U.S./World Sports category, Page 90
Recent winners Chris Buescher and William Byron open NASCAR playoffs as unwitting favoritesVideo
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Chris Buescher and William Byron have this in common: Neither wants to declare himself the favorite heading into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Both have a strong case, though. Buescher won three of the last five regular-season races, including the finale Saturday night at Daytona International...
Frances Tiafoe, other U.S. men know it’s been 20 years since Andy Roddick’s U.S. Open titleVideo
NEW YORK — They were 10 words, 10 simple and factual and essentially harmless words — “It’s 20 years since Andy Roddick won the singles here … ” Yet as soon as that phrase hung in the air at Frances Tiafoe’s pre-U.S. Open news conference, and before the question could...
Chris Buescher wins at Daytona, eliminating Chase Elliott and helping Bubba Wallace land final NASCAR playoff berth
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Chris Buescher has become a NASCAR title contender in less than a month. Buescher won the Cup Series regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night, eliminating fan favorite Chase Elliott from playoff contention and sending Bubba Wallace into the postseason. Buescher and teammate Brad...
Viktor Hovland shoots 66 for 6-shot lead at Tour Championship to close in on FedEx Cup titleVideo
ATLANTA — Viktor Hovland delivered another sterling performance, this time starting from the top that allowed him to pull away Saturday in the Tour Championship with a 4-under-par 66 that gave him a six-shot lead going into the final round of the PGA Tour season. That leaves the Norwegian star...
Hartman throws 4 TD passes as No. 13 Notre Dame opens with a 42-3 win over Navy in IrelandVideo
DUBLIN — Sam Hartman threw for four touchdowns in his Notre Dame debut, and the No. 13 Fighting Irish routed Navy, 42-3, on Saturday in a season-opening victory in Ireland’s capital. Notre Dame (1-0) scored at will by air and on the ground against the Midshipmen (0-1), improving to 3-0...
Former Cup Series champ Kurt Busch formally retires while still recovering from concussionVideo
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Kurt Busch, the 2004 NASCAR champion who stepped away from racing last season after a significant concussion, officially retired Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. Busch, 45, held back tears as he called it quits while sitting on the same stage where he celebrated one of his...
Big Ten preview: Michigan, Ohio State again are a cut above the rest in Big Ten’s final season before expansion
If the Big Ten’s final season with a 14-team, two-division setup plays out the way it has since the conference expanded in 2014, an East team will win the championship and it will be Michigan or Ohio State. The preseason No. 2 Wolverines and No. 3 Buckeyes have flip-flopped as...
ACC preview: No. 9 Clemson has been atop the ACC for years; No. 8 Florida State is hoping to get back there
Clemson has been in control of the Atlantic Coast Conference for nearly a decade. Florida State aims to challenge that this fall. The ninth-ranked Tigers are the preseason favorite after winning the ACC title for the seventh time in eight seasons. The Seminoles, however, are ranked higher in the AP...
FIFA suspends Spain soccer federation president Luis Rubiales for 90 days after World Cup final kiss
GENEVA — FIFA suspended Spanish soccer federation president Luis Rubiales from office on Saturday while its disciplinary committee investigates his conduct at the Women’s World Cup final, which included kissing a player on the lips without her consent. The ruling comes six days after Rubiales was accused of becoming a...
Morikawa breaks Tiger’s 36-hole mark at East Lake and shares Tour Championship lead with HovlandVideo
ATLANTA — One bad shot during practice led to Collin Morikawa spending two hours looking for a fix. And now he has a scoring record at East Lake that previously belonged to Tiger Woods. Morikawa followed his 61 with another clean card for a 6-under-par 64 on Friday in the...
Chase Briscoe qualifies on the pole for NASCAR’s regular-season finale at DaytonaVideo
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Chase Briscoe won the pole Friday for the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway. Briscoe had a lap at 181.822 mph in the No. 14 Ford in the final round of qualifying, edging Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Aric Almirola for the No. 1 starting...
Iga Swiatek takes measured approach to repeating as U.S. Open champion
Iga Swiatek wants to win the U.S. Open again, of course. She just doesn’t want to think about trying to win the U.S. Open again. Make sense? Let’s let the No. 1-ranked Swiatek explain. “I already had many opportunities to play tournaments as a defending champion, and, for me, it’s...
US Open 2023: Novak Djokovic is back for the first time in 2 years and seeking a 24th majorVideo
NEW YORK — Novak Djokovic is back in the United States, back in New York and back at the U.S. Open for the first time in two years. Unable to compete at Flushing because he was not allowed to fly to the country as a foreign citizen who is not...
Spanish soccer player says kiss on lips with federation president was not consensualVideo
BARCELONA, Spain — The embattled president of Spain’s soccer federation defiantly refused to step down Friday after insisting a kiss on the lips with women’s soccer player Jenni Hermoso was consensual, an assertion Hermoso strongly denied. Meanwhile, all 22 of Hermoso’s fellow world champions, and 58 other Spanish players, announced...
Collin Morikawa goes from 9 back to tie for Tour Championship lead
ATLANTA — Collin Morikawa faced a tough road at the Tour Championship, starting the tournament nine shots behind but knowing he had 72 holes — and an example from Rory McIlroy last year — to make up ground in the FedEx Cup finale. He managed to do that in one...
Hall of Fame hardcore wrestler Terry Funk dies at 79: ‘Unbelievably Fearless’Video
The enduring memory of iconic pro wrestler Terry Funk is of him in a Tokyo ring screaming “forever” over and over, his face stained with blood, sweat and tears. It was Aug. 31, 1983 — nearly 40 years ago — and he was announcing his retirement from wrestling in Japan....
College football preview: Can USC’s Caleb Williams become 2-time Heisman Trophy winner?Video
Here we are again. Just like last year, college football has a returning Heisman Trophy winner — this time, USC quarterback Caleb Williams — trying to join the sport’s most exclusive club: Two-time winners of the most prestigious player of the year award. Ohio State running back Archie Griffin stands...
QB-coordinator reunions could spark offenses at schools such as Alabama, N.C. State
RALEIGH, N.C. — Brennan Armstrong arrived at N.C. State trying to get a feel for new teammates as a graduate transfer from Virginia. As for the offense? No problem. That’s because Armstrong thrived under first-year coordinator Robert Anae at his previous stop, making this one of multiple passer-playcaller reunions nationally...
North Carolina QB Drake Maye welcomes high expectations after rapid rise to stardomVideo
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The first preseason practice had wrapped up, and North Carolina players gathered around coach Mack Brown for final on-field instructions. Drake Maye dropped to his left knee among them, resting his left hand on the facemask of his helmet laying next to him. Fittingly, he centered...
College football 2023: Cal’s Jackson Sirmon among nation’s under-the-radar players
Besides his fumble return for the go-ahead touchdown against rival Stanford, California star linebacker Jackson Sirmon didn’t have much to celebrate last season. Still, Sirmon said it wasn’t a difficult decision to return and use the sixth year of eligibility granted to players whose careers were disrupted by the pandemic....
College football 2023: Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman heads list of impact transfers
Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman won’t get a chance to add to his ACC record for career touchdown passes in his final season. But the former Wake Forest star’s new stop will allow him to face plenty of familiar foes. Hartman opted to use his final season of college eligibility...
With super conferences, CFP expansion on horizon, 2023 is end of an era in college footballVideo
Welcome to the final season of college football as we know it. Extreme? Maybe, but 2023 has an end-of-an-era feel. Texas and Oklahoma are taking their last lap in the Big 12. The Pac-12 is still a Power Five conference. Will it even be a conference in 2024 after the...
Lionel Messi converts PK, assists on 2 goals, leading Miami past MLS-best CincinnatiVideo
CINCINNATI — Lionel Messi had two assists and converted a penalty kick as Inter Miami rallied from a two-goal deficit and beat MLS-leading Cincinnati 5-4 in penalties in a U.S. Open Cup semifinal on Wednesday night. Cincinnati jumped to a 2-0 lead before Messi set up a pair of goals...
ACC progressing toward westward expansion with Stanford, Cal, SMU potential targetsVideo
The Atlantic Coast Conference is making progress toward an expansion that could grab Stanford and California from the sinking Pac-12, a person with direct knowledge of the ACC’s potential move told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the conference was not making its...
U.S. Open 2023: With Serena and Federer retired, Alcaraz-Djokovic symbolizes a transition in tennis
Based on the reactions on social media, it seems everyone in the world of tennis was riveted by Novak Djokovic’s victory over Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the last tournament for both ahead of the U.S. Open. It was a titanic, 3½-hour-plus showdown between the two titans of the...
