Sports
LIV Golf had a big opportunity Sunday. Did it take advantage?
LIV Golf was given an opportunity on Sunday.
The PGA Tour’s final round was pushed off due to some truly gnarly weather conditions at Pebble Beach, giving LIV’s first event of the 2024 season the full stage. And it was Jon Rahm’s first event as a LIV golfer, with Rahm in contention for the win at Mayakoba, Mexico. As much money as LIV has spent to get off the ground and fill its 54-man roster, sometimes luck still brings the greatest chances you’ll get.
So how did the 3-year-old product do? I had some thoughts.
Legion before me
Rahm did not win Sunday — he finished bogey-bogey, dropping off the shared lead and ceding the stage to Joaquin Niemann and Sergio Garcia for a four-hole playoff, dramatically won by Niemann with the only light on the course coming from the leaderboard overlooking the 18th green.
Rahm was dejected, as anyone who has ever watched Rahm play golf would imagine, and took some cajoling from the LIV broadcast team to acknowledge that his Legion XIII team had won the team competition. It’ll be interesting moving forward to see how Rahm handles that push and pull. Most of these guys are still hardwired to only care about their performance, and LIV asks for a reset of priorities.
Jon Rahm finished third at his first LIV event. (Manuel Velasquez / Getty Images)
Rahm’s LIV Golf impact
Rahm’s biggest impact on the league so far is that his presence seems to have tilted the scales for LIV regarding relevancy.
The initial roster was so full of has-beens and those who never will be that Dustin Johnson felt like a total outlier. Well, Brooks Koepka made it a bit better. So did Bryson DeChambeau. Then Cameron Smith. It still wasn’t enough to shake the feeling that every week an established star didn’t win the LIV event was a missed opportunity, and if two or three of those guys had an off-week it was easy to scoff at the leaderboard.
But Friday’s first round felt different with Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton. There were more guys that you want to watch play golf, not out of sentimentality or curiosity but because you want to watch the best of the best.
The top 10 from Mayakoba included Niemann, Garcia, Rahm, Johnson, Koepka, Hatton, Smith and Louis Oosthuizen. You’re telling on yourself if you dismiss that.
Niemann wants into Augusta
Not sure what to take from Niemann dropping in the winning putt and making much of his victory interview about his exclusion from the major championships. “I’m not in the majors,” was the first thing he said when given a mic. Is it a sign of his competitiveness that his mind immediately went to the next thing, or something else?
The 25-year-old Chilean has competed in the last 12 majors but is currently on the outside looking in for the Masters at No. 66 in the world, per Official World Golf Ranking. (He’s ranked 27th on DataGolf.com, which takes into account LIV results.)
Niemann is into the Open Championship thanks to his Australian Open win in December. Still, he’ll have to work on Asian Tour events and hope to accumulate enough points to get into the OWGR top 50 before April.
While sympathetic to his plight, we all understood the deal here. LIV has had an OWGR problem since Day 1.
LIV on TV
Let’s talk about the broadcast.
First, the positives: Most of what is put on the screen is quite good. The leaderboard is a plus, relevant stats are at the ready, and the putting line graphic helps the viewer to understand what they are watching. They also did a nice job of laying out and letting us hear the player and caddy discuss shots, and that’s the good stuff. There are also just a lot of golf shots shown, which should not feel so revolutionary, but for a public subjected to NBC’s PGA Tour broadcasts it just does.
As for everything else? It leaves a lot to be desired.
The biggest problem with an LIV Golf broadcast is that it’s constantly trying to convince us of something, instead of just letting events speak for themselves. There’s a constant barrage of Tweets, which as a storytelling mechanism feels stolen out of a 2012 game broadcast anyway — and they’re all about the same. That player is great. This is exciting. I’m watching right now. They don’t add anything, and if Arlo White isn’t reading them for us they’re scrolling along the bottom of the screen.
White is often in this position, more pitchman than broadcaster. There’s a three-man booth and two on-course reporters, and plenty of time for them to talk. But precious little insight is offered, and it often feels like they’re all just passing the baton of who is going to repeat the company line this time.
Whether that’s how they feel or just what is being asked of them, it has the same impact. When you are constantly telling me everything is awesome and normal rounds of golf are something more, then when the truly high-level moment comes along there’s no higher level to go. It’s why newspapers didn’t run the Pearl Harbor font size every day. It would stop getting your attention.
So on Friday as Niemann hunted down a 57, which would have been the lowest round ever on a major pro golf tour, the broadcast could not sufficiently rise to the moment. It had nowhere else to go.
LIV has a chance to get more eyeballs this year. The on-course product is miles better than when it started. The rest just needs to grow with it.
(Top photo of Joaquin Niemann: Manuel Velasquez / Getty Images)
Sports
Fever star Caitlin Clark avoids serious injury after scary fall leads to early exit in preseason game
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Indiana Fever star guard Caitlin Clark exited Thursday night’s preseason game against the Dallas Wings after colliding with one of their players.
Clark was seen hobbling on the court after taking a step-back three-point shot and landing on Wings star defender Alanna Smith’s foot in the third quarter of the matchup. Upon landing, Clark told reporters after the 95-80 loss that she hit her knee hard when she went down after the foul by Smith.
Clark rolled over on the court and tried to walk it off as she went toward the Fever bench. Officials ended up reviewing the play and gave Smith, the reigning co-Defensive Player of the Year in the WNBA, a Flagrant 1 foul for not giving Clark a safe amount of room to land after shooting.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark shoots the ball in the second half against the Dallas Wings at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on April 30, 2026. (Trevor Ruszkowski/Imagn Images)
Clark exited the game with fewer than eight minutes left in the third quarter.
She finished with a team-high 21 points despite missing most of the second half. Clark hit two of her three attempted three-pointers, while knocking down 11 of 13 from the free throw line. She also had two rebounds, four assists and one steal in the contest.
Being this was a preseason matchup, Fever fans were holding their collective breath watching Clark in the moment, especially considering the tumultuous season she had in 2025.
CAITLIN CLARK RETURNS TO WNBA COMPETITION AFTER 2025 INJURY IN FEVER PRESEASON GAME
Clark played just 13 games in her sophomore campaign, far from what she had hoped after winning WNBA Rookie of the Year and setting the single-season assists record in 2024.
Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever brings the ball up the court against Odyssey Sims of the Dallas Wings during a preseason game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind., on April 30, 2026. (Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
But it appeared Clark avoided a serious injury that could’ve come in that situation. Being in someone’s landing zone after a shot can lead to severe injuries, especially ankles turning.
Fever head coach Stephanie White didn’t seem to want to push Clark, and sat her the rest of the way.
The Fever still have one more preseason game remaining on the schedule, as they face the Nigerian national team on Saturday. Then, it’s regular-season basketball, with the Fever’s first game that counts on the record against these same Wings in Dallas on May 9.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark questions a delay of game call against the Dallas Wings during a preseason game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind., on April 30. (Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire)
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The Wings are an intriguing team to watch, with Azzi Fudd, the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s WNBA Draft, reuniting with fellow UConn teammate Paige Bueckers to begin her pro journey. Bueckers led the Wings with 20 points on Thursday night, while Fudd finished with four points.
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Sports
Prep sports roundup: Zion Phelps of Loyola proves he’s fastest in the Mission League
The Zion Phelps story is going to be told over and over at Loyola High to show students what can happen when someone discovers potential and decides to take a chance to bring it out.
In his first year running track after bragging during the football season that he was the fastest student at Loyola, Phelps proved on Thursday he’s also the fastest 100-meter runner in the Mission League by winning in a school-record time of 10.49 seconds at the Mission League finals at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.
“I’m beyond grateful,” he said after embracing Loyola coach Sharaud Moore.
A junior defensive back, Phelps let Moore bring out his track talent, and now he has options in track and football.
Loyola’s Ejam Johannes offers the “shoosh” sign after anchoring the winning 4×100 relay team. He also won the Mission League 400 and 200 titles.
(Craig Weston)
Another Loyola athlete stepping forward in preparation for next weekend’s Southern Section Division 1 prelims was Ejam Yohannes. He ran anchor leg for the 4×100-meter relay team that beat Notre Dame for the first time in three years with a time of 40.75. At the finish, he put a finger over his lips and gave a “shoosh” sign. He also won the 400 meters in 47.05 and the 200 meters in 20.85, the fourth-best wind legal time in the state this year.
Notre Dame’s JJ Harel qualified in three events — going 6 feet, 10 inches in the high jump, 22-5¼ in the long jump and also qualifying in the triple jump.
The strangest moment of the day came in the Mission League 100 girls’ final. Nalia Keyes of Chaminade and Maya Rios of Bishop Alemany tied for first place, each finishing with a time of 12.46.
“It’s weird,” Rios said of her first ever race tie.
In the Marmonte League final, Demare Dezeurn of Westlake ran the 100 meters in 10.39 seconds to outduel Jaden Griffin of Newbury Park (10.50) and Kingston Celifie of Calabasas (10.56). Dezeurn played football for Palisades in the fall after transferring from Bishop Alemany last season.
Baseball
Sylmar 10, Kennedy 0: Rickee Luevano hit a grand slam for Sylmar.
Westlake 10, Newbury Park 3: Dylan Lee homered and Holden Backus had two hits and three RBIs.
Bishop Amat 3, La Serna 2: Ray Castro threw six innings and also had an RBI single.
Temecula Valley 3, Vista Murrieta 1: Grayson Martin gave up one hit and struck out seven in six innings.
Oaks Christian 17, Calabasas 8: Ryan Sheffer hit two home runs and finished with four RBIs.
Softball
Garden Grove Pacifica 4, Cypress 1: Jenna Valladares had an RBI triple and Shay Kletke threw a complete game.
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 16, Louisville 0: Jackie Morales had three hits and six RBIs.
Harvard-Westlake 14, Chaminade 11: It was a wild Mission League game that ended on a walk-off grand slam by Kale’a Tindal in the bottom of the ninth inning. Chaminade scored five runs in the seventh to tie the score 9-9. Both teams scored runs in the eighth to make it 10-10. Chaminade took an 11-10 lead in the top of the ninth on an RBI single by Siena Greenlinger. Tindal finished with four hits and four RBIs. Dylan Fischer had a home run, two doubles, a single and four RBIs.
Murrieta Mesa 8, Great Oak 0: Tatum Wolff threw six innings, striking out 10 and walking none. She also hit a home run.
Sports
Drake Maye voices support for Patriots coach Mike Vrabel as off-field controversy continues to swirl
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Mike Vrabel has the full support of his young star quarterback.
The New England Patriots head coach and Drake Maye, in just his second NFL season, won the AFC and brought the Pats back to familiar territory: the Super Bowl.
The big game itself did not go how they had liked, but at the very least, it showed that Patriots fans likely have their coach-quarterback tandem for years to come.
New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel talks to quarterback Drake Maye during the second quarter at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, on Oct. 19, 2025. (Andrew Nelles/The Tennessean/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
But the team has hit quite the detour amid Vrabel’s controversy with former Athletic reporter Dianna Russini, which led to Vrabel having “difficult conversations with people that I care about” and even seeking counseling.
Last week, the Patriots said in a statement that they “fully support” their head coach, and Maye echoed similar sentiments.
“We’re here for coach, we love coach and what he does for us, and has done for us this past year. You can’t speak it into words, and thankfully, he’s our head coach,” Maye told WHDH-TV in Boston.
“We know he’s dealing with some stuff off the field and out of the coaching world, but we’re here for him and I know he’s gonna come back.”
Head coach Mike Vrabel of the New England Patriots speaks with quarterback Drake Maye during the game against the Las Vegas Raiders at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., on Sept. 7, 2025. (Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
DESHAUN WATSON HAS ‘INSIDE TRACK’ TO BE BROWNS’ WEEK 1 STARTING QUARTERBACK OVER SHEDEUR SANDERS: REPORT
The scandal began early this month when he and Russini were photographed together at a Sedona, Arizona, private resort holding hands and lying beside each other at a pool.
Since then, photos have surfaced from 2020 showing Vrabel and Russini kissing at a bar in New York City. The pictures exclusively obtained by the New York Post were taken in the early hours of March 11, 2020.
Russini reportedly married Kevin Goldschmidt, her husband and a Shake Shack executive, six months after the photos were snapped. Goldschmidt and Russini also share two children.
Vrabel has been married to his wife, Jen, since 1999, and they share two sons together. In the pictures, Vrabel’s wedding band is visible on his left hand while conversing with Russini. At the time, Russini was with ESPN, while Vrabel was coaching the Tennessee Titans.
Dianna Russini, left, and Mike Vrabel, right, are shown in a split composite image featuring Russini with an ESPN microphone and Vrabel on the Titans sideline wearing a headset. (Imagn Images)
Both initially denied any wrongdoing, but Russini has since resigned and is the subject of an investigation by her former employer.
Fox News’ Scott Thompson and OutKick’s Armando Salguero contributed to this report.
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