Clark

The Caitlin Clark–Angel Reese connection has been strong during the women’s FIBA World Cup.

The college rivals turned teammates on the U.S. national team showed off their growing chemistry in Team USA’s blowout victory against Hungary on Thursday in Berlin. The Americans knocked out their quarterfinal opponents 108-56, notching the team’s 34th consecutive win in World Cup play since 2006.

“We’ve played against each other so many times, so I’m sure we know each other’s game like the back of each other’s hand,” Reese said when asked after the game about playing with Clark. “Just easily dishing it off to her. She dishes it off to me. She knows my spots. I got one to her today, maybe two. So it’s fun. We just continue to build chemistry because we know we’re gonna be USA teammates for a while.”

The strength of Clark and Reese’s two-person game was on full display Thursday. Clark assisted on six of Reese’s nine points, and Reese returned the favor during the third quarter. After securing a steal, she hit Clark for an easy transition layup.

Reese ended the game with nine points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Clark finished just shy of a double-double with 10 points, nine assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Clark also has complimented Reese as a competitor and teammate during the tournament.

“We’re both fiery, fiery competitors and we want to win and it’s one of the things I really admire about her game,” Clark told the Associated Press in an interview published Wednesday. “She’s competitive and she has a tremendous motor; like, she has one of the best motors in the league. She works just as hard as anybody on the court. So, it’s been fun to to be able to play with her.”

Clark, who set records at Iowa, and Reese, who won an NCAA championship at Louisiana State, have been household names since their college matchups. Thanks to their intensely loyal — and often vocal — fan bases, that rivalry has been carried into their WNBA careers, where every matchup and interaction invites heightened scrutiny, especially online.

Clark told the AP that many of these stories about her and Reese’s relationship are “false takes.”

“No matter what, there’s always going to be people that create those narratives and say whatever they want to say,” Clark said. “There’s definitely no stopping that and they’re always going to be there.”

Reese and Clark are among Team USA’s young core, dubbed the “young and turnt” crew by teammate Paige Bueckers during training camp in December. The World Cup marks the first major international competition for six of those players: Bueckers, Clark, Reese, Aliyah Boston, Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen.

Team USA is set to play Spain in the semifinals on Saturday.

A pair of top executives are out at Good Good Golf less than two weeks after the content creator and apparel brand posted, then deleted, an ad that has been highly criticized for making light of violence toward women.

Good Good chief executive officer Matt Kendrick and president Joe Flannery have left the company, multiple media outlets reported Wednesday. Business Insider published an internal staff memo from chief operating officer Alex Puchala that announced the departures without mentioning the controversial ad for the Good Good Callaway Quantum Driver.

Kendrick was one of the co-founders of the company, which started as a YouTube channel in 2020, and has since become one of golf’s biggest content creators. He told Front Office Sports late last month that he did not see the video before it was posted and added that he wasn’t in the practice of approving every one of the company’s social media posts.

Flannery was a recent hire whose first day on the job was Aug. 21, the same day the ad dropped.

“Effective today, Matt has decided to step down as CEO of Good Good and Joe has chosen to part ways as well,” Puchala wrote. “This is a difficult day for the entire Good Good family. Matt helped build something extraordinary that exceeded all expectations and continues to bring countless new fans to the sport. What began as a small group of friends playing golf is now a growing global community.”

Company co-founder Nahid Giga will serve as interim CEO, Puchala wrote. Neither Puchala nor Good Good immediately responded to requests for comment.

The ad depicted a man, played by Good Good co-founder Garrett Clark, shoving a woman to the ground as she reaches for one of his golf clubs. “Do not touch my new driver,” he says as he stands over her. Clark remains with the company as part of the creator team, according to Puchala’s memo.

Both Good Good and Callaway issued apologies for the ad in the days following its deletion. Clark also posted a lengthy video on social media in which he apologized for “the worst ad known to man.”

“This is not at all what we stand for,” Clark said. “… I want everyone to know that I do not support [domestic violence], abuse or any of that of any kind.”

On Aug. 27, Callaway announced it had cut ties with Good Good after a three-year business relationship and committed $1 million “to support organizations working to prevent violence against women, provide resources to survivors, and advance education and awareness efforts.”

The next day, Kendrick criticized Callaway in a post on his X account.

“Interesting that @CallawayGolf asks us to make an ad then approves it then asks us to take the fall then drops us in a coordinated media blitz and covers it up by giving a million dollars away thinking everyone will be ok with it,” Kendrick wrote.

He took a much more reserved approach related to the split with Callaway when talking to Front Office Sports the same day.

“They severed ties with us. We completely understand that position and this is a situation no one wants to be in,” Kendrick said. “And we apologize to everyone for being in this position, and I apologize to Callaway that all of us are here. I understand everyone’s position and I get it.

“We loved being with Callaway for a long time. They were nothing but great to us the entire time we were together. I just hate that this is how it ended.”