ANCASTER, Ontario -- Rory McIlroy ran away with the Canadian Open, closing with a 9-under 61 on Sunday for a 7-shot victory.

Starting the day in a three-way tie for the lead, McIlroy ended any suspense about who would emerge as the champion with five birdies in his first seven holes, none from longer than 8 feet.

It was McIlroy's 16th PGA Tour victory and 25th win worldwide, and the fourth by at least 7 strokes. The world's fourth-ranked player will hope to ride the momentum into next week's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

The only question on the back nine was whether McIlroy would shoot the 11th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history. He made four straight birdies from Nos. 11-14, and a bogey on the par-3 16th stalled him only momentarily. He followed with a 7-iron from 196 yards to 2½ feet for eagle on the par-5 17th to get to 10 under at par-70 Hamilton Golf and Country Club.

But he missed the green on the par-4 18th and his bunker shot went long. He ended up tapping in for bogey to finish at a tournament-record 22-under 258. The 61 equaled the low round of McIlroy's PGA Tour career.

Shane Lowry and Webb Simpson tied for second at 15 under.

Adam Hadwin, seeking to become the first Canadian winner of the event since 1954, closed with a 70 and finished sixth, 10 shots back. His consolation prize was a spot in the British Open at Royal Portrush in July.

Graeme McDowell also earned his place in the British Open. The native of Portrush, Northern Ireland, guaranteed a tee time in his hometown by holing a hard-breaking 29-footer for par on the par-4 18th to shoot 68 and finish in a tie for eighth. This year's Open will be the first in Northern Ireland since its only previous visit to Royal Portrush in 1951.

A third spot was available at the British Open for a player not already eligible who finished inside the top 10, but the other top-10 finishers were exempt from qualifying.

The victory in McIlroy's Canadian Open debut was his fifth in a national open, following the U.S. Open (2011), Australian Open (2013), British Open (2014) and Irish Open (2016). McIlroy also counts the Hong Kong Open (2011) as part of his national-championship tally.

Nine players received invitations to attend the NBA draft and sit in the green room, a source told ESPN.

Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, RJ Barrett, Darius Garland, De'Andre Hunter, Jarrett Culver, Coby White, Cam Reddish and Jaxson Hayes received the first batch of invites, the source said, with an additional 11 invites expected to be sent out in the coming days, depending on confirmations the NBA receives from the first group. The league hopes to have 20 players in the green room.

The green room is a staging area in front of the NBA draft podium where players, families and agents await commissioner Adam Silver to call a player's name upon selection.

The process of deciding which players to invite to the draft involves communication with general managers of teams picking throughout the first round. This is to ensure that players aren't sitting for very long under the bright lights before a national television audience as the second round approaches.

Receiving an invitation is considered a positive sign for a player's draft stock, although there have been instances in the past of prospects falling to the second round while sitting in the green room.

All nine of the players invited thus far are projected to be drafted in the top 10 in the latest ESPN mock draft. French forward Sekou Doumbouya, who is projected ninth, is expected to be in the second wave of players invited, a source told ESPN.

Former Michigan guard Charles Matthews suffered a torn ACL, his agent Adam Pensack told ESPN.

Matthews, 22, suffered the injury at a workout with the Boston Celtics.

Matthews will have knee surgery in his hometown of Chicago in the near future, Pensack said. A timetable for his return will be established after the surgery.

After a strong showing at the NBA combine in Chicago, Matthews was garnering interest in the second round as one of the top defenders in the 2019 NBA draft class.

He is ranked No. 60 among the top 100 prospects available for this month's draft, according to ESPN.

"Injuries are tough, but Charles is an extremely hard worker and will be back stronger than ever," Pensack told ESPN. "He had a series of outstanding workouts lately and has helped himself. Charles will continue that momentum when he returns to action. As of now, we have interest in the second round as Charles is OK signing a two-way contract like Edmond Sumner did with the Indiana Pacers in 2017."

TORONTO -- It has been an eventful 24 hours for Raptors guard Fred VanVleet.

In the wake of getting his head cut open and a tooth chipped following an inadvertent elbow from Golden State Warriors guard Shaun Livingston in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, VanVleet made multiple medical visits to make sure everything was OK, and that he'd be ready to go for Game 5 here at Scotiabank Arena on Monday night.

"I got back home, went to the hospital, got a CT scan to make sure that no bones were broken in my face," VanVleet said Sunday afternoon. "Then [I] went and made a visit to the dentist, and went home and went to sleep."

It was unclear whether VanVleet would be able to joke about what happened Friday night when he was laying on the ground with his arms outstretched, blood pouring from his face and a piece of his tooth sitting in the lane. But after being cleared to return to Friday's game (though he never did), everything checked out Saturday, and his tooth was able to be repaired.

"I'm not going to smile for you, though," he said, "but I'm back to normal, so that was a good moment, and now I'm back."

VanVleet said he has never worn a mouthpiece before because he doesn't like the feel of them while he's playing. But after suffering the injury Friday night, he will be wearing one in the biggest game of his life Monday, when the Raptors have a chance to claim their first NBA title with a victory over the Warriors.

"I hate wearing mouthpieces," VanVleet said. "You know, I'm a gambler, so I gambled and sometimes it comes back to bite you on the butt. But all kids out there, you should wear mouthpieces.

"It was a weird play, and I took an unfortunate shot. And so now I will be wearing a mouthpiece for as long as I can manage it. I'll probably throw it at some point during the game, but I'm going to try."

He also said he has been cleared of any possibility of sustaining a concussion, and hasn't suffered any symptoms of one since the hit. The only thing that is bothering him is some of the swelling in his face from the direct hit from Livingston's elbow to his right eye.

"It's a little blurry, just my eye's watering a little at random points, but it's not too bad," he said. "I've actually had worse before, so I'm doing all right. I was more upset about the team than the eye."

VanVleet added it will be up to him to let Toronto's medical staff know if there are any further issues as a result of the hit.

"We have great doctors and great staff," he said. "We followed the [concussion] protocol, and we made sure that we're in a right state of mind before we go out there. So if anything, it will be on me to make sure that I report everything and tell them how I'm feeling."

VanVleet may be Toronto's backup point guard, but he has been a crucial part of the team's run to the brink of a title. He went 14-for-17 from 3-point range over the final three games of the Eastern Conference finals against the Milwaukee Bucks to help the Raptors make the NBA Finals, and has gone 8-for-23 from beyond the arc and played tremendous defense on Warriors star Stephen Curry during this series to help Toronto take its 3-1 lead.

The Raptors will need more of VanVleet's contributions at both ends to close this out and deliver this city its first championship since the Toronto Blue Jays won their second straight World Series in 1993.

"I know how important I am to this team, to this franchise and I know what I bring to the table," VanVleet said. "So that's never in question, never in doubt. For me, just try to focus on maximizing my potential each night and giving my team the best chance to win, and like I said, we got to go out there and do it again tomorrow."

The Washington Nationals hit four consecutive home runs in the eighth inning Sunday, becoming the first franchise in major league history to accomplish the feat multiple times.

With the score tied 1-1 and one out in the eighth inning Sunday, the Nationals' Howie Kendrick, Trea Turner, Adam Eaton and Anthony Rendon hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back homers off San Diego Padres reliever Craig Stammen.

The four homers off Stammen came in a span of seven pitches.

Kendrick's homer, which came with him pinch hitting, traveled 421 feed to left field. Turner and Eaton both homered to center, with the long balls traveling 421 feet and 402 feet, respectively. Eaton's shot traveled 391 feed to right field.

The Nationals also hit four consecutive home runs on July 27 of the 2017 season against the Milwaukee Brewers. The feat has been accomplished nine times in MLB history, including Sunday.

Stammen allowed just three home runs all of last season in 79 innings pitched. After Sunday's performance, he has allowed nine homers in 33 2/3 innings pitched.

ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report.

British skyrunner and obstacle course racer gains gold in Portugal, while Edward Mothibi and Gerda Steyn win Comrades Marathon

Britain’s Jonathan Albon was crowned trail world champion after winning the IAU/ITRA-organised event in Portugal on Saturday, Adrian Stott reports.

The race was run over a very varied 44.2km (27.5-mile) course, with 2200m of climb, on the trails near Miranda do Corvo in central Portugal.

Albon was third at the first checkpoint at 16km behind early leader Christian Mathys of Switzerland. By the 27km checkpoint the Briton was holding a 2-minute lead over Mathys, with France’s Julian Rancon having made his way through the field to third.

“I knew there were a lot of good guys behind me with potential to be strong in the latter stages,” said Albon, who won in 3:35:35, two minutes and 13 seconds ahead of Mathys.

“Once I took the lead, I just worked as hard as I could up the hills and then switched into ‘power mode’ on the descents.

“It got warm in the last few kilometres and I was really starting to feel it. I knew Julian wasn’t too far behind me, so couldn’t afford to ease up really.

“I’m delighted with the win, obviously, and really enjoyed that course. It had such a lot of variation from fast land rover tracks then suddenly into very technical descents, with a few stream crossings thrown in too. I loved it, for you never quite knew exactly what to expect next.”

For Albon, it was another title to reinforce just how versatile an endurance athlete he is.

He is the current world Skyrunning champion and also Obstacle Course Racing world champion. In fact, his next event will be an obstacle course race in the Netherlands next weekend.

Read more: Jon Albon – the greatest runner you’ve never heard of

Great Britain took the team silver medals behind France, with Spain in third.

Albon was backed up by Carl Bell in 13th in 3:47:57 and Andrew Davies in 16th in 3:49:57.

Other British placings were Seb Batchelor, Ricky Lightfoot and Andy Symonds.

In an incredibly strong women’s field, France’s Blandine L’Hirondel dominated from the start to win in 4:06:17, over eight minutes ahead of New Zealand’s Ruth Croft with 4:14:28.

Spain’s Sheila Avilés took the bronze in 4:15:04.

In a team race dominated by the French and Spanish athletes who placed all their three counting runners in the top 10, France came out on top by just over a minute. Romania placed third with GB in fifth

The leading British athlete was Charlotte Morgan, who placed 14th in 4:26:43. The 2018 world long-distance mountain running champion was followed by Georgia Tindley in 25th in 4:39:29 and Katie Kaars-Sijpesteijn in 32nd in 4:45:15.

Montane Spine Race winner Jasmin Paris finished 35th in 4:46:23, with Jo Meek and Meryl Cooper completing the team.

Over in South Africa, the prestigious Comrades Marathon was won by Edward Mothibi and Gerda Steyn on home soil on Sunday, with Mothibi clocking 5:31:36 for the 89km route and Steyn 5:58:53 to become the first woman to win a Comrades ‘up run’ in sub-six hours.

Lee Grantham enjoyed a few home straight waves to the crowd as he finished as the first Brit in 12th in 5:54:44, while Samantha Amend placed 21st in the women’s race in 7:14:44.

Four-time world Ironman champion Chrissie Wellington finished 43rd in 7:49:30.

British number three Dan Evans beat Viktor Troicki 6-2 6-3 to win the Surbiton Trophy.

The 29-year-old sped into a 5-1 lead en route to taking the first set against 33-year-old Serb Troicki, and did not relinquish the upper hand on his way to victory in front of home support.

American Alison Riske beat Magdalena Rybarikova 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 6-2 to win the women's title.

The British grass-court season continues with the Nottingham Open.

Rafael Nadal maintained his stranglehold on the French Open by beating Austrian fourth seed Dominic Thiem in four sets to lift a 12th men's singles title.

The Spaniard won for the third straight year at Roland Garros with a 6-3 5-7 6-1 6-1 victory in a high-quality final.

The 33-year-old is the first player to win 12 singles titles at the same Grand Slam and has now won 18 majors overall.

"I can't explain what I've achieved and how I feel. It's a dream," said Nadal.

"To play for the first time in 2005 - I never thought in 2019 I'd still be here. It's an incredible moment and very special for me."

It leaves the left-hander two Grand Slam titles adrift of Switzerland's Roger Federer, who he beat in the semi-finals, and three clear of Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic, whose bid to hold all four majors was ended by Thiem.

The second seed slid to the red dirt in triumph when he clinched victory on the second match point, lying behind the baseline with his arms outstretched as he contemplated the magnitude of his achievement.

With clay plastered over his back, he clambered to his feet and took the acclaim of an enthralled Roland Garros crowd which has become accustomed to seeing him triumph.

Thiem, 25, suffered his second Grand Slam final defeat after losing in three sets to Nadal in last year's final.

Edging a brutal start underpins Nadal's win

Hundreds of Spanish fans milling around outside Chatrier, identified by their red and yellow flags, football shirts and facepaint, has become an almost annual event before the men's final at Roland Garros since 2005.

Nadal has won on all but three of his appearances here, with his only defeats coming in the 2009 fourth-round by Robin Soderling and 2015 quarter-finals against Djokovic. In 2016, he pulled out before the third round with injury.

That meant he went into Sunday's final with a Roland Garros record of 92 wins and two defeats.

A fiercely contested first set was closer than the scoreline suggests, Nadal rattling off the final four games to edge ahead after 55 tense minutes.

Both players understood the importance of making a quick start, Nadal attempting to take advantage of any mental and physical fatigue in his opponent, who only finished his delayed semi-final against top seed Djokovic less than 24 hours earlier.

The result was a physical battle, full of intense rallies as each man tried to gain the upper hand by brute force.

Thiem earned the first break point of the match at 2-2, putting away an overhead which left many inside Chatrier - which only included a handful of red and white-clad Austrian fans - jumping to their feet in celebration.

Nadal responded instantly, earning three break points in the next game and taking the second with a precise forehand which fizzed past Thiem.

Sticking with Nadal was one thing, turning that into taking a set off the champion proved to be a tougher task.

Nadal saw off another break point in a lengthy service game for a 4-3 lead, a pivotal moment as he moved 5-3 ahead as an aggressive backhand rocked Thiem on break point.

That left Nadal serving for the opening set, which he clinched when Thiem dragged a backhand wide on the second set point.

Mental and physical exertions take their toll on Thiem

Thiem knew he could scarcely afford to go a set behind the reigning champion - and falling two adrift would have all but extinguished his hopes.

Following the intensity of the opening set, the level dropped in the second as serve dominated.

Only six receiving points were won in the opening 11 games - five for Nadal and just one for Thiem - before Thiem, out of nowhere, found himself with two set points.

And the Austrian levelled the match when Nadal blinked again, hitting a backhand long after a 10-shot rally.

But the exertions of winning that set, playing four days in a row and having 24 hours fewer than Nadal to recover from the semi-finals, perhaps took their toll.

Nadal nipped off court at the end of the set, possibly for a mental reset as much as anything else, leaving Thiem waiting on the baseline for the start of the third set.

Whether Nadal was using delaying tactics or not, the break of momentum worked.

Thiem delivered a poor service game as Nadal broke to love, the Spaniard backing that up with a hold to love sealed with an exquisite stun volley that even prompted a thumbs up from the Austrian.

Nadal won the opening 11 points of the third and clinched the double break with a trademark forehand down the line, an exuberant quadruple fist-pump celebration along the baseline stressing its importance.

Thiem won just seven points in the third set before ending a miserable 30 minutes with another unforced error into the net.

He began to look weary in the fourth set - particularly mentally - and Nadal smelt blood.

The Spaniard moved into a 3-0 lead, after seeing off break points in his two service games, before breaking again for a 5-1 lead.

Although Thiem saved one match point, he could not prevent the inevitable and batted a Nadal serve long to spark jubilant celebrations from the Spaniard.

Analysis

Former British number one Greg Rusedski on BBC Radio 5 Live

That was by far the best match we've seen at these championships.

Thiem was physically standing toe-to-toe with Nadal in the first set. We knew Thiem had to get off a great start to win his first major and he did that. It was electrifying.

It had a different feel to last year's final. Thiem wasn't overawed. He was not like a deer in headlights as he was last year in his first major final.

But it was about as well as I've seen Nadal play on a clay court and that's saying a lot for an 12-time champion.

Editor’s Note: Holley Hollan, 17, is a rookie in the NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget Series. From June 5 through June 10, Hollan will be sharing her experiences with SPEED SPORT subscribers while competing during Indiana Midget Week. 

Hollan drives the No. 67k Toyota-powered midget for Keith Kunz Motorsports. Below is her fifth diary entry, recapping Saturday night’s events at Lawrenceburg Speedway in Lawrenceburg, Ind.

LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. – The fifth night of Indiana Midget Week at Lawrenceburg Speedway was crazy for us in a lot of ways, and not just because of some of the moves we saw on the track!

It was tough sledding for our No. 67k SiriusXM Bullet/Toyota. The night started out a bit rough in qualifying, and it’s proof of how tough it is as a rookie to go to new tracks and have to get up to speed quickly, especially with qualifying being such a critical part of the night.

That’s one of the lessons I feel like can’t be stated enough, is how important your qualifying laps are in the USAC format. If you don’t quite get it right there, you’re buried pretty deep, so those two laps truly set up your entire night. We just didn’t have what we needed in qualifying on top and ended up 23rd.

Because we cut a right-rear tire in our heat race, we had to start deep in the B-main, and started 10th in the B and just got to seventh to pick up the final transfer spot into the main event. That was tough, but it was a little bit fun to have a hard battle with my teammate Tanner Carrick in that one as well.

In the feature, we passed five or six cars, which was some good experience for me, but I made some mistakes later on and got tight on the cushion. We fell back to 17th, but it’s tricky for some of the best.

This track definitely teaches you that you have to learn fast when you’re racing with these USAC guys. There’s no time to waste. You can make four good laps, and one bad lap will kill you. Consistency is everything and making good, clean laps adds up.

It’s constantly the best competition and even just making it to the feature at this point in the week isn’t easy. I’m not thrilled about our Saturday, but I know that I don’t have much to hang my head about either.

This has been a tough week, but I know we’re still learning and I just have to keep pushing. Hopefully the rain holds off and we can race at Kokomo, because I’ve been there before and I’m optimistic!

UPDATE: Just after press time, the Indiana Midget Week finale at Kokomo Speedway was rained out.

Hollan’s prior entries can be accessed via the links below:

Entry No. 1: Rough Start For Hollan

Entry No. 2: Heat Win Gives Hollan A Boost

Entry No. 3: Hollan Fights Through Adversity

Entry No. 4: Hollan Keeps Learning At Bloomington

JEREZ, Spain – Michael van der Mark became the third winner of the World Superbike season on Saturday at Circuito de Jerez.

An uncharacteristic error from World Superbike championship leader Alvaro Bautista, who earlier in the day earned his 13th win of the year in the Superpole race. At the start of lap two Bautista suffered his first crash in World Superbike competition, ending his shot at sweeping the weekend.

The battle for the win then came alive as Jonathan Rea and van der Mark went head-to-head in the Spanish sun, resulting in the Dutchman taking his first win of the year, whilst Toprak Razgatlioglu romped to third and yet another podium.

Into turn one on the opening lap, Marco Melandr took the initial advantage. Alex Lowes crashed in turn two on the opening lap, ending his day. Later in the lap, Bautista took the lead in turn five as van der Mark followed him past Melandri.

Disater soon struck Bautista as he crashed in turn one on the second lap. He was able to remount and continue, but he brought his bike to the pits soon after.

At the front it was now Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea on point with van der Mark in pursuit.

With 15 laps to go the top-five were covered by less than a second. In turn five Melandri tried to slip by Chaz Davies, but the move failed and both riders crashed out of the race.

Rea remained in the lead, but van der Mark had other ideas. He took the lead in turn six with 14 laps left and while Rea tried to stay close, he wasn’t able to stay in striking distance.

Van der Mark cruised to a comfortable victory from that point forward, besting Rea at the checkered by more than three seconds. Razgatlioglu was third with Michael Ruben Rinaldi a career-best fourth and Leon Haslam in fifth.