Thread: Sporting News

Originally Posted by S Landreth

The Kentucky Derby starts at 6:57 pm EST. TV coverage starts at 2:30 pm on NBC.

A good race

Taylor Pendrith gets 1st PGA Tour win at Byron Nelson after final-hole collapse from Ben Kohles

Mizuho Americas Open

This week’s Mizuho Americas Open will see 120 LPGA Tour players compete alongside 24 top amateurs from the American Junior Golf Association at Liberty National Golf Club in the second edition of the event hosted by Michelle Wie West. The amateurs will tee it up in their own modified Stableford competition over the four days of tournament play, and these juniors have got some serious game, just like their professional counterparts.

Meet just a few of the AJGA participants in this week’s field at the Mizuho Americas Open:

Defending champion Rose Zhang withdraws from Mizuho Americas Open

Rose Zhang was considered a favorite this week at Liberty National, thanks to her historic victory a year ago at the inaugural playing of the Mizuho Americas Open. But her first title defense of her professional career got stalled before it really got started as the 20-year-old withdrew from the event after playing three holes in the first round on Thursday. The LPGA announced Zhang had withdrawn from the event due to illness

Zhang not only had good memories from this event a year ago—it was her first start after turning pro following a legendary amateur career and in storybook fashion she won to earn immediate membership on the LPGA Tour. She also had momentum from last week’s Cognizant Founders Cup. Zhang claimed her second LPGA victory on Sunday at Upper Montclair Country Club in nearby Clifton, N.J., shooting a final-round 66 including birdies on four of her last five holes to rally past Madelene Sagstrom.

Last year at the Mizhuo, Zhang became the first player since Beverly Hanson in 1951 to win in her first career start as a pro on the LPGA Tour.

Seize the Grey crosses finish line first at Preakness Stakes, ending Mystik Dan's run for Triple Crown

Nelly Korda Comes Up Clutch, Captures Sixth Victory of 2024 Season at Liberty National GC

It’s no wonder that she’s the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1.

After a 2-over opening nine at Liberty National Golf Club, it looked like a sixth 2024 victory might be out of reach for Nelly Korda. But as she’s done so many other times this season, the 13-time LPGA Tour winner dug deep and battled forward, outlasting Hannah Green by one shot to win her sixth title in her last seven starts at the Mizuho Americas Open.

Korda began the round with a two-shot lead over Green, but the Australian immediately picked up a shot on Korda, making a birdie on the par-4 1st hole to move to 12-under total, now one stroke back of the two-time major champion.

Here’s the prize money

WIN: Nelly Korda, -14/274, $450,000

2: Hannah Green, -13/275, $277,738

T-3: Chanettee Wannasaen, -10/278, $146,358

T-3: Ariya Jutanugarn, -10/278, $146,358

T-3: Jennifer Kupcho, -10/278, $146,358

T-3: Gabriela Ruffels, -10/278, $146,358

T-7: Marina Alex, -9/279, $64,365

T-7: Yuna Nishimura, -9/279, $64,365

T-7: Patty Tavatanakit, -9/279, $64,365

T-7: Atthaya Thitikul, -9/279, $64,365

Xander Schauffele wins PGA Championship for first major

They can't call Xander Schauffele the best golfer in the world without a major championship victory any longer.

The 30-year-old from San Diego captured his first major victory Sunday by outlasting LIV Golf League captain Bryson DeChambeau and Norway's Viktor Hovland in the final round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.

After starting the final round tied for the co-lead with two-time major winner Collin Morikawa, Schauffele silenced his critics who claimed he couldn't close out a big one by posting a 6-under 65 in the final round to finish with a 72-hole total of 21 under and defeat DeChambeau by 1 shot and Hovland by 3.

Schauffele recorded the lowest 72-hole score to par and the lowest 72-hole scoring total (263) in a major championship.

2024 PGA Championship prize money,

1st (Winner): $3,300,000 -- Xander Schauffele
2nd: $1,998,000 -- Bryson DeChambeau
3rd: $1,258,000 -- Viktor Hovland
4th: $888,000 -- Thomas Detry, Collin Morikawa ($814,000 each)

Lizzy Banks reveals positive doping test and nine-month battle to clear her name

British rider calls time on her career after UK Anti-Doping eventually found she bore 'no fault or negligence' for asthma and diuretic positives

Former EF rider Lizzy Banks has opened up about her battle to clear her name after returning an adverse analytical finding in a UK Anti-Doping test last July.

The British racer was notified by UKAD of a positive test for asthma medication Formoterol as well as a low level of the diuretic Chlortalidone "indicative of a contamination".

As a result, Banks has spent much of the past year attempting to clear her name, with UKAD insisting on handing her a two-year ban, she wrote in an entry on her personal website.

She wrote that UKAD changed their position just five days before the tribunal, concluding that Banks was "not at any fault and had exercised an extremely high level of care at all times in order to avoid ingesting a prohibited substance."

After months of preparing for and fighting her case, UKAD eventually came to the conclusion that Banks bore "no fault or negligence" for the positives and would therefore avoid any sanctions as a result.

"This process has cost me a huge amount, literally and metaphorically. My husband and I spent every penny of our savings and the huge mental toll has left deep scars," Banks wrote.

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"But somehow, through it all, I knew I had to fight. Right from the start, I learnt of other athletes in the similar situations with a contamination of chlortalidone, whose lives and careers were also being torn apart.

"This process pushed me right to the edge and my fear that an athlete would go beyond that edge is what drove me to try and incite essential positive change. With my background in medicine, my good fortune in life to have had an excellent education and finally my dogged determination, I truly believed that if I couldn't fight the injustices in this system, then no athlete could."

WAREGEM BELGIUM MARCH 30 Elizabeth Banks of United Kingdom and Team EF Education Tibco Svb competes during the 10th Dwars door Vlaanderen 2022 Womens Elite a 120km one day race from Waregem to Waregem DDV22 DDVwomen on March 30 2022 in Waregem Belgium Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images

An interview with Banks published by The Telegraph on Tuesday states that Banks and her husband estimated that they have spent over £40,000 fighting the cases, adding that she's now ending her career as a result of the ordeal.

In the interview, Banks says that she "couldn't risk putting her family through something like this ever again" should she return to racing. Her retirement is official as of today.

Banks estimates that 316 athletes may have tested positive as a result of contamination in 2019, pointing the finger at WADA for ignoring the problem.

"WADA have known there was something up here for years, and yet they've not done anything about it," she said.

"How does WADA compensate athletes that have been wrongly accused of cheating? How do they give them back those two years of life? Repay them for all the lost earnings and legal fees? Repair their shattered mental health? The short answer is, they don't."

Now, without a cycling career to return to at the age of 33, Banks hopes that making the UKAD's reasoned decision on her case publicly available can help other athletes going through the same thing in their own similar cases.

You can read Banks' in-depth breakdown of her story and the fight against the cases at her website, lizzybanks.co.uk.