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Vexation at Alpine as challenging British Grand Prix gets even tougher vexation,at,alpine,as,challenging,british,grand,prix,gets,even,tougher,sbnation,com,front-page,formula-one

On: July 7, 2024 By: admin

Despite a recent run of good form, Alpine knew things would be a little tougher at this weekend’s British Grand Prix.

The team installed five new components on Pierre Gasly’s A524 ahead of the weekend, and with each component above the team’s allotment for the season, a ten-place grid penalty was added. Technically, Gasly was hit with a 50-place grid penalty for this weekend’s race, meaning he will start at the back of the grid in tomorrow’s main event.

That meant that if the team was going to extend their active streak of four straight races with at least a point, Esteban Ocon would likely have to carry the banner. But that task got tougher on Saturday as Ocon failed to advance out of Q1 during qualifying, and will start the British Grand Prix in P18.

Just two spots ahead, and directly in front of, Gasly.

Ocon’s run in Q1 appears to have been undone by some miscommunication within the team right at the end of the first segment of qualifying. “I asked the team, you know, three times ‘[w]e still pushing?’

The team told me ‘no, we took the checkered flag,” said Ocon to Lawrence Barretto immediately after qualifying.”We clearly took the wrong decisions every time.”

Ocon continued his description of the weekend in the team’s post-session report.

“It was a complicated session with the drying track and stoppage for the red flag, but ultimately, we did not optimise our Qualifying today,” said Ocon. “We did not take the right decisions at the right time, and we seemed to be offset compared to the others, and not pushing when the track was probably at its best. Then there was some confusion at the end where I thought we had one more push lap and I was told to abort the lap.

“In the end, it is a frustrating day that we did not maximise and one that we need to review. It will be a difficult race tomorrow given our starting position. We will try our best to move forward, especially if the weather stays like it is with changeable conditions.”

On the other side of the garage Gasly indicated that given the penalty, his weekend truly starts tomorrow. Because of the grid drop he was facing he just made one swing around the track on the softs because the team did not want to take any unnecessary risks on Saturday, given there was no way of improving his starting position for Sunday.

“We knew ahead of the weekend we were going to start the race from P20, as we had to take a penalty eventually and it is good that we get it out of the way,” said Gasly in Alpine’s post-session report. “It was not a very exciting session for me – I did a single lap on Softs and with the track conditions improving we did not want to take any risks today.

“For me, the weekend will start tomorrow, we will attack where we can and hopefully be able to fight our way back to the top ten and continue our positive streak over the past couple of races. But we also know the conditions here are very tricky and we have seen how easy it is to get off track here,” added Gasly. “At the same time, those conditions could make the race tomorrow quite interesting, and it could help us fight our way back and gain positions.”

Bruno Famin, the Alpine Team Principal, outlined that the team was just not good enough on Saturday from an “operational” standpoint, but that there may be opportunities on Sunday.

“We have not been good enough today from an operational standpoint,” said Famin in the team’s post-qualifying report. “With the changeable conditions it was crucial to push and set a time when the track was at its best and we missed the optimum window. We knew with Pierre there was little to gain today with the grid penalties for tomorrow, so we did not take any unnecessary risks.

“For Esteban, the timing was tight at the end for the [checkered] flag, and we missed the opportunity to improve on his time. We will go away and review what happened and try to avoid similar scenarios happening in [the] future. It will be a long race tomorrow and we will review how best to approach the race from our starting position and give ourselves a chance of progressing through the field.”

The weather could play a factor on Sunday, giving Ocon and Gasly a chance to move up in the field. However, it still looks like Alpine will need something special at the British Grand Prix to extend their run of points results.

PGA Tour’s Jay Monahan: Travelers gets Signature Event status again pga,tour,s,jay,monahan,travelers,gets,signature,event,status,again,sbnation,com,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

On: June 20, 2024 By: admin

CROMWELL, Conn. — PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan met with the media at TPC River Highlands on Wednesday and revealed that the Travelers Championship will receive Signature Event status again in 2025.

These tournaments feature elevated purses and limited field sizes, hovering around 70 players. This year’s Travelers Championship marks the eighth and final Signature Event of the 2024 season.

“This event will be a Signature Event in 2025,” Monahan said. “This is the 18th year with Travelers, and we have an agreement; they’re in a 10-year agreement through 2030.”

Travelers first sponsored this tournament in 2007, when Hunter Mahan won his first event on the PGA Tour. Since then, it has become a fan favorite among tour pros, who cite the golf course and hospitality as reasons why.

“It’s good to be back. I feel like this is always a fun tournament to come play,” said World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler on Wednesday.

“The community really rallies around the tournament. The fans are always tremendous. The golf course is typically always in great shape. The clubhouse. The way the tournament treats us as players is always tremendous. So it’s a very easy, fun week for us to come play, and glad to be back here.”

Caddies even receive courtesy cars this week, a rarity on the PGA Tour. But that’s not all. The top players on the PGA Tour receive plenty of other amenities.

“They do such an amazing job for us, our caddies, and our support team,” added Xander Schauffele.

“If you look at the range, it’s got the little umbrellas, we have a coffee stand, a lounging area, there’s the green truck there with the pizza. So it’s such a relaxing week coming after the U.S. Open and I think all of us really appreciate that.”

With this in mind, the Signature Event model—new for 2024—has drawn plenty of criticism. In March, Lucas Glover called these tournaments a “money grab,” adding that he “doesn’t like the idea at all.”

“Why do the signature events have [a maximum of] 80 players, and only 50 make the cut? Our biggest signature event next week is 144 players with a full cut. The signature event,” Glover said in March, referencing The Players Championship.

“I just don’t see what was so bad out here that we had to do all this. Let’s raise some purses to make sure we keep some guys around, but now we’ve eliminated a lot of playing opportunities for some really good players.”

Monahan recognizes this too, as many players, such as Min Woo Lee, who has had a strong 2024 season, did not qualify for the Travelers this week, even though Rory McIlroy withdrew.

“Nothing’s perfect, nothing ever is, but when you look at where we are today and as we shared with our board [on Tuesday], we feel like we’re delivering to our fans exactly what we set out to do, and that is to get our top players competing together more often, and to create the most competitive schedule we can possibly create,” Monahan said about the Signature Events.

Jay Monahan, Texas Children’s Houston Open — Jay Monahan during the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open.

“When you look at our full-field events, and you look at the strength of the field, whether it’s top 50 or top 125, our strength of the field at full-field events is up 35 percent.”

The Signature Events have undoubtedly provided opportunities for the best players to compete against one another. Look no further than who has won the seven Signature Events this season: Scheffler has won three. Wyndham Clark triumphed at Pebble Beach with a record-breaking 60. Hideki Matsuyama shot 61 at Riviera to come from behind and steal the Genesis Invitational, and then Rory McIlroy won the Wells Fargo Championship. Chris Kirk also won The Sentry, the first tournament of the year. That’s a pretty strong whos-who of the PGA Tour.

Plus, these wins came against very strong fields. The top 50 players from last year’s FedEx Cup standings gained entry into each of these tournaments in 2024. Then, the PGA Tour established the Aon Next 10 and Aon Swing 5 to help round out these limited-field events. Whoever wins an event on the PGA Tour in 2024 also gains entry, while each tournament has sponsor exemptions they use to round out the field. Those exemptions have been greatly scrutinized, as PGA Tour Policy Board members seem to take a fair share of those. Look no further than Webb Simpson, who again received an exemption to play this week.

Nevertheless, this tournament always delivers. Players typically go low on this golf course, as TPC River Highlands, the shortest course on tour, yields plenty of birdies. It also produces great drama, as the tournament has had six playoffs since 2007. One stroke has decided the result six other times, too.

So, considering all of this, it makes sense for the tour to make the Travelers Championship a Signature Event in 2025, despite some of the criticism the overall model has received.

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.

College World Series: Kentucky’s Nolan McCarthy gets a special message from a MLB legend after heroic slide college,world,series,kentucky,s,nolan,mccarthy,gets,a,special,message,from,a,mlb,legend,after,heroic,slide,sbnation,com,front-page,college-baseball,college-world-series,ncaa-baseball-tournament

On: June 15, 2024 By: admin

Kentucky’s Nolan McCarthy scored a run that will live on in the legacy of the Wildcats’ baseball program, as the outfielder scored from second base on a passed ball late in the team’s Super Regionals game against Oregon State. The run gave Kentucky a 3-2 lead in the late innings, and would hold up as the winning run.

McCarthy’s heads-up play included a head-first slide that reminded many of something you would see from the legendary Pete Rose. Watch as the Kentucky outfielder notices that the pitcher is not covering home plate, and then lunges into Wildcats’ lore:

Among those who were reminded of Rose? Doug Flynn, a Kentucky alum and a former teammate of “Charlie Hustle” who won two World Series titles as a teammate of Rose’s on the Cincinnati Reds. Flynn reached out to Rose via text, including a picture of McCarthy’s slide, and Rose returned the message, with one of his own for McCarthy:

“Tell him to keep having fun. However, the only way to have fun is to win. Everybody’s in a better mood when you win. You can’t win every game but you should want to,” Rose texted.” Field, hit, be a good baserunner. Don’t care who you are. Three-for-10 and you’re having a good day. Play some good defense and have fun.

“I made 10,000 outs so don’t worry about it.”

McCarthy and the rest of the Wildcats are in the middle of their first game in Omaha against NC State, and perhaps Charlie Hustle is watching along with the rest of us.