Ernie Els has won the U.S. Open twice and a pair of Claret Jugs, so this week’s U.S. Senior Open at Newport Country Club should suit his game nicely.
Els compared Newport to Royal Troon, the site of this year’s Open Championship, as Newport, like Troon, sits right on the coast, meaning the elements have a great impact on the course. The wind will gust off the Atlantic, creating havoc at times. But that will also require players to keep the ball low and run it into the greens, much like what golf fans see in Scotland every summer for The Open.
“The way you’re going to have to play the course is very much links style, and the course is designed that way,” Els assessed on Tuesday.
“It’s a golf course where you can play the ball on the ground, unlike last year and normal U.S. Opens, where we play the ball in the air. It’s going to be a different taste this week. The wind is going to play a huge factor. Greens are very up, and there’s a lot of slope on them. So that wind, when it comes, it’s going to be difficult around the greens.
“There’s a bit of room for us off the tee, which is nice. As somebody that’s played in the wind, somebody that’s used to British Open type of golf, you’re going to have to hit those little 4-iron shots that will run 20, 30, 40 yards. Those who are comfortable playing in the wind will probably do well this week.”
Ernie Els plays his tee shot on the 13th hole during a practice round ahead of the 2024 U.S. Senior Open at Newport Country Club.Photo by Kathryn Riley/USGA
Of the five senior majors, the only one Els has not recorded a top-10 finish in is the U.S. Senior Open. Yet, he has posted top 20 finishes in the last three iterations, with his best finish being a T-12 at SentryWorld Golf Course in Wisconsin last year.
He has not yet triumphed in a senior major but has come close. Earlier this year, Els tied for third at the Regions Tradition. The South African then finished six strokes back of Richard Bland at the Senior PGA Championship, tying for sixth.
But he has picked up a pair of victories on the PGA Tour Champions since then, winning the Principal Charity Classic and the American Family Insurance Championship in back-to-back weeks in early June.
“I’ve been playing decent golf. Just started driving the golf ball better, so giving myself more opportunity out of the short grass to attack some of the flags,” Els said of his recent stretch.
“I made some good putts in the wins, and even when I didn’t win, I’ve been putting quite steadily. Just things are a little bit more in shape. My overall game is in better shape.”
Considering his game is rounding into form at the right time and that Els loves the layout of this course, do not be surprised if ‘The Big Easy’ prevails for his first senior major title at Newport Country Club this week.
At the very least, he should contend as long as he can control his golf ball in the wind. But he has proven to have done so before, so there’s no reason to believe he will not again this week.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThroughfor more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
The 2024 NBA Draft will look a little different than previous versions.
The league announced back in January that this year’s installment would play out over two days. The first round of the 2024 NBA Draft — officially known as the 2024 NBA Draft Presented by State Farm — will take place on Wednesday, June 26. The 2024 NBA Draft will conclude on Thursday with the second round.
The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., home of the Brooklyn Nets, will be the site of the first round. ESPN’s Seaport District Studios in New York will host the second round.
In addition to the 2024 NBA Draft being spread out over two days, there is a slight tweak to the format. On the first night, teams will still have five minutes between draft picks. However, they will get a little more time during Thursday’s second round, as the time between selections has been doubled to four minutes.
Why the change to two nights? According to the league, it is a move to give the decision-makers a little more time while also “enhancing” the experience for fans.
“Based on feedback about the NBA Draft format from basketball executives around the league and my own experience in draft rooms, we believe that teams will benefit from being able to regroup between rounds and having additional time to make decisions during the second round,” said Joe Dumars, NBA Executive Vice President, Head of Basketball Operations, earlier this month. “Two nights of primetime coverage will also enhance the viewing experience for our fans and further showcase the draftees.”
Here is how you can watch the 2024 NBA Draft, and what you should watch for.
How to watch
NBA fans have several ways they can watch the 2024 NBA Draft.
Round 1: Wednesday, June 26 | 8:00 p.m. ET | ABC/ESPN/ESPN+
Round 2: Thursday, June 27 | 4:00 p.m. ET | ESPN/ESPN+
According to the NBA Thursday’s coverage “ … will include a comprehensive review of the first round and in-depth storytelling about the draftees.” You can also follow along with the 2024 NBA Draft on ESPN Radio.
Major storylines of the 2024 NBA Draft
So that is how you can watch, but what are the major storylines?
The first storyline is that this draft class lacks a consensus No. 1 prospect. Unlike recent NBA Drafts — like last season when it was clear that Victor Wembyama was going to be the first player selected — the race for No. 1 is wide open. Zaccharie Risacher from France is at the moment the consensus No. 1 selection by the Atlanta Hawks — coming off the board first-overall on approximately 60% of mock drafts according to NBA Mock Draft Database — but it is by no means a guarantee that the swingman from France will go first. Other options for the first-overall selection include Risacher’s countryman Alex Sarr, as the 7-footer is seeing a bit of a pre-draft climb, Kentucky guard Reed Shepard, and Connecticut Huskies Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle.
In our most recent NBA Mock Draft, we had Clingan coming off the board first overall.
Another major storyline?
Bronny James.
The guard out of USC has eschewed pre-draft workouts, a strategy that his agent Rich Paul says is “by design.” This approach has been highlighted as perhaps Paul trying to steer James to a particular destination, something we outlined is par for the course when it comes to the NBA Draft.
And of course, there is the potential for James to land with his father, LeBron, in Los Angeles with the Lakers. Certainly, something to monitor.
Also, where does Ron Holland land? For a time it looked as if Holland might be the top player in this draft, but a stint in the G League seems to have put a dent in his draft stock.
We will have answers to these questions and more in just a few short days.
NBA Draft rankings big board for 2024
Check out Ricky O’Donnell’s top-60 NBA Draft big board for the 2024 class. Read our latest NBA mock draft here.
Tyrrell Hatton’s six-shot victory at LIV Golf Nashville symbolized a breakthrough in more ways than one.
Not only did he win his maiden title on the Saudi-backed circuit, but he also won a professional golf tournament for the first time in more than three years. Hatton’s last victory came on the DP World Tour in January 2021, when he won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship by four strokes.
But it’s not as if the Englishman has sailed into the abyss since then. He has made the cut in 11 straight majors and posted seven top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour in 2023. He even tied for ninth at Augusta National a couple of months after joining LIV Golf.
Hatton has played solid golf over the past few years, which explains why he still ranks among the top 25 in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR). But now he eyes another breakthrough: a major championship victory.
Tyrrell Hatton at the 2016 Open Championship at Royal Troon. Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images
And with the Open Championship set to be held at Royal Troon next month, Hatton’s game suits that course on the Scottish coast perfectly. In fact, at the 2016 Open, when Royal Troon saw Henrik Stenson fend off Phil Mickelson in one of the greatest final rounds ever, a 24-year-old Hatton tied for fifth. Golf fans did not know much about Hatton then, but he did shoot four rounds of even par or better that week.
“I’ve done well on links courses in the past,” Hatton said after his final round 3-under 68 at Royal Troon in July 2016.
“I think my best performances are on links courses. So I’ve played a lot of links as an amateur, and I’ve just taken that sort of into the province.”
Interestingly, Hatton has not posted a better finish at The Open since then, although he did tie for sixth in 2019 at Royal Portrush. He tied for 20th a year ago at Royal Liverpool and finished in a tie for 11th at St. Andrews the year before.
But now the Englishman will return to Royal Troon as a player to keep an eye on, a much different circumstance than where he stood in 2016, when he arrived as the 68th ranked player in the OWGR. Golf fans know all about Hatton in 2024, not only for his fiery and passionate demeanor but also for his terrific ball-striking and nifty short game—attributes required for Open Championship success.
It seems as if Hatton is due for a major championship breakthrough. Even though we are still three weeks away from having serious discussions about who could win at Royal Troon, Hatton will have to be in that conversation, especially now that he has learned how to win again.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThroughfor more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
The Mets were a hapless mess of an organization until Grimace came into their lives. The husky blob of unknown density arrived at Citi Field to throw out the first pitch on June 12, and since the team has gone 9-and-2 — now in legitimate striking distance of grabbing a wild card.
Everyone has wondered how the hell Grimace has been able to turn the Mets around. More importantly: Why Grimace? What if I told you that this was a plan 53-years in the making, all set into motion by Don Draper of Mad Men fame in an effort to help his beloved team win before his 100th birthday?
Don Draper is a die-hard Mets fan
This is established throughout Mad Men. The Mets are a fundamental piece of Don’s identity, which establishes him as a modern man who has no particular reverence for the past, which is why he supports the upstart Metropolitans over the historic and vaunted Yankees.
A Mets pennant is a proudly displayed part of Don’s office, and remains a feature of the show until late in the series. The last we see Don’s allegiance to the Mets he finds the pennant under an old desk, electing to throw it out — but as we’ll come to realize it’s a love that never dies.
There are some Mad Men spoilers coming up, but at this point the finale was in 2015. You’ve had more than enough time to watch Mad Men.
Don Draper, Coca-Cola, and Grimace
The series finale of Mad Men left with Don finally finding the inner-peace that alluded him throughout the series. More importantly to the tale of Grimace and the Mets, it establishes that Don came up with the groundbreaking “Buy the world a Coke” campaign, which reshaped advertising in 1971, and is one of the most influential commercials of all time.
This tells us that Don was back on top in 1971. He didn’t leave the ad game, but instead rose like a phoenix to deliver the best work of his life after getting his own like in order. Now, it’s not difficult to imagine that after reshaping Coca-Cola he wouldn’t have landed another massive account to guide them into the future: McDonald’s.
When was Grimace created? You guessed it… 1971. The same year as the Coca-Cola campaign. But this goes so much deeper.
Debuting as “The Evil Grimace,” the initial portrayal of Grimace was as an evil entity who stole all the cups from McDonald’s to prevent children from getting … you guessed it: Coke.
See, Grimace was the part of Don’s psyche he left behind. The negative energy that he jettisoned. If the new, enlightened Don Draper wants to buy the world a Coke, the old Draper wanted to horde all the cups to himself and prevent the world from having Coca-Cola.
Don created “The Evil Grimace” to be the precise counterpoint to the last image we have of him from Mad Men — smiling. Then, in 1972 Grimace is re-introduced as Ronald’s best friend, and not a bad guy anymore. This was Don telling the world that he had changed. That he was different. That he was a happy, contributing member of society.
There are more hints of Draper’s involvement in McDonald’s too
Draper creates Grimace in 1971 and continues to work on the McDonald’s account, pulling more and more examples from his own life into the ad campaigns.
Hamburglar is a manifestation of Peggy Olson, created in 1971. With red hair and prominent teeth, Draper posits that Hamburglar is both mischievous and lovable, while also stealing the literal heart of out McDonald’s by taking their hamburgers. This is a metaphor for how Peggy ripped Don’s heart out, and he never recovered.
The Fry Kids from 1972 represent Don’s children.
Birdie is introduced in 1980, named after Don’s nickname for his ex-wife Betty. The full name “Birdie, the early bird” is a scathing critique of Betty’s self-absorption and his resentment at how self-reliant his children needed to be to support their mother’s life of sloth.
Mayor McCheese represents Bert Cooper, while Officer Big Mac is Roger Sterling — for obvious reasons.
How do the Mets fit into all this?
The number 100 is key to all of this. Don, despite being such a die-hard Mets fan, endured four consecutive 100-loss seasons from 1962-to-1965. When Draper was in his prime, the Mets were disgustingly awful — and yet he remained a fan.
Draper’s beloved team finally managed to win in 1969, but at that point Don was too far in the depths of despair and alcoholism to truly enjoy it. By the time he got his life back on track (and created Grimace) in 1971, the Mets had firmly become a middling team, which was present for most of his life.
There was only one World Series that Don truly got to enjoy in 1986. This coincided with Grimace’s rise to popularity, in which Grimace’s universe was expanded to highlight his family. It’s here that Draper, now aged 61 is coming to terms with his own mortality and wanting to wind down his advertising career by showing that family is important.
The “Grimace Shake” unveiled by McDonald’s on June 12, 2023 to commemorate the character’s birthday means inherently that the shake is there to celebrate Don’s birthday. HE. IS. GRIMACE. The two are one in the same.
Fast-forward to 2024
It is established in Mad Men that Draper was born in 1925, and we now know his full birthday is June 12, 1925. This is significant because 2024 is the last season the Mets can win the World Series before Don turns 100, a chance to exorcise the memories of those horrible 100-loss season where it all began, a chance to experience some sporting joy before he shifts off this mortal coil.
Don calls in a favor. He tells McDonald’s to dispatch Grimace to the Mets. Don is too old and frail to make it to Queens in person, but Grimace will be his spiritual medium to help the team in their time of need.
Grimace throws out the pitch on June 12, 2024 — Don’s 99th birthday. He witnesses as the team begins to turn it around and become relevant once more. The man who bought the world a Coke has now thrown the Mets a bone.
As an inside joke both McDonald’s at the Mets poke fun at Don’s womanizing past by having Grimace hit on Mrs. Met, and post it on social media.
Don Draper created Grimace as an extension of himself, and now Grimace is helping the Mets achieve what was previously thought impossible. It’s all because of one advertising executive and his checkered past.
Immediately after qualifying on Saturday at the Spanish Grand Prix Lando Norris stated that it took a “perfect lap” to beat Max Verstappen. Norris pipped the Red Bull driver by two-hundredths of a second to capture the second pole position of his career, putting him in position to score his second victory of the season.
Moments later at the FIA Press Conference, the McLaren driver went even further, outlining how his final lap needed to be “balls out” to beat Verstappen.
“I mean, we’re always close. I don’t think any practice was split by more than a tenth between the top five,” described Norris. “So I was expecting the same as that, and I think it was. Probably Max was always two and a half tenths ahead of everyone, both Q1 and Q2 in the runs we did. And we did three laps, you know, we did three runs, four runs in the end altogether. So you do four laps throughout the whole of qualifying. But every time was like missing a little bit to Max and a lot of it was high speed.
“So I knew for the final lap, I’ve got to go balls out and do it, you know. And I managed to get that little bit, like that, you know, 200ths, 300ths, 400ths that I was needing to get out of Max I managed to get. So I’m happy the risks paid off and for all of it to come together when I needed it most was great.”
Norris elaborated on how good it felt to put together that kind of lap, in that moment and on that stage.
“I mean, I’m probably going to get back and Jarv [Andrew Jarvis], my engineer, is going to tell me that I’ve messed something up, but I think it’s so tricky nowadays, with the car and the [tires], and we’re pushing so much, just to put everything together,” outlined Norris. “You might be able to do half of it once and half of it another or mix it up, but to kind of put all of it right at that limit is very tricky and I’m sure every driver would say the same. So very rewarding when you do and when you do it and end up on pole because of it, it’s even sweeter.”
“It feels great, yeah. I mean, poles always feel good, and it’s the second one in my career. I mean, I’ve had two Sprint race poles, but I don’t regard that at all as a pole position. So, yeah, this is the second one of my career. It’s been a while since Sochi, all the way back then, so… Yeah, it feels great,” continued Norris. “I mean, it was an amazing lap.
“Honestly, it was my best lap by a long way. I pretty much put the whole lap together, so I got a nice slipstream. I think probably my best corner around the lap, every single part of it put together. Max was a bit ahead in Q1, Q2. I knew I had to kind of do something perfect in Q3 to do it. And that’s exactly what I did. So I’m pretty happy that I managed to pull off probably my best lap that I’ve done probably ever.”
As we outlined earlier today after diving into the data, Norris secured pole position with a strong performance in Sector 1 and into Sector 2. While Verstappen was stronger on the straights, particularly the long straight coming out of Turn 14 and back to the start/finish line, Norris built a lead during that earlier portion of the track, and Verstappen could not make up the difference.
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Capturing pole position is one thing, but can Norris win on Sunday?
The McLaren driver certainly believes he can.
“I don’t have any concerns,” added Norris. “I mean I’m excited. It’s a long run down to Turn 1. It’s probably one of the places you don’t want to start on pole, but it’s an opportunity for us to go out and try and win a race you know.
“We’ve not done loads of long running. We’ve done a bit and I think we were close, as it always has been. I think tomorrow is not like this car is way quicker. I think between Mercedes, ourselves, Red Bull, Ferrari, there’s eight cars that could have probably been on pole today and that have a chance of probably winning the race tomorrow,” continued Norris. “So it’s about making the least mistakes, similar to today, and just trying to execute another good race that we normally do.”
He might need to go “balls out” yet again to pull off a win on Sunday.
The LPGA’s third major championship, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, is halfway over. Sahalee Country Club showed its teeth through the first two days.
After Friday’s round, half the field went home, and among those was World No. 1 Nelly Korda.
Korda will not play on the weekend for the second major championship and the third straight week. She started the season with five consecutive wins and earned her sixth at the Mizuho’s Americas Open.
Since that victory, though, things have not gone her way. To miss the cut, Korda shot an 80-70 at the U.S. Women’s Open. This week, she tallied 69-81, her highest professional career score.
Photo by Jorge Lemus/NurPhoto via Getty Images
It was not a good day for the top-ranked player in the world, especially after a strong start to the week on Day 1. Korda started her day by making five bogeys in six of her first holes. She added two more bogeys at the 9th, 11th and 14th before a double bogey at the par-4 15th completely derailed her.
Korda did add one birdie to the card on the par-5 18th, but it was too late.
She is not the only one headed home early. Other notable names who missed the cut at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship include Anna Nordqvist, Alexa Pano, Emily Kristine Pedersen, Robyn Choi, Nasa Hataoka, Andrea Lee, Danielle Kang, Sophia Popov, Carlota Ciganda, Gemma Dryburgh, Stacy Lewis, and Brittany Lincicome.
Sahalee gave these ladies quite the test, and they were sent home after 36 holes.
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.
Lexi Thompson shot an even-par 72 on Friday to remain in contention at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
She is two shots off the leader, Sarah Schmelzel, who fired a 5-under 67 to move to 6-under.
Thompson sits at 4-under through 36 holes and sits in a tie for second place with the afternoon wave left to tackle Sahalee Country Club.
“Honestly, even is a great score out here, too,” Thompson said after her round on Friday. “Just a difficult golf course.”
“Pars are good out there. Always important to start off with a good round especially yesterday shooting 4-under. So very grateful and took it into today. Had a great front nine and had a few hiccups on the back nine, but it happens out here. Also made a lot of good putts, so going to build on that.”
The 29-year-old started her round on the back nine and made three birdies to turn in 33 strokes. However, her second nine holes were a grind.
She made a double-bogey on the par-5 2nd and dropped another shot at the 4th. Thompson picked up her fourth birdie at six. However, she made a bogey on the par-4 8th to drop her back to even par.
Thompson explained how this golf course is one to stay patient on.
“There will be bogeys. Take advantage of the few birdie opportunities you get out there,” she said.
Despite the tough stretch, the veteran LPGA player felt she still played well.
“You’re going to hit bad shots. You just got to take it, know there will be a bogey or two in there, and move on,” Thompson said. “Could have been worse, so I stayed positive and made a birdie on the back nine as well and made some good putts. Just build on the positives, not focus on anything else and take that into the weekend.”
She will continue to keep that patient mindset heading into the final 36 holes as Thompson chases down her second major championship.
Her first came at 19 when she won the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship.
It has been 10 years since that victory, and the 11-time LPGA winner is playing some of her best golf. Thompson finished T2 last week at the Meijer LPGA Classic after she missed four straight cuts. Before those four early weeks, she recorded a T3 at the inaugural Ford Championship.
In the three events that she played all four rounds, her worst finish was a T16 at the season opener, the LPGA Drive On Championship. An injury in her hand and wrist kept her from playing her best. It also seems to be why she missed so many cuts in a row.
Thompson appears healthy now after shooting another impressive round to keep her in contention at Sahalee.
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.
Back in spring training when we were previewing each division, my view of the National League Central Division was that it was anybody’s game where anybody could win. That was also to say that this probably would be the end of the two-season run as NL Central champions for the Milwaukee Brewers. Here’s my reasoning below:
If they’re going to do it again in 2024 then it’ll be a bit of an upset because it appears that they’ve fallen right back into the pack after the offseason that they had. Corbin Burnes is in Baltimore now and Brandon Woodruff is likely to miss the entire season as he recovers from shoulder surgery. They also lost their manager to their rivals on the North Side of Chicago, as the Cubs snatched away Craig Counsell almost immediately after his contract with the Brewers expired. That’s a lot to lose in a division that’s as wide open as the NL Central is.
Well, here we are in mid-June and it’s looking like this division may not be as wide open as I had expected it to be. While there are still plenty of questions as to whether or not any of the other four teams in the NL Central will have what it takes to go on the type of run that could propel them into the Postseason, it’s obvious who currently has the massive upper hand when it comes to winning the division. As it turns out, the more things change, the more they stay the same — manager Pat Murphy’s Milwaukee Brewers once again look like they’re the class of the NL Central.
Heading into this season, the Brewers were only given the third-best odds from FanGraphs to win the division at 18 percent. They were given a 30 percent shot to make the Postseason, which is a perfectly fine chance to have going into any season but it was definitely a bit low for a club that had made it to the Postseason in five of the past six seasons.
Now, Brewers fans can’t complain about the odds being against them since their team has surged their way into the position of being massive favorites. Heading into action on June 20, the Brewers are now being given a whopping 73 percent chance to make it three divisional titles in a row and are also being given an 86 percent shot to make the playoffs either way. Most importantly, the Brewers 44-30 and are 7.5 games ahead of the Cardinals for first place in the Central and also hold the second-largest divisional lead in the National League.
While a lot of this may have to do with the fact that the Cubs and Cardinals both have yet to really put it together like most observers expected them to, it also has to do with the fact that maybe the Brewers themselves didn’t get the memo that they were supposed to fade away into the pack. At the very least, Willy Adames and William Contreras both definitely missed the memo as both of them have been fantastic in Milwaukee’s lineup so far this season.
Willy Adames in particular has been killing it both at the plate but out in the field as well. Adames currently has a wRC+ of 118 to go with a wOBA of .336 and 12 home runs as well. If he can keep on producing at the plate at this rate, then he’ll be celebrating a career year once the season ends. Combine that with the fact that he’s currently in the 98th percentile of all fielders when it comes to Outs Above Average and you’ve got a player who has been the total package for the Brewers here in 2024. Adames has rarely had a season where he’s put it together with both his bat and his glove so it’s definitely encouraging for Milwaukee that this appears to be the year where it’s all connecting in his favor.
Meanwhile, William Contreras has simply just been mashing the ball like crazy this season. If he’s made contact with a ball, there’s a very good chance that it’s going to fly long and far and get to where it’s going in a hurry. Contreras is in the 95th percentile of all hitters when it comes to both Average Exit Velocity (93.1 mph) and Hard-Hit percentage (53 percent). Combined with his 89th percentile average bat speed and suddenly it’s easy to envision how Contreras got to a point where he’s sporting a 134 wRC+, which is second-best among all qualified catchers and only one point behind Salvador Perez for first place. While Wild Bill’s defense has taken a step back compared to where he was at last season, you aren’t going to hear anybody in Milwaukee complain about what he’s been doing with the bat this season.
Adames and Contreras haven’t been the only ones killing it for Milwaukee this season. Joey Ortiz has gone from struggling mightily in his first 34 big league plate appearances back in 2023 as a member of the Orioles to succeeding wildly as a breakout candidate for the Brewers. He might be doing it in a weird way (and for more on that, check out this article from Ben Clemens of FanGraphs) but you aren’t going to hear about anybody trying to “fix” what he’s doing when it’s working to the tune of a .369 wOBA and a 140 wRC+ so far. Brice Turang has also turned things around in a major way, though he didn’t have a change of scenery like Ortiz did. Instead, he appears to have found his footing in the bigs and is now sitting on a .328 wOBA and 112 wRC+ after struggling through 137 games with a 60 wRC+ in 2023. It also helps that Turang has been a terror to deal with on the basepaths as well, as he’s already stolen 26 bases this season.
The Brewers have also been getting positive contributions in the outfield from guys like Blake Perkins (and his 97th percentile-rated OAA) and even Christian Yelich. As it turns out, his resurgent 2023 campaign wasn’t just a flash in the pan and Yelich looks primed to improve upon a season that saw him start to look like the old dynamo that was playing MVP-caliber baseball just a few years ago. Yelich’s wOBA is currently at a lofty .394 and his wRC+ is at 157, which is easily as high as it’s been since the halcyon days of 2018 and 2019 when he was truly among the game’s elite players. While Yelich probably won’t fully return to that level again, the Brewers don’t need him to be a world-beater — they just need him to continue being what he is, which is a reliable hitter to slot into what’s been an impressive lineup for Milwaukee so far this season.
Between the high level of production that Milwaukee is getting from impact guys and the fact that they’ve already built up such a large lead in the division, it’s hard to see the Brewers messing this up as we get into the actual second half of this season. Additionally, the Brewers currently have the joint-fifth-easiest strength-of-schedule going forward at .492 while their divisional rivals in Chicago (.508 remaining strength-of-schedule) and St. Louis (.514) each have tougher roads ahead. The Pirates have a similarly-tough SOS remaining (.507) and while the Reds have a slightly-easier road ahead (.491), they also need to get their act together outside of Elly de la Cruz doing cool stuff on a nightly basis.
All this means is that the Brewers have bucked all the odds and have managed to play themselves into a very good position for another season. It’s all coming up sunshine and roses for the Brewers and the only thing that’s really gone wrong for them here in 2024 has been one of their employees getting caught failing miserably in an attempt to do assassination work as a side job. I didn’t make up a single word of that last sentence, either. I’m not going to hold that insane bit of news against the Brewers though since I believe that this squad is smart enough to not find themselves in such an incredibly hot mess. Either way, y’all should keep an eye on Milwaukee this season as they are once again right in the thick of the Postseason conversation.
This week, the LPGA hosts its third major championship, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Washington.
It has been eight years since the LPGA played Sahalee for the Women’s PGA Championship.
The last time the venue hosted the major was in 2016 when Brooke Henderson defeated Lydia Ko in a playoff.
Jessica Korda played in that event before ultimately missing the cut. She returns to Sahalee in 2024, but this time to cheer on her younger sister and current World No. 1, Nelly Korda.
She explained the best way to attack this tree-lined track.
“Sahalee is one of the purest tracks I think we’ve ever played. It’s such a great test of golf and an amazing major championship host,” she said to the LPGA social media team.
“All you see are these big trees, the roughs up — you got branches in the way. So paying attention to where the pins are — coming in at the right angles from the fairway, those are all going to be really important things. You would say it’s a second-shot golf course, but it’s not. It’s an every-shot golf course.”
Pine trees line the fairways at Sahalee, making it a challenge to take home the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship trophy on Sunday.
Korda has been on quite the run in 2024, already racking up six victories on the LPGA Tour She won five straight, finished T7 at the Cognizant Founders Cup and won the Mizuho Americas Open the following week.
However, since that sixth victory, her game has gone cold.
Korda missed the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club earlier this year and the Meijer LPGA Classic last week. She looks to bounce back and play the weekend at this major championship.
The 14-time LPGA winner posted a 3-under 69 to sit atop the leaderboard after her round on Thursday. The afternoon group still has to play, but she leads by one shot.
Korda set the tone with six birdies, a bogey, and one double bogey.
“As long as she can keep it in the fairway, she’s going to be fine,” Jessica Korda said. “But she does scramble really well. So, as long as she can score, I think that’s going to be the most important thing.”
Nelly’s double bogey was rough, but she bounced back with a birdie on her 18th hole to reclaim the lead.
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.
Kendrick Lamar through one of the greatest televised concerts of all-time on Wednesday night during Juneteenth in a show that featured so many West Coast icons. Los Angeles natives Russell Westbrook and DeMar Derozan came out on stage singing and dancing to all FIVE renditions of Lamar’s lyrical Kamehameha diss track ‘Not Like Us,’ directed at Drake.
‘The Pop Out’, hosted by Kendrick Lamar and every West Coast rapper seemingly on Earth, was less a concert and more a victory lap, putting people on to West Coast rappers while giving Lamar the time to go through his entire setlist of songs that include direct or shaded shots at Drake. It was a moment, an event that put the West Coast right in front of everyone in the world.
It was also a chance for West Coast icons such as Westbrook and Derozan to show up and show out in their home. Getting DeRozan there felt like a given, because of Lamar’s line in ‘Not Like Us’: “I’m glad DeRoz came home, y’all didn’t deserve him neither, from Alondra down to Central n**** better not speak on Serena.” DeRoz is obviously DeRozan, who was traded out of Toronto in the Kawhi Leonard deal, but is known as an icon with the Raptors. However, he’s even more known for being from Compton, a West Coast dude at heart. Getting him up on the stage when Lamar called all of the West Coast icons and rappers up to the stage was an awesome moment, as well as getting Westbrook up there.
Russ looked like he was having the time of his life. He looked like he was having more fun up on stage than he was at any time with the Clippers this season.
While Westbrook and DeRozan are obviously big hits to Drake’s rep in the NBA (which he very deeply cares about), neither of them will equal the final NBA player spotted at The Pop Out on Wednesday.
Take the L out of Certified Lover Boy, it’s Certified OVER Boy.
This is the greatest victory lap of all time, and getting all the NBA players out there was just another chance to dance on the grave.
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