Scott Murray's Blog, page 58

The Masters 2022: first round – as it happened

Im Sung-jae finished at five under par, one shot clear of Cam Smith and four clear of Tiger Woods on his return to Augusta

Migliozzi is joined at the top by the ever-entertaining Harry Higgs. The 30-year-old from Dallas is playing in his first Masters, having finished tied for fourth at Kiawah in last year’s PGA, and is very much part of the Barnes-Daly-Jimenez everyman tradition, as anyone who remembers him getting the old puppies out at the Phoenix Open a couple of months ago will attest. Having opened with bogey, he’s seized the day much as he embraces life, with birdies at 2, 3 and now 4. The young Australian Min Woo Lee, current Scottish Open champion, makes it three with a long birdie rake across 5.

-2: Migliozzi (6), MW Lee (5), Higgs (4)
-1: Harrington (8)

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Crystal Palace 3-0 Arsenal: Premier League – as it happened

Crystal Palace flew out of the traps at Selhurst Park and Arsenal had no answer, the visitors dropping precious points in the race for a top-four spot

2 min: Gallagher puts Ramsdale under all sorts of pressure, closing him down and causing a panicked clearance. Arsenal eventually clear, but Palace come again, Mitchell zipping in a low cross from the left. The ball doesn’t break for Mateta on the penalty spot. Arsenal clear again. What a start by Palace, though.

30 sec: Mateta battles his way down the inside-left channel and into the Arsenal box. The visitors don’t look prepared to defend this. But the flag goes up for offside.

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Jennifer Kupcho wins Chevron Championship 2022 – as it happened

Jennifer Kupcho rode out some mild turbulence on the back nine at Mission Hills, holding her nerve to win her first major championship

We have a new clubhouse leader. The 2018 British Open champ Georgia Hall has got round in 69 today, and finishes the week at -6. A strong finish to go with Thursday’s 68, bookending average rounds of 71 and 74 that scuppered any chance of a serious tilt at the title by the 25-year-old from Bournemouth. Hall has yet to make a proper impression in the majors on US soil, all of her top-ten finishes coming in Europe at the British Open or the Evian. She does have one LPGA Tour win under her belt, to be fair, at last year’s Portland Classic.

Jennifer Kupcho had only made four bogeys all week going into this final round. Now she’s made a fifth. A dropped stroke at 3, and suddenly there’s a small shaft of light for the chasing pack.

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Manchester United 1-1 Leicester: Premier League – as it happened

Fred cancelled out Kelechi Iheanacho’s opener but United dropped two more points in their pursuit of a top-four finish

2 min: Dalot and McTominay perform a clumsy pincer movement on Barnes, and it’s a free kick for Leicester out on the left. Maddison swings it in. The ball twangs off Barnes’ back and over the bar. Not too far over, mind. So close to a dramatic start.

1 min: Leicester are kicking towards the Stretford End in this first half. Meanwhile for the record, the United fans stand four-square behind their beleaguered captain, serenading him with their La Bamba song.

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Liverpool 2-0 Watford: Premier League – as it happened

Liverpool were forced to battle but Diogo Jota’s header and Fabinho’s late penalty saw off a determined Watford at Anfield

3 min: Sarr finds Hernandez down the Watford left. The resulting cross sails harmlessly into Alisson’s arms, but there’s an early sign that the visitors have come to play as well.

2 min: A decent atmosphere at Anfield, by the way, especially given the early kick-off. Jurgen Klopp’s request for the fans to make some noise is being met.

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Portugal 2-0 North Macedonia: World Cup playoff final – as it happened

Bruno Fernandes was the two-goal hero as Portugal qualified for their sixth World Cup finals in a row with a fuss-free display in Porto

8 min: A bit of space in the centre circle for Fernandes to work with. He dallies and is quickly dispossessed by a swarm of white shirts. No quarter given.

6 min: A little bit of space for Mendes down the left. He curls a sensational low cross through the Macedonian six-yard box, but neither Jota nor Ronaldo are around to prod home ... and that ball was begging to be prodded home.

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The Fiver | World Cup playoffs riding to the rescue in this international break

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Back in the day, before the BBC sussed out that they could fill their entire morning and afternoon schedule with looped footage of Dion Dublin running up and down the stairs of a house that hasn’t seen a lick of paint for decades, the corporation would stick up a testcard, or film of a potter’s wheel, or pages from Ceefax accompanied by whatever version of The Girl From Ipanema that came to hand in the library. It was a great way of filling space and passing time when nothing was happening and they had no content. Yes sir, a great way of filling space and passing time when nothing was happening and they had no content.

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The Fiver | The cheese curds and gravy on an already delicious plate of fries

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To paraphrase one of Chris Rock’s greatest jokes, Will Smith ain’t go crazy last night at the Oscars; Will Smith went Will Smith. Quite the spontaneous contemporary dance routine, though, huh? Remember, kids, violence is never the answer, especially if it’s going to subject everyone to a full week of hot takes, polarised op-eds and memes. Oh Will! How could you! The Fiver is also sad that the incident has instantly become the most famous and notorious on-stage hand-jaw-interface scenario in history, eclipsing that time Jerry Sadowitz took to the stage in Montreal and opened with “I tell you why I hate Canada, half of you speak French, and the other half let them” with predictable consequences. Sadowitz an acquired taste, to be fair.

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England 2-1 Switzerland: international friendly – as it happened

An experimental side came from behind to make a little bit of history, registering England’s 300th win on home soil

Switzerland get the ball rolling ... but only after the knee is taken. Applause rings around Wembley. There’s no room for racism.

The teams are out. A beautifully sunny day at Wembley. A mosaic of support for Ukraine in the stands. Captains Kane and Xhaka hold the Ukrainian flag with the word PEACE emblazoned across it. Both teams congregate to show solidarity. England play in blue, Switzerland in white. Second colours all round. We’ll be off in a minute.

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The Fiver | Italy and an unusually large number of widescreen humiliations

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For a nation with four World Cup wins on the résumé, Italy have suffered an unusually large number of widescreen humiliations at the greatest tournament of all. At Mexico 70, they conceded the most famous goal in World Cup history, Carlos Alberto setting the seal on the joint-largest, and certainly most iconic, spanking in a final. Four years earlier, a loss to North Korea led to their getting pelted by tomatoes upon arrival back home, protest registered via the medium of pizza topping. In 1950, they opted to travel to Brazil by boat having been spooked by Superga, then stank the place out and flew home anyway. Diego Maradona ran rings around them, on and off the pitch, at their own party in 1990. Roberto Baggio’s penalty is still climbing over LA. And in 2014 they only narrowly managed to beat Mr Roy’s England. The litany of gaffes, fiascos and faux pas is seemingly endless.

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