Spieth beats Cantlay on first playoff hole at RBC Heritage
Jordan Spieth hit a 56-foot shot from a greenside bunker to 7 inches and beat Patrick Cantlay with the tapin par putt on the first hole of a playoff Sunday in the RBC Heritage.
Playing four groups ahead of Cantlay, Spieth birdied Harbour Town’s par-4 18th lighthouse hole in regulation, holing a 10-footer for a 5-under 66 and 13-under 271 total. Cantlay parred the 18th in regulation for a 68.
When Spieth finished, he was a stroke behind Shane Lowry. But Lowry’s chip on the par-3 14th raced across the green and into the water, leading to double bogey. He finished a stroke back after a 69.
In the playoff, Cantlay also hit into the front bunker, with his lie looking like a fried egg. He blasted 35 feet past the cup and missed the par putt.
Three strokes behind Harold Varner III entering the round, Spieth eagled both front-nine par 5s to get into the mix.
Spieth won his 13th PGA Tour title and second
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straight on Easter Sunday after taking the Valero Texas Open a year ago to end a four-year drought.
Next Easter Sunday? The final round of the Masters.
“That’s good vibes,” said Spieth, a three-time Masters champion.
Cam Davis (63) also was a stroke back with Varner (70), J.T. Poston (64), Cameron Young (66), Sepp Straka (68), Matt Kuchar (68).
Tsitsipas repeats at Monte Carlo
Stefanos Tsitsipas became the first repeat champion at the Monte Carlo Masters since Rafael Nadal in 2018 with a 6-3, 7-6 (3) win against unseeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Sunday.
Davidovich Fokina, the Spaniard who knocked out Novak Djokovic in the second round, was playing his first ATP final.
Tsitsipas won the first set despite conceding an early break. Davidovic Fokina overcame an early break in the second and broke twice.
Tsitsipas squandered a chance to serve out the match at 5-4 but still wrapped up the final in 1 hour, 34 minutes.
Chelsea earns spot in FA Cup final
Complete the sale of Chelsea inside four weeks and the new ownership will have an FA Cup final against Liverpool to attend.
Who will be representing the club in the royal box at Wembley Stadium on May 14 is still to be determined.
As the three remaining bidders wait to discover if they are chosen to buy out sanctioned Russian owner Roman Abramovich, the west London club beat Crystal Palace 2-0 in the semifinals of world soccer’s oldest competition on Sunday.
Goals from Ruben LoftusCheek and Mason Mount ensured the eight-time FA Cup winners will be back at
Wembley on May 14 to face Liverpool which beat them at the national stadium on penalties in the League Cup final in February.
Before then it could take 3 billion pounds ($4 billion) to gain control of Chelsea once the enforced sale goes through.
The ownership contenders are, in part, being assessed on how much they will have to invest throughout the club, including player recruitment. The victory over Patrick Vieira’s Palace was produced by goals from graduates of the Chelsea academy that benefited from Abramovich’s lavish spending.
Busch prevails in the dirt at Bristol
Kyle Busch slipped past the spinning cars of Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe to steal his first Cup win of the season Sunday night on slick, wet, dirt-covered Bristol Motor Speedway.
Reddick was chasing the first Cup win of his career, led 99 of the 250 laps, and controlled the race from the final restart with 24 laps remaining. But lapped traffic allowed Briscoe to close in on Reddick and he timed his move for the win for the third turn, when Briscoe tried to slide his way past Reddick on the inside.
The move backfired and both cars spun out of control and Busch, who was running third, simply skirted through for his first win.
“We got one, you know?” Busch said. “It doesn’t matter how you get them, it’s all about getting them.”
Busch won for the ninth time in Cup at Bristol — first time in two dirt races — and was booed by the smattering of fans who waited out two rain delays that pushed the first race on Easter Sunday since 1989 to nearly four hours.
Reddick finished second and faulted himself for not holding off Briscoe. Briscoe went from two turns away from the win to 22nd and immediately found Reddick on pit road to apologize.
“I’m sorry, I just wanted to let you know,” Briscoe said.
Rain stopped the race for a second time moments before the race was supposed to go green with 30 laps remaining.
NBA unveils trio of finalists for MVP
Nikola Jokic is a finalist to win a second straight NBA MVP award, along with two-time winner Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid.
The NBA unveiled the topthree finishers in voting for its individual awards Sunday, with the expected names in the running for the marquee award.
Jokic, the Denver Nuggets center, ended Antetokounmpo’s two-year reign last season and was every bit as good this season. Embiid, hoping to join them in the MVP club, led the NBA in scoring.
The winners of the awards will be announced during the postseason.