Rose ends his drought with triumph at Pebble Beach
Justin Rose had a different set of goals at the start of the year.
His back was starting to become bothersome. His world ranking sank to its lowest point in 13 years. And he had reason to wonder if he would spend the first full week in April somewhere other than Augusta National.
All that changed Monday morning when Rose capped off a long week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with three quick birdies and four steady pars that gave him a three-shot victory, his first in four years.
Along with the crystal trophy — his 11th on the PGA Tour, 23rd worldwide — and the $1.62 million prize comes an invitation to the Masters. Rose has been eligible for every major dating to St. Andrews in 2010, a streak he did not want to end.
“Augusta’s definitely been a big part of being on my mind,” Rose said after closing with a 6-under 66 in cool but pristine conditions at Pebble Beach. “I thought the simple way to approach it was try to play my way into the top 50 in the world ... claw my way up the world rankings and make it that way.
“Obviously this,” he said, tapping the crystal on a table next to him, “is a better way to make it by winning a tournament. So yeah, big relief from that point of view.”
The wind-delayed tournament forced a Monday finish, and Rose had staked himself to a two-shot lead Sunday night with an eagle-birdie-par stretch along the ocean.
And then he delivered a knockout punch early to as many as a dozen players who were within three shots of the lead at various points on the course.
After a good two-putt par on the 10th to resume his round, Rose holed a 25-foot birdie putt on the 11th, a 20-foot birdie putt on the 13th and then hit a wedge to the back shelf on the par-5 14th to 8 feet for a third birdie.
From there, it was about playing it safe and soaking up the views.
For all the weather this week — and it was everything, all the time — the final three hours featured a stunning blue sky and big surf, waves crashing into the rocks and adding to a scenery that already is among the best in golf.
Rose finished three shots clear of Brendon Todd (65) and Brandon Wu (66).
The 42-year-old from England had not won since Torrey Pines in January 2019, when he was No. 1 in the world. He finished last year at No. 76, his lowest point since early in 2010.
“Amazing how long it’s been,” said Rose, whose victory moved him to No. 35.
Denny McCarthy was two shots behind when play resumed and had birdie chances on the 16th and 17th that he couldn’t covert. He wound up with a 64 and finished four shots behind, along with Keith Mitchell (68) and Peter Malnati (69).
Purdue remained atop The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll despite suffering a loss, while Marquette pushed into the top 10 and North Carolina State made its first poll appearance in four years.
The Boilermakers earned 38 of 62 first-place votes to remain at No. 1 for a third straight week and seventh time this season. Purdue was the unanimous choice last week before falling at Indiana over the weekend for only its second loss this season.
Houston rose to No. 2 with 22 first-place votes, followed by Alabama, Arizona and Texas to round out the top tier.
Tennessee fell four spots to No. 6, followed by UCLA, Virginia, Kansas and Marquette — with Shaka Smart’s Golden Eagles cracking the top 10 for the first time since 2019.
That also marked the last time the Wolfpack landed in the AP Top 25, spending a six-week stint there during the 2018-19 season. But N.C. State’s 19 wins already have surpassed the total for each of the last two seasons.
Gradey Dick scored 21 points, Dajuan Harris Jr. had 17 points, six rebounds and five assists, and the host Jayhawks held on after blowing a 14-point firsthalf lead to beat the Longhorns on Monday night.
Kansas (19-5, 7-4 Big 12) overcame an off night from Jalen Wilson. The league’s leading scorer battled foul trouble and was held to two points, ending his streak of 25 straight double-figure games.
Marcus Carr of Texas (19-5, 8-3) had 29 points.
South Carolina beat a top opponent to remain No. 1 in The AP women’s poll and now has a showdown with another one looming this weekend.
The Gamecocks (23-0) topped then-No. 5 UConn 81-77 on Sunday to stay the unanimous choice atop the poll from the 28-member national media panel. South Carolina will play No. 3 LSU on Sunday in a matchup of the last two unbeatens in Division I women’s college basketball.
The Gamecocks have won 29 consecutive games and have been No. 1 for 33 consecutive weeks.
Indiana is making its first appearance ever at No. 2 after Stanford lost to Washington.
The Hoosiers have won 10 straight since suffering their lone loss of the season to Michigan State. Indiana hadn’t been ranked higher than fourth before Monday.
LSU remained at No. 3 after close wins over Tennessee, Georgia and Texas A&M. UConn moved up one spot to fourth and Iowa was fifth. Stanford fell to sixth with Utah, Maryland, Duke and Notre Dame rounding out the top 10.
UCLA dropped spots to No. 18. four
Shiffrin doesn’t finish first event of worlds
American skier Mikaela Shiffrin missed what looked like a certain gold medal on the opening day of the world championships in Meribel, France, skiing out of the women’s combined race with the finish in sight.
Shiffrin straddled the third-to-last gate in her slalom run while appearing to be close to beating first-run leader and eventual winner Federica Brignone of Italy.
Shiffrin, the defending champion in the race, was competing in her first major event since failing to win a medal in six starts at last year’s Beijing Olympics.
The American is having a standout season on the World Cup circuit, where she has won 11 races, including five slaloms, from 23 starts and looks to be on the way to her fifth overall title — generally regarded the most important prize in ski racing.
She won three races within six days two weeks ago to raise her career tally to 85 World Cup victories, beating former teammate Lindsey Vonn’s women’s record of 82.
World championship races do not count toward World Cup wins.
Shiffrin was trailing Brignone by 0.96 seconds after the super-G portion of Monday’s race but had made up 0.88 of that difference in her slalom run before skiing out.
The combined event adds the results of a superG run and a slalom run.
Shiffrin’s next race is the super-G on Wednesday.
She has won six world titles and 11 medals overall from 13 previous starts at world championships.
Marsch let go as Leeds manager
American coach Jesse Marsch was fired by Leeds after nearly a year in charge of the relegation-threatened Premier League team.
Leeds hasn’t won any of its last seven games in the league and has dropped into 17th place in the 20team division, only out of the relegation zone on goal difference.
Marsch’s last game was a 1-0 loss at Nottingham Forest on Sunday, after which he said he understood the frustrations of fans calling for his dismissal.
The 49-year-old Marsch was hired in February last year as a replacement for Marcelo Bielsa, who was manager for 31/2 years and got Leeds promoted to the Premier League after an absence of 16 years.
Under Marsch, Leeds preserved its Premier League status on the final day of last season but has struggled again during this campaign and is without a win since Nov. 5.
Marsch had 37 games as Leeds manager and won 11.
Among the club’s four signings in the January transfer window was Weston McKennie, a midfielder whose arrival took the contingent of U.S. players to three after Brenden Aaronson and Tyler Adams.
Marsch also brought in another American, Chris Armas, as his assistant last month.
Marsch played 14 Major League Soccer seasons, including four with Chivas USA (2006-09).