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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Michael Self held off his Venturini Motorsports teammate Christian Eckes on a two-lap dash to the checkered to earn his fourth series victory of the season Sunday in the Allen Crowe 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
Self, the current series championship leader, took the lead from another Venturini Motorsports teammate and General Tire Pole Award winner Logan Seavey shortly after halfway. From there, Self build a nearly four-second advantage over the field until an incident in turn four involving Ty Gibbs and Joe Graf Jr. with less than 10 laps to go.
The race would get restarted at the scheduled conclusion, lap 100, setting up a green-white-checkered dash to the checkered.
Self got the break on the restart and battled side-by-side with upstart rookie Corey Heim, but the two made contact in turns three and four. Self dashed to the lead while Heim dropped through the field allowing Eckes to move into second.
“I did not want to see that last yellow,” Self said. “I was really nervous about it. I knew we had to get a great restart. It was pretty wild going off into turns one and two.”
For his part, Heim was disappointed but he knew what to expect going into the final couple of laps.
“We just got pushed up into the loose dirt in turns three and four,” Heim said. “If I was in that position that’s what I would have done too. It sucks we lost all those positions. We stayed patient all day and worked the bottom groove and did what we needed to do. It’s disappointing to end up seventh after the day we had.”
Eckes was happy to come across the line in second knowing he could have given up a lot more ground to Self in the ARCA Menards Series championship battle.
“We’re happy with second but we needed more than that today,” Eckes said. “We were fourth before that last restart so it could have been worse than that. It’s just a shame we gave up everything we picked up at Pocono.”
Bret Holmes was third, Seavey fourth and Will Kimmel was fifth.
The finish:
Michael Self, Christian Eckes, Bret Holmes, Logan Seavey, Will Kimmel, Kelly Kovski, Corey Heim, Carson Hocevar, Ryan Unzicker, Joe Graf Jr., Travis Braden, Dick Doheny, Tim Richmond, Bobby Gerhart, Ty Gibbs, Brad Smith, Dale Shearer, Mike Basham, Tommy Vigh Jr., Eric Caudell, Wayne Peterson.
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LONG POND, Pa. – It’s been a season to forget for Will Power, but he finally got something to smile about on Sunday afternoon.
Power was declared the winner of Sunday’s ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway after a storm stopped the event after 128 laps, 73 laps short of the scheduled 200-lap distance.
“I thought if this cloud cover comes over and it doesn’t rain then it’s just not my year,” Power joked after being declared the winner.
Power was leading the race aboard his No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet as an ominous storm cloud began to move in over the 2.5-mile track. A lightning strike with seven miles of the track resulted in a caution period and moments later the red flag was displayed.
After a short waiting period, NTT IndyCar Series officials made the decision to call the race and declared Power the winner. Power has now won an Indy car event for 13 consecutive seasons.
“I had a few issues during the race, but we just kept coming back,” Power said. “Full credit to the team. Great car. I kind of just hung there, saved fuel and when it was time to go I went. I was so determined. I really wanted to win.”
Scott Dixon was scored second when the race was declared official, continuing a streak of four consecutive top-two finishes for the reigning series champion as he battles to get back into the championship fight.
Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud finished third, followed by impressive rookie Santino Ferrucci and championship leader Josef Newgarden.
Newgarden more than doubled his championship lead with his fifth-place finish, largely because his main title rival Alexander Rossi was involved in an opening lap crash that collected four other cars. Rossi managed to get back on track, but finished 18th in the 22-car field.
More details to come.
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Hall of Fame sports broadcaster Whitaker dies at age 95
Published in
Golf
Sunday, 18 August 2019 11:09
Hall of Fame sports broadcaster Jack Whitaker, best known to golf fans for his coverage during major championships and Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf, died Sunday of natural causes in Devon, Pennsylvania. He was 95.
Whitaker’s career included covering everything from the first Super Bowl to Secretariat’s Triple Crown. He was the voice of Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf when it was revived in 1994. He also worked The Open Championship and three Walker Cups.
Whitaker worked his first Masters in 1966, when he called the patrons coming up the 18th hole on Sunday a “mob.” He did not work another event at Augusta National until 1972.
Whitaker, a Philadelphia native who was wounded on Omaha Beach three days after the D-Day Invasion, began his broadcast career at WCAU-TV in Philadelphia and spent 22 years for CBS Sports. He worked for ABC from 1982 in the news and sports divisions, and was part of the network’s Olympics coverage in 1984 and 1988.
“I grew up watching him deliver contemplative and contextual prose with his famous short essays, bringing class and dignity to his industry,” Jim Nantz, the lead CBS Sports announcer, said in a statement. “I spoke to him this week after hospice came to his home, and his mind was still brilliantly sharp right to the end.”
Whitaker had been the only living play-by-play announcer from the first 21 Super Bowls.
CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus said Whitaker’s writing, presence on air and humanity were unmatched.
“His unique perspective on sports ranging from horse racing to golf to NFL football was extraordinary,” McManus said.
Information was used from The Associated Press
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Mickelson (71) still smiling through end of 'worst stretch' of his career
Published in
Golf
Sunday, 18 August 2019 11:09
MEDINAH, Ill. – After completing the last, and perhaps most unusual, round of his PGA Tour season, Phil Mickelson didn’t lose his trademark grin.
“It was electric,” Mickelson said, describing his week at the BMW Championship while also offering a subtle nod to the lightning strike and roof fire at his nearby hotel that almost cost him a final-round tee time at Medinah Country Club.
Mickelson rolled into the parking lot a mere 40 minutes before his 11:52 a.m. ET tee time, swapping sandals for golf shoes in the parking lot before taking a couple of quick swings with a training aid next to his courtesy car before heading to the range. The truncated warm-up didn’t seem to have much of a bearing, as Mickelson again delivered a mixed bag that added up to a 1-under 71 and a middling, T-48 finish at 5 under.
Mickelson’s long-shot hopes of making it to East Lake were dashed early in the week, as a win at Pebble Beach and runner-up in Palm Springs weren’t enough to balance out a disastrous summer. Mickelson has been a shell of his former self over the last few months, with nearly as many missed cuts (five) as rounds in the 60s (six) since the Masters.
“I need a break. I’ve had a rough four or five months. Probably the worst four, five-month stretch of my career,” Mickelson said. “Mentally I haven’t been sharp and been there. I just, I played very horrible golf. I’m looking forward to getting back in it, but I need a break.”
Mickelson will have more than a month off before his next start at the Safeway Open in Napa. He’s also planning to play the CJ Cup in South Korea the following month.
But given his struggles this season, Mickelson’s 25-year streak of making American teams appears to be in peril. He has not missed a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup squad since 1993, but finished 16th in the U.S. standings that closed Sunday when the top eight automatically qualified for Tiger Woods’ squad at Royal Melbourne.
With big names like Gary Woodland, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed, Rickie Fowler and Tony Finau among the players who missed out and will vie for one of Woods’ four picks, Mickelson wasn’t ready to address the notion that he might miss out on a team room environment for the first time in a quarter century.
“I need to decompress a little bit. I’m mentally fried and physically fried,” Mickelson said. “If I play well I might try to add a couple in Asia to try to warrant a pick. If I’m not playing well, I probably won’t.”
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Justin Thomas won the second playoff event of the season at the BMW Championship. Here is a look inside his bag.
DRIVER: Titleist TS3 (9.5 degrees), with Mitsubishi Chemical Diamana BF 60TX shaft
FAIRWAY WOODS: Titleist TS3 (15 degrees), with Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei CK Blue 80TX shaft; Titleist 915Fd (18 degrees), with Fujikura Motore Speeder VC 9.2 Tour Spec X shaft
IRONS: Titleist T100 (4-iron), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shaft; Titleist 718 MB (5-9), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts
WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 (46, 52, 56); Titleist Vokey Design SM6 (60)
PUTTER: Scotty Cameron X5 Flow Neck Prototype
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x
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Who's in, who's out: Presidents Cup qualifying comes to close at BMW
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Golf
Sunday, 18 August 2019 11:34
MEDINAH, Ill. – Automatic qualifying for the Presidents Cup came to a close Sunday at the BMW Championship.
There were no changes to either team’s top eight.
The United States will be represented in Australia by Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Webb Simpson, Matt Kuchar and Bryson DeChambeau.
The Internationals will send Marc Leishman, Hideki Matsuyama, Louis Oosthuizen, Adam Scott, Abraham Ancer, Haotong Li, C.T. Pan and Cameron Smith.
Notable players not qualified for the U.S. and now in need of a captain’s pick from Tiger Woods are Tony Finau (9th), Gary Woodland (10th), Rickie Fowler (11th), Patrick Reed (12th), Phil Mickelson (16th), and Jordan Spieth (27th).
Woods finished 13th in points and was non-committal earlier this week on whether he was still considering himself with one of his four selections. He would be just the second playing captain in Presidents Cup history, following Hale Irwin in 1994.
The most notable miss on the International side was former world No. 1 Jason Day, who finished ninth in the points and is certainly expected to make it to Melbourne, leaving Ernie Els with three more picks at his disposal.
Day saw his 2018-19 PGA Tour season come to an end Sunday at the BMW and described it as “below average.” He will be absent from East Lake for the first time since 2012. Day, who split with caddie Steve Williams last week after just two months, said Sunday he intends to keep David Lutterus on the bag for the rest of the year. He will make fall starts at the CJ Cup, Zozo Championship, and Australian Open.
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BMW Championship purse payout: Thomas earns over $1.6 million
Published in
Golf
Sunday, 18 August 2019 11:39
A breakdown of prize money and FedExCup points for winner Justin Thomas and the rest of the players in the no-cut BMW Championship, where FEC points were quadrupled for the second playoff event.
| Finish | Player | FedEx | Earnings ($) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Thomas | 2,000.00 | 1,665,000.00 |
| 2 | Patrick Cantlay | 1,200.00 | 999,000.00 |
| 3 | Hideki Matsuyama | 760.00 | 629,000.00 |
| 4 | Tony Finau | 540.00 | 444,000.00 |
| T5 | Jon Rahm | 420.00 | 351,500.00 |
| T5 | Brandt Snedeker | 420.00 | 351,500.00 |
| T7 | Corey Conners | 350.00 | 298,312.50 |
| T7 | Lucas Glover | 350.00 | 298,312.50 |
| T9 | Kevin Kisner | 310.00 | 259,000.00 |
| T9 | Adam Scott | 310.00 | 259,000.00 |
| T11 | Tommy Fleetwood | 245.60 | 196,100.00 |
| T11 | Rickie Fowler | 245.60 | 196,100.00 |
| T11 | Sungjae Im | 245.60 | 196,100.00 |
| T11 | Louis Oosthuizen | 245.60 | 196,100.00 |
| T11 | Kevin Tway | 245.60 | 196,100.00 |
| T16 | J.T. Poston | 204.00 | 148,000.00 |
| T16 | Rory Sabbatini | 204.00 | 148,000.00 |
| T16 | Vaughn Taylor | 204.00 | 148,000.00 |
| T19 | Jason Kokrak | 172.00 | 112,110.00 |
| T19 | Marc Leishman | 172.00 | 112,110.00 |
| T19 | Rory McIlroy | 172.00 | 112,110.00 |
| T19 | Patrick Reed | 172.00 | 112,110.00 |
| T19 | Xander Schauffele | 172.00 | 112,110.00 |
| T24 | Paul Casey | 139.00 | 78,856.25 |
| T24 | Joel Dahmen | 139.00 | 78,856.25 |
| T24 | Brooks Koepka | 139.00 | 78,856.25 |
| T24 | Webb Simpson | 139.00 | 78,856.25 |
| T28 | Byeong Hun An | 118.00 | 65,675.00 |
| T28 | Abraham Ancer | 118.00 | 65,675.00 |
| T28 | Si Woo Kim | 118.00 | 65,675.00 |
| T31 | Wyndham Clark | 92.00 | 53,650.00 |
| T31 | Emiliano Grillo | 92.00 | 53,650.00 |
| T31 | Joaquin Niemann | 92.00 | 53,650.00 |
| T31 | C.T. Pan | 92.00 | 53,650.00 |
| T31 | Ian Poulter | 92.00 | 53,650.00 |
| T31 | Gary Woodland | 92.00 | 53,650.00 |
| T37 | Billy Horschel | 66.00 | 40,700.00 |
| T37 | Charles Howell III | 66.00 | 40,700.00 |
| T37 | Ryan Moore | 66.00 | 40,700.00 |
| T37 | Scott Piercy | 66.00 | 40,700.00 |
| T37 | Jordan Spieth | 66.00 | 40,700.00 |
| T37 | Tiger Woods | 66.00 | 40,700.00 |
| T43 | Keegan Bradley | 45.20 | 30,525.00 |
| T43 | Adam Hadwin | 45.20 | 30,525.00 |
| T43 | Troy Merritt | 45.20 | 30,525.00 |
| T43 | Ryan Palmer | 45.20 | 30,525.00 |
| T43 | Andrew Putnam | 45.20 | 30,525.00 |
| T48 | Bryson DeChambeau | 35.00 | 23,865.00 |
| T48 | Shane Lowry | 35.00 | 23,865.00 |
| T48 | Phil Mickelson | 35.00 | 23,865.00 |
| T48 | Collin Morikawa | 35.00 | 23,865.00 |
| T52 | Jason Day | 26.24 | 21,571.00 |
| T52 | Dylan Frittelli | 26.24 | 21,571.00 |
| T52 | Matt Kuchar | 26.24 | 21,571.00 |
| T52 | Keith Mitchell | 26.24 | 21,571.00 |
| T52 | Justin Rose | 26.24 | 21,571.00 |
| T57 | Jim Furyk | 21.20 | 20,627.50 |
| T57 | Dustin Johnson | 21.20 | 20,627.50 |
| T57 | Graeme McDowell | 21.20 | 20,627.50 |
| T57 | Chez Reavie | 21.20 | 20,627.50 |
| T61 | Max Homa | 18.80 | 20,072.50 |
| T61 | Francesco Molinari | 18.80 | 20,072.50 |
| T63 | Rafa Cabrera Bello | 17.20 | 19,702.50 |
| T63 | Sung Kang | 17.20 | 19,702.50 |
| T65 | Cameron Champ | 15.20 | 19,240.00 |
| T65 | J.B. Holmes | 15.20 | 19,240.00 |
| T65 | Adam Long | 15.20 | 19,240.00 |
| 68 | Harold Varner III | 13.60 | 18,870.00 |
| 69 | Nate Lashley | 12.80 | 18,685.00 |
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MANCHESTER, England -- Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted the summer transfer window has left him with "too many" centre-backs.
Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof were picked for the opening weekend win over Chelsea with youngster Axel Tuanzebe providing cover from the bench.
It meant Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and Marcos Rojo all missed out on a place in the squad and Solskjaer, who will also have Eric Bailly available when he returns from injury, has accepted he will have to deal with some frustrated defenders at Old Trafford this season.
"I do have too many centre-backs to keep everyone happy," said Solskjaer.
"But we need to win games, we need to perform, so we're going to pick the players that will give us the biggest chance to win games."
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United turned down loan enquiries for Smalling and Jones on deadline day but sources have told ESPN FC they are still listening to offers for Rojo.
The Argentina international saw a move to Everton collapse on deadline day but Fenerbahce, AC Milan, Marseille and Monaco remain interested in securing a loan deal with an obligation to buy before the European deadline on Sept. 2.
"They're all quality centre-backs and I know that we will need quite a few of them," said Solskjaer ahead of the trip to Wolves on Monday night.
"Of course, Eric's injury means that at the moment I've got six fit ones, which is maybe one too many to keep everyone involved.
"But then that's our jobs, to make the most of what we have now, and for them as well to make sure every day in training.
"And when they get the chance, because they will -- we've got loads of games, play well when you get it.
"All of these, Marcos, Phil, Chris -- they've been here for a long time and they've proven that they can do it."
With two weeks to go before the European deadline, there is still speculation surrounding Paul Pogba amid interest from Real Madrid.
The Frenchman reignited talk of a move to the Bernabeu by saying there was a "question mark" over his future after the 4-0 win over Chelsea but Solskjaer insists Pogba will remain a United player this season.
"You [the media] always put question marks around Paul," said Solskjaer.
"I don't think it's odd saying enjoy playing, I have fun with my teammates, I enjoy what I'm doing, I love my job and enjoy the game.
"Of course that sentence with the question mark about him, there's always question marks about Paul.
"There's not one press conference that I've not answered a question about Paul Pogba -- 80 percent of what he said was that he enjoyed that game and his time here.
"I've got absolutely no concerns on Paul. For me, yeah he's going to stay."
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MANCHESTER, England -- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has hailed Mason Greenwood as the best finisher at Manchester United, ahead of both Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial.
Greenwood is yet to score a competitive goal for United, but Solskjaer said he has seen enough during preseason and in training to believe that the 17-year-old is the best natural goalscorer at Old Trafford.
Asked whether Rashford or Martial is the most natural finisher in the squad, Solskjaer said: "They've still got a way to go, because Mason's more of a natural finisher than them."
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Greenwood has been earmarked for a key role this season, following the departure of Romelu Lukaku.
The Belgium international's move to Inter Milan has also placed an extra goalscoring burden on Rashford and Martial, and Solskjaer has told the pair the way to do it is by getting more "easy" goals.
"Anthony has had spells when he's played No.9 as a centre-forward under [Louis] Van Gaal, then he's played on the left the last few years," Solskjaer said.
"I think him and Marcus both are capable of playing both positions. Sometimes it will be Marcus through the middle and Anthony on the left, or Dan James on the left and maybe one of them on the right.
"But of course the goals are scored from between the posts and not the 'worldies' that we've seen them score -- both of them, Marcus and Anthony with curlers in the top corner.
"I want both of them to be scoring easy goals because you don't have to work too hard to score them, just a little bit of movement."
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