The search for the next boss of the United States women's national team has hit a roadblock, with the United States Soccer Federation hampered in its attempts to interview Arsenal Women's head coach Joe Montemurro about the role, sources have told ESPN.

The USSF is currently in the midst of a search for a new head coach after Jill Ellis announced that she would be stepping down from the role following the conclusion of a series of "Victory Tour" matches being staged to celebrate the U.S. romping to their second-consecutive Women's World Cup in July.

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Sources have told ESPN that the USSF approached Montemurro -- who has expressed an interest in the role -- about interviewing for the vacant position but were prevented in doing so by his current employers, who signed the 50-year-old to a long-term contract extension in October of 2018.

In charge of Arsenal's WSL side since 2017, Montemurro rose to prominence as a coach in his native Australia when he steered Melbourne City to back-to-back W-League titles in the club's first two years in existence, including an undefeated season in 2015-16.

Named to the head coaching role at boyhood club Arsenal after the midseason sacking of Pedro Martínez Losa in 2017, Montemurro led the Gunners to the victory in the FA Women's League Cup and reached the final of the FA Women's FA Cup in his first season.

Handed a full offseason ahead of the 2018-19 campaign, Montemurro promptly guided his side to Champions League qualification and its first WSL title since 2012; earning WSL League Managers Association Coach of the Year honours and a nomination for FIFA World Women's Coach of the Year.

With three wins from three, Arsenal currently leads the WSL -- Europe's only fully professional women's league -- in what looms as a vitally important season for the competition as it looks to capitalise on the momentum generated by the success of England at the 2019 World Cup though new streaming, scheduling and prize money initiatives.

The Gunners defeated Brighton and Hove Albion 4-0 on matchday three to move them above title-rivals Manchester City, who defeated Everton 1-0, on goal difference.

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley has never been a fan of international games or games played on a short week.

Gurley's tone didn't change Sunday after a 55-40 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which dropped the Rams to 3-1 on the season. The Rams must turn around to play the Seattle Seahawks in a division opener at CenturyLink Field on Thursday.

"You know how I feel about Thursday night games," Gurley said when asked how the short week would alter his preparation. "I feel like they are the dumbest thing ever."

Gurley rushed for 16 yards and two touchdowns on five carries against the Bucs. He caught seven passes for 54 yards.

Following an approach similar to the one they've used the past two seasons, the Rams brought exercise bikes and massage tables into their postgame locker room Sunday to get a jump-start on the recovery process.

"It's never a good thing to be on a short week," safety John Johnson said.

As they enter Week 5, the Rams have minimal injuries. On Sunday, cornerback Marcus Peters was evaluated for a concussion, linebacker Bryce Hager suffered a stinger and rookie safety Taylor Rapp left the L.A. Memorial Coliseum with a boot on his left foot after he suffered an ankle injury.

Gurley did not appear concerned that the short week would limit the Rams' ability to perform against the Seahawks, whom Los Angeles swept last season and has defeated in three of four games since Sean McVay took over as head coach in 2017.

On Sunday, the Seahawks improved to 3-1 with a 27-10 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.

"For the most part, if you aren't really battling injuries or stuff like that, Thursday is kind of like a day you usually feel good anyway," Gurley said. "They played on Sunday, as well. ... We just have a quick turnaround to go up to Seattle."

The Rams play an international game in London against the Cincinnati Bengals next month.

NEW YORK -- The average time of a nine-inning game reached a record length in the major leagues this season.

Major League Baseball said Sunday the final figure for the 2019 regular season was 3 hours, 5 minutes, 35 seconds. That topped the 3:05:11 in 2017.

The average had dropped to 3:00:44 in 2018, helped by new restrictions that cut mound visits without pitching changes.

MLB's average was 2:46 in 2005.

CONCORD, N.C. – The Bank of America ROVAL 400 was not kind to four drivers who were hoping to continue their respective pursuits of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship.

Ryan Newman, Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch and Erik Jones were all eliminated from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs Sunday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Newman, who was the underdog entering the 2019 edition of the playoffs, was perhaps the most determined of those who failed to advance to the second round of NASCAR’s postseason.

Late in the race Newman was within a few points of potentially advancing to the second round, but a mistake while trying to hold off Almirola in the final three laps caused him to miss the backstretch chicane. He failed to stop in the restart zone on the frontstretch as required by NASCAR after he missed the chicane, then he failed to adhere to a pass through penalty for not stopping on the frontstretch.

Instead, NASCAR penalized Newman 30 seconds at the conclusion of the race. Newman ended up finishing 32nd as a result, well below the cutoff to advance to the second round of the playoffs.

“I felt like I made a lot of mistakes trying too hard. We did not have the race car and that’s what I had to do,” Newman said. “I felt like we were in a position at one point and then just kept trying too hard trying to keep the 10 car (Almirola) behind us and missed the curbs.  That was unfortunate.  We came in at a big deficiency and finished one point out or whatever it was, but, no matter what, we’re still gonna fight for fifth.  I’m proud of everybody at Roush Fenway for the fight and the opportunity that they’ve given me.  We’re not done, we’re just out at this point.”

Almirola’s day was mostly uneventful, but a late strategy call to stay on track when several others ended up biting him when those drivers with fresh tires blew by him in the laps that followed.

Almirola eventually hit pit road for fresh tires and tried to climb back through the field, but he ran out of time and finished 14th and outside the playoff bubble.

“I think they said we missed by five points, so the strategy we were on if the race would have continued to go green to the end we were gonna be in a good situation,” Almirola said. “I think we were seven or eight points to the good.  That caution came out and kind of put us in a spot to where we had to choose, and I knew and Johnny (Klausmeier, crew chief) knew that all the guys we were racing in points were gonna do the opposite of whatever we did.  We were the first car ahead of all those guys on the cutline, so we stayed out and made our bed and all those guys came and got tires. That’s just part of it.”

For the third-straight week, Busch simply had a bad day. He was one of several cars collected in an incident in turn one during a restart at the end of stage one, then he spun again late in the race coming out of turn eight.

His 20th place finish at Charlotte on Sunday was his fourth-straight finish outside the top-15 and Busch acknowledged he and his Chip Ganassi Racing team had nothing but bad luck throughout the first three playoff races.

“We’ve got to reground in these last seven races to make something better out of our season. It was a nightmare for three races,” Busch said. “We’re out, but we can still try to salvage something overall. We were a top-10 team all year, but the wheels came off it. This was a nightmare.”

Jones entered the ROVAL in a must-win situation after he was disqualified following a fourth-place finish last weekend at Richmond Raceway. His luck didn’t turn around Sunday when he was also collected in the same turn one melee that collected Busch, resulting in a 40th-place finish.

“It’s frustrating. It’s frustrating not just to even have a chance throughout the whole race, you know? We didn’t make it to the first stage and it wasn’t our fault,” Jones said. “That’s probably the most frustrating part is getting taken out and nothing you can do about it. We’ll have to keep going all year, win some more races and come back and start over again in next year’s playoffs.”

SENOIA, Ga. – Ashton Winger claimed the biggest win of his young career on Sunday during the fifth annual Schaeffer’s Oil Fall Nationals Series Billy Clanton Classic at Senoia Raceway.

The Senoia, Ga., driver claimed his first Schaeffer’s Oil Fall Nationals Series victory, worth $10,025. Winger also picked up $125 for leading on lap-25, which was sponsored by the Clanton Family.

Winger became the fourth different winner in five points events so far in the Fall Nationals.

Polesitter Chris Madden and Ashton Winger brought the field of 22 to life for the start of the main event as the duo would do battle, with Madden holding the top spot on the first lap over Winger and Clint Smith.

By lap eight Madden would work into lapped traffic and the duo of Madden/Winger would again fight for the lead in an epic battle for that top spot on lap-ten. By lap 13 Winger had reached the back bumper of Madden with a couple of slower cars between them as the duo worked off the second turn and would go to work again. Winger would show his nose on lap 14 and then work the high side on the next lap and take the lead officially by lap 15. On lap 19, Winger and Madden would do battle again with Winger continuing to hold the point.

On the 23rd lap, Winger would work around more lapped cars and put 15th place starter Brandon Overton a lap down and Winger had lapped up to the eighth place car by lap 27.

After the second try on the lap 28 restart, sixth starting Shane Clanton showed his nose as the field of cars worked into the first turn and Clanton would take second spot from Madden with Clint Smith and Tyler Millwood in hot pursuit.

Winger would be virtually untouchable during the second half of the race and go on for the payday over Madden, Clanton, Clint Smith and Casey Roberts who rounded out the top-five.

The finish:

Ashton Winger, Chris Madden, Shane Clanton, Clint Smith, Casey Roberts, Tyler Millwood, Brandon Overton, Michael Page, Matt Dooley, Jason Croft, Donald McIntosh, Dalton Cook, Steven Roberts, Dennis Hale, David Payne, Lamar Haygood, Jeff Neubert, Ryan Crane, Jody Knowles, Landon Bagby, Austin Smith, Cass Fowler.

BRASELTON, Ga. – The HSR Fall Classic concluded Sunday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, where three feature races and the final round of WeatherTech Sprint races produced even more winners in a competitive weekend of racing.

Sunday’s full schedule began at 8:10 a.m. EDT with the one-hour B.R.M Chronographes Endurance Challenge race for Historic, Prototype and GT Modern (GTM) competitors.

The overall and Prototype class B.R.M. victory went to the Hudson Historics 2009 No. 230 Corvette Daytona Prototype of William Hubbell.

The winner shared the podium with Dominick Incantalupo who co-drove the 2011 No. 54 Roin Realty Holdings Oreca FLM09 with Sean Rayhall to second place overall and in the Prototype class.

Price Ford and Cody Ellsworth finished third overall and scored the GTM victory in the 2015 No. 12 Autometrics/Team Racerink Porsche GT3 Cup. The win was the second HSR endurance race victory of the year for Ford and Ellsworth, who also captured B.R.M. Challenge GTM honors last May in the HMSA/HSR race at Barber Motorsports Park.

The overall B.R.M. Challenge top five was completed by the final two podium placing GTM competitors. Charles Craig and Cory Friedman drove the Autometrics 2007 No. 26 Porsche 997 RSR to fourth overall and second in class. Francesco Melandri soloed to fifth overall and third in GTM in the 1996 No. 96 Porsche 993 KMR GT2/Evo.

The B.R.M. Challenge Historic class win was earned by Hartmut von Seelen and Kevin Wheeler in the 1973 No. 51 Porsche 911 prepared by KMW Motorsports.

While the B.R.M. Challenge race kicked Sunday’s schedule off at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, a combined afternoon HSR Global GT and HSR Classic RS Cup sprint wrapped up the weekend’s HSR Feature Race schedule.

The overall and Global GT victory went to Ray Evernham who wheeled his unique 1936 No. 19 Chevrolet “Ghost” to its second win of the weekend. Evernham also won Saturday’s WeatherTech Sprint Group 9 race in “Ghost” in addition to loaning his 1965 No. 19 Chevrolet Corvette Roadster to NASCAR Legend Bill Elliott for a winning effort in Friday’s Sasco Sports International/American Challenge race.

Evernham shared the overall Global GT podium with runner-up David Richardson in the FlatSix Motorsports 2007 No. 06 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup and Craig, who made it two podium finishes on the day in the Autometrics 2007 No. 26 Porsche 997 RSR.

The HSR Classic RS Cup race saw Todd Treffert seal a perfect three-for-three-win record in this weekend’s HSR Fall Classic Feature Races in the Speedconcepts 1974 No. 14 Porsche 911 IROC. After victories Friday in the Sasco Sports Porsche class, and overall in the B.R.M Chronographes Endurance Challenge race on Saturday, Treffert completed the triple play with the Classic RS Cup win Sunday afternoon.

Mike Banz finished second in the Classic RS Cup race in his Heritage Motorsports 1974 No. 13 Porsche 911 RSR while Ben McGraw was third in the 1973 No. 00 Porsche 911.

From Cameron Champ's emotional reaction after winning the Safeway Open to Rory McIlroy's criticism of European Tour course setups, here are the top quotes from the week in golf:

“No matter if I win one more tournament, 10 more tournaments, whatever it may be, this will be the greatest moment of my golf career.” – Cameron Champ after winning the Safeway Open while his grandfather battles terminal stomach cancer

“I’m sort of honestly sick of coming back over to the European Tour and shooting 15 under par and finishing 30th.” – Rory McIlroy on European Tour course setups

“I got the clearance last week to start full practice, and so I played nine holes the other day. It’s sore, yeah, but now I can start lifting and getting my muscle back and getting my weight up.” – Tiger Woods, speaking to Michael Strahan about his recovery from knee surgery

“They beat the hell out of us.” – Gary Player after Sen. Lindsey Graham and Annika Sorenstam beat he and Donald Trump on the golf course

“It does because he’s Tiger. I mean, he matters. That’s the bottom line. It’s better when he plays than when he doesn’t, even if he only plays two matches. It’s better for the event if he does. I guess he has to decide if it’s better for his team or not.” – Adam Scott on why it matters that Tiger Woods plays the Presidents Cup

Cameron Champ birdied the 72nd hole at Silverado Resort and Spa and held off Adam Hadwin for his second PGA Tour victory at the Safeway Open. Here's a look inside his bag.

DRIVER: Ping G410 LST (9 degrees), with Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 6.5 TX shaft

FAIRWAY WOOD: Ping G410 LST (17.5 degrees), with Project X HZRDUS Black 85X shaft

IRONS: Ping i500 (4), i210 (4), Blueprint (5-PW), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts

WEDGES: Ping Glide Forged (52, 56 degrees), TaylorMade Milled Grind Hi-Toe (60 degrees), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts

PUTTER: Ping PLD Tyne CS

BALL: Srixon Z-Star XV

Here are the complete purse and FedExCup breakdowns for the Safeway Open, where Cameron Champ defeated Adam Hadwin by a shot:

NAPA, Calif. – Cameron Champ’s second career PGA Tour victory brought with it his first Masters invite.

When Champ won last year’s Sanderson Farms Championship, he didn’t receive any mail from Augusta, Ga., because the tournament was an opposite-field event played against the WGC-HSBC Champions. The victory put him within reach of a Masters spot via the world rankings, but a slow spring ended those aspirations and he missed the first major this year.

Sunday’s one-shot win at Silverado Resort & Spa came with a heavy heart, with much of Champ’s focus an hour away with his grandfather, Mack, who is in in-home hospice battling terminal stomach cancer. Champ shared that he opted not to play Augusta National until he had earned his way into the exclusive field, and he dedicated the invite to his ailing grandfather.

“I think just knowing that I did it, that was my last gift to him,” Champ said. “I told myself I’m going to make the Masters, I’m going to figure out a way, play my butt off.”

Champ spent the early part of the week commuting an hour each way to the course from his home in Sacramento to maximize the time he could spend with his grandfather, whose condition has prevented him from eating anything other than popsicles for the past three weeks. He learned the game from him at a young age, even having “Pops” caddie for him at age 71 when Champ played in the 2012 Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach as part of the First Tee.

While he’s not optimistic that his grandfather will be able to watch him hit that first shot among the Georgia pines next spring, it was a welcome incentive to receive and celebrate on an emotional day.

“If he can hold on until April, that would be awesome,” Champ said. “Obviously the circumstances are a little different, but I think just him knowing that I made it and I did it will definitely satisfy him.”