ROSSBURG, Ohio – Brent Marks held off a late challenge from Kerry Madsen to win night one of the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions Governors Reign hosted on Tuesday at Eldora Speedway.

It’s Marks’ fourth win of the year, which earned him a $10,000 prize against a stout field of 48 cars during Eldora’s only sprint car event of the season.

Madsen finished second, 1.412 seconds behind, and nearly took the lead with two laps to go when Marks’ pace had slowed due to damage caused by hitting a large chunk of clay in traffic. Marks used a slower car as they came to the one to go signal to keep Madsen at bay and surge to his biggest win of the season.

“This car was phenomenal all night long,” Marks said. “This is amazing. The first time in this car at Eldora Speedway. [CJB Motorsports] has always been fast here. I’ve felt really comfortable here. We were just really good all night long.

“I was just trying to hold on there at the end,” added Marks, whose car leaked fluid in victory lane.

Marks started the night by timing fastest in his group and he locked himself into the dash from there. David Gravel kicked the night off in style with a new track record in time trials, his 12.599-second lap shattering Craig Dollansky’s 18-year-old mark of 12.707 seconds.

Gravel appeared to be the early favorite, rolling to a convincing victory in his heat, but it was Marks who stayed steady and attacked at the right time.

James McFadden led the first nine laps before Marks took the lead from fourth on lap 10. McFadden countered to lead lap 12, but Marks got the Australian back for good in the next corner to eventually lead the final 19 circuits.

The Myerstown, Pa., native raced to a 2.5-second lead, but it vanished when series points leader Aaron Reutzel brought out the yellow with 10 laps to go. Two more quick cautions followed, one for Sheldon Haudenschild and another for Gravel, who spun when Madsen cut across his nose on the second-to-last restart.

That’s when Marks’ slim lead of a second with four laps to go turned into a short-lived battle for the win with two circuits left.

“Car was great. We had a big stumble problem at the start,” Madsen said. “Long runs I felt really comfortable. I could maneuver anywhere I wanted to in three and four. Two to go I finally shot off the top there and thought it was going to be good enough but [Marks] cut back under it. That was that.”

Marks sealed the win when he drove around the lapped car of Paul McMahan to take the white flag, ultimately stunting Madsen’s momentum.

“I think we’ll have a little bit of a different track tomorrow,” Marks said. “I think it’ll be a little more slick and get nice and wide there. … This car was a lot of fun to drive. It feels awesome to be back in victory lane at Eldora Speedway again.”

Shane Stewart finished third in the Indy Race Parts No. 71. Logan Schuchart raced to fourth from the B-Main. Carson Macedo finished fifth.

Jacob Allen charged to sixth from 23rd, while McFadden, Parker Price-Miller, Kyle Larson and Donny Schatz rounded out the top 10.

The finish:

1. 5-Brent Marks [4]; 2. 2M-Kerry Madsen [1]; 3. 71-Shane Stewart [11]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart [21]; 5. 2-Carson Macedo [10]; 6. 1A-Jacob Allen [22]; 7. 9-James McFadden [2]; 8. 14P-Parker Price-Miller [8]; 9. 57-Kyle Larson [16]; 10. 15-Donny Schatz [3]; 11. 18-Gio Scelzi [5]; 12. 49-Brad Sweet [18]; 13. 14-Tim Kaeding [15]; 14. 21-Brian Brown [9]; 15. 26-Cory Eliason [14]; 16. 21B-Christopher Bell [12]; 17. 41-David Gravel [6]; 18. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [23]; 19. 39-Sammy Swindell [7]; 20. 17-Ian Madsen [24]; 21. 13-Paul McMahan [19]; 22. 17A-Austin McCarl [17]; 23. 17S-Sheldon Haudenschild [20]; 24. 87-Aaron Reutzel [13]; 25. 12N-Joey Saldana [25].

LAS VEGAS – Chase Briscoe, the top-seeded driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs, will lead the field to green for the postseason opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday.

Briscoe, who won seven times during the regular season, earned the top spot based on NASCAR’s metric qualifying formula. The NASCAR matrix factors in a driver’s lap speed ranking from the previous race, the last race finish for both driver and owner and the car’s current rank in the owner standings.

Lap speed is weighted at 15 percent, previous race finish at 25 percent for the driver and owner results and owner points position at 35 percent to calculate the final metric score.

Driver and owner playoff-eligible entries are ranked at the front of the field based on their metric scores from lowest to highest, with all non-playoff entries lined up behind the playoff cars in similar fashion.

Briscoe’s pole start came with a perfect score of 1.0, considering he won the regular season finale at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, posted the fastest lap during that race and lead the standings entering Las Vegas.

Austin Cindric, tied in points with Briscoe going into Saturday’s Alsco 300, lines up on the front row alongside his fellow Ford driver. The Chevrolet pair of Justin Allgaier and Ross Chastain makes up the second row, with the Toyota of Harrison Burton starting fifth.

Noah Gragson, Brandon Jones, Anthony Alfredo, Riley Herbst, Justin Haley, Brandon Brown, Ryan Sieg, Michael Annett and Daniel Hemric fill out the first seven rows of the grid.

Alfredo and Hemric are both driving for teams that made the owner playoffs. Alfredo will wheel the No. 21 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing at Las Vegas, while Hemric returns to the seat of the No. 8 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports.

Jeremy Clements is starting highest among non-playoff teams in 15th place.

The full starting lineup and metric breakdown can be viewed by clicking here.

The Alsco 300 is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. ET start on Saturday, with live coverage on NBCSN, the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

CONCORD, N.C. – Kevin Harvick will start the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs from the pole on Sunday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Harvick topped NASCAR’s performance matrix based on his victory last weekend at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, where he also set the second fastest lap of the race and maintained his position at the top of the Cup Series point standings.

The starting lineup was determined by NASCAR’s metric qualifying formula, which factors in a driver’s lap speed ranking from the previous race, the last race finish for both driver and owner and the car’s current rank in the owner standings.

Lap speed is weighted at 15 percent, previous race finish at 25 percent for the driver and owner results and owner points position at 35 percent to calculate the final metric score.

Driver and owner playoff-eligible entries are ranked at the front of the field based on their metric scores from lowest to highest, with all non-playoff entries lined up behind the playoff cars in similar fashion.

Kyle Busch, who is still chasing his first victory of the season at NASCAR’s top level, will join Harvick on the front row of the South Point 400 at the 1.5-mile speedway.

Chase Elliott will start third in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, followed by Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola, Team Penske’s Joey Logano, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. and Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski.

View the entire starting lineup below.

When the Stanley Cup playoffs began in August, we asked recently retired forward Kris Versteeg to delve into the NHL's new relaxed dress code policy, and critique which teams were (and weren't) allowing players to shine in the bubble. As the tournament winds down, we called Versteeg again, this time to analyze who has (and hasn't) been shining on the ice.

Versteeg played 15 seasons of pro hockey and won two Stanley Cups, both with the Chicago Blackhawks, which gives him a unique perspective watching this year's Stanley Cup Final between the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning. Versteeg shared the small details that a seasoned NHL vet notices watching the games -- like Nikita Kucherov's obsession over changing his stick tape -- as well as what type of impact Steven Stamkos could have coming off a six-month absence, and why Tyler Seguin hasn't been more effective this summer. Plus, Versteeg highlights a player on both teams to whom you should be paying more attention.

You can follow Versteeg on Instagram (@stigalicious), where he often posts in-game analysis, or check him out on regular appearances for Sirius XM NHL Network Radio and Sportsnet. Here are six keys to the rest of the Stanley Cup Final, in Versteeg's own words:

More: Click here for the entire Stanley Cup Final schedule.

Nikita Kucherov vs. his stick tape

"In the first series, I started wondering, why is Kucherov using [Ondrej] Palat's stick? It was the same tape job Palat was using; I was really confused. Why is Kucherov using white tape? He always uses black tape. Palat even had Kucherov's tape job, it looked like. And then they lost, and I noticed Kucherov was even going back and forth during shifts. I don't get how he's doing that. When you use white tape, you actually can't see your blade because it blends with the ice. When you use black tape, you can't see the puck as well because it blends with the puck. So for him to switch from black to white tape every shift has to be the wildest thing I've ever seen. I don't know how someone would do it, I really don't.

"It's definitely a superstitious thing. He probably gets a couple bad shifts with the black tape, then switches and gets a couple points with the white tape, and so on. In the first 10 minutes of Game 2, he had the collision with Jamie Benn, then fell into the boards. Then on the power play he turns three pucks over -- two bad passes cross ice, then one goes off the skate in the middle and down -- and those are situations for guys who do that to switch the tape. A guy like that probably thinks it's the tape that's giving him a bad omen. He's so in his head about it.

"I was hoping one of his teammates got to him and told him, 'Stop worrying about your tape, you're leading the playoffs in scoring!' That's what I would have told him, if I were his teammate. 'Just play hockey, stop doing that to yourself.'

"But then, he actually didn't switch it after the first 10 minutes in Game 2. He went out there [with the same tape job] and they scored on the power play. Maybe he finally got the message."

What's going on with Tyler Seguin?

"I think [Alexander] Radulov and Benn should be together. Obviously [Radek] Faksa is hurt, but I'd rather have Faksa there than Seguin. Because Seguin, to me, isn't doing enough. Everyone's talking about how he's skating fast and skating hard, but skating fast and skating hard and being engaged are different things. I've played with a lot of guys who have skated fast and skated hard, but they're also engaged, meaning they're in battles and they're creating stuff for their teammates. I don't see Seguin as fully engaged, and I wonder if he's hurt. He might be hurt right now and he's scared to get fully engaged, get in battles, fight for puck possession and stuff like that.

"I love Benn and Radulov together, because they play so well, but I would like a fully healthy Seguin there, or someone else who would add a little more jam to that line. Because Benn plays with jam, Radulov does too. And their centerman needs to play good defensively to get the pucks to those guys. Seguin, when he's fully at it and fully engaged, he can do it. But at the moment, he's not. So I would like to see someone else there, or if Seguin could get a little more engaged defensively, it might drive his offensive play."

The impact of a potential Steven Stamkos return

"Before the last game, when the Tampa Bay power play was horrible -- they weren't doing any low plays, they were all up top -- I would have liked to have seen a righty doing one-timers. Even if Stamkos isn't 100%, he could still stand there and shoot on the power play and be effective.

"As for 5-on-5 play, I would worry about him, especially in the center role. Conditioning is a big thing, but timing even more than conditioning because these guys have been playing for two and a half months now, and their timing is key.

"Conditioning is big in the sense that top players take long shifts. Top players generally create offense in the last 20-30% of their shifts, because they're generally holding on to pucks and creating plays in that time frame, when they've worn down the opponent. So if their conditioning and timing isn't up to par, it's really hard to extend a shift and create offense in that last 20-30% of their time on ice in shifts. So that's where it worries me a bit.

"On the power play, there's not as much skating and battling, so he wouldn't have to worry about it."

A little appreciation for Captain America

"I want to talk about Joe Pavelski. He can't skate fast, right? He's not as fast as the other guys, but he can still skate. He's sturdy on his skates, meaning he can battle and stay on his edges really well. But his instincts are just out of this world. He reads pucks, and picks pucks off in the neutral zone, and takes them back on offense. He's not going to get to an area to make a pass, but he already knows where a guy is going, so he'll pick it off and make his play right away. So that frees him up room because the play has been made so fast.

"And also, to get pucks and tip pucks on net, from the high slot in front of the net, it's incredible stuff. If you're watching, you're like: 'This guy can't play in the NHL the way he skates right now,' right? But his instincts are the best in the NHL all over the ice. It's impressive."

Why I loved the Barclay Goodrow trade

"Barclay Goodrow is the guy I like on Tampa Bay, because I didn't know he was as skilled as he was -- and I've actually skated with him in the summertime. He can skate well and he's been playing some plays at a higher skill level than I thought he had. He's also taking a lot of faceoffs too, as a winger. I know he plays center too, but he's playing a majority at wing, and he's just been really impressive to me in all facets of his game. He's been a big addition for Tampa Bay.

"And it was a gutsy move to get him, trading a first-round pick. But if you're picking at 30, 31, those players generally don't pan out as well as you thought they would. So when it comes to first-rounders, you've got to covet them ... to an extent. But if you have a team that can win, you've got to trade that late first-rounder. Your second-rounder has just as much opportunity to turn out.

"Also, I'm sick and tired of the NHL always being a development league. It's a win-now league. These are a couple billion-dollar franchises, or at the very least a few hundred million. Stop using your NHL team for development; if you're a winning team, stop worrying about your 25th overall pick. Try to win the Stanley Cup. It should be a win-now league; that's why fans pay $500, $600, $700 to go to a game. You should try to win.

"I also wish GMs would start making calls on RFAs, start making other GMs to have to make tough decisions. Stop being buddy-buddy; enough buddy-buddy. If Jonathan Toews was the GM in Chicago one day, and I'm the GM in, say, Minnesota, I'm going after his top RFAs, and I don't care. Even if it's one of my best friends in the game, I'm going after him. That's what I want to see more of in this league."

How Tampa made adjustments to win Game 2

"In the first game, the Stars were really pushing the Lightning defense to make mistakes. Tampa Bay's D, they don't like to rim pucks too much or throw pucks away. They like to make plays. The Dallas forwards were really pressuring the Tampa Bay D to give up the puck. Tampa Bay doesn't like to make the simple play, though they do it better than they did last year. But that's why Dallas dominated in Game 1. The Lightning D were turning pucks over.

"There is a weakside play when you're trying to get away from pressure, where you go from D to D, and you let the puck keep going around the board to the forwards. What that's doing is bypassing two players with the puck, without having to make a play really. So you saw Tampa Bay do some plays like that to bypass pressure in Game 2. And also, they scored early, they got confident on the power play, because they actually did their first low play in like a month. [Alex] Killorn took it to the net, and that started putting stuff in Dallas' brains, like 'maybe they will take it to the net now.' Then they moved the puck up top and cross ice on a bumper play; sometimes that confusion can cause those plays to open up. All in all, Dallas was on their heels in Game 2, especially after that goal because Tampa Bay's confidence grew and they did the things they didn't do in the past, which got Dallas thinking about it."

"In order to break their 0-for-14 power-play slump, Palat went on the point on the other side; usually Mikhail Sergachev is there. I felt Sergachev was a little too stagnant there. He would shoot sometimes, but he was really trying to force passes to Kucherov. For me, I wanted a righty to go there, because they weren't using any low plays. If they're only going to keep the puck up top, they might as well shoot it.

"The good thing Palat does better than Sergachev there is he drags that forward and gets him to put his stick on the inside of the ice. Palat will not pass it to Kucherov. He goes behind his back or will do a subtle forehand pass to Hedman. And what that does is it gets the middle forechecker to come up. And that is where Hedman will fake the shot, then go over to Kucherov. Now two guys are caught out of position, and that's when Kucherov can either go cross ice back to Palat, or he can bump it into the middle to Brayden Point, where Point has scored that goal.

"So Palat was giving a little more of a simpler look, but one that would drag that forward a little out of position on the strong side, the guy that's supposed to be checking Palat on the penalty kill. So these were simpler plays, but high-skill plays, that freed up Kucherov to do a little bit more."

A young hockey player's first out-of-town tournament is in many ways a rite of passage in the sport. It means the first time seeing players from other parts of the country or world and gauging where one's game stands against that of peers. It's hours on end at the rinks, parents nursing weak coffee in frigid bleachers, knee hockey in the hotel hallway, a whole lot of pizza, pool parties, bewildered hotel guests wondering where all these rowdy children came from and an exasperated staff that has all but given up on containing them.

As the years go on, the tournaments get more serious, and the stakes get higher. In Edmonton, the NHL is about to cap off its adult version of a seemingly never-ending hockey tournament. It has been more than 80 days in the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs bubble for members of the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning, marching their way to the 2020 final.

Most players these teams have never won the Cup, but every single one of them has dreamed of it. It was in those youth hockey tournaments that many of those dreams were born, with days and nights spent around teammates, hoping that the tournaments would never end. In light of that, perhaps it's fitting that the NHL's bubble is in Edmonton to close out the season. The city also plays host to the Brick Invitational Tournament, one of the most famous youth hockey tournaments in North America and the epicenter of hockey in the summer months.

An Edmonton beginning

For one week each year, some of the best 10-year-old hockey players in North America converge on an ice rink under a domed ceiling inside the sprawling West Edmonton Mall, 20 minutes southwest of Rogers Place. Founded in 1990, the Brick has seen more than 200 alumni reach the NHL. In fact, eight players on the playoff rosters of the teams in the final, including four regulars, played in the Brick as 10-year-olds. Lightning forwards Tyler Johnson and Brayden Point are both past Brick champions. In all, about 90 players who participated in the Brick tournament played in the NHL's postseason bubble at some point this season.

Craig Styles, the tournament chairman, has been there from the very beginning and has been overwhelmed by the success of the tournament. "It's exciting to see the names that come up every draft year, but for me, it's really the respect and citizenship that happens at the tournament," he said. "I see the kids competing, but they high-five each other walking in the retail center, then they all get together at the end of the tournament and trade sweaters and pins, and they keep these relationships going."

The Eastern Conference finals, in particular, provided a bit of a Brick reunion of sorts. Tampa Bay's Johnson went head-to-head with New York Islanders forward Jordan Eberle; the duo were teammates at the Brick in 2000. Their Vancouver Vipers squad beat a team of Toronto-based superstars led by Johnson's eventual Lightning teammate Steven Stamkos. Then Point captained Team Brick, the tournament's official host team, to the 2006 title. A year later, Isles center Mathew Barzal led his Brick team to a title and earned tournament MVP honors.

"It was a great experience and one of my fondest memories growing up playing hockey as a kid," Johnson recently told The Edmonton Sun. "The tournament had lots of great skill and was very well organized. I remember hanging out at West Edmonton Mall for a full week. It was lots of fun."

Eberle and Johnson scored some big goals in their Brick tournament, and Eberle scored the overtime game winner to take the tournament title 20 years before he netted an OT winner to extend the series in last week's Eastern Conference finals Game 5.

Intro to bubble life

Once Brick teams arrive at the tournament each year, Styles notes that players and families don't have much need to leave the West Edmonton Mall, the largest mall in North America.

"The very first year, we called it 'a tournament for the whole family,'" Styles said. "To me, it was about a hockey experience, but it was an experience that took grandma and grandpa, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters and got them out of the cold rinks in winter and put them in one of the most amazing structures in the world. A lot of families never stepped foot outside the mall for those seven days, and I know that for a fact."

Beyond the 800-plus stores and pair of hotels, the mall includes a 24-hour gym and a miniature golf course. The tournament often partners with mall entities, including a large waterpark and amusement park attached to the structure. It isn't uncommon to see players battling on the ice one moment and racing down the waterslides the next, according to Styles.

Interactions with opposing players are a little more awkward at the NHL level, but that's one of the youth tournament aspects that many players have noted as a similarity.

"The bubble is so small that you're going to run into other people from other teams, players, coaches, management. It's unavoidable," Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk said earlier in the playoffs. "Everyone wants to go watch each other's games, too. It's literally a youth hockey tournament. It's pretty cool actually."

At a youth hockey tournament, games can take a bit of a backseat to hoarding the sweetest offerings of the continental breakfast, hours on end at arcades, jumping in the pool over and over, and testing the limits of the hotel's noise policy. For NHL players, the grown-up version of the youth tournament lifestyle has included some of the old staples from their younger days, such as pingpong, video game tournaments and movie nights. The Vegas Golden Knights' famed "Fun Committee" played the role often reserved for the "cool dads" on the youth circuit, finding fun things for players to do.

That's where there's a big difference between the NHL's playoff bubble and the youth tournaments of yesteryear. The games are obviously the highlight of the day, and players have lamented not being able to have their families with them for this experience. Several players told ESPN that the distance has been noticeable. As Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski explored, the entertainment and accommodations that the NHL provided were "not as advertised," according to a Western Conference player, and "oversold," per another.

Although the lack of family time has been a struggle, the ties that bind teams are stronger through this shared experience.

"We've been here for so long. We've all kind of been into the routine that we're in. There aren't a whole lot of options for entertainment, so we've really bonded as a team, just being around each other in the lounge, playing cards, hanging out, eating meals together," Dallas Stars forward Blake Comeau said. "I guess you can kind of look at it in a way as when you're younger. Going to tournaments, being in the hotel, playing mini sticks in the hallway -- obviously, we're not doing that. But you are spending a lot of time together as a team. Really bonded. Really grown. I think that's a big reason why we've put ourselves in this opportunity to win the Stanley Cup."

The Brick today

Like so many things this year, the 2020 Brick Invitational was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, marking the first summer without the tournament since it began 30 years ago. Styles has worked with the tournament committee to create another opportunity for the kids who were supposed to travel to Edmonton for this year's event: a second tournament in 2021 exclusively for those 11-year-olds, in addition to holding the Brick for the 10-year-olds at its regularly scheduled time next summer.

Hockey tournaments across North America are scarce in general this year, as many wait until it is deemed safer to travel. Some local governments are not allowing any contact sports until the COVID-19 pandemic is more under control, which puts hockey in the crosshairs. Some teams will have to decide if it's worth going to places that have less stringent rules but higher virus rates in order to get on the ice. That's not to mention the number of players who might not be able to play because of financial constraints caused by the pandemic.

For now, young players can watch and live vicariously through their NHL heroes. Likewise, NHL players might have younger versions of themselves in the backs of their heads. They know how long they have dreamed of this opportunity. At this stage of the game, the players have one-track minds.

"I think reflection a lot of times happens in those days and weeks after a season is over," said Stars forward Tyler Seguin, a 2002 Brick Tournament participant. "If you start reflecting now or start thinking ahead, you're going to miss that opportunity and that window of what this moment is."

After all, the fondest tournament memories are usually from the ones you win.

ESPN's Greg Wyshynski contributed to this story.

We're one year away from the Ryder Cup. Again.

The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the golf calendar this summer, including the postponement of the 43rd edition of the (normally) biennial matches. And that's a shame, given the weather forecast this week at Whistling Straits during what would have been Ryder Cup week - highs in the low-70s and plenty of sunshine.

Instead, we'll have to wait another year, as Thursday marks one year until the revised opening matches in Wisconsin on Sept. 24, 2021. The team captains remain the same, with Steve Stricker leading the Americans and Padraig Harrington at the helm for the defending champs from Europe. But the composition of the teams got a face lift as tournament organizers attempted to adapt and adjust to the pandemic's repercussions.

That's most evident on the U.S. side, where Stricker was originally expected to make four captain's picks. That allotment was increased to six when it (briefly) appeared that the matches would be played this week in the wake of the rescheduled U.S. Open. Once the decision was made to push it back to 2021, the PGA of America kept Stricker's six-pack of picks in tact.

With Americans winning each of the two majors this year, the adjustment creates a situation where only the top six will qualify automatically for Whistling Straits and could leave several decorated players in need of a phone call from Stricker to make the team.

Here's a look at the U.S. standings following the U.S. Open, with players earning points through the BMW Championship in August:

1. Dustin Johnson

2. Bryson DeChambeau

3. Collin Morikawa

4. Brooks Koepka

5. Justin Thomas

6. Webb Simpson

---

7. Xander Schauffele

8. Patrick Reed

9. Tony Finau

10. Daniel Berger

Tiger Woods is currently 15th on the American points list, while Jordan Spieth is 25th and Phil Mickelson, who hasn't missed a Ryder Cup since 1991, is 29th.

On the European side, qualification will still include a European Points list and a World Points list, with players coming from both standings and supplemented by three picks from Harrington. While full specifics about qualification won't be confirmed until after the 2021 European Tour schedule has been released, here's how things look one year before the matches:

European Points (top 4 qualify)

1. Tommy Fleetwood

2. Jon Rahm

3. Rory McIlroy

4. Victor Perez

World Points (top 5 not otherwise exempt qualify)

1. Tyrrell Hatton

2. Danny Willett

3. Matthew Fitzpatrick

4. Lee Westwood

5. Bernd Wiesberger

---

6. Graeme McDowell

7. Henrik Stenson

8. Matthias Schwab

9. Rafael Cabrera-Bello

10. Shane Lowry

Days after withdrawing from the U.S. Open in the wake of a six-putt and outburst, Danny Lee apologized for what he described as "poor actions" at Winged Foot.

The 30-year-old Kiwi seemed in position to close out a solid third round over the weekend when he missed a 4-foot putt for par on the 18th green, leading to a minor meltdown. After a handful of halfhearted attempts, Lee's sixth putt found the hole for a quintuple bogey. He subsequently slammed his putter into his bag near the green and withdrew from the tournament shortly thereafter, citing a wrist injury.

Lee took to Twitter to apologize for the antics and pledge "better sportsmanship" in the future.

"I apologize for my poor actions at the U.S. Open last week. It was very unprofessional and foolish," Lee wrote. "My frustration took over me and combined with injury I had to fight with it for all week. Still just an excuse. I shouldn't (have) left like that."

Lee was one of the last players added to the all-exempt field, earning a spot at Winged Foot by virtue of his 45th-place finish on the final 2019-20 FedExCup points list. A former U.S. Amateur winner in 2008 at age 18, his lone PGA Tour win came at The Greenbrier in 2015.

Gareth Bale's agent has lashed out at Real Madrid for not appreciating the Wales international's accomplishments at the club, declaring "they should be kissing the floor that he walks on."

Bale, who left Real Madrid this week after seven years and joined former club Tottenham Hotspur on a season-long loan, won 13 trophies in the Spanish capital but was often scrutinised in the media for playing golf.

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"This country, Great Britain, should be very proud of him and stop knocking him and write what he's done and what he's achieved," Bale's agent, Jonathan Barnett told talkSPORT: "And it's very annoying, and it's the same with Real Madrid, what he's achieved for them, they should be kissing the floor that he walks on."

Bale, 31, won the Champions League four times, two La Liga titles and three FIFA Club World Cups, as well as other trophies; and scored 105 goals in 251 games.

He was frozen out and started in just 14 games last season for Madrid amid reports of a difficult relationship with coach Zinedine Zidane and the club fans.

"For somebody that has achieved what he has achieved for the club in seven years, he should have been treated better," Barnett told the BBC. "I think what the fans did was disgraceful and the club didn't help. He could have been treated better and I'm very upset that he wasn't."

Bale almost moved to Chinese club Jiangsu Suning last summer before the move was called off at the last-minute by Madrid.

"I'm not going to put blame on people because it doesn't help," Barnett said. "In my opinion, he wasn't treated correctly for somebody that has done so much for a great club. I think things were wrong. It was an unhappy period of his time."

Bale's contract with Madrid expires in June 2022 but the option to remain at Spurs beyond next summer is open.

"This is the club he wants to play at," Barnett said. "I don't see any problems if he wants another year.

"He has a year left [after next summer on his contract with Madrid] so we have to see but hopefully the subject [of returning to Real Madrid] won't come up. He'll be so successful at Tottenham, he'll want to stay and it will be a simple deal to do the rest.

"I've looked after Gareth since he was a young boy and to see the smile back on his face was fantastic for me, it was special."

The president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) Gabriele Gravina has said he is "shocked" following the violent death of Serie C referee, Daniele De Sanctis.

The 33-year-old and his girlfriend, Eleonara, 30,died following an attack in their home in Lecce on Monday evening.

"Daniele De Sanctis' death has shocked us," Gravina said in a statement. "While waiting for clarity on what happened, I would like to express my personal condolences and that of the entire FIGC to the family and to the entire Italian Referees Association for such a serious loss."

The Italian third division, Lega Pro, condemned the killings.

"No words can describe the pain that the Lega Pro, the clubs and the players and our football feels for the premature loss of referee Daniele De Sanctis and his girlfriend Eleonora," a Lega Pro statement said. "We want to remember him by the smile that he had when he was on the pitch and for the great passion of Serie C, whom he considered family.

"Violence destroys, violence has taken away the lives of those that had dreams and expectations. Violence is the number one enemy to be opposed to in all its forms,"

The Italian Referees' Association added: "We are in mourning following the death of Daniele De Sanctis, a promising CAN C referee of Lecce. Daniele died, together with his girlfriend, following an attack of unprecedented and incomprehensible violence."

The BCCI has decided not to renew the contracts of 11 National Cricket Academy (NCA) coaches, four of them former India players, in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, because of which there has been no activity at the academy in Bengaluru for the past few months and no plans for a restart in the foreseeable future. The BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said the board would advertise for the positions and the people not retained can also apply again.

These coaches - former players Subroto Banerjee, Shiv Sunder Das, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Ramesh Powar, Mansur Ali Khan and Sitanshu Kotak among them - were on one-year contracts for salaries ranging from INR 30 lakh to INR 50 lakh [$40,750 to $67,900 approx.]. They were informed by Rahul Dravid, the NCA boss, that they would not be needed after the deals end on September 30. The other members of the coaching staff to lose their jobs are Rajiv Dutta, Apurva Desai, Atul Gaikwad, Subhadeep Ghosh, and T Dilip.

According to Ganguly, the board was simply following the rules laid out in the BCCI constitution. "Their (the coaches') term has expired," Ganguly told ESPNcricinfo. "As per constitution, new advertisement has to be given and they can apply again. That's the rule."*

On their part the coaches remarked there was no clear reason conveyed to them.

"It came as a shock, because there was no warning, when Rahul called me and said he had some bad news for me," one of the coaches told ESPNcricinfo on condition of anonymity. "There is no cricket (because of Covid-19), so they probably don't want to continue with us. The people who were on long-term contracts are still there, but we have been told to go."

"It is unfortunate, but the contracts have not been renewed," a senior BCCI functionary told ESPNcricinfo. "The idea was to engage them for a whole year, and not on a piecemeal basis, when the NCA got them to work when they were free. So they worked with the national teams - India women, India Under-19, India A, Women's Under-19s, Women's A team - and for our national camps, across age groups, for women and men, which are conducted at NCA throughout the year.

"A lot of good work was going on, with these coaches and all the other people, in the educational wing, where (former India cricketer) Sujith Somasundar is in charge. I hope we consider re-employing them when work resumes at NCA again."

While Dravid was unavailable for comment, one of the coaches we spoke to explained how closely the former India captain had worked with the coaching staff to "try and take Indian cricket to the next level".

"Rahul had handpicked all of us (coaches), and it was done with a plan in place. We have made plans and programmes together, to try and take Indian cricket to the next level, become the best in the world for a long period," one of the coaches said. "We have had meetings twice every week through the pandemic too. Work has been going on.

"Maybe we will be taken back later, but there are no guarantees."

The coaches in question were hired around a year ago by the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators, who were in charge of helming the affairs of the BCCI till October last year, on Dravid's recommendation, with an agreement to work 120 days during the course of the year.

In the past, before Dravid took charge, the BCCI would appoint coaches on an ad-hoc basis, mostly as consultants. Former cricketers would be roped in for short stints to guide all age-groups. However, once Dravid was appointed as NCA's director of cricket, he put out a roadmap part of which his vision to provide exposure and growth to Indian domestic coaches.

Along with Saba Karim, Dravid shortlisted candidates they thought could serve in different positions. These coaches were then rotated at India A, women's cricket and Under-19 levels in addition to their responsibilities at the NCA to help them gain the experience of being on the road and understanding the wider challenges of coaching.

*This article was updated at 10am GMT with quotes from Sourav Ganguly.