Sports
Defending champ Viktor Hovland, Justin Thomas ready for showdown at Valspar
Mar 23, 2025; Palm Harbor, Florida, USA; Viktor Hovland holds the champions trophy after winning the Valspar Championship golf tournament at Innisbrook Resort. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images Viktor Hovland and Justin Thomas finished 1-2 at the Valspar Championship a year ago. They return to the Tampa Bay area in promising form following The Players Championship, ready to take on the Valspar again beginning Thursday in Palm Harbor, Fla.
Hovland bested Thomas by a single stroke on the final day. Thomas had made a late charge but bogeyed two of the final three holes at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course, known as “the Snake Pit.” Hovland, though, birdied two of those holes to swap positions with Thomas for the Norwegian’s only win of 2025.
Hovland described the course as very narrow off the tee.
“If the wind starts blowing and they tuck the pins on each side, and the greens get very firm, it’s very difficult to get close to the pins,” Hovland said. “… It really is a ball-striker’s course, but if you short side yourself and you end up missing greens, which everyone is bound to do, you have to rely on some intricate short game shots around the greens as well. So it really tests every single part of your game.”
Thomas was not dissuaded by his late stumble. He picked up his lone win of 2025 a month later at the RBC Heritage, and he’s encouraged by the fact that he has four top-10s at Innisbrook, including a T3 in 2022.
“It’s a tournament that works in my schedule every year. I love coming here,” Thomas said. “I think it’s one of the most underrated courses that we have, that we play. It’s very in front of you, and I think it’s not necessarily something that looks visually intimidating or difficult, but if you’re not sharp or if you’re not managing your game or emotions well, you can just make bogeys so fast. Yeah, it’s a place that I enjoy playing because I think it’s an old school kind of design.”
The strength of the course is matched by the strength of the field the week after The Players. Nine of the top 25 in the world rankings will tee it up, including major winners Xander Schauffele, J.J. Spaun and Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick.
While Thomas tied for eighth at TPC Sawgrass and Hovland tied for 13th, Fitzpatrick was leading for a short stretch on the back nine on Sunday after Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg went bogey-double bogey. But Fitzpatrick drove it out of position at the 18th and made bogey, allowing co-leader Cameron Young to win it with par.
“Disappointed, obviously,” Fitzpatrick said this week. “I felt like saying this morning I feel like I only hit two poor shots really the whole day. I didn’t really feel like my tee shot on the last was that bad, it just, it’s a little bit too straight, didn’t kind of get the wind off the right.”
A name to watch this week may be Jacob Bridgeman, the surprise leader in the FedEx Cup standings. Bridgeman, 26, broke through for his first win last month at the Genesis Invitational, but he hasn’t finished worse than T18 in seven starts this season.
Bridgeman tied for fifth at The Players, and with four steady rounds at the Valspar last year, he placed third behind only Hovland and Thomas.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Bucks waive Cam Thomas to convert Pete Nance's contract
Suns guard Jalen Green (4) drives against Bucks forward Pete Nance (35) during a game at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix on March 21, 2026. The Milwaukee Bucks converted forward Pete Nance’s two-way contract to a fully guaranteed deal.
The Bucks waived guard Cam Thomas in a corresponding move prior to their game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday. Thomas, 24, signed with the team as a free agent on Feb. 8 and averaged 10.7 points in 18 games off the bench with Milwaukee.
As for Nance, he was elated with the notion of receiving a new deal. The contract made him available to play in the team’s final 11 games this season and runs through the 2026-27 campaign.
“To be able to be in this spot is just awesome,” Nance said after the Bucks’ shootaround, per the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. “Obviously I’m super thankful for the Bucks for giving me the opportunity. I think it’s just a testament to growth and the work that I’ve done and the experience that I’ve had over the years.”
Nance, 26, is averaging 4.5 points, 2.2 rebounds and 12.1 minutes in 37 games off the bench this season.
Thomas was benched after playing just three minutes against the Atlanta Hawks on March 14. He was held out of consecutive games on March 15 and 17 due to what was listed as a coach’s decision before returning to the court against the Utah Jazz last Thursday.
“There are things we don’t need to talk about,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said, per the newspaper. “That’s not anybody’s business. Like I said before, that’s where as a coach you have to make decisions on what’s best for the team at that time. People don’t understand that. They start talking about other stuff. And, that’s not for anyone to know.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Buccaneers, LB Lavonte David schedule news conference
Jan 3, 2026; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David (54) warms up before the game against the Carolina Panthers at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images Veteran Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David is scheduled to hold a news conference on Tuesday afternoon at the team facility.
The Buccaneers did not divulge an official reason for the conference, however speculation is strong that David will announce his retirement from the NFL.
David, 36, is a free agent after spending his entire 14-year career with Tampa Bay.
He recorded 114 tackles, 3.5 sacks, an interception, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries while starting all 17 games last season. It was his 12th season with triple-digit tackles.
An All-Pro selection in 2013 and a Pro Bowl selection in 2015, David has 1,716 tackles, 42.5 sacks, 14 interceptions, 33 forced fumbles and 21 fumble recoveries in 215 games (all starts).
David was selected by Tampa Bay in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft out of Nebraska.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Mikaela Shiffrin on cusp of season World Cup title
Feb 18, 2026; Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy; Gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States celebrates during the medal ceremony for the women’s slalom during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre. Mandatory Credit: Michael Madrid-Imagn Images Mikaela Shiffrin will ski Wednesday for the season World Cup overall title.
Heading into the giant slalom, the final race of the season, Shiffrin has an 85-point lead over Emma Aicher of Germany.
Shiffrin won her ninth slalom in 10 World Cup starts this season on Tuesday, earning 100 points. She increased her overall lead on Aicher, who finished third to grab 60 points.
To take the title, Aicher must win the race — a discipline in which she never has finished higher than fourth — and hope that Shiffrin finishes worse than 15th.
Shiffrin, 31, is striving to win her sixth overall World Cup title, which would tie her with Annemarie Moser-Proll. The Austrian won five season titles from 1971-75 and the final one in 1979.
The 2026 Olympic champion in the slalom, Shiffrin won the World Cup title in consecutive years from 2017-19 and again in 2022 and 2023.
With her slalom win on Tuesday, Shiffrin earned her 110th career victory on the World Cup circuit, extending her lead over Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden, who won 86 before his retirement in 1989.
–Field Level Media
Hurdle hints and answers for March 25, 2026
Bucks waive Cam Thomas to convert Pete Nance's contract
