AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) Patrick Reed won’t have to wait until next April to defend his title in the Masters.

Even as he slipped into a green jacket, he was perceived more as a villain than a victor.

The loudest cheer from the first tee at Augusta National was for Rory McIlroy, who played with Reed in the final round. The loudest cheer on the 18th green was for Rickie Fowler, who finished ahead of Reed.

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The mood all afternoon screamed out, ”Anyone but Patrick.”

Reed had the last shot, a 3-foot par putt for a one-shot victory and his first major championship.

All he did was play a brand of golf that champions from any era would embrace.

He seized control on Saturday with two eagles on the back nine, the second a 3-wood from just under 270 yards into the wet, heavy air that barely cleared the water in front of the 15th green. From there, he chipped in from 80 feet. And on Sunday, he heard the cheers ahead of him for Jordan Spieth and answered with a 25-foot bi..

Cristiano Ronaldo is no mere mortal. If you're not familiar with the man's oeuvre, first of all, welcome to earth, and second of all, watch the can of whoop-ass he opened on Juventus in last week's Champions League quarterfinals…
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If for some reason that doesn't convince you, here's what happens when a normal everyday schmuck—in this case an Argentinian journalist Manuel Sanchez—tries to recreate the mighty feats of CR7:
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Now, we're no orthopedic surgeons, but that sure as hell looks like a busted leg, and subsequent images of Sanchez with a walking boot and crutches seem to suggest as much. On the brightside, however, fellow Argentina legend Lionel Messi remains a whopping 15 points clear of Ronaldo and Real Madrid at the top of the La Liga table and Sanchez—presumably looking for a little bit of viral sauce—got more than he could hav..

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) Rory McIlroy’s fourth bid for the career Grand Slam was his best chance. He played in the final group with Patrick Reed and pulled to within one shot early until his putter failed him. He tied for fifth, and would seem to have time on his side.

”Come back again next year and try,” McIlroy said. ”I’ve played in two final groups in the last seven years. I’ve had five top 10s. I play this golf course well. I just haven’t played it well enough at the right time.”

McIlroy has five straight top 10s, though he has yet to finish closer than six shots to the winner.

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From purely a historical perspective, it might not get any easier the longer he goes.

While five players have completed the career Grand Slam, only three of them knew what they were winning. The modern version of the Grand Slam didn’t really start until Arnold Palmer raised the notion of winning all four professional majors in 1960. No one asked Gene Sarazen about the career Grand S..

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where the loudest roar for Patrick Reed on Sunday may have come from a potential new match-play teammate. Don’t get too jealous, Jordan Spieth:
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In case you don't know, that's NBA star J.R. Smith, who is also arguably the biggest golf fan on the planet. Patrick’s timing in winning the Masters was perfect, because his NYC media tour overlapped with Smith’s Cavs visiting the Knicks. So THE KING was in the building at MSG on Monday night. But even LeBron takes a backseat to CAPTAIN AMERICA (Patrick, please wear golf shoes that say that on the back at your next tournament):
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Wow, J.R. is really itching to play that member-member. We can only hope this entertaining duo teams up on the links — and that someone documents it. In the meantime, there’s plenty to document from a fun-filled week at Augusta National.
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Patrick Reed: Golf is a weird sport, huh? After watching up close R..

Tom Williams(Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)The notification button on Twitter tends to light up regularly for local sportswriters. Fans want to know why their favorite team keeps putting the .230 hitter in leadoff spot or what's up with their star's body language. Or worse, a writer is bombarded with hate for something they wrote, keyboard warriors wishing the worst upon said journalist for having the audacity to suggest their 3-11 team might miss the playoffs.
Or, if you're Green Bay Packers beat writer Michael Cohen, your Twitter blows up for a slightly different reason.
Cohen works for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel covering the Lambeau faithful, a job that's listed in his Twitter bio, but one many users have apparently ignored, instead sending him ridicule and taunts in regards to the FBI raiding the office of the other Michael Cohen.
Which sheds a bit of light on Packers' Cohen's Tweet on Monday:
https://twitter.com/Michael_Cohen13/status/9834923..

Golf fans may notice something different when they turn into this week's PGA Tour action at the RBC Heritage.

As the first major of the golf season, the Masters is one of the biggest stages in golf played on one of the most beautiful backdrops

Las Vegas has hockey fever. Following the single best expansion season in American sports history, Sin City is gearing up for the Golden Knights' first-ever playoff appearance and, in typical Vegas fashion, it's gotten a little out control. For example, there's currently a five-foot-tall, 120-pound chocolate sculpture of Knights' tender Marc-Andre Fleury greeting guests in the lobby of the iconic Bellagio Resort & Casino. No, we're not making this up:
https://twitter.com/GoldenKnights/status/983484081278103552
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The passion project of Bellagio Patisserie executive pastry chefs Yamilet Hillers and Jerome Jacob, this ridiculously excessive, ostentatious, totally Vegas tribute is crafted from a mixture of milk, dark, and white chocolate carefully laid over a skeleton of styrofoam, wire, and Rice Krispie treats (yes, really). It isn't meant to be eaten, though surely more than a few..

I have eaten the tortilla chip birthed from the fiery dust of the Carolina Reaper pepper. I have placed into my mouth the fury of a thousand stars, felt the burn on my tongue and the pyroclastic flow in my throat, spent considerable time wondering if it’s possible to voluntarily shut down one’s own mucus production system. (Short answer: It is not. You just have to sit there and leak for 20 minutes.) It was ghastly and unpleasant and fun and strangely addictive; after we were done, some part of us wanted more.
But I only ate part of the Carolina Reaper Madness Chip, because 1. Two other people in my house also wanted a sample and 2. I’m a fluffy buttercup. And it should be noted that I ate the nacho-chip version that’s coated in pepper dust—not the actual pepper itself. While eating a hot chip sounds like something worth trying, consuming an object that scientifically ranks four million of something seems, on some instinctive level, like a questionable decision for your intestinal regi..

Correct golf posture will give you a much better chance of making a good swing. David Leadbetter goes over the essentials.