Chief executive Mark Darbon says the R&A are having “ongoing dialogue” with Muirfield with a view to returning The Open Championship to the Gullane course for the first time since 2013.
Darbon also says there are “challenges” with bringing the event back to Turnberry.
Royal Lytham & St Annes will host The Open in 2028, with this year’s 154th tournament taking place at Royal Birkdale and next year’s staging at The Old Course at St Andrews.
Muirfield, a 16-times Open venue, will host this year’s Women’s Amateur Championship from 22-27 June.
“We’ve got a great ongoing dialogue with Muirfield,” Darbon said.
“There are some things we need to overcome to facilitate a modern Open Championship – the practice ground is one of those, along with a few on-course infrastructural points.”
On US President Donald Trump’s Turnberry, which hosted the last of its four Opens in 2009, Darbon commented: “We really like the golf course.
“But there are challenges around staging a modern Open – primarily road, rail and accommodation infrastructure.”
The Scottish Open has signed a deal to stay at The Renaissance Club in East Lothian until 2030, with the tournament played in the week before The Open to allow players time to adapt to seaside links courses.
After a break of 83 from Higgins in the ninth frame, O’Sullivan won two in a row, thanks to runs of 116 and 80, to hold a dominant five-frame advantage at 8-3.
Higgins won the 12th, but O’Sullivan’s break of 91 left the Englishman 9-4 in front.
But the final three frames were very dramatic. Higgins looked in control of the 14th, with O’Sullivan needing a snooker to have any chance, which he then got, although he could not capitalise.
Higgins took the 15th on a black-ball finish, with O’Sullivan then punching the table in frustration after missing a red early on in the last frame of the night.
His mood was not improved when he potted a long red but then saw the cue ball follow it into the same pocket, with that foul proving crucial as Higgins took the frame to give himself some hope.
O’Sullivan is fighting to make the Crucible quarter-finals for a 24th time and looking for an eighth world title, which would be a record in the modern era.
He was watched by former Manchester United footballer Paul Scholes during his 10-2 win over Chinese debutant He Guoqiang and, this time, UFC fighter Paddy Pimblett and Liverpool defender Milos Kerkez were in attendance.
They, along with the rest of the crowd at the Crucible, would have left thoroughly entertained.
World number two Nelly Korda saw her lead at the LPGA Chevron Championship cut to five shots despite equalling the event’s 54-hole scoring record.
After shooting two rounds of 65 on previous days, the 27-year-old American went round in 70 on Saturday to go 16 under par at Houston’s Memorial Park.
If Korda can get over the line on Sunday and win a second Chevron title in three seasons, it would take her to the top of the world rankings after the current world number one, Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul, missed the cut.
Korda got off to a fine start too, with four birdies on the opening six holes but failed to break par on any more holes as she lacked precision on the greens.
“The front nine was great,” said Korda, who said she was going to spend time on the putting greens before Sunday’s final round of the first women’s major of 2026.
“Just got to reset and hopefully it goes my way tomorrow,” she added.
Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit hit a 69 so was able to claw back a shot and reduce Korda’s overnight six-stroke lead to five, despite a bogey on the 13th – her first of the tournament.
She sits on 11 under heading into the final day.
Pauline Bouchard of France is a further shot behind, alongside China’s Yin Ruoning, who scored a bogey-free 66, the joint-best round of the day.
Korda’s 54-hole score of 200 put her level with record holder Jennifer Kupcho, who was the third-round leader on 200 in 2022 – she went on to win by two strokes.
In a truly remarkable story of hard work, endurance, talent and dedication, the pair are still at the top of the sport three decades later and will go head-to-head in the last 16 on Saturday.
Thirty years on from that first memorable Crucible meeting, O’Sullivan has seven world titles, Higgins has four, both having long cemented their positions as two of the greatest players the sport has ever seen.
“We deserve a great pat on the back,” added Higgins, who admitted he never thought he would still be playing so well at this age.
Higgins and O’Sullivan are both now 50, while they are joined in the last 16 by the third member of snooker’s fabled ‘Class of 92’, with 51-year-old Mark Williams still in contention for a fourth title.
O’Sullivan holds the record for being the oldest world champion after his most recent success four years ago, aged 46, but that could be beaten in the next week and a half.
After that first World Championship meeting in 1996, Higgins beat O’Sullivan 17-9 in the 1998 semi-finals on his way to his first title, before the Rocket got his revenge, winning 18-14 in the 2001 final for his first success.
Higgins then gained 13-9 and 13-10 wins in the quarter-finals of 2007 and 2011 respectively, before O’Sullivan won their most recent Crucible tie, 17-11 in the 2022 semi-finals.
They have played six times at the famous Sheffield theatre, with three wins apiece.
Shaun Murphy produced a superb performance to thrash China’s Xiao Guodong 13-3 and become the first player into the 2026 World Championship quarter-finals.
Murphy, a champion at the Crucible in 2005 and runner-up in 2009, 2015 and 2021, led 6-2 overnight against China’s world number nine Xiao Guodong, before winning seven of the eight frames in Friday’s first session.
It meant the 43-year-old eighth seed won his match with a session to spare.
Murphy made breaks of 93, 66, 103, 69, 115 and 103 in Friday’s session to set up a last-eight tie against the winner of the all-Chinese match between reigning world champion Zhao Xintong and Ding Junhui, with the quarter-final beginning on Tuesday and finishing on Wednesday.
“I’m really pleased with how I played. I’m delighted,” said Murphy. “It does not happen often that you win with a session to spare, because everyone is so good.
“I would not say I’m desperate to win another World Championship, but it is close.
“It’s 21 years since that clueless 22-year-old came here and nicked the trophy from everyone. Since then I’ve been trying my hardest to get the trophy again. It’s not been through the lack of trying.”
Murphy last reached the quarter-final stage in 2021, when he went on to the final and lost to Mark Selby, and said he still feels he can improve.
“I’m loving the game, loving practice and still think I can get better,” said Murphy. “The best days are still ahead of me.”
Former New Zealand all-rounder Doug Bracewell has admitted using cocaine after the first day of Essex’s final County Championship match last year.
Bracewell returned the positive test on 25 September – the second day of the match against Somerset at Chelmsford.
He was notified by the Cricket Regulator in November and responded on 8 December, confirming he had used cocaine after the first day of the fixture, into the early hours of the following morning.
Bracewell, who signed for Essex for the final three Championship matches of the season, opened the bowling on day one, claiming two wickets as Somerset moved to 339-6. He was not required to bat on day two and Essex eventually won the match by seven wickets.
After being notified of the positive test, Bracewell then retired from cricket on 28 December. The Regulator has still issued him with a two-year ban.
Part of a famous New Zealand cricketing family – his uncle John Bracewell played 28 Tests and cousin Michael is a current Black Cap – Doug played 69 international matches across formats.
He also previously served a one-month ban for cocaine use in 2024.
Bracewell has accepted the sanction, while Essex will not face punishment.
“Essex can confirm that Doug Bracewell failed a routine drugs test in September 2025,” said a club statement.
“The club supports the Cricket Regulator’s decision to impose a period of ineligibility of two years. All employees are required to meet the highest standards of professional conduct.
“While the club does not condone Bracewell’s behaviour, we are committed to supporting him through rehabilitation in line with our policies and procedures.”
In the first of the last-16 matches, 2005 winner Shaun Murphy moved into a dominant 6-2 lead over China’s Xiao Guodong.
Murphy scraped through 10-9 against Fan Zhengyi in the first round, calling his match-winning break of 50 in the decider the best break he had ever made at the Crucible after he had trailed 53-17.
But the 43-year-old Englishman found this session to be calmer as he made breaks of 79, 103, 63 and 64 to go 5-0 ahead.
World number nine Xiao took the next two frames, but Murphy ended the session well and took the last with a run of 61 to have a four-frame lead in the first-to-13 match.
That match resumes on Friday at 10:00 BST and Murphy could win it with a session to spare if he wins seven of the eight frames in that session. The third session, if needed, will take place from 19:00.
Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen holds a 5-3 lead against England’s Kyren Wilson, the 2024 champion.
Two-time semi-finalist Allen made breaks of 50 and 78 to race into a 5-0 lead, but Wilson won the last three frames of the session, helped by runs of 75 and 50.
The second session is on Friday from 14:30, before it is played to a finish on Saturday morning.
Ireland’s Nations Championship fixture against Japan will take place at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle, Australia on 11 July (11:00 BST).
Andy Farrell’s side open the inaugural tournament against Australia in Sydney on 4 July and will face the Brave Blossoms before travelling to New Zealand to take on the All Blacks at Auckland’s Eden Park on 18 July.
Ireland have won 10 out of 11 Tests with Japan, the sole defeat coming at the 2019 Rugby World Cup at Shizuoka Stadium. Ireland won the last meeting 41-10 in Dublin last November.
After July’s fixtures, Ireland will host Argentina, Fiji and South Africa in November at Aviva Stadium.
The biennial 12-team Nations Championship comprises six rounds of matches across the summer and autumn Test windows before a ‘finals weekend’ on 27-29 November at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.
After each team has played the other six from the opposing hemisphere once, they are ranked within their own hemisphere.
The finals weekend in London will start with the sixth-placed northern hemisphere side taking on their southern hemisphere equivalent, and culminate in the two group winners taking each other on for the title.
The results on the finals weekend will also contribute to a north v south overall score and title.
When Don Robertson’s whistle peeped – it could just about be heard through the celebratory chants of the 3,000+ strong travelling support – Valakari let it all out.
The energetic manager was emotional, ecstatic and a little bit exhausted as he immersed himself in the post-match scenes.
The supporters were chanting his name from the 80th minute onwards and a few of his players lifted him up like they will do with the Championship trophy on Friday night after playing Raith Rovers – live on BBC Scotland.
He has masterminded what Williams calls “the most enjoyable season going and watching Saints since Tommy Wright was there”.
Wright, of course, oversaw the landmark 2014 Scottish Cup win during his impressive seven-year stint.
By no means does Williams’ sentiment diminish the cup double achieved under Wright’s successor Callum Davidson, but this has been a league campaign built on utter consistency – while the first 10 games were “totally brilliant”.
“It’s been nice to have that feeling back, but I think the novelty would wear off after one season,” he added, not wanting to get too familiar with the second tier.
Thankfully for those of a Perthshire-Saints persuasion, they can put their notifications for the Premiership back on. In two games time, their full attention will be back on the top flight.
How do they reckon they’ll fare once there, though?
“We’re in a decent place, better than we were last time,” Williams said.
“There’ll be a lot of guys maybe looking for more opportunities elsewhere next season, but hopefully the core of the squad can stay as it’d be good to see them have a crack at the Premiership because they’ve done us really well this season.”
That they have. Now they get to party just as hard too…
Vafaei beat Barry Hawkins in the first round at the Crucible last year before losing 13-10 to Mark Williams.
An injury wrecked the start of this season but an intensive physio programme got him back playing, although he then had a poor run of results following his return.
“With my injury, I took two or three months [out] and after that I lost my form,” he added. “It was a shoulder problem, it was hurting my fingers and all the nerves on my left side.
“It was tough to get back my form and to find something and the struggles started from there.
“I’m under lots of pressure. I’m not having a good season. A lot of people have been like ‘where is he? what’s he doing?’. They’re thinking I’ve stopped playing snooker.
“I’ve had a tough year mentally, personally, and everything.”
But there has been some encouragement on the table as before his success at qualifying, he beat Williams and Zhang Anda to reach the quarter-finals of last month’s World Open where he was beaten by Trump.
However, he said news from back home meant he was often not focused on snooker.
“You get a bad text in the day and you can’t focus on your job. How can I focus?” said Vafaei.
“No-one knows how tough it is but hopefully it will be over soon, then the safety comes back to my country.”
World number one Judd Trump recovered from a slow start to defeat Gary Wilson in their first-round match.
Trump, the 2019 champion, lost four of the first five frames as Wilson, ranked 27th, moved into a 4-1 lead.
But Trump then claimed the final four frames of the session, including superb breaks of 128 and 77, to hold a 5-4 advantage.
However, Wilson, a three-time ranking event winner, made the highest break of the session with a superb 139 clearance in frame five.
In the second session later on Tuesday, Wilson made a break of 58 to make it 5-5, but Trump pulled clear by winning five in a row to seal a 10-5 success.
Trump, 36, has been top of the world rankings since August 2024 and will extend that run if he reaches the quarter-finals.
“I like being number one, it’s going to be difficult to keep it unless I do really well in the next season but I take a lot of pride in it,” he said.
Trump lives in Dubai but, because of the recent conflict in the Middle East, he left the area temporarily.
“I had to stay in Thailand for a month, and I managed to practice for the World Championship, but it has been more back to normal now,” he said.
“Dubai is still my base, I’ve been back there in the last couple of weeks and everything is normal.”
A downbeat Wilson, speaking to BBC Four, said: “It’s just constant disappointment. I am, and always have been since the age of 13, a better player than this.
“It’s a constant struggle. The yips are getting worse and I’m just riding through it.”
Ulster continue to count the cost of Friday’s 29-21 defeat by Leinster in the United Rugby Championship [URC] with six players added to the injury list for this Saturday’s trip to face Munster at Thomond Park [17:30 BST].
Angus Bell (foot), Scott Wilson (ankle), Tom O’Toole (hand), James Hume (neck), Jude Postlethwaite (hand) and Bryn Ward (shoulder) have all been ruled out after picking up injuries against Leo Cullen’s side.
They join a list of unavilable players that already includes Nick Timoney (hip), James McNabney (knee), Rob Herring (calf), Robert Baloucoune (elbow), Rory McGuire (shoulder) and Stewart Moore (knee).
Ulster dropped to fifth in the URC standings following last week’s defeat, one point above Munster as the season enters its final three rounds of games before the play-offs.
“Not winning at home was a big moment for us, but then add the guys who have picked up knocks,” Ulster coach Richie Murphy told BBC Sport NI.
“There will be a bit of pressure on our squad depth this week, but that’s exciting as well with everyone wanting to put their hand up for what is ahead.
“It’s going to be interesting, not going to be easy, but it is an exciting couple of weeks ahead.”
Murphy’s side have a home European Challenge Cup semi-final against Exeter Chiefs to look forward to on Saturday, 2 May as they seek to end their 20-year wait for silverware and while there is “no timeline” but feels some have a “really good chance of playing next week”.
One player who may feature this week is Michael Lowry who has returned to full training and his availability for the trip to Limerick will be assessed throughout the week.
“Mikey has had a really tough run over the last while and at the start of the season, we played some of our best rugby with him in the team,” Murphy continued.
“He played for Ireland ‘A’ against Spain and picked up an injury. From that moment, he’s struggled for fitness, but was flying around in training today and a great addition to our squad for the next few weeks.”
One of the most striking elements of Cardiff’s success this season has been the development of their young players.
Barry-Murphy signalled his intent in the first game of the season against Peterborough, naming the youngest Cardiff starting line-up for a league fixture this century.
His faith in the academy graduates has been repaid handsomely, with Dylan Lawlor, Cian Ashford, Joel Colwill, Isaak Davies and Ronan Kpakio all catching the eye at different points this season.
Playing in League One has benefited them enormously – as if they have dropped down a division to spend a season on loan together at a lower level.
What remains to be seen is how they deal with the Championship.
It is also easy to forget that vice-captain Rubin Colwill is still only 23. Having burst on to the scene as a teenager, the Wales attacking midfielder has come of age this season.
“It’s been an unbelievable season for everyone involved,” Colwill said.
“A lot of the young lads have had really good seasons, and obviously getting promoted for everyone is amazing. It’s been a pleasure to be a part of it.”
Centre-back Lawlor has arguably had the biggest impact of those fledgling talents this season, making his Wales debut and looking remarkably assured over the course of his five caps to date.
The 20-year-old has been linked with a move away – with German giants Bayern Munich among the clubs reportedly interested – and Cardiff will do well to keep him this summer.
But Barry-Murphy has shown how well he can work with young players, not only in the Welsh capital but during his time in charge of Manchester City’s Under-21s, where he nurtured the likes of Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers.
Crucially, Cardiff will be protected financially should big clubs come calling for Lawlor, who signed a three-year contract extension last August to keep him at the club until 2028.
Alex Higgins and baby daughter Lauren in 1982. Dennis Taylor wagging his finger in ’85. Ronnie O’Sullivan’s five-minute maximum. White the exasperated nearly man. The dominant Davis and Stephen Hendry decades.
Rob Maul covers snooker for the Sun and Shane McDermott has been a mainstay of the media room for the Mirror.
As Maul says: “You can’t ignore the history. It’s a pilgrimage I’ve done since 2018 and I feel honoured to do it, but there are people in that building who have done it for decades and decades and decades.
“That’s the unique thing about snooker: they’ve kept the Hendrys in the sport, and they’re still working. John Parrott’s commentating. And that legacy is something you don’t throw away lightly.
“When you walk around the city, you see Steve Davis, and Jimmy White will come by if he’s working. And so much has changed in other sports, but snooker’s fundamentally the same game that these legends were playing.”
McDermott says: “You see the same faces year on year, people who have been coming every year since 1977. Sadly some of them are coming less and less because of age.
“I can remember after matches perhaps nipping out of the press room for a minute and bumping into John Virgo as he left the commentary box. You’d have a little nod and say hello. That’s one thing everyone will miss this year.”
Faces in the crowd, faces in the commentary box, faces at the table. Here one year, gone the next.
In recent times, snooker has lost Virgo,Ray Reardon,Willie Thorne and Terry Griffiths, among others. Broadcaster and journalist Clive Everton and Bafta-nominated former BBC snooker executive producer Nick Hunter have left us too.
The booming voice and laughter of Thorne, the gentle humour of Griffiths, the wisdom of Everton, the dry wit of Virgo.
They were part of the fixtures and fittings.
And in their own particular ways, they each played a telling role in the Crucible becoming what it was never built to be: snooker’s home.
Yet if you ask Palou, he’ll tell you he’s going into Saturday’s qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Long Beach needing to prove himself all over again.
“Who cares about what we did last year?” he said. “It’s cool to have four championships, but the only important year is 2026. Everybody started with zero points on the board and we need to do it all over again.”
That’s far easier said than done, although Palou is off to a fast start in his quest for a fifth championship having won two of the first four races on the IndyCar schedule to stand second in the driver standings, two points behind defending Long Beach champion Kyle Kirkwood.
“Last year was magical,” said Palou, who has captured 10 of the last 21 checkered flags, dating to 2024. “As an athlete you always want to keep on improving, but I need to be realistic and understand that to win eight races in IndyCar in the same year, it’s pretty tough to beat.
“So although I want to achieve that, we just need to take 2026 separately and just try our best, try to win as many races as possible and then obviously fight for the [Indy] 500 and the championship.”
Winning Long Beach, one of the few prizes on the IndyCar circuit that has eluded him, would be a big step in that drive for five. But that won’t be easy since passing on the tight 1.968-mile street course, with its 11 turns, is difficult. That makes track position important, putting a premium on Saturday’s qualifying and on pit stops in Sunday’s race.
“It’s always super tough to be competitive there,” Palou said of Long Beach, where he finished second last April, giving him three straight podium finishes. “One of the only bad things about street racing [is] that it’s really tough for us to overtake with how tight the tracks are and all the bumps.
“It just makes it super challenging.”
Alex Palou competes during the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Florida on March 1.
(David Jensen / Getty Images)
Not as challenging as the race Palou, the most successful Spanish driver in IndyCar history, had to run just to get into a race car.
As a boy growing up in the tiny Catalan village of Sant Antoni de Vilamajor, Palou started kart racing about the same time he started grade school. He was 15 when he finished second in the 2012 European karting championship yet he didn’t see much of a future beyond that.
Lewis Hamilton had finished in the same spot 13 years earlier, then went on to become the most successful Formula One driver in history. But England has a long-established history with open-wheel racing and Spain did not.
“He came from nothing, showing up at a carting track and then having these big dreams and aspirations. And here he is,” said Barry Wanser, the senior manager of IndyCar operations for Chip Ganassi Racing.
“I know he’s very proud he’s the first Spaniard to win the Indianapolis 500. That’s just absolutely incredible.”
But that was never the goal.
“Honestly,” Palou said, “my goal was just to have fun. When we started, I never wanted to be a race car driver for a living. I never thought that it would be possible.”
Before Palou, Fernando Alonso, a two-time F1 champion, was Spain’s most successful open-wheel driver. After Alonso is Carlos Sainz Jr., who has won four F1 races; Pedro de la Rosa, who made more than 100 F1 starts but climbed the podium just once; and Oriol Servià, who ran 79 IndyCar races in nine years but never placed higher than fourth before retiring in 2019, one year before Palou made his debut in the series.
Aside from Alonso, those drivers were good but not great, leaving the road from Spain to success in open-wheel racing a narrow one. That’s a path Palou is now widening.
“I would say that for sure it’s helping future generations that I’m here and that I had success,” he said, “just because they can know that with a normal European background you can come to the U.S. and fight for wins and championships.”
Alex Palou celebrates after winning the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 1.
(David Jensen / Getty Images)
Wanser said what makes Palou so good is his feel for both the car and the track and his ability to communicate with his team.
“He has a very unique ability to understand what he needs the car to do to maximize performance on the tires,” said Wanser, the race strategist for Ganassi’s No. 10 car who has sometimes been called Palou’s indispensable partner. “You’re talking about road courses, street courses, for the primary [tires] — the hards and the softs — and understanding what he needs for qualifying and also what the car needs for reducing tire deg[redation] during the race.”
For now Palou, who turned 29 earlier this month, appears content with mastering those skills in IndyCar rather that following the natural progression into an F1 ride.
He said he went “all in” to win an F1 seat following his first IndyCar title in 2021, but doubts about whether he’d be given a competitive car led him to back out. Rumors linking him to Red Bull’s F1 team surfaced after last year’s Indy 500, but Palou shot those down too, saying he was staying with Ganassi.
Wanser, obviously, is happy with that decision and hopes it will pay off Sunday in Long Beach.
“Alex is very young, right?” he said. “IndyCar is so competitive that we could never, ever think about being complacent. If we start heading down that road, we will get beat and get beat often.
“It’s nonstop trying to constantly improve, knowing every weekend we show up to the racetrack it’s going to be difficult to win.”
When Southampton lost 2-1 at home to Hull on 17 January, they were marooned in 15th, winless in seven and four points behind Leicester City.
Relegation was only six points beneath them and the play-offs a distant 10 points off, as questions were raised about whether Tonda Eckert was really the man to take the team forward.
Three months on, Saints have not lost since and their run of 12 wins and three draws has propelled them up the table, while there is an FA Cup semi-final with Manchester City at Wembley on the calendar on Saturday, 25 April.
No question, they are the in-form team and with a match to come against Ipswich at home, people are no longer wondering if they will make the play-offs but instead if they could carry all this form into that second promotion spot.
“If Southampton are to go and get second, this would be one of the greatest stories ever in the EFL,” said McAnuff.
“They were down and out. Watching them as a group, they were gone.
“Now they’re still an outsider to get in the top two because of where they’ve come from, so they can attack every single game with freedom. That makes them dangerous.”
Having risen up the league and knocked Premier League pair Fulham and Arsenal out of the cup, confidence is flowing at St Mary’s.
Head coach Eckert has been able to tinker with his side in recent games, but his foot remains firmly on the accelerator.
“It sounds boring because I keep repeating myself but we need to keep our heads down and keep working. It’s the only way,” said the German.
“This squad is in a moment and a place where you can put on whoever you want to put on and they’re ready and well able to perform. That’s a big plus for us at this part of the season.
“That’s all it comes down to at this stage of the season. When you step on the grass you need to be ready to perform.”
Seven-time winner Ronnie O’Sullivan will begin his bid for a record-breaking eighth World Snooker Championship title with a match against China’s debutant He Guoqiang at the Crucible.
O’Sullivan, 50, will start his first-round tie at the Sheffield theatre on Tuesday and conclude the match on Wednesday.
Sixteen players came through qualifying this week at the English Institute of Sport and will join the world’s top 16 ranked players at the tournament.
He, ranked 47th in the world, qualified for the Crucible for the first time with a win over England’s Jack Lisowski on Wednesday.
Zhao Xintong became the first Chinese player to clinch the world title when he won the 2025 event and will be involved in the first session of the tournament on Saturday (10:00 BST).
He will face England’s Liam Highfield, who advanced through four qualifying rounds.
The draw was made on BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast on Thursday.
Elsewhere, world number one Judd Trump will take on Gary Wilson and Masters champion Kyren Wilson will be up against 19-year-old debutant Stan Moody.
Four-time champion John Higgins will take on two-time runner-up Ali Carter, while Mark Selby, also with four Crucible titles, faces 2024 runner-up Jak Jones.
O’Sullivan and Stephen Hendry both have the most world titles in the modern era with seven apiece, with O’Sullivan winning his first one 25 years ago, in 2001.
The 17-day competition begins on Saturday, with the final starting on Sunday, 3 May and concluding the next day – with full coverage of the tournament live on the BBC.
The Crucible has staged the World Championship yearly since 1977 and last month it was announced it would remain there until 2045, with the venue set to be redeveloped to add up to 500 additional seats.
The Dodgers are too good, and too rich. If the owners of other major league teams ultimately deem that combination so objectionable that they shut down the sport this winter because of it, they will risk a rupture in one of the greatest fan bases in American sports history.
The four million tickets the Dodgers sold last season tells one part of the story. Here is an arguably better one: For decades, the Dodgers and Lakers have dominated Los Angeles sports and left every other team far behind in popularity.
For now, after back-to-back World Series championships, the Dodgers have left even the Lakers far behind in popularity, and every other team in town even further behind.
In a Loyola Marymount survey asking Los Angeles County residents to identify their favorite among the 12 pro sports teams within the local media market, nearly half picked the Dodgers.
The Dodgers’ lead over the Lakers — 43% to 28% — represented the largest gap between the teams in the nine editions of the survey, first conducted in 2014 by the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles.
The Rams ranked third, at 7%, followed by the Kings at 5% and the Angels at 4%.
The two women’s teams — Angel City FC and the Sparks — tied for last, each with less than 1% of the vote. Even when the study separated votes by gender, the two women’s teams got less than 1% of the vote from women.
As recently as 2018, five teams beyond the Dodgers and Lakers — the Angels, Clippers, Galaxy, Kings and Rams — attracted at least 4% of the vote. In this year’s survey, only the Rams did.
“I’m a big Rams fan,” said Fernando Guerra, the center’s director, “and I still put the Dodgers first.
“I love all these teams. But, when you have to choose one, it’s the Dodgers.”
Dodgers president Stan Kasten pointed to the popularity and excellence of the players, the cherished ballpark and the generational fan support as factors contributing to the top ranking.
“If you have a lot of good elements but you don’t win, you’re not going to be as high,” Kasten said. “And, if you win but you don’t have the other elements, you’re not going to be as high.
“I think, right now, we’re as close as you can be to clicking on all cylinders.”
In 2018, Ohtani’s debut season with the Angels, 8% of fans that identified themselves as Asian picked the Angels as their favorite team and 34% picked the Dodgers — a terrific showing for the Angels, since the study polls residents in L.A. County, not Orange County.
That demographic this year: 4% picked the Angels, 47% picked the Dodgers.
In their 10 years since returning to Los Angeles, the Rams have made seven playoff appearances and two Super Bowl appearances, winning one. All that, and a half-century in their previous run in L.A., and their membership in the most popular sports league in America, and the best they could do was 7%.
“It’s just tough to break the Lakers’ and Dodgers’ hold,” Guerra said. “It’s not like we don’t love the Rams or the others. It’s just not your top priority.”
The Lakers and Dodgers have combined to win 20 championships in Los Angeles. The other 10 teams that call this market home have combined to win 16.
In the 13 seasons since Mark Walter and Co. bought the Dodgers, the team has won 12 division titles, made five World Series appearances, and won three championships. In the same time, the Lakers have won three division titles, advanced past the first round of the playoffs twice, and won one championship.
Walter bought a controlling interest in the Lakers last year. He has installed Lon Rosen, formerly the Dodgers’ executive vice president and chief marketing officer, as the Lakers’ president of business operations.
“When the Lakers are winning a lot of championships, they’re No. 1,” Rosen said. “When the Dodgers are, they’re No. 1.
“It’s a good position to be in, since we control both teams, and both teams are highly successful.”
In this moment, the Dodgers are highly successful.
“The Lakers and Dodgers are going to be neck and neck very soon,” Rosen said. “The Lakers will 100% be champions again soon.”
The Dodgers do not concede the days of neck and neck will return. Kasten, remember, said the Dodgers were as close as they could be to clicking on all cylinders.
“We don’t take that for granted,” he said. “We know we can do even better.”
