Vancouver’s police department denied a request for FIFA president Gianni Infantino to utilize a motorcade escort for his trip to the city this week for the annual FIFA Congress.

Per a report from Global News, the request was for a full motorcade escort, which would have allowed Infantino to travel through traffic lights and without interruption. Vancouver is set to host seven World Cup matches this summer including a Round of 32 and Round of 16 match.

“Any transportation arrangements that are made will be appropriate, measured, and consistent with how Vancouver safely hosts major international events,” Vancouver mayor Ken Simms’ office said in a statement.

FIFA released a statement to multiple media outlets saying that Infantino was not involved in the decision to request the motorcade.

“President was not aware of, or involved in, any requests with authorities in relation to his transportation and security matters for the 76th FIFA Congress,” FIFA’s statement said. “In line with previous arrangements for such events, FWC26 Canada, as local organisers, liaised with authorities requesting support in relation to all delegates, guests, and stakeholders.

“FIFA does not comment on transportation and security protocols involving the FIFA President and would like to thank law enforcement in Vancouver for their ongoing support this week.”

–Field Level Media

The PGA Tour is making its return to Trump National Doral following a 10-year hiatus this week, but even a signature event’s $20 million purse at the famous “Blue Monster” wasn’t enough to prevent several marquee names from opting out.

The Cadillac Championship is the fifth of eight signature events this season, featuring a $3.6 million winner’s check. The field is limited to only 72 players and without a cut, meaning every competitor is guaranteed at least $36,000.

However, it also comes three weeks after the Masters and two weeks after the fourth signature event at the RBC Heritage. Another signature event is on tap at next week’s Truist Championship, which is followed by the second major of the year at the PGA Championship.

World No. 2 Rory McIlroy is skipping his second consecutive signature event since repeating at the Masters. No. 3 Matt Fitzpatrick, who played the Masters before winning the RBC Heritage and last week’s Zurich Classic, is also taking the week off.

So, too, are No. 9 Xander Schauffele, No. 12 Robert MacIntyre and No. 14 Ludvig Aberg.

Fifth-ranked Justin Rose will be on hand to tackle the Blue Monster, where he won in 2012. But that only comes after skipping the RBC Heritage following a tie for third at the Masters, where he held the lead on the back nine on Sunday.

Despite the massive purses and elevated FedEx Cup points on the line, the string of three signature events and two majors in a six-week span is forcing players to make some tough scheduling decisions.

“I looked at this period coming up and I think something had to give, for sure,” Rose said. ” … I felt like I knew what was coming, I knew what a big run of events were coming, obviously with PGA Championship being on the back of (these) three.

“When you’re having to miss great events to prepare for other great events, it’s not ideal. Obviously this event was added late in I guess the structure of the sort of elevated event structure that we had. This is obviously a new edition, so it had to fall somewhere.”

The makeup of the 2027 PGA Tour schedule and beyond has been an ongoing topic of discussion. After rumors of a massively revamped schedule began circulating earlier this year, the expectation is now for a first iteration of changes in 2027 followed by more in the following year.

The consensus seems to be that while the elevated purses are attractive — and difficult to walk away from — there are only so many events players can commit to over a short span. Adam Scott, who won the most recent PGA Tour event at Doral in 2016, said this year is stacking up as an exception rather than a new normal for the schedule.

The Cadillac Championship wasn’t announced as an addition to the 2026 schedule until last August.

“Ideally, this wouldn’t be the way,” Scott acknowledged. “It’s one event we’re talking about, so it makes that much of a difference adding one, it makes that much of a difference taking one away. I think we’ve got to get through this year and hopefully the schedule looks a little more balanced next year.”

Rose was asked what he believes the impact will be if a future schedule features fewer events that are all on an equal level.

“What the PGA Tour’s trying to do is create the best possible product and the best possible tournaments in the most appealing time of the year,” Rose said. “The players go, ‘That’s my job, this is the season, this is time to knuckle down and get down to business.’

“If that means that that flow of events suits you, then that’s what you have to commit to, to kind of give your best performance on the best courses or the courses that suit you the best, in order to accumulate the right amount of points to win the Fed(Ex) Cup. That’s the goal.

“Everybody’s going to have a slightly different recipe of how that’s done”

–Field Level Media

Hailey Baptiste upset World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and did so in dramatic fashion, saving six match points en route to a 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6) victory in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open on Tuesday.

The 30th-seeded Baptiste earned the first top-five victory of her young career by handing Sabalenka only her second loss of the season. The Belarusian saw a 15-match win streak come to a halt.

Baptiste, a 24-year-old from Washington, D.C., advanced to the semifinals of a WTA 1000 event for the first time after reaching the Miami Open quarterfinals last month — where she fell to Sabalenka.

“It just shows me where my game was. I’ve always believed it, and I feel like now I’m starting to put it into action and the world is seeing it as well,” Baptiste told Tennis Channel in a post-match interview.

Five of Baptiste’s six saved match points came during a marathon 10th game in the third set. Up 5-4, Sabalenka raced out to a 40-15 lead and had double match point. But it was Baptiste’s service game, and she fired an ace past Sabalenka before another big serve led to a Sabalenka shot in the net.

Sabalenka soon earned three advantages in a row, only for Baptiste to counter all three.

In the tiebreaker, Sabalenka squeaked ahead 6-5 but Baptiste saved match point No. 6 and won two more points from there to finish off the upset.

“I definitely had a lot of nerves, but I had 28 chances yesterday and I didn’t get it done,” Baptiste said, referring to Monday’s marathon win in which Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic saved six of Baptiste’s match points.

“I was able to get it on the first one, and I told my team, when I get my match point today, I’m going to win the first one that I get.”

Baptiste finished with 12 aces and saved 11 of 17 break points, while Sabalenka saved 8 of 14 break points and won exactly one fewer point than her opponent. Sabalenka had won the Sunshine Double (Indian Wells, Miami) plus her first three matches of the Madrid Open.

Baptiste’s next challenge will be a match against No. 9 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia. In the only other match on Tuesday’s slate, Andreeva defeated Canadian 24th seed Leylah Fernandez 7-6 (1), 6-3.

On the day before her 19th birthday, Andreeva advanced to the semifinals of a WTA 1000 event for the first time since her victories at Dubai and Indian Wells last year.

“I’m so happy I cannot take the smile away from my face,” Andreeva said. “I’m extremely happy about the way I played and the result. It wouldn’t be a perfect birthday if I would lose today. I really didn’t want that to happen, and I was trying to give everything I had to be in a good mood tomorrow.”

Andreeva saved 12 of 15 break points while benefiting from Fernandez’s five double faults without an ace.

–Field Level Media