Sports
Padraig Harrington, Thongchai Jaidee tied through two rounds at Cologuard
Padraig Harrington acknowledges the crowd on the 18th green during the final round of the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational at The Old Course at Broken Sound Club on Sunday, March 8, 2026, in Boca Raton, FL. Ireland’s Padraig Harrington carded a 6-under-par 65 on Saturday to forge a tie with Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee atop the leaderboard with a round to play at the Cologuard Classic in Tucson, Ariz.
Harrington pocketed two impressive eagles over a three-hole stretch (holes 9-11) which also included a birdie as he surged into contention at La Paloma Country Club at 11 under for the tourney.
“You know, every hole out here, if you play it well, you’ve got a birdie chance. But it’s so difficult being committed to your shots,” Harrington said. “Nobody can expect to be perfect, but you’ve got to be committed to whatever number you come up with. Whatever formula you use, you’ve got to stick to it, and probably just roll with the punches when it doesn’t quite work out.”
Harrington finished with two eagles, five birdies and three bogeys.
Jaidee’s day was much calmer, as the veteran went bogey-free while snatching four birdies. His 4-under 67 followed a Friday round that more resembled Harrington’s Saturday: two eagles, four birdies and a bogey (64).
That had been good enough to position him in second, alongside South Africa’s Retief Goosen, who fell off the pace with a 2-over 73. That tumble left Goosen in a tie for 26th.
Defending champion Steven Alker of New Zealand might have raised eyebrows with his scintillating 9-under 62 that tied the course record and brought him back within striking distance at 9 under overall. No player has yet to successfully defend his title at the Cologuard Classic, but Alker will have a chance on Sunday.
“I just wanted to put up a good day to get back in the tournament,” Alker said. “Defending champ, so I wanted to kind of give it a good run. Kind of feel like I’ve put myself in there, three or four back, you never know at the end of the day. Yeah, it was a nice round. Some positive stuff going forward.”
Bo Van Pelt, who had also tied the course record with a 9-under-par 62 on Friday, shot 10 strokes worse than that in Round 2 (1-over 72), dropping him into a tie for eighth at 8 under for the tournament.
Two golfers are ahead of Alker in a tie for third at 10 under after shooting matching 67s: Tommy Gainey and Germany’s Bernhard Langer.
Zach Johnson (65) and Jason Caron (66) are tied with Alker in fifth.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Alex Ovechkin becomes 2nd NHL player with 1,000 career goals
Mar 20, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) reacts after defeating the New Jersey Devils at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin became just the second player in NHL history with 1,000 career goals, including regular season and playoffs, with a power-play goal on Sunday to join Wayne Gretzky.
Ovechkin, 40, eclipsed Gretzky for the most regular-season goals in league history on April 6, 2025, with goal No. 895.
On Sunday, Ovechkin reached the milestone mark in the third period against the visiting Colorado Avalanche, ripping a slap shot past goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood to tie the game at 2 with 5:43 left in regulation. Colorado rebounded to win 3-2 in overtime.
The Russian legend has 26 goals and 27 assists in 70 games this season, his 21st in the NHL — all with the Capitals, who made him the No. 1 overall pick in 2004. For his career, Ovechkin has 1,676 points (923 goals, 753 assists) in 1,562 regular-season games. In the postseason, he has 147 points (77 goals, 70 assists) in 161 games.
Among the numerous awards he has accumulated over his brilliant career, Ovechkin is a three-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner as league MVP, a 12-time All-Star and a Stanley Cup champion with Washington in the 2017-18 season.
–Field Level Media
Sports
South Korea's Sungjae Im maintains Valspar lead for third straight day
Mar 21, 2026; Palm Harbor, Florida, USA; Sungjae Im putts on the sixth green during the third round of the Valspar Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images South Korea’s Sungjae Im sank a 13-foot putt on the final hole to shoot 2-under-par 69 and stretch his lead to two strokes through the third round of the Valspar Championship on Saturday at Palm Harbor, Fla.
Im had gone nine holes without a birdie on Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club’s Copperhead Course before sinking his last birdie attempt. He enters Sunday’s final round at 11-under 202 in search of his first PGA Tour win since the 2021 Shriners Children’s Open.
Brandt Snedeker posted 67 to pull into a share of second place with David Lipsky, who turned in an erratic 70.
Snedeker’s bogey-free round — beginning with three birdies on the first four holes — gave him a score that matched the best rounds of the day.
England’s Marco Penge and England’s Matt Fitzpatrick shot matching 68s to hold a tie for fourth place at 8 under. That’s two shots clear of South Korea’s S.H. Kim and Belgium’s Adrien Dumont de Chassart, a duo that shared the day’s best round with Snedeker.
Lipsky moved into a share of the lead with a birdie on No. 15 before giving it back with a bogey — his third of the back nine — on the next hole. His round included five birdies and four bogeys.
Im, who hadn’t led through 36 holes of a PGA Tour event since 2021, finished at 69 for the second day in a row. He saved par on No. 16 after a tee shot settled on a cart path.
Penge was at 2 over for the round after a double-bogey 6 on No. 6, but he played the backside bogey-free at 4 under.
Fitzpatrick was steadier. He fashioned nothing but pars — save a three-hole stretch of birdies on Nos. 10-12.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ryan Odom strives for another shining moment as Virginia faces Tennessee
Mar 20, 2026; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Virginia Cavaliers guard Jacari White (6) takes a jump shot during the second half against the Wright State Raiders during a first round game of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images PHILADELPHIA — Ryan Odom engineered a massive one-year turnaround at Virginia. Seven years removed from the program’s only national title, Odom has his players visualizing their own shining moment.
The third-seeded Cavaliers are on the verge of the Sweet 16 but first must handle Ja’Kobi Gillespie and sixth-seeded Tennessee in a Midwest Region second-round matchup on Sunday.
Virginia (30-5) officially doubled its win total from last season when it pulled out an 82-73 win over Wright State in Friday’s opener. The Cavaliers hadn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since the 2019 national final.
Odom — the same coach who pulled off UMBC’s historic 16-over-1 upset of Virginia once upon a time — said afterward that he’d shown his players a montage of their season set to “One Shining Moment,” the tournament’s unofficial theme song.
After being hired from VCU last March, Odom had to assemble a new team quickly and primarily through the transfer portal. He has gotten his players to buy into Virginia’s history and the part they can play in writing a new chapter.
“When he brought us here, he emphasized the importance of what it is we’re actually playing for and not just ourselves, and playing for the university and trying to continue the legacy that was left behind by the players before,” said Virginia senior guard Jacari White, who transferred in from North Dakota State. “And so we honor that and take pride in that, and I feel like that shows in our play.”
Virginia’s 3-point marksman off the bench, White scored a season-high 26 points to propel the Cavaliers past the upset-minded Raiders. The first five of his six 3-pointers either tied the game or put Virginia in front.
“He’s one of the best shooters in the country when he’s locked and loaded there and feeling it,” Odom said. “You have to see that first one go in on game day, and he did, and then he was kind of on from there.”
Tennessee (23-11) is familiar with countering 3-point specialists after it held Eian Elmer to 0-for-7 shooting and Brant Byers to 1-for-6 in Friday’s 78-56 win over Miami (Ohio). Elmer shot 42.9% from deep for the year and Byers was at 39.2%.
“It’s similar. They put up around 30 threes a game or something like that,” Tennessee guard Bishop Boswell said of Virginia. “They’re also doing a (good) job attacking it early if they have the open three, so I think kind of just the same thing as we kind of did last game, just being in gaps early and playing out, guarding the 3-point line as best we can, but they’re balanced so just trying to take away as much as we can.”
Gillespie racked up 29 points and nine assists to carry Tennessee on a day where star freshman Nate Ament went scoreless in 18 minutes. Ament has been battling a high ankle sprain, yet had a 27-point showing and a double-double in the final two games of the SEC tournament last week.
“Last night, we could tell he was struggling with it,” coach Rick Barnes said Saturday. “That’s why we didn’t put him back in the game. …
“We need Nate. He knows it, but he will give us everything that he can, and that’s really all I can say about it. If it’s up to him, he would play every minute if he could. We’ll see game time.”
Ament averages 17.0 points and 6.5 rebounds while Gillespie leads Tennessee with 18.3 points and 5.6 assists per game.
Belgian freshman Thijs De Ridder tops Virginia at 15.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per contest.
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media
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