PITTSBURGH -- The Steelers didn't have to look far to find their next defensive coordinator.

The organization is finalizing a deal with senior defensive assistant and secondary coach Teryl Austin to replace outgoing defensive coordinator Keith Butler, who retired last month, a source told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.

The sides are working out the details of the contract Sunday, the source said.

The news of Austin's promotion was first reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Austin, entering his fourth season with the Steelers and 19th in the league, previously served as the defensive coordinator for the Lions and Bengals. Before his stints in Detroit, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, Austin coached defensive backs for the Seahawks, Cardinals and Ravens. He also split defensive coordinator duties with Mike Tomlin for one game this season when Butler was sidelined in COVID-19 protocols.

"TA, he's a great coach," safety Minkah Fitzpatrick said in January. "I'm not going to talk too good about him because I want him to stay in Pittsburgh. I know everybody else is trying to get at him. He's a great coach. I love his attention to detail, the way that he approaches the game, the way he lets the players have a voice. A lot of coaches don't really let players have a voice. I'm appreciative of that."

Days before his promotion with the Steelers, the Giants requested an interview with Austin for their defensive coordinator opening. Austin, though, chose to remain in Pittsburgh.

Though the Steelers conducted outside interviews for the position, Austin, 56, who played safety at the University of Pittsburgh, was viewed as a favorite throughout the process.

The Steelers have a history of internal promotions for coordinator positions, previously elevating Matt Canada from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator before last season, and Butler was promoted from linebackers coach to defensive coordinator in 2015 to take over for Dick LeBeau.

"He's a real personable person who really enjoys what he does," cornerback Cam Sutton said of Austin in January. "He's a guy who really comes energized every single day, from start to finish, feeling his best, feeling his worst, you name it. A guy who's always pushing all his chips into the middle of the table to help us collectively."

EILEEN GU THRUSTS her fists into the sky, ski poles dangling from her wrists, as she skis to a stop at the base of the Dew Tour halfpipe in Copper Mountain, Colorado. Her second-run score of 96 flashes on the outdoor monitor and the small crowd gathered on this bitter December morning erupts in support. Gu leads the event by nearly three points but isn't the type to take a victory lap, so on her third and final run, she attempts a right corked 1080 -- a trick she has yet to land in competition -- and comes up a few degrees short. "I was really proud of my second run and wanted to step it up," Gu says after the contest. "I know I'll get the 10 next time."

The win is Gu's third in 13 days, in the third of five finals in four disciplines in which she will compete over a two-week span. After this morning's halfpipe win, she will rest, grab lunch and finish second in slopestyle. Twenty-four hours later, she'll take third and win "best trick" in street style, a rail-jam-style contest that requires hiking a small park.

Gu is, without debate, the most dominant woman in freeskiing, and she's one of the only athletes in the sport who's won major international titles in all three Olympic disciplines: big air, slopestyle and halfpipe. In Beijing, the 18-year-old California native is a favorite to win gold in all three. But she will do so while competing for China.

Born in San Francisco to a Chinese mother and American father and raised by her mother and maternal grandmother, Gu announced in June 2019, at age 15, that she would switch country affiliations and compete for China in the Beijing Games. "This was an incredibly tough decision for me to make," Gu wrote in an Instagram post at the time. "The opportunity to help inspire millions of young people where my mom was born, during the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help to promote the sport I love. Through skiing, I hope to unite people, promote common understanding, create communication, and forge friendships between nations."

The announcement came as a surprise to many in the sport. It is rare for a top U.S. athlete to switch countries, and rarer still for a U.S. citizen to acquire a Chinese passport. Many questioned whether Gu, a high school sophomore at the time, understood the impact of her decision. She was called a traitor on social media and accused of making the choice for financial gain and allowing herself to be used as a political tool by the Chinese government.

Through her agent, Gu declined to comment for this story and has never confirmed whether she renounced her American passport. But the International Olympic Committee requires athletes to hold passports for the countries they represent, and China does not recognize dual citizenship.

Gu often says when she is "in the U.S., I'm American and when I'm in China, I'm Chinese." Now, she will drop into her first Winter Olympics at a fraught moment in U.S.-China relations and as China comes under increasing international criticism for its human rights practices. Deftly navigating her two worlds can be incredibly lucrative. But the stakes are high.

While she progresses freeskiing with innovative tricks, she must temper her fearlessness when the contests end. In China, athletes are expected to perform well and remain silent. But in the U.S., athletes are asked to have opinions on everything from vaccine mandates to media censorship to human rights. Toeing the line between those two cultures requires Gu to have as much air awareness in interviews and on social media as she does when performing her limit-pushing skills, and mistakes can be just as costly.

WHEN BEIJING FIRST hosted the Olympics, in 2008, protests erupted over China's policies in Tibet and the African nation of Sudan, where China supported a government accused of waging a genocide in its Darfur region. The protests interrupted nearly every stop of the 21-city torch relay. Even then-IOC president Jacques Rogge called on Beijing officials to respect their "moral engagement" to improve human rights in the nation. The international community believed then that the Games could usher in a new era of democracy and free speech in China.

Nearly 14 years later, China has been condemned by the U.S. government and other nations for its repressive policies in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet. In December, the Biden administration announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Games over China's use of forced labor and detention camps to suppress Uyghur Muslims in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang, as well as other human rights abuses.

Calls for an outright boycott of the Games heightened after the Women's Tennis Association, which is based in Florida, suspended all tournaments in China after Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, a three-time Olympian, disappeared from public view. She had accused a high-ranking former government official of sexual abuse on social media, which Chinese censors immediately scrubbed from the internet.

Peng's post was unprecedented in a country where celebrities keenly understand the cost of speaking out or stepping out of line. "Chinese athletes, film stars and musicians must keep silent," says Chinese human rights activist Teng Biao, a lawyer and visiting scholar at Hunter College. "They know if they criticize the party, they will lose everything. And the loss is so huge that they won't take the risk."

The Chinese government has signaled that it will also not tolerate protests from foreign athletes during the Games. In mid-January, a member of China's Olympic organizing committee warned athletes against saying anything that is "against the Olympic spirit, especially against Chinese laws and regulations," and warned that doing so could result in punishment. International human rights groups have advised athletes to remain silent while in Beijing, and to not expect the IOC to protect them if they find themselves in trouble with the Chinese government. Sport organizers in the U.S. also warned athletes who are headed to Beijing not to say anything that could be considered controversial before or during the Games.

"We can't speak out about anything important, which is really B.S.," says two-time Olympic snowboard gold medalist Jamie Anderson, who is competing in slopestyle and big air in Beijing.

For all these reasons, athletes have found themselves in a difficult situation in the lead-up to the Games. Most U.S. athletes have spent the past several months avoiding directly answering questions regarding China's human rights abuses for fear of losing sponsors or being blocked from entering the country. But a misstep by a U.S. athlete in Beijing comes with a level of protection by the U.S. consulate, which would work to get them out of the country if they were detained. As a Chinese citizen, Gu could be pulled from competition, forced to surrender her passport or be prevented from leaving the country.

"Competing as a Chinese national removes any potential diplomatic protections others might have as a foreigner in China," says Sarah Cook, research director for China at Freedom House, a D.C.-based nonprofit that conducts research and advocacy on political freedom and human rights. "If she gets into any kind of trouble, she doesn't have that protection."

Gu is also subject to the ever-changing whims of her government at an incredibly sensitive time in Beijing. Infractions that might at other times pass as small missteps could be magnified disproportionately during the Olympics. "China is not a rule of law society," Cook says. "Even if you think you are staying on the safe side of the red lines, the rules are arbitrary, and the lines are constantly moving.

"Say Eileen meets Lady Gaga," Cook adds. "And Lady Gaga was photographed meeting the Dalai Lama [six] years ago and someone decides that crosses the line. It's hard to know how far they will go in their control. It can be so arbitrary."

Self-censorship is nothing new for Chinese athletes. But because Gu has a foot in both worlds, she is subject to conflicting cultural pressures and expectations. She appeals to American and Chinese fans alike and undergoes media scrutiny in both countries. That's rare for even the most famous Chinese athletes, like Peng, who spend their careers virtually unknown in the U.S.

Gu's need to carefully control her narrative has restricted her interactions with U.S. media and limited how her sponsors promote her in the U.S. Typically, a breakout star would be introducing herself to the world in Olympic preview stories and ad campaigns. Snowboarder Chloe Kim, another Asian-American athlete who could have competed for her parents' home nation, did media in two languages in the U.S. and South Korea ahead of her first Olympics in Pyeongchang. But Gu remains conspicuously absent in major U.S. media except in beauty and fashion columns where she is not expected to answer questions about sensitive geopolitical topics.

At the Dew Tour, Gu was available to the media only briefly after her contests, and her reps requested questions be limited to her sport. In the rare instances she's faced questions about China's human rights record, she has declined to comment. Her sponsors, too, are reticent to speak on the record. Red Bull and Oakley declined to be interviewed for this story, and after The Wall Street Journal inquired about a story on Red Bull's website that mentioned Gu had indeed given up her U.S. passport, the passage disappeared from the story without explanation.

IN COPPER, GU steps down from the podium and a throng of media, competitors and fans rush toward her. Two men working event security appear at her shoulders and guide her through a gate leading away from the halfpipe. As they reach the entrance, two fans dressed in ski gear stop her and ask to take selfies. "Of course," Gu says, as she tilts her head in the direction of their iPhone cameras and smiles.

"I can't believe I met Eileen Gu," Robert Chai, 29, says to his friend as she walks away. Born in Beijing, Chai lives in Seattle and came to Copper for a ski weekend with friends who are also Chinese. When they heard Gu was competing, they made a point to wake up early and attend her contest. "I heard about her when she started to be a champion," Chai says. "She skis well and is also really pretty. She's a dream girl for guys in China now."

Gu began skiing at 3, when her mom, Yan, enrolled her for lessons at a school in Lake Tahoe. Wanting to keep her daughter safe from the high-speed crashes of downhill racing, Yan eventually signed her up for the freeski team with little understanding she would one day watch her throw tricks over 75-foot gaps. Like with most things she attempts, Gu -- who ran cross country in high school, graduated in three years and earned a near-perfect 1580 on her SAT -- showed an aptitude for freeskiing. She was a quick study, able to visualize and learn complicated tricks in the halfpipe and terrain park. Known for spinning equally well in both directions, a key to earning high scores at contests, Gu's runs include tricks no other woman has done, including a double cork 1440, which she competed for the first time in a big air contest last year.

Gu also is undeniably marketable. She speaks with equal poise and conviction in English and Mandarin, which is all the more impressive because of her flawless Beijing accent. She is one of the tallest women in the sport, at 5-foot-9, and skis with long, elegant lines. She is confident in a way that comes off more earnest than cocky, and her telegenic beauty translates even when she's competing in a helmet and goggles.

Gu competed on the U.S. rookie team for about a year before she approached her coaches in early 2019 to ask for permission to switch nations. Unlike athletes who change country affiliations in order to make the Olympics, Gu was a standout who was expected to qualify for the U.S. team. U.S. Freeski & Snowboard head coach Mike Jankowski says the coaching staff made a case to Gu and her mother for why she should stay, but they also told Gu they would never stand in her way. "We have a ton of respect for her decision and supported her 100 percent," Jankowski says. "To be able to honor her heritage in that way is really cool."

Since joining Team China, Gu's image has been ubiquitous on the walls of Chinese sporting goods stores and in subway and bus stop advertisements in Beijing. She has earned an elite roster of sponsors there, including tech giant JD.com, dairy producer China Mengniu Dairy and Anta Sports, the third-largest sporting goods retailer in the world. In spring 2021, a few months after she became the first X Games rookie to win three medals, Anta launched its "Keep Moving" campaign with a one-minute video featuring Gu. A budding model in China, Gu has also been featured in ad campaigns for Louis Vuitton and Victoria's Secret, fronted covers of Chinese editions of Vogue, Cosmopolitan and InStyle, and attended Paris Fashion week at the invitation of a Chinese brand.

Gu speaks often of her humanitarian vision of inspiring girls. But her reticence to speak out about topics like Peng's disappearance, or to acknowledge the commercial opportunities her decision has given her, has caused her peers to question her motivation.

"There's no question she's an extreme, remarkable talent and I've really enjoyed watching her progress the sport," says freeski pioneer Kristi Leskinen, who lobbied for women's freeskiing to be included in the X Games and Olympics. "But it's conflicting, and I don't envy her position. On one hand, she almost certainly wouldn't be the athlete she is today without being born, raised and trained in America. But it's equally difficult to imagine she'd have anywhere near the recognition, sponsorship deals or resources if she hadn't chosen to represent China. So, while she often cites inspiration as her motivation, for some it's hard not to see opportunism in it. Especially at a time when the WTA is suspending its events in China out of fear for a female athlete's safety."

WHEN THE IOC granted Beijing the 2022 Olympic Games in 2015, China announced an ambitious plan to build 800 ski resorts by 2022 and get 300 million people on skis. Like most Olympic host countries, China also began pouring billions of dollars into the development of winter-sport athletes with medal potential. China has earned only 13 gold medals since it began competing in the Winter Games in 1980, and in 2018 speedskater Wu Dajing won China's only gold. Gu could triple China's 2018 haul on her own.

When she arrived in Beijing in January to begin training for the Games, Gu, who also goes by her Chinese name Gu Ailing, posted a photo of her eating dumplings to her Weibo account, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, and received thousands of comments of support within a day. For some Chinese fans, like Chai and his friends in Copper, Gu's decision to switch countries signifies a global power shift away from U.S. dominance and sparks intense national pride.

"Eileen appreciates the Chinese culture and the upbringing of her mother," Chai says. "She was born here in the States, but she chose to compete for China. That's super rewarding for us. If she wins a gold medal, she will be one of the best athletes in China, the same as Yao Ming."

For the next few weeks, Gu's every move will be monitored by the Chinese government and scrutinized by American and Chinese fans. And what she doesn't say will be heard as loudly as what she does.

"Eileen is already the biggest thing in China," says Misra Noto Torniainen, Gu's personal coach and the former coach of the Swiss freeski team. "She is super talented, but she also works every day as much as she can, whatever she does. If it's modeling, studying, skiing, she gives 100 percent. I see big things coming. She opens up new boundaries and can break into new markets."

But as the Peng situation has highlighted, a gold medal will not afford Gu the ability to speak freely even after the Games. In the fall, she plans to attend her mother's alma mater, Stanford University, where she has expressed interest in studying international relations, public policy or journalism. And while the Olympic spotlight will fade, Gu's decision to represent China will impact the rest of her life.

"It's very difficult for a 15-year-old to understand what it means to become a Chinese citizen," Teng says. "She will have to practice censorship for all of her life."

Andy Murray will not play at the French Open and will instead focus on preparing for Wimbledon in the summer.

Murray will also sit out the entire clay-court season which starts at the Monte Carlo Masters on 9 April.

"I am not planning on playing through the clay, the past couple of years, the clay has made issues worse, I don't want to take that risk," he said.

Former world number one Murray - currently ranked 102 in the world - has been attempting to return to his former levels after major surgery in 2019 on a career-threatening hip problem.

Murray said he did not rule out playing on clay in the future.

"It's not that I wouldn't potentially play on clay in the future," he added. "Last year I almost missed Wimbledon and was close to not playing the grass season.

"I will still try to compete a bit during that period, I won't do nothing, that's my plan just now. I had a busy end of last year and the next couple of months. I won't take any risks and hopefully get a good build-up to the grass season."

In his last outing Murray lost in straight sets to Taro Daniel in the second round at the Australian Open and will play in the Rotterdam Open next week.

Two Tom Roebuck tries set Sale Sharks on their way to a dominant win at Premiership champions Harlequins.

But two second-half tries from Rob du Preez either side of a Tommy Allan score for Quins secured the victory and the bonus point for the visitors.

Quins drop to fourth following their heaviest defeat of the season.

Sale were also able to give England centre Manu Tuilagi and South Africa scrum-half Faf de Klerk 30 minutes off the bench on their respective returns from injury.

Tuilagi in particular impressed with some big hits as he played for the first time since November.

Sale fly-half AJ MacGinty missed an early opportunity as his first attempt sailed wide in the wind, before making no mistake with his second from right in front of the posts.

Sharks then moved the ball out to the right for the impressive winger Roebuck to score the first try after 16 minutes.

The pacy 21-year-old then darted inside after faking to go out wide to claim his sixth try in four matches.

Quins' defence then went to sleep as Sale scrum-half Raffi Quirke took a quick tap-penalty and fed hooker Ashman to power over the line.

Tizard got one back for Quins in what proved to be the final action of the first half but the home side could not build on that momentum in the second period, as outside centre Du Preez burst through to secure a bonus point for his team.

De Klerk, who had not played since October, came on at the same time as Tuilagi, with the latter instantly putting his mark on the game with a trademark hard tackle on Andre Esterhuizen.

Allan saw a gap in the Sale defence to score his first try for Harlequins and set up an intriguing last 15 minutes.

But a second try from Du Preez, brilliantly assisted via a chip through by De Klerk, ended any thoughts of a Quins fightback.

Harlequins senior coach Tabai Matson told BBC Radio London:

"It was predictably physical and we had a game plan but I think that scoreline reflects a team that was convincingly beaten by the opposition.

"We brought on some academy guys who were exceptional in my opinion.

"But we gave them a 22-point head start and if they bring these guys [Tuilagi and De Klerk] off the bench it just makes our day harder."

On missing players to the Six Nations: "That can never be an excuse. There's an opportunity for guys to step up to this level.

"It's no excuse. They're missing one of the best players in England themselves [England captain Tom Curry] today."

Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson:

"If you come down here and don't believe in yourselves, you end up being a bit part as has happened many times in the past.

"We came down here with the intention of imposing our style of play more like a horror show than the Harlem Globetrotters.

"We've now won back-to-back games in the competition as we've now got a consistent squad and are finding a rich vein of form.

"They had a few key players missing whereas we had most of our stars back in our line-up.

"We are still aiming for the play-offs as I believe we are that good and should be there."

Harlequins: Green; Lynach, Northmore, Esterhuizen, Murley; Allan, Care; Els, Walker (capt), Kerrod, Symons, Tizard, Taulani, Wallace, White.

Replacements: Riley, Baxter, Wilson, Hammond, Jurevicius, Gjaltema, Edwards, Beard.

Sale: L James; Roebuck, R du Preez, Janse van Rensburg, Reed; MacGinty, Quirke; Harrison, Ashman, Oosthuizen, JL du Preez, De Jager, Ross (capt), Dugdale; D du Preez.

Replacements: Langdon, Rodd, Jones, JP du Preez, Wiese, De Klerk, S James, Tuilagi.

Referee: Ian Tempest (RFU).

Since the Scotland show now moves to Wales, it might be appropriate to mention Sam Warburton at this point. The great man has been saying some interesting things about the Scots of late.

He reckons they are on a psychological journey from seeing themselves as dangerous underdogs, happy in their own minds to pick off three wins in the championship and maintain steady progress, to something altogether different.

They are beginning to carry themselves like men who know they are real live contenders in this tournament. Warburton sees it and we can all see it now.

Saturday was nowhere near their best performance. They won despite a paltry amount of possession, despite trailing and toiling at 17-10 behind, despite having the excellent Jamie Ritchie, one of their totemic leaders, taken away on a mobile stretcher.

From that unenviable position, they turned it around. That's what champion teams do.

Warburton's side won a Grand Slam in 2012 and three of their games were tight affairs that went to the wire. They came to believe they would win every game, even if they didn't.

Scotland are giving that impression now. If they win in Cardiff on Saturday - and they should, even though there is sure to be a Welsh backlash after their awful outing in Dublin - they will be in the rarefied air of two from two with a home game against France to come.

The Scottish psyche is to row back on the optimism, but that in-built reticence will be blown sky high if their winning habit carries on to Cardiff, where they haven't won since Brendan Laney was playing. That was 2002.

By rights, they shouldn't have won on Saturday - England had 62% territory and spent two-and-a-half minutes in Scotland's 22 whereas Scotland spent just 54 seconds in the visitors - but they came up with the key plays at the right time. Their go-to men stepped up. Their bench was terrific. Their nerve held.

The replacements were hugely significant. One of the major leaps forward in recent years under Gregor Townsend is the improving quality of his substitutes.

On 52 minutes, he replaced his entire front row as a job lot. Pierre Schoeman, Stuart McInally and WP Nel had a torrid beginning, giving away a scrum penalty that led to Marcus Smith's try, but their work in the set-piece and around the field thereafter was outstanding.

Schoeman carried like a tearaway. When Ritchie exited, Magnus Bradbury came on and had a hard edge about him. Bradbury has all the attributes to be a serious player. The one thing he was missing was the mindset of a serious player. This season he has looked the player everybody thought he could be.

Jonny Gray went off and the line-out-stealer Sam Skinner came on. Ali Price went off and the debut try-scorer from earlier, Ben White, reappeared. Sione Tuipolutu was a big physical presence when he replaced Sam Johnson. There was no drop-off in quality. If anything, it increased.

Ritchie is a gonner for Cardiff and may well miss a chunk of the Six Nations. It's a sad blow for a wonderful player, a piece of collateral damage that was the big downer of the day. There is a cavalry, though. Not of Ritchie's class, but strong all the same.

Townsend could just slide Bradbury in there, the most likely outcome. He has Nick Haining, one of the unsung heroes of Paris a year ago, if he needs him. He has the coming man Rory Darge as a different option. Andy Christie played blind-side in Saracens' pummelling of Bath on Saturday. The depth is there.

In keeping with a game where the plot twisted just after the hour, when Luke Cowan-Dickie got caught in Finn Russell's trap, and then threatened to twist again at the death with all those angst-ridden scrums, it was somehow fitting that the man who settled it by way of a turnover was not a breakdown specialist, not a cunning flanker or a hulking second row.

It was the smallest man, the little gem that is Darcy Graham.

Elliot Daly attacked, Chris Harris tackled and Graham swooped. Barely the size of the leg of a chair - but with a towering influence in some key moments out there - the winger snaffled England's possession and the thing was done. Murrayfield, its collective nerves shot to smithereens, erupted. Their team had delivered. Again.

The fatalistic dread that some - many - fans would have carried with them to the stadium was misplaced. In the nicest possible way, Warburton would advise the Scots to get over themselves in this regard.

They have now won seven of their past 11 Six Nations games with the four defeats being narrow ones. In their past two, they have beaten France in Paris (with the last play of the night) and England in Edinburgh (while surviving the last play of the night).

They are winning some games on merit and others on the strength of their defence and their character.

An underwhelming Scotland performance it might have been, an attacking non-event save for some small pockets of excellence, but on Calcutta Cup day, or any other day in the Six Nations, it's all about the win. The cosmic quality of it is secondary.

Scotland have lost dozens of Tests like this one. Against Wales last season they unravelled when the heat was at its most intense. Lesson learned. The big mantra you hear from the camp these days is the need to stay in the fight and that's what they did.

Now it was England coming apart at the seams. It was Cowan-Dickie losing the plot with the ball in the air, getting two hands on it and being in a position to catch but, in the heat of the moment, batting it away instead. Ruinous.

With Cowan-Dickie in the bin, it was Joe Marler taking a comically bad line-out throw when Eddie Jones should have made sure that Jamie George was on the bench to clear England's line.

It was Maro Itoje going offside when England were building momentum, it was George's lineout getting pilfered by Skinner, it was Daly getting done by Graham.

There was a strange type of glory to it. Winning enormous games while not delivering your best stuff. Isn't that an ability that all champion teams have?

They won't stay in the hunt for the title unless they play better than this down the line, but they are developing a bit of an aura now. Nothing comes easy against Scotland anymore. England have played Townsend's team five times and have won only once. France have lost their last two in the Six Nations against them.

Wales in Cardiff is a mountain they have yet to climb. Townsend played 10 when they last won there, a brief moment of joy in an otherwise bleak Scottish landscape. Over the last two years, he has put together a formidable squad and a razor-sharp group of coaches. Momentum is with them.

We don't know yet where this thing is going to end, but at no stage over the last 20 years and more have Scottish fans enjoyed watching their team as much as they are enjoying watching this impressive lot. For a nation with a natural aversion to giddy expectation, the reasons to believe are building fast.

After carding a double bogey on the par-3 11^th hole Sunday at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club, Bubba Watson figured if he went 1 under over his final seven holes that he would at least earn himself a top-5 finish.

He nearly won.

Watson went 3 under during that closing stretch, notching birdie at the par-4 penultimate hole and a final-hole eagle from 15 feet, to take the clubhouse lead at 12 under, which, at the time, was two shots better than Varner, who was playing the 17^th hole. Seemingly primed for a playoff, Watson then looked on as Varner went birdie-eagle to clip him by a shot.

“I knew that if I could make an eagle, I could scare him, right? Not knowing what he was doing or they were doing behind me,” Watson said. “So, I made the eagle, and I looked up and saw I had a two-shot lead. Then I thought I had a great chance, but obviously he pulled out a shot better than me to win.

“It was a crazy back nine and a fun back nine.”

Though the 43-year-old Watson came up short, it was also his best finish since he won the 2018 Travelers. Watson, who entered the week at No. 105 in the world rankings, hadn’t recorded a top-5 finish since the 2020 Zozo, where he shared fourth.

“This is good,” Watson said. “My rest and my mental state, it just shows that I can still play. Even though I'm getting older, I can still play with these boys.”

He was also thrilled for Varner, who he hung out with a lot off the course this week. When he heard the noise from Varner's eagle make, Watson went sprinting back toward the green to congratulate his friend.

“This is a guy that's just starting to play better and better each year,” Watson said. “We see his name a little bit more. He's getting comfortable. … Having a guy close in America, just hasn't done it, and then to do it here – I mean, this is the best field in the world right now. This is the highest points in the world. So, for him to do that, for me to pull out the shots that I pulled out under pressure and then for him to do it, yeah, this is what you want. This is what golf's all about.

“I'm not mad at him for beating me. I'm happy for him. He's a dear friend of mine, and I applaud him. I love seeing that. I cheer for him.”

Responded Varner: "If I could beat somebody that I look up to, how cool is that? And the way it happened, hate it for him. He's won plenty (laughter). ... We see life pretty similar, and we just hang out. This week we've hung out a lot. But we also know how to give each other slack. That's the kind of friendships that I have. I'm not really good at just always being your friend. I want to talk smack. I want to be in your face, and I want you to do the same to me, and he's really good at that."

For a moment it appeared as if Bubba Watson’s birdie-eagle finish would earn him at least a spot in a playoff Sunday at the Saudi International.

Instead, it was Harold Varner III playing his final two holes in 3 under, capped by a dramatic eagle make at the par-5 closing hole at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club, to notch the outright victory.

Varner, the 54-hole leader, was leaking oil coming in, double-bogeying the par-4 14^th and then dropping another shot at the par-3 16^th hole. Watson, meanwhile, got in the clubhouse at 12 under and waited as the final pairing finished up.

"I walk up to 17, and we're tied. We have to wait until they get off the green. While we're on the tee, I see he goes to 12, so I'm like, damn, all right, so I'm two back," Varner said. "I'm like, just get something up there, give myself a chance to make birdie. 18, you know, obviously anything can happen.

"I just never doubted myself. I never questioned that, hey, we can't win this. I think that's what the greats do. I would think a couple years ago I would have had a hard time taking that in and being like I have to do this."

After a birdie at No. 17, Varner's second shot into the last green came up just short – about 92 feet, according to Varner's caddie, Chris Rice – though Varner opted to putt anyway. A good lag would give Varner a solid look at birdie and playoff with Watson. An improbable eagle make would end it there.

Varner pulled off the improbable, immediately dropping his putter and celebrating with his caddie.

"When I was coming down the hill ... worst-case scenario, we'll go to a playoff and I'd get him there," Varner said. "And then it went in, and emotions came out. I love that. When I play with my boys, that's the emotion I want to see. That's why you play. Competition, it's the greatest thing in the world."

Overnight leader Harold Varner III eagled the par-5 last by sinking a long putt to overtake clubhouse leader Bubba Watson and win the Saudi International in dramatic fashion on Sunday.

The 31-year-old American shot a 1-under 69 in his final round at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club to finish on a total of 13 under, one better than Watson who earlier finished his round with a birdie-eagle combination that put him in the lead.

Varner watched his winning putt roll in before throwing down his club and pumping his fists. Watson then jogged over from the clubhouse to congratulate the 99th-ranked Varner on his first PGA Tour title to go with his one international victory, the Australian PGA Championship at the end of 2016.

Adri Arnaus shot a 1 over 71 to finish three shots off the lead in third ahead of Steve Lewton and Cameron Smith another shot back in joint fourth.

Chelsea earned a 1-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday, closing the gap behind Women's Super League leaders Arsenal to just two points with a game in hand.

Emma Hayes' side, who dominated large spells of the match, opened the scoring on 14 minutes with a looping header from midfielder Guro Reiten. City found their groove later in the contest but were unable to find a way past Chelsea's steadfast defence.

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Chelsea took advantage of their stumbling London rivals Arsenal, who were held to a 1-1 draw against Manchester United on Saturday.

Sunday's result at the Kingsmeadow Stadium sets up a top-of the-table grudge match when Arsenal travel to Chelsea on Friday.

Chelsea dominated the opening spell and earned an early reward as Jess Carter found space on the right flank before floating a cross into the box where it was met by the head of Reiten.

The reigning WSL champions continued to pile on pressure, with the league's leading scorer, striker Sam Kerr, attracting much of the attention from the City defenders.

City found a foothold in the game midway through the first half, and the visitors came closest when forward Jess Park fired a volley from the edge of the box, forcing a superb diving save from home goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger.

Kerr nearly doubled Chelsea's lead moments into the second half when she raced down the left wing before slotting wide past City goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck. Another flurry of chances for Chelsea followed, including two denied penalty calls -- first, when Erin Cuthbert went down in the box under a challenge from Ruby Mace, followed by a close-range handball shout after Penille Harder's cross found Mace's hand.

City dominated the remainder of the contest as Chelsea looked to hold on to an important three points, and the best of the visitor's chances came when Caroline Weir snatched at a glorious opportunity at the death after she collected an over-the-top through ball and dribbled to the left-hand side of the six yard box but struck a disappointing looped shot that failed to trouble goalkeeper Berger.

The result meant Chelsea completed a league double over City, having previously stormed to a 4-0 victory when the two sides met in the reverse fixture in November.

City remain in fifth place, a significant decline for a side that has finished second the last five-consecutive seasons since lifting their maiden WSL title in 2016.

This season's WSL has been one of the closest fought in its 12-year history, with just six points separating the top four sides.

Harvey Elliott scored on his return from injury to help Liverpool to a 3-1 victory over Cardiff in the FA Cup fourth round at Anfield on Sunday.

Elliott has not featured for Jurgen Klopp's side since September, but got Liverpool's third of the day after goals from Diogo Jota and Takumi Minamino put the hosts 2-0 ahead.

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It was a slow start to the match, with both sides only having one shot each on target during the first half.

However, Jota made the breakthrough in the 53rd minute when he headed in beautifully from a Trent Alexander-Arnold free-kick.

Minamino added the second in the 67th minute after new signing Luis Diaz capitalised on a messy Cardiff clearance to send the ball through to him in the danger zone.

Cardiff failed to clear again in the 75th minute, allowing Andrew Robertson to collect the ball and send it through to Elliot, who smashed it into the net.

Cardiff pulled one back through Rubin Colwell in the 79th minute but the damage had already been done.

Liverpool will host Norwich in the FA Cup fifth round.