Sports
Ross Molony: Leinster locks signs for Bath Rugby on three-year contract from 2024-25
Bath have announced the signing of Leinster lock Ross Molony on a three-year contract.
The 29-year-old will join up with the Somerset club ahead of the 2024-25 season.
Molony has made 177 appearances for Leinster and has won four league titles and the European Champions Cup with the Dublin club.
Leinster are currently five points clear at the top of the United Rugby Championship table.
They face Premiership leaders Northampton Saints on Saturday, May 4, for a place in a third Champions Cup final in a row.
“Ross is a true professional and his journey in rugby is a testament to this,” director of rugby Johann van Graan told the club’s website.
“His work ethic and leadership are some of his key characteristics and I believe he will play a huge part in our journey in the next number of years.”
Bath are currently second in the Premiership, five points behind Northampton.
Sports
Fury vs Usyk: Heavyweights separated by security during weigh-in
The majority of the 2,500 British fans expected to be in attendance on Saturday landed in the Saudi capital in the morning and made their way to the weigh-in.
Heavyweight legends were also rolled in as Lennox Lewis, Larry Holmes, Evander Holyfield and Wladimir Klitschko watched events unfold.
Wales’ IBF super-featherweight champion Joe Cordina and Belfast’s Anthony Cacace successfully weighed in for their bout, along with the rest of the undercard.
Then it was time for the big men. The boisterous British fans, huddled together, jeered Usyk and erupted – chanting “there’s only one Tyson Fury” – when the Gypsy King entered.
The difference in size has been a hot topic throughout the build-up and Usyk – a former cruiserweight champion – came in only two pounds heavier than when he beat Anthony Joshua in 2022.
At 6ft 3in, he is giving up a six-inch height advantage. Fury also has a reach of 85in, compared to Usyk’s 78in.
Fury, 35, comes in more than stone lighter than his close points win over Francis Ngannou in October.
He was criticised for his conditioning against the boxing debutant and appears to have made the necessary adjustments.
Usyk, 37, and his team had previously mocked Fury by calling him “greedy belly”. This week, their insult has changed to “skinny belly”.
But there are concerns Fury may have lost too much weight, impacting his punch resistance.
Earlier in the week, Briton Lewis, the last undisputed heavyweight champion in the three-belt era, said Fury appears to have lost size in his legs and it could make it easier for him to be knocked down.
Sports
US PGA Championship: Xander Schauffele leads as Scottie Scheffler closes in
At five under par overnight, McIlroy and MacIntyre had the opportunity to push on as the rain eased.
Only the Scot looked likely to take it.
Playing the opposite side of the course to the more celebrated names, he quietly picked up four shots in 10 holes to get to nine under par but after hitting a shot from a hospitality verandah as he scrambled a par on the long seventh, he bogeyed the final two holes as he raced to beat the fading light.
Meanwhile, McIlroy birded the opening hole but was unable to find his form on the greens before the double bogey at 12 wrecked his card. It now seems unlikely his long wait for a major victory will end here at the place where he won his last one in 2014.
Playing partner Justin Rose managed an eagle at the last to join him on five under par while fellow Englishmen Matt Wallace (67) and Aaron Rai (68) improved to seven and six under respectively.
Thirty-one of the past 34 winners of this tournament have been in the top 10 at the halfway stage.
Bryson DeChambeau, the 2020 US Open champion, is in that bracket after he shot seven birdies on his way to a 65 as he finished in near darkness to join Scheffler on nine under.
He was joined in the top 10 by 2023 runner-up Viktor Hovland who moved smoothly to eight under with a 66.
Lurking one place outside the top 10, 2023 winner Brooks Koepka matched magical iron play with inconsistent putting in his three-under 68. Five off the lead, the three-time champion remains a threat in this tournament.
Sports
G4D Open: Kipp Popert holds off Brendan Lawlor to win at Woburn
Kipp Popert underlined his status as the world’s leading golfer with a disability by holding off second-ranked Brendan Lawlor to win the G4D Open at Woburn.
England’s Popert started the final round one behind defending champion Lawlor but his two-over 74 was enough to win by one stroke.
“It’s great to win,” said Popert who has cerebral palsy.
“It was nice to come out on top at the end of the week in the battle with Brendan.
“I won the US Adaptive Open last year with the USGA so I’ve now got both at the same time. I’m pretty excited to get home and put them next to each other.”
Lawlor birdied the first to move two shots clear but double bogeys on the par three second and seventh holes derailed the Irishman, while Popert birdied the eighth to move one clear.
However, Popert dropped two shots at the ninth and Lawlor bogeyed it to leave the players tied on one over par with nine to play.
Popert was three shots ahead after the 14th but Lawlor fought back to be level after 16 holes, However, the world number two made a costly bogey on the 17th and Popert parred the last to win the second staging of the championship.
“It’s a tough one to take,” said Lawlor, who has a rare condition called Ellis-van Creveld syndrome that is characterised by a short stature and short limbs.
“I went two ahead early on but I just kept hitting ropey shots. When I went three behind on the 14th, I said, ‘right, it’s time to fight now’.
“I wanted to defend, wanted to try and win it. But unfortunately I duffed my nine-iron on 17 and made bogey.”
Dutch player Daphne van Houten, who suffers from scoliosis, was crowned the women’s champion.
The championship was held in partnership between the DP World Tour and the R&A and supported by EDGA – formally the European Disabled Golf Association. It featured 80 men and women, aged 15-68, playing in nine sport classes across multiple impairment groups.
A gross prize was also awarded in each sport class, covering various categories in standing, intellectual, visual and sitting.
Men’s gross prize winners:
Intellectual 1: Cameron Pollard, Australia
Intellectual 2: Thomas Blizzard, England
Standing 1: Juan Postigo Arce, Spain
Standing 2: Kipp Popert, England
Standing 3: Brendan Lawlor, Ireland
Sitting 1: Terry Kirby, England
Sitting 2: Richard Kluwen, Netherlands
Visual 1: Paul O’Rahilly, Ireland
Visual 2: John Eakin, England
Women’s gross prize winners:
Intellectual 2: Erika Malmberg, Sweden
Standing 1: Alessandra Donati, Italy
Standing 2: Aimi Bullock, England
Standing 3: Daphne van Houten, Netherlands
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