Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 13, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● C5 Jaeger didn’t hit a f airway on the back nine e xcept for an iron o ff the 15th te e, and it fina lly cau ght up with h im at the en d. He hit dri ver to cut of f the d ogleg on the 16th b ut it wen t so fa r left t hat it w as nev er fou nd, pr esume d to be out-of- bound s. “The o ne on 16 I w ould li ke to h ave ba ck. Wr ong ho le to hit tha t shot, ” Jaeg er sai d. Jaeger did w ell to m ade bo gey of f a pro vision al ball to stay o nly on e behi nd — S paun m issed a 10-foo t birdi e putt that w ould h ave gi ven hi m a cu shion. And t hen Sp aun m ade bogey from t he bu nker on the 17 th. All the while , Echa varria and T aylor r allied in imp roba- ble wa ys. Ec havar ria ma de a 15 -foot p ar sav e on th e 15th , a 12-fo ot bird ie on t he 16t h, save d par from a bunke r on th e 17th a nd the n hit a splend id bun ker sh ot acro ss the 18th birdie to get up-an d-dow n for b irdie. Taylor looke d like he had lost h is cha nces b y miss ing a pair of 4-f oot bir die pu tts. He was t wo beh ind wh en he holed his 60 -foot c hip for eagle on the 18th h ole. Jaeger and S paun n eeded birdie on the par-5 closin g hole to join the pl ayoff. Jaeger hit 3-w ood of f the t ee and didn’t clear t he bun ker, an d his s econd shot h it the l ip and left him in the ro ugh so me 17 8 yard s away . He w ent ov er the green and m ade pa r for a 67. Spaun from the 18 th fair way m issed t o the r ight, t he worst place to be b ecause the pi n was cut to the rig ht with the wi nd at h is back . He d id wel l to ge t it to 10 fee t, and then m issed t he bir die pu tt and shot 6 8. On a d ay wh en 15 player s were separ ated b y thre e shot s at the start, those four w ere th e only ones w ho ser iously threat ened a t the e nd. Hidek i Mats uyama , who w on wit h a PG A Tou r reco rd 35-und er par last w eek at Kapa lua, cl osed w ith a 6 6 and finish ed at 1 1 unde r and tied fo r 16th in his bid to becom e only th e third playe r to sw eep H awaii. — The A ssociated Press SPORTS MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2025 MATT YORK / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Nick Taylor lifts the trophy Sunday after winning the Sony Open in Honolulu. TAYLOR ● FROM C1 SPORTS IN BRIEF PATRIOTS HIRE VRABEL AS COACH THE New England Patriots have hired Mike Vrabel as their head coach. The team announced the hiring Sunday morning, a week after Patriots owner Robert Kraft fired Jerod Mayo following the team’s season-ending victory over the Buffalo Bills. Mayo finished 4-13 in his lone season. Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive co-ordinator Byron Leftwich, former Houston Texans offensive co-ordinator Pep Hamilton and Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson also interviewed for the job. But Vrabel, a fan favourite during eight seasons as a player in New England where he was a member of its first three Super Bowl winners and an inductee into the team’s Hall of Fame in 2023, was the preferred candidate because of his long association with the franchise and coaching success during his six seasons with Tennessee. In hiring the 49-year-old Vrabel, Kraft is turning to another former Patriots defensive standout who, like Mayo, built a reputation as a coach for his ability to relate to players. But Mayo, who served as assistant under former longtime Patriots coach Bill Belichick, was a first-time head coach and struggled to get results from a young roster led by rookie quarterback Drake Maye. Vrabel, however, arrives with a resume burnished by a 56-48 overall record with Tennessee from 2018 to 2023. That includes a 2-3 record in the playoffs and an AFC championship game appearance in 2019 as part of a run of three straight postseason berths. LONG WINS WAY ONTO PRO DARTS TOUR MILTON KEYNES, U.K. — Canadian Jim (The Gentleman) Long won his Professional Darts Corporation Tour Card at PDC Qualifying School on Sunday. Long secured his tour status by defeating England’s John Brown 6-0 in the semifinal before downing Wales’ Kevin O’Keefe 6-4 in the final. “It was a tough final knowing that I already had it (the Tour Card) and I lost a bit of my drive, but I was glad to get there in the end,” said the 56-year-old retired autoworker from London, Ont. Hamilton’s Matt (Ginja Ninja) Campbell is the only Canadian with a current PDC Tour Card. More than 800 players competed for the chance to secure two-year PDC Tour Cards at Q-Schools in England and Kalkar, Germany. Long, a semifinalist at the 2024 World Seniors Darts Championship, had a bye to the final stage which ran Friday through Sunday with a total of 29 PDC Tour Cards on offer. Fellow Canadian David (Excalibur) Cameron also advanced to the final stage of Q-School but missed out in a Tour card. John (Darth Maple) Part, a former three-time world champion, also took part. Long competed at the recent Paddy Power World Darts Championship in London for the second time, losing his first-round match to England’s James (Hillbilly) Hurrell. In Decem- ber 2018, he upset Northern Ireland’s Mickey (The Clonoe Cyclone) Mansell. Long qualified for the worlds most recently by virtue of being the top Canadian on the CDC, North America’s professional tour. MACUGA WINS, VONN 4TH IN SUPER-G ST. ANTON, Austria — Lauren Macuga’s first World Cup race win Sunday — in a super-G where Lindsey Vonn impressed again in fourth — was no surprise to ski watchers who saw the 22-year-old American’s fast-improving results. Macuga skied with speed and style Sunday on a course that caught out veterans like Federica Brignone and Lara Gut-Behrami, who made errors and knew crossing the finish line their times would not hold up. Macuga won by 0.68 seconds — a huge winning margin in super-G — ahead of Stephanie Venier of Austria, with Brignone 0.92 back in third. Olympic champion Gut- Behrami was 1.26 back in fifth. Vonn, in the third race of her comeback at age 40, trailed Macuga by 1.24 yet no one was faster down the steep middle section of the course. Macuga stood course-side punching the air to salute her storied teammate’s run. Vonn smiled broadly and held her arms out wide as the racecourse commentator praised her “unbelievable” run. Vonn had skied at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics in Macuga’s home state Utah five months before the U.S. team’s new star was even born — on the fourth of July. Macuga was in the leader’s box, wearing a bucket hat with stars and stripes, to watch Vonn start wearing the No. 31 bib, one day after her impressive sixth-place finish in downhill. Macuga had been ninth Saturday. — from the news services Britain & Ireland team cruises to Cup victory ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Britain & Ireland completed a 17-8 win over Continental Europe in the Team Cup, an event that gave European players valuable matchplay experience ahead of the Ryder Cup in New York this year. Tommy Fleetwood secured the point that clinched the expected victory for Britain & Ireland, which led 11-4 heading into Sunday’s singles after a dominant first two days at Abu Dhabi Golf Resort. Britain & Ireland needed just two more points from the singles and after Laurie Canter beat Romain Langasque 5&4, Fleetwood defeated Matthieu Pavon 3&1. Fleetwood also claimed the winning point for Europe when beating the United States outside Rome to reclaim the Ryder Cup in 2023. “Slightly different circumstances this time, but it feels great,” Fleetwood said. “What an unbelievable group of lads we had again this week and an unbelievable captain, so it was good to be a part of it.” Justin Rose was the Britain & Ire- land captain and he said his message before play was “to go out on the front foot, try to be relentless, to play wave after wave.” His team won five of the first six matches, with Tyrrell Hatton beating Thorbjorn Olesen 3&1, Rose beating Julien Guerrier 3&2, and Paul Waring beating Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen 4&3. “I have loved the challenge and the experience,” Rose said, “and the lads have made me look incredibly good at it.” Continental Europe, which won two years ago when the event was called the Hero Cup, finished strongly with wins for Niklas Norgaard, Antoine Rozner and Matteo Manassero. The last two matches — between Francesco Molinari and Jordan Smith, and Rasmus Ho- jgaard and Aaron Rai — finished as ties. The event was formerly called The Seve Trophy and was played eight times from 2000-13, with Britain & Ireland winning six times and Continental Eu- rope winning twice. Six of the 20 players and captains from the 2023 edition wound up playing the Ryder Cup that year. This year’s Ryder Cup is at Bethpage Black in September. “Matchplay is unique, we don’t do enough of it,” Rose said. “You can’t just turn that tap on immediately when you need it, so having these opportunities to play that is important. There’s some lessons in matchplay that you need to continue to remember. “You can’t simulate the intensity of the Ryder Cup, with the crowd and the energy, but at the end of the day as soon as you put a crest here,” he said, slap- ping his chest, “and you have 10 mates right behind you, you want to win.” — The Associated Press N EWARK, N.J. — Corinne Schroeder did not allow a goal in her second straight game and Jessie Eldridge scored the game-win- ning goal with a minute left in over- time as the New York Sirens beat the Toronto Sceptres 1-0 on Sunday. Schroeder, from Elm Creek, blanked Minnesota, making 26 saves in New York’s 5-0 win over the Minnesota Frost on Jan. 4. Sunday, she denied Toronto with 28 saves. She won her fifth game overall and her second in overtime. Schroeder lowered her league-lead- ing goals-against average to 1.86 per game. Just two goalkeepers, Schroeder and Maddie Rooney of league-lead- ing Minnesota (1.98), average fewer than two goals allowed per game this season. After neither team scored in regu- lation, the game went to a five-minute three-on-three overtime and each team had chances. New York sent out Alex Carpenter and Sarah Fillier, who have scored nine goals between them, and the pair had a pair of chances but could not beat Toronto keeper Kristen Campbell. The Sceptres’ Sarah Nurse pounced on a long rebound and had a breakaway chance at Schroeder but her shot whistled wide as did an open shot from Daryl Watts. After Schroeder denied two Toronto chances in the fourth minute of over- time Fillier collected the puck in her own corner and fired a long cross-ice pass. Eldridge followed the puck into the corner and lifted a close-in shot over Campbell’s right shoulder while straddling the goal line. The win was the second in overtime for New York (3-2-1-3), which beat Minnesota in extra time and lost to the Frost in a shootout. Toronto (2-0-2-5) lost its only other overtime game to Montreal. Also Sunday, Maggie Flaherty scored her first goal of the season to give Minnesota the lead in the third period and the Frost moved into first place in the Professional Women’s Hockey League with a 4-2 win over the Montréal Victoire on Sunday at Denver’s Ball Arena, home ice of the Colorado Avalanche. The game, part of the league’s Takeover Tour of potential expansion venues, drew 14,018 fans to set a new U.S. attendance record. Minnesota’s Maddie Rooney earned her league-leading fifth win in goal with 21 saves on 23 shots and the Frost saw defender Sophie Jacques finish with a goal and an assist in her return from the injured list after missing five games. Catherine Dubois scored early to give Montréal the lead in the first pe- riod, but Britta Curl-Salemme evened the game with a goal midway through the period and Jaques scored on a Frost power play to take a 2-1 lead in the second. Jennifer Gardiner evened it at 2-2 with a power-play goal that caromed off a Minnesota skate for the Victoire. As the Victoire tried to clear the puck from its own zone 13 minutes into a scoreless third period Flaherty jumped on an errant pass in the slot and fired a hard wrist shot past Mon- tréal’s Elaine Chuli for the game-win- ner. Michela Cava took a pass from Jaques in the final two minutes and lifted a wrist shot past Chuli’s shoulder for the insurance goal. Chuli, making her first start since December 21, made 25 saves. Montréal lost one of its leading scor- ers, Laura Stacey to an apparent injury to her left leg in the second period. She was helped from the bench to the locker room and did not return. — The Associated Press CHRISTOPHER KATSAROV / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES New York Sirens goaltender Corinne Schroeder of Elm Creek made 28 saves as the Sirens beat the Toronto Sceptres 1-0 Sunday night. Schroeder posts 2nd straight shutout PWHL: Sirens edge Sceptres in overtime ;