Oscar Robertson’s records were once considered to be among sport’s unbreakable records. The Oklahoma City Thunder guard just changed thatFifty-five years ago when Oscar Robertson set his record for triple-doubles in a season while playing for the Cincinnati Royals, there was no special ceremony or blowout media coverage. The term “triple-double” did not exist at the time and didn’t enter the basketball lexicon until years later, its mainstream emergence aided in 1992 by a Los Angeles-based rapper who happened to notch one on the playground one good and sunny day. Not only was there not intense coverage of the statistical mark in 1962, Robertson didn’t even know he had achieved anything remarkable or historic at the time. “Not at all,”...
US challenge petered out before the turn and the Spaniard eventually saw off Justin Rose, his Ryder Cup team-mate, at the first extra hole in what also became a celebration of their great sportsmanshipFor a few brief moments on Sunday afternoon the 2017 Masters was alive with possibility. At the far end of the 1st hole, Tea Olive, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler, the two finest young players in the US today, were standing in front of the green, scheming over the chip shots they were about to play. Way back behind them Justin Rose and Sergio García, another couple of close friends, were making their way up the fairway from the 1st tee, to the spot where their drives...
With his exemption for the tournament having run out, the South African’s final round on Sunday could prove to be last in the season’s first majorEarly Sunday morning, seven hours before the leaders reached the back nine and the tournament really started, Ernie Els started what will likely be his last round at the Masters. For the last five years Els has qualified automatically because he won the Open in 2012. The exemption is about to run out and, given that Els is 47, is currently ranked No410 in the world and has missed the cut in nine of his last 10 tournaments, he may struggle to find a way back. Time was when Els would have had a late...
The former Olympic wrestler is still light heavyweight champion but the division continues to struggle while Jon Jones’s exile continuesDaniel Cormier thinks he broke Anthony Johnson twice when they were matched in the spring of 2015 for the UFC light heavyweight title. Cormier took possession of the vacant belt partway into the third round, when Johnson tapped to a rear-naked choke, but he walked away from that contest feeling as if his opponent’s will had been snapped in the previous frame.When they were paired after Johnson stormed through three straight 205lb contenders since losing to the defending champion Cormier, a former Olympic wrestler, said if he made it past seven minutes with “Rumble” the fight would be his again.Johnson blew...
The American clung on to a share of the lead in Augusta as he finished with a three-over-par 75 on the second day, level with Sergio GarcíaIt took 36 hours and 23 holes but sometime around midday on Friday Charley Hoffman, a portly 40-year-old ranked No52 in the world, finally realised he was playing in the Masters. For the last day-and-a-half, Hoffman seemed to have fooled himself into thinking he was playing in some small town Sunday fundraiser, the Pro-Am at Podunk Country Club.On Thursday, Hoffman played one of the finest opening rounds in the history of the Masters, a seven-under-par 65, which left him four shots clear of the next best, and was 10 strokes ahead of the average...