Embattled Woods won't captain 2027 Ryder Cup team: PGA of America

World champion Tadej Pogacar won a record-equalling third Tour of Flanders on Sunday after dropping his main rival Mathieu van der Poel with 18km to ride.

Van der Poel was himself aiming for a new record fourth victory in the second Monument of the season, but instead, Pogacar made it two from two in the prestigious one-day classics having won Milan-San Remo last month.

Four-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, 27, now has 12 Monument victories, putting him clear in second on the all-time list behind only the great Eddy Merckx with 19.

He has raced three times this year, winning all three and if he wins Paris-Roubaix next weekend, he will join an elite band as just the fourth man to win all five Monuments after Merckx and fellow Belgians Rik Van Looy and Roger De Vlaeminck.

"It was a really crazy race today, I don't know what to say: super-hard from I don't know which kilometre," Pogacar told Belgian TV.

"I don't race too much, so when I race there is pressure to win.

"So far everything went perfect for me, so I can be more than happy.

"Coming next week to Roubaix, I can go motivated, but I try to enjoy the cobbles."

On his Roubaix debut last year, he finished second to Van der Poel, who won for the third year in a row.

Double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, on his Flanders debut, held on for an impressive third place ahead of fellow Belgian Wout van Aert after 278km and more than six hours riding around Flanders, over punchy climbs and numerous cobbled sections.

- Pogacar a cut above -

In what was billed as a battle between four of the biggest stars in cycling, Pogacar once again proved he is a cut above the others, although Van der Poel -- one of the greatest cobbled classics specialists of all time -- pushed him all the way.

Pogacar had dropped all his rivals bar Van der Poel and Evenepoel with an acceleration on the second of three ascents up the Oude Kwaremont climb with 57km to race.

Evenepoel was left behind on the very next climb, the Paterberg, and although he kept within a handful of seconds at first, he would gradually drift backwards, finishing more than a minute after Pogacar.

Pogacar and Van der Poel rode together for the better part of 40km, before the Slovenian put in his race-winning move on the final ride up the Oude Kwaremont.

He crested that with a six-second advantage, but Dutchman Van der Poel's resistance was broken and he would only lose more time before the finish.

A 13-man break, including Mongolian Sainbayaryn Jambaljamts, escaped in the first 40km and built up a maximum lead of about five-and-a-half minutes, thanks in part to the peloton being held up at a level crossing.

That lead stayed fairly stable for more than 100km before the peloton upped its pace.

With just over 100km left, Pogacar's teammates put the hammer down on the Molenberg climb and caused a split that saw a group of about 15 riders containing the favourites form a chase group.

The favourites caught the breakaway group with just under 80km left to ride, by which time their lead over the peloton had risen over one minute.

From then on, it was a question of whether anyone would be able to stay with Pogacar over the remaining climbs to the finish -- and no one could.

In the women's race, European champion Demi Vollering made an identical move to Pogacar, dropping her rivals and cresting the Oude Kwaremont with a 19-second lead over Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Puck Pieterse.

The Dutch rider would not be caught, coming home at the end of the 164km race with a 45-second gap to Ferrand-Prevot, who easily pipped Pietrse in the sprint for second.

It was the 2023 Tour de France Femmes winner's third Monument victory having won Liege-Bastogne-Liege twice.

Record three-time winner Lotte Kopecky had to settle for fourth.

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Leeds reached the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 39 years as they survived a dramatic penalty shoot-out after squandering a two-goal lead in a thrilling clash with West Ham on Sunday.

Daniel Farke's side were moments away from victory at the London Stadium after Ao Tanaka's first-half goal and Dominic Calvert-Lewin's second-half penalty put them in control.

But West Ham staged a stoppage-time rally as Mateus Fernandes reduced the deficit before Axel Disasi's equaliser forced extra time.

With the score still level at 2-2 after the additional period, Leeds keeper Lucas Perri emerged as their shoot-out hero.

Joel Piroe missed Leeds' first penalty but Calvert-Lewin, Brenden Aaronson, Wilfried Gnonto and Pascal Struijk all converted their kicks.

Perri saved Jarrod Bowen's opening effort for West Ham and also denied Pablo as Leeds won 4-2 on penalties.

It was their second shoot-out victory in the competition this season following their fourth-round success at Birmingham.

Leeds will face Chelsea in the semi-finals at Wembley later in April.

"We always do it the tough way, never the easy way. We could have made our lives easier," Farke said. 

"We had a late sucker punch when the whole stadium was buzzing. To keep the nerves and win the penalty shoot-out shows great mentality and character. 

"A chapter of Leeds history. It will be a big night for us at Wembley. It's a great step for this club and a great reward for everyone."

The Yorkshire club are in the semi-finals for the first time since 1987, when they lost to eventual winners Coventry at Hillsborough.

Leeds have lost on their past three trips to Wembley, in the 2024 Championship play-off final, the 2008 League One play-off final and the 1996 League Cup final.

FA Cup winners for the only time in 1972, Leeds' last victory at Wembley was a 4-3 success against Liverpool in the 1992 Charity Shield.

Their win over West Ham was a welcome lift in the midst of a Premier League relegation battle for both clubs.

Third-bottom West Ham are one point behind fourth-bottom Tottenham with seven games left.

Leeds, four points above the Hammers, face a return trip to West Ham for a potentially decisive clash on the last day of the season.

- Penalty drama -

West Ham boss Nuno Espirito Santo made five changes as he prioritised Friday's vital showdown with bottom-of-the-table Wolves.

Leeds grabbed the opener in the 26th minute thanks to an eye-catching effort from Japan midfielder Tanaka, who cleverly twisted to find space inside the penalty area for a shot that deflected off Disasi and bounced in off the crossbar.

Leeds struck again in the 75th minute after Max Kilman chopped down Aaronson in the area, with referee Craig Pawson changing his decision to a penalty after consulting the pitch-side monitor.

Calvert-Lewin confidently stroked his spot-kick past Alphonse Areola before sprinting to celebrate with 9,000 raucous Leeds supporters crammed behind the goal.

Leeds lost focus in the closing stages, allowing West Ham to stage their remarkable comeback.

Fernandes tapped in the rebound after Bowen hit the post in the third minute of stoppage time.

Stunned by the decision to play 11 minutes of additional time, Leeds were unable to hold their nerve.

Three minutes after Fernandes' goal, Adama Traore whipped an inswinging cross into the six-yard box and former Chelsea defender Disasi volleyed home with his outstretched foot.

Thousands of West Ham fans had already left before Disasi's equaliser and hundreds flooded back in after the goal, although some found the gates shut, leaving them stuck outside for the rest of the match.

With Areola forced off injured late in extra time, West Ham had to give a debut to reserve keeper Finlay Herrick.

The 20-year-old, who was on loan at non-league side Boreham Wood earlier this season, saved Piroe's penalty.

But there was no fairytale ending for Herrick as Leeds celebrated a semi-final berth almost four decades in the making.

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Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Sunday killed at least 15 people, a day after Israel threatened to hit Lebanon's main border crossing with Syria, forcing it to close.

Israel has launched airstrikes across Lebanon as well as a ground invasion in the south since March 2, when armed group Hezbollah entered the Middle East war on the side of its backer Iran.

Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir visited troops in southern Lebanon on Sunday and pledged to intensify strikes against Hezbollah.

One of Israel's strikes in Beirut Sunday killed at least five people and wounded 52 in the Jnah neighbourhood, the Lebanese health ministry said.

A strike targeting an apartment building in Ain Saadeh town east of Beirut killed three people and injured three others, while a strike in the southern town of Kfar Hatta, far from the border with Israel, killed seven people including a four-year-old girl, the ministry said.

Hezbollah on Sunday claimed to have fired a cruise missile at an Israeli warship off the coast, but the Israeli military told AFP it was "not aware" of such an incident.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the start of the war have killed more than 1,400 people, including 126 children, and displaced over a million, according to Lebanese authorities.

- Panic attacks -

The strike in Beirut's Jnah neighbourhood landed about 100 metres away from the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the largest public medical facility in Lebanon, a medical source told AFP.

Zakaria Tawbeh, deputy head of the hospital, said they received "four killed, three Sudanese and a 15-year old girl, and 31 wounded".

"Lots of glass was broken, and some of our patients had panic attacks."

After the first attack, 53-year-old Jnah resident Nancy Hassan thought she was safe at home.

"Shortly after, the planes were flying overhead, and we heard a huge bang, then stones rained down on us," she told AFP.

Hassan lost her daughter in an Israeli strike on the same area during the 2024 war between Hezbollah and Israel.

"My daughter was killed, she was 23 years old. Today, her friends were killed. Every time, they bomb us in the neighbourhood without warning," she added.

Israel also launched several strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, an area now largely evacuated but where Hezbollah holds sway.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon warned that attacks by Israel and Hezbollah near its positions "could potentially draw return fire".

- Vital crossing -

On Saturday, Israel had said it would target the Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, the main gateway between the two countries.

"Due to Hezbollah's use of the Masnaa crossing for military purposes and smuggling of combat equipment, the (Israeli army) intends to carry out strikes on the crossing in the near future," said the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee, urging people to leave the area.

The border post was quickly evacuated on the Lebanese side.

In Syria, borders and customs public relations director Mazen Aloush insisted the crossing was exclusively used by civilians but said it would close temporarily due to the threats.

Masnaa is a vital trade route for both countries and a key gateway to the rest of the region for Lebanese people.

Military expert Hassan Jouni told AFP that Israel's threat to strike the crossing "is not based on sound security considerations but rather aims to pressure the Lebanese government... to disarm Hezbollah".

At another border crossing further north known as Qaa, an AFP correspondent on Sunday saw a long line of cars and vans waiting to enter Syria as people sought an alternative route.

As Israeli troops push into border areas in southern Lebanon, destroying villages, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reiterated his call for talks with Israel, saying he wanted to spare his country's south from destruction on the scale seen in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

"Why don't we negotiate... until we can at least save the homes that have not yet been destroyed?" he said in a televised address.

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JJ Spaun bagged a sensational eagle on the penultimate hole to warm up for the Masters with a a dramatic one-shot victory at the PGA Tour's Valero Texas Open on Sunday.

Spaun carded a five-under-par closing 67 at the TPC San Antonio Oaks Course to finish the tournament with a 17-under aggregate 271.

That was enough to vault the 2025 US Open champion, who had started the final round tied for fourth, to the top of the leaderboard ahead of England's Matt Wallace, Scotland's Robert MacIntyre and Michael Kim, who finished on 16 under.

The signature moment for Spaun came on the par-four 306-yard 17th, when his tee shot landed on the green and rolled to within 10 feet of the flag.

He duly made the putt for eagle to move to five under for the day, and then held his nerve to make a crucial up-and-down par on the par-five 18th.

The victory couldn't have been better timed for Spaun, who won his first PGA Tour victory at San Antonio in 2022, but who has endured a rough start to 2026.

"This game is so crazy," Spaun said afterwards. "I haven't been feeling at the form that I wanted to be based off of last season. Just trying to take each day as it comes and accepting what I have. 

"Just means a lot to come back and win here at a place that's been so good to me." 

Spaun had missed the cut in four of his seven outings so far this season, with his highest finish before this week a tie for 24th place at The Players Championship last month.

But now the 35-year-old will head to Augusta for next week's Masters in fine fettle as he hunts a second major championship.

Spaun said adopting a more relaxed approach had been behind this week's improved form.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself this year to start the year, and a lot of expectations," he said. 

"It's the complete opposite of the mantra I had all year last year that really helped me, so I tried to get back to that.

"Went into the last few weeks starting at The Players just trying to be freed up and put less pressure on myself."

rcw/bb

Jaylen Brown scored 26 points and Jayson Tatum added 23 as the Boston Celtics beat the Toronto Raptors 115-101 on Sunday.

Tatum added 13 rebounds, seven assists and three steals for the Celtics, who notched their third straight win to tighten their grip on second place in the NBA Eastern Conference.

After hot starts in their past two victories, the Celtics looked sluggish in the early going.

They were bedeviled by 18 turnovers, leading to 24 Raptors points, and connected on just eight of their 28 three-point attempts.

Up 80-77 going into the fourth quarter, the Celtics were buoyed by 11 points from Payton Pritchard in the final frame, pushing their lead to as many as 18.

Ja'Kobe Walter scored 16 points and RJ Barrett and Brandon Ingram added 15 points each for the Raptors, who are seventh in the East but neck and neck with Philadelphia in the fight for sixth and a chance to escape the play-in tournament.

Later Sunday LeBron James leads a depleted Lakers team against the Mavericks in Dallas.

The Lakers, clinging to third place in the Western Conference, have confirmed they will be without NBA leading scorer Luka Doncic and offensive sparkplug Austin Reaves for at least the last five games of the regular season.

Doncic suffered a hamstring strain in a loss to Oklahoma City Thursday and Reaves has an oblique muscle injury.

The fourth-placed Denver Nuggets are hot on the Lakers' heels with the Houston Rockets just two games behind them in fifth place.

Golden State superstar Stephen Curry is expected to return from a 27-game injury absence when the Warriors host the Rockets.

Curry, who last played on January 30, was diagnosed with a bone bruise and patella-femoral pain syndrome in his right knee.

The 38-year-old said this week that he'd been frustrated at the slow pace of recovery from an injury he expected to sideline him "a week, 10 days max".

"The patience then was tough just because it's one of those injuries you really have to let rest," he said.

Curry said there is "nothing structurally wrong" with his knee but acknowledged he's dealing with "a new normal" in terms of managing the issue.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Curry will be on a minutes restriction as the team, currently 10th in the West, builds toward the play-in tournament.

bb/rcw

American fourth seed Tommy Paul saved three match points before scoring a battling three-set victory over unseeded Argentine Roman Burruchaga to win the ATP Houston US Men's Clay Court Championship on Sunday.

Paul, 28, held his nerve in a nail-biting third set to dig out a 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 triumph in 2hr 40min to claim the fifth ATP title of his career.

The American had looked to be heading for defeat after the 77th-ranked Burruchaga engineered a trio of match points while leading 5-3 on Paul's serve in the decisive third set.

But Paul showed tremendous resilience to put out that fire and hold, and then broke Burruchaga in the next game to square the match at 5-5.

Buoyed by that narrow escape, Paul then held to love to go 6-5 up, and suddenly the pressure was all on the 24-year-old from Buenos Aires, playing in his first ATP final.

Burruchaga, the son of 1986 World Cup-winning footballer Jorge Burruchaga, appeared equal to the challenge after going 40-0 up.

Yet once again Paul dug deep and clawed his way back to deuce.

The American moved to match point when Burruchaga drilled a backhand wide down the line, and then clinched victory when the South American yanked a wild forehand long on the next point.

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The University of California at Los Angeles thrashed South Carolina 79-51 on Sunday to capture the coveted US women's collegiate basketball championship.

In a commanding performance at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Arizona, UCLA dominated on both ends of the floor, building an early lead with an unselfish offensive display and lock-down defense.

The Bruins out-rebounded the Gamecocks 49-37 and out-scored them 40-28 in the paint and 25-12 on second-chance points.

Gabriela Jaquez -- sister of Miami Heat player Jaime Jaquez Jr. -- scored 21 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for UCLA. Gianna Kneepkens added 15 points and center Lauren Betts scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as she made her presence felt in the paint.

UCLA claimed their first NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Division 1 championship, their previous title, in 1978, coming before the NCAA tournament era.

In the face of suffocating defense, South Carolina connected on just 25.7% of their shots from the field and the team that went into the final shooting 50.5% shot just 29% for the game.

Trailing 36-23 at halftime, South Carolina were outscored 25-9 in the third quarter.

Third-year guard Tessa Johnson scored 14 points to lead the Gamecocks, but South Carolina's top three scorers Joyce Edwards, Ta'Niya Latson and Madina Okot, were all held to single digits.

The margin of victory was the third largest ever in the women's championship game, and UCLA denied South Carolina a fourth title.

They lifted the trophy in 2017, 2022 and 2024 but fell to Connecticut last year.

bb/rcw

For just the third time under coach Kerrick Jackson, Mizzou baseball has earned a Southeastern Conference series win. 

The Tigers entered the Bluegrass State and pulled off a 5-4 comeback win in the ninth inning Friday, but then dropped Game 2 without much fight. This set Mizzou up for a rubber match, in which the Tigers came out on top with a 5-2 victory over No. 24 Kentucky on Sunday.

In a cutthroat conference, series wins are not a simple task. In the past three seasons, Mizzou has only accomplished the feat against then-No. 4 Florida in 2024, Texas A&M in 2025 and now No. 24 Kentucky in 2026. It also marked its first road series win over a ranked opponent since 2021 against then-No. 3 Mississippi State. 

The team has tied its SEC win total from the previous season and hasn't even reached the halfway point of conference play yet. 

This season, Mizzou has snagged one win on the road against then-No. 22 Tennessee on the road in the series opener and then took another series opener on the road Friday. The Tigers paired it with the win in the series finale. All three wins last year came in the series sweep of Texas A&M on the road.

"Anytime you can win a series on the road against a ranked opponent that's a really good ball club," Jackson said to Mizzou Radio postgame, "you gotta be able to take advantage of that, and we were able to do that today."

There was only a couple innings on Sunday in which the Wildcats had the advantage over Mizzou. The pitching for the Tigers has been up-and-down this season, but they were locked in on the mound in this game.

Mizzou needed just three pitchers for the win. 

In his first collegiate start, freshman right-hander Sam Rosand had himself quite a day. He tossed a career-high four innings and allowed just two runs across the second and third inning. Those were the only runs the Tigers allowed of the game. 

The Wildcats were able to tie together three singles off of Rosand in the second for the first of the runs for Kentucky, then added another run on a solo home run in the third. That briefly put Kentucky ahead 2-1. 

After one more scoreless inning on the mound from Rosand, lefty Juan Villarreal took over and continued to shut down the usually scrappy Wildcats offense. He didn't allow a hit, walked just two batters and hit two batters across his three-inning stint. 

Villarreal's appearances on the mound this season have brought improvement each time. He was able to go a season-high in innings and put up one of his best performances on the mound. 

He was followed by yet another stellar outing on the bump. Freshman right-hander Eli Skidmore has excelled in late inning roles and did so again Sunday. His two innings of one-hit ball earned him his first career save. 

"Friday night, he didn't even come to the game because he was sick," Jackson said. "So for him to go out there and do what he did, it was awesome." 

In many games this season, pitching success on the mound was typically paired with not enough run-support from the offense. That was not the case in the series finale. 

"You start with a freshman and you close with a freshman," Jackson said. "It doesn't get any better than that. Obviously had a great outing from Juan in-between there."

Along with Rosand and Skidmore, yet another freshman was a key contributor to the win for the Tigers. Young designated hitter Blaize Ward ripped three hits in the game and brought in two of the runs.

His first hit of the game was a single in the second that followed a double from Pierre Seals, which brought Seals home for the first Mizzou run. Three innings later in a four-run fifth, he singled again for the fourth run of the game. 

The Tigers brought chaos with them in the fifth to garner the lead. It began with a walk, featured a double steal that somewhat worked and ended with the first batter that came to the plate. 

After Eric Maisonet walked to lead off the inning, a throwing error by Kentucky's starting pitcher Ben Cleaver following a sacrifice bunt from Keegan Knutson allowed him to reach base, but made every run scored in that inning unearned and pushed Maisonet to third. The next batter, Kam Durnin, recorded a sacrifice fly to tie the game. 

Kaden Peer then took the plate and singled, pushing Knuston to third, but he wasn't on the base path long. He and Knutson engaged in a double steal attempt, in which Knutson made it home but Peer was caught stealing.  

After a hit-by-pitch of Jase Woita and a walk to Seals, Ward snagged his aforementioned second RBI and scored Woita from second base. 

The final run crossed when catcher Juliomar Campos earned a walk with the bases loaded. That settled the game at 5-2.

The Tigers earned just two hits in the inning but combined it with four walks, three different pitchers, two sacrifices, two wild throws and one error all in the inning for the lead. 

Mizzou (19-14, 3-9 SEC) will return to Columbia to face in-state foe Missouri State (21-9) at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Taylor Stadium. 

Lebanese Christians marked Easter Sunday by turning their prayers to the south, where villages remain trapped by fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

This year's celebrations were dedicated to "people in the south," said Jenny Yazbek al‑Jamal, as she left mass at a church in Beirut's northern suburb of Jdeideh.

With family living in the region, the 55-year-old said she feels like "one of them". 

It is not only Christian villages suffering in this war added al-Jamal, who leads the parish choir. 

"Muslim villages too... we stand with all the people of the south who were forced to flee their homes."

The church was packed on Sunday, with some worshippers left standing outside. 

Around the altar, placards bearing the names of Christian villages in south Lebanon -- cut off from the rest of the country or under fire -- had been placed.

Hymn singers struggled to raise their voices above the roar of Israeli fighter jets flying low over Beirut and bombing the capital's southern suburbs. 

"Even during our religious holidays, even on Good Friday, jets fly over us and break the sound barrier just to scare us," al-Jamal said.

- 'For peace' -  

"This has to stop," said Marina Awad, another 55-year-old worshipper attending mass with her husband. 

"It's truly very sad to know people had to abandon homes built over a lifetime, unsure if they will ever return."

Border villages are going through a severe crisis, added 65-year-old Dori Ghrayeb. "No food, no water, no bread, no medicine, and no medical care."

The Maronite Patriarchate expressed "deep disappointment" on Sunday over the cancellation for "security reasons" of a humanitarian convoy jointly set up by the Vatican's envoy to Lebanon. 

The convoy had been due to visit the border village of Debl.

Several Christian villages near the frontier -- including Ain Ebel, Rmeich and Debl -- are caught between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah. 

Residents have refused Israeli calls to evacuate as troops advance in southern border areas. They insist this is not their war and say they feel abandoned after Lebanese troops withdrew from several border points. 

The convoy, organised with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and two Christian charities, was meant to deliver 40 tonnes of medicine and basic supplies to residents "cut off from the rest of the country", the Patriarchate said.

The two charities, Caritas‑Lebanon and L'Oeuvre d'Orient condemned the cancellation as a violation of international humanitarian law, particularly as it affected vulnerable civilians trapped in their villages.

"I am for peace; the war must stop so that we can sit at the same table," Ghrayeb said.

dco-mby/at/hme/rh

Defending champion Jessica Pegula clinched back-to-back victories at the WTA Charleston Open clay court tournament on Sunday, routing Ukraine's Yuliia Starodubtseva in straight sets to claim her second title of the year.

Top seed Pegula, who had gone to three sets in every round on her way to Sunday's final, was in no mood to take the scenic route again as she sprinted to a 6-2, 6-2 victory in 1hr 22min against her 89th-ranked opponent.

The Charleston victory follows Pegula's win at Dubai in February and is the 11th title of the 32-year-old New Yorker's career.

After an even start, Pegula seized control in the fifth game of the first set, grabbing the first break point of the match when Starodubtseva pulled a forehand wide.

The Ukrainian saved that point but was quickly in trouble again, giving Pegula another break point with a rushed return which the American converted for a 3-2 lead.

After holding to go 4-2 up, Pegula then went a double-break ahead as more unforced errors from Starodubtseva proved costly.

After comfortably serving out for the set, Pegula was soon on the offensive in the second, breaking Starodubtseva for a third time to 1-0 up.

Starodubtseva finally began to exert some pressure in the next game and twice carved out break points. 

But Pegula slammed the door shut to hold for 2-0 and then rammed home the advantage by breaking again for a 3-0 lead.

Another break left her 5-0 up and serving for the match. Starodubtseva finally showed some resilience to fight off three match points to grab her first break to make it 5-1.

But Pegula made no mistake on her next service game, holding to love to wrap up victory.

rcw/pb