‘Gronk’ Bowl will now be part of holiday lineup
Goodbye, Jimmy Kimmel. Hello, Rob Gronkowski to the world of college football bowl games.
The LA Bowl announced Saturday that Gronkowski has signed a multiyear agreementto partner with the college football postseason game.LA Bowl Hosted By Gronk will take place at SoFi Stadium Dec. 16 and match teams from the Mountain West and Pac-12 conferences.
“Jimmy was a fantastic host and brought a lot of elements to the game. But it’s my turn now and I’m going to turn it up, that’s for sure,” said Gronkowski, who played his senior high school season at Woodland Hills.
Kimmel, a late-night talk showhost on ABC, had his nameon the game in 2021 and 2022.
Golf
Dustin Johnson and Talor Gooch each made consecutive birdies late in their matches that sent their respective teams into the final roundof the LIV Golf team championship at Doral. Johnson and Phil Mickelson were all square going to the 16th hole at Trump Doral. Johnson birdied the next two holes for a 2-and-1 victory, a decisive point for his defendingchampion 4 Aces team. The4 Aces, Range Goats, Crushers and Torque will competefor the big prize Sunday.
•Justin Suh shot a 3-under 67and will take the lead of a PGATour event into the final round for the first time in his career. A shot back in the
Zozo Championship in Inzai City, Japan, are Eric Cole and Beau Hossler, who are also seeking their first PGA Tour victories.
Auto racing
Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 19 for Joe Gibbs Racing, gave Toyota its 500th pole in NASCAR competition witha pole victory for the NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday in Homestead, Fla. Truex turned a lap of 167.441 mph, ahead of teammates Bubba-Wallace (167.115 mph) and Tyler Reddick (166.955), who qualified second and third. Among Cup contenders, Kyle Larson qualified fifth, William Byron seventh, Ryan Blaney 10th and Denny Hamlin 11th.
Figure skating
Ilia Malinin, 18, performed anear-flawless free skate to easily defend his crown at Skate America in Allen, Texas. Malinin landed four quads and never bobbled on any of his seven jump sequences, piling up a careerbest 310.47 points to easily out distance second-place Kevin Aymoz of France.
College hockey
The Robert Morris women fell to 3-5-0 with a 2-1 loss to undefeated Clarkson. Alaina Giampetro scored for the Colonials.
Pro basketball
The New York Liberty intend to use the franchise tag on Breanna Stewart. New York hopes to bring back most ofthe same team in 2024 that finished second to the WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces.
Soccer
Bobby Charlton, an
English soccer icon who survived a plane crash that decimated a Manchester United team destined for greatness to become the heartbeat of his country’s1966 World Cup-winning team, died Saturday.He was 86. Charlton was the leading scorer for both United(249 goals) and England(49 goals) for more than 40years until being overtaken by Wayne Rooney.
Pan Am Games
Swimmer Paige Madden, 23, broke the 400-meter freestyle record of the Pan American Games to win the gold medaland help the United Statesto a leading nine golds aftertwo days in Santiago, Chile. Madden’s record time was4:06.45, bettering the mar set by Canada’s Emily Overholt in 2015.
Tennis
Ben Shelton rallied from a setdown to beat American qualifier Marcos Giron 6-7 (2), 7-6(5), 6-4 at the Japan Open in Tokyo to reach his first tour final. Shelton, 21, will face Aslan Karatsev in the final.