BRITISH OPEN
Xander Schauffele was the player who couldn't win a major at the start of the year. Now he has two of them. The 30-year-old Californian won the British Open with a masterpiece at Royal Troon. He played bogey-free for a 65 to get his name on the base of that silver claret jug. Schauffele won the PGA Championship in May at Valhalla. He's the first player since 2015 to win his first two majors in the same season. And his victory at Royal Troon gave the Americans a sweep of the four majors for the first time since 1982. Schauffele’s 65 ranks among the great closing rounds in British Open history.
Justin Rose needed a long putt for par on the 12th hole at Royal Troon to keep pace with Xander Schauffele. The 21-footer looked good and the crowd was ready to erupt. It caught the left side of the cup, though, and lipped out. Rose tossed his putter in the air, catching it on the way down. His British Open dream was dented, and Schauffele surged to the title. Rose’s lone bogey of the day dropped him a shot behind Schauffele and two strokes back of then-leader Thriston Lawrence. The 43-year-old Englishman carrying the hopes of the country in search of a champion never caught up. Rose finished tied for second with Billy Horschel on 7-under overall, two shots behind Schauffele.
BARRACUDA CHAMPIONSHIP
Nick Dunlap became the first player in PGA Tour history to win as an amateur and a professional in the same year, rallying Sunday for a two-point victory in the Barracuda Championship. In January at The American Express in La Quinta, the 20-year-old Dunlap — then a sophomore at Alabama — became the eighth amateur to win a tour event and the first in 33 years. On Sunday in the only PGA Tour event that uses the modified Stableford scoring system, Dunlap took the lead with a 55-foot eagle putt on the par-5 15th. Players receive eight points for a double eagle, five for eagle and two for birdie. A point is deducted for bogey and three for double bogey. Vince Whaley was second.
MLB
Adrian Beltré, Joe Mauer, Todd Helton and Jim Leyland have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Beltré led this year’s class with 95.1% of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America vote in his first year on the ballot. Helton followed with 79.7% of the vote in his sixth year of eligibility and Mauer received 76.1% of the BBWAA vote in his first year. Leyland was elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee.
Joe Castiglione and Gerry Fraley were also honored during Hall of Fame weekend. Castiglione has been the Boston Red Sox radio broadcaster for a record 42 seasons and received the Ford C. Frick Award. Fraley was posthumously honored with the BBWAA Career Excellence Award for his work as a writer. Fraley covered the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers, and also worked as the national baseball writer for the Dallas Morning News.
Richie Palacios led off the game against Marcus Stroman with the first of Tampa Bay’s four home runs, Jose Siri took a half-minute trot after his longball and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 6-4. Randy Arozarena hit his third home run in two days and José Caballero also went deep as the Rays hit four homers for the second straight day. After the Rays opened a 5-0 lead, Aaron Judge hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning off Jason Adam, a 444-foot drive to left field. Judge leads the major leagues with 35 homers and 89 RBIs.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a three-run homer, Jake Burger also went deep and the Miami Marlins beat the New York Mets 4-2. Vidal Bruján had his second career three-hit game for the National League-worst Marlins, who are 5-4 against the NL East rival Mets this season. Declan Cronin threw 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief against his hometown team to earn the win. A.J. Puk and Calvin Faucher blanked the Mets for an inning apiece before Tanner Scott closed with a perfect ninth for his 16th save. Miami’s Nick Fortes committed three throwing errors, a first by a catcher in club history. The Mets struck out 14 times and went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position.
Shohei Ohtani hit a 473-foot home run and the Los Angeles Dodgers went deep six times in a 9-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández, Gavin Lux, Austin Barnes and Jason Heyward also connected as Los Angeles swept the three-game series. It was the 25th time the Dodgers launched at least six homers in a game and first since 2022 against Kansas City. Five came off Boston starter Kutter Crawford. Jarren Duran, the MVP of last Tuesday’s All-Star Game, homered and drove in four runs for the Red Sox, who fell a game behind the Royals for the final AL wild card. James Paxton allowed three runs and struck out seven in five innings for the win. Daniel Hudson earned his sixth save.
Rookie Tyler Phillips gave up four hits in six innings, and the Philadelphia Phillies avoided a three-game sweep with a 6-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Phillips struck out three and walked one. It was the right-hander’s third game and second start since being called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on July 5. The Phillies, who had lost three straight and four of their last five games, ended the Pirates’ winning streak at six. Pittsburgh was shut out for the seventh time this season.
Rhys Hoskins hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning and rookie Jackson Chourio homered and drove in three runs to lift the Milwaukee Brewers to a two-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins with an 8-7 win at Target Field. With the game tied 5-all, Hoskins took Twins reliever Griffin Jax deep to left for his 15th home run of the season. The Brewers’ bats helped starter Aaron Civale overcome a rough outing. In his third start with the Brewers since being acquired via trade, Civale allowed five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.
Michael King did not allow a hit until the seventh inning and Kyle Higashioka had a two-run double and the San Diego Padres beat the American League Central-leading Cleveland Guardians 2-1. King’s bid for the second no-hitter in franchise history ended when Angel Martínez led off the seventh with a single to center. The right-hander was acquired from the Yankees in the blockbuster deal that sent Juan Soto to New York on Dec. 7, 2023. King worked seven innings, giving up one run and two hits with six strikeouts. Jeremiah Estrada followed King, while Robert Suarez recorded the final four outs for his 23rd save and completed the two-hitter.
George Springer hit two home runs, including the 58th leadoff shot of his career, and the Toronto Blue Jays avoided a three-game sweep by beating the Detroit Tigers 5-4. Ernie Clement delivered a tiebreaking single in the sixth inning and Toronto outfielder Daulton Varsho made a sensational leaping catch at the wall with two runners on to preserve the one-run lead in the eighth. Springer went 3 for 4 with three RBIs and Clement reached base three times as the Blue Jays won for the second time in seven meetings with Detroit this season. Justyn-Henry Malloy hit his first career grand slam off Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman, but the Tigers couldn’t extend a four-game winning streak.
Seth Lugo retired 14 straight batters in his first career complete game as the Kansas City Royals rallied past the Chicago White Sox for a 4-1 win and series sweep. Lugo surrendered one run while striking out six. He allowed an infield hit to Tommy Pham leading off the game Sunday before retiring the next 14 batters. In the eighth, Hunter Renfroe’s single scored Bobby Witt Jr. to break a 1-1 tie as the Royals collected five hits, scoring three runs against reliever John Brebbia. Chicago’s bullpen leads the majors with 24 blown saves and 33 losses.
Jonah Heim hit a three-run homer, Andrew Heaney pitched two-hit ball over five scoreless innings and the Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 to avoid a three-game sweep. Texas held on after Anthony Santander closed the gap with his 27th home run and third of the series, a two-run shot in the eighth inning. The Rangers finished the season 2-5 against the Orioles after sweeping them in the AL Division Series last year on the way to their first World Series title. Baltimore won three of four at home in late June. Texas salvaged the finale in that series as well.
Luke Raley hit a three-run homer, Bryan Woo pitched 5 2/3 solid innings and the Seattle Mariners overcame an injury to Julio Rodriguez to beat the Houston Astros 6-4 on Sunday. Rodríguez left the game with two outs in the sixth inning after he leapt for a flyball and appeared to twist his right ankle against the pad of the center field fence on a triple by Yordan Alvarez, who hit for the cycle. Rodriguez grabbed at his ankle in pain and stayed on the ground for several minutes before walking off the field with manager Scott Servais and trainer Taylor Bennett. Rodríguez was replaced in center field by Victor Robles.
Kevin Pillar hit a two-run double in the eighth as Los Angeles rallied against Oakland’s bullpen, and the Angels beat the Athletics 8-5 in likely their final game ever at the Coliseum. Logan O’Hoppe singled to start the decisive inning. Pinch-hitter Nolan Schanuel had an RBI single and Jo Adell drew a bases-loaded walk from Lucas Erceg as the Angels came back to snap a franchise-long eight-game losing streak at the Coliseum dating back to early last season. The A’s will relocate to Sacramento for at least the next three years ahead of their planned move to Las Vegas.
Paul Goldschmidt hit one of four Cardinals home runs after getting dropped in the order and St. Louis knocked off the Atlanta Braves 6-2 to win the weekend series. Cardinals designated hitter Alec Burleson had two RBIs, giving him 21 in 16 games in July. He has an RBI in six straight games, which is one shy of the Cardinals record. Lars Nootbaar and Willson Contreras also hit solo home runs on Sunday. Jarred Kelenic hit a home run for the Braves.
James Wood hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer with two outs in the eighth inning, and the Washington Nationals completed a three-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds with a 5-2 victory. Wood, a 21-year-old rookie and the Nationals’ top prospect, sent a first-pitch fastball from Justin Wilson 405 feet the opposite way to left field. His second homer since his debut on July 1 gave the Nationals their fifth win in six games. The rebuilding Nationals drew even in the standings with Cincinnati, which began the second half hoping to make a playoff push. The Reds have lost four straight and fell into last place in the NL Central.
Nico Hoerner doubled and scored the tying run in the ninth inning, then walked with the bases loaded in the 10th to give the Chicago Cubs a 2-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday. Chicago entered the ninth with just one hit before Hoerner sparked the late rally as the Cubs avoided the sweep. Cubs All-Star pitcher Shota Imanaga had a career-high 10 strikeouts and gave up two hits over seven innings, including a home run to Eugenio Suárez. The Cubs prevailed after Brandon Pfaadt’s dominant day on the mound. The Arizona ace struck out seven and allowed just one hit.
Jorge Soler led off the game with the longest home run in the majors this season, a 478-foot shot to center, rookie Hayden Birdsong struck out a career-high 12 batters, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 3-2. Birdsong, making his fifth career start, didn’t allow a hit until Brendan Rodgers’ two-out, two-run homer in the fourth inning. He walked one in six innings and finished with the most strikeouts in a game for the Giants this season. Camilo Doval got the final three outs for his 18th save.
Shohei Ohtani made his 30th home run in Dodger blue a memorable one. The superstar slugger drove a cutter from Boston pitcher Kutter Crawford 473 feet over the bleachers at Dodger Stadium during the fifth inning of Sunday’s game against the Red Sox. According to fans in the area, the ball sailed between the pavilion roof and an advertisement sign in right-center field, but it cleared the concourse and landed on the walkway in the ballpark plaza. Ohtani just missed becoming the second Dodgers player and sixth overall to clear the pavilion roof and hit a ball out of Dodger Stadium, which opened in 1962. Los Angeles slugger Mike Piazza did it on Sept. 21, 1997, against the Colorado Rockies.
OLYMPICS
South Sudan is the 33rd-ranked team in the FIBA world rankings, by far the lowest of any of the 12 nations that will be vying for men’s basketball gold in the Paris Olympics that start this week. The U.S. is ranked No. 1. Yet South Sudan nearly beat the Americans anyway. The every-four-years wake-up call for the U.S. Olympic team seems to have arrived. The Americans lost two exhibitions on the way to Tokyo in 2021 and then lost to France to open those Games before rallying to win gold at the aend. They are going for their fifth straight gold.
There is no panic in the U.S. women’s Olympic team. The Americans have been in this spot before. The U.S. lost to the WNBA All-Star team on Saturday night and are headed on a flight to London to continue their prep for the Paris Olympics. Breanna Stewart said it felt like deja vu and she wasn’t wrong. The 2021 Olympic team also lost to the WNBA All-Star team in a tune-up to the Tokyo Games. They went on to cruise to a seventh consecutive gold medal in Tokyo that year. Just like in the 2021 exhibition game, the Americans had no answer for Arike Ogunbowale.
NASCAR
Kyle Larson made a late charge through the field, managed to get his car refired after a red flag and won the final two restart battles Sunday before coasting to his first Brickyard 400 victory under caution. Larson took the lead when Brad Keselowski ran out of fuel and pulled off the track just before the second-to-last restart and beat pole winner Tyler Reddick at the end with the yellow flag out. Larson won in his first trip back to the speedway since trying to become the fifth driver to complete 1,100 miles of racing on the same May day, at Indy and Charlotte, North Carolina. Larson won for the fourth time this season and took the points lead from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott.
TOUR DE FRANCE
Tadej Pogacar had no need to attack on the final stage of the Tour de France. Defending a lead of over five minutes in Sunday’s time trial, he was set to comfortably win the race for the third time anyway. But he couldn't resist another attack. With main rival Jonas Vingegaard unable to challenge him, Pogacar celebrated his Tour victory in style with a dominant win in the time trial ending in Nice for the 17th stage win of his illustrious Tour career. The 25-year-old Slovenian rider became the first cyclist to win the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the same year since the late Marco Pantani in 1998. Pogacar previously won the Tour in 2020 and 2021.The three-week Tour de France goes by in the blink of an eye. The grueling race that ended Sunday covered around 3,500 kilometers and photojournalists had to capture hundreds of fleeting moments. Shooting the race is as much about finding a unique angle that captures the scenic and quirky side of one of the world’s most epic competitions as getting stage winners crossing the line with arms raised in victory. It’s also an endurance contest. Long days are spent snapping photos from the back of a motorcycle, or speeding ahead to find a vantage point and then racing to catch the riders.
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