Sports
Shane van Gisbergen angling for 7th road-course title at Watkins Glen
Mar 22, 2026; Darlington, South Carolina, USA; Trackhouse Racing Shane Van Gisbergen (97) comes out for the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kinser-Imagn Images Shane van Gisbergen has work to do in the Finger Lakes region of New York this weekend when the NASCAR Cup Series holds its second race on a road course in 2026, venturing to Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, N.Y.
Nicknamed SVG for the sake of all the NASCAR announcers and fans who discuss his incredible work with the pedals on the snaking layouts, he finds himself riding 19th in the standings, winless in his No. 97 Chevrolet that he turns left and right for Trackhouse Racing.
It’s the preponderance of right turns that have led to his success since he exploded onto the Cup scene with his stunning win at the Chicago Street Course on July 2, 2023.
The race ended with the lamp posts glowing alongside Michigan Avenue, nearly in darkness, and while van Gisbergen has not really been in the dark this season, the results have not been illuminating.
A native of Auckland, New Zealand, SVG will turn 37 on Saturday, and he would love nothing more than to repeat at the Glen and leap over a number of fellow winless drivers in the standings.
But it won’t be gifted to him.
In 2025, driving the No. 88, used this season by his teammate and rookie road-course ace Connor Zilisch, van Gisbergen beat Chris Buescher to win the Cup race in August. The day before, Zilisch wrecked SVG and earned the checkers in the then-Xfinity Series race.
However, the 19-year-old Zilisch caught his foot in the window netting as he climbed from his car in Victory Lane and crashed hard to the ground, breaking his collarbone and requiring surgery but returned 13 days later at Daytona.
van Gisbergen, whose six Cup victories have all come on road courses, warned this week that more danger awaits in upstate New York, referring to a new barrier installed in Turn 5 at the famous Carousel.
“The way that wall is angled, it’s going to grab cars and spit them out back into the middle of the track,” said van Gisbergen, who is entered in all three series’ races this weekend. “This setup, especially how close it gets to the racing line, feels like a trap.”
In the season’s only road-course race so far at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, he tried to chase down and pass leader Tyler Reddick but could not do it, only leading two laps while Reddick paced the way on 58 circuits en route to his third straight win to start 2026.
van Gisbergen has posted only one other finish inside the top 10: a sixth at Atlanta the week before.
Not much has gone well in the last four races for him since running 11th at Martinsville last month: He has not finished better than his 17th-place effort last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, where Chase Elliott took the checkers.
SVG (+125) and his teenaged teammate Zilisch (+285) come in as heavy favorites, according to DraftKings. Combined, they create a gap between third-favorite Reddick (+750) that’s as large as the distance from Watkins Glen to the Big Apple.
“I thought I was being pretty normal when I fell off my car, but clearly my normal is a little bit different,” said Zilisch, who also won the Xfinity race in 2024 at the 2.45-mile course. “I don’t think I’ll be too flashy, unless I win on Sunday.”
There’s a pretty decent chance that Trackhouse will be represented in the Glen’s Victory Lane.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Serena Williams, 44, wins doubles comeback in London
Aug 29, 2022; Flushing, NY, USA; Serena Williams of the United States serves to Danka Kovinic of Montenegro on day one of the 2022 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-Imagn Images Serena Williams successfully launched her comeback Tuesday with a doubles upset during the HSBC Championships at the Queen’s Club in West Kensington, London.
Ending a nearly four-year retirement, the 44-year-old Williams partnered with 19-year-old Victoria Mboko of Canada for a 7-6 (2), 6-2 win against No. 3 seed Nicole Melihar-Martinez and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe.
Routliffe is a two-time U.S. Open doubles champion (2023, 2025) and Melihar-Martinez was a doubles finalist at Wimbledon in 2018 and the U.S. Open in 2020.
“I was having so much fun playing with Vicky,” Williams said in a post-match on-court interview. “She was really able to hold up the team and play big on the big points. I could really rely on her. We never played together but it just felt so natural playing with her.”
Williams’ first-round victory at the WTA 500 grass-court tournament was the 23-time Grand Slam winner’s first professional match since a tearful farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open.
Williams, who received a wild-card entry into the tournament, and Mboko advanced to the quarterfinals. They will face the winner between Canada’s Leylah Fernandez and Germany’s Laura Siegemund vs. Russia’s Alexandra Panova and the Netherlands’ Demi Schuurs.
Williams was asked what her tennis schedule might look like down the road and why she picked the HSBC Championship for a doubles return.
“I don’t know … I had nothing better to do,” Williams said, drawing laughs from fans. “I got tired sitting at home. My kids are out of school for the summer so why not.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Andrew Putnam wins 9-hole playoff for final U.S. Open spot from Oregon
May 3, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Andrew Putnam watches his tee shot on the second hole during the final round of the Cadillac Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Romance-Imagn Images PGA Tour veteran Andrew Putnam took the concept of “Golf’s Longest Day” to a new extreme.
After playing 36 holes at Emerald Valley Golf Club for U.S. Open final qualifying Monday in Creswell, Ore., Putnam and Spencer Tibbits were tied for second on the leaderboard. The problem was that only two spots were available from Oregon, requiring a 2-for-1 playoff.
Putnam and Tibbits played six more holes late Monday and couldn’t break their deadlock. They returned to the course Tuesday morning, and Putnam finally claimed victory on the ninth hole.
Putnam, a 37-year-old from Tacoma, Wash., will play his second major championship this year after appearing in none of the majors in 2025. He tied for 55th last month at the PGA Championship. Putnam last appeared in the U.S. Open in 2023, when he tied for 43rd.
His only victory on tour came in 2018 at the Barracuda Championship.
Greyson Leach shot 4-under-par 140 over 36 holes for medalist honors at Emerald Valley. Putnam and Tibbits tied at 3-under 141, with Tibbits squandering an advantage by following an opening 66 with a second-round 75.
Emerald Valley was one of 10 final qualifying sites across the U.S. and Canada on Monday. They were also contested in Toronto (near this week’s RBC Canadian Open), at two locations in Ohio, one in California and several courses around the East Coast.
The U.S. Open will be contested June 18-21 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y.
Here is the final list of players to qualify Monday (three other qualifiers were previously held):
–Ball Ground, Ga.: Chris Kirk, Jake Peacock, Keith Mitchell, Robbie Higgins, Chase Kyes (a)
–Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.: Giuseppe Puebla (a), Ben Silverman, Ryder Cowan (a), Miles Russell (a)
–Purchase, N.Y.: Kevin Roy, Max Greyserman, Benjamin James (a), James Nicholas
–Gastonia, N.C.: Jackson Ormond (a), Carl Yuan, Jackson Van Paris, Brandon Wu, Cole Hammer
–Rockville, Md.: Jackson Suber, Ben Kohles, Logan Reilly (a), Jake Sollon
–Springfield, Ohio: Neal Shipley, Zac Blair, Dylan Wu, Billy Horschel, Nick Hardy
–Westerville, Ohio: Davis Thompson, J.B. Holmes, Vaughn Harber (a), Arni Sveinsson (a)
–Toronto: Emiliano Grillo, Alejandro Tosti, Marcelo Rozo, William Mouw, John Parry, Max McGreevy
–Sacramento, Calif.: Taylor Montgomery, Eric Lee (a), Matthew Robles (a), Marek Fleming (a)
–Creswell, Ore.: Greyson Leach, Andrew Putnam
–Field Level Media
Sports
Reports: Brewers signing OF prospect Luis Lara to 7-year, $31M deal
Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Luis Lara adjusts his cap during spring training workouts Monday, February 16, 2026, at American Family Fields of Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona. The Milwaukee Brewers are in agreement with outfield prospect Luis Lara on a seven-year, $31 million extension, multiple outlets reported Tuesday.
The contract with the 21-year-old Venezuelan begins this season and includes three club options, potentially taking the deal through 2035.
The extension could max out at $78 million if Lara reaches all the incentives, a source told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Lara is ranked No. 5 among Milwaukee’s prospects and No. 91 among all major league clubs by MLB Pipeline.
He is batting .338/.447/.500 with seven homers, 27 RBIs and 18 stolen bases in 56 games this season at Double-A Nashville.
The Brewers have signed similar long-term deals with up-and-coming prospects before, including outfielder Jackson Chourio in December 2023 and current minor league shortstop Cooper Pratt in April.
–Field Level Media
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