Rory McIlroy achieved his first aim at the Irish Open: Making the cut for the first time in four years.
The next target for the world No. 3 is clinching his first win of the year. He had to reel in Masters champion Danny Willett to do so.
McIlroy shot a two-under 70 in the second round on Friday to be one stroke behind Willett (71) and Marc Warren (66) at the K Club heading into the weekend. Willett and Warren were on eight-under 136.
“The Irish Open is one of the most important tournaments of my year and I’d dearly love to win it one day,” McIlroy said. “I feel like I’ve given myself a great chance.”
McIlroy rolled in five birdies in a round made tough by gusting winds, with two of the putts from 31 feet and 20 feet on the back nine.
“I just feel like there’s something waiting there to click and when it does, I could be off and running and that could be the catapult or the momentum that I need to have another great summer,” McIlroy said.
Willett, appearing in his second event since winning at Augusta National, could not emulate his 65 on day one and had four bogeys in what he called a “scrappy” round.
He found the rain-slicked greens and wind deceptive at times.
“Balls are flying miles,” Willett said afterward.
English player Matthew Southgate shot 69 to move into fourth place on five-under.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite