Jockey Hamilton to have back surgery Sept. 17
Journeyman jockey Steve “Cowboy” Hamilton, a multiple meet champion in Maryland and winner of more than 1,374 career races, is scheduled to have back surgery Sept. 17 in an attempt to continue his riding career. Hamilton, whoturns 45 on Oct. 11, has not ridden since finishing second and third in a pair of allowance races June10 at Laurel
Persistent rain washed out the Brickyard 400 and delayed the conclusion of NASCAR’s regular season. Rain washed out the entire weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the final race before the playoffs was moved to Monday. Kyle Busch is scheduled to start on the pole alongside Kevin Harvick. NASCAR’s playoffs begin next weekend in Las Vegas.
Alabama is No. 1 at being No. 1 in the Associated Press poll. The Crimson Tide made their 106th overall appearance at the top of the rankings, which started in 1936, passing Ohio State for the most by any school. Alabama received a season-high 54 first-place votes, strengthening its hold on No. 1 over No. 2 Clemson. ... Oklahoma star RB Rodney Anderson is out for the season with a right knee injury. ... Duke QB Daniel Jones is out indefinitely with a broken collarbone, and all-ACC CB Mark Gilbert is done for the season with a hip injury. Both players had surgeries Sunday. ... Texas sophomore OL Patrick Hudson was still in the hospital Saturday after being treated in intensive care for a heat-related illness at practice earlier this week. Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte told the Associated Press he visited Hudson in the hospital and said “he’s great, better.” Del Conte also said Texas is reviewing what happened at Wednesday’s practice and how Hudson was treated by medical staff.
A steady rain washed out play at the BMW Championship in Newtown Square, Pa., and the PGA Tour says it will wait until Monday to decide whether it can try to complete 72 holes of the third FedEx Cup playoff event. If the forecast makes it unlikely to finish, the tour could cut the tournament short to 54 holes. Justin Rose has a one-shot lead over Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele. Avictory gets him to No. 1 in the world ranking. ... Matthew Fitzpatrick sank a 12-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole of a playoff against Lucas Bjerregaard to retain his European Masters title in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
It took a stunning goal for World Cup champion France to get its first win in international soccer’s newest competition. Not from superstar Kylian Mbappe — who did tap in the first goal of France’s 2-1 win over the Netherlands in the UEFA Nations League game in Geneva — and not from Antoine Griezmann or Paul Pogba, as France fielded all 10 outfield starters from the World Cup final. Instead, Olivier Giroud, with one thunderous left-foot volley in the 75th minute at Stade de France, matched his entire tally of on-target efforts during seven games in Russia. The Chelsea forward’s first goal in 11 games for France was his 32nd for Les Bleus — one more than Zinedine Zidane. ... Elsewhere in the Nations League, Denmark’s star players returned after a brief strike to beat Wales 2-0, and Georgia and Macedonia both won again.UEFA launched the Nations League to give all its 55 member countries winnable competitive games and eliminate often disliked and mostly worthless friendlies.
A’ja Wilson capped her stellar year with Rookie of the Year honors. The No. 1 pick in the draft averaged 20.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.7 blocks for the Las Vegas Aces. It’s the second-highest scoring average for a rookie in league history, trailing only Seimone Augustus’ 21.9 points in 2006. The former South Carolina star received all 39 votes from a media panel.