffler said. “I didn’t have my best stuff at East Lake the last couple years.”

Scheffler brought his gold medal with him and will keep it with him through the Tour Championship.

“I brought it for a deal this morning, and I promptly put it back in my backpack,” Scheffler said.

“I was definitely surprised at how many people want to see the medal. I feel like there’s a lot of stuff in golf where they’ll say congratulations, but I think a lot of people get a lot of joy from seeing the medal.”

He can do more with a gold medal than with a Masters green jacket.

“With the green jacket it’s pretty strict, when you’re out representing the club,” Scheffler said. “With the Olympic medal, you can wear it, take pictures, do whatever you want.”

McIlroy, the only three-time winner of the FedEx Cup, hopes the playoffs can bring a bright finish after his near misses.

The four-time major champion missed two short putts in the final three holes as he finished an agonizing one shot behind winner Bryson DeChambeau at this year’s US Open.

McIlroy last lifted a major title in 2014, although he has won the FedEx Cup three times since.

“Overall reasonably happy with the way I’ve played this year,” McIlroy, who finished tied-fifth at the Paris Olympics, said.

“I’ve got three tournaments coming up to try to turn a pretty good year into a very good year.

“When the bulk of the season has come and gone and you’ve got this opportunity of three weeks to really, I guess, flip the script a little bit or change the narrative and what that season means, I think that’s a motivating factor.”


Formula One great Hamilton ‘invigorated’ by Ferrari move ahead of new season

Formula One great Hamilton ‘invigorated’ by Ferrari move ahead of new season
Updated 1 min 11 sec ago
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Formula One great Hamilton ‘invigorated’ by Ferrari move ahead of new season

Formula One great Hamilton ‘invigorated’ by Ferrari move ahead of new season
  • Seven-times world champion Hamilton has left Mercedes after 12 seasons to join the Italian giants for the upcoming campaign
  • Hamilton ended his more than two-year wait for a win with victory on home soil at the British Grand Prix in July

LONDON: Lewis Hamilton said he felt “invigorated” and “full of life” following a move to Ferrari as his new car was unveiled in front of some 15,000 raucous fans during the 2025 Formula One season launch at London’s O2 Arena on Tuesday.

Seven-times world champion Hamilton has left Mercedes after 12 seasons to join the Italian giants for the upcoming campaign that starts with next month’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Ferrari have been ever present throughout Formula One’s 75-year history and the prospect of winning a record eighth drivers’ championship with the ‘Scuderia’ has clearly proved enticing for 40-year-old British motorsport great Hamilton.

“The word I am thinking of is invigorated because I feel so full of life and so much energy because everything is new and I’m just focused on what is up ahead,” said Hamilton in a brief on-stage interview — Ferrari are holding a press conference at their Maranello headquarters on Wednesday.

“I’m so proud to be part of the team, something new and exciting for me,” he added following his first public appearance in Ferrari’s traditional red racing colors.

His words echoed those of reigning world champion Max Verstappen, who earlier Tuesday told reporters his old rival could be “reborn” at Ferrari where he will join Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton ended his more than two-year wait for a win with victory on home soil at the British Grand Prix in July.

Yet he still finished a mammoth 214 points behind Verstappen in the drivers’ standings as his time at Mercedes — where he won six titles — came to a disappointing end.

But Verstappen, bidding to equal Michael Schumacher’s record of five successive drivers’ championships, said joining Ferrari could be the change Hamilton needs.

“It will provide him with a different scenery, a new motivation,” said Verstappen. “And when you have been with a team for a long time, have won a lot and then had a few tough seasons, maybe your motivation is different.

“Now it is almost like he is reborn.

“We all know how good Lewis is and we all know how good Charles is. Ferrari have two great drivers. It is going to be exciting for the sport, but it will also depend on how good the car is.”

Hamilton joins a Ferrari team narrowly pipped to the constructors’ championship by McLaren last year.

“I am definitely anticipating Lewis being a championship contender,” said McLaren chief executive Zak Brown. “We and Ferrari ended last year with nothing between us and I think that will continue.”

Hamilton will have his first serious drive of his new car during next week’s lone winter testing session in Bahrain, with Ferrari aiming for their first championship in nearly two decades.

“If Lewis gets off to a good start and he gets the team around him, he will find his confidence and he could be a real contender for this world championship,” said Christian Horner, the principal of Verstappen’s Red Bull team.

Horner added: “But if he doesn’t get off to a good start, it will inevitably be harder for him.”

Tuesday’s glitzy event saw all 10 Grand Prix teams launch their new cars at the same venue, the first time this has happened in Formula One history.

“It’s difficult to get most teams to agree what day of the week it is,” said Horner. “So, to get all 10 teams here launching their cars tonight, it’s been a big effort.”

“It’s a show very much for the fans,” he added, with the launch presented by British comedian Jack Whitehall and also featuring US rapper Machine Gun Kelly before finishing with a performance by 1990s UK pop band Take That.


Olympic organizing team unveiled for 2030 Winter Games in French Alps

Olympic organizing team unveiled for 2030 Winter Games in French Alps
Updated 19 February 2025
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Olympic organizing team unveiled for 2030 Winter Games in French Alps

Olympic organizing team unveiled for 2030 Winter Games in French Alps
  • A bid hastily pulled together in 2023 was approved by the International Olympic Committee only last July — in Paris on the eve of a hugely successful Summer Game
  • The project is now led by Edgar Grospiron, a freestyle skiing gold medalist in 1992 when France last hosted the Winter Games and a late hire in recent days as president of the organizing committee
  • The French Alps organizing committee has a prudent operational budget of €2 billion ($2.1 billion)

LYON, France: Just five years before the opening ceremony, French organizers of the 2030 Winter Games put on a united front Tuesday to unveil the team given the tightest schedule of any modern Olympics.

The 2030 French Alps Olympics must tie together snow and sliding venues in the mountains with skating and curling arenas among the palm trees on the Riviera coastal city Nice.

A bid hastily pulled together in 2023 was approved by the International Olympic Committee only last July — in Paris on the eve of a hugely successful Summer Games — and even then with a special exemption to wait several months for guarantees from the national government.

The project is now led by Edgar Grospiron, a freestyle skiing gold medalist in 1992 when France last hosted the Winter Games and a late hire in recent days as president of the organizing committee.

“What’s important now is that from now we organize it, we deliver it,” Grospiron said at a slick launch event at the stadium of soccer club Lyon, aiming for a Winter Games that is “impeccable and irreproachable.”

Grospiron spoke after a parade of national and regional political figures, including sports minister Marie Barsacq and Michel Barnier, who as prime minister last October signed off the government’s support.

Layers of lawmakers’ support has been vital to a project that still needs an ice arena built in Nice and a venue for speed skating, which could end up in Italy or the Netherlands.

The popular success and expertise gained at the Paris Olympics was stressed as a foundation for the Winter Games which used to be given seven years by the IOC to organize.

“We are not starting from zero,” the IOC’s executive director of Olympic Games, Christophe Dubi, told The Associated Press. “We had a great shortcut and it’s called Paris 2024. Many of those things we can cut and paste.”

The IOC started 2023 with no clear candidate and a shrinking pool of options to host a cost-effective and sustainable Winter Games in 2030. A Swedish project centered on Stockholm seemed favored before a French bid emerged out of the IOC’s strong pre-Paris relations with President Emmanuel Macron and national Olympic officials.

France’s win was confirmed on the same day in Paris as the 2034 Winter Games were awarded to Salt Lake City with four extra years to prepare. Its organizing team was unveiled in Utah last week.

“We are the cradle of Olympism,” said David Lappartient, leader of the French Olympic body and a candidate in the IOC presidential election next month. France already hosted three Summer Games in Paris and three previous Winter Games: Chamonix in 1924, Grenoble in 1968 and Albertville in 1992 that Barnier helped organize.

The French Alps organizing committee has a prudent operational budget of €2 billion ($2.1 billion) and speakers Tuesday stressed the need for a project that was financially sober and in moderation.

A key theme also was adapting to climate change and delivering an Olympics and subsequent Paralympic Winter Games that are sustainable.

“I would never pretend that the games want to save the world,” Grospiron said, “but I think we can contribute to changing how it moves forward.”

Rising to environmental challenges was stressed by the head of the Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur region that includes Nice and Marseille. Renaud Muselier cautioned that in dealing with the reality of climate change “defeatism has the same effect as skepticism.”


Bayern score late to see off Celtic in Champions League

Bayern score late to see off Celtic in Champions League
Updated 19 February 2025
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Bayern score late to see off Celtic in Champions League

Bayern score late to see off Celtic in Champions League
  • Bayern will face either their fellow German rivals Bayer Leverkusen or Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in the last 16

MUNICH, Germany: Bayern Munich secured their place in the last 16 of the Champions League with a 94th minute strike by Alphonso Davies on Tuesday to secure a 1-1 draw on the night and a 3-2 aggregate win.
Bayern will face either their fellow German rivals Bayer Leverkusen or Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in the last 16.
Celtic had led 1-0 since the 63rd minute and the Scottish side had been on the verge of taking the German giants to extra time and pulling off their first ever win in Germany.
But with Harry Kane off injured and time running out, Davies stepped up as Bayern’s savior, tapping in after Celtic keeper Kasper Schmeichel had kept out Leon Goretzka’s header.
Bayern went into this game 2-1 up from last week’s first leg at Celtic Park and seeking to stretch their unbeaten run to seven games in all competitions.
Bayern dominated possession in the first half but Celtic were more dangerous with at least three clear cut chances to score before the break.
Former Bayern Munich second-team player, Nicolas Kuehn beat Manuel Neuer but Raphael Guerreiro cleared off the line.
Moments later, Alistair Johnston flashed a dangerous ball across the Bayern goal. With Neuer stranded the ball flew just beyond Daizen Maeda.
Then Maeda missed a golden opportunity to put Celtic ahead. When Dayot Upamecano was forced into a stray pass, Kuehn led the surge forward and fed Maeda, who blazed over with Kuehn and Jota in support.
Bayern dominated the ball on a freezing night but suffered with a lack of quality in attack.
Serge Gnabry was wasteful while Kane sometimes cut an isolated figure, starved of service.
The England captain’s best chance saw him rattling the bar with a snapshot after Josip Stanisic picked him out from the right.
That would be Kane’s final action. The striker was withdrawn at half time, feeling the effects of an injury picked up against Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
Bayern upped the pressure after the break and fashioned a clear chance when Goretzka went clean through. Schmeichel, however, made a crucial stop to keep Celtic in the game.
Soon after, Celtic were in front. Maeda seized on a loose pass by Josip Stanisic and helped it on toward Kuehn. Min-Jae Kim reached the ball first but could not clear and Kuehn was able to take a touch and find the bottom corner.
It was a goal that shocked the Allianz Arena and threatened Bayern’s record of 20 European home games unbeaten. Celtic were delivering on coach Brendan Rodgers’ pre-match battle cry to show bravery.
Bayern sought an equalizer but Vincent Kompany’s side were reduced to long-range shots, with Schmeichel pulling off saves from Joshua Kimmich, Michael Olize and substitute Leroy Sane.
Celtic were moments away from inflicting Bayern’s first defeat by a Scottish team and taking the tie into extra-time but the game had a sting in the tail. Olize delivered a pinpoint cross that was met by Goretzka.
Schmeichel saved but Davies scrambled the rebound home off his shin to send Bayern through to the last 16.


Ancelotti downplays Guardiola’s suggestion Man City have 1 percent chance of eliminating Madrid in playoffs

Ancelotti downplays Guardiola’s suggestion Man City have 1 percent chance of eliminating Madrid in playoffs
Updated 18 February 2025
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Ancelotti downplays Guardiola’s suggestion Man City have 1 percent chance of eliminating Madrid in playoffs

Ancelotti downplays Guardiola’s suggestion Man City have 1 percent chance of eliminating Madrid in playoffs
  • “He doesn’t really think that,” Ancelotti said on Tuesday in a pre-match news conference
  • Guardiola later said he lied a bit when he talked about the 1 percent, and that he knows City’s chances of reversing the first-leg defeat are higher than that

MADRID: Coach Carlo Ancelotti is not buying Manchester City rival Pep Guardiola’s suggestion that his own side have only a 1 percent chance of eliminating Real Madrid in the Champions League playoffs on Wednesday.
Madrid rallied late to win the first leg 3-2 last week in England to seize control ahead of their home match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
After City’s 4-0 win over Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday, Guardiola said his team would arrive in the Spanish capital with a “1 percent” chance of going through to the round of 16.
“He doesn’t really think that,” Ancelotti said on Tuesday in a pre-match news conference. “Tomorrow I’ll ask him before the match if he really thinks that they only have a 1 percent chance. He thinks he has more than that, just as we don’t think that we have only a 99 percent chance. We know that we have an advantage, and we have to make the most of it.”
Guardiola later said he lied a bit when he talked about the 1 percent, and that he knows City’s chances of reversing the first-leg defeat are higher than that.
“You have to play an almost perfect game,” he said. “The result was not so good, we usually come into the second leg with a better result, so it is not the perfect situation. We have to attack, we have to score goals. We want to win, so let’s see if we can adjust some things that didn’t work in the first leg.”
Ancelotti said he was not one of those coaches who liked to fully downplay his team’s advantage.
“It’s foolish to say that we will prepare for the game as if we were tied 0-0,” he said. “Nobody will believe you because it’s a fact that we scored three goals and City two. You can’t change that. We have to try to play the same way as we played a week ago, but without forgetting that we have an advantage.”
Guardiola has never failed in 16 seasons of coaching — four at Barcelona, three at Bayern and nine in Manchester — to take his team to the last 16. The 2012-13 season was the last time City did not play at that stage.
City have been struggling recently, though, and Guardiola said that has to be taken into consideration.
“This season the reality is we have been miles, miles away,” he said. “The results have been poor.”
Madrid got the better of City in the quarterfinals last year, and with a 3-1 win in extra time in the semifinals in 2022. Each time Ancelotti’s team went on to win the title, extending the club’s record to 15 Champions League trophies.
Ancelotti can count on central defender Antonio Rüdiger, who has recovered from the muscle injury that has kept him out in recent weeks. Against City last week, Ancelotti fielded an improvised back line who played together for the first time.
Ferland Mendy, youngster Raúl Asencio and midfielders Aurélien Tchouaméni and Federico Valverde played at the back in England.
Ancelotti said Rüdiger can start on Wednesday, though he didn’t say whether the central defender would replace Tchouaméni or the 22-year-old Asencio.
It is the fourth consecutive season in which the teams are facing each other in the Champions League, with City prevailing in the semifinals two seasons ago on their way to winning the European title for the first time.


Feyenoord knock out 10-man AC Milan to reach Champions League last 16

Feyenoord knock out 10-man AC Milan to reach Champions League last 16
Updated 18 February 2025
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Feyenoord knock out 10-man AC Milan to reach Champions League last 16

Feyenoord knock out 10-man AC Milan to reach Champions League last 16
  • Julian Carranza thumped home the winning header in the 73rd minute
  • Argentine attacker Carranza struck for Feyenoord shortly after coming on as substitute

MILAN: Feyenoord reached the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday after a 1-1 draw at 10-man AC Milan which took them past the seven-time kings of Europe 2-1 on aggregate.
Julian Carranza thumped home the winning header in the 73rd minute at a frigid San Siro, canceling out Santiago Gimenez’s first-minute opener for Milan and sending the Dutch through to meet either Inter Milan or Arsenal.
Argentine attacker Carranza struck for Feyenoord shortly after coming on as substitute as the away side pushed to reach the next round, while Milan struggled following Theo Hernandez’s sending off early in the second half.
Already on a booking for a needless foul on Anis Hadj-Moussa just before half-time, Hernandez was ruled by referee Szymon Marciniak to have dived in the penalty box when under pressure from Givairo Read.
The France full-back was dismissed, leaving Milan on the back foot after having dominated up to that point.
Hernandez’s sending off and Carranza’s tie-winning header ruined what looked to be Gimenez’s night when he nodded home the opener against his old team after just 36 seconds.
Mexico forward Gimenez has already scored three times for Milan since signing from Feyenoord during the winter transfer window but his sixth goal in the Champions League this season was also his last.
Sergio Conceicao’s Milan are by no means assured of a spot in next year’s tournament as they sit seventh in Serie A, five points off the top four with a game in hand.