Night time celebrations filled the air as Iraqis observed the start of a four-day holiday to mark the withdrawal of US troops and international forces after more than a decade in the country fighting ISIL.
Published On 1 Oct 20261 Oct 2026
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The United States completed a thrilling comeback on the final day to beat the Internationals and win an 11th successive Presidents Cup.
The hosts, containing eight of the world’s 11 top-ranked players, trailed by three points going into Sunday and were looking to avoid just a second defeat since the biennial competition began 32 years ago.
They dominated the singles, winning nine of the 12 matches, to seal a 17-13 win at Medinah – the scene of Team Europe’s famous Ryder Cup comeback win in 2012.
Jacob Bridgeman secured the decisive point by holing a four-foot par putt at the 18th to seal a one-up win over Australia’s Min Woo Lee.
There were also wins for Cameron Young, Justin Thomas, Scottie Scheffler, Chris Gotterup, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Jackson Koivun.
“I told the guys last night that funny stuff happens here. Medinah’s got a history of funny things happening,” said US captain Brandt Snedeker, who was a member of the team beaten by Europe in 2012.
“All these guys fought for each other, fought for this country, fought for this team.”
International captain Geoff Ogilvy said: “The US team came out firing, we knew they would.
“It was on a knife edge all day. If some of those one downs we had out there had flipped to one up, the numbers looked really good and who knows what momentum that could give.”
US President Donald Trump was in attendance in his role as honorary chairman, greeting the players and making a speech before the matches got under way.
Only the Pirates and Cubs have met more often than the Dodgers and Giants, who faced off for the first time in 1889. And over all that time, the Dodgers are just two games better, with 1,294 wins to the Giants’ 1,292.
The Dodgers and Giants have also won more pennants, made more World Series appearances and have more players wearing their caps in the Hall of Fame than any other National League teams, all of which fueled a rivalry that was once among the most visceral and passionate in American sports.
But that was then and this is now.
After Sunday’s 3-1 victory over the Giants, the Dodgers’ 14th win in their last 17 games, the team could finish a season with 100 wins for the fourth time in six years. The Giants have had just one winning record in that time.
The Dodgers (96-60), who have won five straight division titles, are headed to the postseason for a record-tying 14th consecutive year. The Giants will miss the playoffs for a fifth straight season.
So is the rivalry dead? That depends on who you ask.
“It’s always a rivalry,” Giants pitcher Logan Webb. “We’d like to make it a little closer when it comes to the standings. But I definitely feel it when I throw against them.”
But then Webb, who is from Northern California, grew up with the rivalry and, as the longest-tenured Giant, pitched against the Dodgers in games that mattered. Giants coach Ron Washington, who made his major league debut with the Dodgers when the rivalry was still a thing, said many players on San Francisco’s roster don’t know that background.
“It should be a rivalry. But I don’t think the young kids we got know anything about a rivalry. They’re not history buffs.”
Webb said it’s the responsibility of the veterans on both sides to keep that history alive by explaining the enmity to the young players.
“I think there are still guys that came up in the system that know what it’s like,” he said. “It’s my job to kind of hype these guys up to play a game like this.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who played for the Dodgers and Giants during his 10-year career, agrees the rivalry now exists more in the history books than the current standings, where the Giants have been overtaken by the San Diego Padres, who will finish second to the Dodgers in the N.L. West for the fourth time in five seasons.
“It’s certainly a rivalry in the sense of the history, the fan bases,” Roberts said. “But obviously it’s about relevancy. The Padres have been successful the last handful of years, and so it’s certainly built some momentum. The geography lends itself to that too.
“But Dodgers-Giants is always fun.”
It hasn’t been so much fun for the Giants lately. San Francisco hasn’t won the season series with the Dodgers since 2021 and has lost more than 90 games this year for the first time in nine seasons.
On Sunday they went in front three batters into the game with Johan Cox working Dodger opener Jack Dreyer for a leadoff walk, then making his way around the bases on Dreyer’s throwing error, a stolen base and a one-one single by Victor Bericoto.
San Francisco would get just one more hit — a single by Jung Hoo Lee with one out in the sixth.
That allowed the Dodgers to tie the score in the bottom of the sixth on Tommy Edman’s seventh home run of the season just inside the right-field foul pole. An inning later they went ahead to stay when Max Muncy singled under a sliding Cox at second, moved to third on a single by rookie Josue De Paula and scored on Kiké Hernández’s double to center.
Josue de Paula hits a double in the fifth inning Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
A two-out single by Muncy, his second of the game, scored Teoscar Hernández, who also had two hits, in the eighth inning with the final run.
Even the slumping Freddie Freeman contributed to the Dodgers’ 11-hit attack, ending an 0-for-11 slide with a broken-bat single in the fourth then singling again in the eighth.
Sunday’s result helped clarify the Dodgers’ once-muddy playoff picture. With six games left in the regular season, the Dodgers lead Atlanta by four games in the race for the second seed in the National League playoffs, which would give them a first-round bye and the homefield advantage in the division series.
The team’s postseason roster may be getting clearer as well. Right-hander Emmet Sheehan, who made 22 starts this season, came out of the bullpen for the first time Sunday and was brilliant in his audition for the playoffs.
“If there is a role in the postseason, it will be out of the [bull]pen,” Roberts said of Sheehan, who gave up just a hit and walk, striking out nine — one off his season high — in 5 1/3 innings.
De Paula, meanwhile, whose third multihit game extended his modest hitting streak to four games, appears to have secured a job as the team’s left-handed bat off the bench while utility player Hyeseong Kim, who has spent the last four months in the minors, will rejoin the Dodgers after the triple-A playoffs and be considered for a roster spot as a pinch-runner and late-inning defensive replacement.
“My expectation is that Hyeseong will be here during the off week and potentially be a conversation for the postseason because he has the ability to run, play defense, and steal a base,” Roberts said.
After Monday’s off day, the final break of the regular season for the Dodgers, the team is expected to activate Andy Pages, Roki Sasaki and Shohei Ohtani from the injured list during its three-game series with the Padres.
“We’ll get Andy back on Tuesday, which will be great, and then shortly thereafter we’ll get Shohei back. So yeah, things are starting to come together,” Roberts said. “We’re in a good spot.”
Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy praises Brighton’s “incredible” performance in their 3-0 win over Arsenal, predicting they will cause problems for Premier League teams this season.
MATCH REPORT: Premier League – Brighton & Hove Albion 3-0 Arsenal
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The Americans won both the 100m and 200m at the Ultimate Championship that saw elite athletes win $150,000 each.
Americans Kenneth Bednarek and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden have claimed the sprint double to close off an action-packed weekend in Budapest that saw elite track and field athletes crowned inaugural Ultimate Champions and pocket $150,000 in prize money.
Bednarek stormed to victory in a 19.52s world lead – the season’s best performance globally – ahead of Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana (19.76s) and American Courtney Lindsey (19.79s) as Jamaican sprint legend and Ultimate Champion ambassador Usain Bolt gave his nod of approval from the stands on Sunday.
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A day earlier, Bednarek finally emerged from the shadow of compatriot sprinter Noah Lyles to claim the 100m crown in 9.85s and edge out world champion Oblique Seville of Jamaica (9.90s) and USA’s Ronnie Baker (9.93s).
It was a repeat of the Tokyo World Championship double for Jefferson-Wooden, whose 21.47s world lead time made her the third-fastest woman in 200m history as she eased past compatriots Gabrielle Thomas, the Olympic champion (21.77s) and Kayla White (21.93s).
In the 100m, Jefferson-Wooden’s time of 10.62s held off Olympic champion Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia (10.74s) and compatriot Sha’Carri Richardson (10.76s), who clinched her world title in the same stadium three years ago.
Earlier on Sunday, Jasmine Jones opened the final day of competition with a shakeup in the women’s 400m hurdles.
The American clocked 52.45s to edge out Slovakia’s Emma Zapletalova (52.68s) and compatriot, world leader, and favourite Anna Cockrell (53.09s), who settled for third after an almost unbeaten season. Teammate Dalilah Muhammad graciously retired from track and field with a fourth-place season’s best of 53.11s.
Reigning javelin king Rumesh Pathirage launched a monstrous 91.09m final throw for the win to continue his unbeaten streak this season.
The Sri Lankan’s throw proved too much for Grenada’s Anderson Peters (86.18m) and third-place Julian Weber of Germany (85.89m), while world champion Keshorn Walcott was disappointed with yet another fourth-place finish (82.41m).
Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi literally soared to new heights with a 2.37m clearance that amazed the crowd – and himself – well after USA’s JuVaughn Harrison jumped 2.30m for second in the men’s high jump and Mexico’s Erick Portillo cleared 2.26m for third.
Josh Kerr of Great Britain kept the 1500m win predictable (3:29.35) after Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati (1:41.91) flipped the script on 800m world and Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi (1:42.44), who settled for third behind Canada’s Marco Arop (1:42.28) in a stunning finish.
Ethiopia’s Likina Amebaw dominated to claim the women’s 5,000m (14:30.36) while Saly Sarr of Senegal (15.06m) stole the triple jump spotlight from world leader Thea Lafond (14.47m) after the Dominican failed to perform in the Hungarian capital.
Crowd favourite Mondo Duplantis opened the show on Friday with a casual 6.20m jump to reign supreme in the men’s pole vault, although close friend and rival Emmanouil Karalis of Greece continued to close the gap between world number one and two with 6.15m for second.
Over on the women’s side, it was an emotional win for USA’s Sandi Morris when she cleared 4.90m for her first global outdoor title.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen shifted gears to dominate the men’s 5,000m in a comeback like never before (12:59.24), leaving USA’s Cole Hocker (13:00.05) and Parker Wolfe (13:00.13) in his trail.
The Americans predictably dominated the hurdles as Masai Russell clocked 12.22s in the women’s 100m hurdles to cap off an unbeaten season while Diamond League champion Ja’Kobe Tharp dazzled with 12.94s in the men’s 110m hurdles.
Other predictable wins came from Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou in the men’s long jump (8.35m), Switzerland’s Audrey Werro in the women’s 800m (1:55.88), Brazil’s Alison dos Santos in the men’s 400m hurdles (45.98s), Dominican Marileidy Paulino in the women’s 400m (49.07s) and male counterpart Collen Kebinatshipi with a 43.39s Botswana national record.
A cozy, unbothered Yaroslava Mahuchikh rested in her sleeping bag in between jumps that saw her add another high jump title to her collection at 1.99m ahead of Nicola Olyslagers of Australia.
Meanwhile, the women’s javelin saw a clash of old and new as Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi set a national record (68.92m) en route to reclaiming the throne, while Chinese teen sensation Yan Ziyi retired hurt but claimed her first silver of the season with 68.05m.
Larissa Iapichino of Italy claimed the long jump crown (6.90m) just hours after her grandmother died, while Germany’s Merlin Hummel claimed a shock win in the men’s hammer throw after world and Olympic champion Ethan Katzberg simply could not perform on the day.
Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry – Fourth Test
South Africa (17) 43
Tries: de Allende (2), van den Berg, PS du Toit, Arendse, Hanekom Cons: Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2), van den Berg, Libbok (2) Pens: Feinberg-Mngomezulu
New Zealand (14) 28
Tries: Taylor, Jordan, Blackadder, B Barrett Cons: McKenzie (4)
South Africa completed a 3-1 series win over New Zealand as the world champions’ consistency, power and cohesion once again proved too much in the fourth Test in Baltimore.
After victory in the series opener in Johannesburg last month, the All Blacks jumped to the top of the world rankings and threatened to shake up rugby’s world order.
However, South Africa clawed their way back to triumph – just as their director of rugby Rassie Erasmus had predicted.
While New Zealand were spirited and skilful in pursuit of a win to square the series, the Springboks’ go-forward up front and the depth of their bench kept the All Blacks at bay.
The match played out in front of a near-capacity crowd of 68,173 at the M&T Bank Stadium, the largest-ever crowd to watch a rugby match in the USA.
A successful stateside excursion completes a series that has been compelling viewing and stress-tested both sides’ aspirations of lifting the Rugby World Cup next year – the two nations have won the past five editions of the tournament.
It was New Zealand who started fastest in Maryland on Saturday.
Eight minutes in, their breathtakingly quick tiki-taka catch-pass, with the backline holding their depth, outflanked South Africa’s blitz defence to set up the first try of the match for hooker Codie Taylor.
However, the Springboks’ brute strength in the close quarters meant they could collect points without needing to resort to such high-risk passages of play.
With their forward pack on top in the scrum and winning collisions, Damian de Allende burrowed over from short range, before scrum-half Morne van den Berg flashed a dummy and darted past Sam Darry for a similar score.
Those tries opened up a 17-7 lead for the Springboks. With Eben Etzebeth crunching returning New Zealand fly-half Richie Mo’unga in the tackle and Jasper Wiese stampeding around in the loose, the Boks seemed poised to stretch away and out of sight.
Fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who had pushed a long-range penalty to the right of the uprights early on, missed a drop-goal shot. An overcooked attempt to find the corner also cost his team.
New Zealand’s combination of hard toil and sparkling hands then bought them a way back into the game just before half-time.
Will Jordan, his nation’s all-time leading try-scorer, streaked off his wing on a superb line to dunk down over the line at the end of 32 draining phases.
Four points down at the break, Dave Rennie’s side had hopes of taking home half of a specially-designed series trophy, which, held together by magnets, can be shared between the two sides.
But South Africa ensured that innovation went unused.
Malcolm Marx trundled over at the back of a rolling maul after the interval and, three minutes later, Pieter-Steph du Toit barged over after a sharp blindside break by the impressive Van den Berg.
Ethan Blackadder’s score in the final quarter cut the Boks’ lead to eight points, but South Africa hit the accelerator once again as the toll taken by a high-paced match and a long tour caught up on both teams and space opened up.
Kurt-Lee Arendse sliced through open field after Damian McKenzie had broken through in the opposite direction, but Josh Moorby failed to gather his pass.
Four minutes later, Cameron Hanekom scooped up scrappy ball to put the result beyond doubt and render replacement Beauden Barrett’s late try only a footnote.
South Africa: Willemse; Arendse, Kriel, de Allende, Hooker; Feinberg-Mngomezulu, van den Berg; Nche, Marx, Louw, Etzebeth, Nortje, Kolisi, du Toit, Wiese
Replacements: Fourie, Steenekamp, du Toit, de Jager, Esterhuizen, Hanekom, Reinach, Libbok
New Zealand: McKenzie; Jordan, Lienert-Brown, Barrett, Moorby; Mo’unga, Roigard; de Groot, Taylor, Newell, Tuipulotu, Darry, Vaa’i, Blackadder, Lakai
Aumua, Numia, Lomax, Lord, Sititi, Preston, Ioane, Barrett
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant referees: Matthew Carley (England), Christophe Ridley (England)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (England)