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Masters champion and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler likely to miss PGA Championship cut

Scheffler reacts after hitting his bunker shot on the 13th hole during the second round of the 2022 PGA Championship.

It looks like Masters champion Scottie Scheffler will miss the cut at the 2022 PGA Championship after a stuttering performance.

Coming off a disappointing opening round Thursday – which included a rare show of frustration from the usually unflappable Scheffler – the world No. 1 entered Friday’s second round one over par, six shots behind leader Rory McIlroy.

And with the aim surely to climb back up the leaderboard, Scheffler showed some of his trademark grit and grind, clearly not playing his best but managing to eke out nine pars in a row on his first nine holes at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

However, it was on the back nine when things started to go pear-shaped for arguably the most in-form golfer in the world.

Scheffler reacts after hitting his bunker shot on the 13th hole during the second round of the 2022 PGA Championship.

Consecutive bogeys on the first and second holes – his 10th and 11th – meant the 25-year-old was always playing catch-up; but it only got worse from there.

A birdie on his 13th gave Scheffler some hope, only for two bogeys in the next three holes to really cement a torrid afternoon in Tulsa for Scheffler.

And just when things seemed like they couldn’t get any worse, he had the nightmare final hole.

On the par four ninth hole, his tee shot landed in a bunker on the right of the fairway, and the resulting bunker shot landed just off the left of the green.

His chip shot was a tad under-hit, landing just on the edge of the green and leaving him a 15-foot putt for par.

Needing to hole it to have an outside shot of playing on the weekend, Scheffler’s putt rolled just to the left of the hole, leaving him a tricky putt to rescue a bogey.

And it just wasn’t Scheffler’s day, as the bogey putt once again just missed the hole, as he tapped in for a double-bogey, completing his back nine in 40 strokes.

Scottie Scheffler told his fans that they shouldn’t worry about his upcoming season and that he is ready to surprise his fans, this indicates that bettors will soon start placing bets on his name on this sport betting site.

Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole combine for 80 points as Golden State Warriors take 3-0 series lead

The Golden State Warriors offense is purring and it’s fun, must-watch TV.

The Dubs’ trio of stars – Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole – combined for 80 points as the Warriors beat the Denver Nuggets, 118-113, in Game 3 on Thursday night.

The ‘Splash Bros’ – Curry and Thompson – scored 27 and 26 points respectively with 22-year-old Poole continuing his breakout season as he contributed 27 in Golden State’s road win in Denver.

Thompson, who also continues his remarkable comeback from a two-year-long injury layoff, praised Poole’s development.

“I don’t remember a better start for a playoff debut for a guard. It’s incredible what Jordan’s doing,” Thompson said after the game.

“We need him to go where we want to go, and we need him to keep doing what he’s doing.”

It means that the team now have a 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven series in the first round of the NBA playoffs and can wrap it up when the teams next play at the Ball Arena in Denver on Sunday.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has utilized the three-guard line-up of Curry, Thompson and Poole effectively in the opening two games of the series in California, giving his team the requisite bursts late in halves to overcome the Nuggets.

In Game 3, the trio made 28-of-48 (58.3%) attempts from the field and 12-of-27 (44.4%) from three-point range as they provided Nuggets coach Michael Malone with no end of match-up headaches.

This unstoppable trio made online betting platforms significantly increase Golden State’s odds.

Curry, Thompson and Poole became the third trio in Warriors history, and first since 1989, to each record 25 points and 50% shooting in a playoff game.

Reigning MVP Nikola Jokic had 37 points for the home team, but it wasn’t enough as the Nuggets lost their seventh consecutive playoff game, a run extending back to last season.

A key Jokic turnover forced by Draymond Green in the dying seconds of the game clinched the victory.

Minnesota Timberwolves suffer epic collapse to blow 26-point lead at home to Memphis Grizzlies

“We in Minnesota now,” a cocky Karl-Anthony Towns was heard saying on the bench.

“Like I said after [Game 2] to the media: ‘Cool, we got to come back to our house now. I only seen them at their house.’”

At the time, his Minnesota Timberwolves held a 17-point lead over the Memphis Grizzlies as Game 3 neared the end of the first half, having already led by as many as 26 at the start of the second quarter.

There was every reason for Towns to be feeling confident.

The Timberwolves’ lead shrunk to as little as seven before the half was over, before they managed to open up a 25-point advantage in the third quarter.

What happened next, however, was branded “embarrassing for basketball” by Charles Barkley on the NBA on TNT broadcast.

The Timberwolves were outscored 37-12 in the fourth quarter – including a remarkable 26-2 run – and eventually ended up losing 104-95; that this game wasn’t even close in the closing stages speaks to the monumental nature of the collapse.

Towns, the Timberwolves’ franchise star, finished with a paltry eight points, five rebounds, and one assist in 33 minutes of action. More surprising, though, was Towns taking a meager four shots the entire game.

“Go home, drink some wine and move on to the next day,” Towns told reporters about how he would recover from the defeat. “I mean, that’s really simple. Just decompress.

One of the most famous sport betting sites stated that this collapse may cause big odds drops.

“Just go home and remember what got us here, remember what got me here. It’s our support system, our work and each other and we just got to lean on that.”

Grizzlies star guard Ja Morant had an inefficient night, shooting just 5-of-18, but finished with the first playoff triple-double in franchise history, recording 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.

Desmond Bane posted a game-high 26 points, including seven made three-pointers, and Brandon Clarke came up huge off the bench with 20 points and eight rebounds.

The Grizzlies take a 2-1 lead in the first round series, with Game 4 to be played in Minnesota on Saturday before the team head back to Memphis for Game 5 on Tuesday.

As Morant took pleasure in reminding Towns after the game, “we are in Minnesota now.”

Mavs take a 2-1 lead over Jazz

Elsewhere, the Luka Doncic-less Dallas Mavericks pulled off a surprise 126-118 win at the Utah Jazz to take a 2-1 series lead.

Doncic has missed all three of the games in this first-round series with a calf strain picked up on the final day of the regular season, but the Mavs have still flourished in his absence.

After his 41 points in Game 2, guard Jalen Brunson further added to his stock on Thursday with a team-high 31 points for Dallas.

Utah’s Donovan Mitchell led all scoring with 32 points but was unable to lead his team to a comeback after the Jazz found themselves down by 17 in the third quarter.

Doncic has been ramping up towards a return and is looking increasingly likely to play in Game 4, but head coach Jason Kidd said the Mavericks would be taking no risks with their star man.

Manchester United edge out Barcelona in brilliant, back-and-forth Europa League tie

With each club very much in a transitional period, the 2022-23 season has seen both Manchester United and Barcelona make massive strides forward under new managers, with both arriving back among the domestic elites perhaps a year (or two) ahead of schedule. Man United have lost just one of their last 11 Premier League fixtures (8W-2D-1L) and find themselves in 3rd place, just two points off 2nd and five back of leaders Arsenal.

In La Liga, Xavi’s first full season is going quite swimmingly, with Barcelona back on top of the table, either point clear of defending champions and rivals Real Madrid. With 16 games to go, the Blaugrana look set to reclaim the title after three seasons outside the winners’ circle. Don’t miss this opportunity to try out online betting!

Helpless Liverpool picked apart by five-star Real Madrid at Anfield

Liverpool suffered an astonishing 5-2 defeat to Real Madrid at Anfield on Tuesday, as the world witnessed perhaps the beginning of the end of the Jurgen Klopp era as the Reds were all but officially eliminated in the Champions League round of 16.

From 2-0 up after 15 minutes, to 5-2 down just 52 minutes later, Liverpool was helpless to slow down the same Real Madrid side that beat them 1-0 in last season’s UCL final.

Klopp and Co., couldn’t have begun faster or brighter, with Darwin Nunez getting on the end of Mohamed Salah’s cross and flicking a brilliant backheel past Thibaut Courtois in the 4th minute. 10 minutes later, a sleepy backpass turned into a nightmare as the ball bounced off Courtois’s knee and fell to Salah atop the six-yard and the Anfield faithful roared to life once again.

The good times came to an abrupt end, though, as Vinicius Junior cut in from the left wing and placed an inch-perfect strike inside the far post for 2-1 after 21 minutes. This came as a negative shock for everyone that was betting on Liverpool. 15 minutes later, it was Alisson’s turn to gift a goal as Joe Gomez played him the ball and, rather than booting it clear, played it off Vinicius’s leg and watched helplessly as it looped and spun high in the Merseyside sky and bounced into an empty goal.