NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Aaron Rai shifted into high gear Sunday and pulled away from a world-class field with one amazing shot after another until he became the first English-born player in more than a century to capture the PGA Championship.
Rai, who dreamed of being a Formula 1 driver until he turned to golf as a boy, was three shots behind and approaching the turn at Aronimink Golf Club when he delivered a performance worthy of a major champion.
He made a 40-foot eagle putt on the par-5 ninth during a stretch when he one-putted seven straight greens to take the lead.
And on the closing holes when the contenders needed him to stumble, Rai holed a birdie putt of some 70 feet across the 17th green for the clincher.
The 31-year-old Rai, the first player of Indian heritage to win a major, closed with a 5-under 65.
Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Justin Rose, they all had their chances and until they were undone by untimely mistakes or failure to get good looks at birdie. McIlroy, who closed with a 69, played the par fives in even for the week and he chopped up the reachable par-4 13th for a bogey.
Rai, who finished at nine-under 271, is the first player from England with his name on the Wanamaker Trophy since Jim Barnes in 1919, the second edition of this major and the first after World War I.
He wound up winning by three shots over 54-hole leader Alex Smalley and Rahm, who had his best finish in a major since defecting to LIV Golf at the end of 2023. Rahm was slowed by a pair of bogeys on the front nine, and managed only one birdie on the back nine for a 68.
Aaron Rai and wife Gaurika Bishnoi hold the Wanamaker Trophy.
(Frank Franklin II / AP)
Smalley lost the lead with a messy double bogey on the sixth hole, and his best golf was too late. Rai already had his eye on the Wanamaker Trophy.
Justin Thomas made a 16-foot par putt on the final hole for a 65 and pulled him within one shot of the lead as the final group was in the second fairway. For the longest time, as Aronimink got tougher and the pressure got tighter, it looked like Thomas might have a chance.
Like everything else on this final day, Rai ended those hopes, too.
So ended a most remarkable week in the Philadelphia suburbs, where no one could separate themselves on Aronimink. The 22 players within four shots of the lead going into the final round was a PGA Championship record.
From that pack emerged the 31-year-old Rai, with one PGA Tour title, three on the European tour, and no finishes inside the top 15 at any of the majors.
He might not be well known among casual observers, but he is a star in the eyes of his peers for his humility and gracious personality.
“You won’t find one person on property who’s not happy for him,” McIlroy said.
“Super pumped for him and his team,” Schauffele said. “All-world gentleman, no doubt.”
Rory McIlroy hits from the bunker on the 16th green.
(Carolyn Kaster / AP)
He wears two gloves, a habit he started as a kid in England to battle the cold winters when he was practicing — and he was always practicing. Even more unusual for Rai is the plastic covers on each iron, a reminder of his roots.
He once said his father sacrificed to buy the nicest golf clubs and then would clean the grooves with baby oil after his son was done playing. Rai has left the iron covers on since then “to remember where I cam from and to respect what I have.”
Now he has his name on the Wanamaker Trophy and his place in history.
MEXICO CITY — The highway from the Guadalajara city airport to downtown is newly paved and the city’s famous roundabout has gotten a $4-million facelift. The city is abuzz with renovation projects as Guadalajara prepares to host four World Cup soccer matches in June.
But there’s one thing the 3 million fans expected to flock to the city won’t see — the sites where hundreds of bodies have been found in clandestine graves dug by Mexico’s notorious New Generation Jalisco Cartel. Scores were discovered on the main route leading to Akron Stadium, where the games will be played.
One set of remains was that of a 17-year-old high school student who had gone out to sell his motorcycle to help his unemployed uncle. He disappeared. When his uncle began searching, he disappeared as well. At another site, the bones of a 34-year-old cellphone repairman were found. He was a father of two who’d simply ventured out to shop for used tennis shoes.
According to statistics compiled by the state of Jalisco, between 2018 and March of this year, 1,907 bodies were found in Guadalajara and surrounding cities.
The arrival of the World Cup is an opportunity for Mexico’s second-largest city to shine on the international stage, and the Jalisco state government launched an upbeat campaign highlighting the municipality where games will be played: “Zapopan, the heart of soccer,” the slogan goes.
Families searching for their loved ones sarcastically responded with, “Zapopan, the heart of clandestine graves.”
An aerial view of La Minerva roundabout fountain in Guadalajara, Mexico, taken on June 27, 2025.
(Ulises Ruiz / AFP via Getty Images)
Since January of 2025 alone, search groups and authorities have discovered 58 graves with 226 sets of remains inside city limits. Five graves were located within three miles of Akron Stadium.
Three graves with 15 bodies were found within a mile of the city’s iconic La Minerva roundabout, a huge traffic circle featuring fountains, greenery and a towering statue of the Roman goddess Minerva. Others were found not far from Chapultepec Street, a popular tourist destination.
Liliana Meza, mother of Carlos Maximiliano Romero Meza, who disappeared on Oct. 22, 2020, poses with a search card at the Glorieta de las Personas Desaparecidas in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Friday, May 15, 2026. Founders of the Luz de Esperanza Desaparecidos Jalisco collective created the cards, inspired by World Cup soccer stickers, to draw attention to missing persons cases ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Jalisco.
(Alejandra Leyva/For The Times)
Though tourists and tourist sites are rarely touched by cartel violence in Mexico, critics say the graves are an embarrassment for state and city administrators.
Amid all the cleanup, little official attention has gone to the growing number of clandestine graves that groups of persistent, family-funded search teams have found in recent months.
Large machinery and backhoes are working nonstop across the city ahead of the games, said Jaime Aguilar, a spokesperson for the group Warrior Searchers of Jalisco, which finds an average of two graves a month. “But when we ask for a backhoe to help in our searches, there is never one available,” he said.
Over the years, secret graves have been discovered in rural areas, at industrial sites, alongside roads, inside buildings and even in the heart of Guadalajara. The Jalisco state government tracks grave discoveries, but an analysis by The Times and Puente News Collaborative shows many have been concentrated in the Guadalajara area.
Flyers with photographs and identifying information about missing persons, posted by search collectives, have become a common sight along the main streets of the city’s historic center, as seen here on Friday, May 15, 2026.
(Alejandra Leyva/For The Times)
Earlier this year, authorities found a blood-soaked safe house a mile from Akron Stadium where cartel enemies were tortured. One person was found buried there. Within a 10-mile radius, nearly 100 sets of remains were found in 500 trash bags buried in shallow graves.
The graves, and the potential discovery of more, worried Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. She feared that FIFA, the international soccer association in charge of the games, might move the Mexico games to the United States or Canada, the other countries co-hosting the games, because of the violence, said one Mexican official familiar with planning for the tournament.
That fear burst into the open in February, when Mexican special forces killed Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, leader of the hyper-violent New Generation Jalisco Cartel. Law enforcement officials said Guadalajara is a stronghold for the criminal group.
Cartel members responded to El Mencho’s death by setting fire to cars and buses and blocking major exits from Guadalajara. The city was briefly paralyzed. Gunmen burned 80 convenience stores and a host of pharmacies, flexing their power in the city.
In the days after the violence, FIFA officials met with the Mexican government to review security for the Guadalajara matches. Sheinbaum laid out a plan to send 100,000 security personnel, including Army soldiers and police officers, to stadiums in Guadalajara and the country’s two other host cities, Mexico City and Monterrey. FIFA determined it would not change the World Cup venues.
U.S. law enforcement has been advising Mexico on counter-terrorism methods, including training in repelling drone bombs, a weapon increasingly used by cartels to terrorize communities, attack adversaries and target military convoys. U.S. special forces have been training Mexican military teams to repel attacks at stadiums.
Fliers with photographs and identifying information about missing persons are displayed throughout Guadalajara’s historic center alongside traditional city scenes and World Cup-related imagery.
(Alejandra Leyva / For The Times)
The Mexican government had already witnessed the Jalisco cartel’s proclivity for brazen killing. In December, some four miles from Akron Stadium, gunmen fired more than 3,000 bullets in broad daylight into the car of a director of a produce distribution center. The gun battle between his security guards and the cartel took place just a few blocks from a police station. It took officers nearly a half hour to arrive at the scene.
In recent years, Jalisco state has become a cartel killing ground, security experts say. Some graves discovered in the Guadalajara area contained a single body, some more than 40. A few had 95 or more.
In 2023, the remains of nine teenagers, chopped up and stuffed in trash bags, were found in a canyon in Zapopan. They had worked for a Jalisco cartel call center where telemarketers scammed Americans of millions of dollars in a time-share scheme. The teenagers are believed to have upset their employer.
Traffickers recruit young people, including minors, to serve as foot soldiers in their bloody quest to control drug-trafficking routes across Mexico. Some of those teenagers were lured by ads promising good-paying jobs, only to discover they were being funneled to a Jalisco cartel training camp an hour outside Guadalajara. There, as a test, Mexican security officials said, recruits were forced to kill fellow recruits.
Plaza Liberacion, the city’s main public square, with flyers with photographs and identifying information about missing persons, on Friday.
(Alejandra Leyva/For The Times)
The cartel has recruited more than 45,000 minors across Mexico in recent years, said one Jalisco state representative.
While some of Guadalajara’s upscale neighborhoods have escaped the violence, families across the metropolitan area have seen hundreds of children disappear, some to reappear, dead, on cartel battlefields across Jalisco and in the states of Sinaloa and Michoacán, searchers said.
The Jalisco state government lists more than 16,000 reports of missing people — the most of any Mexican state. Nationwide more than 130,000 people are reported missing.
Despite the preparations and the buzz among the nation’s vast population of soccer fans, World Cup fever has not caught on among families of the disappeared and the search teams that each week fan out across Guadalajara, looking for new graves.
Natalia Leticia García’s son disappeared in 2017. She began her own search and launched a group to help find other victims. Eight years later, García’s group has located 26 graves. Some finds have been bags full of severed heads, others holding just arms. It is a cartel tactic, she said, to make it harder to piece together remains.
“It is cruel,” García said. Her son, César Ulises Quintero García, remains missing.
Fisher is a special correspondent. This article was co-published with Puente News Collaborative, a bilingual nonprofit newsroom that covers stories from Mexico and the U.S.-Mexico border.
Kiki Rice dribbled to the hoop, deked and then put up a shot over the Toronto Tempo practice squad, crisp ombre blue-and-burgundy nails releasing the ball into the basket.
Just over a month ago and just about 10 miles away, Rice‘s blue-and-yellow nails grasped the NCAA championship trophy in celebration at Pauley Pavilion. That’s when she was starring for UCLA and leading the Bruins to their first NCAA national title during her fourth college season.
She was one of six Bruins to be selected in the WNBA draft on April 14, with all of them sticking to notoriously difficult-to-crack WNBA rosters. Rice was the expansion Toronto Tempo’s first college pick.
“We got really lucky getting her in the draft,” Tempo coach Sandy Brondello said. “She hasn’t disappointed.”
Former UCLA star Kiki Rice holds up a Toronto Tempo jersey next to WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. Rice was the Tempo’s first draft pick and was selected No. 6.
(Angelina Katsanis / Getty Images)
In her first two WNBA games, Rice has averaged 7.7 points and 1.3 assists in 20 minutes per game. She has been coming off of the bench to back up starting point guard Julie Allemand, who the Tempo took from the Sparks in the expansion draft.
“There’s definitely a lot of adjustments and getting used to what it is like inside this level,” Rice said on Friday. “But I’m with great vets, really great coaches, and I’m really enjoying the play as a pro.”
The No. 6 pick in this year’s WNBA draft, Rice elevated her stock as a prospect by having her best UCLA season. She finished her senior season averaging 14.9 points per game with 5.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists, and was named the Big Ten tournament MVP.
Ahead of the NCAA tournament, WNBA scouts said that her defensive prowess and willingness to charge to the basket made her emerge as an early first-round candidate.
“She stays confident in who she is, and that’s what we just pour into her,” Brondello said. “She comes from a really successful, you know, college program in UCLA. Cori [Close] is a great coach, and you know, pushed her hard for greatness. So she’s very mature. She knows that there’s another level that she can go to. She’s going to work really hard to get there.”
Rice went through the WNBA rookie gauntlet, going from the NCAA championship game to the draft within a week and then straight to the Tempo’s training camp.
“It’s something we all go through, it’s the same for all the rookies,” Rice said. “I feel like I haven’t slept a ton the past few weeks. It’s definitely not easy, it happens very quickly, but I am very grateful to be in the position.”
Sparks coach Lynne Roberts coached against Rice during her first two UCLA seasons while the former was the head coach at Utah.
Tempo guard Kiki Rice drives past the Storm’s Zia Cooke during expansion franchise Toronto’s first win on Wednesday in Toronto.
(Michael Chisholm / Getty Images)
“I think she’s going to do well with Sandy in her system,” Roberts said on Friday. “I saw over the course of her four years … her decision making, you know, improve and get better, which is natural, and her outside shot get more comfortable. … She’s going to be a good player to watch.”
Rice faced her old teammates Lauren Betts and Angela Dugalic with the Washington Mystics in the franchise’s first game on May 8, and the trio hugged at center court in Toronto. Rice had one assist and no points in 18 minutes during the loss. She rebounded with 12 points and one assist in 21 minutes during the franchise’s first win over the Seattle Storm on Wednesday.
“Playing with five other pros, you got the advantage of really competitive practices,” Rice said of her time at UCLA. “[The draft] was an incredible moment, something that’s very special for all of us. We didn’t do it alone, and to be able to share it with some of my closest friends, and to hear everyone’s name, be called to see everyone walk across the stage, be able to celebrate together, enjoy the moment, was special.”
This weekend provided a different kind of reunion, with her UCLA coaches in attendance Friday night as Rice scored 11 points and added two assists in 21 minutes during a loss to the Sparks. The Tempo rallied to within one possession in the final minute and get a rematch on Sunday.
As the Dodgers navigate the ripple effects of a series of recent pitching injuries, they added bullpen depth on Sunday by acquiring left-hander Eric Lauer from the Blue Jays for cash considerations.
The Blue Jays designated Lauer for assignment last week, after a bumpy start to the season. Lauer had yielded a league-leading 11 home runs in eight appearances.
It was a contrast to the far steadier presence he’d provided on the mound last year en route to an American League pennant, when he posted a 3.18 ERA in the regular season and 3.12 in the postseason. Lauer didn’t give up a run against the Dodgers in two World Series appearances, including 4 2/3 innings in Game 3.
To make room on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers transferred right-hander Brusdar Graterol (right shoulder surgery recovery) to the 60-day injured list.
They put left-hander Jack Dreyer on the 15-day IL with left shoulder discomfort. Imaging showed “nothing relevant,” other than inflammation, manager Dave Roberts said. The Dodgers hope he’ll be ready to be reinstated after a minimum stint.
“He was warming up yesterday and then felt something in his shoulder, some soreness,” Roberts said. “We just wanted to be proactive.
Former UFC champion and Olympic medalist Ronda Rousey (13-2) needed just 17 seconds to defeat Gina Carano (7-2) with her signature armbar on Saturday at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, bringing her mixed martial arts (MMA) career to a close.
In her return to MMA, Rousey quickly took Carano down to the mat at the start of the round. Carano tried to defend herself but left her arm exposed, allowing the judoka to apply her signature armbar.
Rousey stopped fighting in 2016 following losses to Holly Holm in 2015 and Amanda Nunes a year later. For the Riverside resident, this fight marks the career finale Rousey never had.
“There’s no way I can top this,” said Rousey, 39, when asked after the fight if she planned to return to the ring.
“I wanted it to last longer,” said Carano, 44.
Rousey urged Carano to consider the fight at a difficult time in her life and the actor said she lost 100 pounds to prepare for the bout.
“She gave me a reason; I woke up every day thinking about her,” Carano said of Rousey.
“She’s a hero to me. You changed my world,” Rousey told Carano, before hugging her after the brief bout. “I didn’t want to hurt her — that’s just how mixed martial arts is.”
The event was organized by MVP, co-owned by influencer and boxer Jake Paul and businessman Nakisa Bridarian. The bout was scheduled for five rounds in the featherweight division.
“You’re going to see more MMA on MVP, and it’s all thanks to these women,” Paul said, before telling UFC President Dana White that his company would host more high-profile MMA events like Saturday’s card at Intuit Dome that paid the headliners millions and every fighter lower on the card at least $40,000 apiece.
Ronda Rousey hugs Gina Carano after using an armbar to beat Carano Saturday at Intuit Dome.
(Jae C. Hong / Ap Photo/jae C. Hong)
Carano had not competed since 2009 — a 17-year hiatus — and is considered by many to be the pioneer of women’s MMA, having competed in Strikeforce and Elite XC before retiring following a loss to Cyborg.
In other welterweight bouts, 41-year-old Nate Díaz (22-14) was unable to make it to the third round of his fight against Mike Perry (15-8) after taking a beating in two rounds, during which he also landed some strikes but bore the brunt of the action.
With Díaz’s face bleeding profusely, Perry took advantage of Díaz’s questionable physical condition. Díaz hadn’t fought in MMA since 2022, when he defeated Tony Ferguson, though he had dabbled in boxing.
Mike Beltrán, the referee for the bout, stopped the fight after Díaz was unable to stop the bleeding and continue at the end of the second round.
“I landed some good shots, but I was getting tired,” said Perry, 34. “He’s very good, tough; when he looks like he’s hurt, he always has a trick up his sleeve, so I had to be careful.”
In another heavyweight bout, Cameroonian Francis Ngannou (19-3) needed just one round to dispatch Brazilian Philipe Lins (18-6) in a fight where he didn’t seem to be trying very hard. The African fighter punished Lins, who, although he defended himself and managed to land a few blows on Ngannou, was easy prey for a blow to the head that knocked him out in the opening round.
Ronda Rousey uses an armbar to defeat Gina Carano in 17 seconds on Saturday at Intuit Dome.
(Jae C. Hong / Ap Photo/jae C. Hong)
“I kept my composure,” said Ngannou, 39. “My knockout wasn’t impressive for my style.”
Ngannou also challenged legendary former UFC champion Jon Jones to a bout in MVP MMA. Jones was in the arena conducting an interview with the Netflix broadcast team when he received the challenge and gave a thumbs up amid the crowd’s cheers. Another potential boxing opponent for the Cameroonian is MVP promoter Jake Paul himself, who stepped into the Octagon to celebrate with winners on Saturday.
“As a businessman, we’re going to promote MMA. And hopefully we can fight one day in boxing,” Paul said.
In the lightweight division, Salahdine Parnasse (23-2) defeated Kenneth Cross (17-5) in the first round after landing a flurry of punches and dominating him early. Parnasse unleashed a wide-ranging offensive, from body shots to head strikes, to end the fight at the 4:18 mark of the first round.
In another bout, in the heavyweight division, Brazilian Junior dos Santos (21-11) was knocked out spectacularly by Cuban Robelis Despaigne (6-2) in the first round. The Cuban landed a three-punch combination — two rights and a left — to finish off a bloodied Dos Santos at 2:59.
Despaigne, who has fought for promotions such as Karate Combat, said afterward that he would like to face Ngannou.
Other results
In the main event of the preliminary card, Namo Fazil (10-1) submitted Jake Babian (6-2) in the second round of their welterweight bout.
In a 130-pound catchweight bout, Brazilian Adriano Moraes (22-6) knocked out American Phumi Nkuta (11-1) in the final second of the third round. Moraes landed a kick to Nkuta’s body in the final moments of a close bout, and as Nkuta fell, Moraes applied a guillotine choke. At first, it appeared the bell had saved Nkuta, but the referee determined that the fighter was already knocked out and awarded the victory to Moraes.
In the welterweight division, one of the best knockouts of the night occurred when Jason Jackson (20-6) sent Jefferson Creighton (12-3-1) to the canvas in just 22 seconds.
In the featherweight division, David Mgoyan (9-1) dominated Albert Morales (19-11), defeating him by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-26, and 30-27).
Aline Pereira (3-2) defeated Jade Masson-Wong (3-3) by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 27-30) in a 130-pound bout.
Chris Avila (8-10) was defeated by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) by Brandon Jenkins (17-11) in a 165-pound bout.
Harvard-Westlake’s boys’ tennis team accomplished something on Friday few have done: topple Irvine University.
The Wolverines ended University’s four-year run as tennis champions with a 10-8 win at the Southern Section Division 1 championships. University is a 16-time champion.
Aiden Zadeh had an important win in singles. Chase Klugo and Aaron Chung swept their doubles competition. And Gideon Ames won the clinching set.
At a school that excels in many different sports, the Wolverines rose to the top. The season continues with regional and state competition.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
Kaden Tennyson is a high school senior who works at an ice cream shop to make a few bucks to help pay for Uber drives and a veterinarian bill for his injured dog. He’s also a shotputter and discus thrower at Riverside Notre Dame.
He was suffering from a strained tendon in his right ankle resting at home when his ice cream manager called with a request for assistance.
“It was insanely busy,” said Tennyson, who is 6 feet 6 and 300 pounds. “I took an Advil and served birthday cake, brownie, chocolate fudge.”
There was no way Tennyson wouldn’t answer the call for duty.
“It’s my first job as a teenager,” he said. “It’s good for job experience.”
Tennyson never made it to the Southern Section track preliminaries after winning the league title.
“Every throw, it hurt badly,” he said. “I wanted to push through it.”
He made the decision to protect his future, so he passed on a chance to compete at Saturday’s Southern Section track championships.
He’s enjoyed much success in high school, on and off the playing field. He was back-to-back Skyline League champion. His best efforts were 51-10 in the shotput and 145-7 in the discus. He was admitted to 19 colleges. He was recognized by the Riverside Hall of Fame as a top scholar-athlete. He’s a two-time Principal’s Honor Roll recipient.
And yet, all that pales in comparison to what he has been forced to endure while his mother, Janet, twice battled cancer, affecting everyone emotionally and financially.
“As a mother, it’s been humbling to watch the kind of young man he has become through adversity,” Janet said in a letter she wrote honoring her son.
Fighting cancer is exhausting for everyone involved.
“We didn’t a spend a lot of time together, “ Kaden said. “She was mainly asleep. I wanted to be strong at home and not cry to make her sad. My friends helped a lot.”
Some of the senior activities Kaden hoped to participate in were lost for financial reasons, like going to the prom with his girlfriend.
He’s focused on the future.
“One of my dreams is to raise my own successful family,” he said. “In order to do that, you need to be successful yourself.”
He’ll take his 3.8 grade-point average and giant body to study buisness and compete in track and field at UC Irvine.
His mother is recovering. He intends to walk at graduation on June 5.
His mother says, “Kaden’s journey reflects resilience, family, perseverance and the reality that the effects of a serious illness don’t end when treatment does.”
Kaden’s smile continues. Maybe it’s because he works at an ice cream shop.
Asked he if he gets to sample the products, he said, “Sometimes.”
There’s no denying that Loyola’s lacrosse program is best in Southern California and could be that way for years to come with the number of elite young players participating.
On Saturday night, the Cubs (16-3) won their latest Southern Section Division 1 championship with a 14-6 win over Santa Margarita. The Cubs have won three title since the sport was adopted as a championship event in the Southern Section. Defense has been Loyola’s strength all season.
Senior defenders Chase Hellie and Everett Rolph and junior goalkeeper William Russo led one of the best defenses in program history under coach Jimmy Borell.
Senior Cash Ginsberg finished with five goals and junior North Carolina commit Tripp King finished with two goals.
Orange Lutheran won Division 2 boys over Edison and Windward won Division 3.
In girls Division 1, Mira Costa upset top-seeded Santa Margarita 12-6.
London City Lionesses are an ambitious club under owner Michele Kang and had a steady debut campaign in the WSL, finishing sixth after eight wins from 22 matches.
Sources at the club say an agreement with Earps has not yet been made, but they remain optimistic about their summer business.
Eder Maestre’s side have been linked with several players including Barcelona defender Mapi Leon and England winger Beth Mead, who announced her departure from Arsenal this week amid additional interest from Manchester City.
Earps is one of a number of big-name players potentially available on a free deal this summer, with Arsenal’s Mead and Katie McCabe leaving, Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas yet to sign a new contract, Sam Kerr departing Chelsea and Manchester City top scorer Khadija Shaw rejecting contract renewal proposals.
During her time in England, Earps became one of the country’s most recognised and influential players, though her book – released in November – caused controversy and dominated headlines in the media for several weeks.
Seven-time Ulster Championship winner Paul McGrane believes that Monaghan will “have no fear” facing Armagh in Sunday’s Ulster Senior Football final.
Kieran McGeeney’s side are favourites to end their 18-year wait to lift the Anglo-Celt Cup given they have hit 100 points in their three Ulster games to date, including a thumping 28-point victory over Down in the semi-final.
But Monaghan have recovered from a poor league campaign to reach the final as they look to win the county’s first Ulster title since 1988.
McGrane, who was the last Armagh captain to lift the Anglo-Celt Cup in 2008, says that Monaghan’s experience of beating Armagh in the All-Ireland in 2023 and the Ulster SFC in 2021 will give them confidence at Clones.
“There’s a Monaghan team coming that are Ulster club champions, on their own patch and the display of grit they showed against Derry and to do what they did with the sideline points, they’ll relish playing Armagh,” he told BBC Sport NI.
“They’ll have no fear playing them. The last two big games they played them; in Croke Park [shootout win], they came out the right side of it and in the match in Pairc Esler [a thrilling 4-17 to 2-2 win].
“They’ll be going with hunger the same that Armagh have to get over the line and get an Ulster title themselves.”
Celtic face strong competition for Bodo/Glimt striker Kasper Hogh this summer, with a host of clubs across Europe keen on the 25-year-old. (Football Insider), external
Falkirk have received “fair offers from two or three clubs” for striker Barney Stewart, with manager John McGlynn saying any fee for the 22-year-old will go towards a grass pitch and training facilities. (Falkirk Herald), external
Middlesbrough and Scotland forward Tommy Conway has been ruled out of the World Cup with an ankle injury. (Keith Downie on X), external
Aston Villa may consider selling captain and Scotland star John McGinn to Everton if they can land Wales midfielder Harry Wilson, who is leaving Fulham as a free agent. (Sun), external
SEATTLE — Gabriel Pec had a goal and an assist to back goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski and the Galaxy beat Seattle 2-0 on Saturday night, ending the Sounders’ 22-match unbeaten streak at home as well as a nine-match unbeaten run this season.
Greg Vanney led Los Angeles to its first victory in Seattle since July 9, 2016 — Bruce Arena’s final season as the Galaxy’s coach.
Pec used assists from Marco Reus and defender Miki Yamane in the 23rd minute to score his fifth goal of the season, giving the Galaxy a 1-0 lead that stood through halftime. It was his fourth goal in the last three matches and his 27th in 75 career appearances.
Reus’ assist was his fifth this season, while Yamane collected his first.
Pec and Edwin Cerrillo set up Matheus Nascimento’s first goal this season two minutes into stoppage time to clinch the victory. Cerrillo entered in the 89th minute before snagging his first assist and Pec’s helper was his fourth.
Marcinkowski stopped six shots for the Galaxy (5-5-4). It was his first clean sheet in his 10th start this season.
Andrew Thomas finished without a save for Seattle (7-2-3), whose only other loss came in its road opener at Real Salt Lake on Feb. 28.
The Galaxy extended the league’s longest current streak with at least one goal scored to 23.
Seattle was the last team to shut out the Galaxy, doing so with a 4-0 road win on Aug. 10 last season.
The Sounders were coming off a 3-2 victory over Arena’s San Jose Earthquakes on Wednesday, while the Galaxy lost to Sporting Kansas City — whose only other victory to that point came against the Galaxy on the road.
The Galaxy lead the all-time series with the Sounders 16-11-15, including a 5-8-8 record in Seattle.
The Sounders fall to 4-1-1 at home and the Galaxy improve to 3-3-2 on the road.
It took three months of hard work to change Amorim’s mind.
On 6 March 2025, he started the first leg of the Europa League last-16 draw with Real Sociedad. He kept his place for the league game against Arsenal and, from that point, has started every major game United have played.
“Football changes. Life changes,” Casemiro said in his recent interview with former United captain Ferdinand.
“For me, [with] the best players in the world, it’s about the mentality. I might not play good – I’m not a robot and I know. But the next [game], I give everything on the pitch. The mentality is next, next, next.”
It is a mentality that has brought Casemiro back into the Brazil squad – he is expected to be Carlo Ancelotti’s captain at this summer’s tournament.
This season, the 34-year-old’s influence has noticeably increased.
Of all the players in Michael Carrick’s squad, it is widely accepted if Casemiro had been injured in February, after the transfer deadline had closed, his absence would have been the hardest to cover in the ultimately successful quest for Champions League qualification.
“He has been an absolute pleasure to work with,” Carrick says in his programme notes for the Forest game.
Carrick has felt the early clarity around Casemiro’s exit – announced on 22 January, days after the manager’s own return as Amorim’s temporary replacement – has been beneficial for player and club.
Aside from the mentality aspect, the player’s influence at Old Trafford should extend far longer than his physical presence.
When Casemiro arrived from Real Madrid in 2022 in a deal worth up to £70m, Kobbie Mainoo, then aged 17, felt he would learn huge amounts from one of the most decorated players in the game.
Amid the Brazilian’s collapse in form, Mainoo ended up battling for a start with Casemiro, which wasn’t a situation he envisaged.
The clear by-product of Amorim’s exit has been the partnership between the pair, who have played alongside each other in 13 of Carrick’s 15 matches in charge – a one-match absence for both players because of minor injuries the only reason it was not 15 out of 15.
“Kobbie is my friend,” Casemiro explained earlier this month in a separate interview with the respected United We Stand fanzine.
“I have an excellent relationship with him. We are always joking – in English because he doesn’t speak Portuguese.
“He is a complete player, the present and the future of Manchester.
“Why? Because he has already taught us that he can play to a high level for his club and country. The one thing he needs to improve is to play more with the ball, to touch the ball more, because he has so much quality.
“Then it’s the decision-making which comes with experience. That improves with age.”
Rousey won the fight with her signature armbar lock, forcing Carano into submission just 17 seconds into the bout.
Published On 17 May 202617 May 2026
Mixed martial arts (MMA) star Ronda Rousey has re-retired after demolishing fellow combat sports trailblazer Gina Carano in their long-awaited non-title comeback bout in Los Angeles, defeating her rival by armbar after just 17 seconds.
After a hype-filled build-up, the bout on Saturday was a jarring anti-climax, with Rousey flooring Carano almost immediately before wrestling her into an armbar to end the fight.
American stars Rousey, 39, and Carano, 44, are widely regarded as two of the most important female fighters in the history of MMA, helping to take the sport into the mainstream during their fighting heydays more than a decade ago.
Carano had parlayed her success into a Hollywood career, appearing in several action movie roles, but had not fought since 2009 before her appearance in Saturday’s featherweight bout.
Rousey, a 2008 Olympics judo bronze medallist who subsequently found huge success in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), retired from the sport in 2016 after suffering back-to-back defeats against Amanda Nunes and Holly Holm.
Gina Carano and Ronda Rousey stand with referee John McCarthy after their featherweight bout [Sarah Stier/Getty Images via AFP]
The fighters were lured back into the cage for Saturday’s card at the Intuit Dome with the promise of a bumper payday that will reportedly see each fighter earn several million dollars from the streaming giant.
Rousey (13-2-0 MMA) secured her 10th submission win, returning to the cage following an exit from MMA in December 2016.
She insisted afterwards her return to the ring was a one-off and ruled out the possibility of fighting again after paying tribute to Carano.
“Gina is the only person who could have brought me back into MMA – she’s my hero,” Rousey said. “She changed my world, and we changed the world, and I’ll never ever forget that or be able to pay that back enough.
“I’m so glad we finally got to share this moment.”
Asked about possibly extending her comeback, Rousey added: “There’s no way I could have ended it better than this. I want to have some more babies, got to get cooking.”
Ronda Rousey celebrates after defeating Gina Carano [Patrick T Fallon/AFP]
Carano (7-2-0 MMA) had been inactive in the sport since August 2009, returning to MMA after a conversation last year at Rousey’s encouragement. She admitted the fight was too fast for her, regretting what more she could have done in a short timeframe.
“I feel great,” Carano said after the loss. “I wanted to fight, and I didn’t get that. But she trained. She had her game plan. I have so much love and respect for her, and this was a victory in my life. She changed it. I woke up at 3am every morning thinking about her. I fell back in love with mixed martial arts. There’s so many things to think about here. It’s just [that] the fight didn’t go my way.
“I wanted that to last longer – I felt like I was so ready, I felt so good,” she said. “But I haven’t been here for 17 years. I wanted to hit her.”
Carano, 44, is unsure whether she’ll return to MMA, choosing to keep the door open.
Carano said the mere fact of getting in shape for her return – she revealed before the bout she had shed more than 100 pounds (45kg) in the two years leading up to the contest – was a victory.
“Right now, just getting in the cage was a victory, getting here after 17 years is a victory. Fighting a legend was a victory. I feel great, I just wanted to fight, and I didn’t get to do that.”
Rousey hugs Carano after defeating her [Patrick T Fallon/AFP]
In a 15-2 win Saturday against the Angels in Anaheim, the Dodgers offense wasn’t able to gain much of a lead until the sixth inning. Then six consecutive free passes spurred an offensive explosion that put the game away.
In fact, Will Smith’s first-inning sacrifice fly scored the only run for either team through the first five innings, as the starting pitchers — Dodgers lefty Justin Wrobleski and Angels right-hander José Soriano — dueled.
Though the Dodgers scored first, Soriano avoided traffic on the bases more effectively than Wrobleski. That is, until Soriano lost command in the sixth.
Dodgers pitcher Justin Wrobleski throws to the plate during a win over the Angels Saturday at Angel Stadium.
(Mark J. Terrill / Ap Photo/mark J. Terrill)
With one out in the sixth inning, Mookie Betts got the Dodgers’ rally started by drawing a five-pitch walk. Freddie Freeman followed suit and Smith wore a curveball to load the bases.
Soriano, who had only allowed one hit, didn’t regain his footing. He walked in two runs before being lifted. And then his replacement, Angels reliever Chase Silseth, hit Teoscar Hernández to bring in a third run for the Dodgers before they logged a hit in the inning.
Alex Call, the eighth Dodgers hitter to step up to the plate in the sixth, finally delivered the only knock of the rally, a two-run single on a ground ball through the left side of the infield.
The strong Dodgers fan presence at a sold-out Angel Stadium made itself known in the eighth inning when Shohei Ohtani drove a two-run triple into the right-field corner, raced to third as it bounced up and off the netting and then scored on a throwing error.
“MVP” chants broke out from the fans clad in blue.
They let out a roar shortly after, when Betts launched a solo homer to left.
The Dodgers continued the barrage in the ninth, scoring on pitcher Alek Manoah’s errant throw that past second base, Hernández’ sharp single up the third-base line and Ohtani’s bases-clearing double into the right-field corner.
That earned more “MVP” chants.
The Dodgers, one day removed from scratching left-hander Blake Snell and pivoting to a bullpen game on Friday, needed Wrobleski to give their relievers a breather.
The Dodgers’ bats ultimately helped take pressure off all the team’s pitchers.
It’s now official. You can call Chatsworth a 12-time City Section volleyball champion after the Chancellors won the Open Division championship on Saturday night, knocking off West Valley League rival Granada Hills 24-26, 25-21, 25-14, 25-18.
Noa Beauregard led Chatsworth with 14 kills and Grant Chang had 13.
Coach Sina Aghassy got his team to settle down and dominate the Highlanders after their first-set defeat. The two teams had split their league matches.
Both schools will move on to the state tournament next week, with pairings announced on Sunday.
Baseball
Sylmar 4, Chatsworth 3: The No. 1-seeded Spartans survived a three-run seventh inning by Chatsworth to advance to the City Section Division I semifinals against Verdugo Hills on Wednesday at Stengel Field. Tim Sepulveda had two hits.
Verdugo Hills 8, Sun Valley Poly 2: Jered Smith hit a grand slam in the sixth inning to help the Dons reach the City Division I semifinals.
Taft 11, Cleveland 0: The Toreadors advanced to the Division I semifinal behind Sebastian Gamez, who threw the shutout. Nate Swinson had two hits and two RBIs.
Venice 7, Palisades 6: The Gondoliers earned a match against Taft in the Division I semifinals. Darius Basco’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh won it. Miguel Medina threw three scoreless innings of relief.
Softball
La Habra 6, Murrieta Mesa 4: Rylee Gruener hit a grand slam during a five-run inning to enable La Habra to eliminate top-seeded Murrieta Mesa in the Division I playoffs. Alyssa Hernandez added three hits.
Orange Lutheran 17, Chino Hills 14: In a wild Division 1 playoff game, Sierra Nichols and Madelyn Armendariz each had four hits for Orange Lutheran, with Armendariz getting three doubles. Nichols, Rylee Silva and Eliza Johnson hit home runs. Brett Lambrecht had five RBIs for Chino Hills.
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 8, Oaks Christian 5: The Mission League champions advanced behind freshman pitcher Ainsley Jenkins, who came in and provided three innings of three-hit relief pitching. Nadia Ledon, Keira Luderer and Ellayne Tellez-Perez hit home runs.
Norco 8, Riverside Poly 2: The No. 2-seeded Cougars were led by Savannah Gonzalez, who had three hits, including a home run. Coral Williams struck out 13. Camryn May and Sadie Burroughs also had three hits.
Blake Snell will have surgery Tuesday to remove the loose bodies in his left elbow, according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
Roberts didn’t know which type of surgery Snell will undergo, but there’s optimism that Snell could undergo a minimally invasive procedure, like the one Dr. Neal ElAttrache performed on Tigers ace Tarik Skubal using new NanoNeedle scope technology, according to people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
However, it may not be possible to determine the details of Snell’s procedure before getting an internal view. The exact location of the loose bodies plays a large role in the technique.
If Snell is indeed a candidate for the NanoNeedle Scope 2.0, it could cut down his recovery time by minimizing the damage to the surrounding tissue, compared to a traditional arthroscope.
Because the technology is new, it would still be difficult to put an exact timeline on the recovery. Skubal would be the blueprint. He had a bone chip removed a week and a half ago and is already progressing in a throwing program.
Either way, the Dodgers should have a clearer picture of Snell’s recovery timetable after he undergoes the procedure Tuesday.
The Dodgers scratched him from Friday’s start, only his second of the season, and they backdated the IL move to May 12. The two-time Cy Young Award winner started the season on the injured list, ramping up later than usual due to what the team called left shoulder fatigue. In his first start against the Braves last week, he only pitched three innings, giving up four earned runs.
