Tag: after

Paul George to 76ers rumors heat up after Clippers divorce announcement paul,george,to,ers,rumors,heat,up,after,clippers,divorce,announcement,sbnation,com,front-page,nba,nba-free-agency

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The Philadelphia 76ers opened up more than $61 million in cap space this summer in an effort to lure another star to come play alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. As NBA free agency opened on Sunday evening, there’s serious optimism that Philly is on the cusp of landing the top player on the market.

The Sixers are “strong frontrunners” to land Paul George in free agency, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. George and the Los Angeles Clippers have “moved on” from one another in free agency, according to Woj, opening the door for George to join a new team.

The Sixers are the only suitor for George ahead of his Sunday night meeting with Philadelphia, according to Clippers reporter Law Murray.

The Clippers have put out a statement on George’s departure even before he officially signs with a new team:

The Clippers cited the more punitive luxury tax thresholds under the new CBA in their statement on George’s exit. The threat of penalties for crossing the “second apron” also played a role in the Denver Nuggets losing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to the Orlando Magic in free agency.

The Clippers had reportedly offered George a similar deal to Kawhi Leonard’s three-year, $153 million extension, but were unwilling to go to four years. George is seeking a four-year max contract.

The Clippers agreed to a two-year, $70 million extension with James Harden as free agency opened on Sunday.

Maxey is a restricted free agent this offseason, meaning the Sixers have the ability to match any contract he receives. Maxey is expected to re-sign with the Sixers after the franchise takes its big swings in free agency.

George is 34 years old, and is coming off another strong season with the Clippers where he averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.5 steals per game wiht 41.3 percent shooting from three-point range (on 7.9 attempts per game) and 90.7 percent free throw shooting.

We’ve already seen the New York Knicks load up to challenge the Boston Celtics with a bold trade for Mikal Bridges. Now that George is leaving the Clippers, it’s possible Philadelphia will form a third legitimate East contender.

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen trade punctures and more during, after Austrian Grand Prix lando,norris,and,max,verstappen,trade,punctures,and,more,during,after,austrian,grand,prix,sbnation,com,front-page,formula-one,2024-formula-one

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As the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix drew to a close, the fight was on.

A slow pit stop from Red Bull and Max Verstappen opened the door, and Lando Norris barged through the crack. When the two drivers came down pit lane for their final pit stops Verstappen enjoyed a lead of around seven seconds over his friend and rival, but problems on the left rear tire of Verstappen’s RB20 saw the stop last 6.5 seconds, an eternity in F1 terms.

McLaren answered with a stop of just 2.9 seconds, and as the two race leaders lumbered off of pit lane and back onto the track, Norris was within striking distance of Verstappen.

For over ten laps the two pushed themselves, and each other, to the limits. Norris briefly seized the lead for a moment, but with his overtake coming off the track he quickly surrendered the position back to Verstappen. As the two drivers were fighting on the track, they were taking their battle to the stewards via their teams, with both drivers griping about the conduct from their rival over the radio.

Finally, that simmering pot boiled over.

Norris got a run on Verstappen at the start of Lap 64 and seemed to have the edge heading into Turn 3, but as both drivers made the turn Verstappen looked to fend him off, and the two cars came together:

The result? A puncture for both drivers, and an opportunity for George Russell. The Mercedes driver seized the moment, taking the checkered flag for the second victory of his career, and was celebrating on the podium as both Norris and Verstappen licked their wounds.

Verstappen tumbled down to a fifth-place finish — a result that he maintained despite race stewards handing down a ten-second penalty for ruling that he caused the contact between the two — but Norris saw his race end, a bitter result given what seemed possible just moments prior.

Speaking after the race both drivers addressed the incident.

“I’m disappointed, nothing more than that, honestly,” Norris told Sky Sports F1. “It was a good race. I looked forward to probably I’d say just a fair battle, a strong fair battle. But I wouldn’t say that’s what it was in the end.

“Tough one to take. It was a mistake-free race from my side, and I feel like I did a good job but I got taken out of the race, so nothing more than that,” added Norris. “But it’s still a tough one to take when we’re fighting for the win and I’m trying to be fair from my side and he just wasn’t. That’s not what I’m thinking about. I don’t care about that now. I’m just gutted for the team.”

The McLaren driver also indicated that he expected stewards to intervene in the moments before the climactic collision.

“Yeah. I mean there’s a rule. You’re not allowed to react to the other driver and that’s what he did three times out of three. Two times I managed to avoid it and not lock up and run into him, and the third time he just ran into me,” continued Norris. “I was just trying to drive my race. He was clearly a lot slower at the end. He ruined his own race just as much as he ruined mine. There’s nothing more I can do. I did my best and it was good enough. Got ruined through not my own fault.”

On the other side of the clash the Red Bull driver offered his view of the incident.

“Of course from the outside it’s hard to see when I brake. I know in the past it was a bit of a complaint,” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1.

“Now I always move my wheel before I brake then you brake in a straight line trajectory. It’s always easy to say on the outside that I’m moving under the braking, but I think the guy in the car knows best what he’s doing,” continued Verstappen. “Everyone can have their own opinion but I’m the one driving. I’m in control. Of course, from the outside it’s easy to judge and comment but whatever, it’s what happens.”

Pressed on the incident, Verstappen indicated that he would speak with Norris to discuss the matter. “I need to look back at how or why we touched,” he said. “Of course, we will talk about it. It’s just unfortunate it happened.

“I felt like sometimes he dive-bombed so late on the brakes. One time he went straight. One time I had to go around otherwise we would have touched,” continued Verstappen. “I think it’s also the shape of the corner provides these kind of issues sometimes. I’ve had it also the other way around. It is what it is. It’s never nice to come together.”

The convergence at the front of the F1 grid these past few weeks has foreshadowed a moment like this between the two friends, who have now become rivals at the sharp end of the F1 Drivers’ Championship standings. And in many ways the struggle from Red Bull in the pits that opened the door to this climactic ending in Austria was foreshadowed in Miami by none other than Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur.

Speaking to the media, including SB Nation, in the Ferrari hospitality space in the hours after Lando Norris’ maiden F1 victory Vasseur noted how the increased pressure teams like Ferrari and McLaren were putting on Red Bull could lead to mistakes from the usually mistake-free operation.

“What is true is that compared to one year ago when we are able to do a good job and to put everything together, we are there, it means that we are putting [Red Bull] a little bit under pressure. They have to take to be a bit more aggressive with the strategy,” started Vasseur that Sunday night.

“They are not anymore in the comfort zone of last year when last year that doesn’t matter what’s happened after lap two, they were in front and it’s, I think it’s a game changer in the management of the race,” added Vasseur. “And this, it’s an opportunity for us because that if we are doing another small step, I think that we will be really in a position to fight with them every single weekend.”

Sunday’s slow pit stop from Red Bull, and the ensuing fight between Verstappen and Norris, is exactly what Vasseur was envisioning.

The incident between Norris and Verstappen will certainly be debated in the hours and days to come, but there is no rest for the weary as the grid heads to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix next weekend, the final race of a tripleheader. But what will be critical to watch over those coming hours and days will be how these two drivers respond going forward.

Will Sunday’s incident be just a flashpoint, or yet more foreshadowing of how the rest of the 2024 F1 season will unfold?

Yuki Tsunoda ‘horrified,’ apologizes after fine for offensive language at Austrian GP yuki,tsunoda,horrified,apologizes,after,fine,for,offensive,language,at,austrian,gp,sbnation,com,front-page,formula-one,2024-formula-one

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A “horrified” Yuki Tsunoda has issued an apology after race officials fined the Visa Cash App RB F1 Team driver €40,000 for using ableist language during Saturday’s qualifying session at the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix.

Tsunoda was summoned to meet with race officials following the qualifying session, after an exchange with race engineer Mattia Spini during the first segment of qualifying. As Tsunoda was waiting in his RB01 as cars queued up during Q1 Tsunoda exclaimed over his team radio “[t]he guys are f——— r———-,” to which Spini replied simply “Yuki no worries, don’t worry, plenty of time.”

When Tsunoda met with race officials, he apologized for the comment and explained that because English is not his first language, he was not fully aware of the meaning of his comments. According to the decision from race officials the statement violated Article 12.2.1 k) of the International Sporting Code in the following manner:

“[d]uring the hearing the driver was very apologetic and explained that because English is not his first language he was unaware until after the session what the meaning of the words used is in the English language. He said that he was horrified when he learned this. He contended that his understanding of the words was different, but acknowledged that this should not be considered as an excuse for what he did.”

In their decision race officials noted that while they appreciate Tsunoda’s “honesty,” a penalty is appropriate to “reinforce the fact that the words used are offensive and wholly inappropriate.”

“The Stewards appreciate the honesty of the driver, but reinforce the fact the words used are offensive and wholly inappropriate. To have used such words over a platform that is available to the public amounted to misconduct as defined in Article 20 of the International Sporting Code,” read the decision.

However, officials took Tsunoda’s “genuine remorse” into consideration and suspended part of the fine. “Considering the circumstances, the Stewards determine that a severe fine is required, but also take into account the genuine remorse of the driver and his offer to issue a public apology and for these reasons decided to suspend part of the fine imposed,” continued the stewards.

Under this part of the decision half of the fine — €20,000 —- will be suspended until the end of the season providing Tsunoda does not repeat such conduct.

As indicated by the officials, the driver issued a public apology on all his social media channels:

Tsunoda is set to start 14th in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.

Logan Sargeant salutes ‘good step forward’ after promising start to Austrian Grand Prix logan,sargeant,salutes,good,step,forward,after,promising,start,to,austrian,grand,prix,sbnation,com,front-page,formula-one,2024-formula-one

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On Friday at Red Bull Ring Williams driver Logan Sargeant did something he had never done before in his Formula 1 career.

Finish ahead of teammate Alexander Albon in qualifying.

While Albon struggled with the balance of his FW46 during both the first practice session and Friday’s F1 Sprint Qualifying, finding himself eliminated in SQ1, Sargeant put together a strong first segment of qualifying, advancing into SQ2.

While the American driver saw his time deleted in SQ2 for exceeding track limits and will start today’s F1 Sprint Race in P15, he hailed the effort on Friday as a “good step forward” following a difficult Spanish Grand Prix.

“SQ1 was a good build-up, however in SQ2, I didn’t quite get Turn 1 and 3 right, attempting to make it up in the second half of the lap,” described Sargeant in the team’s post-session report. “I managed this, but then clipped the gravel in Turn 6 and that was unfortunately out. I’m still happy with my session and think it’s a good place to be starting tomorrow. The conditions are changing from session to session.

“We are being proactive with set-up and countering the differences and I feel like we did a good job and turned things around from FP1 to Sprint Qualifying, so we’ll just keep trying to do a bit more of the same. It’s been a good step forward from Barcelona.”

Williams Sporting Director Sven Smeets praised the effort from the team’s second-year driver, noting Sargeant is in a “good position” to try and notch a result today.

“Logan did a good job and got into SQ2 with a clean and decent last push lap. In SQ2, we knew he had to give it his all to gain some places on the grid but unfortunately couldn’t get it all lined up and his lap was deleted,” described Smeets. “Nevertheless, he will be in a good position tomorrow to fight and look out for opportunities.”

Sargeant has just one point over his year-plus in F1, which came at last season’s United States Grand Prix when he was promoted to P10 following post-race disqualifications handed down to Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. But can the young driver follow up a good Friday, with an even better Saturday?

Daniel Ricciardo remaining ‘optimistic’ after slow start to his Austrian Grand Prix daniel,ricciardo,remaining,optimistic,after,slow,start,to,his,austrian,grand,prix,sbnation,com,front-page,formula-one,2024-formula-one

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Friday was not the easiest of days for Daniel Ricciardo as the 2024 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix got underway.

But despite the early struggles, one of F1’s main attractions is staying upbeat.

Ricciardo posted the 16th-fastest time in the single practice of the week, and could not improve on that position in Friday’s F1 Sprint Qualifying session. The Visa Cash App RB F1 Team driver finished 16th, leading to his elimination in SQ1.

Perhaps adding to the frustration? The fact that Ricciardo missed out on a spot in SQ2 by less than three-hundredths of a second, to teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

But in his post-session comments, Ricciardo remained positive.

“It’s a short lap here, so it’s always going to be tricky. We changed quite a lot from FP1, and we’re still trying to learn about the package, but obviously, it’s frustrating when you miss out by a small bit,” said the driver in VCARB’s post-session media report. “The second lap of the Sprint-Quali was definitely better than the first one, but we still need to finetune some things. I do think we made the right changes, but maybe we need to balance it better. We’ll try to use the Sprint to understand the car always more, so I’m staying optimistic.”

Ricciardo’s optimism comes as there is increased speculation about his position with the team, not just for the 2025 season but perhaps the rest of this season. Red Bull Senior Advisor Dr. Helmut Marko kicked that speculation off ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix earlier this week, noting that there is perhaps some pressure from shareholders to give a younger driver — Liam Lawson — a seat at VCARB.

That speculation kicked into overdrive when noted F1 journalist Joe Saward surmised on social media that Lawson could be in that seat as early as this summer.

With the usual caveats that every rumor regarding driver movement in F1 needs to be given context and taken with a healthy grain of salt or two, Ricciardo admitted during Thursday’s media day that he needs to improve his performance.

“I said I really do enjoy being back in the [Red Bull] family,” said Ricciardo to the assembled media on Thursday. “I weirdly do enjoy sometimes a little bit of the pokes from Helmut because I think it also could be a way to get me a little bit fired up and try to get the best out of me.”

Still, Ricciardo was clear about what he needs to do to secure his future.

“It’s the on-track stuff so I’ve obviously got a good opportunity, I say until the summer break,” continued Ricciardo. “I don’t think that’s a deadline but obviously that’s what you look at for the first half of the season. So I try to do what I can and obviously help my cause.”

Friday also saw the second FIA Press Conference ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, with VCARB CEO Peter Bayer addressing Ricciardo’s performance to date, as well as the rumors regarding Lawson.

“Well, [Ricciardo] certainly has helped us tremendously. Looking back last year when he joined the team, he brought a whole new energy and spirit into the team. And he has been extremely helpful in supporting Yuki. Yuki has just stated that very recently, actually, that he still keeps learning from Daniel,” began Bayer. “And it’s part of our job, also as a mission from the shareholders, to develop drivers. And that’s what we currently do. But certainly, as Christian said, this is about performance.

“We do luckily have a couple of options with the junior [program], but we’re also not in a hurry to take a decision for next year’s line-up. We’ve confirmed Yuki, which was very important for us. And the focus currently, honestly, as you can tell, is on the car and to go into the summer break and have a quiet discussion.”

Bayer — as well as Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner — was pressed on the driver lineup by the brilliant Luke Smith of The Athletic. For Horner, he outlined how any decisions will be first addressed in-house, but did offer that like everything in F1, the lineup at VCARB is “fluid.”

“I think anything regarding drivers is going to be dealt with in-house before we talk to the media about it. They’re all, as I say, Red Bull racing drivers and every Red Bull driver knows that there’s always a pressure, that there’s always a scrutiny,” described Horner. “But, you know, Daniel is in the seat and it’s down to him to make the most of that. And then, it’s always, as we see in Formula 1, things are always fluid.”

As for Bayer, he echoed Horner’s thoughts.

“Perhaps just to add on what Christian perfectly summarised, Liam is part of the team, he’s our test driver, he’s in the simulator,” added Bayer. “As most of you know, he’ll be in the [Testing of Previous Car session]. We do our job to develop young drivers, but the decision on the second seat will be taken quietly and we’re not in a hurry.”

VCARB and Red Bull might not be in a hurry to solidify their lineup for 2025 — and make a decision on Ricciardo’s future — but the driver remains under mounting pressure to improve his form.

Olympic poop protest postponed after politicians cancel swim in feces-filled Seine olympic,poop,protest,postponed,after,politicians,cancel,swim,in,feces,filled,seine,sbnation,com,front-page,olympics,draftkings

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Thousands of French citizens planning to poop in the River Seine had their plans flushed down the toilet after it was announced that president Emmanuel Macron and Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo would not swim in the river as they had previously announced, citing “political reasons.”

Officials didn’t expand on the decision, instead loosely saying the swim would happen “eventually.” Many suspect the decision was prompted by online plans to poop in the Siene with scientific precision, which would have ensured floaters hit the politicians right as they planned to dive into the river on Sunday at noon.

Citizens are irate at the astronomical amount of money which is being spent to clean up the Seine with plans to use the iconic river as the venue for open water swimming at the Olympics. The Seine, which has long been connected to the Paris sewerage system, has been too polluted to swim in for over 100 years.

Organizers of the Paris games wanted to showcase the river in 2024, and have since embarked on a cleanup campaign which has cost over 1 billion euros. However, scientific testing has shown that efforts have barely put a dent in the cleanliness of the river — which is still full of human excrement, garbage, and debris.

Protesters saw their chance when Macron and Hidalgo announced they would swim in the Siene to prove the water is safe for the games. Plans began circulating online for a mass-pooping event, complete with maps and water-flow measurements to pinpoint exactly where people would need to poop, and when to ensure their feces would make contact with the politicians at the time of their swim.

Those hopes were dashed Friday when officials called off the event. The Seine still contains dangerously high levels of bacteria, which are almost guaranteed to make athletes sick if they spend extended periods in the river. Now officials are in a race against time to ensure the water meets standards by July 30, which appears to be an impossibility based on the amount of pollution left to clean up.

That job only gets more difficult if people plan to poop in the river more.

Travelers Championship: Fans’ sensational trolling after protest on 18 travelers,championship,fans,sensational,trolling,after,protest,on,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-fan-reactions

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The Travelers Championship saw another playoff finish, but before Scottie Scheffler could earn his sixth PGA Tour win, a distraction happened on the 18th green.

A group of protestors from the Extinction Rebellion interrupted Scheffler, Tom Kim and Akshay Bhatia’s group to run onto the course with colored smoke and powder substances.

Police tackled them and quickly put the group into custody. However, they still were able to cause some damage on the 18th green. The protestors did not stop once in handcuffs, though; they challenged officers all the way off the course.

As the agronomy team cleaned up the 18th green, fans chanted USA-USA-USA, sang the Star-Spangled Banner, and chanted profanities at the disrupters. The situation caused the agronomy team and officials to change the hole location for the playoff.

While things settled and the crew made the changes, golf fans on social media took the incident and ran with it. They were quick to make jokes about the situation at hand and even made a dig at the expense of Scheffler.

Check out some of the top-notch reactions to the protest at the Travelers Championship.

The Scheffler tracker gave a live look at the whole incident.

No Laying Up made jokes at Kim for playing slow and blamed the protest on him. Kim seemed to slow things down as the round continued, and watching him over the ball was brutal.

Another hilarious tweet was directed at Canadian golfer Adam Hadwin. Nick Taylor won last year’s RBC Canadian Open. Hadwin tried to celebrate by running onto the green, but instead, a policeman tackled him.

A reaction to this protest would not be the same without Kyle Porter’s “normal sport” joke. There are so many moments in golf that make fans scratch their head, and this protest was one of them.

Thankfully it does not seem anyone in attendance was harmed. The golf course took most of the blow, but nonetheless, fans got a good laugh as the Travelers Championship ended.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.

F1 Spanish Grand Prix: Daniel Ricciardo and VCARB licking their wounds after ‘poor weekend’ f,spanish,grand,prix,daniel,ricciardo,and,vcarb,licking,their,wounds,after,poor,weekend,sbnation,com,front-page,formula-one,2024-formula-one

F1 Spanish Grand Prix Daniel Ricciardo and VCARB licking their
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As far as weekends go, this was one to forget for Daniel Ricciardo and the entire Visa Cash App RB F1 Team.

While VCARB arrived at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya hopeful that a series of upgrades to the RB01 would unlock additional performance, from the opening laps of FP1 it was clear that they would be on the back foot. That continued into qualifying — which saw Ricciardo and teammate Yuki Tsunoda eliminated in Q1 — and extended into the race itself. Both Ricciardo and Tsunoda finished outside the points, leaving VCARB to lick their wounds after their first points-less weekend since the Chinese Grand Prix back in April.

Team Principal Laurent Mekies was blunt in his assessment.

“We came here with high hopes for the upgrades that everyone back in the factory has worked so hard to design and produce as part of our aggressive development strategy, began Mekies in the team’s post-race report. “Unfortunately, right from the start of Free Practice we were lacking pace in every session.

“There is no point denying this was a poor weekend for us and although the gaps were very small, we’re not going to make excuses for the fact we just weren’t competitive,” continued the VCARB boss. “Given our starting positions, it would have required some unusual circumstances – rain, a safety car – but the race was pretty linear and while both drivers did their best, we leave Spain with nothing to show for our efforts.”

Tsunoda kept his assessment short and to the point.

“It was a tough race, in which I struggled. The handling of the car was definitely not easy, and I did not feel as comfortable as I normally do,” described Tsunoda. “Something wasn’t quite right, and we’ll analyse everything that happened to understand what did not work well and come back stronger in Austria.”

Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images

Ricciardo, often the optimistic one in the team’s garage, did his best to put a positive spin on things. The Australian driver managed to highlight some bright spots on a dismal day in Barcelona.

“It’s obviously disappointing finishing in P15, but I’m happy with my race and how we managed it as a team with the two stops. I think yesterday I just missed a touch in qualifying, but honestly, today I feel like I [maximized] it with a good race,” described Ricciardo. “We managed the [tires] and pushed when we needed to, so unfortunately, I think we just didn’t have more to show this weekend. There’s certainly lots to learn from weekends like this.

“We take a few little positives and a few more things to work on because we seem to be missing something with the new package. It’s a quick turnaround, so we’ll work on it tonight, trying to understand more in preparation for Austria next week.”

The VCARB boss concluded with a bit of a challenge to the team.

“Now, our whole group faces a stern test to try and make some progress in the very few days available until we are back on track at the Red Bull Ring,” said Mekies. “It’s a very long season, so there are bound to be some tough weekends. We just have to put this one behind us, we must not get downhearted but instead, look ahead and focus on fighting back immediately in a few days’ time in Austria.”

Thankfully for the team, they will not have too much time to lick those wounds, as Red Bull Ring awaits.

Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc avoid penalties after dramatic FP3 at Spanish GP lance,stroll,and,charles,leclerc,avoid,penalties,after,dramatic,fp,at,spanish,gp,sbnation,com,front-page,formula-one,2024-formula-one

Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc avoid penalties after dramatic FP3
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Sparks were flying Saturday at the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix.

Not during qualifying — that has yet to take place — but to paraphrase the legendary Allen Iverson, we’re talking about practice.

The final free practice session ahead of qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix saw tempers flare in two separate incidents, one involving Lance Stroll and Lewis Hamilton and the other involving Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc. All four drivers were summoned to meet with race stewards following the session, and following those meetings race officials decided to show some leniency, rather than hand down grid penalties.

Let’s dive into both incidents, and the decisions from the stewards.

Lewis Hamilton and Lance Stroll

Let’s first talk about the incident between Lewis Hamilton and Lance Stroll. That incident occurred during the session, near the apex of Turn 5. As you will see here, Hamilton is operating slowly along the right side of the track when Stroll comes up behind him. You will see the seven-time Drivers’ Champion wave his hand towards Stroll and concede over the radio to his team that he did not see the Aston Martin driver, but then Stroll looks to turn into Hamilton’s W15 in what the commentators on F1TV termed as perhaps a “ … bit of a sidepod rebuke:”

Both drivers were summoned to meet with race officials at 2:00 p.m. local time. Shortly after the hearing, the race officials released their decision, which was a reprimand for Stroll.

As you can see from the stewards’ report, during the hearing Stroll admitted that “ … he wanted to express his displeasure to the other driver by pulling over on him at the exit.” However, the hearing found that the contact between the two was “incidental,” and while the move by Stroll was found to be “erratic” race stewards did not believe it to be “dangerous,” and therefore thought a reprimand was more in line with previous decisions.

Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc

The incident between Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc came later in the session. The Ferrari driver was on a push lap at the very end of FP3 and came upon Norris near Turn 5. The McLaren driver was moving at a much slower pace and on the left side of the track, off the racing line.

Leclerc was frustrated when he came across Norris, and let the McLaren driver know it:

Following the session, both Norris and Leclerc were summoned to meet with race stewards at 2:15 p.m. local time. In the moments ahead of qualifying, the stewards released their decision, which was right in line with the decision handed down regarding the Stroll-Hamilton incident: A reprimand for Leclerc.

Screenshot 2024 06 22 at 9.57.33 AM

Similar to the Stroll incident, Leclerc indicated that he felt he was impeded by Norris and that it “ … upset him.” Leclerc then admitted that he aborted his push lap, but then stated that he “misjudged the position of his car” and made contact with Norris as a result.

Race officials, as they did with Stroll, found the driving “erratic” but not “dangerous,” and determined that a reprimand was in line with previous decisions.

However, some wondered if these decisions were the right approach. Speaking on F1TV ahead of qualifying David Coulthard stated that both Stroll and Leclerc could probably consider themselves “incredibly lucky to get away with just a reprimand.”

Remember, this was just practice.

Qualifying begins in minutes.

Travelers: Wyndham Clark battles back, contending after bad stretch travelers,wyndham,clark,battles,back,contending,after,bad,stretch,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

Travelers Wyndham Clark battles back contending after bad stretch travelerswyndhamclarkbattlesbackcontendingafterbadstretchsbnationcomfront pagegolfgolf pga tourgolf news
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CROMWELL, Conn. — Before Thursday’s first round at the Travelers Championship, Wyndham Clark had not recorded a round in the 60s since the RBC Heritage concluded two months ago.

He has had a tough stretch, missing the cut at the PGA Championship and the Memorial. Then, at last week’s U.S. Open, Clark posted a final round 77, which plummeted him down the leaderboard and into a tie for 56th.

Yet Clark has been laboring in recent months, hoping to recreate the magic he had earlier in the year at Pebble Beach, when he set a new course record and won the second Signature Event of the season.

“To be honest, it’s some of the hardest I’ve worked in a long time,” Clark said.

Wyndham Clark putts on the 15th green during the first round of the 2024 Travelers Championship.
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images

“First, we’re really trying to work on the short game and feel like we’ve gotten that to where it’s in a great spot—same thing with the putting. Then, unfortunately, you do that, and then you lose your swing. So then I was working on my swing, and the last two weeks have been a lot of grinding on the swing. I feel like we made some good headway, and I hit it pretty well today.”

Clark posted a solid round on Thursday. He posted a 4-under 66 to put himself in contention after day one. The 2023 U.S. Open champion now sits four strokes behind Tom Kim, who shot a marvelous 8-under 62 to set the pace.

“I played great. I just didn’t make the putts on the back nine,” Clark added.

“So I felt like it was a complete round, and one blemish on this golf course is pretty good.”

His one mistake came on the par-4 17th, which has water all up the right side and in front of the green. It’s a tricky hole, and finding the fairway is imperative. But Clark pulled his tee shot left and had to settle for a bogey-five.

Despite that, Clark got off to a roaring start, making three birdies over his first five holes. He even made a par-breaker at the challenging par-3 5th, where Clark produced his best shot of the day.

“Just because I’ve been working so hard on my swing and hitting cuts, the iron shot I hit on hole 5, I hit a cut 5-iron in there to about 12 feet,” Clark said.

“That was probably the best shot for me.”

But he hit plenty of terrific shots all day, although the putter abandoned him somewhat on the back nine. Yet, he would much rather miss birdie putts than par tries, which has recently been the case. Surely, Clark would not trade his position on the leaderboard Thursday for what he had to endure since mid-April.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.