Weekend Sports In Brief
GOLF
ATLANTA (AP) - Rory McIlroy,rallied from six shots behind to win the Tour Championship and capture the FedEx Cup for the third time.
McIlroy won $18 million, pushing his PGA Tour earnings to over $26 million for the season. He closed with a 4-under 66 to overtake Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, who made only one birdie in a 73.
Scheffler was hoping to cap off the best year in golf with the FedEx Cup title. Instead, his entry in the record book was tying a PGA Tour record for losing the largest 54-hole lead. The last one to do that was Dustin Johnson in 2017 at the HSBC Champions.
Sungjae Im fell back with a double bogey on the 14th hole and still managed a 66 to tie for second with Scheffler. Scheffler and Im each won $5.75 million.
McIlroy won the FedEx Cup in 2016 in a playoff. He won the FedEx Cup again in 2019, the first year of a staggered start. But this might have been the sweetest of fall, coming off a year in which the PGA Tour has been in a nasty battle with Saudi-funded LIV Golf, which already has attracted some two dozen players and now is part of an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour.
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - Paula Reto won the Canadian Pacific Women´s Open for her first LPGA Tour victory, closing with a 4-under 67 for a one-stroke victory over Nelly Korda and Hye-Jin Choi.
The 32-year-old Reto finished at 19-under 265 at Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club after opening with a course-record 62. She´s the fourth South African winner on the LPGA Tour, following Sally Little, Lee-Anne Pace and Ashleigh Buhai - the British Women´s Open champion this year.
Korda missed a chance to reclaim the No. 1 ranking, also shooting a 67.
Choi, tied for the third-round lead with fellow South Korean rookie Narin An, had a 69. Three-time champion Lydia Ko had a 63 to finish fourth at 17 under. An shot a 72 to tie for sixth at 15 under.
GRAND BLANC, Mich. (AP) - Steve Stricker won The Ally Challenge at Warwick Hills for his second PGA Tour Champions victory of the season and ninth overall.
The 55-year-old Stricker closed with a 5-under 67 - rebounding from a bogey on the 12th with four straight birdies - for a one-stroke victory over Brett Quigley.
Stricker also won the major Regions Tradition in May in Alabama.
Quigley finished with a 68. Jeff Maggert was third at 13 under after a 65.
Second-round leader Scott Dunlap (71) and Padraig Harrington (66) tied for fourth at 12 under. Harrington won the Dick´s Sporting Goods Open last week in upstate New York.
AUTO RACING
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Austin Dillon avoided a massive wreck in the rain to win at Daytona International Speedway and snag a playoff spot in the Cup Series´ regular-season finale.
Dillon passed Austin Cindric for the lead with three laps to go after a 3 hour, 20 minute red flag for inclement weather. It was an aggressive move that capped a drama-filled race.
Martin Truex Jr. was the biggest loser. Truex looked like he would secure the final postseason berth when the skies opened up, but he faded once the race restarted and allowed Ryan Blaney to make up ground in a wild points scramble.
Blaney finished seven spots behind Truex in the race but three points ahead in the standings.
NFL
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) - A major public backlash coupled with the graphic details contained in a lawsuit alleging Matt Araiza´s involvement in a gang rape of a teenager last fall, left Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane little choice but to release the team´s rookie punter on Saturday.
The decision to cut ties with the 22-year-old was a major reversal for the Bills, coming two days after they backed the player based on the findings of what the team called its "thorough examination" of the allegations filed in the lawsuit.
And it came less than a week after the Bills - while aware he was the target of a police investigation - cleared the way for Araiza to take over the punting duties by cutting returning veteran Matt Haack on Monday.
Beane said the Bills were not aware of the allegations made against Araiza at the time they selected him in the sixth round of the draft in April. And had they known, he said, they would have removed him from consideration.
Araiza´s release begins to ease a crisis which has shaken the two-time AFC East champions. Bills coach Sean McDermott was visibly upset while discussing the situation following a 21-0 preseason loss at Carolina on Friday night.
BASEBALL
MIAMI (AP) - Mookie Betts homered for the third straight game, Julio Urías pitched six sparkling innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Miami Marlins 8-1 on Sunday.
Justin Turner and Max Muncy had three hits apiece for the NL West-leading Dodgers, who are 28-8 since the All-Star break.
Betts, who also doubled and singled, homered for the fourth time in the series. The six-time All-Star went deep twice in Friday´s 10-6 victory, and then connected again in Saturday´s 2-1 loss to Sandy Alcantara and Miami.
Urías (14-7) allowed one hit - Brian Anderson´s sixth homer in the fourth - struck out seven and walked four. The left-hander has won 11 of his last 12 decisions. Brusdar Graterol, Chris Martin and Alex Vesia then finished the two-hitter for Los Angeles.
WNBA
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Jewell Loyd scored 26 points, including Seattle´s final six, and the Storm edged the Las Vegas Aces 76-73 to take a 1-0 lead in the WNBA semifinals.
Loyd made a go-ahead free throw with 1:16 to play, then a jumper for a three-point lead with 34 seconds remaining before the Storm held on in the opener of the best-of-five series. She had 10 of Seattle´s 16 points in the fourth quarter.
Breanna Stewart had 24 points and six rebounds for the fourth-seeded Storm, while Tina Charles added 13 points and 18 rebounds. Sue Bird had 12 assists.
Chelsea Gray scored 21 points for the top-seeded Aces. Kelsey Plum added 20, but missed a tying 3-point attempt with 2.9 seconds to play. Jackie Young finished with 11 points but Aces star A´ja Wilson was held to just eight on 3-of-10 shooting.
CHICAGO (AP) - DeWanna Bonner had 15 points and nine rebounds to lead the Connecticut to a 68-63 win over the Chicago Sky in Game 1 of their WNBA semifinals series.
Jonquel Jones scored 12 points and also grabbed nine rebounds for the Sun, Alyssa Thomas had 12 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, and Brionna Jones added 12 points. Jonquel Jones was 5 for 8 from the field and Brionna Jones shot 6 for 8.
Candace Parker had 19 points and 18 rebounds for the Sky, and Kahleah Copper scored 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting.
After Emma Meeseman´s 3-pointer with 2:12 remaining gave Chicago a 63-62 lead and whipped the Wintrust Arena crowd into a frenzy, the Sky missed their last four shots.
Jonquel Jones scored inside 27 seconds later to put the Sun back ahead. Bonner made two free throws with 1:31 left to extend the lead, and Connecticut got two offensive rebounds to kill some time off the clock, and Bonner made a layup with 3.8 seconds left to seal the win.
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