Inside: NFL teams battle for playoff position Sunday, NFL Roundup,
Alabama was No. 1 for the fifth week in a row Sunday and extended its streak of consecutive poll appearances to 210, the third-longest in the history of The Associated Press college football poll.
The Crimson Tide were the unanimous No. 1 for the third straight week and the top seven teams were unchanged for a fifth consecutive poll.
Notre Dame was No. 2, followed by Ohio State, Clemson and Texas A&M to round out the top five. No. 6 Florida and No. 7 Cincinnati also held their spots.
Alabama’s poll appearance streak passed Florida’s run of 209 under Steve Spurrier from 1990-2002. Up next is Florida State’s streak of 211 during the Bobby Bowden era from 1989-2001. The record belongs to Nebraska at 348 from 1981-2002.
BYU was the only top10 team to lose, falling in a thriller at Coastal Carolina on Saturday. The Cougars dropped six spots to No. 14 and the Chanticleers jumped three spots to No. 11. SOUTH CAROLINA HIRES BEAMER >> South Carolina has made it official, hiring ex-assistant Shane Beamer as its head football coach.
Beamer, 43, came to campus alongside athletic director Ray Tanner and was introduced to the team after spending the past three seasons as assistant head coach and tight ends coach at Oklahoma.
The son of longtime Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer takes over for Will Muschamp, who was fired last month with three games left in the season.
Golf
HOVLAND WINS MAYAKOBA >> Viktor Hovland of Norway holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 6-under 65 and a one-shot victory in the Mayakoba Golf
Classic, his second PGA Tour victory this year.
It was the first time since the Mayakoba Classic began in 2007 that it was won with a birdie putt on the final hole. For the 23-yearold Hovland, it’s old hat. He made a 30-foot birdie putt on the last hole to win the Puerto Rico Open in February.
Aaron Wise closed with a 63 and did everything right over the last two holes except make the birdie putts. Tied for the lead, he missed birdie putts from 12 feet on each of the last two holes at El Camaleon Golf Club. STANFORD WINS IN TEXAS >> Angela Stanford won her home LPGA Tour event in front of her parents, closing with a 4-under 67 for a twostroke victory in the Volunteers of America Classic.
The 43-year- old former TCU star from Fort Worth won her seventh LPGA Tour title and first since the major Evian Championship in 2018. She finished at 7-under 277 at Old American Golf Club in the event that started in bone- chilling cold Thursday.
Inbee Park, So Yeon Ryu and 19-year-old Yealimi Noh, tied for the third-round lead, each shot 70 to tie for second in the final tuneup before the U.S. Women’s Open next week at Champions Golf Club in Houston.
HALL OF FAMER ALLISS DIES >> Peter Alliss, who became the eccentric “Voice of Golf” on British television after a playing career in which he competed in eight Ryder Cups and was Europe’s best golfer for two seasons, has died. He was 89.
Alliss won 23 tournaments worldwide in a professional career that ended in 1974 and was the Vardon Trophy winner — for the leading player on the British PGA, the forerunner to the European Tour — in 1964 and ‘66. He played for Britain and Ireland in his first Ryder Cup in 1953 and in every one from 1957-1969.