successful

Reed, the 2018 Masters champion, started the final round two shots ahead of Jacob Skov Olesen.

The Dane shot a one-under 71 and ended in a tie for third with American Johannes Veerman.

Meanwhile, Reed carded a second consecutive two-under round of 70 to ensure victory, despite Hill hitting an impressive five-under 67 to finish second outright.

“Golf feels good at the minute,” said the 31-year-old Hill.

“I feel like I did a lot of things well and if you put me in that position again I feel like I could convert from there.”

Last month, Reed became the second high-profile American to leave LIV and return to the PGA Tour after Brooks Koepka.

American Koepka is able to play on the PGA Tour straight away after it recently introduced a new returning member programme.

It allows players who have been away from the PGA Tour for at least two years and have won The Players Championship or a major between 2022 and 2025 to play again on the series, with the avenue closing on 2 February.

However, Reed does not meet that criteria and rules dictate he will not be eligible to play on the PGA Tour again until August – a year after his last LIV appearance.

But such optimism comes with a word of caution, given the Beijing Olympics four years ago.

With a target of three to seven medals, Team GB were left to “lick their wounds” after ending the Games with only two curling medals – won on the last two days of competition – to show for a fortnight of upsets and near-misses.

GB Snowsport chief executive Vicky Gosling later told BBC Sport that athletes had flown to China with a “slight arrogance”.

Speaking before the 2026 Games, she said: “We’ve always got it in the back of our minds.

“We can’t bank on anything because literally anything can happen. There’s that sense of jeopardy.”

Team GB chef de mission Eve Muirhead added: “What a great opportunity we have, but we’ve also got to take into account the high risk of winter sport – and that’s why everyone loves it.”

But this time it does feel different.

Take the 2024-25 season, for example. Britain’s winter athletes won nine World Championship medals across the sports.

British skiers and snowboarders achieved 28 major podiums in Olympic disciplines, won three Crystal Globes (overall World Cup titles) and one World Championship title for Atkin.

In skeleton, British athletes won three World Championship medals and 19 on the World Cup circuit – seven of which were gold – while Weston and Wyatt secured a one-two in the overall rankings.

Despite injuries threatening to derail some athletes’ march towards the Olympics, such widespread success has continued into the current season.

At the X Games, in which the world’s best freestyle skiers and snowboarders are invited to compete, Brookes, Atkin and Muir came away with five medals between them – three of them gold – in a statement performance only two weeks before Milan-Cortina.

And in men’s skeleton, Weston won five of the seven World Cup races this season and Wyatt won the other two.

“I’m really excited,” said Gosling. “When you look at the strength in depth of the team that we have, we couldn’t be in a better place.

“We’ve punched way above our weight.”

Over the four-year cycle leading into the Milan-Cortina Games, UK Sport has ploughed £25.5m into winter sports on the Olympic programme, up from £22.2m for the Beijing cycle.

The 2022 figure was almost double the investment for Sochi 2014.

However, Olympic winter sports federations in the US received about £24m for the year of 2022 alone from the US Olympic Committee.

“We’ve gone from a nation happy to be at the start line to a nation that’s truly capable of winning,” said Gosling.

“Not only do we expect to be on the start line, but we expect a medal.

“The Eddie the Eagle days are over.”

SEOUL, Jan. 28 (UPI) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test-firing of an upgraded large-caliber multiple rocket system, state-run media reported Wednesday.

Kim said the test held “great significance in improving the effectiveness of our strategic deterrent,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

“We have achieved technical upgrading of this weapon system to employ its most powerful characteristics in the most appropriate and effective way, and thus made it possible to apply it in specific attacks,” Kim said.

The North Korean leader cited improvements in the system’s self-steered guided flight system, as well as the “intelligence and hitting accuracy of the rockets.” He also claimed the mobility of a newly modernized launch vehicle was “perfect.”

The launch marked North Korea’s second major weapons test of the year, following a Jan. 4 firing of what Pyongyang described as hypersonic weapons.

The test took place ahead of the Ninth Congress of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, expected to be convened by early next month. The gathering is seen as a forum for the leadership to review policy performance, announce a new five-year economic plan and signal potential shifts in military and foreign policy priorities.

Kim said the upcoming congress “will clarify the next-stage plans for further bolstering up the country’s nuclear war deterrent,” according to KCNA.

The KCNA report said four rockets were fired during the test on Tuesday, hitting a target in the sea some 223 miles away.

South Korea’s military announced on the same day that it detected multiple short-range ballistic missiles launched from an area north of Pyongyang into the sea between Korea and Japan.

North Korea did not supply detailed specifications of the system, but it has tested a 600mm multiple rocket launcher on several occasions, most recently in May.

The United States and South Korea refer to the 600mm rocket system as the KN-25 and characterize it as a short-range ballistic missile. Pyongyang has claimed since October 2022 that the weapon can be fitted with a tactical nuclear warhead.

In late December, Kim visited a munitions factory and praised a new rocket launcher system that can “annihilate the enemy through sudden precise strike with high accuracy and devastating power” and can also be used as a “strategic attack means.”

Analysts warn that North Korea’s expanding long-range rocket artillery poses a growing conventional threat to South Korea, where much of the population and key military infrastructure lie within range of such systems.