Saturday's match between France and Ireland is the latest Six Nations fixture to be postponed because of concerns over the coronavirus outbreak.

The decision follows earlier steps to postpone the Ireland v Italy and Italy v England fixtures.

England lead the table on points difference from France, who failed in their Grand Slam bid with defeat by Scotland on Sunday.

As it stands, Wales' match against Scotland will go ahead on 14 March.

The Women's Six Nations fixture between Wales and Scotland has however been postponed after a Scottish player tested positive for the virus. A further seven members of the Scotland camp - players and management - are self-isolating.

A statement on the tournament website read: "Six Nations and its constituent unions and federations will work closely to identify dates on which all postponed matches will take place.

"No immediate announcement will be made on rescheduling as we will need to discuss with all relevant stakeholders and assess the evolution of the situation."

The decision to postpone England's match in Italy was taken last week because of the worsening situation in the country, and on Sunday France announced a ban of gatherings of more than 1,000 people.

On Monday, the French sports minister Roxana Maracineanu announced the decision to postpone France's final fixture after an "agreement with the French Rugby Federation and tournament organisers".

England, France and Ireland remain in contention for the Six Nations title.

On Sunday, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said that sporting events in Britain are unlikely to be affected by coronavirus in the immediate future.

PETALUMA, Calif. – Andy Forsberg led a California sweep of the podium with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network on Sunday night at Petaluma Speedway.

“It’s a freaking miracle we got a race in at Petaluma the first weekend of March, so heck yeah. We appreciate this win, we appreciate all the fans for coming out,” stated Andy.

The 151st different winner with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network, Forsberg is the eighth from California to top the series.

Taking the point from Sam Hafertepe Jr. in slower traffic on lap 16 after falling to third on the start, Forsberg kept pace over the field until a lap 25 restart. Biking the Autism Awareness No. X1 into the first two turns on the restart, Sean Becker shot to the lead only to have the caution negate the pass as the field reverted to the last fully completed lap.

“I’m old enough to admit, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good so we definitely got saved by the yellow for someone running over Willie [Croft] so whoever ran over Croft and caused the caution thank you because you saved my ass,” Forsberg said.

Keeping tied to the bottom line of the three-eighths-mile oval, Forsberg opened his advantage to .901 seconds when the checkered flag waved. Cutting a massive diamond through the first and second turns in the closing laps, Shane Golobic raced to his second runner-up finish of the weekend in the NOS Energy Drink/Matt Wood Racing No. 17x.

Becker ended up third with Hafertepe holding on to finish fourth despite the car getting tighter as the race progressed. Rolling from 10th, Justyn Cox completed the top five.

Scott Bogucki crossed sixth with Carson Macedo coming from 11th to finish seventh. Blake Carrick came from 14th and made it to eighth with his brother, Tanner Carrick, in tow. Hard Charging from 19th, Chase Johnson completed the top-10.

The finish:

1. X1-Andy Forsberg[1]; 2. 17X-Shane Golobic[4]; 3. 5V-Sean Becker[5]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 5. 7C-Justyn Cox[10]; 6. 28-Scott Bogucki[8]; 7. 21-Carson Macedo[11]; 8. 38B-Blake Carrick[14]; 9. 83T-Tanner Carrick[6]; 10. 24C-Chase Johnson[19]; 11. 44-Chris Martin[12]; 12. 1-Tony Gualda Jr[17]; 13. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[7]; 14. 8-Devon Borden[9]; 15. 21P-Robbie Price[13]; 16. HR44-Geoff Ensign[3]; 17. 52-Blake Hahn[23]; 18. 17W-Harli White[20]; 19. 14-Jordon Mallett[21]; 20. 63-JJ Hickle[25]; 21. 21S-Shane Hopkins[22]; 22. 77X-Alex Hill[16]; 23. 1B-Chelsea Blevins[15]; 24. 56-Willie Croft[18]; 25. 11-Roger Crockett[24]

FLOMATON, Ala. – An Alabama track with its share of amenities adds IMCA Modifieds to six Satur­day night race programs this season.

Tri-County Speedway at Flomaton hosts the sanctioned class on April 18, May 30, June 27, July 11, Aug. 22 and Sept. 19. Opening night of the IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing season marks the division’s debut on the quarter-mile clay oval, which opened in 2017.

“IMCA is affordable Modified racing,” promoter Isaiah Day said. “I like the rulebook, certainly, and I know drivers like rules that keep racing affordable for them.”

“We’re in an area with a lot of home-grown talent. We’ve got a lot of drivers who started racing three or four years ago and are looking to move up,” he continued. “The IMCA Modified allows them to get into a genuine, good-looking race car that is affordable on a working man’s salary.”

As part of its focus on a family and fan-friendly atmosphere, Tri-County boasts both indoor, air-conditioned cafe-style concessions in the pit area and a tailgate section.

Both are features he believes help the track compete with other entertainment options. The addi­tion of IMCA Modifieds will be another incentive to spend Saturday nights at the track.

“We were watching Dirt Knights, which got us interested in Super Nationals. We went to Boone (in 2018) and that was pretty darn good racing. We were blown away,” said Day. “IMCA Modifieds are a new venture and I really think they’re going to work out for us.”

Tri-County is part of IMCA’s Dirt Works Eastern Region.

MILTON KEYNES, England – Sergio Sette Camara is returning to the Red Bull family as the team’s official test and reserve driver for the upcoming Formula One season.

He’ll share the role, which includes working with both Scuderia AlphaTauri and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, with veteran reserve driver Sebastian Buemi.

Camara’s role will see him travel to races with both teams throughout the season as well as assisting Buemi with simulator work. Camara will also be on hand to support the running show car program throughout the year.

The 21-year-old Brazilian secured the necessary points to obtain an F-1 super license after finishing fourth in last year’s FIA Formula 2 Championship.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – As the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship moves into its next 50 years, there was no better way to start the year than with a thrilling Rolex 24 At Daytona last month.

When the race began, a prestigious list of 997 drivers had won at least once in what is now known as the WeatherTech Championship. Twenty-four hours later, five had earned a Rolex watch for the first time, pushing the total over 1,000 winners.

The 1,000th winner officially happened as the DragonSpeed USA’s No. 81 ORECA LMP2 07 captured the victory in the LMP2 class at Daytona. While Colin Braun owned multiple IMSA race wins prior to the Rolex 24 – 17 to be exact — all three of his teammates – Ben Hanley, Harrison Newey and Henrik Hedman – had never visited the top step of an IMSA podium.

That has changed. As the checkered flag waved, Hedman and Newey sat on pit road, and watched Hanley drive the No. 81 ORECA across the finish line to claim their first-ever class win in the WeatherTech Championship.

“Collecting the iconic watch and being a part of the IMSA history was a dream come true,” said Hanley. “The whole DragonSpeed crew were faultless and went to show how strong the group is. We are on a high heading into the Twelve Hours of Sebring and just can’t wait to get back on track looking for another win.”

It was only Hanley’s third-ever start in the premier series, and for our purposes, it made him IMSA race-winner No. 1,000.

Rookie driver Newey was even “newer,” as this was his debut WeatherTech Championship race. His last name is a familiar one to race fans, as his father, Adrian Newey, is a renowned IndyCar and Formula One engineer who currently serves as chief technical officer for the Red Bull Racing Formula One team.

This Rolex 24 win, however, is a clear boost to Harrison Newey’s efforts to make his own name in the sport.

“When you look through the names that have won over the years, it’s pretty special,” said 21-year-old Newey. “With the number 1,000, it’s just extra cool. It’s a nice number. It’s got a nice ring to it.”

That brings us to the Swedish driver, Hedman, who will contest the full WeatherTech Championship season in the LMP2 class with Hanley. The win came in Hedman’s fourth WeatherTech Championship start.

“This is the highest achievement I’ve ever done in sports cars,” said the 52-year-old racer. “It’s crazy. There’s a lot of people that tried to accomplish what we did. One thousand sounds like a lot, but when you think of how many years it’s been going on, it’s very special.”

The No. 81 trio of first-time winners adds to an extensive list that sees its inception back to Virginia Int’l Raceway for the Danville 300 on April 18, 1971. It was the inaugural IMSA GT race and was won overall by a pair of IMSA legends, five-time Rolex 24 champion Hurley Haywood and six-time IMSA GT Champion Peter Gregg in the days of the iconic No. 59 Brumos Porsche 914/6 GT.

There were eight winners from six different classes that day — the first eight on a list of what is now 1,002.

The other first-time winners in the 2020 Rolex 24 included Australian Chaz Mostert as part of the No. 24 BMW Team RLL M8 GTE lineup in the GT Le Mans class.

“It has been a long time since I have won a big race,” said Mostert, who competed in the Bathurst 12 Hour in his native Australia just one week after the 24-hour classic. “I’m just so grateful to do it with some wicked teammates, and to do it with BMW Motorsport and RLL was awesome. It’s still got to sink in.”

Andrea Caldarelli helped guide the No. 48 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 from Paul Miller Racing into victory lane to earn his first watch. The Italian celebrated with teammates – Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, and Corey Lewis – after winning their team’s first Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytonas.

1,001. 1,002. And the beat goes on.

It took until the start of a sixth decade to reach 1,000 IMSA winners, a list that includes many legendary names. The road to 2,000 likely will be no different.

Even more drivers will be looking to add their names to the list of winners in the next WeatherTech Championship round, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts on Saturday, March 21.

CONCORD, N.C. – Orion Cooker, a smoker/convection cooker, will sponsor Spencer Boyd during Saturday’s NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

As a brand ambassador, Boyd will continue engaging with fans in the campgrounds and on the track with Orion’s primary sponsorship of the No. 20 Young’s Motorsports Silverado during the Vet Tix Camping World 200.

“My Instagram profile says ‘BBQ Pitmaster’ so it makes so much sense,” Boyd joked. “This partnership with the Orion Cooker is a match made in heaven and one that I’m excited to bring to NASACAR fans.  It creates the perfect balance of quality product with speed of cooking, and we all know I like speed.”

As an all-in-one convection cooker and meat smoker, the Orion Cooker is the outdoor charcoal cooker for master grillers, occasional cooks, and all who love succulent, flavorful meat without a long wait or major effort. Orion Outdoors is based in Atlanta, GA. With products sold through Ace Hardware, Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s.

“The Orion Cooker cooks meat fast,” said Orion Cooker founder and inventor Christian Fitzgerald. “We are naturally attracted to racing. Spencer with his love for the outdoors is exactly our customer…he just happens to be a NASCAR driver too.  We are looking to engage fans in some amazing ways with this partnership.”

After a two week break, the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series returns to action in a doubleheader with the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday.

“There’s no other racing surface like Atlanta and I’m ready for its bumps,” Boyd said. “We are also honoring a recently retired Army veteran, Daniel Phillips, at the race so it’s bound to be a memorable weekend.”

CHICAGO -- There's a stoppage of play during the first period of Sunday night's game between the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues, and Chicago players are parting way for Kendall Coyne Schofield to get an interview with coach Jeremy Colliton.

Coyne Schofield has only a few seconds to get to Colliton, get some insight for the broadcast and return to her rinkside perch between the teams. She stares down her biggest obstacle: the bench the players are sitting on. Coyne Schofield -- all 5-foot-2 of her -- climbs over it to get to Colliton.

Meanwhile, in the production truck, director Lisa Seltzer and producer Rene Hatlelid watch Coyne Schofield on a series of monitors.

"Yes, Kendall, look at her go!" a woman in the production truck shouts. "Climb over that b----!"

Coyne Schofield finishes interviewing Colliton, scoots out of the way, and a few seconds later, the broadcast resumes. A few seconds after that, Coyne Schofield interjects into an on-air conversation between play-by-play woman Kate Scott and analyst AJ Mleczko, giving an anecdote about Blackhawks forward Dylan Strome feeling much more comfortable playing his natural center position.

"She crushed that," Hatlelid remarks. "She jumped in at just the right time."

On International Women's Day, NBC Sports made NHL history by producing the first-ever all-women broadcast. In total, roughly 30 women worked the game for NBC, both behind the scenes and on-air.

"I hope when fans watch this game, they see it as any other game," said NBC producer Kaitlin Urka, who pitched the idea to NBC executives in December. "And I want people to think, this is something that they're going to see all the time, eventually. I want to get to the point where we don't need to make this a big deal. We don't need people writing stories about it and we don't need press releases and it's just normalized."

Urka came up with the idea during last spring's Stanley Cup playoffs. Mleczko brought her teenage daughter into the truck during Game 7 of the Boston Bruins versus Toronto Maple Leafs series. Mleczko asked her daughter what she thought, and she responded: "It was cool, but where were all the women?"

In fact, NBC has dozens of women who work behind the scenes and on air, but they rarely get to all work together. Urka's bosses were all-in from the start. It would be easy to fill a roster; Mleczko and Coyne Schofield regularly work NHL games, as do producers, directors and studio hosts Kathryn Tappen and Jennifer Botterill. The play-by-play position was going to be a bit more difficult to cast -- especially in hockey.

That's when Kate Scott got a call. Scott is a rising star at NBC, calling basketball, football and just about everything else. But the California native had never called a hockey game.

In January, when Elyse Noonan, a VP at NBC Sports called Scott and pitched the idea, Scott was hesitant.

"There was this long, dramatic pause," Scott said. "I could feel the fear welling up inside of me. You know, when your heart starts to race, and you start to sweat?"

Scott said she was flattered by her bosses' confidence but needed a little time to think about it. "My brain and the fear inside of me was trying to think of every excuse I could to get out of it," Scott said.

When Scott hung up, she realized she recognized the feeling. It was the same one that she felt when the San Francisco 49ers asked her to call preseason games back in 2016. Experience, Scott told herself, is an incredible teacher.

"I always raised an eyebrow at these all-women broadcasts before," Scott admitted. "I was always supportive, because I knew it was steps in the right direction, but I was cynical that it was a publicity stunt."

Scott raised those fears to Dan Steir, another NBC exec.

"He said, 'First of all, it's not about you,'" Scott recalled. "He explained that there's a lot of momentum right now with women's hockey -- with Kendall's fastest lap [at last year's All-Star skills competition], and then 3-on-3 at the All-Star Game [in 2020]. And they wanted to build on that momentum. They want to inspire that young woman who -- maybe in the last couple years, since the 2018 [Team USA Olympic] gold medal may have started paying attention. Those girls may be thinking of ways to get involved with the sport, but might not see all of the options just yet. So what if we bring everybody together and show them the possibilities? You can be a gold medalist. You can also call the game. You can direct. You can produce it. You can be a camerawoman or a stage manager."

Scott was sold.

Her schedule wasn't exactly conducive to taking this on, but she was ready for the professional challenge. Since agreeing to the NHL broadcast in January, Scott has covered three different basketball leagues and has traveled to eight cities -- including five cross-country road trips -- and taken a vacation to Mexico. To prepare for her hockey debut, Scott made Sirius XM radio her go-to while driving. She also devoured beat coverage from Blues and Blackhawks writers. She received a ton of support from NBC employees, including legendary play-by-play announcer Doc Emrick.

"Doc said, 'Kate, did you know that Al Michaels had called only one hockey game before he dove into the '80 Olympics?'" Scott recalled. "I thought he was pulling my leg, but he was serious. He told me, 'You call every other sport. You have the tools, the foundation. Just prepare.' Because of the pace, you have to talk quickly, but you don't want to rush things."

Scott likens it to the John Wooden quote: "Be quick, but don't hurry."

There were inherent differences about calling a hockey game, the biggest being the pace. There were way fewer stoppages in play than football or basketball to look down at her board and check players' numbers.

"It's similar to football in that your vantage point is really high up," Scott said. "Everybody has helmets on. So unless they have facial hair, or they're obviously taller or shorter than other players, it's tough to tell them apart. A lot of them all look the same. And as opposed to football, they don't have numbers on the front of their jerseys."

NBC arranged for Scott to call three NHL test games this winter, sitting in the booth and doing a full broadcast that wasn't aired anywhere. She did one alone, one with Coyne Schofield next to her and one with Mleczko. However, the three of them never worked together until Sunday night.

Scott graduated from Cal in 2005, and at the time, the only job she thought she could have in sports broadcasting was as a sideline reporter, because that's the only position she saw other women do.

"And that was almost 20 years ago," Scott said. "I cover mostly college sports at the moment, so I'm interacting with college broadcasters all the time. And to a large extent [especially in play-by-play] they are young white men. They're wonderful, and they are so passionate and love what they're doing. But when people ask, why aren't there more women, why aren't there more African-Americans? Why aren't there? You know why? Because we don't see it enough."

Urka, meanwhile, says she has been "blown away" by the buzz the broadcast generated.

"I think I was a little naive when I pitched it," Urka said. "I just thought it'd be really cool to get to work with other women. I wasn't even remotely thinking of the implications that it was going to have, of this being something that was history-making. Honestly, I just thought, gosh, I would love to get to work with these women. I don't get to see them very often. There's usually only a couple of us in a truck at a given time. How great would it be if we all got to be together to showcase our talent?"

Jump ahead:
What we liked this week | What we didn't like
Three stars of the week | Biggest games coming up

Emptying the notebook

The Blackhawks are still clinging on to slim hope for a playoff spot, and as long as they do, expect them to lean heavily on Corey Crawford, who made his ninth straight start Sunday night against St. Louis. "Not going to commit to anything," Colliton said before Sunday's game. "But he's going to play a lot, I'm sure." Chicago traded Robin Lehner to Vegas and got Malcolm Subban in return. But the 26-year-old Subban (a pending RFA) hasn't received much of an audition yet, playing a total of 1 minute, 10 seconds since the trade.

As the Columbus Blue Jackets remain firmly in the Eastern Conference wild-card mix -- despite dealing with a plethora of injuries this season -- there's plenty of praise to go around. One of the biggest reasons they've seen success is their surprisingly good goaltending duo of Elvis Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo. This is ironic, because goaltending was supposed to be an area of weakness for this team when it lost Sergei Bobrovsky to free agency.

"You know, everybody thought we were taking a bit of a chance, or we were risky or whatever you want to call it," GM Jarmo Kekalainen told me at the GM meetings last week. "But I always said if you want to look at a potential No. 1 goalie, why not look at your own backups first? We had a good backup in Korpisalo, and we've had our hands on Elvis Merzlikins' development for years. We were confident that he had the talent. Whether he could do it in the NHL -- that's a different pressure level, and a different level of shooters. But he's handled it really well, and we had the confidence that he could."

The NHL is all set to introduce smart pucks for the 2020 playoffs. What's wild to me: Commissioner Gary Bettman said at the GM meetings in Boca Raton last week that the league has quietly tested the new pucks during nine NHL games in nine different buildings since Feb. 6.

"We've used them without anybody knowing about it on a number of occasions," Bettman said. "And there is no issue whatsoever." The NHL can't afford to compromise the integrity of the puck. This is certainly a story to track -- sorry, couldn't help it -- come April.

What we liked this week

This is a 10 on the wholesome scale. Canes prospect Morgan Geekie scored two goals in his NHL debut -- and his whole family tagged along for the interview. Geekie, by the way, scored on both of his shots. He's the third player in the past 20 years to score multiple goals with a 100% shooting percentage in his first career game. Ryan Poehling in 2019 and Derek Stepan in 2010 were the others, and both of them had a hat trick.

Morgan Geekie did a family interview after his 2-goal @NHL debut ? pic.twitter.com/8G21LVna4i

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) March 8, 2020

We talk about different ways to support women's sports. The Calgary Flames get it.

Much love to our sisters with the @PWHPA ? Good luck with your games in Arizona this weekend! pic.twitter.com/4hjVZt23AW

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) March 7, 2020

Mika Zibanejad's five-goal night was such a big deal, even TMZ wrote about it. Per the TMZ recap of the Rangers throwing a surprise locker room party for the Swedish center: "They all hid in the locker room at Madison Square Garden ... and once Zibanejad walked in -- they surprised the hell out of him with a moshpit!! Watch the clip ... the guys go pretty wild -- even dumping a whole water bottle on the star center's head!!"

After claims of retirement a year ago, John King is back with the All-Hockey Hair Team from the Minnesota high school tournament for 2020. Truly one of our favorite annual events on the hockey calendar:

What we didn't like this week

A really scary situation unfolded when Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk's face was cut by the blade of Montreal forward Artturi Lehkonen on Tuesday night. Luckily, Boychuk is OK. "There has been no damage to his eye," GM Lou Lamoriello reported. "He had quite a night. He felt the skate blade get his eye, but fortunately it just got the eyelid. It took 90 stitches to fix, a plastic surgeon took care of it. I don't want to exaggerate with the stitches because they do use very small stitches, but there were 90 of them." And, Boychuk had time for jokes on Wednesday:

Thank you to everyone for the positive messages and thoughts! I am extremely grateful. Please know they did not go unheard. Luckily for me the skate only cut my eyelid. Sorry for the late response...facial recognition wasn't working... thank you again my friends. Johnny B

— Johnny Boychuk (@joboych) March 4, 2020

Things could get ugly in Buffalo if the Sabres don't finish the season out strong. They haven't earned a regulation win in March since 2018.

Why oh why can't the Senators stay drama-free? They fired their CEO, Jim Little, after less than two months on the job. Little says it was because of a heated argument with owner Eugene Melnyk. According to the National Post, the Senators made the move when "the team discovered that Little's former spouse published online accounts alleging abusive behaviour during her marriage." As colleague Greg Wyshynski points out here, none of this is a particularly good look.

Three Stars

Mika Zibanejad, C, New York Rangers

He became just the fourth player to score five goals in a game in the salary-cap era -- joining Marian Gaborik, Johan Franzen and Patrik Laine -- and Zibanejad was the only one to score his fifth as the game winner in overtime.

Juuse Saros, G, Nashville Predators

In four starts, the Finn posted two shutouts, stopping 104 of 107 total shots for a .972 save percentage and 0.96 GAA. If the Preds make the playoffs, it might be Saros -- not Pekka Rinne -- who starts in net.

Leon Draisaitl, C, Edmonton Oilers

He had a four-goal outburst against Nashville, then posted four more assists for eight points in four games (three Oilers wins). Just another week in the life of the potential MVP.

Games of the Week

Monday: Vegas Golden Knights at Edmonton Oilers

The Pacific Division has been a bit of a jumbled mess this season, but these teams are separating themselves as the top two. The Oilers -- led by Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid -- still have a chance at surpassing Vegas for the No. 1 seed (something few of us predicted).

Thursday: Pittsburgh Penguins at Columbus Blue Jackets (ESPN+)

The Penguins need to get their groove back before the playoffs start. The Blue Jackets are fighting for their postseason lives. This one will be a good one.

Saturday: Minnesota Wild at Philadelphia Flyers (ESPN+)

The Chuck Fletcher revenge game! The longtime Wild GM, now with the Flyers, will face his former squad. Philly has won nine straight and might even overtake Washington this week for first place in the Metro. A lot of us left Minnesota for dead, but it's within striking distance of the wild card thanks in part to a breakout campaign from Kevin Fiala.

Quote of the Week

"I'm not the one making the call, but especially the last 30 games, I don't know if anyone has been better than me." -- Vancouver rookie defenseman Quinn Hughes, to The Hockey News, stumping his own case for the Calder Trophy.

Rory McIlroy just hit the century mark.

Thanks to a T-5 finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, his seventh straight top-5 finish on Tour, McIlroy remained world No. 1 for another week. This is the fifth straight week at No. 1 for McIlroy and the 100th such week of his career, becoming just the third player to spend at least 100 weeks at No. 1 since the creation of the Official World Golf Ranking in 1986.

Tiger Woods holds the all-time mark with 683 weeks, followed by Greg Norman with 331. The next closest behind McIlroy is Sir Nick Faldo, who spent 97 weeks as world No. 1.

Bay Hill champion Tyrrell Hatton moved up 10 spots to No. 22 in the latest rankings after scoring his first career PGA Tour victory, while runner-up Marc Leishman moved from 21st to 15th. Sungjae Im is now behind Hatton, up two spots to No. 23, while fourth-place Bryson DeChambeau rose one spot to No. 13.

Two rising stars made notable moves into the top 50, with Collin Morikawa (T-9) going from 52nd to 44th and Scottie Scheffler (T-15) jumping from 51st to 47th. Should they remain inside the top 50 on March 30 following the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, both men would qualify for their first Masters via the OWGR.

The qualifiers for the Austin bracket will be finalized after The Players, meaning there's only one more week to move into (or out of) the top 64 in the world. Teetering near the bubble is Phil Mickelson, who dropped three spots to No. 63 after missing the Bay Hill cut. Eddie Pepperell is currently 64th, with Lucas Herbert (65th), Corey Conners (66th), Joel Dahmen (69th) and Max Homa (71st) among the players just outside the cutoff.

The only change among the latest top 10 came from Adam Scott, who dropped two spots to No. 9 after missing the API cut. McIlroy remains in front, followed by Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Cantlay, Webb Simpson, Patrick Reed, Scott and Tommy Fleetwood.

A notable absence from this week's event at TPC Sawgrass, Tiger Woods remains ranked No. 11 in the world.

Brescia forward Mario Balotelli has urged Serie A to suspend all matches due to coronavirus.

Football in Serie A is set to be staged behind closed doors until April 3 following the outbreak.

Italy prime minister Giuseppe Conte signed a decree on Sunday, in place until April 3, that is a sweeping quarantine of the northern regions of the country, including the Lombardy region. It restricts the movements of one-quarter of the country's population.

The players' association president Damiano Tommasi and Italy's minister for sport, Vincenzo Spadafora called for the league to suspend matches on Sunday but there were chaotic scenes in the revised Parma-SPAL match.

"Let's stop the league!!," Balotelli wrote on his Instagram story. "Do we need anything else? Stop football!! Money isn't worth our health, we have to wake up.

"Don't write rubbish to me like: 'But you are protected! What difference does it make if you play or not? Nothing happens to you behind closed doors! Don't take away the only fun that people have at the weekend in the red zones!

"I love football more than you... but playing means travelling by coach, trains, planes, sleeping in hotels, coming into contact regardless with people outside your working life...

- Marcotti: Coronavirus leads to Serie A suspension calls as risk of Euro 2020 impact grows
- Marcotti: How coronavirus affects Italy, sports

"I already don't get to see my children because of this damned coronavirus, because as you know they do not live in Lombardy, so it's already infuriating and sad.

"I certainly don't want my mother, who I see and eat with almost every day, to catch anything from me. She is not the same age as me and as much as I love football (which I owe everything to), I won't risk her getting ill!"

The outbreak of the virus has also led to the Champions League clash between Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund to be played behind closed doors.

Valencia's Champions League game against Atalanta will also be played behind closed doors and club captain Dani Parejo expressed his disappointment at the decision.

His Instagram post read: "I'm no expert, but I can't understand how you can have thousands of people celebrating in the streets of Valencia for Fallas (traditional celebration), or how I can go to the airport to pick up a family member and there are hundred of flights coming from many parts of the worlds, how I switch the TV on and see that there are cultural and sporting gatherings that see thousands of fans get together and yet, we, Valencia CF, can't play in front of our fans the most important game of the season...I can't understand how a world crisis can be managed in Spain depending on which region you live in."

Coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, is a new strain of coronavirus that has surged around the globe in recent months. The coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more serious respiratory diseases. Flu is caused by a different virus. There is no vaccine for coronavirus, though researchers are working on one and hope to begin testing soon. Older people, especially those with chronic illnesses such as heart or lung disease, are most at risk.

The coronavirus spreads mainly through coughs and sneezes, though it also can be transferred from surfaces. The best way to prevent infection is by frequent hand-washing, cleaning surfaces with regular household sprays and wipes, and avoiding close contact with people who are sick.

Sri Lanka have left Lahiru Thirimanne out of their Test squad to play England, and Kusal Perera has been included in his place despite a finger injury leaving him doubtful for the first game of the two-match series.

Wanindu Hasaranga was named as the 16th member of the squad, but with an addendum that his left hamstring injury would not allow him to take part in the series. A replacement is expected to be picked before the first Test.

There are three specialist spinners already in the squad however - with offspinner Dilruwan Perera, left-arm spinner Lasith Embudleniya and left-arm wristspinner Lakshan Sandakan all in the 15. Dhananjaya de Silva is around to bowl some offspin as well. There are four specialist seam-bowlers: Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, Kasun Rajitha and left-armer Vishwa Fernando.

This surfeit of bowlers means there is only room for one spare batsman - Kusal Perera - in addition to the top seven that played Sri Lanka's most-recent Test in Harare.

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Thirimanne is the only omission from the squad that won 1-0 in Zimbabwe in January. He did not play any part in that series, and last played in the series against New Zealand in August 2019.

Perera had been left out for the tour of Zimbabwe earlier this year. That completed a strange year for him in the format, after he had played one of the great Test innings of all time in Durban in February 2019, but totalled just 44 runs in three Tests after that, including bagging a pair in Colombo against New Zealand in August in what was his last Test appearance.

He was in the squad for the December Test tour of Pakistan, but didn't get a game, and chief selector Asantha de Mel confirmed while announcing the squad for Zimbabwe that Perera had been dropped after consultation with coach Mickey Arthur, who felt it was better for the wicketkeeper-batsman to remain in Sri Lanka and train for the white-ball series against West Indies, rather than tour Zimbabwe and not get a game.

England play two Tests, the first starting in Galle on March 19. They had won each of the three Tests on their last tour of Sri Lanka, in late 2018.

Squad: Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), Oshada Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya De Silva, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Dilruwan Perera, Lasith Embuldeniya, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Lakshan Sandakan, Suranga Lakmal, Wanindu Hasaranga (injured, replacement to be named before first Test)