DONEGAL, Ireland (AP) Scottish golfer Russell Knox rolled in almost-identical birdie putts from around 40 feet on the 72nd hole and the first playoff hole to win the Irish Open on Sunday.

After Knox made birdie on No. 18 to set the clubhouse target at 14-under par, Ryan Fox of New Zealand missed an 8-foot birdie putt that would have won him the Rolex Series event.

They went back down the 18th hole for the playoff and Knox pitched from 131 yards to virtually the same spot on the green. His long birdie putt curled left to right and into the cup.

Fox failed to match the birdie, his putt agonizingly lipping out, and Knox put his hands to his face.

”Tough to describe how amazing this feels,” said Knox, who shot 6-under 66 in his final round.

”It’s why I play golf – all the practice days, all the misses, all the bad moments, all are taken care of with putts like that … Making two of them from almost identical positions. I mean, that’s a bit of a bonus. Unbelievable.”

Knox is set to cli..

ONEIDA, Wis. (AP) Sei Young Kim won’t only be chasing a victory at the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic on Sunday. She will also be chasing history.

Sei Young Kim shot an 8-under-par 64 in the third round of Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic on Saturday to tie Annika Sorenstam’s 54-hole record of 24 under and take a commanding eight-stroke lead.

In the final round, Kim will be trying to break the 72-hole record of 27 under that she shares with Sorenstam.

”I just want to keep challenging myself and what I can do,” she said. ”Even if I break it, I’ll keep (making) the challenges higher. That’s my goal.”

Kim, who had a 63 on Thursday and a 65 on Friday, got rolling with an eagle on No. 3 and added six birdies. A birdie on No. 16 tied Annika Sorenstam’s 24 under at the Mizuno Classic in Japan in 2003. After Kim missed a long birdie putt on the par-3 17th, she hit her tee shot on the 390-yard 18th into the left rough. Her approach was well short of the hole, and her birdie putt missed badly. S..

ONEIDA, Wis. (AP) Sei Young Kim won’t only be chasing a victory at the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic on Sunday. She will also be chasing history.

Sei Young Kim shot an 8-under-par 64 in the third round of Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic on Saturday to tie Annika Sorenstam’s 54-hole record of 24 under and take a commanding eight-stroke lead.

In the final round, Kim will be trying to break the 72-hole record of 27 under that she shares with Sorenstam.

”I just want to keep challenging myself and what I can do,” she said. ”Even if I break it, I’ll keep (making) the challenges higher. That’s my goal.”

Kim, who had a 63 on Thursday and a 65 on Friday, got rolling with an eagle on No. 3 and added six birdies. A birdie on No. 16 tied Annika Sorenstam’s 24 under at the Mizuno Classic in Japan in 2003. After Kim missed a long birdie putt on the par-3 17th, she hit her tee shot on the 390-yard 18th into the left rough. Her approach was well short of the hole, and her birdie putt missed badly. S..

ONEIDA, Wis. (AP) Sei Young Kim shot an 8-under-par 64 in the third round of Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic on Saturday to tie the 54-hole record of 24 under and take a commanding eight-stroke lead.

Kim, who had a 63 on Thursday and a 65 on Friday, got rolling with an eagle on No. 3 and added six birdies. A birdie on No. 16 tied Annika Sorenstam’s 24 under at the Mizuno Classic in Japan in 2003. After Kim missed a long birdie putt on the par-3 17th, she hit her tee shot on the 390-yard 18th into the left rough. Her approach was well short of the hole, and her birdie putt missed badly. She made a testy putt to save par.

Kim will take aim at Sorenstam’s 72-hole record of 27-under par, set at the Standard Register Ping in 2001 in Phoenix. Kim will need a 4-under 68 on Sunday to break that record.

Amy Yang is a distant second at 16 under after shooting a 5-under 67. Eight players are within two shots of Yang but 10 shots of the record-setting Kim.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (AP) Harold Varner and Kelly Kraft are looking to add to the crop of first-time winners on the PGA Tour in West Virginia.

Varner shot a 4-under 66 Saturday to tie Kraft at the top entering the final round of A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier.

Both are seeking their first tour wins in their 85th starts. Since this tournament debuted in 2010, there have been four first-time champions, but no third-round leader has won.

”I wish we could go play right now,” Varner said. ”I’m pretty hungry. This is what you work for. This is what I get so pumped up to do.”

Varner had four back-nine birdies after 10 consecutive pars to catch Kraft, the second-round leader who let a four-stroke lead slip away and shot 1-under 69.

Both were at 14-under 196.

Varner’s best finish on tour was a tie for fifth at the OHL Classic in Mexico in 2016. He has one top-10 finish in each of the past two years and won the Australian PGA Championship in 2016.

”I guess this whole thing’s..

DONEGAL, Ireland (AP) South African golfer Erik van Rooyen left behind his overnight co-leaders to grab a commanding four-shot lead going into the final day of the Irish Open on Saturday.

Van Rooyen began the third round in a three-way tie for the lead, but stormed to the turn in just 29 shots on his way to a superb 6-under-par 66 to finish 14 under.

He’s four shots ahead of Joakim Lagergren of Sweden (69) and Ryan Fox of New Zealand (70).

Former Masters champion Danny Willett (69) was five shots off the pace after recovering from a poor start with the aid of four birdies in a row on the back nine, and Lee Westwood was seven behind after a 70.

Defending champion Jon Rahm of Spain was eight shots off the lead after a 67 which included a front nine of 30, and tournament host Rory McIlroy was 13 adrift following a 72.

Van Rooyen, seeking a first European Tour title, made the ideal start at Ballyliffin with birdies on the first and second before picking up further shots on the fourth,..

We realize reaction videos are not a novel concept, especially for the World Cup. There's one from eight years ago (scary thought) that went viral after Landon Donovan scored the game-winning goal in the group stage against Algeria. Yeah, that's right, America was in the World Cup back then. Good times.
RELATED: One week into the World Cup and Russia is already running out of beer
While all these reaction vids from crazy sports fans are great, none have done them better than England is currently doing them during this magical World Cup run. On Saturday, England defeated Sweden 2-0 to advance to the semifinals, and following each goal, the reaction vids began to pour in. Here a few of the best ones that I've been watching on repeat for the last hour, wishing I was in attendance for such legendary debauchery:
https://twitter.com/HQSportsBar1/status/1015605541618503681
https://twitter.com/HQSportsBar1/status/1015615809476026368
https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/101560..

What's the best part of going to a golf tournament as a young fan? Unlike with a baseball game, you don't even have to lug your glove around to come away with a fantastic souvenir. PGA Tour pros are super generous with their own golf balls and gloves (It helps they have an unlimited supply of both), and if you ask nicely — after a round works best — you're likely to be handed one. But every once in awhile, you really hit the jackpot with a discarded piece of equipment like one lucky fan at this week's A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier.
RELATED: Our mid-season PGA Tour awards
The young lad positioned himself by the ropes where players were walking off the 18th green and was shocked when Danny Lee handed him his putter as he walked past. So much so he asked “Are you sure?” as Lee continued to the sign his scorecard and then promptly to the parking lot because he missed the cut. And yes, Danny was sure. Check it out:
https://twitter.com/Skratch/status/101546786757..

It’s always shocking when a tour pro does something we see our hacker buddies do on a regular basis. If you haven't whiffed on a shot (c'mon, you can admit it), you certainly have seen it happen on the golf course.
Beatriz Recari's whiff on Friday at the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic was certainly surprising to watch live, especially considering the stature of Recari—having won three times on the LPGA Tour and represented the Europeans at the Solheim Cup in 2013. But it's perhaps just another reminder that golf is a really, really hard sport, even for those who compete at the highest level.
https://twitter.com/golfguy77/status/1015385517867786240
Remember when Phil Mickelson whiffed this year at the Masters? It happens to the world's best golfers.
Kudos to Recari for shaking the miss off and stepping right back up and nailing her drive. It appears she was wearing spikeless shoes, and with wet turf on the tee box, she slipped as she was swinging. We've all ..

ONEIDA, Wis. (AP) Sei Young Kim got off to a great start in the second round and finished the day with a four-stroke lead at the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic. Her advantage could have been even better.

After missing makeable birdie putts on four of her final five holes, Kim had to settle for a 7-under-par 65 to move to 16-under 128 – tied for the lowest on the LPGA Tour this season. She then headed straight to the practice green.

”Just a couple minutes of putting. That’s it,” Kim said. ”I missed a couple birdie putts the last few holes. Just check out that and then no more practice.”

Starting on the back nine, Kim birdied her first four holes and six of her first seven before a double-bogey on her eighth, the par-3 17th.

”The first hole, my second shot was a tap-in birdie,” said Kim, who is seeking her first win since May 2017. ”After that, every hole I got it close to the pin. I had a lot of birdie opportunities. It was perfect weather so, every hole, I could attack the pin.”

Yu..