I Dig Sports
INDIANAPOLIS – Red Bull Air Race World Championship officials confirmed Wednesday that the high-speed airplane series will cease operations later this year.
The final race for the organization will be held Sept. 7-8 in Chiba, Japan. As such, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway round planned for Oct. 19-20 has been officially cancelled.
“We were informed this morning by management of the Red Bull Air Race organization that the 2019 championship will be suspended after September and that this year’s round at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, scheduled for Oct. 19-20, is canceled,” said track president J. Douglas Boles. “We are disappointed that we will not host another Red Bull Air Race event, and I know many of our fans will be disappointed, as well. We enjoyed watching the pilots navigate the unique course over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway grounds, and we were especially excited to see American pilot Michael Goulian celebrate a well-earned victory last year.
“Customers who already purchased tickets to this year’s event will receive refunds,” Boles added. “They will receive an email with information on that process.”
More than 90 races have been held since the series began in 2003, which have given pilots the opportunity to compete in high-speed flying at low altitude with extreme maneuvers.
“The Red Bull Air Race provided sports entertainment of highest quality, but did not attract the level of outside interest as many other Red Bull events across the world,” series organizers said in a statement. “Red Bull thanks the pilots, their teams, partners, the host cities and the Red Bull employees for all they have done to make these enjoyable and memorable events.”
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The Sharks are bringing back former Florida Panthers coach Bob Boughner as an assistant, the team announced Wednesday.
Boughner will replace Rob Zettler on coach Peter DeBoer's staff. He oversaw the defense on the Sharks when they went to the Stanley Cup Final in 2016 and then the following year when Brent Burns won the Norris Trophy as the league's top defenseman.
Boughner then was hired as head coach in Florida in 2017 and had an 80-62-22 record in two seasons. The Panthers didn't make the playoffs either year, and Boughner was fired.
BOSTON -- Boston Bruins fans had a steadily building roar every time another biographical clue appeared on the Jumbotron before Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night, from the career coaching record to the Super Bowl championships.
So when New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick appeared, waving the Bruins "fan banner" high above his head, TD Garden was positively thunderous.
Standing with Special Olympian James Coffey, Belichick uncharacteristically grinned as he waved the flag, part of a pregame tradition in Boston. While a giant Bruins banner is passed around the lower bowl of the arena by the fans, Boston luminaries wave a smaller flag, from local sports icons to Boston natives to inspirational figures such as survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing.
Among the Patriots who previously waved the fan banner were former tight end Rob Gronkowski, wide receiver Julian Edelman and center David Andrews.
Boston sports teams have traditionally shared support during playoff runs, from wearing each other's gear in interviews to public expressions of good luck. Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy reached out to his fellow coaches before the Stanley Cup Final for advice, including Belichick.
"Terrific, terrific guy. Very insightful. He was great," Cassidy told 98.5 The Sports Hub last week. "They've been very good to share whatever they can, very supportive. We practice different than football. There's the mental side of it that's important: how to keep players on their toes and don't let their mind drift and get their focus back. I think that was more the discussion than anything."
Watch: Woods nearly makes ace in front of Manning at Memorial
After going 20 years between his last two holes-in-one, Tiger Woods came within inches of adding a second one in the past six months.
During the Memorial pro-am on Wednesday, Woods nearly aced the par-3 fourth hole at Muirfield Village ... and in front of fellow sports icon Peyton Manning, no less.
In a video from GOLFTV, Woods hits a dart at the pin and nearly aces it. He calmly walks up and taps in for his birdie, while Manning, the two-time Super Bowl winning quaterback, watches from the greenside bunker, where his tee shot ended up.
Despite 15 major championships to his name, Woods surprisingly only has three holes-in-one in competition - at the 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open, 1997 Phoenix Open, and 1998 Sprint International.
Cauley returns to Memorial Tournament one year after car accident
DUBLIN, Ohio – Bud Cauley finished an extended practice session on Muirfield Village’s practice putting green Wednesday and made his way to the locker room. Just a normal week on the PGA Tour.
“It’s nice. What happened last year wasn’t very much fun. Leading up to [the Memorial] I was a little bit more anxious than I’ve been since I’ve gotten here,” Cauley said. “Just go out and play golf and a normal week.”
Last year was anything but normal for Cauley. Following a second-round 76 at the Memorial, he was one of four people involved in a car accident. He broke six ribs, fractured his left leg and suffered a collapsed lung.
“That was probably one of the hardest nights I've ever had in my life,” said Justin Thomas, a friend of Cauley’s. “We're all very happy to see him back. He's one of my boys. I'm excited for the time that he does win and just hope I'm there when he does.”
Cauley returned to the Tour in October and has been making steady progress with top-25 finishes in the Farmers Insurance Open, Honda Classic and Wells Fargo Championship. He’s playing this week’s Memorial on a sponsor exemption.
DeChambeau in midst of 'lowest of lows' after three straight MCs
DUBLIN, Ohio – Having gone nearly two months without making a cut, Bryson DeChambeau isn’t exactly feeling all the warm, fuzzy vibes that usually come with defending a title on the PGA Tour.
DeChambeau won a three-man playoff at last year’s Memorial Tournament, capturing the first of what would be four titles in a torrid 12-start span. But recently his world-class game has failed to produce results, as last week’s missed cut at the Charles Schwab Challenge was his third in a row. He also made early exits at the PGA Championship and RBC Heritage before that, and he hasn’t broken 70 since an opening-round 66 at the Masters.
It’s all led DeChambeau to make a frank assessment of where he stands heading into his title defense.
“Everybody is susceptible to lows. Mine hopefully aren’t as low as some others. And this, to me, is my lowest of lows,” DeChambeau said. “I really don’t feel like I can play much worse.”
DeChambeau hadn’t missed a cut prior to Harbour Town since last year’s PGA, a stretch of 16 starts that included four worldwide victories. He hadn’t missed more than two cuts in a row since the summer of 2017, when he missed seven in a row ending with the U.S. Open at Erin Hills.
DeChambeau earned his first PGA Tour victory a month later at the 2017 John Deere Classic, and back on a course where he has had prior success he’s again optimistic that a turnaround in results is closer than it might otherwise feel.
“Personally for me I feel like this is as low as it’s going to go. I just have to keep running, I have to keep just scratching at the door, keep going with trying to understand why does this dispersion happen? Why do I have this range of possibility of shots?” DeChambeau said. “You have to go back through your checklist, things that you do understand and kind of branch off of that. When you go down a rabbit hole and it doesn’t work, you pull yourself out and find ways that work better.”
USGA's Davis stresses 'dialogue' with players in wake of recent criticism
DUBLIN, Ohio – An anonymous and scathing story in this month’s Golf Digest calls out the USGA for everything from how the association sets up the U.S. Open to recent changes to the Rules of Golf.
On Wednesday at the Memorial Tournament, USGA executive director Mike Davis addressed the criticism and what the association is doing to bridge a widening gap with some PGA Tour players.
“We’re listening a lot and having a dialogue with them,” Davis said. “Some of it was about new rules. Some of it is concerns about the distance initiative, some of it is U.S. Open. It’s a combination of things. But we’re looking forward and we obviously want to work with the Tour. There are so many great players and we want to get it right.”
In March, the USGA hired former Tour winner Jason Gore to serve as the player relations director in an attempt to smooth over the tensions between the two organizations and association officials have regularly been onsite at Tour events this season to answer player questions.
“Just getting more dialogue with the Tour was important,” Davis said. “It was evident with the new rules that a lot of the complaints happen because I don’t think they actually understood the rationale. Why would you drop from your knee? Why would you have the flagstick in? Why are we changing some rules on the putting green? If it’s down to more ‘why’ than it’s because you aren’t communicating enough.”
Justin Thomas was among the players who were critical of the USGA and the changes this year to the Rules of Golf. The issue boiled over earlier this season when the USGA claimed Thomas had cancelled numerous meetings with the association. The USGA later corrected the claim and conceded he had not cancelled any meetings.
“I'm very cordial with a lot of the USGA guys, it's not like it's a very hostile relationship or anything like that,” Thomas said. “That stuff, at least in my opinion, is very much in the past. Although it may not have seemed like it at the time, it was something that potentially was better for the both of us. As long as we can continue to make the game better, then I feel like we accomplished something.”
McIlroy: 'Could be a problem' if USGA can't redeem themselves at Pebble Beach
DUBLIN, Ohio – Following a string of high-profile miscues at recent U.S. Opens, many are anxiously awaiting next month’s championship at Pebble Beach, which is widely considered the event’s most storied venue.
“I think we should give [the USGA] the chance to redeem themselves. If they can't redeem themselves at Pebble Beach, then there could be a problem,” Rory McIlroy said on Wednesday at the Memorial.
USGA executive director Mike Davis was at Pebble Beach last week for meetings and said the seaside layout is coming into championship shape on schedule.
“I have never seen it look this good. They’ve had a fair amount of rain lately. It generally just doesn’t rain this time of year [at Pebble Beach],” Davis said. “It’s perfect for the golf course.”
Pebble Beach historically plays much different in June for the U.S. Open than it does for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, when conditions are normally wet and soft. During the 2010 U.S. Open, the course was firm and fast thanks to little rain and plenty of sunshine. Davis said he expects similar conditions in two weeks.
“The big unknown there is when the marine layer is going to lift and when it lifts it gets windier. We may have a day that it lifts early in the morning like it did on the last day in 1992,” Davis said. “I hope that doesn’t happen because you could barely stand up that day.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored in his return from suspension as the LA Galaxy secured a 2-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday night in Kansas City, Kansas.
Ibrahimovic set up the Galaxy's opener for Favio Alvarez's goal with a headed pass and later tacked on his 10th of the season as the Galaxy (9-5-1, 28 points) won their second straight match after losing their previous four.
Sporting Kansas City (3-5-5, 14 points) had a season-high 12 corner kicks but put just five of 18 shots on target while dropping to 1-4-4 over their last nine matches.
Galaxy goalkeeper David Bingham made five saves while registering his second straight shutout and fifth of the campaign.
Midfielder Perry Kitchen began the sequence of the first Galaxy goal by sending a cross from the right side into the box. Ibrahimovic headed the ball toward Alvarez, who was alone in the middle and headed the ball past Sporting KC goalkeeper Tim Melia into the lower left corner of the goal.
Alvarez was playing in his third game for the Galaxy since being acquired from Argentine club Atletico Tucuman earlier this month.
Sporting KC nearly tied the contest in the 62nd minute. Forward Johnny Russell's corner kick went directly to midfielder Felipe Gutierrez, who sent a header over the hand of Bingham but the ball hit the crossbar and went over the net.
Daniel Salloi had a chance in the 81st minute, but the Sporting KC forward sent his right-footed blast over the net.
Five minutes later, Ibrahimovic put the game away. He used his chest to gain control of a pass from forward Uriel Antuna and sent a right-footed shot that deflected off Melia and into the net.
Melia made three saves as the Galaxy put five of nine shots on target.
Sporting KC star defender Matt Besler didn't start but entered the game at the start of the second half and played the remainder of the contest.
Forward Krisztian Nemeth, tied for the team lead with seven goals, missed his second straight match due to a suspension for a serious foul against the Vancouver Whitecaps on May 18.
Liverpool would not fall into the trap of thinking they "deserve" the Champions League title after a tremendous domestic campaign that ultimately came to nothing, according to full-back Andy Robertson.
The left-back played a key part in Liverpool's title bid which ended in second place despite just one defeat and 97 points, as Manchester City pipped them by a point.
The Scotland international said the idea they deserve a trophy is misguided and any success against Tottenham Hotspur would have to be earned over the 90 minutes in Madrid on Saturday.
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"I've heard a few people say that, but for me we don't deserve anything yet," he said. "The Premier League shows that. A lot of people would say 97 points deserves the Premier League, but it didn't because Manchester City got 98.
"They were that little bit better than us in the end. We deserve nothing, only what we put into the game and what we get out.
"If we have 100 percent effort, and have a good game, play to our best, then we'll deserve it. But we aren't going into the game thinking we deserve it because we've had a good season and got 97 points. Never. That'd be stupid of us."
Robertson, who will play in a key role against a Spurs team that like to overload the right flank at times, said the approach needs to be just right against Mauricio Pochettino's side.
"We've been ruthless this season, and we need to be ruthless again," he added.
"But I've watched Tottenham over the last three or four years under Pochettino and they're a ruthless team as well.
"The way they go about things and the way they win games, they destroy teams at times.
"They beat us last season and if they perform like that then we'll be in for a hell of a game against a fantastic team with fantastic players.
"At the top end of the Premier League, you have to be ruthless. Even just to get in the top four is hard,.
"If we can take that into our game, I believe we have enough to win it, but we have to prove it.
"We have to show the team that's played the last 10 months of the season."
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