Davis Thompson became the 24th first-time PGA Tour winner at the John Deere Classic. He finished at 28-under to set the 72-hole scoring record at TPC Deere Run.
The past two events saw him finish T9 at the U.S. Open and T2 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He shot a final-round 7-under 64 to win by four shots over C.T. Pan, Michael Thorbjornsen and amateur standout Luke Clanton.
Thompson came into Sunday with a two-shot lead. From his opening tee shot, the former Georgia Bulldog pressed down the accelerator and went nuclear. He made five birdies in his first six holes and over 120 feet of putts.
The 25-year-old put on a clinic as he gained +18 shots on the field in strokes gained total.
With an $8 million purse, Thompson took home $1,440,000 and earned 500 FedEx Cup points. He moved from No. 51 to No. 22 in the FedEx Cup playoff standings.
Pan and Thorbjornsen each took home $712,000. Since Clanton is an amateur, he did not earn anything. Hayden Springer, or Mr. 59, finished T7 and went home with $252,500.
Let’s break down the rest of the field to see how much each player made at the John Deere Classic.
2024 John Deere Classic Prize Money Payout
1: Davis Thompson: $1,440,000 T2: Michael Thorbjornsen: $712,000 T2: Luke Clanton (a): $0 T2: C.T. Pan: $712,000 T5: Ben Griffin: $360,000 T5: Carson Young: $360,000 T7: Andrew Novak: $252,500 T7: Denny McCarthy: $252,500 T7: Hayden Springer: $252,500 T7: Eric Cole: $252,500 T7: Aaron Rai: $252,500 T12: Brendon Todd: $171,600 T12: Sungjae Im: $171,600 T12: Chan Kim: $171,600 T12: Harry Hall: $171,600 T12: Sami Valimaki: $171,600 17: Seamus Power: $138,000 T18: Ben Silverman: $126,000 T18: Keith Mitchell: $126,000 T20: Mac Meissner: $106,000 T20: Kevin Yu: $106,000 T20: Jhonattan Vegas: $106,000 T23: Jason Day: $83,600 T23: Lucas Glover: $83,600 T23: J.J. Spaun: $83,600 T26: Zach Johnson: $64,200 T26: Max Greyserman: $64,200 T26: Jordan Spieth: $64,200 T26: Rico Hoey: $64,200 T30: Pierceson Coody: $56,000 T30: J.T. Poston: $56,000 T32: Mark Hubbard: $51,200 T32: Chesson Hadley: $51,200 T34: Brice Garnett: $39,200 T34: Doug Ghim: $39,200 T34: Sam Ryder: $39,200 T34: Hayden Buckley: $39,200 T34: S.H. Kim: $39,200 T34: Patrick Rodgers: $39,200 T34: Sam Stevens: $39,200 T34: Robby Shelton: $39,200 T34: Adam Svensson: $39,200 T34: Joshua Creel: $39,200 T44: Chandler Phillips: $29,200 T44: Trace Crowe: $29,200 T46: Kevin Dougherty: $23,280 T46: Joel Dahmen: $23,280 T46: Zac Blair: $23,280 T46: Kevin Streelman: $23,280 T46: Adrien Dumont de Chassart: $23,280 T46: Ben Taylor: $23,280 T52: Ben Kohles: $18,925 T52: Dylan Frittelli: $18,925 T52: Nico Echavarria: $18,925 T52: Blaine Hale, Jr.: $18,925 T52: Bill Haas: $18,925 T52: Stewart Cink: $18,925 T52: Jake Knapp: $18,925 T52: Ryo Hisatsune: $18,925 T52: James Hahn: $18,925 T61: Kevin Chappell: $17,195 T61: Thorbjorn Oleson: $17,195 T61: Kyle Westmoreland: $17,195 T61: Henrik Norlander: $17,195 T61: Sepp Straka: $17,195 T61: Roger Sloan: $17,195 T61: Bud Cauley: $17,195 T61: David Lipsky: $17,195 T61: Austin Smotherman: $17,195 T61: Scott Gutschewski: $17,195 T61: Beau Hossler: $17,195 72: Wilson Furr: $16,240 T73: Justin Suh: $16,000 T73: Justin Lower: $16,000 T75: Ryan Palmer: $15,680 T75: Matt NeSmith: $15,680 77: Lee Hodges: $15,440
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.
If you love days that are jam-packed with news, you should be EXTREMELY happy about November 5, 2024. Not only is that Election Day, but it’s also the NFL’s trade deadline.
In late June, the league sent out all the important dates for 2024 and 2025, and that’s when it became apparent that these two events would happen on the same day.
In March, the NFL owners agreed to move back the in-season trade deadline by one week, taking into account the 17-game season and the desire for another week for teams to decide whether or not to add to their rosters via trade for any postseason pushes. There was also a proposed amendment that would push the deadline past Week 10, but the proposal that was passed, proposed by the Pittsburgh Steelers, was this one, which has it after Week 9.
It remains to be seen what it will look like from a coverage perspective when teams are making those decisions at the same time the country itself is making far more impactful ones, but one should expect one’s Twitters and newsfeeds to be far past overload.
The NFL’s trade deadline ends at 4:00 p.m. EST that day, while polls will close later in the day and into the night. Which should give NFL fans just enough time to either rejoice in, or bemoan, the moves their teams did or didn’t make before hopefully voting as they see fit.
Perhaps voters in the Bay Area will be flummoxed by a Brandon Aiyuk deal. Or New York and Pittsburgh-area voters might still be shaking their heads from a Russell Wilson trade to the Jets. By that time, Aaron Rodgers will probably be somebody’s vice presidential candidate, which would bring the two stories together in a nice, chaotic fashion.
Maybe the more astute among us will consider voting by mail, so the focus can be completely on the craziest day in the NFL season. In any event, get ready for some chaos, and hydrate accordingly!
Also, if you’d like to know more about NFL Votes, a “league-wide, nonpartisan initiative that supports and encourages civic engagement among NFL players, and legends, club and league personnel, and fans,” you can do so here.
Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka are set to run things back.
This Saturday, Pereira and Prochazka rematch their UFC 295 light heavyweight title fight in the main event of UFC 303. The first time these two met, Pereira knocked Prochazka out in the second round to become the UFC’s ninth two-division champion. This time, the two meet on short-notice as they step in to save the day following Conor McGregor’s withdrawal from the event due to injury.
How will each man approach this fight, and how do they take home the win? Let’s take a look.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Paths to Victory for Alex Pereira at UFC 303
When these two first fought, I picked Pereira to win with relative ease because Prochazka’s offense, while potent, is not backed up by elite defense, meaning Pereira would have ample opportunity to counter. That’s less than ideal for Prochakza given that Pereira is one of the hardest punchers in the sport. And I was half right. Yes, Prochakza did walk headlong on to Pereira’s offense repeatedly, but what actually did him in was the low kicks.
Pereira is perhaps the best calf-kicker in MMA. He’s so adept at kicking the legs without any setup, making it extremely hard to read. And that’s especially bad for Prochakza who operates from a long stance with a lot of weight on the front foot. Aleksandar Rakic chopped the lead leg out from Prochakza, and was dominating the fight, until Prochazka went wild man on him and simply overran him with offense. That’s a much more difficult proposition against someone with the firepower and technique of Pereira.
What this means is that for Pereira, the path forward is simple: make this fight like the first one. Chop the front leg, defend takedowns, and clip Prochazka when he starts to get wild. On top of that, Pereira also should look to double jab, setting up the straight right hand. Because Prochakza fights with his hands down, his first instinct on defense is to slip and then slide back. The double jab with a follow up puts Prochakza in the tough spot of being at the end of his defense when the power shot comes in. Double jabs and calf kicks, that’s the name of the game on Saturday for Pereira.
Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
Paths to victory for Jiri Prochazka at UFC 303
Despite the fact that he got stopped in the first matchup, Prochakza enters Saturday saying he’s not going to change the gameplan. That seems like a bad idea. After all, the definition of crazy is doing the same thing and expecting different results.
In the first fight, Prochakza approached it in the same way he approaches most people, a little bit of everything. He shows Pereira a ton of different looks on the feet, scored one takedown, and even stunned Pereira in the second round with a barrage of long punches that “Poatan” didn’t see coming. It’s a smart way to fight most people: but Pereira is not most people.
Keeping opponents on their toes is usually a good strategy. The more they have to consider, the harder things get for them. Except in this circumstance, when Prochakza spent the second round consenting to a striking battle with Pereira, that was just playing to his opponent’s strength. Sure, you can win that way. But it’s wiser not to.
The simplest way to beat Pereira is to take him down. That almost entirely negates his offense, meaning Prochakza has the best chance to win the fight. And while Pereira is better than many believe at wrestling and grappling, Prochakza proved he can do it. His first plan of attack should always be getting this to the floor and once it’s there, it should be about control. Prochakza’s wild tendencies extend to the ground as well and that’s how Pereira stood up in the first fight. The focus should be getting Pereira down and then keeping him there. Let offense come afterwards.
Of course that doesn’t mean be afraid of Pereira’s striking. No fighter can win a fight if they just punt on one phase of the game entirely. Prochakza had a good amount of success on the feet using a ton of feints to keep Pereira off balance. Using plenty of that, plus more body work should be the focus in striking. Prochakza has a sneaky front kick to the body that would serve him well, and the body work should open up other opportunities both up top and into clinches, where Prochakza than then look to take things to the floor.
X-Factors
According to Prochakza, the biggest x-factor is Pereira’s use of “spiritual forces” to gain an unsporting advantage in the fight. But any good samurai should be able to negate the mystical powers deployed against him, so I’m calling that a wash. No, the x-factor in this fight is the short-notice.
Per most reports, Pereira was not originally keen on stepping in to save this event on just a few weeks’ notice, and was in fact in Australia at the time. Add in that he’s recovering/still dealing with some broken toes (coincidentally the same issue that led Conor McGregor to withdraw from the event) and it’s fair to wonder what version of Pereira will step into the cage on Saturday. No fighter competes at 100 percent, but is Poatan even at 75? We’ll see.
On the other side of things, Prochakza is also stepping in on short notice but rumor has it he was training like normal. If so, that’s definitely an advantage heading into this fight.
Could all of this be nothing? Of course! It’s rumor, speculation, and conjecture. But if Pereira shows up and can’t move as well or runs out of gas in the later rounds, everyone will look back and think we should have seen this coming.
Prediction
Because of the short notice, I do believe this fight is closer than last time, but I’ll guess the same result happens. Prochakza has some tools to make things difficult, but his insistence that he’s not changing the plan and his odd obsession with Pereira’s “spiritual powers” makes me think “BJP” didn’t learn any real lessons from the first encounter. In that case, Prochakza is basically hoping to high-roll a knockout blow against Pereira, which could always happen, but the more likely outcome is another fight where Jiri runs headlong onto Pereira’s best weapons.
Alex Pereira def. Jiri Prochazka via knockout (punches) — 4:34, Round 3.
The PGA Tour is in Detroit, Michigan, for the Rocket Mortgage Classic, where Rickie Fowler will attempt to defend his title. After an entertaining three-week stretch of golf, this tournament does not feature some top-ranked players, but it still employs a strong field of golfers looking to push their way up the FedEx Cup standings.
Detroit Golf Club, a Donald Ross design, is one of the flattest courses players face this season. It will likely be a birdie fest as scores tend to be low.
Nate Lashley won at 25-under in 2019 at the inaugural event. The last couple of years have seen similar results. Tony Finau won at 26-under in 2022, and Rickie Fowler ended his drought with a 24-under final score. Even the cut line is low, as players typically have to finish 36 holes at 5-under or lower to make the weekend. The last five cut lines of this tournament have been: 4-under, 3-under, 3-under, 5-under, and 5-under.
Get ready for a birdie barrage.
Here is the one-stop information shop for the Rocket Mortgage Classic
Rocket Mortgage Classic:
Where: Detroit Golf Club, Detroit, MI (Par-72, 7,370-yards)
When: Jun. 27-30th
Purse: $9,200,000 ($1,650,000 1st place)
FedEx Cup Points: 500
Defending Champion: Rickie Fowler
Photo by Jorge Lemus/NurPhoto via Getty Images
How to Watch The Rocket Mortgage Classic
Golf Channel and CBS Sports will share television coverage. Check out the full schedule below:
Thursday, June 27: 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Friday, June 28: 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Saturday, June 29: 1:00-3:00 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 3:00-6 p.m. ET (CBS)
Sunday, June 30: 1:00-3:00 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 3:00-6 p.m. ET (CBS)
How to Stream The Rocket Mortgage Classic
ESPN+ will exclusively air early round and featured group coverage all four days of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Peacock will have simulcasts of the Golf Channel’s broadcast.
Coverage on Peacock can be streamed here.
In addition, fans can tune into CBS Sports streaming service Paramount+ while CBS airs its third and final round broadcasts.
The Rocket Mortgage Classic Preview:
Defending champion Rickie Fowler ended his four-year-long drought last year when he defeated Adam Hadwin and Collin Morikawa in a playoff.
However, he recorded only one top-20 finish since that victory, which came at the Travelers Championship last week. He tied for 20th, which, considering he began the championship with a 6-under 64, proved to be a rather disappointing finish—much like how his entire 2024 season has gone.
Nevertheless, Fowler looks to become the first back-to-back winner in this tournament’s history.
Cameron Young, who shot a 59 at TPC River Highlands last week, is in the field. He finished second to Finau in 2022.
Michael Thorbjornsen, who made his professional debut last week at the Travelers, will play again this week in Detroit. The former Stanford Cardinal tied for 39th, which included a second-round 6-under 64.
The headliner of this event is Tom Kim, who fell to his best friend Scottie Scheffler in a one-hole playoff at the Travelers. This week will mark Kim’s ninth straight event on tour. He is someone to watch because his game is so sharp right now. His best finish at the Rocket Mortgage is a T-7 in 2022.
The sponsor exemption list is also impressive. Miles Russell will make his PGA Tour debut at 15-years-old. He won the Junior PGA Championship and Junior Players. Russell took the world by storm by making the cut earlier this year at the Korn Ferry Tour’s LECOM Suncoast Classic.
Neal Shipley is also in the field, making his first non-major start. He finished as the low amateur at the Masters and the U.S. Open.
This field may not feature any of the world’s Top 10 players, but it will be a fascinating week with plenty of talented players to watch.
The Rocket Mortgage Classic Round 1 Tee Times (ET):
*indicates starts on 10th tee 6:45 a.m. — Martin Laird, Lanto Griffin, Doug Ghim
6:45 a.m.* — Garrick Higgo, Kelly Kraft, Carl Yuan
6:56 a.m. — Aaron Baddeley, Sam Ryder, Max Greyserman
6:56 a.m.* — Tyler Duncan, Ryan Moore, Brandon Wu
7:07 a.m. — Matt NeSmith, Hayden Buckley, Kevin Yu
7:07 a.m.* — Nate Lashley, Kevin Tway, Jason Dufner
7:18 a.m. — Taylor Moore, Adam Svensson, Brandt Snedeker
7:18 a.m.* — Davis Riley, Peter Malnati, Brendon Todd
7:29 a.m. — Luke List, Chad Ramey, Adam Schenk
7:29 a.m.* — Nick Dunlap, Chris Kirk, Erik van Rooyen
7:40 a.m. — Brice Garnett, Vincent Norrman, Ryan Brehm
7:40 a.m.* — Robert MacIntyre, Tom Kim, Cameron Young
7:51 a.m. — Martin Trainer, Tim Wilkinson, Andrew Novak
1:38 p.m. — Chesson Hadley, Tyson Alexander, Sami Valimaki
1:38 p.m. * — Kevin Streelman, Bud Cauley, Scott Gutschewski
1:49 p.m. — Davis Thompson, Callum Tarren, Ryo Hisatsune
1:49 p.m.* — Ben Kohles, Chandler Phillips, David Skinns
2:00 p.m. — Jacob Bridgeman, Jorge Campillo, Danny Guise
2:00 p.m.* — Alejandro Tosti, Patrick Fishburn, Jackson Koivun (a)
2:11 p.m. — Nicholas Lindheim, Erik Barnes, Brandon Berry
2:11 p.m.* — Chan Kim, Trace Crow, Luke Clanton (a)
2:22 p.m. — Ryan McCormick, Kevin Dougherty, Angelo Giantsopoulos
2:22 p.m. — Ben Silverman, Wilson Furr, Ben James (a)
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.
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.
Saturday’s qualifying session at the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix delivered one of the more thrilling hours in recent memory. A back-and-forth fight for pole position saw Max Verstappen put his RB20 on provisional pole in the closing seconds of Q3, but Lando Norris snatched P1 from his friend at the death, capturing pole position by just two-hundredths of a second.
How did Norris pull off the win, and what might Saturday’s results tell us about Sunday?
Let’s dive into the data a bit, thanks to our friends at F1-Tempo. First we can look at the “track dominance” map, highlighting where each car was faster on their final laps in Q3. As you might expect given recent history, the RB20 was faster on the straights — particularly the long straight coming out of Turn 14 and back to the start/finish line — while the MCL38 was quicker through some of the corners:
As you can see Norris — highlighted in the orange — was quicker particularly in Sector 1, which includes the initial chicane coming out of the long straight as well as the sweeping corner coming out of Turn 3 and heading into Repsol at Turn 4.
But on the straighter portions of the track, and the long straight itself, Verstappen was faster.
Verstappen also posted the highest speed on that long straight, a mark of 329 kilometers per hour. As you can see in this next image, that came near the end of the straight, heading into Turn 1. By comparison, Norris was 5 kph slower at that point:
Looking at the delta between the two cars at that point, Verstappen had an edge on the lap of 0.054 seconds per Norris at that point, coming out of that long straight:
Then as the cars hit Turn 1, Verstappen’s advantage was up to 0.125 seconds:
But as you can see from that above graph, Norris then built a lead as Sector 1 came to a close and Sector 2 began, and he held that lead throughout the rest of the lap, fending off a late challenge from Verstappen coming out of Turn 14 and back to the start/finish line (more on that in a second).
Norris built that lead through Turns 3, 4, and 5. As you can see from the initial “track dominance” map, Norris was quicker from Turn 3 into Turn 4, and while Verstappen had an edge from Turn 4 into Turn 5, Norris built a lead he would not give back. In fact, by the time both cars came out of Turn 5 Norris had gone from being 0.125 seconds down at one point, to being up 0.167 seconds on his friend and rival:
And if you look at the entire delta graph, while Verstappen was able to. close that gap over the rest of the lap, he could not make up the difference.
However, there is something to note regarding the final turn, Turn 14, as alluded to above. Take a look at the throttle data for that final turn:
As you can see, while Norris lifted just a bit heading into Turn 14, Verstappen was able to keep the hammer down through the final turn, giving him a huge run of momentum into the long straight and back to the start/finish line.
That has led to some believing that Verstappen is primed for an even bigger Sunday:
Turn 14 reveals Ferrari’s weakness (which is RedBull’s strength)
Ferrari has less downforce than the othersLEC lifted significantly (72% throttle, 267km/h)
HAM and NOR only needed a tiny lift… but VER remained full throttle! His superior downforce reveals a race-focused… pic.twitter.com/dKOF08O8AZ
— Formula Data Analysis (@FDataAnalysis) June 22, 2024
The PGA Tour is in Cromwell, Connecticut, for the eighth and final Signature Event of the season: the Travelers Championship.
TPC River Highlands, a Robert J. Moss and Maurice Kearney course, will play as host. This tournament will not feature a cut as 71 players battle for a piece of the $20 million purse.
Here is the one-stop information shop for the Travelers Championship.
Travelers Championship:
Where: TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut (Par-70, 6,852-yards)
When: Jun. 20-23rd
Purse: $20,000,000/$4,000,000 (First Place)
FedEx Cup Points: 700
Defending Champion: Keegan Bradley
Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images
How to Watch The Travelers Championship
Golf Channel and CBS will share the television coverage. Check out the full schedule below:
Thursday, June 20: 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Friday, June 21: 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Saturday, June 22: 1:00-3:00 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 3:00-6 p.m. ET (CBS)
Sunday, June 23: 1:00-3:00 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 3:00-6 p.m. ET (CBS)
How to Stream The Travelers Championship
ESPN+ will exclusively air early round and featured group coverage all four days of the Travelers Championship. Peacock will have simulcasts of the Golf Channel’s broadcast.
Coverage on Peacock can be streamed here.
In addition, fans can tune into CBS Sports streaming service Paramount+ while CBS airs its third and final round broadcasts.
The Travelers Championship Preview:
Coming off a dramatic U.S. Open week, the best of the PGA Tour is in Connecticut for the final Signature Event of the year.
Defending champion Keegan Bradley won his sixth PGA Tour event here in 2023. He also broke the tournament record by one stroke.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is coming off one of his weakest performances at Pinehurst No. 2, but he remains one of the many heavy hitters who headline this event.
Xander Schauffele is also in the field as the PGA Championship winner finished strong at Pinehurst.
Ludvig Åberg struggled at Pinehurst throughout the weekend, but this TPC River Highlands track fits his game well. Last year, he was one of four sponsor exemptions in the field, and now, heading into this event, the Swedish phenom is a PGA Tour winner.
He tied for 24th in 2023, going 67-65-65-70 through four days of play. Åberg’s game is in a good spot coming off the U.S. Open, so watch out for him to make moves this week.
Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, and many other top players will tee it up this week in New England as they all fight to take home that hefty $4 million first-place price.
This week will be interesting as most of the field is coming off a major championship. Will fatigue affect some of the biggest names in golf?
The Travelers Championship Round 1 Tee Times (ET):
(All go off the first tee)
8:05 a.m. — Chris Gotterup
8:15 a.m. — Robert MacIntyre, Jake Knapp
8:25 a.m. — Akshay Bhatia, Thomas Detry
8:35 a.m. — Taylor Pendrith, Victor Perez
8:45 a.m. — Davis Riley, Rickie Fowler
8:55 a.m. — Lee Hodges, Eric Cole
9:05 a.m. — Brian Harman, Tom Hoge
9:15 a.m. — Nick Taylor, Harris English
9:25 a.m. — Taylor Moore, Seamus Power
9:40 a.m. — Kurt Kitayama, Mackenzie Hughes
9:50 a.m. — Sahith Theegala, Sepp Sraka
10:00 a.m. — Jason Day, J.T. Poston
10:10 a.m. — Cameron Young, Patrick Rodgers
10:20 a.m. — Hideki Matsuyama, Keegan Bradley
10:30 a.m. — Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa
10:40 a.m. — Wyndham Clark, Jordan Spieth
10:50 a.m. — Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas
11:00 a.m. — Nick Dunlap, Adam Scott
11:15 a.m. — Will Zalatoris, Ben Griffin
11:25 a.m. — Austin Eckroat, Webb Simpson
11:35 a.m. — Peter Malnati, Christian Bezuidenhout
11:45 a.m. — Emiliano Grillo, Andrew Putnam
11:55 a.m. — Sam Burns, Byeong Hun An
12:05 p.m. — Si Woo Kim, Adam Svensson
12:15 p.m. — Matt Fitzpatrick, Adam Hadwin
12:25 p.m. — Tom Kim, Corey Conners
12:35 p.m. — Justin Rose, Adam Schenk
12:50 p.m. — Chris Kirk, Sungjae Im
1:00 p.m. — Russell Henley, Denny McCarthy
1:10 p.m. — Cam Davis, Brendon Todd
1:20 p.m. — Lucas glover, Tommy Fleetwood
1:30 p.m. — Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland
1:40 p.m. — Tony Finau, Patrick Cantlay
1:50 p.m. — Xander Schauffele, Matthieu Pavon
2:00 p.m. — Ludvig Åberg, Michael Thorbjornsen
2:10 p.m. — Billy Horschel, Stephan Jaeger
The Travelers Championship Round 2 Tee Times (ET):
(All go off the first tee)
8:05 a.m. — Will Zalatoris, Ben Griffin
8:15 a.m. — Austin Eckroat, Webb Simpson
8:25 a.m. — Peter Malnati, Christian Bezuidenhout
8:35 a.m. — Emiliano Grillo, Andrew Putnam
8:45 a.m. — Sam Burns, Byeong Hun An
8:55 a.m. — Si Woo Kim, Adam Svensson
9:05 a.m. — Matt Fitzpatrick, Adam Hadwin
9:15 a.m. — Tom Kim, Corey Conners
9:25 a.m. — Justin Rose, Adam Schenk
9:40 a.m. — Chris Kirk, Sungjae Im
9:50 a.m. — Russell Henley, Denny McCarthy
10:00 a.m. — Cam Davis, Brendon Todd
10:10 a.m. — Lucas glover, Tommy Fleetwood
10:20 a.m. — Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland
10:30 a.m. — Tony Finau, Patrick Cantlay
10:40 a.m. — Xander Schauffele, Matthieu Pavon
10:50 a.m. — Ludvig Åberg, Michael Thorbjornsen
11:00 a.m. — Billy Horschel, Stephan Jaeger
11:15 a.m. — Chris Gotterup
11:25 a.m. — Robert MacIntyre, Jake Knapp
11:35 a.m. — Akshay Bhatia, Thomas Detry
11:45 a.m. — Taylor Pendrith, Victor Perez
11:55 a.m. — Davis Riley, Rickie Fowler
12:05 p.m. — Lee Hodges, Eric Cole
12:15 p.m. — Brian Harman, Tom Hoge
12:25 p.m. — Nick Taylor, Harris English
12:35 p.m. — Taylor Moore, Seamus Power
12:45 p.m. — Kurt Kitayama, Mackenzie Hughes
12:55 p.m. — Sahith Theegala, Sepp Sraka
1:10 p.m. — Jason Day, J.T. Poston
1:20 p.m. — Cameron Young, Patrick Rodgers
1:30 p.m. — Hideki Matsuyama, Keegan Bradley
1:40 p.m. — Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa
1:50 p.m. — Wyndham Clark, Jordan Spieth
2:00 p.m. — Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas
2:10 p.m. — Nick Dunlap, Adam Scott
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
On the surface, it was a seemingly mundane baseline out-of-bounds (BLOB) play at the four minute and ten second mark of the second quarter that the Dallas Mavericks were priming to run. But as is true of high-stakes NBA basketball, there are multiple layers hidden beneath the supposed simplicity of an NBA possession.
When you think of how the Boston Celtics defended the Mavs throughout the course of the 2024 NBA Finals, the aforementioned possession makes a ton of sense. Against the most prolific corner shooting team in the league during the NBA season, the Celtics held the Mavericks to a total of 22 corner-three attempts (non-garbage time) in five games — an average of 4.4 attempts per game, well below the Mavs’ regular-season average of 11.3. While “pushing the right buttons” would still be an apt way to describe the Celtics’ defense when it came to limiting a typically potent offense, “flipping the correct switches” would be more apropos — both in the figurative sense and in the literal manner through which the Celtics threw a ton of switching the Mavs’ way.
The maneuver of switching assignments around a screen can be deceivingly effortless to the casual eye. It may look easy, but there are multiple factors to consider: the timing of the switch, the compatibility of the defenders involved, the possibility of counters (e.g., slipping the screen to gain separation from the switch before it can be established), and several other underlying factors at play. Ball-screen possessions are the most common switchable actions, but the difficulty is exponentially increased when switching off the ball — particularly, in a situation such as a baseline out-of-bounds set.
So when the Celtics were faced with a “pick-the-picker” (also known as a “screen-the-screener”) action during the aforementioned BLOB situation, a seemingly distant connection was made between a discussion LeBron James and JJ Redick had in an episode of the Mind the Game Podcast.
Before we delve into that discussion — and to set the stage for the connection — here’s the play in question:
Defense is often a mental-checklist exercise, which is easy in theory but difficult to pull off while mired in the fast-paced nature of an NBA possession. The best defenses in the league are neither detail insufficient nor speed vulnerable — that is, they make sure to cross every “t” and dot every “i” without the need for slowing things down. Quite obviously, their opponents won’t accommodate them in the latter regard.
If the possession above was to be made into a checklist, it would look something like this:
Stay true to the principle of taking away the corners (Al Horford was able to stay home against Derrick Jones Jr. on the weak-side corner, while Jaylen Brown successfully kept tabs on Kyrie Irving on the strong-side corner).
Make sure that neither Irving nor Luka Dončić spends considerable time handling the live ball and finishing the possession.
In those two regards, it was an astounding success. The Mavs had no choice but to feed the ball to PJ Washington, who attempted to create his own scoring opportunity but shuffled his feet due to a timely rotation by Sam Houser.
When shining a magnifying glass on the possession to deduce why (and how) every item on the list was checked off, peep at both Brown and Jrue Holiday — and attempt to understand their maneuvers while a James proposal about defending “pick-the-picker” BLOBs to Redick is overlaid:
Who would’ve thought that simply switching the inbounder’s defender would throw a wrench into the Mavs’ BLOB? But that’s exactly what Holiday and Brown do; instead of chasing Irving toward the corner, Holiday switches off of him and switches onto Dončić, whose initial defender (Brown) drifts toward the corner to switch onto Irving. Holiday’s maneuver, therefore, is to plug a gap created by an attempt to plug another gap.
With both Dončić and Irving in no position to get the ball back to create something out of nothing, Washington is forced into a role he’s not comfortable playing, resulting in a bumbling attempt to score at the rim.
If such a phrase exists that can capture the essence of what the Celtics’ defense was all about in these Finals, it’s most probably this: “Take away their best offensive options and live with the outcome produced by everything else.” Their corner three philosophy was born out of this approach: no one was allowed a corner look, especially Dončić and Irving; everyone else was allowed above-the-break looks, save for Dončić and Irving.
PJ Washington, Derrick Jones Jr., Josh Green, and Maxi Kleber
First 3 rounds: • 63/148 (42.6%) on corner 3s (8.7 attempts per game) • 27/85 (31.8%) on ATB 3s (5.0 attempts per game)
Finals: • 1/6 (16.7%) on corner 3s (2 attempts per game) • 2/13 (15.4%) on ATB 3s (6.5… pic.twitter.com/3xptvXHWdN
Much has been praised — and maligned — about the Celtics’ mathematical approach to the game. People aren’t keen on understanding the apparent difficulty of applying numbers to a game that has treated such figures as a supplementary and secondary aspect. But it’s not as hard to understand as many people think: three is greater than two, which doesn’t require an engineering degree to absorb.
But that’s a concept that applies to only one side of the ball. While the Celtics have embraced the 3 > 2 philosophy by spreading the floor and fully embracing a 5-out offense, they’ve also applied its reverse on defense — that is, two is less than three. In that regard, their philosophy is also quite simple: make opponents take tough twos in lieu of attempting efficient threes.
Again, that is where their anti-corner philosophy comes in. But it also applies to the nature of the twos they’re willing to give up, and which ones they’re not allowing.
Peep at the commonality between these shot profiles from the Mavs, per Cleaning The Glass:
Game 1: 33% rim frequency (55th percentile), 38% mid-range frequency (79th percentile), 29% three-point frequency (10th percentile)
Game 2: 30% rim frequency (42nd percentile), 39% mid-range frequency (83rd percentile), 30% three-point frequency (14th percentile)
Game 3: 32% rim frequency (48th percentile), 40% mid-range frequency (86th percentile), 28% three-point frequency (9th percentile)
Game 4: 37% rim frequency (80th percentile), 31% mid-range frequency (43rd percentile), 32% three-point frequency (21st percentile)
Game 5: 30% rim frequency (38th percentile), 24% mid-range frequency (21st percentile), 45% three-point frequency (90th percentile)
On the aggregate, the Celtics were able to put a lid on the rim while also taking away the three-point line — while also funneling the Mavs’ shot attempts toward the mid-range area. The corner three vs. above-the-break three battle was also a subplot of this overarching theme, but another notable stat that captured the Celtics’ approach: the Mavs only had a total of six alley-oop attempts in five Finals games, an average of 1.2 attempts per game. That is a far cry from the three attempts per game they averaged in their 17 playoff games prior to the Finals.
It was on the grandest stage, with the lights switched on at their brightest, that the Mavs hit the proverbial wall, courtesy of the Celtics walling off the rim and switching almost at will. If the Mavs wanted to score, they’d have to bleed for it — and no possession captures that situation with more accuracy than on a possession involving a Mavs staple half-court set.
We must once again look back to see what worked in the past:
In order to appreciate what the Celtics did to take away what victimized lesser teams:
Plenty of odes and tributes will be paid to the Celtics’ offense — how every member of their five-man lineup was every bit of a shot creator as a shot finisher, how it made defenses overexert and overstretch themselves to their utmost limits, and how it was the most efficient in NBA regular season history.
But more often than not, a top-10 defense is the deciding factor behind what constitutes a championship team. The Celtics — third in overall defensive rating during the regular season, first in half-court defensive rating — became the latest in a long line of elite championship defenses.
There was no “on” switch to be flipped, no gear to shift into. The switch was always there — in the form of, quite literally, switching their opponents into half-court oblivion.
Over the seven seasons Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have played together for the Boston Celtics, they have faced a wide variety of skepticism about their fit together as two ballhandling wings. Both were varying degrees of great at different times, but did their skill sets overlap too much to build a championship team around them as a pair?
The Celtics’ 2024 NBA championship win answers that question with a definitive “no,” but there were real questions about the pairing’s fit together over their near-decade as a duo, as well as calls from media and fans alike to trade Brown. Instead, the Celtics (somewhat controversially) continually doubled down on the twosome, most recently by giving Brown the most lucrative contract in NBA history last summer.
Doing so may seem like the easy call with the benefit of hindsight, but in the aftermath of the confetti falling, as the Celtics celebrated their 18th championship in franchise history and Brown lofted his NBA Finals MVP, there was a stat on the broadcast for anyone watching at home that demonstrated just how unprecedented Boston’s patience with the Brown and Tatum duo was (as captured by Tim Bontemps of ESPN):
For Tatum and Brown, the 107 games they played together before winning the title are the most by a duo prior to winning their first championship in NBA history.
That’s quite the astounding factoid, and it shows how rare it is for any two NBA players to
be good enough to justify keeping together that long, period, and…
be good enough to maintain faith in despite not having won a title together yet.
It remains to be seen if this record will ever be broken, but given the constant roster churn of today’s NBA, it seems unlikely. Maybe Brown and Tatum’s long-awaited success will convince more GMs to remain patient with various star pairings, but this otherwise seems primed to be a record Brown and Tatum can hold together for a long time.
The Boston Celtics have a chance Monday night to capture their 18th NBA Finals title. And they are putting it all on the line in pursuit of that championship.
Literally.
With the minutes ticking down in the first half, Boston held a 52-39 lead over the visiting Dallas Mavericks in Game 5, and were locked in on the defensive end. Dallas forward P.J. Washington stumbled off the dribble and tried to shove a pass in the direction of Dereck Lively, but the ball was knocked loose by Jayson Tatum.
In the ensuing melee for the loose ball, Derrick White of the Celtics absolutely laid out trying to corral the ball, before catching an entire face full of the parquet floor at T.D. Garden:
If you dare, you can watch the close-up replay of White’s effort:
In the moment, it looked as if Boston would lose the player that has been the “oomph” of their roster since he was acquired via trade during the 2022 season. White made his way to the Celtics bench after staying down on the floor for a moment, and was looked at by Celtics trainers:
He returned to the game immediately after.
And buried a three moments later to give Boston a 60-42 lead.
Look at this guy:
Between that and another heave at the buzzer from Payton Prichard, Boston has had one heck of a first half.
And they are 24 minutes away from their 18th banner.
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