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Daniel Ricciardo makes emphatic declaration heading into Austrian Grand Prix daniel,ricciardo,makes,emphatic,declaration,heading,into,austrian,grand,prix,sbnation,com,front-page,formula-one,2024-formula-one

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A year ago at the Mexico City Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo made a prediction that might have seen Joe Namath smile.

Is the Australian driver about to deliver a repeat performance at the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix?

Following the Friday practice sessions at the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix Ricciardo emphatically declared that he had a “top ten” car heading into qualifying. Ricciardo finished sixth on the timing sheets in practice in Mexico City, ahead of Lewis Hamilton for example, and believed he was primed for a strong performance.

He delivered that performance on Saturday in Mexico City, putting his AlphaTauri on the second row alongside former Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen. Ricciardo finished the job the next day with a seventh-place finish, which was his best result following his shocking mid-season return to the grid.

Speaking Saturday at Red Bull Ring in the aftermath of qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, Ricciardo made a similar statement.

“We knew that it would have been hard to get into the points in the Sprint, but it was important to race and learn for tomorrow,” said Ricciardo in Visa Cash App RB F1 Team’s post-qualifying report. “There are some positives from the battles we had this morning and the way the car responded was not too bad.

“Of course, it’s frustrating to miss out on Q3 by just a few milliseconds this afternoon, but at the same time, it’s a more positive one as I think we made some progress since yesterday and it’s something we have to be proud of. I think we still need to find something a little bit extra for tomorrow but today’s qualifying put us in a much better position for the race. It’s going to be a longer one with pit stops and [tire] differences, so there’s no reason to believe we can’t be a top ten car tomorrow.”

As noted by the driver while he did not advance into Q3, he missed out on the final spot in the third segment of qualifying by just 0.015 seconds, as Esteban Ocon snatched P10 from Ricciardo’s grasp.

Still, the Australian driver remains confident.

That confidence and optimism comes as Ricciardo faces renewed speculation about his future at the team. The driver acknowledged those questions earlier in the week, noting that his “performance” — not his trademark “smile” — will determine his fate.

Backing up his confidence tomorrow will bolster his case.

Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon in ‘good position’ heading into F1 Sprint at Austrian GP pierre,gasly,and,esteban,ocon,in,good,position,heading,into,f,sprint,at,austrian,gp,sbnation,com,front-page,formula-one,2024-formula-one

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Friday was another positive session, with more evidence of progress, for Alpine.

Amidst the picturesque backdrop provided by the Styrian mountains, 20 Formula 1 cars roared to life on Friday at Red Bull Ring, as qualifying for tomorrow’s F1 Sprint Race was on the schedule. Once again Alpine saw both Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon advance into the third and final segment of qualifying, as both drivers moved out of SQ2 and into SQ3.

While thoughts of an even bigger surprise were quashed there, as Ocon qualified eighth and Gasly ninth, the result was hailed by the team as even more evidence that they are making progress this F1 season.

“I’m happy to have reached SQ3 today and starting in eighth place for tomorrow,” said Ocon in the team’s post-session media report. “Again, we reached the top ten in Qualifying as a team, which is another good performance. SQ3 was far from straightforward as we were at the back of the queue.

“We probably got a little fortunate with Charles [Leclerc] missing the flag at the end and gained a position as a result,” added Ocon. “Even so, the positive is we performed well and we are in a good position in the Sprint Race. We still have work to do and things to understand but it’s pleasing to be heading in a good direction.”

Leclerc’s SF-24 stopped on pit lane with just minutes remaining in SQ3 and while the Ferrari driver was able to get it started and onto the track, he could not post a time during SQ3 and will start the F1 Sprint Race in P10.

On the other side of the garage, Gasly pointed to the improved pace from the A524 as a “good sign” for tomorrow.

“It was a good Sprint Qualifying for the team overall today with both cars reaching SQ3,” described Gasly, who earlier this week announced a new “multi-year” deal with Alpine. “We managed SQ1 and SQ2 well, showed good pace and we progressed through both sessions. We certainly did not [maximize] SQ3. It was a messy one and I did not get a proper push lap. These are things we will review as we always aim to [maximize] all sessions and get the most from it.

“Even so, we had good pace again today – that is pleasing – and again we are inside the top ten. Those cars ahead of us are quick and only the top eight score in the Sprint Race tomorrow. It will not be easy to pick up points but we will try our best and see what we can achieve.”

Thanks to their recent form — Alpine has picked up six points over the last two race weekends — the team has climbed to seventh in the Constructors’ Championship. Coming into the Austrian Grand Prix one of the major storylines was whether Alpine could keep that recent run of form going.

They are certainly off to a good start.

Senior Open: Padraig Harrington deep dives into worst golf swing advice senior,open,padraig,harrington,deep,dives,into,worst,golf,swing,advice,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-champions-tour,golf-news

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Playing golf well takes a lot of time and practice. Even the greatest players in the world continue to fine-tune their craft throughout their careers.

Swing advice comes from all over: the teaching pro at the golf course, YouTube, Twitter or the extra guy who got added to the foursome.

Recent Golf Hall of Fame inductee Padraig Harrington is no stranger to working on his game. He is a range rat, loves to find ways to play golf better and enjoys helping weekend golfers.

However, with good advice comes terrible tips.

Instead of providing some of the best swing tips, he decided to do the opposite ahead of the U.S. Senior Open.

“I don’t know what the best one I’ve got because there are all sorts of things at different points in your life that really are important,” Harrington said. “It’s easier to pick up on the worst piece of advice.”

Harrington shared three things that he considers to be the worst swing advice he has gotten.

“Staying still is probably the worst thing,” he said. “Keeping your feet still on the ground. Keeping your head still. Keeping your head down. Swinging slowly. These are all terrible things.”

The tips given are all things that could benefit a player’s swing if done correctly.

Keeping your feet still is not nearly as common as it used to be. Now, people can use their feet to generate more power and hit the ball farther.

Harrington did a video a few years back about why keeping your head still is not good advice.

Swinging slowly could hurt players when generating power. Golfers should learn to swing hard and then teach themselves how to contact the ball properly.

Power is such a game-changing skill in golf that not everyone has.

Golf is a unique sport. It is not like other competitive things. No two golfers have the same swing.

“Golf is quite counterintuitive,” he said.

Harrington explained what his first coach, Howard Bennett, told him about the golf swing.

“People who don’t play golf, if they came to golf and did the absolute opposite of what they think, they’d be better off,” Harrington said.

The three-time major champion has tried many different tactics and knows what does not work.

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.

Stone Cold Steve Austin has morphed into an Instagram cat dad, and it’s incredible stone,cold,steve,austin,has,morphed,into,an,instagram,cat,dad,and,it,s,incredible,sbnation,com,front-page,wrestling

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Every professional wrestler has phases to their career, but nobody could have predicted a turn for Stone Cold Steve Austin into cat dad. The Texas Rattlesnake has Instagram enraptured with daily posts about the two main felines of his life: Pancho and Macho, chronicling their lives on Broken Skull Ranch in a way only Stone Cold can do it.

Austin is showing off Pancho’s summer trim with commentary only he could pull off.

“What a handsome f****** cat. I’ll tell you what man: That’s a solid-ass cat”

As much as Stone Cold loves Pancho, the cat really knows how to push Steve’s buttons by not listening to him when it’s time for bed.

It’s simply magical to hear Austin scream “PANCHO!” like an action movie star who just dropped his best friend from a helicopter while a cat strolls away, pretending not to hear him.

There’s also details of the cat room he’s built on the ranch, complete with a full A/C system to keep them cool in the Texas summer heat.

Pancho is clearly the main character when it comes to Austin’s cat content, but don’t sleep on his ginger kitten Macho — who is fast becoming a star on his own.

And if you’ve ever said to yourself “What I really need in life is video of Stone Cold Steve Austin petting a cat while “Stranglehold” by Ted Nugent plays,” don’t worry, because he’s got you.

The channel is almost exclusively cat videos, and people are going wild for it. With every post people are more and more in love with Austin for being the most lovable, bad-ass cat dad on the planet. He’s not afraid to call a cat a “motherf*****” when they’ve earned it, and he doesn’t give a damn what people think about it.

And that’s the bottom meow, because Cat Dad Steve Austin said so.

A quick look into Scottie Scheffler’s really massive FedEx Cup lead a,quick,look,into,scottie,scheffler,s,really,massive,fedex,cup,lead,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

A quick look into Scottie Schefflers really massive FedEx Cup
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Welcome to Playing Through’s new morning ritual: Golf Talk Today.

Each morning will feature a Golf Talk Today, in which the crew will discuss various elements of the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and other professional golf tournaments.

Yesterday’s discussion on Scottie Scheffler and how much money he has won this year was mind-blowing, but let’s look into how massive his FedEx Cup lead is.

How much does the former Texas Longhorn lead his fellow PGA Tour players by? Scheffler already has $27,696,858, but if he were to win the FedEx Cup, jaws would drop at the amount of money he would take home.

The man already has six wins, two runner-up finishes, 13 top-10s, and 14 top-25s in 15 starts. One time in his 15 starts, he finished outside the Top 20, which came at Pinehurst No. 2 and the U.S. Open.

Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Scheffler has fallen short the last two years in Atlanta to take home the FedEx Cup crown as Viktor Hovland won it in 2023, and Rory McIlroy took it home in 2022.

The 28-year-old contented in Atlanta but has not been able to finish the drill and hoist that TOUR Championship trophy.

Could 2024 be that year for him? With a major championship and at least three FedEx Cup playoff events, how big will that lead be?

Last year, the PGA Tour shortened the playoff field in the first event. No longer is it the top 125, but the Top 70. They will take on TPC Southwind for the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis.

The Top 50 will play for the BMW Championship and then the Top 30 play in Atlanta.

Since 2019, the PGA Tour has implemented a stroke-based system for the Tour Championship. The FedEx Cup points leader begins the tournament at 10-under and the strokes decrease from there.

Scheffler will likely head into Atlanta with a 10-under start, as he has the previous two years.

This year, the FedEx Cup winner will take home $25 million, which is a massive increase from last year’s $18 million.

2024 FedEx Cup standings (top 30)

*as of June 24, 2024

1: Scottie Scheffler: 5,768
2: Xander Schauffele: 3,257
3: Rory McIlroy: 2,445
4: Collin Morikawa: 2,241
5: Wyndham Clark: 2,088
6: Ludvig Åberg: 1,992
7: Hideki Matsuyama: 1,893
8: Sahith Theegala: 1,845
9: Patrick Cantlay: 1,717
10: Byeong Hun An: 1,620
11: Shane Lowry: 1,592
12: Tony Finau: 1,579
13: Matthieu Pavon: 1,558
14: Sungjae Im: 1,500
15: Akshay Bhatia: 1,422
16: Justin Thomas: 1,412
17: Sepp Straka: 1,410
18: Tom Hoge: 1,406
19: Russell Henley: 1,371
20: Christiaan Bezuidenhout: 1,370
21: Brian Harman: 1,362
22: Chris Kirk: 1,280
23: Stephan Jaeger: 1,207
24: Tommy Fleetwood: 1,203
25: Sam Burns: 1,181
26: Max Homa: 1,175
27: Thomas Detry: 1,173
28: Jason Day: 1,173
29: J.T. Poston: 1,165
30: Taylor Pendrith:

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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.