Burns pulls away at Innisbrook, claims first title
PALM HARBOR, FLA. » Eight times this season, Sam Burns has been atop the leaderboard after every round except the one that mattered. That changed, finally, at the Valspar Championship.
Burns got some help from Keegan Bradley hitting into the water on the 13th hole, and then the 24-year-old from Louisiana took it from there with two big birdies that led to a 3-under 68 and a three-shot victory Sunday.
Burns won for the first time on the PGA Tour after twice failing to convert 54hole leads in the Houston Open last fall and the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in February.
The victory moves him into the top 50 in the world and all but assures a spot in the U.S. Open, along with his first trip to the Masters next spring.
Burns was wiping away tears when he tapped in for a meaningless bogey on the final hole, especially to see his wife, parents and other family members pour onto the green to celebrate the moment with him.
“I’ve worked so hard for this moment,” Burns said. “They’ve all sacrificed so much.”
6 cars out of IndyCar at Texas after raceopening crash
FORT WORTH, TEXAS » A big crash in the back of the field took six IndyCar drivers out of Sunday’s race at Texas even before they were able to take the green flag.
Pietro Fittipaldi hit Sebastien Bourdais from behind, knocking the fourtime open-wheel champion into Alexander Rossi. The cars of Ed Jones, Dalton Kellett and Conor Daly also were destroyed in the crash that happened after the green flag had dropped, but before any of them had crossed the start-finish line for first time.
Daly, who was starting at the back of the 24-car field, got knocked upside down after he got caught between two other cars. He slid upside down along the front stretch before the car planted into the rain-saturated infield grass and flipped back onto its wheels.
“I’m good, I’m all right,” Daly said afterward.
Fittipaldi said the field suddenly showed down ahead of him and, “I had nowhere to go.” He said he had a sprained finger.
It took quite a while to clean up all of the debris, with the race not going green again until the 20th lap.
Busch celebrates birthday with win at Kansas Speedway
KANSAS CITY, KAN. » Kyle Busch thought he had a third-place car Sunday. His crew chief, Ben Beshore, though it was good enough for second.
Both of them turned out to be wrong.
Instead, Busch was perfect on a pair of late restarts and won a two-lap sprint to the finish at Kansas Speedway, becoming the 10th different winner through the first 11 races of a topsy-turvy NASCAR Cup Series season.
On his 36th birthday, no less.
“We ran up front all day,” Busch said. “Just trying to make adjustments all day long to get it where we wanted. The final adjustments were a positive for us. Didn’t necessarily take us from a third-place car to a winning car but the restarts did.”
Busch had
stalked Kyle
Larson all afternoon before beating him on a late restart to take the lead. Then, after another caution in the closing laps, Busch followed up his Truck Series win Saturday night by earning another trip to victory lane.
“That’s a Kyle Busch win right there,” he said with a smile.
It’s his 17th straight season with a win, tying David Pearson for second on the all-time list and moving him within one of Richard Petty’s record streak. It also was his first with Beshore calling the shots from the pit box, and it gives Joe Gibbs Racing three drivers qualified for the playoffs along with Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell.
Nadal enters Madrid Open with improvement on his mind
MADRID » Rafael Nadal hopes to use the Madrid Open to keep improving ahead of the French Open after a slow start to the season.
Nadal won the Barcelona Open last week for his first title of the year. The second-ranked Spaniard has been slowly gaining his best form following a long layoff
prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.
“I haven’t played a lot, this will be only my fourth tournament of the year,” Nadal said. “Now it’s time to push, to make that extra effort entering the next three months.”
Nadal is also expected to play in Rome before returning to Roland Garros to try to win a record-extending 14th French Open title.
After losing to Andrey Rublev in the Monte Carlo quarterfinals, Nadal dropped multiple sets in Barcelona before eventually outlasting Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final.
“Barcelona was a step forward for me,” Nadal said. “Without playing my best since the beginning, I was able to be passionate, to stay positive and to accept the challenge, try to win matches without playing my best.”
He said the title, his record 12th in Barcelona, gave him a confidence boost.
Officials ID body, say it’s lover of Puerto Rican boxer
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO » A 27-year-old woman whose body was found in a lagoon was the lover of Puerto Rican boxer Félix Verdejo, who has been questioned by police and whose car was seized overnight, authorities said Sunday.
No one has been arrested in the case, and Verdejo and his attorneys have declined comment. Police have said that Verdejo did not cooperate and refused to answer questions.
Puerto Rico’s Institute of Forensic Science said in a statement that Keishla Rodríguez was identified via dental records, and that officials are still analyzing Verdejo’s car.
Rodríguez’s family has said she was pregnant with Verdejo’s child. Keila Ortiz, the victim’s mother, told reporters that her daughter had called her before she vanished on Thursday and told her Verdejo was going to her house to see the results of a pregnancy test.
“I told her, be careful, because he had already threatened her” and told her not to have the baby, mentioning his career and family, she said.
Verdejo is married but has known Rodríguez since middle school and had kept in touch with her, her parents said. They reported her missing after she never showed up to work at an animal grooming business.
Verdejo (27-2, 17 knockouts) is a former Olympian who represented Puerto Rico in 2012, the same year he became a professional boxer competing in the lightweight division. His career was temporarily sidetracked after a 2016 motorcycle accident that saw him hospitalized.
The case has outraged many in Puerto Rico, where another woman was recently found burned to death after she filed a domestic violence complaint that a judge dismissed. A Superior Court judge has announced an investigation into that decision.
Ex-NASCAR driver Eric McClure dies at 42; autopsy pending
ABINGDON, VA. » Former NASCAR driver Eric McClure died Sunday, his family and the series said. He was 42.
No details were given about his death. McClure had posted on social media as recently as Saturday.
The Washington County sheriff’s office said McClure’s body was sent to Roanoke for an autopsy.
“We are saddened to learn of the passing of former driver and (team) owner Eric McClure. NASCAR extends its deepest condolences to Eric’s family and friends,” NASCAR said in a statement.
McClure was the nephew of former Cup team owner Larry McClure and spent the majority of his career racing in the Xfinity Series. He made 288 career starts over 14 seasons with a career-best finish of eighth at Daytona in 2013.
He last raced in 2016. “The family of Eric Wayne McClure, former NASCAR driver, announces with great sorrow his passing on Sunday,” his family said in a statement. “They would like to thank everyone for their prayers and support during this very difficult time.”
McClure’s career was cut short by health issues. He suffered at least two concussions in his career and the native of Chilhowie, Virginia, later said he was left with lingering headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, sensitivity to light, bouts of depression and forgetfulness.