England have defended their world crown in wheelchair rugby league, beating old rivals France 50-38 in a final in Wollongong, Australia, that was far tighter than the scoreline suggests. It was England’s third world title and a successful defence of the one they won on home soil in 2022.

A final that swung back and forth

Joe Coyd scored four tries for the winners. His early double put England 10-0 up, but France responded with four unanswered tries. Florian Guttadoro’s finish on the right made it 22-10 to the French, and for a while the momentum belonged to Cyril Torres’ side.

England answered before the break. Coyd completed a hat-trick just past the half-hour mark, and quick tries from Jack Brown and Rob Hawkins gave them a 28-22 half-time lead. France drew level soon after the restart, with Dany Denuwelaere scoring, and the match looked set to repeat the 28-24 finish of four years ago in Manchester.

England’s late surge settles it

Hawkins broke the deadlock with an acrobatic second try that came against the run of play. Coyd’s fourth gave England breathing space, and Brown added two more to complete a hat-trick of his own. Nathan Collins kicked six conversions. Denuwelaere kept scoring for France and completed a hat-trick in the final minute, but by then the result was beyond doubt.

Hawkins had a good week away from the scoring. He was named winner of the Golden Boot and the world’s best player for a record third year running. The final also had a family angle, as Coyd is the brother of England head coach Tom Coyd.

A rivalry built on respect

This was the fourth straight World Cup final between the two nations, who have shared the previous four titles between them. The Guardian described their meetings as thunderous and at times controversial on the field, but marked by great respect off it. That mutual regard is part of what makes wheelchair rugby league distinctive, since disabled and able-bodied athletes compete alongside one another.

The wider significance may lie beyond the trophy. The Guardian highlighted England’s Finlay O’Neill, who watched the 2022 final from home. Told he could no longer play the running game for health reasons, he was inspired to take up wheelchair rugby league and is now one of its rising stars. The hope is that Friday’s win gives the same push to other people watching at home.

For England, the result confirms their place at the top of the sport. For the sport itself, a closely fought final between its two strongest nations shows what it can offer.

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File photo: England wheelchair rugby league team celebrating at Old Trafford.jpg by Fleets, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Australia captain Pat Cummins has answered the Khawaja sandpaper claims with a marathon press conference, rejecting the suggestion that the whole 2018 team knew about the ball-tampering plot as “100% wrong” and “complete and utter nonsense”. The 68-minute session in Sydney on Friday was one Cummins arranged himself. He promised to answer every question because, he said, he did not want to discuss the matter again afterwards.

What Khawaja alleged in his book

The row began with Sabr, the autobiography of Usman Khawaja, who retired from international cricket in January. In it, and in a related newspaper interview, Khawaja says knowledge of the Cape Town plan went well beyond Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, the three players banned by Cricket Australia. He suggests sandpaper was used in the preceding Test as well and says he asked for the whole team to share responsibility, only for two unnamed team-mates to reject the idea. He also criticises an investigation that never interviewed him, even though he sat beside Bancroft in the dressing room during the match.

Cummins’ defence

Cummins drew a careful line. If “we all knew” means everyone knew sandpaper was going onto the field, he said, that is wrong, and he has said so consistently for eight years. What angered him more, he said, was the book’s suggestion that he and others were “architects” of a scheme. He also said he did not recall any conversation about collective responsibility, so he had no idea who the two players might be.

He rejected the idea of a grand plan, saying there was “no team meeting” and no bowlers insisting on a course of action. He said he saw nothing unusual on the ball and noted that umpires inspected it too. He explained that sandpaper could be in the dressing room because bowlers sometimes used it in training to practise with a reverse-swinging ball. He added that he had no recollection of tampering during the 2017-18 Ashes.

Cummins did not present the 2018 side as blameless. He conceded it had a “win-at-all-costs” mentality and an “ugly underbelly” that he says he has spent his captaincy trying to remove. He also called the one-year bans for Smith and Warner and the nine-month suspension for Bancroft “heavy handed”.

Friendship, lawyers and a divided dressing room

The tone was personal as well as defensive. “Friends aren’t casual with each other’s lives and reputations,” Cummins said, adding that he supports Khawaja’s right to tell his story. He said he had been advised that some of the claims were probably defamatory but would not take legal action. He has spoken to Khawaja and Smith since the book came out, but not to Warner.

Warner made his own position clear soon afterwards. Speaking as a commentator, he said he stood by Khawaja’s account and felt Cummins had “thrown Uzzy under the bus”. He said the matter would not rest until “the truth is accepted”. Seam bowler Chadd Sayers, who was on the 2018 tour, has also backed Khawaja. Against that, former coach Darren Lehmann, his then assistant Graeme Hick and bowler Mitchell Starc have rejected the claims.

Why the Khawaja sandpaper claims keep resonating

The spotlight falls hardest on the bowling attack in Cape Town. Cummins, Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon remain Australia’s first-choice quartet and have long denied any knowledge of the plot, including in a joint statement in 2021. Critics have seized on how carefully worded that statement was, which is part of why the row has stayed alive.

Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg has reviewed the files from the original investigation, and Cummins said he had met him. Reports indicate Greenberg does not intend to reopen the inquiry. That leaves two sets of recollections from the same dressing room and no formal process to settle them. Cummins’ hope that Friday’s session would be the last word looks optimistic given Warner’s response.

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File photo: RSA vs AUS Day 1 – Pat Cummins.jpg by EGilham, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Michael Carrick has been sacked as Manchester United head coach, with the club sitting in the Premier League relegation zone and Mauricio Pochettino widely reported to be next in line. The decision came just days after a wild 4-4 draw with Aston Villa at Old Trafford, a result that was not enough to ease the pressure on the former midfielder.

Why Carrick was sacked

The numbers behind the decision are bleak. United have taken one win from ten league games, their worst start to a top-flight campaign in around 40 years according to the Independent. PA puts it as the club’s worst domestic start since 1986. Across all competitions Carrick won only three of 15 matches this season. The Independent also notes that United have conceded the first two goals in five straight games.

The Villa draw encapsulated the problem. United twice came back from two goals down to rescue a point, days after beating Roma 3-2 in the Champions League. Neither result changed the picture in the league, where they are 18th. The Guardian reports they are a point behind 17th-placed Coventry.

The process moved quickly. PA reports that chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox met co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe in Monaco on Wednesday, a day after Carrick took training at Carrington. The Guardian describes a review led by Wilcox, followed by a recommendation to Ratcliffe, who controls sporting policy. Carrick had been given more time two weeks earlier, after a 4-1 Champions League defeat at Como and a 3-0 home loss to Bournemouth.

Pochettino close to Old Trafford return

Reports differ slightly on how far talks have advanced. The Independent says Pochettino has reached a verbal agreement, while PA describes a framework for him to succeed Carrick and Sky says an agreement is in place. Pochettino is currently the United States head coach, and there is no formal announcement of his appointment in the sources.

The cost is reported differently too. PA cites a release clause of about $10 million, while the Independent estimates £7m. Both say US Soccer is prepared for his departure. The Guardian’s coverage indicates he is expected to take charge of the national team for its next two matches before moving. PA adds that Eddie Howe and Julian Nagelsmann were in the early running before Pochettino became the overwhelming favourite.

Anger over how the exit was handled

Carrick took over as interim boss after Ruben Amorim’s acrimonious exit in January and steered United to third in the league and Champions League qualification. He then received a two-year contract, which Sky notes was signed less than six months ago. He is the seventh United manager dismissed since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.

In a statement, the club called Carrick “a Manchester United legend” and said it had reached an “extremely difficult conclusion” that a change was needed. Not everyone accepted that framing. PA says the handling of his exit has caused anger outside the club and in some quarters within it. Former goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel called the treatment disrespectful and argued that the real problems lie above the manager.

That view is widely shared. The Guardian reports a fans’ group pointing the finger at the Glazers, and its coverage describes recent home games in which supporters directed chants at those above Carrick and demanded the owners sell. Wilcox has taken much of the individual criticism, including a public attack from defender Lisandro Martínez, who was sent off in the defeat at Chelsea.

What awaits the next head coach

Whoever takes the job inherits an unbalanced squad that PA says is short of confidence and quality, notably at left-back and up front. The first test after the international break is a trip to Liverpool on November 22. Ineos’ stated ambition of winning the title in 2028, the club’s 150th anniversary year, looks fanciful from the bottom three.

The Carrick sacking resolves one question and leaves another. Replacing the head coach may steady results, but the criticism from fans, pundits and former players suggests the pressure on the club’s leadership will outlast any change in the dugout.

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File photo: Michael Carrick 12042025 (5) (cropped).jpg by Timmy96, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Frankie Muniz crash at Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday sent the actor and NASCAR driver to a hospital, but he was released the same day with soreness and no further injuries reported in the coverage so far. The “Malcolm in the Middle” star was practicing for a Veterans Day charity race when the accident happened, and he missed the event itself.

Muniz, 40, was at the Florida track for Ford’s “Proud to Honor Veterans Day Classic.” The exhibition race was meant to recognize military veterans and raise support for six nonprofits serving military and veteran communities. According to Variety, citing Entertainment Tonight, the crash happened during a practice lap while the speedway was closed to the public.

What we know about the Frankie Muniz crash

Ford Racing said Muniz was taken to a local medical facility for evaluation and was awake and alert. Reports did not describe how the crash happened or how badly the car was damaged. After evaluation he was cleared to leave, though he was not cleared to return to the track that night.

His own statement, published by Ford Racing, struck a mix of relief and disappointment. “I am a little sore, but my Mustang did its job in protecting me,” he said. He added that he was disappointed to miss the event and had been “looking forward to honoring the service of our veterans and racing against these other amazing drivers.” He thanked Ford Racing, Daytona International Speedway and the hospital staff, along with fans who sent messages and prayers.

A replacement and a missing co-star

Muniz was set to race for Team Air Force. According to The Independent, Ford development driver Jenson Altzman took his place. Another outlet reported he was due to race alongside NASCAR driver Austin Cindric.

Entertainment Tonight reported that Bryan Cranston, Muniz’s “Malcolm in the Middle” co-star, was also expected at the event to support him. Cranston joined Muniz in the show’s four-episode Disney+ revival earlier this year. The reports do not say whether Cranston still attended after the crash.

A racing career that predates the comeback

The incident is a reminder that Muniz’s racing is no celebrity sideline. Variety notes he began a second career as a racing driver in 2006. He now competes in NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series for Reaume Brothers Racing, driving the No. 33 Ford. Variety says he finished 25th in this year’s standings.

The sources differ slightly on how long he has run the full series. One says he has competed in the last three consecutive seasons, while another describes 2025 as his full-time debut and 2026 as his second year. Either way, he has balanced both careers. He filmed the “Malcolm in the Middle” revival around his racing schedule. As he told Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass last year, “I was the first person that they ever had to work around… But obviously I was a race car driver before they greenlit this show.”

For now, the picture after the Frankie Muniz crash is a reassuring one. He is back home rather than in a hospital bed, and he has publicly credited the car’s protection. The coverage so far says nothing about whether the soreness will affect his plans for the next Truck Series season.

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File photo: Frankie Muniz 2011.jpg by Real TV Films/Carole Lowe Photography, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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Dan Hicks, the NBC Sports announcer whose voice accompanied some of golf’s and swimming’s most memorable moments, has died at 64. His wife, ESPN broadcaster Hannah Storm, announced that he died late Wednesday in Connecticut of an acute illness. She called the loss “sudden and unexpected.”

The news came just days before Hicks was due in the booth for Notre Dame’s game against Boston College on Saturday. It was his seventh season as the Fighting Irish’s play-by-play man. That detail underlines how abruptly the death arrived for a broadcaster who, by every account, was still working at the top of his profession.

A career built on golf, the Olympics and Notre Dame

Hicks joined NBC Sports in 1992 after three years as a sports anchor at CNN. He first worked NFL and NBA games before becoming one of the network’s most recognizable voices. In 2000 he became NBC’s lead golf play-by-play announcer, a job he held for 26 years. In that role he called the U.S. Open, the Ryder Cup, the Players Championship and other events, and he was on the call for 27 of Tiger Woods’s tournament victories.

Golf was his favorite sport, according to the Associated Press. One of his best-known calls came at the 2008 U.S. Open, when Woods sank a putt to force a playoff. “Expect anything different?” Hicks said. NBC and Golf Channel both highlighted that line in their tributes. The PGA Tour said his voice “is woven into our memories of the game.”

The sound of Olympic swimming

Away from the fairways, Hicks was just as closely tied to the pool. Alongside analyst Rowdy Gaines, he called swimming at eight Summer Olympics. Together they described Michael Phelps’s eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games and Katie Ledecky’s 14 medals across four Olympics. Deadline reports that Hicks called all 28 of Phelps’s Olympic medals, 23 of them gold, between 2004 and 2016.

His Olympic résumé began with the 1992 Barcelona Games, where he hosted the triplecast. He later added skiing and speed skating. Most recently he was NBC’s lead alpine skiing commentator at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games. The U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team said his voice “became part of the fabric of alpine racing.” Hicks also shared in a Sports Emmy for NBCUniversal’s 2024 Paris Olympics coverage.

The sources differ slightly on the numbers. Some count 34 years at NBC and 15 Olympics, while others say he had begun his 35th season and worked 16 Games. The gap likely comes from how the years and the Milan Cortina assignment were counted, and it does not change the picture of a career that spanned more than three decades. His other work included regional NFL games from 1992 to 1997, five French Opens, NBA coverage through 2000 and Notre Dame games from 2013 to 2016, before his return in 2024.

Remembered as much for kindness as for calls

The tributes dwelt less on the broadcasts than on the man. NBC Sports leaders Rick Cordella, Sam Flood and Molly Solomon called him an “exceptional storyteller” whose “knowledge, style, enthusiasm and humor” informed and entertained fans. They added that he greeted teammates “with a smile, a joke, or a word of encouragement, sometimes all three in the same sentence.”

Mark Lazarus, CEO of Versant and a longtime overseer of NBC Sports, said what he would remember most was “the person he was: a loyal friend and a devoted husband and father.” The USGA called Hicks “a true friend to the game” whose warmth and generosity touched everyone who knew him.

Storm’s statement was the most personal. “When he walked into a room, he brought the energy, the laughter and the people together,” she said. “He was endlessly kind, thoughtful and funny, and he made everyone feel like they mattered.”

Hicks was born in Tucson, Arizona, and graduated in journalism from the University of Arizona. He worked in local radio and television there before moving to CNN in 1989. In an Associated Press interview in September, he said he felt “incredibly lucky to stay at one place this long” and appreciated it “more and more the longer it’s been.”

Hicks and Storm had been married for more than 30 years. He is survived by her and their three daughters.

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The search for a new Crystal Palace manager is under way after Pierre Sage was sacked on Thursday, just 16 games into a three-year contract, with Thomas Frank in advanced talks to take over. The Frenchman leaves with Palace bottom of the Premier League, and the club is expected to have spent well over £10m on a short, unsuccessful tenure.

A short reign with an expensive exit

According to the Guardian, the decision was taken on Sunday evening after a 3-1 home defeat by Liverpool, but talks over compensation held up the announcement. Palace are understood to have agreed to pay Sage 18 months of a contract reportedly worth about £4m a year. Add the more than £4m the club paid to buy him out of his deal at Lens in the summer, and the total outlay passes £10m.

Three members of his coaching staff, Jamal Alioui, Damien Della Santa and Sandy Guichard, have also left. In a short statement, the club thanked Sage and his team for their efforts “in south London” and promised an update on the managerial search “in due course”.

What went wrong at Selhurst Park

The numbers explain the club’s impatience. Palace have taken seven points from 10 league games, with wins only over Fulham and Nottingham Forest. They have lost four league matches in a row and have conceded 24 goals, the most in the division. Across all competitions Sage won five of his 16 games. The run included a 5-0 defeat by rivals Brighton, after which he spoke of his “shame”. They are also 21st in the 36-team Europa League table.

The defensive problems are central to the story. Palace lost Marc Guéhi to Manchester City in January and Maxence Lacroix to Chelsea in the summer, and the replacements brought in, the loanee Axel Disasi and a young loan signing, have not steadied the back line. The Guardian reports that Sage was also frustrated not to land one of his main targets, the winger Malick Fofana, and had fallen out with the board over the lack of adequate replacements for the two centre-backs.

The BBC adds that injuries did not help, and that the absence of Jean-Philippe Mateta and Ismaila Sarr, caused by a mix of fitness issues and personal matters linked to their desire to leave, took away key attacking options. There was some sympathy for Sage inside the club after the Brighton loss, the BBC says, but three more defeats ended it.

Relations at the top also appear to have frayed. The Guardian reports that chair Steve Parish was unhappy with how Sage handled centre-back Jaydee Canvot, who was dropped for September’s home defeat by Ipswich, and with the substitution of Adam Wharton in that same game.

Why Thomas Frank is the favourite

Frank has been out of work since Tottenham dismissed him in February, with the team 16th and on an eight-match winless league run. The BBC says he chose not to take a job in the summer. The Guardian says he spoke to Palace then and is keen for a fresh challenge after his successful years at Brentford. Palace see him as the man to steer them away from relegation trouble, and the BBC reports that talks are in their closing stages, with hopes of a deal before players return from international duty next week. The Independent says bookmakers suspended betting on his appointment.

Others have been considered. Sean Dyche, who has supporters within the club, and Toulouse’s Jens Berthel Askou have both been linked, and the Guardian also mentions Vítor Pereira. The BBC notes that Fulham showed interest in Frank amid uncertainty over their own manager, but their improved results eased that threat. Palace’s next league game is at Coventry on 21 November, and the club hopes Frank will be in the dugout.

What happens next for Sage

Sage may not stay out of work for long. Lens sacked Yannick Cahuzac on Tuesday, and the Guardian reports that owner Joseph Oughourlian has kept in close contact with Sage and has discussed a return. Sage won the Coupe de France and qualified for the Champions League in his last season there. The BBC puts him second in Ligue 1 that year, a record that made him an attractive successor to Oliver Glasner.

Glasner, now at Nottingham Forest, left a high bar after Palace’s first FA Cup and a European trophy under his watch. Sage was the second Premier League manager sacked this season, hours after Manchester United dismissed Michael Carrick. For whoever becomes the next Crystal Palace manager, the task is immediate: fix a leaky defence, settle a restless squad, and pull a club that finished last season with silverware out of the bottom three.

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File photo: Pierre Sage lors d’un entraînement.jpg by Zz42, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Bob Boone, the seven-time Gold Glove catcher who helped deliver the Philadelphia Phillies their first World Series championship and anchored baseball’s first three-generation family, has died at 78. His son Bret Boone announced the news on social media Tuesday. No cause of death was given.

“He taught me how to be a pro and more importantly, how to be a man,” Bret wrote on X, calling his father “one of the highest integrity people I’ve ever known.” He ended the post with the words, “Baseball lost a great one.” The Phillies called Boone “an incredible player, teammate and family man” in a statement.

A Catcher Built for the Long Haul

Boone’s career was defined by durability. He was a sixth-round pick out of Stanford in 1969, drafted as a third baseman, and he moved behind the plate in the minor leagues. He went on to play 19 big league seasons: ten with Philadelphia, seven with the California Angels and two with the Kansas City Royals. He caught 2,225 games in total, including 1,095 for the Phillies, which ranks second in franchise history behind Red Dooin.

While in Kansas City, he set the record for career games caught at 1,919. Ivan Rodriguez and Carlton Fisk later passed that mark. Boone won his final Gold Glove in 1989 at age 41. He was the first Phillies catcher to win the award, taking it in 1978 and 1979, and he added four more with the Angels. Accounts differ slightly on his All-Star total, with some outlets listing three selections and others four. The count appears to be three with Philadelphia (1976, 1978 and 1979) plus one more with the Angels.

The 1980 Phillies and a Famous Pop-Up

The defining moment of Boone’s career came in the 1980 World Series against Kansas City. He led the Phillies with a .412 average in the series. In Game 6 at Veterans Stadium, a foul pop-up off Frank White’s bat popped out of Boone’s mitt and into the glove of first baseman Pete Rose, a moment that became a staple of baseball highlight reels. Boone then caught the final out when Tug McGraw struck out Willie Wilson, ending the franchise’s long wait for a title.

Boone’s October work did not end there. With the Angels, he hit .455 (10-for-22) with a homer and two RBIs against Boston in the 1986 ALCS. The Phillies inducted him into their Wall of Fame in 2005, and he was a visible presence at team ceremonies years later.

Baseball’s First Three-Generation Family

Boone’s place in the sport’s history was also a matter of family. His father, Ray, played 13 major league seasons and won a World Series with the Cleveland Indians. That made the Boones the first family in MLB history to produce three generations of big leaguers. Bob’s sons followed. Bret was a three-time All-Star over 14 seasons, mostly with the Seattle Mariners. Aaron played in the majors, including a stint under his father in Cincinnati, and now manages the New York Yankees. Sources differ on the length of Aaron’s playing career, giving it as 12 or 13 seasons. A third son played in the minors, and Bret’s son Jake, who played at Princeton and in the minors, now works in the New York Mets’ front office.

After the Playing Days

Bob Boone moved into management after he retired. He went 371-444 across three seasons each with the Royals and the Reds. In 2005 he joined the Washington Nationals’ front office, a tenure that spanned the club’s first World Series title in 2019. He resigned from that role in 2021 over the team’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

For Phillies fans, though, the lasting image of Boone is the one from 1980: a catcher with a mitt full of history and a pop-up that bounced into Rose’s glove. He is survived by his sons and the baseball family he helped extend to a third generation.

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File photo: Bob Boone 081323.jpg by PistonsFan2223, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Linda Noskova is the first player through to the WTA Finals semi-finals after a 6-3, 6-3 win over Coco Gauff in Indian Wells, California, on Tuesday. The result leaves two Americans scrambling for the second spot in Group 1.

The 21-year-old Czech, seeded eighth and playing the event for the first time, needed just 1 hour and 15 minutes. She has now won both of her round-robin matches without dropping a set, following up Sunday’s victory over Marta Kostyuk. Her ninth ace of the match sealed it.

How Noskova took control

The match began with an exchange of breaks, but Noskova soon found her range. She hit hard to the corners and pushed Gauff, one of the tour’s best movers, off balance. Gauff trailed by a double break in the first set, and Noskova won five games in a row to take it and lead 3-0 in the second. From there she held serve to the end.

Serve decided the match. Gauff hit eight aces but also eight double faults, and won only six of 24 points behind her second serve. Noskova’s accuracy gave her little to work with in return.

“I feel like I stayed in the match through every moment, from beginning to end,” Noskova said. She also joked with the crowd that the cheers after the match were louder than the support she had felt during it. It was her sixth top-10 win of the season, a year in which she claimed her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in July.

Pegula keeps her hopes alive

Earlier in the group, Jessica Pegula beat Kostyuk 6-2, 7-5 to recover from her opening loss to Gauff. Pegula broke in the first game and never looked back in the opening set. The second was scrappier, with several breaks of serve before Pegula made the decisive break at 5-5 and served it out.

Kostyuk is making her first WTA Finals appearance as a late replacement for world number one Elena Rybakina, who withdrew with a viral illness. She has also been dealing with a wrist injury since August, according to the BBC. Two defeats have eliminated her from contention. “Next time, maybe I’ll be more ready,” she said.

Pegula said she wanted to “give myself the best chance in this group” after the opening loss. The 2023 runner-up at this event now has her chance.

What is at stake on Thursday

Gauff and Pegula both stand at 1-1, so the other WTA Finals semi-finals place will be settled in the final round-robin matches on Thursday. Pegula faces the already-qualified Noskova, while Gauff plays Kostyuk. Kostyuk is playing for pride and for $230,000 in prize money, which she can earn by avoiding a winless group.

For Gauff, who is 22 and the youngest woman to reach five straight WTA Finals since Martina Hingis, a poor serving day has turned a comfortable position into a tense one. Noskova has taken control of the group in her first appearance at the event. Whether Gauff or Pegula joins her in the last four will be decided on Thursday.

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File photo: Linda Nosková (2023 US Open) 01 (cropped2).jpg by Hameltion, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Rory McIlroy has delivered a blunt assessment of Bryson DeChambeau’s options now that LIV Golf is winding down: there aren’t many. Speaking in Dubai ahead of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, the world number two said that while DeChambeau would bring “eyeballs” to any event he plays, the American does not appear to have much room to manoeuvre if he wants to keep competing.

“I’m certainly not in his shoes, and nor would I ever want to be, but it doesn’t seem like he’s got many options,” McIlroy said. He added that a name like DeChambeau’s brings “good and bad” with it, but that the attention is ultimately a positive for tournaments.

How LIV’s collapse narrowed DeChambeau’s options

The comments land at an awkward moment for DeChambeau. According to Yahoo Sports, he had been firmly behind a revamped “LIV 2.0” in recent weeks, saying on a podcast last month that the new format made “full financial sense” and could last “forever.” Then LIV confirmed it would wind down after five years, reportedly after losing a funding plan from BC Partners. That followed an earlier announcement that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund would stop bankrolling the league.

DeChambeau, 33, has said he will approach his next move with “humility and respect.” He has committed to the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa in December, but has not said what comes after.

The routes still open

The most concrete route runs through Europe. Yahoo reports that the DP World Tour has offered DeChambeau full status for 2027, though he must commit by next week. The BBC notes he is also eligible to apply for membership as a recent major champion. Either way, playing in Europe could give him a way to earn back a PGA Tour card for 2028. Patrick Reed has followed that path this season, and Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton are reportedly planning the same for 2027.

A second option is a negotiated early return to the PGA Tour. Brooks Koepka secured a deal in January through the Returning Member’s Program, which reportedly cost him around $85 million in earnings. It is unclear whether a similar arrangement would be offered again. OutKick, for its part, says there is no immediate pathway back to the PGA Tour for next season.

The third path is DeChambeau’s own: play the majors and build his YouTube channel. Yahoo notes that this approach is unlikely to be sustainable unless he keeps winning majors and the exemptions that come with them. Seen together, the DeChambeau options McIlroy alluded to look limited, with the European route the most clearly defined.

A history between the two

The remarks carry extra weight given the history. McIlroy lost the 2024 US Open to DeChambeau in dramatic fashion, and OutKick points out that McIlroy has been open about not being particularly fond of the American, having said as much at The Open in July. Even so, his comments on the DP World Tour’s potential gain were measured.

Reed, who took the road DeChambeau may now face, struck a conciliatory tone in Dubai. He said he takes no satisfaction in watching former LIV colleagues sit out or struggle, and hopes they can “come out and play solid golf” and make it onto the PGA Tour.

McIlroy’s own title chase

McIlroy has his own business to attend to this week. He trails Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra by 533 points in the Race to Dubai, with 2,000 points available to the winner at Jumeirah Golf Estates. Nine players can still take the title, but a McIlroy victory would guarantee him a fifth straight crown and an eighth overall, drawing him level with Colin Montgomerie.

The 37-year-old, a three-time winner of the Dubai event, said he is proud of his “consistency” and “longevity,” noting he expects to finish inside the world’s top 10 for the 15th or 16th consecutive year. For DeChambeau, the more immediate question is how long he will take to decide, with the DP World Tour’s deadline close.

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File photo: 2018 Porsche European Open – Bryson DeChambeau (30166838848).jpg by Axel Schümann, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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Jockey Tom O’Brien, a Cheltenham Festival winner who rode more than 1,000 winners in Britain and Ireland, has died at the age of 39 after being diagnosed with cancer. The British Horseracing Authority (BHA), where he worked as a steward after retiring from the saddle, said he died surrounded by his loved ones following a “long and courageous battle” with the illness.

A career built at Philip Hobbs’ Minehead yard

O’Brien was born in Ireland and was the nephew of the trainer Aidan O’Brien. His professional life was bound up with Philip Hobbs’ stable near Minehead in Somerset. Hobbs recalled that O’Brien arrived from Ireland as a teenager “having not ridden in a race”, but that it quickly became clear he had real talent. He stayed with the yard from the start of his career until he retired in April 2023, a riding career of about 20 years.

For much of that time he was number two to Richard Johnson, one of the great names of National Hunt racing. Hobbs said O’Brien lived “in the shadow” of Johnson for a long period as second jockey, then stepped up to stable jockey after Johnson retired in 2021. “Which went well,” Hobbs added.

The big days: Aintree, Kempton and Cheltenham

The Guardian reports that O’Brien rode five Grade One winners. Two came on the Hobbs-trained Thyme Hill: the Stayers’ Hurdle at Aintree in April 2021, also known as the Liverpool Hurdle, and the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton in December 2022. Hobbs described the Aintree success as his biggest win. O’Brien also took the Tolworth Hurdle for Colin Tizzard on two occasions, with Finian’s Oscar in 2017 and Elixir De Nutz in 2019.

At the Cheltenham Festival he won two handicaps: the Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle on Silk Affair in 2009, and the Pertemps Final on Third Wind in 2022. He also won the Welsh Grand National twice, according to the BBC and the Independent. He passed the 1,000-winner mark in Britain and Ireland in 2021, a milestone few jump jockeys reach.

From the saddle to the stewards’ room

After hanging up his boots, O’Brien joined the BHA’s stewarding team. The Independent reports that he earned high praise there for his race-reading and judgement. It was a natural next step for a rider with two decades of experience, and it kept him close to the sport he had spent his working life in.

Hobbs said he had kept in touch with O’Brien since his retirement, as the former jockey lived only half an hour from the yard. “He was only in our yard about three weeks ago,” Hobbs said.

Racing’s tributes

The tributes reflected how widely O’Brien was liked as well as respected. Johnson said: “You won’t find anyone with a bad word to say about him,” and recalled that in all their years riding together at Hobbs’ they never had a cross word. “He left a positive mark on all of us,” he said.

BHA chief executive Brant Dunshea said O’Brien had “touched countless lives on both sides of the Irish Sea” and faced his illness with “the steely determination and drive that typified the man”. He described him as “a brilliant jockey, a valued colleague, a loyal friend and above all a loving husband and devoted father”. He added that the sport would support O’Brien’s family through what he called an “unimaginably difficult period”.

O’Brien leaves his wife, Hayley, and their two young sons. “It’s very sad, particularly for his wife Hayley and two young children,” Hobbs said.

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