It’s likely you’ve heard of the Seminole Pro-Member, the one-day event held each March at the regal Donald Ross course on the Atlantic Ocean in South Florida. It has drawn, through the years, Nick Price, Ernie Els, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Nelly Korda, among other touring luminaries, Jimmy Dunne, the longtime Seminole Golf Club president, presiding. The so-called fifth major.
This week a group of elite club pros get their turn to be spoiled in style, at an event that has bubbled under the surface of national attention for decades, the Smith Cole pro-am at the Cherry Hills Country Club, outside Denver, a three-day tourney hosted by Peyton Manning, a Cherry Hills member and Denver resident. The event is named for the late Warren Smith and Clayton Cole, very much alive, both longtime head pros at Cherry Hills. The Smith Cole is a club-pro major. This year’s edition is No. 34.
Jimmy Dunne is playing with the head pro from Deepdale Golf Club. Augusta National will have a pro and a member at the event. So will the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, the Inverness Club, the San Francisco Golf Club, among nearly two dozen other clubs you know or wish you did. All three Manning brothers — your Cooper, your Peyton, your Eli — are playing. Kevin Hammer, the USGA president, is playing with Martyn Huish, the pro from North Berwick, in Scotland, and Mike Whan, the USGA CEO, is playing with Andy North, the two-time U.S. Open winner and a Cherry Hills member. Wyndham Clark, another two-time U.S. Open winner and Cherry Hills member, is playing with Michael Meldman, the golf-course developer. There are club pros from The Olde Farm in Virginia, Ohoopee Match Club in Georgia, Shooting Star in Wyoming. Yes, new kids on the block.
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It’s a happening, for the embroidered-belt crowd.
There’s a practice round Wednesday, pros with pros, ams with ams. Wednesday night, at a tournament dinner in the Cherry Hills clubhouse, Manning will interview Ben Crenshaw, attending this year as a special pro guest and bringing an amateur from his home club, the Austin Golf Club. The first round for the 55 two-man teams is on Thursday. Thursday night, the fellas will gather for dinner at the Denver warehouse from which the ManningCast Monday Night Football broadcast is set loose onto the world. Friday, the second and final tournament round is played. Then the Smith Cole wraps up with a luncheon. Awards for many and bro-hugs for all. Then everybody disperses back to their real lives.
Sound like a good time?
Cherry Hills, host site of the Smith Cole.
Evan Schiller
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“The Seminole event is in-and-out,” Jimmy Dunne said recently. “The pros are there to see the course, the members are there to see the pros. At Cherry Hills, as good as the course is, you’re there for the people.” Three days of golfing, eating, drinking, talking — and more golfing. The Cherry Hills thing is a hang.
Curtis Strange was invited last year as Ben Crenshaw was this year. On its face, it didn’t sound like an easy sell. Strange, the two-time U.S. Open winner and broadcaster, needed another pro-am in his life like he needed another sleeve of balata 384s. The event was two flights and two time zones away from his home in coastal North Carolina. He had never known Warren Smith or Clayton Cole. The last time he had been to Cherry Hills was for the PGA Championship in August 1985, where, despite his three wins on Tour that year, he missed the cut by six.
Still, off he went, one year ago, joined by the older of his two sons, Tom, named for Curtis’s club-pro father. Another example of this observation, that joy comes from the things you do in life, not the things you don’t.
“I just couldn’t believe how good the course was,” Strange said the other day, revisiting the experience in an interview. He had turned 70 a few months before the 2025 Smith Cole and was seeing the course, where Arnold Palmer won a celebrated U.S. Open, through a different lens. Strange was now a father, a grandfather, a World Golf Hall of Famer. Strange’s only real responsibility was to tell war stories at the opening-night dinner by way of gentle prodding from Peyton. Strange had been an Arnold Palmer Scholarship recipient as a student at Wake Forest in the mid-1970s and he found himself taking in Cherry Hill’s collection of Arnold Palmer memorabilia. So, a lot, and it was all good.
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Curtis Strange and Manning at the Smith Cole last year.
courtesy peyton manning
But when the event was over, Strange realized that the thing that made the biggest impact on him was not the golf course, for all its mile-high delights, and it was not the trip down memory lane, as pleasant as that stroll was. It was, echoing Jimmy Dunne, the assembled people. (It’s like when you go on a trip to a national park and you take all those nature snaps, but it’s the ones with actual people in them that you linger on in the home-again slide show.) A short list of Curtis’s enduring highlights: being with Tom; seeing Andy North, who won his first Open, in 1978, at Cherry Hills; playing with Fred Ridley, the Augusta National chairman, 50 years after they both played in the 1975 U.S. Amateur; eating lunch with Clayton Cole.
“What a classy man,” Strange said of Mr. Cole, a pro of the old school. You know: the low-buff FootJoys, the sharply creased pants, the by-the-book manner. Strange knows the territory, though his father’s club life was way more rough and tumble, with heavy action both on the first tee and in the card room.
“Are we going back this year?” Tom asked his father.
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“No,” said the father. “It was a one-and-done thing.”
Still, a good time was had by all.
In a manner of speaking, and in a quiet way, Clayton Cole, now 85, is the star of the event. Cole plays in the event every year, chatting with the 100 or so members and guests in it and thereby reminding all, without even trying, of the pleasure that comes from getting lost in the company of golfers.
Cole has always had game and breaks his age regularly. Having an on-the-screws golf game was once a job prerequisite for club pros at prominent clubs, and Warren Smith and Clayton Cole fit the bill. They were expected to put up good scores, and they did. Adding their playing resumes together, they played in scores of U.S. Opens, PGA Championships and other national events, plus innumerable local ones. This was in an era when members wanted to see the names of their pros in their Tuesday paper after Monday tournaments. Members had more faith in the lessons they were getting, and in the clubs they were buying, when they knew their pros could break par on any given Monday, or any other day for that matter. In a roundabout way, the Smith Cole honors all of that.
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The event’s namesakes, from left: Warren Smith and Clayton Cole.
Courtesy Cherry Hills Country Club
Strange’s lone complaint (insert air quotes) from last year’s event concerned the slippery Cherry Hills greens. “The greens were perfect,” Strange said. (Nobody says perfect quite like Curtis, in his son-of-the-South, pro-for-the-ages way.) “But they had ’em Stimping about 15.” That is, Oakmont fast and then some.
Poa annua greens, by the way. William Flynn course. The ’38 Open was played there, the first time the tournament was played west of the Mississippi. Cherry Hills is an elite club, but Denver-style. Its vibe is rancher western, not E-ZPass eastern. It’s Robert Redford on a horse (or would Ronald Reagan work better here?) and not Thurston Howell III on a yacht.
Maybe that’s why Peyton Manning, who turned 50 this year, is so at home there. Manning has a sharp wit with the skill set to process both minute tourney details (and surely other things) while also painting on a big canvas in another room. He is an honors graduate from the University of Tennessee (1997) and now a guest lecturer there. But his out-and-about manner is loose, almost casual. He can’t oversell or overpromise. It’s not in him.
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Manning joined Cherry Hills after becoming the Denver Broncos quarterback in 2012. He’s the Smith Cole greeter, sheriff and part-time bookkeeper. His older brother, Cooper, plays in the event and pays for the privilege, without complaint. (He also helps Peyton write his material.) Their younger brother, Eli, the former New York Giants quarterback and winner of two Super Bowls, plays in the Smith Cole, too, but requires more attention. “He thinks he should be comped,” Manning said recently. “I disagree.” The disagrees have it, and there was no vote.
The Smith Cole (it has had different names over the decades) has 55 two-man teams. So 110 players, ams from gravel-driveway clubs with their driver-off-the-deck pros, plus two-dozen member-member Cherry Hills teams. For the out-of-towners, that’s the typical path in: The invited pro brings an am from his home club, or the invited amateur brings a pro from home, plus the various Cherry Hills members playing with other Cherry Hills members. The ability to break 80 is not a prerequisite, though many in the field can. There are more net and gross and pro and am and pro-with-am divisions than any normal person would want to monitor. Really, every last participant should go home with a bumper sticker for their preferred back-to-school minivan: Every Golfer is an Honored Golfer at Smith Cole Middle School!
Cherry Hills members with sporty resumes in the field include Joe Buck (the broadcaster), Josh Kroenke (the Denver Nuggets president) and Greg Penner (the Denver Broncos owner). One of Augusta National’s co-head pros, J.J. Weaver, played last year with Fred Ridley, the Augusta National chairman, and this year is playing with another member, Tom Nelson, the Masters media committee chairman. Eli Manning is playing with the head pro from the oh-so-genteel Somerset Hills Country Club in New Jersey, Daniel Joseph. Peyton is playing with Penner, as both a member-member and a Broncos-Broncos team.
Manning joined Cherry Hills after becoming the Denver Broncos quarterback in 2012. He’s the Smith Cole greeter, sheriff and part-time bookkeeper.
The club is an elemental part of Manning’s life, and so are the pros there. He knows them all, teaching and assistant and head and emeritus. He knows a lot of the caddies. (Cherry Hills has a thriving caddie program and the club has its own scholarship program for caddies and employees, named for Arnold Palmer.) He knows many of the servers and bartenders. When Manning got into Augusta National some years ago, one of his first guests was Mr. Cole.
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Even if you haven’t met Clayton Cole, he might seem familiar to you, the super-organized club-pro lifer with an unhurried manner and deep and enduring relationships in the game. (You’re hesitant to say there’s a type but when it’s a positive, why not?) Kevin Hammer’s father is a club pro. In the club pro community, Hammer noted in a recent interview, rules count, as do punctuality, appearance and manners — cornerstones of a civil society.
More than a few club pros have found that their members will share intimate issues from their lives in ways they can with few others. Many club pros are experts in concealing judgment. They’re the grownups in the room. (You’ll never meet a young head pro, even if the pro’s birth certificate says the person is a young head pro.) Early in Clayton Cole’s career, when he was one of Warren Smith’s assistants, Smith gave his eventual successor this pearl: “We like all our members — we just like some more than others.” Now how’s that as a useful swing tip when you have 300 dues-paying bosses? “When a member comes to his club, he wants a break from work and really anything chaotic in his life,” Strange said. “A lot of that falls to the head pro.”
The senior Tom Strange, Curtis’s father, grew up caddying with Dow Finsterwald and died (screw you, cancer) at age 38, before he had a chance to become a Warren Smith or a Clayton Cole himself. Tom Strange could flat out play. Finsterwald, of course, could too — he won the 1958 PGA Championship and later was a legendary Colorado club pro. (Talk about an unhurried manner.) Finsterwald spent decades as the director of golf at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, though you can be sure his preferred title was head pro. All the old-school pros liked that title and to this day many still do, no matter what it says on their business cards. Arnold Palmer’s father was the head pro at Latrobe. Butch Harmon’s father was the head pro at Winged Foot. Davis Love’s father was the head pro at Charlotte Country Club. The Smith Cole honors pros, teaching pros, assistant pros, head pros and touring pros, current and retired.
Manning with, from left, Bob Ford and Clayton Cole.
courtesy peyton manning
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Enter Curtis Strange last year, Brad Faxon the year before that, Ben Crenshaw this year. For Crenshaw, the Smith Cole is his second major this year, in a manner of speaking. Last month, he was a special guest at The Langley, an event that remembers the life and times of Jim Langley, the legendary head pro at Cypress Point, who shared the course record there as a two-armed golfer (63) and has the one-armed course record (81) all to himself. Crenshaw was the honoree at the 2022 Memorial tournament, where he made casual and delightful public remarks about different golfing figures in his life, including Harvey Penick, the legendary head pro at Austin Country Club, for whom Warren Smith was an assistant.
When club pros of a certain ilk get together, there’s a lot of family tree talk. Claude Harmon begat Butch Harmon, Dick Harmon, Craig Harmon and Billy Harmon, all golf pros, but also (and less literally) Dave Marr and Jackie Burke and Davis Love Jr. and Jack Lumpkin, among other notable golf pros who worked under him as assistants at Winged Foot. As a baseball scout is measured by how many future major leaguers he signs, head pros are often measured by how many of their assistants become head pros, or top teachers or touring pros or do some other lofty thing in the game. Harvey Penick’s tree is a sequoia. Ben Crenshaw has his own limb on it, as does Tom Kite and Kathy Whitworth and Mickey Wright and enough names to fill a slender phone book. Penick came to Cherry Hills for summer stints when Smith was the head pro and Cole was one of his assistants.
Manning will surely bring a light touch to his interview with Crenshaw because light touch is his thing. If you have seen him at the Weekend Update desk on “Saturday Night Live,” or with Eli when they do their ManningCast, you know that. Asked about his golf handicap recently, Peyton said, “I’m currently a 6.8, which is a 6 at altitude, which I think should be about an 11 at sea level. My friends on the East Coast don’t see it that way.” Peyton is all touch.
It was Manning’s idea to have one pro come in as a sort of special guest, and Brad Faxon was the first one. “Two things made the decision to play in the Smith Cole easy, and the first is that the invitation came from Peyton,” Faxon said recently, by way of text. “And it gave me the chance to bring a good friend — Paul Salem, a seven whose game travels well — to play three straight days on one of the best courses in the country in an event with a tremendous field.”
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Faxon appears to have a budding career as a writer. On he went from there:
“When you get to the side of the clubhouse and look down the hill at the short par-4 first hole, you can’t help but think about Arnold Palmer driving that green in the final round in the 1960 U.S. Open. You’re wondering how he could do that with a wound rubber ball and a wooden driver with a steel shaft? How could you reach the green, and hold it?
“The course is hugely underrated. There’s so much variety from one hole to the next. Each hole points you in another direction. There are options on every tee. The greens are some of the trickiest and hardest to read anywhere. The deeper you get into the course, the more you appreciate how good it is.
“Playing it again in ’24 brought back a lot of memories from a practice round at the ’85 PGA, when I played with Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and Hubert Green, who won that week. It was my second year on tour, and they were so much better than I was. A different league. The range is one thing. Up close, on a course like Cherry Hills, is another. You can really see where you stand, and what you have to do to get better. I left Cherry Hills in ’85 with the deepest respect for the course and for this game — and that was after shooting 78-82. I missed the cut by 13. I played a little better in ’24. Thankfully, the Smith Cole doesn’t have a cut, and I had a partner.
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“After playing in the Smith Cole, I found I had an even greater appreciation for the course. Every hole has its own personality. Cherry Hills is a course where the more you play it, the more you love it. I’m sure the people who play in the tournament every year say the same thing.”
In the end, it always comes back to the people.
Last year, Fred Ridley played in the Smith Cole 50 years after he won the 1975 U.S. Amateur. A few months before that event, in May 1975, Ridley drove from central Florida to Columbus, Ohio, to take a series of lessons from Jack Grout, Jack Nicklaus’s lifelong teacher. Ridley had played at the University of Florida and had finished one year of law school and was intent on giving serious amateur golf one more shot. After seven days of lessons, young Fred Ridley asked Mr. Grout what he owed him. Grout said, “Well, you’re going to have a busy summer of golf, going to all these amateur events. It’ll get expensive. How about $25?” What Grout gave Ridley over those May days, Ridley used all through the summer of ’75, as he drove it long and in play. In a manner of speaking, what Grout gave Ridley, the lifelong amateur has used ever since. In a manner of speaking, you could say the Smith Cole honors Jack Grout and thousands of other club-pro lifers like him.
Ridley, in a phone interview, said he thoroughly loved his Smith Cole experience, meeting Clayton Cole, witnessing Manning’s selfless devotion to the event, observing a club that does everything it can to serve its members and guests. It also gave him a chance to consider how the Smith Cole honors the role of the club pro in the game as a sort of cross-country cousin to how the Masters celebrates the role of the amateur in the game.
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“The amateur is in golf for the love of the game,” Ridley said. “Rules officials, tournament volunteers, they are true amateurs. The club pro is similar. Both groups serve the game. In Mr. Grout’s time, the club pro position did not have the stature it does today. They were there to serve the game.
“I saw Mr. Grout, in his interactions with Jack [Nicklaus]—he was filled with information, experiences, insights, but he didn’t have the need to tell you everything he knew. And when I got to meet Clayton Cole, I could see he was cut from the same cloth.
“I’ve been able to see what the PGA of America does for the game, what club pros do for the game. We get too much credit for the Drive, Chip & Putt. We get the spotlight at the end. But it’s the PGA of America that puts on these hundreds of qualifiers that allows us to get there,” Ridley said.
He’s played in the Smith Cole only once, last year, and he’d love to return — “if I was invited.”
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If you’ve had the chance to see Fred Ridley in action — at the Masters, in USGA settings, at international amateur events — you can see he has some old-time club pro in him. He’s never rushed, his comments are well-considered, he’d rather listen than talk. He’s the first to say that Jack Grout helped him get where he is. He left Columbus making a bigger shoulder turn and a longer back swing and driving it long and in play. He defeated both Andy Bean and Keith Fergus on his way to winning the 1975 U.S. Amateur. That led to two stints as the Walker Cup captain.
When Ridley was the captain of the 1987 Walker Cup team, Bill Loeffler was on his team, as the 1986 U.S. Mid-Am champion. In team photos, Loeffler stands out, the only person on the team with a mustache, a particularly luxuriant one. Loeffler, a Denver native and a Cherry Hills member, plays in the Smith Cole every year.
“Does Bill still have that mustache?” Fred Ridley asked Clayton Cole upon seeing him at Cherry Hills.
Fred Ridley, with mic, reflecting on the 1987 Walker Cup. Bill Loeffler, far left, sporting mustache.
courtesy peyton manning
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Loeffler had shaved off his soup strainer years earlier, but he had a trick up his sleeve. He got himself to a Halloween shop near his house, bought himself a gag Inspector Clouseau mustache, attached it between his nose and upper lip and presented himself to his former captain. The next photo, mental or otherwise: people laughing.
“It all goes back to the people,” Peyton Manning said the other day. “The people you get to know. The members of Cherry Hills, and the people you get to know from around the country, too. You build relationships. You can build a friendship that just never goes away. I think golf has a kind of magic and power to it. That’s what it is for me. The Smith Cole is a perfect example of that.”
Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian walks across the field prior to the NCAA football game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas on Sept. 12, 2026.
It took two weeks for college football to once again be one of the best sporting events in the country. Steve Sarkisian pulled off the big comeback win he’s been craving at Texas, and Michigan quieted some of their haters with an upset win in the Big House against Oklahoma. Here are some of the biggest questions left in the AP Top 25 after week two of college football.
The SEC is Back in the Driver’s Seat
Oklahoma dropped an embarrassing performance on the road, but the rest of the top 10 is littered with SEC powers. Texas got the biggest win of the Sark era, coming from 20 points down to beat the Buckeyes. Georgia hasn’t played anyone, but the offense has looked elite, and LSU, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Alabama have all picked up impressive wins in what could have been potential trap games.
More than just that, the Big 10 has looked wildly underwhelming. Ohio State once again curled into a ball with a big lead over a ranked opponent, biting Ryan Day in the ass; Indiana hasn’t impressed against the easiest out-of-conference schedule in the country, and the rest of the conference has not lived up to the hype whatsoever.
Why is Oregon Ranked?
Oregon quarterback Dante Moore drinks water as the Oregon Ducks host the Boise State Broncos on Sept. 5, 2026, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon.
Speaking of overhyped Big 10 schools, why is Oregon even ranked? Boise State and Oklahoma State might finish the year inside the top 25, but neither of those games showed that Oregon deserves to be ranked. Their loss this week against Oklahoma State wasn’t a fluke either; they were bullied on both sides of the ball.
Not only were they bullied, but they were bullied by an Oklahoma State team that didn’t look like they belonged on the field against Tulsa the week prior. Get rid of preseason ranking because there’s no reason that Oregon should be ranked outside of the name written on the front of their brand new uniforms.
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Virginia Controls Their Destiny in the ACC.
Sep 12, 2026; Blacksburg, Virginia, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies head coach James Franklin before the game against the Old Dominion Monarchs at Lane Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bishop-Imagn Images
Miami is obviously the class of the ACC, but it’s time to start putting a little more respect on Virginia. The Cavaliers were the most underrated team in the ACC last year, and what have they done to start the year? They wholloped a very solid NC State squad and took care of business against Norfolk State this week as well.
They’ve got another fun test this week against West Virginia, and follow that up with intriguing games against Florida State, SMU, and Duke. Beau Pribula and company could absolutely lose any of those three games, but I won’t be shocked if they go 3-0 through those games as well. If they make the ACC title game at 11-1 or 12-0, they will be an absolute lock for the playoffs by the end of the season.
The defeat marks United’s second of the season, following their opening day 2-0 humiliation at the hands of newly-promoted Hull City. The weekend clash was filled with controversy after Erling Haaland turned in Josko Gvardiol’s cross from close range, just as Enzo Fernandez threw himself into a diving header attempt.
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Though initially ruled out on the pitch for offside against Haaland, VAR overturned the decision – determining that Fernandez hadn’t interfered with play and that Patrick Dorgu had played Haaland onside. The debate only intensified after the final whistle when Pro Ref conceded the decision was an “error of judgment” and the goal should have been disallowed.
Michael Carrick‘s side have just four points from their opening four games, as one United star enjoyed glowing praise despite the defeat, while a club icon aimed their wrath at Marcus Rashford and numerous first-team stars.
Mainoo verdict
Kobbie Mainoo’s display at Old Trafford was amongst the few bright spots Carrick could draw from the match. The England star came within inches of opening his account for the season after rattling the post with a long-range effort.
When questioned about facing Mainoo, the £116million man said: “It was great. It was a good battle. He’s a top, top player, you know, and it’s always tough playing against Kobbie, but yeah, he’s a real good player and a real nice guy.”
United icon slams stars
Manchester United icon Jaap Stam was visibly frustrated by the failure of Marcus Rashford, alongside team-mates Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Bruno Fernandes, to track back during Sunday’s defeat. The Dutchman charged the attacking four with lacking sufficient intensity in the build-up to Haaland’s winning goal.
The former defender said: “It’s a long ball, they win it, City takes over and look at the front four [of United]. They’re just walking, they’re just looking at the situation. A team that really wants to win, the strikers, it’s about all the 11, it’s about chasing.
“Against ten men, it’s about tracking back, it’s about winning battles. From then on, you keep possession, you go out in transition and then you try to create and score goals.”
Leeds demolished Newcastle 4-1 to climb up to third in the Premier League table on Monday and inflict a punishing first defeat for Magpies boss Matthias Jaissle. A Lewis Miley own goal opened the floodgates before Jayden Bogle, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Noah Okafor completed the rout at Elland Road. Newcastle had made a positive start under Jaissle despite the upheaval of losing manager Eddie Howe and key players Anthony Gordon, Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali in the off-season. Despite being owned by the financial might of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, Newcastle targeted rising stars to fill the void of those that left and were outmuscled by a more experienced Leeds.
“It was clear from the start and I said that many times that we will have up and downs, challenges along the way,” said Jaissle. “We faced that challenge and it’s tough, it’s really tough.”
A bad night for the visitors began inside the first 20 minutes when Nico Gonzalez had to be replaced as a concussion substitute.
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That left 18-year-old Sean Steur and Lewis Miley, 20, together at the heart of the Newcastle midfield and the later unfortunately had the final touch after Ao Tanaka’s strike took two deflections before looping into the net.
The visitors failed to regain their composure as just two minutes later Leeds doubled their advantage.
Calvert-Lewin rose highest to meet James Justin’s cross but his header flicked off Bogle as it found the bottom corner and the right-back was given the goal.
Leeds’ number nine did not have to wait long to make sure he did score for the fifth consecutive league game at Elland Road.
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Calvert-Lewin bulldozed his way past Sven Botman before sliding the ball under Lukas Hornicek in the Newcastle goal.
Anton Stach should have added a fourth early in the second period when he pounced on a slack Hornicek pass out from the pack but dinked the ball just wide.
Okafor did make it 4-0 before the hour mark when he volleyed in from the edge of the box after Newcastle failed to clear a long throw.
“Perfect start right now with eight points, terrific performance,” said Leeds boss Daniel Farke. “Energy, quality and good structure in and without possession.”
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Bazoumana Toure netted a consolation in stoppage time to reduce Newcastle’s arrears, but the damage was long since done.
Victory takes Farke’s men behind only defending champions Arsenal and Manchester City.
Newcastle remain on five points but slip down to 12th due to their negative goal difference.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Trainer Mick Price is realistic about the chances of Sabaj and Planet Red in this Saturday’s Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes, acknowledging they need all factors to align for a victory, but he is committed to giving them their best possible shot.
The Cranbourne conditioner, operating alongside Michael Kent Jnr, has diligently worked to ensure the pair are sufficiently sharp for the $1 million race over 1400 metres.
While their primary objectives lie over longer distances later in the spring, Price has adapted their training routines leading into their second-up attempts and is content with their response.
‘I cut their work down to half-mile (800m), home ‘three’ (600m) on the grass and they were both perky,’ Price commented on their workout on Saturday morning.
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‘Both of those horses, their best distance is 1600 and we’re trying to win a 1400-metre race with them, so I need them jumping up and down a little bit.
‘They’re nice and fresh and they should show up at the end of 1400.’
Planet Red and Sabaj made their seasonal reappearances in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) on August 29, finishing seventh and last respectively in the twelve-strong field that Beiwacht won.
The Memsie Stakes marked the initial phase of Planet Red’s campaign towards the $10 million Group 1 Golden Eagle (1400m) on October 31, while Sabaj’s main ambition is the $2 million Five Diamonds (1800m) seven days thereafter.
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Both horses are set to progress to those feature events via the Group 1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) on October 10, and Price indicated that this weekend’s race is the ideal preparatory run for that target.
‘That (1400m) is not their ideal distance in a Group 1 handicap on top of the ground where they might run 1:22-something if it’s a good-run race,’ Price stated. ‘But this is the race we want to use to go to the Toorak and they’re both going well.’
Planet Red and Sabaj are among 24 acceptors for the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes, with Lady Shenandoah, Sepals, and Angel Capital also expected to feature in the line-up.
This is one of two $1 million Group 1 races scheduled at Caulfield this Saturday, the other being the Underwood Stakes (1800m), which has attracted 15 nominations including prominent contenders such as Cosmic Crusader, Aeliana, Birdman, Buckaroo, and Lindermann.
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Considering a punt on the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes? Check out the comprehensive racing betting markets available at betting sites for the best odds.
Pollock’s deal with the Gallagher Prem club is due to expire at the end of this season and, while The Independent understands that talks are progressing well and there is confidence at Saints that he will re-sign, the 21-year-old is yet to agree terms.
The youngster was described as a £1m player by Eddie Hearn, who oversees his commercial deals under his Matchroom agency, though is expected to be in line for a deal worth around £450,000 a year.
Pollock insists, though, that is keeping an open mind, hinting that he hopes to play abroad and potentially try another sport in the future.
“I’m very much at the minute working through different scenarios and different avenues I can take,” Pollock explained. “The big thing for me is making sure that my management are happy with it and they’re doing all that stuff.
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“I’m open to every opportunity. I’m not going to say no to stuff that I think will be good for my career and good for me. I’m very young but I’m still very open to lots of new things.
“Obviously, Northampton’s been so great to me. I’ve stayed here, I’ve been here my whole career and they’ve made me who I am. For me to stay here would be so special. Obviously, I know it’s not as easy as that and I know there’s lots of moving parts that come into play.
Henry Pollock is open to alternative opportunities (PA)
“I think for me, you almost have to be quite selfish in that aspect think what’s right for you. If that is staying here, then that’s great. I’ll be here for however long. If it’s not, then I’ll be open to new opportunities. I’ll be open to doing different things, selfishly I think it’s down to me at the end of the day. I definitely want to go and live in different countries, explore new sports, explore new avenues. Again, that’s all down to the management team. I’m just speaking to them loads and assessing my options and seeing what’s right for myself.”
Pollock, who did not specify which other sports he might wish to explore, became Matchroom’s first rugby client when he signed with Hearn’s agency in March, though his contract with Northampton does not fall under their purview.
Eddie Hearn signed Henry Pollock as a clientearlier this year (Getty)
“I don’t see it as pressure,” Pollock stressed. “I see it as him doing his job.
“He’s the best sports promoter in the world. The reason he’s the best is because he gets his client what he deserves.If he’s saying that about me then for me it’s just noise.
“Eddie’s been great for me and he’s given me so many avenues to get into. The way that he can give me access to loads of different stuff has been amazing. I have no bad words about him. The sport of rugby needs to change and hopefully this is a change.”
Northampton are due to open their Prem campaign against the Newcastle Red Bulls next Friday. Director of rugby Phil Dowson is hopeful that Pollock’s deal is done soon.
“We’re getting closer. As you can imagine it’s complex. There’s a few moving parts that we need to put together. But I’m hopeful. As I said before, he wants to stay and we want to keep him. Obviously there’s some negotiations going between that but those two things are very positive.
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“It would have been good to have it sorted three weeks ago but that’s the case across the board. There’s lots of guys out of contract and that can be weighing in the back of their mind in how we managed and how we talk to them and their agents. What I’m always impressed by is with how professional the lads are in terms of still having a job to do. The best way of getting paid is to play well so that’s what we expect the lads to do.”
The forward was omitted from Spurs’ 25-man Premier League list submitted earlier this month after being told he is surplus to requirements. Having failed to secure a departure, he remains eligible for domestic cup competitions.
However, De Zerbi confirmed the former Everton player, who rejected a move to Vasco da Gama on Friday, will not feature. This comes despite his record of four goals in seven games against Liverpool for Spurs, who have not scored in the league during 2026-27.
“Richarlison, you already know everything and nothing change for Carabao Cup or Premier League. The situation is the same,” De Zerbi said.
“I stay in the middle and I can’t say nothing more because it is not my job. I can answer about the result and the players in the squad, the offensive phase, the defensive phase, but not for other things.
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Richarlison cannot play in the Premier League until January (Adam Davy/PA) (PA Wire)
“What I have done at the beginning of this season has been to speak with him and to propose an extension of the contract. If he said, ‘no thank you,’ I finished my job.
“I said last press conference. I know what happened in the last 45 days. It’s not right if I explained. It’s not my behaviour. The relationship, the problem is between the player and the club.
“I stay within the club. It’s coach and club together. At the start of this season I spoke to him many times to convince him to stay and he didn’t want to. I can’t go every day to pray for him to stay.”
This is the latest chapter in an unwanted saga involving Richarlison, who responded to a social media post by Italian football journalist Fabrizio Romano that confirmed De Zerbi’s decision by simply posting the word “Why?” with a ‘crying face’ emoji.
Richarlison started the league opener at Brentford, but was told he can leave before a move to Everton collapsed and links to Trabzonspor failed to turn into a move.
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After Richarlison did not agree personal terms with boyhood club Vasco on Friday, he was in attendance for Spurs’ goalless draw with Everton, but will remain on the sidelines.
De Zerbi will also be without Pedro Porro and Sandro Tonali for the midweek trip to Anfield.
After a 0-0 draw at Everton, De Zerbi talked about playing with “other players” at Liverpool, but hinted he will not make wholesale changes.
De Zerbi added: “No, the other players, I think Lucas Bergvall is not ‘other player’, Mathys Tel also and then we have to analyse the other players.
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“Maybe the players who didn’t play enough but I already said I am lucky because for centre back for example we have JP van Hecke and (Micky) van de Ven, two top players, but (Marcos) Senesi, Ben Davies, Tosin (Adarabioyo) are not less than Van de Ven and Van Hecke.
“I would like to go far in the Carabao and FA Cup.”
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday said any decision on India’s participation in the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games 2027 to be held in Pakistan is guided by the recent policy of the sports ministry.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said this in his response to a query at his media briefing, where he was asked about some reports related to India and the SAF Games.
“Your second question about the news about India’s participation in SAF Games. India’s participation in any international tournament or a multilateral championship is guided by the recent policy that has been announced by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
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“And that policy is there in public domain, so please have a look at that. There we are guided by what directions or what the international bodies, sports bodies have to say on such matters, as also the interest of our sports people,” Jaiswal said.
Pakistan will host the SAF Games from April 3 to 11 across Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar next year. The South Asia Olympic Council (SAOC) approved the dates and venues for the regional multi-sport event at a recent meeting in Islamabad, according to the Olympics webiste.
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on its website carries a file, titled ‘Indian Policy Towards International Sporting Events’.
“With regard to international and multilateral events, in India or abroad, we are guided by the practices of international sports bodies and the interest of our own sportspersons. It is also relevant to take into account India’s emergence as a credible venue to host international sports events,” reads the policy.
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“Accordingly, Indian teams and individual players will take part in international events that also have teams or players from Pakistan. Similarly, Pakistani players and teams will be able to participate in such multilateral events hosted by India,” it says.
The MEA spokesperson was also asked about the latest update in cases related to six Ukrainians and US national Matthew Aaron Van Dyke.
“On the question of the US and Ukrainian nationals whose matter you referred to is in the court right now. This is a legal matter and it will proceed as per the directions of the court,” Jaiswal said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against the seven foreign nationals, including Van Dyke, for illegal entry, stay and movement, but did not invoke the anti-terror law UAPA, after arresting them in a terror conspiracy case for alleged links to ethnic armed groups in India.
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The NIA chargesheet, filed before Special Judge Prashant Sharma, accused the seven of offences under sections 21 and 23 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act and said “more time is required to ascertain and verify the true and complete facts about the commission of offences under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act”.
US national Van Dyke had been arrested by the NIA from Kolkata airport, while Ukrainian citizens Petro Hurba, Taras Slyviak and Ivan Sukmanovskyi were arrested from Lucknow airport on March 13. Three other Ukrainians –Marian Stefankiv, Maksim Honcharuk and Viktor Kaminskyi — were arrested from Delhi airport the same day.
It was alleged that the group was operating as mercenaries.
John Sargent is relying on his extensive experience training three-year-old fillies to give Global Goal the optimal chance at Group One success this Spring.
The daughter of Pinatubo is scheduled to compete in the Group 2 Tea Rose Stakes, a 1400-metre race at Randwick on Saturday. Sargent strategically decided to bypass the Furious Stakes, the second event in the Princess Series, after Global Goal’s promising third-place finish in the Silver Shadow Stakes on her seasonal return.
Having recorded the fastest final 200 metres behind Pembrey in the Silver Shadow Stakes, Sargent opted to give Global Goal a trial last Friday. He was mindful of the racing workload for the lightly built filly, considering she will be making only her third career start this Saturday.
“She seems to have done well since the Silver Shadow,” Sargent confirmed.
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“We’ve just spaced her runs and gave her a trial the other day and I’ve added side winkers as she just seems to go through a flat patch in her races.”
“It seems to have got her to concentrate better so she’ll wear those on Saturday, and the extra distance should help.”
Sargent, who previously won the Tea Rose Stakes with Four Moves Ahead in 2021 for Pinecliff Racing, is keen for Global Goal to step up in distance, with the Group 1 Flight Stakes over 1600 metres being her ultimate target.
Four Moves Ahead finished sixth in the Flight Stakes that year. Sargent also achieved success with Foxborough, who secured third place behind Funstar in 2019, and Powers Of Opal, who finished fourth to Lady Shenandoah in 2024.
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While Powers Of Opal went on to finish second in both the Wakeful Stakes and the VRC Oaks later in the Spring, Sargent indicated that Global Goal would likely not be raced beyond a mile.
“She’s owned by the same owners as Four Moves Ahead, and she went to the Furious and then went and won the Tea Rose,” Sargent explained.
“But this filly’s probably a lighter filly than that, so she doesn’t need a lot, so I decided to miss that race and carry on to the Flight Stakes.”
“She’s probably not big and robust enough to be an Oaks horse, she’s more a 1400 to a mile type horse, I think.”
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“There’s always a Thousand Guineas which is a bit later that she’s nominated for, but no, we’ll just look at those races and if she could happen to win one of those, we’d probably put her aside and look at the Autumn.”
Global Goal is currently a $4.50 chance for the Tea Rose Stakes and a $7 chance for the Flight Stakes on October 3rd. Bet on the upcoming races at racing betting markets.
Sun Goddess (4/7 favourite) followed up on her recent York success with victory in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes at The Curragh on Sunday afternoon.
In the colours of the Coolmore partners, the daughter of Justify was winning for a fifth times from seven career starts.
Trained at Ballydoyle by Aidan O’Brien, and ridden by Ryan Moore, the two-year-old out of the Starspangledbanner daughter Etoile Bleu ran out an easy six-and-a-half length winner over Green Express (3/1) and Colin Keane.
Dancing Destiny (14/1), like the runner-up, trained by Joseph O’Brien, finished third one-and-three-quarter lengths furthar back, under jockey Declan McDonagh.
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“She looks a freak.”
Aidan O’Brien offers a succinct analysis of Sun Goddess following her jaw-dropping success in the Moyglare …
Pakistan cricket legend and the country’s former Prime Minister, Imran Khan, continues to draw attention from the global cricketing fraternity. Twenty-one international captains recently wrote to the Pakistan government, urging better treatment of Imran Khan, who has been in prison since 2023. Now, one of the greatest pacers of all time, Michael Holding, has joined the bandwagon in support of the jailed former Pakistan cricket team captain. While Holding, a West Indies cricket legend, is wary of the politics behind the imprisonment, he didn’t shy away from speaking highly of the person Imran Khan is.
Holding and Imran didn’t play a lot of matches against each other in international cricket, but they did spend quality time in each other’s company. Holding highlighted that when Imran was in London to raise funds for a cancer hospital, he accompanied him. This was when he came to know deeply who the person is.
“I’ll mention one name, Imran Khan, but you probably don’t want to go down the political route, and I don’t want to either, but that’s a sad story. It has become one of the former Pakistan captain’s defining legacies. I played with Imran, I wouldn’t say I played a lot. I played some one-day games with him. I played county cricket, a few games against Imran, but apart from playing with Imran, I have spent time with Imran,” Holding said during a chat with Sports Now.
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“When Imran was going around London looking to garner funds for that cancer hospital, I went around with him, I tried to support him as best as I possibly could, where that was concerned. So I know the man, and I know exactly what type of person that he is. And it’s extremely sad to see the situation now and what is going on with Imran Khan,” the 72-year-old recalled.
Recently, during Pakistan’s tour of England, an interview featured Imran Khan’s sons where they spoke about how much the health of the former cricketer has deteriorated in prison. The two sons even alleged that the Pakistan government isn’t allowing them to meet their father, while also denying treatment in a private hospital. This worsening condition has seen former international captains write two letters to the Pakistan government, urging intervention and better treatment.
#PAKWatch🇵🇰: Today, THOUSANDS took to the streets of Lahore to DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF IMRAN KHAN.
Holding also extended support to the letter. Targeting the Pakistan government, Holding expressed disappointment at the way Imran is being treated.
“I am in total support of the captains who wrote that letter. I don’t know what effect it will have, but I am in total support of trying to get the man to be treated just like another human being. You don’t treat human beings that way. People who have committed murder aren’t treated that way. So I don’t see the reason why this man should be treated that way,” Holding said.
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“I don’t know if there’s jealousy involved in this, because Imran Khan. I don’t think there’s a Pakistani who is more well-known around the world than Imran Khan. That is ridiculous, the way the man is being treated,” he added.
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“She looks a freak.”
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