Category News

Final leaderboard for the Tour Championship

-18 T Fleetwood (Eng), -15 P Cantlay (US), R Henley (US), -14 S Scheffler (US), C Conners (Can), C Young (US)

Selected: -13 J Thomas (US), K Bradley (US), -11 V Hovland (Nor), -10 S Lowry (Ire), -9 R MacIntyre (Sco), -7 J Rose (Eng), -6 R McIlroy (NI)

Tommy Fleetwood persevered to win the Tour Championship and, at the 164th attempt, to win his first PGA Tour crown.

After he holed the winning putt on the 18th green, the 34-year-old Englishman cried out in awe as he saluted the crowd who had raised both arms and sounded a loud roar.

As Fleetwood won the FedEx Cup by three shots, under par, and won the $10 million (£7.4 million) first prize, his European Ryder Cup team-mate Justin Rose was greenside filming the final putt and celebrations on his phone.

A three-shot lead down the last doesn’t feel like that many when you’ve lost so many, joked Fleetwood, who was teary-eyed.

The fans are amazing, and it gives me a little emotional energy. I’m so fortunate to receive such exceptional support, and I hope everyone understands my gratitude.

Fleetwood’s previous seven victories on the European-based DP World Tour were his eighth career title, which means he has escaped the dreaded stereotype of being the nearly man of the American PGA Tour circuit.

He becomes the first Englishman to win the FedEx Cup at the Tour Championship, following Rose in 2018, and the first one to do so since the FedEx Cup era, which dates back to 2007 ().

With the Ryder Cup in New York on the horizon next month, Fleetwood’s victory was secured by an assurance that will greatly benefit European golfers.

One of the most well-known players on the PGA Tour is Southport’s Fleetwood, who received a much louder ovation on the first tee than his American playing partner Cantlay.

After the first three rounds, the pair were tied at 16 under, but Fleetwood was four shots clear after birdieing the second while Cantlay opened with a bogey and double bogey.

The world number one, who was four shots adrift, hit his opening tee shot out of bounds, giving Scheffler a setback in the first round.

However, a bogey on the fifth attempted to refute any notions that Fleetwood would win the title.

With nine minutes left, he was three clear of the drama, but his sixth and seventh-round bogeys made it three clear.

His lead was cut to one after a bogey on the 10th and a Cantlay birdie. Given that they were nearly two holes behind the group in front, the pair were also instructed to increase the pace of play.

With birdies on the 12th and 13th holes, Fleetwood extended his lead by two to two.

Scheffler, who won both the Open Championship and US PGA Championship this year, was still present. Scheffler was 15 under and two under when he finally came out on the par-three 15th when he posted a double-bogey five.

The hopes of US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley suffered the same fate a short while later.

Bradley, who will make his decision on Wednesday whether to choose himself from his six choices for the Bethpage Black contest in the coming month, snuck into the lake after playing a tee shot all weekend.

He had denied Fleetwood his first victory at the Travelers Championship in June because he was out of steam in Atlanta.

Russell Henley, Bradley’s playing partner, did not move much as much as Bradley did. In a one-under-par 69, he missed numerous birdie putts, putting him in second place with Cantlay (15 under).

US Open 2025

Dates: August 24 through September 7 in Flushing Meadows, New York

Rebeka Masarova defeated Aryna Sabalenka to start her US Open title defense in New York, giving her more authority and confidence.

Sabalenka defeated Swiss rival Masarova 7-5 6-1 after a shaky opening.

Max Mirnyi, a 10-time Grand Slam doubles champion who was hired to serve as a support to coach Anton Dubrov, watched her from her box.

Mirnyi, who earned the nickname “the Beast” during his professional playing days due to his fearless height and 6’4″ height, has been working with Sabalenka to improve her net abilities as she strives to win the Grand Slam championship.

Sabalenka said, “I think we’ve improved a few things together and I’m looking forward to working with this wonderful guy.”

“Hopefully we can finally make my volley better; maybe one day I’ll use the net more frequently, but for the time being, it’s still a work in progress.”

Sabalenka wants to win the title of New York’s first woman since Serena Williams in 2014.

She has lost the French and Australian Open finals, making at least the last four of each of her previous three Grand Slam victories this year.

The three-time Grand Slam champion, who had a poor Cincinnati Open performance, scrapped past Emma Raducanu before falling to Elena Rybakina, who arrived at Flushing Meadows.

Sabalenka was forced to start with a shaky start when Masarova broke her in the fifth game of the first set before leveling herself at 3-3.

The top seed produced a stunning defensive return to the Swiss’s overhead smash before Sabalenka earned a set point at 6-5, which Masarova believed she had saved.

Masarova was forced to make a lobbed return, which Sabalenka roared down the line to take the opening set.

As Sabalenka raced to victory, Masarova, the world number 108, was deflated from there on and only served once in the second set.

Rasmus Hojlund sought out UK journalists in Chicago after the match to formally state his intention to stay with Manchester United in their second Premier League Summer Series game last month, which was notable.

Hojlund was unaware of this at the time, but it could turn out to be his last start for United.

Hojlund played for 18 minutes in the final tour game against Everton with a $74 million move from RB Leipzig frontman Benjamin Sesko pending.

He hasn’t played in either of United’s two Premier League games since then and was an unused substitute against Fiorentina at Old Trafford.

This week, it is anticipated that Serie A champions Napoli will redouble their efforts to find a breakthrough that would allow Hojlund to fill the position left by Romelu Lukaku, who is expected to miss four months with a thigh injury.

What United manager Ruben Amorim was unaware of as he addressed him following the Bournemouth game was how difficult it would be for them to score goals in open play.

United’s only goal of the season is an own goal, scored by Rodrigo Muniz, with a 1-1 draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage following an opening 1-0 defeat by Arsenal.

Since that game against Everton, they have scored four goals, a penalty, two own goals, and one effort from open play.

United may be disappointed that they can’t leave Fulham on Sunday with the most points, but Bruno Fernandes’ second penalty, which was fired high over the bar, is the main culprit.

Their best chances came in the second half, not more, according to Fulham manager Marco Silva, who pointedly observed, “at the end, nothing more.”

United’s position should be mitigated in some ways.

Sesko and his new team-mates, who are also learning a new playstyle, have two weeks’ worth of training sessions.

The 22-year-old started 37 minutes at Craven Cottage from the bench in his opening game against Arsenal, adding that Amorim noted that the United were “not in their best moment.”

The Portuguese claim that they started playing instead of defending a lead.

Even though he was moving at full speed and the ball was dropping over his shoulder, Cunha almost had a sensational first-half goal when he controlled Altay Bayindir’s magnificent left-footed touch to keep his balance and make his own effort on goal with his right foot, which Bernd Leno did very well to keep out.

It seems like a matter of time before the Brazilian, who was set up by Mason Mount, actually finds the net because of how stunningly eye-catching his United career has been.

Mbeumo and his teammates worked hard, and their goal in the dying stages of the game would have been impacted by the exceptional pace of USA international Antonee Robinson.

United’s attack, however, currently feels more like a group of talented players trying to be more of a unit.

As you would expect, Amorim rejects the notion that a scoring issue, which caused United to net just 44 league goals last season, which was their worst since the 1973-1974 relegation campaign, has not been resolved. Since last season, the transfer money has been concentrating on the attack.

He said, “I forget the last season.” We were more concerned with keeping the outcome, as I previously stated.

Because we are making so many chances, we will score goals. That is crucial.

Amorim has frequently discussed the advantages of a season-long European campaign without one.

The EFL Cup will be the only midweek fixture if United advance during the three-week break between the two upcoming international breaks.

However, there is no such thing as a “time stutter.”

As Sesko gets acquainted with the Premier League and Cunha and Mbeumo get used to him and each other, United must find a way to win games.

After finishing last season 15th, they are currently 16th after two games, and Burnley, who has just been promoted, will visit them on Saturday.

If United had scored the opener through Bruno Fernandes, the inquest would not have been as serious.

Fernandes skied the task instead.

The United man ended up on the ground as a corner came in as VAR Darren England intervened to stop a Calvin Bassey challenge on Mason Mount that had become contentious.

Marco Silva, the manager of Fulham, claimed Leny Yoro had a foul in the build-up to the visitors’ goal and that it ought not to have been awarded.

When Kavanagh accidentally tapped into his shoulder, forcing the United skipper to go through his routine again, Fernandes had placed the ball on the spot and was striding backwards as part of his routine.

Gary Neville and Ashley Young, former United players, said on Sky Sports that the incident would have stifled Fernandes’ concentration.

Fernandes later said, “I was upset. You have your own routine and tasks to perform as a penalty taker.

“The referee didn’t apologize, so I was upset.” That is what gave me that moment of a pull.