Welcome to Bag Spy, a GOLF series devoted to understanding the crucial equipment choices that define a player’s bag. With the help of players and/or their expert fitters, we dig deep beyond the photos to examine setups, specs and the thinking behind them. In this installment, GOLF Associate Equipment Editor Jack Hirsh takes you inside Tony Finau’s bag and new equipment setup for 2026
Ping Tour Rep Dylan Goodwin said Finau is a “man of few words” when it comes to his equipment. When it works, it works and he doesn’t need to question it too much. If it doesn’t, he tries something else.
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Ping’s Kenton Oates said the Tour team built Finau a total of just five clubs one season, which was likely the fewest of any player on the Ping staff.
“It maybe puts a little more pressure on us as a staff when he does come in to get it right, because you know he doesn’t want to be testing during the year,” Oates told GOLF. “If he is testing product throughout the year, then it’s probably frustrating to him, since that’s really something he doesn’t want to do. So we just got to make sure that we get everything down at the beginning of the year.”
He prefers to do most of his club work in the offseason.
For someone who isn’t a tinkerer, Tony Finau does carry a lot of clubs.
Jack Hirsh/GOLF
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“He’ll usually come in here two or three times from like November 1 till that first event of the year, whether it be Hawaii or in the desert or wherever he starts up,” Oates said. “But once we get going in the season, he doesn’t make a lot of changes at all.”
That doesn’t stop Finau from having one of the more unique bags on the PGA Tour with his heavy swingweights, huge grips and a new Ping prototype putter. He’s also made a few more tweaks this year and he’s started to see some progress after recording just one top-10 in 2025.
One of those tweaks, switching to Ping Prototype Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue Onset putter, has paid off in a big way. Finau ranked 155th in Strokes Gained: Putting after his first two events but has rallied up to 58th. That’s after finishing 111th in the category last year. He led the field in putting at Pebble Beach during an 18th-place finish.
Keep reading below to dive into one of the more unique setups on the PGA Tour.
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Breaking down every club in Tony Finau’s bag
Ball
Titleist Pro V1 Left Dot
Finau marks his golf balls with either his wife’s or children’s initials.
Andrew Redington/Getty Images
For Finau, the golf bag starts and ends with golf ball and for much of his professional career, that golf ball has been Titleist’s Pro V1 Left Dot.
Finau is one of the most well-known Left Dot players, which is a Customized Performance Option (CPO) version of the standard Pro V1. Compared to the retail version, the Left Dot is lower flying and lower-spinning, but has the same, softer feel that Pro V1 players prefer.
“I think equipment starts with the golf ball, not with the clubs, not with the woods, not with any other piece of equipment. It starts with the golf ball. I’ve always been a believer in that,” Finau told Titleist. “The Left Dot golf ball is right for me because I’ve always put a lot of spin on the golf ball … and right away, it caught my eye because of the ball flight. I think if you can control your ball flight, you can control the distance. And it’s been such a reliable ball flight for me from the first time that I hit it … I can count on the golf ball in crosswinds, into the wind, downwind. I know how far the golf ball is going to go.”
He also has an interesting tradition of marking his golf balls with his children’s and wife’s initials. He told Titleist he’ll usually start with his son, Sage, and change out depending on how the round is going.
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“It’s a cool way to keep my kids involved, and they’re always with me on the golf course,” he said.
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Titleist Pro V1 Golf Balls
The Greatest Combination of Speed, Spin and Feel
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Pro V1 is recommended to players who are looking for mid-trajectory flight, very low long game spin and maximum short game spin, with softer feel.
Comparison to Pro V1x
Due to its unique dimple pattern, Pro V1 has a lower flight than Pro V1x. A softer gradient core produces a softer feel and slightly less spin than Pro V1x.
Specs Ping G440 LST Loft: 9.0˚ @ 7.75˚ Trajectory 2.0 Setting: Big Minus (—) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black Velocore+ 7-X Length: 45.25″ Tipping: 1″ CG Shifter: 35 g, neutral Hot Melt: 5 g, toe Swingweight: D8+
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Finau has already made a mid-season tweak, going from a 7.5˚ Ping G440 LST to 9˚ head in the Big Minus setting. Finau is a high-spin player, but with the lower-lofted head, he was seeing his misshits drop to 2200 while good strikes were around 2500.
Those are not atypical numbers on the PGA Tour, but Finau has plenty of speed in the tank, so he values control. While he typically cruises around 180 mph ball speed, Oates describes him as having one of the biggest governors on the PGA Tour.
“If you brought him to the range, in three golf swings, he could have 200 mph of ball speed,” he said.
Because of that range, Finau is more comfortable with the 9˚ head that produces a spin range around 2700 and 2400 on misses to help him stay in control.
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That was also the driving factor behind a move to the Fujikura Ventus Black with VeloCore+ last season.
“He wasn’t happy with his driving, and he had started testing a few different shafts, and he ended up liking the stability of the Velo+,” Oates said. “So he went into that at Travelers last year.”
You’ll also notice Finau prefers a rather beefy D8+ swing weight for his driver and that actually carries over to his irons two, with them sitting at D6+. The reason was mainly feel-based and has to do with a change Finau made with his grips a few years ago. We’ll get into that change below, but basically, Finau made his grips lighter, which raised the swingweight.
“He liked that feeling,” Oates said. “Then we walked through kind of what that would look like downrange from a ball-flight standpoint. Obviously, the heavier the clubhead, the easier it is to fade it. It’s a little bit easier to release because you have more mass down there. So he mentally liked that as well.”
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PING G440 LST Custom Driver
The G440 driver family (MAX, LST, SFT) is optimized to deliver more ball speed through multiple advancements, including PING’s deepest CG in a driver to date and a shallower, thinner face, while continuing to ensure the game-changing forgiveness expected from a PING driver. The G440 LST (Low Spin) design appeals to players with faster swing speeds, providing lower spin and more control in 9° and 10.5° lofts with the three-position back weight.
HIGHLY FORGIVING
Lighter head weight allows for heavier back weight.
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Shallow, thinner, face increases ball speed for more distance, higher launch.
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New shaping, carbon crown and internal ribs produce muted impact experience.
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Saves weight to lower CG, increase forgiveness. Allows for more heel-side face flexing for consistent ball speed across face.
Finau used more shallow-faced 3-woods for much of his career until a few years ago, when he realized he wasn’t using 3-wood off the deck much. That was when he was first drawn to Callaway Triple Diamond T fairway wood shapes and he’s used one since.
“With the height he can hit it and the distance he can hit it, he really likes a deep 3-wood, and that head is just a little bit deeper than anything we had,” Oates said.
Uniquely, the Triple Diamond T Fairway Woods are specifically designed for Jon Rahm, who also prefers a deeper-faced 3-wood, along with a beveled sole to help him get it through the turf. Both Rahm and Finau are still playing the Paradym Ai-Smoke Model that’s now two-seasons old.
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Ping has started working on a deeper-faced club for that spot in the bag, their Ping Mini Proto, which debuted at the Sony Open. Finau has been testing it, but at this time, he’s got a very unrelatable problem.
I think the thing that we struggle with there is it might just go a little bit too far right right now,” Oates said. “But we’ll continue to work on that.”
Utility Iron
Jack Hirsh/GOLF
Specs Nike Vapor Fly Pro 3-iron Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI-105 X Hybrid
Probably the most famous club in Finau’s bag and with the return of Brooks Koepka on the PGA Tour, one of just a handful of Nike clubs left in pro golf.
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Finau has had this Nike Vapor Fly Pro 3-iron since 2016, his lone year on staff with the Swoosh before they exited the hard goods business. But it actually disappeared from the bag for a few seasons before jumping back in during the 2020 season.
Ping has plenty of options to replace this club, including their current iDi driving iron, which is in the bag of Viktor Hovland, but that club, and many before, might be too forgiving for Finau, Oates said.
“The thing we run into with our crossovers and clubs in that space is they’re a little bit more forgiving and they go a little bit higher, which is great for the everyday player,” Oates said. “Unfortunately, Tony doesn’t really need the extra help with the height.”
Oates isn’t sure how many Vapor Fly Pro heads Finau has left, but he brings in four or five every year to have the specs checked. Safe to say, until he finds a better option, this club isn’t going anywhere.
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Irons
Jack Hirsh/GOLF
Specs Ping Blueprint T 4-PW Shafts: KBS $-Taper 130 X Lofts: 22.25/26/29/32.5/37/41/45 Lies: 61/61.5/62/62.5/63/63.5/64 Length: 36.88″ 7-iron Swingweight: D6-D7+
This is actually a spot where Finau has done some tinkering.
For nearly his entire career, Finau has played the Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 TX shaft in his irons, but during his offseason at the end of last year — unbeknownst to Oates or the Ping Tour team — Finau did some testing on his own and switched to the KBS $-Taper 130 X.
That’s actually why there is loads of lead tape on his clubs now, because with the new shaft, the clubs swing-weighed lighter.
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“KBS shafts in general are slightly counterbalanced compared to most every other iron shaft,” Oates said. “So whoever installed those did a great job and they got it back to swing weight — so they had to add the lead tape.”
Had Ping made the change, Oates said they simply could have changed the weight screws in the toe of the club to bring them back to D6+, but the lead tape accomplished the same thing.
Finau has almost exclusively played a full set of muscle-back irons for his whole career with the exception of 2024, when he played the Blueprint S cavity-back iron. While he finished second in Strokes Gained: Approach that season, Finau looked at specific yardages and saw he was actually better with the original Blueprints (he was fifth in Approach in 2023) and switched to the Blueprint T blades he has now.
Unlike the modern trend on the PGA Tour, Finau plays that same blade through the entire bag.
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“Tony Finau’s ability to hit a properly-hit 5-iron — where he’s not hung back, he’s just down on top of it, thumping it and sending it up to the clouds — is one of the biggest gifts that he has. He can launch and spin a 4- and 5-iron like nobody in the world,” Oates said. “Not a lot of players from 230 can hit a 4-iron spinning at 5200 and have it get there. And then when it does get there, it’s going to land close to the hole and stop.”
You may notice his lie angles are fairly standard, if not slightly upright, despite his distinctive low hands address position. His irons aren’t flatter on account of both his 6’4″ height and his preference to see the club upright.
“I think a little bit of his visual, like he’s a player that’s put the club down like that and wants to see the toe where it is, which is a little upright,” Oates said, before adding that it also helps him with a left start line. “He’s always played his best golf when he starts it a little left of his target and cuts it back. So I think the upright lie angle just forces it over to the left a little bit.”
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Allows the hosel transition to blend smoothly into the top rail, creating a clean, distraction-free appearance at address. The narrow soles enable consistent turf interaction from all conditions.
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Save for the slight MOI boost from tungsten toe screw and tip weights, it’s a purely forged iron, concentrating mass through the impact zone to ensure a pleasing sound and feel with the workability to take on any shot.
Jockey Tip: The lofts match the Blueprint S and i230 irons to allow golfers to create blended sets within PING’s precision iron offerings.
Like many on the Ping staff, Finau has made a quick and easy transition into the new S259 wedges for his gap and sand wedge, but he remains using a Titleist Vokey T-Grind for his lob wedge, having recently updated to the new Vokey SM11.
“Those middle two wedges in s259, they look a little cleaner,” Oates said. “They capture the ball visually a little bit better with that cleaner transition in the hosel. They feel, if anything, probably a little softer than s159, and they just have the same great performance: low launch, high spin.”
Putter: Ping Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue Onsett Loft: 3˚ Lie: 70˚ Length: 35″ Toe Hang: 5˚ Grip: SuperStroke 2.0 Pistol
For most of his career, Finau has stuck with more traditional Anser-style blade shapes, with his preferred head being a wide-body Anser 2D.
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But last summer, he started experimenting with mallets and landed on a Ping PLD Milled Ally Blue Onset putter. That switch was short-lived, but it sent Finau down the rabbit hole that eventually led him to try the head shape again at the Farmers’ Insurance Open this year. This time, it was Ping’s prototype Scottsdale Tec platform.
He actually tested two models that week.
Tony Finau made a really surprising change to a Ping Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue Onset putter.
Not only does it make Finau the latest player to move to a low torque putter, but it also moves him away from the milled face of his previous PLD Anser 2D.
“Tony gravitated towards the Ally Blue Onset again and the Ketsch 4, which has a hosel he had used in the past on a blade putter,” Goodwin said. “After going back and forth between the putters, the Ally Blue Onset ultimately matched better to his stroke and delivered the face at impact more consistently. As a result, his start line improved, and he liked the contrast between the white finish of the head and the black sight line, which he found easier to line up with.”
Finau’s T11 at Torrey Pines was his best finish since a T5 at the 2025 Genesis, so clearly he was onto something.
Two weeks later, at Pebble Beach, he led the field in putting, gaining more than eight shots on the greens for the week, the first time in his career.
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What makes the switch more interesting is that not only is this the first non-blade to get some staying power in Finau’s bag, it’s also the first putter with a non-milled face.
However, the putters sounded the same to him, so he didn’t mind the softer feel of the insert. Clearly, it’s been working thus far.
Grips: Lamkin UTX Midsize (+4 wraps + 3 RH)
Jack Hirsh/GOLF
As we mentioned before, Finau is one of the few pros using mid-sized grips, but he builds them up even further with an additional four wraps of tape across the hole grip and three more for the right hand.
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But that tape job pales in comparison to what gripping his clubs was like 2-3 years ago when he had an aggressive build up of wraps every inch until there were maybe 10 wraps at the bottom end of the grip. This results in a grip that essentially had no taper.
Relief came for Ping’s builders when Finau decided to switch to a midsize grip and use fewer wraps. That led to heavier swing weights since Finau’s previous grip was so heavy that Ping needed to add a ton of weight to the head to keep it from feeling counterbalanced.
A leading tipster has backed Patrick Mullins to complete back-to-back Grand National victories, though this time on a different mount.
Mullins, son of legendary trainer Willie, rode 33-1 outsider Nick Rockett to victory in 2025. The top amateur jockey had been expected to ride Nick Rockett again this year before switching to Grangeclare West earlier this week.
Nick Rockett has since been pulled out of the Aintree showpiece. Paddock expert Ken Pitterson, a regular contributor to ITV’s racing coverage, predicted Nick Rockett’s shock win 12 months ago.
Now he is tipping another Willie Mullins-trained horse, Grangeclare West, who is among the favourites for the race at 10-1. Pitterson said: “This year, I like the chances of Grangeclare West. He ran third in the race last year and again the way he’s been trained by Willie Mullins. It looks like he’s been gradually building him up.
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“I like the way he won the Bobbyjo Chase, which Nick Rockett won last year on the way to Aintree. The way he’s trained him, he’s getting him to peak at the right time.
“He’s got the same sort of profile as Nick Rockett and if you look back at his previous form, he’s a classy performer.
“He won a Grade 1 as a seven-year-old, so you know he’s got a bit of back class as well. He fits the criteria of a horse I’m looking for going into the National.”
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Regarding his second and third picks, Pitterson, who works for William Hill Racing Radio, is anticipating another of the favourites, Panic Attack, along with outsider Gerri Colombe, to put in strong performances.
He said: “I think Panic Attack is an interesting runner. She’s a mare in form and mares at this time of year can be dangerous.
“I love the way she performed when she won the two big races in November – the Paddy Power Gold Cup and the Coral Gold Cup. She’s done something which no other horse has done.
“She’s had a great campaign and the fact she’s a mare on form could be dangerous. You know what [trainer] Dan Skelton can do. The other one I’m interested in is a horse called Gerri Colombe. I saw him as a youngster and he’s just got that build.
“The way he jumps and travels he could be a Grand National horse. He’s not the quickest but he did win a Grade 1 as a younger horse.
“He’s had a few problems last year, he’s come back and again he’s won his last race at Down Royal and he comes in relatively fresh. He has the look of a horse to me who could figure in a Grand National.”
Last-minute Grand National 2026 tickets
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West Ham United have climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone for the first time since December following a commanding 4-0 victory over Wolves at the London Stadium.
The result simultaneously plunged north London rivals Tottenham into the bottom three.
Konstantinos Mavropanos opened the scoring with a first-half header before adding another late on, while Taty Castellanos struck twice within two minutes midway through the second half to seal the emphatic win.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, initially nervous, shrugged off their early jitters to dismantle the league’s bottom club.
This triumph marks a significant turnaround for the Hammers, who were seven points adrift of safety and winless in 10 after a January defeat to Nottingham Forest.
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Five victories in their subsequent 11 matches, alongside Tottenham’s apparent free fall, have completely reshaped the battle at the foot of the table, inching West Ham closer to survival.
Mavropanos’s opener, headed in from Jarrod Bowen’s cross just before the break, proved pivotal in setting the stage for Castellanos to double his tally for the club.
It meant Wolves’ brief revival after three games unbeaten was ended. Relegation for them could now be confirmed as early as next week away to Leeds.
Crysencio Summerville had wasted a golden chance to give West Ham the lead after 14 minutes, staying onside to receive Mateus Fernandes’s pass before leaning back and scooping his finish high over the crossbar.
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Nuno Espirito Santo’s side shrugged off their early jitters to dismantle the league’s bottom club (Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)
Good work from Pablo to dance his way into the box set up Bowen with a chance he ought to have buried. Instead the shot was tame, bounced into the ground via a mistimed swing of the leg and into the arms of Jose Sa.
West Ham’s wastefulness in front goal and carelessness on the ball were doing little to calm a restless atmosphere.
El Hadji Malick Diouf drew howls of exasperation from home fans when he needlessly gave the ball away in his own half, letting in Adam Armstrong for a chance that whistled just over.
Armstrong then had Wolves’ best chance of the half with a flicked header that was well-held by Mads Hermansen.
Ladislav Krejci blocked from Bowen following Mavropanos’s knock-down. Wolves had now been warned amply of West Ham’s growing threat but they were breached before the interval.
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Their defence failed to clear properly from a corner, the ball was sent back out wide to Bowen who crossed for Mavropanos to rise and plant his header into the corner.
Only a fine low save from Sa kept Pablo from sending a buoyant West Ham in two up at the break.
A wild two-minute spell at the start of the second half saw both sides hit a post, Wolves from Angel Gomes’s free-kick, then Bowen drove inside from the right and smacked the upright.
Castellanos settled home fans’ nerves with a finish into the corner that owed to a wonderfully inventive back-heel by Pablo to set up the chance.
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Wolves gave the ball away almost immediately from the kick-off to Bowen, and he fed Castellanos to take a touch and roll in his second and West Ham’s third via a post.
Mavropanos volleyed in a late fourth for West Ham, whose momentum showed no sign of abating.
Tristan Sailor scored 14 points as St Helens dominated Catalans Dragons in a one-sided Challenge Cup quarter-final.
The Australian full-back, who also racked up 14 points in the stunning Good Friday comeback win over derby rivals Wigan Warriors last week, went over for a first-half try and kicked five goals as the ragged French side failed to test Paul Rowley’s resurgent Saints.
But St Helens suffered more injury woe as Jake Wingfield and Lewis Murphy, who scored the first try after Sailor had notched an early penalty, were forced off in the opening 32 minutes, but that could not interrupt the flow.
Sailor went over and 19-year-old Jake Davies scored his first senior try before second-half scores from Owen Dagnall and George Whitby emphasised the gulf between the sides.
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Rowley has had to cope with a horrendous injury list this season and his bad luck showed no sign of abating. Saints welcomed back Alex Walmsley, George Delaney and Whitby but lost Wingfield and Murphy in the first half at the BrewDog Stadium.
It made no difference to the one-sided flow of this game, as Sailor’s fifth-minute penalty and Murphy’s sharp finish in the corner had Saints in control before the French side, fresh from a derby win of their own against Toulouse, knew what had hit them.
Sailor raced onto Daryl Clark’s shinned kick to score another as the Dragons failed to cope with the pace and intensity of the home side, who have now won seven of their past eight games in all competitions.
Clark’s speed at the ruck was creating havoc for a disorganised Catalans side, while Walmsley celebrated his return, and his 36th birthday, by repeatedly punching holes in the opposition defence.
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Sailor added another penalty and after Walmsley had powered straight through the Dragons line Davies was on hand to score his milestone try and make it 20-0 at half time.
Catalans needed a strong start after the break but instead they continued to infringe and saw Julian Bousquet sin-binned for tackling Harry Robertson without the ball.
Successive penalties deep in Dragons territory ended with Sailor’s deft pass out of the tackle for Dagnall to step his way over the line, and then Whitby latched onto Jackson Hastings’ kick for another.
A rare Sailor mistake, a knock-on in front of his own posts, led to Faataape’s consolation try, but Whitby made it a memorable night for himself by sliding in to get his fingers on top of the ball after Hastings’ high kick had bounced awkwardly and evaded the grasp of Nick Cotric.
Pulse raced into a 12-1 lead with barely 10 minutes on the clock, forcing Mavericks coach Tamsin Greenway to call an early tactical timeout.
Emma Thacker scored three two-point super shots as Mavericks cut the deficit to four points by the end of the third quarter.
However, Pulse finished the match strongly to claim a victory that moved them level on 18 points with league leaders Loughborough Lightning, who face Nottingham Forest on Saturday, 11 April (19:00 BST).
“We knew we had a very strong first quarter, but then had to push on. We know we let them back into the game,” added Fadoju.
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Pulse head coach Sam Bird said: “I’m pleased with how we finished the game. We showed we have a lot in the tank to finish strong.”
On Saturday LexisNexis Dragons host Birmingham Panthers in Cardiff live on BBC Sport (16:00 BST), before Manchester Thunder take on Leeds Rhinos (17:00 BST).
NEW DELHI: Rajasthan Royals produced a stunning batting display as young sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi powered them to a record-breaking start against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in IPL 2026. Chasing 202, RR raced to 97/1 in the Powerplay, their highest-ever total in the first six overs and one of the best in IPL history. Sooryavanshi, who was dismissed for 78 runs off 26, led the charge inside the powerplay with a blistering 57 off just 18 balls, while Dhruv Jurel supported him with a quick 27 off 10 balls.
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The sixth over alone produced 24 runs, underlining RR’s dominance.This effort placed RR among the top Powerplay scores in IPL history, just behind some explosive totals by Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders. Highest Powerplay totals in IPL
125/0 – SRH vs DC, Delhi, 2024
107/0 – SRH vs LSG, Hyderabad, 2024
105/0 – KKR vs RCB, Bengaluru, 2017
100/2 – CSK vs PBKS, Wankhede, 2014
97/1 – RR vs RCB, Guwahati, 2026*
94/1 – SRH vs RR, Hyderabad, 2025
The aggressive approach ensured RR took early control of the chase, putting immense pressure on RCB’s bowling attack.Earlier, RCB had posted 201/8, largely thanks to a fighting knock from captain Rajat Patidar, who scored 63 off 40 balls. Walking in during a collapse, Patidar steadied the innings and kept the scoreboard ticking despite wickets falling at the other end. Virat Kohli had provided a quick start with 32 off 16 balls but fell trying to accelerate.RR’s bowlers, led by Jofra Archer and Ravi Bishnoi, triggered a middle-order collapse, reducing RCB to 94/6 at one stage. Bishnoi’s variations proved crucial, while Brijesh Sharma impressed with key breakthroughs.However, a late surge from Impact Sub Venkatesh Iyer, who smashed 29 off 15 balls including 21 runs in the final over, pushed RCB past the 200-run mark. Despite the late flourish, the total appeared slightly below par on a surface offering bounce but also value for shots.In response, RR’s fearless approach in the Powerplay, spearheaded by Sooryavanshi, turned the game decisively in their favour, scripting a memorable night and showcasing the arrival of a new batting star in the IPL.
World football governing body FIFA has ruled out Congolese referee Jean-Jacques Ndala from officiating at the 2026 World Cup.
The decision comes months after his controversial performance in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations 2025, which drew heavy criticism from fans, players, and football officials.
Ndala was at the centre of several disputed calls during the final, with many observers questioning his judgement in key moments of the match. The backlash that followed placed his officiating under intense scrutiny.
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After a detailed review process, FIFA opted to leave the experienced referee out of its list for the global tournament. The body is said to have based its decision on consistency, performance levels, and the need to maintain high refereeing standards on the world stage.
The move signals FIFA’s firm stance on accountability, especially after major competitions where officiating decisions can shape outcomes. It also reflects the growing demand for accuracy and fairness in modern football.
Ndala, once regarded as one of Africa’s top referees, now faces an uncertain future at the highest level, as the fallout from the AFCON final continues to affect his career.
Fury was in the same upbeat mood he has shown all week – making time for fans outside beforehand, laughing and joking with the media, and strolling out to Eminem’s ‘Without Me’ with the line “guess who’s back?” blasting over the speakers.
But the focus soon turned to the scales, with weight a talking point throughout the Morecambe fighter’s career.
He was a career-heaviest 20st 1lb (127.5kg) – although fully clothed – for his rematch with Usyk in December 2024, while during his hiatus from boxing between 2016 and 2018 he ballooned to around 28st (177.8kg) amid personal struggles.
Fury – who has spent his training camp in Pattaya, Thailand – weighed the same as he did for his last fight in the United Kingdom in December 2022 when he beat fellow Briton Derek Chisora.
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“It’s a decent, comfortable, happy weight for Fury. A lot of people thought he’d come in heavier, but that’s a good weight,” said BBC Radio 5 Live boxing pundit Steve Bunce.
“He looks like a man that has been training in the heat for an awful long time.
“He might have been 23 or 24 stone when he started training for this fight. He’s moved a little bit of weight and built it up slowly after his exile. He’s been walking up hills and carrying trees. I love how he looks.”
Makhmudov, though, is one of the few heavyweights capable of matching Fury for sheer physical presence.
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Standing 6ft 6in, the Russian-born, Canada-based fighter – known as ‘The Lion’ – has secured 21 wins in 23 fights, including 19 by knockout, and arrives in London with a reputation as a heavy puncher.
Makhmudov’s most recent victory came against British heavyweight Dave Allen in October 2025.
“I’m ready to go. I can’t wait for tomorrow night to make my dream happen. I’ve waited a long time to get here. It’s my dream and my time,” he said.
After a rough first round at Augusta National Thursday, Bryson DeChambeau did not appear too pleased when he was asked about his 3D-printed 5-iron.
The two-time U.S. Open champion had an eventful first round at the Masters, hitting a patron with a tee shot on the sixth hole before taking three separate bunker shots on the 11th.
After the round, he had to face the media, and he was asked about the process of making his special club other than the driver.
Bryson DeChambeau reacts to his tee shot on the 12th hole during the first round of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., April 9, 2026.(Grace Smith/Imagn Images)
DeChambeau said it’s roughly a “day-and-a-half” process to make a club, so when he was asked if he “would want to” go through the process of making another one, it was a hard no.
“Pfft, no. It has to be USGA-conforming. There’s a whole process you have to go through,” he said.
It’s a club he built himself.
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“There’s this nature that I have about myself where innovation is a habit of mine, and I really find and take pride in that ability to learn — even through failure, even through making a bad decision or a good decision — what I can get from that,” he told ESPN.
Bryson DeChambeau hits his tee shot on the 12th hole during the first round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., April 9, 2026.(Eric Gay/AP Photo)
“We’ll see where it goes. We’ll see where it takes me. All I could say now is, if I don’t put them in the bag, it’s my fault now.”
DeChambeau said after the round that he only used the club once on Thursday.
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Last year, DeChambeau was in the final group of the Masters alongside eventual winner Rory McIlroy. The two were paired together to end the prior year’s U.S. Open as well, which DeChambeau won in part due to bad putting by McIlroy and a forever-remembered up-and-down by DeChambeau from the bunker on 18 at Pinehurst No. 2.
But DeChambeau could not find similar success Thursday after shooting a 4-over 76, putting himself in danger of missing the cut.
Bryson DeChambeau acknowledges patrons on the 17th green during the first round of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., April 9, 2026.(Michael Madrid/Imagn Images)
Las Vegas Aces guard Jewell Loyd (24) grabs a rebound over Phoenix Mercury forward Kathryn Westbeld (24) during Game 3 of the WNBA Finals at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix on Oct. 8, 2025.
Three-time WNBA champion and six-time All-Star guard Jewell Loyd is close to signing a three-year contract with the Las Vegas Aces, ESPN reported on Friday.
Financial terms were not disclosed in the report.
Loyd, 32, played in a career-best 44 games in 2025 during her first season with Las Vegas, averaging 11.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists.
She is averaging 16.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 371 career games (335 starts) with the Seattle Storm and Aces.
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