Sports
A year before Ryder Cup, captains talk building teams, Bethpage test
Oct 8, 2024; New York, New York, USA; US team captain Keegan Bradley, left, and Europe team captain Luke Donald speak during a press conference at Times Center. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Boland-Imagn Images Keegan Bradley envisions possibly making a lineup for Ryder Cup matches next fall that includes himself as a player-captain when the United States and Europe square off in the 2025 event at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y.
That’s just one of many scenarios Bradley has to ponder, however, before the next Ryder Cup is held Sept. 26-28. The U.S. captain and Team Europe’s captain, Luke Donald, discussed the preparations that will go into the event at a news conference held Tuesday in New York.
It was a friendly question-and-answer session a year before the teams meet in front of what Donald expects will be a raucous, pro-American crowd. And the captains discussed a wide range of topics, including how they’ll construct their teams, whether LIV Golf players will be welcome and if Bradley expects to call his own name for the team.
Bradley is ranked 14th in the world, eighth among Americans. Since being named Ryder Cup captain last July, he won the BMW Championship in August and secured the winning point for the Americans at the Presidents Cup last month.
“Right now, my focus is on being a captain but I’m still a full-time player,” Bradley, 38, said. “I’m still playing in all the majors and all the big events next year. So I have a real shot at doing this.
“For now, I’m focusing on my guys and getting them ready to go.”
So is Donald, who has the advantage of being the Team Europe captain a second time. He led the team to a 16 1/2-11 1/2 win last year at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club near Rome.
“It’s great to be here in New York. Just an amazing city, amazing energy, and to have this opportunity to be captain again for Europe is really special,” Donald said.
“It’s really a great honor, a blessing. I’ve said it many times that that moment when we won in Rome was the best and the highlight of my career, and to hear those 12 guys shout two more years was certainly, for me, a personal moment of joy and honor that they would want me to come back and represent them again as captain.”
Donald, at 46, said he’s closer to playing on the Champions Tour than in the Ryder Cup, which he won four times as a player. So he is planning on filling out his team with 12 players who give Europe the best chance to win, including those on the LIV circuit.
That includes Spaniards Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia, as well as his fellow Englishman, Tyrrell Hatton. He said he has talked with them about doing what they need to do to potentially qualify either on points or through a captain’s pick.
“I’ve spoken to everyone that is a possibility for being on that team,” Donald said. “It was great to see Jon do what he needed to do to remain eligible and to see him in Spain, and last week he played very well at the Dunhill. We’re in constant communication.
“Again, I’m talking to all the players, to him, to Tyrrell. It was great to see Tyrrell win last week at the Dunhill.
“You know, again, good communication between myself and all these players is vital, and I’ve certainly been keeping up with that.”
Donald said Rory McIlroy has emerged as a team leader, and he’s going to count on the influence of the Northern Irishman on Team Europe.
“He understands the importance of the Ryder Cup. He understands that he wants to prepare as best as he can just like he would a major to be ready for that Ryder Cup,” Donald said. “You know, he’s always a very strong leader, a strong voice in the team room, and he’s great to have on your team because of that.”
Bradley also is asking the U.S. veterans to work with younger players to help prepare them, the way Phil Mickelson did when Bradley was just a youngster playing in his first Ryder Cup in 2012 at Medinah in Illinois.
“What Phil did for me is he created a relaxed atmosphere, and he told me, ‘Don’t worry about putting it four or five feet by. I’ll make them coming back.’ Little stuff like that, really, it helped me.
“He mentored me before the event. Took me to dinner. Talked to me nonstop throughout the year about the pressures and what’s going to come and I really learned a lot, and it hasn’t been until now that I’ve really realized what an incredible thing it was that he did for me.
“So it’s important that I communicate to the veterans of the team to do that for these rookies and for these younger players on our team.”
Bradley and Donald also talked about the challenges of playing at Bethpage Black, a public course on Long Island that is known for its length and difficulty. Bradley, as U.S. captain, will have the advantage of setting up the course to his team’s liking.
“When you go play the Black, you know it’s going to be a tough test,” Bradley said. “That’s just Bethpage. Big holes. A lot of drivers. I expect it to play tough like it always does.”
And it will be a tough crowd, too, the Europeans expect.
“The advantage we had in Rome and being at home, you feel that energy from the crowd and you can feed off it, obviously when we come to New York, it’s going to be very pro- American,” Donald said.
“The good thing about New York is that it is a melting pot. There’s lots of different cultures here. I see it as a semblance of what our team represents, as well.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Manchester City look to extend win streak, take on Everton
[Subscription Customers Only] Jun 30, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; Manchester City forward Erling Haaland (9) celebrates scoring their second goal with midfielder Rodri (16) during a round of 16 match of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup at Camping World Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Lee Smith-Reuters via Imagn Images Manchester City will try to keep pace with Premier League front-runner Arsenal on Monday night when they pay a visit to an Everton side still on the fringes of the European picture.
City (21-5-7, 70 points) will begin the day six points back of Arsenal with two matches in hand after the Gunners dispatched Fulham 3-0 on Saturday. The Cityzens won’t be even on games played until May 13, when they make up a postponed match against Crystal Palace that was delayed because of City’s triumphant League Cup run.
As a result, there continues to be the appearance of a chase, although the teams would finish level on points if they win out.
Manager Pep Guardiola insists it shouldn’t matter.
“It’s normal, so it’s the calendar,” Guardiola said on Friday. “Sometimes you play first. Sometimes behind. It is what it is. So, nothing changes in these stages, and you know exactly what you have to do.”
City have won six in a row in all competitions, the last three by a single goal: A 2-1 home league win over the Gunners on April 19, a 1-0 league victory at Burnley three days later, and a 2-1 FA Cup semifinal triumph over Southampton on April 25.
Erling Haaland scored once in both league fixtures to bring his EPL-leading total to 24. In the FA Cup semifinal, Jeremy Doku and Nico Gonzalez scored inside the final 10 minutes to complete a late rally.
Everton (13-13-8, 47 points) finished Saturday in 11th place, but only four points out of seventh, which currently would earn a berth in the UEFA Europa Conference League. Should City win the FA Cup, it could be the top eight English league finishers who earn a spot in Europe.
And if Everton could return to continental competition for the first time since 2017-18, it would conclude a much-improved first season at their new Hill Dickson Stadium, after bringing the curtain down on historic Goodison Park last May.
“We still believe there could be something out there for us. And we’ll keep pushing,” manager David Moyes said. “Building Everton back up is a process which I think is going to take quite a bit of time, but I think the first year or so here, we’ve certainly put decent foundations down. And hopefully we can continue to build on it.”
The Toffees are looking to avoid a third consecutive league defeat for the first time this season after a 2-1 home loss to derby rivals Liverpool on April 19 and a 2-1 away defeat at West Ham last weekend.
Beto, one of two Everton players with eight goals, departed the former contest late with a head injury and missed the latter fixture working through the league’s concussion protocol. He should be available Monday night, Moyes said.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Yankees tee off on Orioles to win third straight in 4-game series
May 3, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) hits a two run home run in the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images Jasson Dominguez scored the tiebreaking run in the sixth inning before hitting a two-run homer and an RBI double during a seven-run eighth as the New York Yankees pulled away for an 11-3 victory over the visiting Baltimore Orioles on Sunday afternoon.
The Yankees won for the 13th time in 15 games and beat the Orioles for the 11th time in the past 12 meetings.
Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer off Baltimore rookie Trey Gibson. Ben Rice hit his 12th home run of the season in the first and doubled ahead of Judge’s 13th homer in the third.
Rice exited after the Yankees batted in the third because of a bruised left hand. The Yankees announced X-rays were negative and the first baseman is day-to-day. Rice appeared to get injured fielding a low pickoff throw from Max Fried and was replaced by Paul Goldschmidt.
Dominguez started the tiebreaking rally with a double to left field against Grant Wolfram (1-1) and advanced to third on a groundout by Austin Wells. Ryan McMahon, facing a drawn-in infield, followed with a single that first baseman Coby Mayo couldn’t handle after diving to stop it.
Dominguez started New York’s big inning with a two-run drive into the right field seats off Andrew Kittredge for a 6-3 lead. After an RBI sacrifice fly by Trent Grisham, Goldschmidt ripped a two-run single after the Yankees executed a double steal.
Following a sacrifice fly by Jazz Chisholm Jr., Dominguez added a double to left field for an 11-3 lead.
The Orioles tied it twice before losing their fourth straight and for the 12th time in 18 games.
Blaze Alexander had an RBI single in the third before getting thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double. After Judge’s 413-foot drive bounced into Baltimore’s bullpen in left field, Leody Taveras hit an RBI infield single and Tyler O’Neill scored on a double play grounder by Jeremiah Jackson in the fourth.
Fried allowed three runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. The left-hander struck out six and walked three.
Fernando Cruz (3-0) got the final two outs of the sixth and the first out of the seventh. Brent Headrick ended the eighth by getting a double play grounder against Mayo.
Gibson allowed three runs on four hits in 4 2/3 innings during his major league debut.
The four-game series concludes Monday.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Cam Smith drives in 2 in 10th, Astros edge Red Sox
May 3, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Houston Astros right fielder Cam Smith (11) hits a two run RBI against the Boston Red Sox during the tenth inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images Cam Smith had three hits, including a two-run single in the top of the 10th inning, to help the visiting Houston Astros earn a 3-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.
Smith’s two-out single came against Zack Kelly (0-2) and drove in Braden Shewmake and Jose Altuve.
Boston had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the 10th, but Bryan Abreu got Ceddanne Rafaela to ground into a double play to end the game.
Jarren Duran hit a solo home run for the Red Sox, who stranded 13 runners and were 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Duran’s home run was his third of the season and his second of the series. He hit a three-run homer in Boston’s 3-1 victory Friday night.
Abreu (1-2) pitched two scoreless innings to get the win. He gave up one hit, walked one and struck out one.
Willson Contreras collected three of Boston’s nine hits in the loss.
Christian Walker and Christian Vazquez each had two-hit games for the Astros, who won two games in the three-game set.
Boston starting pitcher Ranger Suarez was pulled after four scoreless innings because of hamstring tightness. He gave up three hits, walked one and struck out three. Suarez threw 70 pitches.
Duran’s home run off Houston reliever AJ Blubaugh opened the scoring in the fifth. Houston tied the game in the sixth, when Walker reached on an infield single, took third on Altuve’s double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brice Matthews.
The Red Sox had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth. An error on Abreu allowed Contreras to reach second with two outs in the inning, but Roman Anthony grounded out to first to end the inning.
Houston had the bases loaded with no outs in the 10th, but Altuve grounded into a 6-2-5 double play. Following a walk to Matthews, Smith delivered his two-run single.
–Field Level Media
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Manchester City look to extend win streak, take on Everton
