Sports
Jon Rahm breaks title drought at LIV Hong Kong
Aug 24, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Jon Rahm of Legion XIII plays his shot from the fifth tee during the finals of the LIV Golf Michigan Team Championship at The Cardinal at Saint John’s Resort. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images Jon Rahm captured his first individual tournament win since September 2024 on Sunday, carding a 64 for a three-stroke victory at LIV Golf Hong Kong.
Tied with Harold Varner III and Belgium’s Thomas Detry entering the round, Rahm took over on the back nine with birdies on four consecutive holes, giving himself enough cushion to withstand a bogey at No. 18. His final round put him at 23-under for the event at Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling.
Also breaking a long title drought was the Dustin Johnson-led 4Aces, who grabbed their first team win in 974 days with their 58-under showing.
Rahm started the season with back-to-back runner-up finishes before hoisting the Hong Kong trophy.
“Very relieving,” said Rahm, who has won the past two season-long individual titles. “That’s the only way I can describe it. I’ve been very ecstatic for wins in the past. This one just feels like a big weight off my shoulder. That’s all I can say.”
Detry shot a 67 on Sunday to finish 20-under and in sole possession of second place. Fellow Belgian Thomas Pieters (66) was a stroke behind Detry in third place, and Varner (69) finished in fourth at 18-under. Matthew Wolff (65) was fifth.
With the victory, Rahm snapped a streak of 26 events without an individual win, despite the success of his Legion XIII team.
“It’s very fun when you can stand on that podium and celebrate with your teammates,” Rahm said. “But as far as obviously being a competitor and as myself goes, I wanted to get this done. It feels different. I think I would be way more ecstatic if I was celebrating with my teammates for the win, like the Aces did today, but there’s a sense of self-accomplishment and pride that goes with doing it myself.”
The 4Aces won the team championship in 2022 and two event titles in 2023 but hadn’t managed a win since. But buoyed by Detry and Pieters — along with solid finishes by Johnson and Anthony Kim — this week was different.
The group was 16-under on Sunday, led by a 65 from Johnson and a 66 from Kim.
“It’s been a while since we’ve won, especially with the way we started, dominating, pretty much winning every single event, or if we didn’t win, we were finishing second for the first couple years,” Johnson said.
“Obviously since then, LIV as a whole, the players have gotten a lot stronger, a lot better. The teams have gotten stronger. So it’s a lot harder to win. That’s a little bit of a factor. I think this year we’ve put together a really good team, so I think we’re going to be competing each and every week. So, I’m very happy with that.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ohio State holds off Iowa, advances to Big Ten quarterfinals
Mar 12, 2026; Chicago, IL, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes guard Bennett Stirtz (14) drives to the basket against Ohio State Buckeyes guard Bruce Thornton (2) during the first half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images Bruce Thornton scored 17 of his 24 points after halftime and Christoph Tilly added 16 points to help Ohio State edge Iowa 72-69 in the third round of the Big Ten tournament on Thursday in Chicago.
The eighth-seeded Buckeyes advanced to face No. 1 seed Michigan in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Ohio State (21-11) withstood a series of late charges from Iowa (21-12) after leading by 16 in the second half.
A 10-1 Hawkeyes run trimmed the deficit to six with 7:29 left before the Buckeyes regained momentum with five straight points. Ninth-seeded Iowa regrouped, as a 7-0 run brought the Hawkeyes within 70-69 with 38 seconds to go.
John Mobley Jr. (12 points) swished two free throws with 8.8 seconds left for the final margin. Iowa’s Brendan Hausen missed a potential tying 3-pointer with four seconds to go. Isaia Howard got another chance for the Hawkeyes at the buzzer after Ohio State missed the front end of a one-and-one, but the shot was off the mark.
Bennett Stirtz paced Iowa with 17 points while Cam Manyawu and Tavion Banks had nine each.
Amare Bynum added 11 points for the Buckeyes. Thornton matched Iowa’s Alvaro Folgueiras with a game-best six rebounds.
Iowa shot 50% compared to 55.3% for Ohio State. Manyawu’s layup off a Buckeyes turnover brought the Hawkeyes within two points with 18:43 remaining, but Iowa didn’t register another field goal until Tate Sage hit a trey 5:20 later.
Ohio State seized control with a 17-3 run in between. Thornton sizzled during that stretch, contributing 12 points that featured a personal streak of 10 straight over 1:58.
Ohio State overcame a sluggish start from the floor to take a 34-30 lead into halftime. The Buckeyes began 1-for-7, including 0-for-3 from long range, before closing the half on an 11-for-14 tear.
Tilly scored 12 points before the break while Bynum chipped in eight, helping the Buckeyes to a 36-20 overall advantage in points in the paint.
Stirtz had nine first-half points for the Hawkeyes.
Michigan (29-2), the third-ranked team in the AP poll, swept the regular-season series with Ohio State. The Wolverines prevailed by 12 points at home on Jan. 23 before rolling to an 82-61 road victory on Feb. 8.
–Field Level Media
Sports
No. 10 Virginia holds off NC State, advances to semifinals
Mar 12, 2026; Charlotte, NC, USA; Virginia Cavaliers guard Malik Thomas (1) on defense against NC State Wolfpack guard Tre Holloman (5) during the first half at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Malik Thomas provided clutch late-game production to finish with 16 points and Thijs De Ridder scored 15 points as No. 10 Virginia fended off North Carolina State for an 81-74 victory in an Atlantic Coast Conference tournament’s quarterfinal Thursday afternoon.
Reserve Jacari White posted 13 points and Sam Lewis delivered all 12 of his points on 3-pointers for the second-seeded Cavaliers (28-4), who meet the Louisville-Miami winner in Friday night’s first semifinal. Virginia center Ugonna Onyenso’s eight blocked shots matched the second most in a game in the league tournament’s history.
Virginia defeated NC State in three matchups this season, but this was by far the closest encounters.
Paul McNeil Jr. drilled six 3s on the way to 26 points for seventh-seeded NC State (20-13). Ven-Allen Lubin contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds and Matt Able came off the bench for 12 points.
The Wolfpack, who have landed safely within most projections for the NCAA Tournament field, have lost seven of their last nine games. NC State defeated Pitt in Wednesday’s second round, extending its tournament winning streak to six games — five to win the 2024 event before failing to qualify last year.
NC State used 21-for-24 free-throw shooting to outscore Virginia by 10 points at the foul line.
A 9-0 run gave the Cavaliers a 55-45 lead that eventually reached a 12-point margin.
The Wolfpack were within 68-61 with more than five minutes to play. McNeil hit a 3-pointer to trim the gap to 70-64 before Thomas answered with a jumper for the Cavaliers.
Quadir Copeland’s three-point play at the 1:24 gave the Wolfpack a chance, but De Ridder’s drive for a bucket pushed Virginia to a 76-69 edge with 1:11 remaining.
McNeil’s 3 made it 78-74 with 27 seconds left, and then he made a steal, but NC State missed two shots on the ensuing possession.
NC State produced much better stretches than the earlier meetings with Virginia, when it never led.
Virginia had a 33-32 halftime lead despite going the opening half without any second-chance points.
Virginia defeated NC State for only the fourth time in 19 all-time ACC tournament meetings.
–Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
Sports
Aaron Judge baseball card sells for modern-day record $5.2M
Feb 24, 2026; Dunedin, Florida, USA; New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) looks on against the Toronto Blue Jays during the second inning at TD Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge’s value on the field extends to his baseball cards, with a unique 2013 card breaking the modern-day record by selling for $5.2 million.
Fanatics Collect announced Thursday that it had brokered the private sale of a 2013 Judge Bowman Chrome Draft Superfractor card that is signed and is one of one. The buyer and seller requested to remain private.
“We’re incredibly honored to have brokered this record-breaking deal and to be part of such a momentous moment in hobby history,” Fanatics Collect said in a statement.
The previous record for the publicly known sale of a modern-day baseball card was the 2020 purchase price of $3.936 million for a one-of-one card — the 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Superfractor — signed by Los Angeles Angels star outfielder Mike Trout.
A Shohei Ohtani card featuring the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar slugger and pitcher sold for $3 million in December.
The Judge card — released four years before his official rookie cards — rocketed in value since it was last sold for $324,000 through a Fanatics Premier auction in 2022. The Yankees selected Judge in the first round (32nd overall) of the 2013 MLB Draft.
Judge, 33, made his major league debut in August 2016. He became the 2017 American League Rookie of the Year, a three-time AL MVP (2022, 2024, 2025) and a seven-time All-Star.
Last season, he led the majors with a .331 batting average, .457 on-base percentage and .668 slugging percentage and drew an AL-best 124 walks.
According to Card Ladder, the largest sale of all time was $12.9 million for a 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Michael Jordan/Kobe Bryant dual NBA Logoman patch autograph card, also one of one, on Aug. 23, 2025 through Heritage auction.
The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle SGC 9.5 grade, sold for $12.6 million on Aug. 28, 2022, is second overall as the top baseball card on the list.
The Judge card, tied for seventh overall, might not hold the honor of most expensive modern-day card for long. Fanatics Collect currently is auctioning the 2025 Topps Chrome Dual MVP Ohtani & Judge Gold MLB Logoman Auto 1/1. The auction closes March 19 and bids already have exceeded seven figures.
–Field Level Media
Ohio State holds off Iowa, advances to Big Ten quarterfinals
No. 10 Virginia holds off NC State, advances to semifinals
