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The 151st Open Championship concluded on Sunday at Royal Liverpool with minimal drama, as Brian Harman opened with a five-shot lead and cruised to a six-shot victory. The victory was the third PGA Tour win for the 36-year-old and his first career major championship.

There were a few tense moments for Harman, who bogeyed two of his first five holes without a birdie. The struggles allowed Jon Rahm to get to within three of the lead. As quickly as the lead shrunk, Harman got his game back on track with birdies on six and seven to increase his lead to five. His seven-footer for par on the 72nd hole gave Harman a 70 for the day and 13-under par total. Harman avoided becoming the seventh player to blow a 54-hole lead in a major with a lead of at least five shots.

Australian native Jason Day posted three consecutive rounds in the 60s after a mediocre 72 on Thursday to finish at seven-under par and a tie for second along with Rahm, Tom Kim, and Stepp Straka. Day’s quest for his second career major came up short, but his finish was his best at the Open Championship. The 35-year-old entered the week ranked 27th, up from his 112th ranking at the end of 2022.

Emiliano Grillo and Rory McIlroy finished tied for 6th at 6-under par, while Shubhankar Sharma and Cameron Young finished at 5-under. Rounding out the top ten were Tommy Fleetwood and Max Homa at four-under par.

Other Australians with solid showing this week include Adam Scott and Carmeron Smith. Scott used a final round of two-under par 69 to finish in a tie for 33rd at one-over par. The 43-year-old Scott has never won the Open, with a best finish 2nd in 2012. Smith also finished at one-over after a round of 73 that included three bogeys and a birdie. Smith entered as the defending champion and was never a serious factor to repeat.

Min Woo Lee started with rounds of 71 and 68. He entered Sunday 17th after a third round of 72. However, he struggled to a 75 on Sunday which included seven bogeys. He finished tied for 41st at two-over par.

New Zealand native Ryan Fox rebounded from a first round 78 which included a triple bogey on the par 5 18th hole. He made the cut after a sensational round of five birdies and a bogey for a 67. He posted another sub-70 round on Saturday but struggled a bit in the wet conditions on Sunday, recording a final round of 74. Fox finished four-over par and tied for 52nd.

It was a pretty close final to watch where Man City & Inter Milan both failed to find the net throughout the opening 45 minutes at 0-0. The search went on for a while before Man City got away with a 1-0 lead in the 67th minute thanks to a brilliant strike from Rodri. Meanwhile, Inter’s continuous hit and miss attempts saw some wonderful saves by Ederson before Man City were able to lift the Champions League trophy for the first time. The final score at Ataturk Olympic Stadium is 1-0.

Commiserations to Inter with the loss after a great start here to keep the Man City attack in check defensively. Yes, they did create some opportunities & advantages along the way, particularly when Kevin De Bruyne had to limp off sometime during the first 45 mins of play. But then their executions through the net via the counter was simply flying everywhere without a clear target of irritating Ederson. That gave Man City the chance to strike back where that Rodri goal haunted them, while their own shots on target approach continued to fail before it was too late.

And congrats to City with the Champions League triumph at last after finishing off the season with the Premier League title & FA Cup Final win that marked the treble, having fell short when they last competed in the UCL Final once before two years ago v Chelsea 0-1. They were almost sweating towards another UCL final loss at one point when Kevin De Bruyne had to limp off due to injury. But they had to play on without him as the game goes on when Inter’s poor finishing gave them the chance to fire one in return. Not only they took great care of good possession of the ball, but the rewards were there later in the 2nd 45 & that is how Man City got away with the win they deserve in Turkey.

Football club competition season is over for now as we can’t wait for next year’s Europa League & Champions League Final that can turn out really exciting once again.

Wow!! What a race that is to close down another unreal Kentucky Derby for the 149th running this year over at Churchill Downs. There were a mix of early front-runners who put their names earlier on for the majority, while others chose to save their best for last like race favourite Angel of Empire. But then we saw the climax going into the last two corners & the front stretch that all changed everything.

Two Phil’s may have secured the first move where he tried to hold off top spot towards the finish line after he kept the other front-runners in check for the whole time. But look out for Mage who supercharged his way from mid-pack past Two Phil’s side-by-side before they closed them out with the big win followed by race favourite Angel of Empire in 3rd.

Congratulations to the team at Mage who is celebrating that huge breakthrough moment right now, having pulled the curtains down on both Two Phil’s & the resurgent Angel of Empire that capped off such a close three-way battle in the end.

I’m sure there will be many more memorable & mind-blowing finishes like this one as the next Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing heads off to Pilmico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland, in two weeks’ time.

Gotta say that the fourth & final round of The Masters at Augusta National has changed everything in the lead up towards the finish line. Yes, I mean the for the leader in particular when Brooks Koepka, who kept top spot for the majority until this point, didn’t have a great run today with a mix of putting mishaps after he finished joint 2nd alongside the now oldest best Masters finisher of Phil Mickelson (age 51).

That paves the way for Spaniard Jon Rahm the opportunity to capitalise on Koepka’s mistakes & go one better for the top spot. And he too has done more than enough to not only keep it consistent bar the bogey on the Par 4 9th through the end of his final shift (4 birdies & all other pars of 3 under 69), but also secure his 2nd major Championship since the 2021 US Open, as well as his first Masters victory at a total of -12. Congrats to Jon on what has been a stellar Easter Sunday as he now gets to don the green jacket.

While there’s plenty of late movers we can name a few that ended up on a high in the Top 10 leaderboard, we didn’t have much hope in making a late charge into the top-half spots despite some promising progress from the beginning at our Aussies & NZ corner. Kiwi Ryan Fox finished T26 on his first Masters appearance after a great first couple of days, but then began to slip away towards the end. Meanwhile, Cameron Smith topped the charts for Australia in T34 ahead of Adam Scott & Jason Day in T39.

And even though he had a difficult 2nd half run, shoutout to Amateur Sam Bennett who finished in T16, having been around Rahm & Koepka for the lead at one stage earlier on Day 2. Now he’s set to play more golf without a caddie ahead of tomorrow’s 36-hole/two-day Aggie Invitational for his school – Texas A & M. 

What a wild few days it has been where we saw some stop-start play due to wet weather before there’s so much movement alongside an jaw-dropping change of leader on the run home, as we can’t wait for next year’s 88th Masters edition.

Gotta say that the fourth & final round of The Masters at Augusta National has changed everything in the lead up towards the finish line. Yes, I mean the for the leader in particular when Brooks Koepka, who kept top spot for the majority until this point, didn’t have a great run today with a mix of putting mishaps after he finished joint 2nd alongside the now oldest best Masters finisher of Phil Mickelson (age 51).

That paves the way for Spaniard Jon Rahm the opportunity to capitalise on Koepka’s mistakes & go one better for the top spot. And he too has done more than enough to not only keep it consistent bar the bogey on the Par 4 9th through the end of his final shift (4 birdies & all other pars of 3 under 69), but also secure his 2nd major Championship since the 2021 US Open, as well as his first Masters victory at a total of -12. Congrats to Jon on what has been a stellar Easter Sunday as he now gets to don the green jacket.

While there’s plenty of late movers we can name a few that ended up on a high in the Top 10 leaderboard, we didn’t have much hope in making a late charge into the top-half spots despite some promising progress from the beginning at our Aussies & NZ corner. Kiwi Ryan Fox finished T26 on his first Masters appearance after a great first couple of days, but then began to slip away towards the end. Meanwhile, Cameron Smith topped the charts for Australia in T34 ahead of Adam Scott & Jason Day in T39.

And even though he had a difficult 2nd half run, shoutout to Amateur Sam Bennett who finished in T16, having been around Rahm & Koepka for the lead at one stage earlier on Day 2. Now he’s set to play more golf without a caddie ahead of tomorrow’s 36-hole/two-day Aggie Invitational for his school – Texas A & M. 

What a wild few days it has been where we saw some stop-start play due to wet weather before there’s so much movement alongside an jaw-dropping change of leader on the run home, as we can’t wait for next year’s 88th Masters edition.

The second last day of this year’s Masters have been hit by wet weather once again at Augusta National where we had to squeeze in some catch up time from Friday’s 2nd Round before players below the Top 50, who missed the cut, had to leave the golf course ahead of the Round 3 start right away. But then there’s more of the same interrupted drama as not only these players will have to get through the leftover Day 3’s play done tomorrow AM, but also the full final round later in the afternoon as well to cap off such an up and down few days of major C’ship golf.

Now the makeup of the final Day 3 leaderboard hasn’t been finished yet but Brooks Koepka is still your leader at -13 ahead of Jon Rahm in 2nd (-9). And amateur Sam Bennett (-6) still hopes to turn things around from 3rd & go after Koepka & Rahm for the top spot despite his poor start of back-to-back bogeys. Then there’s more people coming in and out of the Top 5-10 apart from Koepka & Rahm – maybe Bennett if he can pull off a masterstroke Round 3 spell – with Patrick Cantlay & reigning US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick emerging into the Top 4 as of late at -4 alongside Collin Morikawa & Viktor Hovland.

And we still have three Aussies & one Kiwi in the mix despite little upturn in progress if they want to wrap up on a high even as outside contenders.

Good to see NZ’s Ryan Fox improving up a few spots to Tied 14th (-3), even though he had two bogeys in between the first nine & still has 7 holes left to finish after a great two days out. Jason Day is still holding on the Top 10 places in Tied 8th, but his shift earlier today hasn’t been the same so far with just one birdie on the Par 5 2nd. And so does Adam Scott where he regressed massively from a 1st half Top 10 to now Tied 28th, while there’s not much progress from Cam Smith in Tied 23rd.

The second last day of this year’s Masters have been hit by wet weather once again at Augusta National where we had to squeeze in some catch up time from Friday’s 2nd Round before players below the Top 50, who missed the cut, had to leave the golf course ahead of the Round 3 start right away. But then there’s more of the same interrupted drama as not only these players will have to get through the leftover Day 3’s play done tomorrow AM, but also the full final round later in the afternoon as well to cap off such an up and down few days of major C’ship golf.

Now the makeup of the final Day 3 leaderboard hasn’t been finished yet but Brooks Koepka is still your leader at -13 ahead of Jon Rahm in 2nd (-9). And amateur Sam Bennett (-6) still hopes to turn things around from 3rd & go after Koepka & Rahm for the top spot despite his poor start of back-to-back bogeys. Then there’s more people coming in and out of the Top 5-10 apart from Koepka & Rahm – maybe Bennett if he can pull off a masterstroke Round 3 spell – with Patrick Cantlay & reigning US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick emerging into the Top 4 as of late at -4 alongside Collin Morikawa & Viktor Hovland.

And we still have three Aussies & one Kiwi in the mix despite little upturn in progress if they want to wrap up on a high even as outside contenders.

Good to see NZ’s Ryan Fox improving up a few spots to Tied 14th (-3), even though he had two bogeys in between the first nine & still has 7 holes left to finish after a great two days out. Jason Day is still holding on the Top 10 places in Tied 8th, but his shift earlier today hasn’t been the same so far with just one birdie on the Par 5 2nd. And so does Adam Scott where he regressed massively from a 1st half Top 10 to now Tied 28th, while there’s not much progress from Cam Smith in Tied 23rd.