Latest news with #Highsmith
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Pittsburgh Steelers veterans, rookies come together for 2025 OTAs
The weather has felt more like October than May, but the Pittsburgh Steelers have made the most of Mother Nature during Organized Team Activities. The week of voluntary sessions does not always see tremendous attendance, but there was a noticeable veteran presence at practice. Many of them say there's a lot of value in being there for mentorship and to shake the offseason rust. Advertisement 'We've got a lot of new stuff that we're doing, a lot people in different places, a lot of new schemes. So, it's definitely exciting to be here right now,' said Patrick Queen. One of the new faces is cornerback Darius Slay. He is entering his 13th season but says he still sees OTAs as an opportunity to get back to fundamentals and learn more about his new teammates. That includes establishing his role as a mentor to younger ones, like Joey Porter Jr and Beanie Bishop. 'Everybody has different stories, different mindsets. I just try to be an open book. Just absorb what they're talking about and give them information on what I've been through or how I got to this point. And they ask questions. That's the great thing about them,' said Slay. Slay said his new relationships are progressing quickly. Some of the younger players are planning to join him in Houston for workouts this summer. Advertisement While guys like Slay and Cam Heyward are natural leaders for the team, others like Alex Highsmith are growing into more prominent leadership roles. 'Just to really influence young guys and show them the way of what it takes. When I got here as a rookie, I had TJ and Bud and Cam, having veterans like that in my room really helped me to progress in my career. I just want to do what I can to help the young guys progress in their careers as well,' said Highsmith. Multiple players confirm that T.J. Watt was not at practice this week. He is due for a new contract. Highsmith said he knows Watt wants to be there and believes a new deal will happen for his counterpart. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
USA Today
14-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Joe Highsmith odds to win the 2025 PGA Championship
Joe Highsmith odds to win the 2025 PGA Championship PGA Championship details and info Date: May 15-18, 2025 May 15-18, 2025 Course: Quail Hollow Club Quail Hollow Club Location: Charlotte, NC Charlotte, NC Previous Winner: Xander Schauffele How to watch the PGA Championship Thursday: ESPN, The Golf Channel ESPN, The Golf Channel Friday: ESPN, The Golf Channel ESPN, The Golf Channel Saturday: CBS (KBAK-Bakersfield, CA), ESPN, NBC (WBGH-Binghamton, NY) CBS (KBAK-Bakersfield, CA), ESPN, NBC (WBGH-Binghamton, NY) Sunday: CBS (KBAK-Bakersfield, CA), ESPN, NBC (WBGH-Binghamton, NY), NBC (WBIR- Knoxville, TN) Watch golf on Fubo! Highsmith odds to win the PGA Championship PGA odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Odds updated Wednesday at 9:02 AM ET. For a full list of sports betting odds, access USA TODAY Sports Betting Scores Odds Hub. Highsmith odds to finish in the top 5 at the PGA Championship Highsmith odds to finish in the top 10 at the PGA Championship Other betting markets for Highsmith at the PGA Championship Highsmith recent performances Highsmith has played 13 tournaments this season, and he has earned one win . Highsmith has not finished inside the top 20 in his past four appearances, with an average finish of 69th.
The Guardian
20-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
There's a deep ugliness and some slippery ethics behind the snail slime beauty boom
Apologies. As a reasonably attentive student of generational divides, I'm still late to one of the most dramatic divergences yet: the normalisation of snail slime. At some point, maybe around the time I stopped believing in face cream miracles, smearing on snail mucus, in serums or lotions, was hailed by newcomers to Korean-made skin products as transformative, almost immediately. Its most cherished effect being, as an industry spokeswoman told British Vogue in 2023, 'a radiant youthful glow'. Today, thanks more to rhapsodising influencers than age-defying evidence, the slime phenomenon persists, gathers converts and withstands objections from snail supporters, who do not, sadly, seem that numerous. What snails need now, perhaps more than any other animal, is celebrity allies, supposing there are any willing to sacrifice the magical power of slime. Early ethical concerns about the snails' treatment were satisfied, to a remarkable extent, by industry assurances, duly recited by slime fans, that the slime makers are treated like kings, even when sprayed in their thousands with acidic solution that prompts slime secretion as a defence mechanism. After a few such sessions these snails are caringly euthanised. Yet more blessed gastropods, according to a popular K-Beauty brand, SeoulCeuticals, live out their days in less stressful 'snail havens, allowing snails to meander freely over mesh setups, mimicking their natural environment'. Either way, all snails, fortunate and not, are natural, and thus appeal to key demographics in the soaring market for snail beauty products: millennials and gen Z, 'who actively seek skin-friendly, cruelty-free beauty solutions'. In a masterstroke by the beauty industry, gen Z consumers (aged under 28) have begun spending on anti-ageing while still young. The value of the snail beauty product market has been projected as $3.4bn by 2034. The industry can also take credit for what appears to be, though not that helpfully for the snails, much diminished levels of snail- and slime-related revulsion. This is hard to quantify, but not so long ago Patricia Highsmith's affection and respect for snails, which she wrote about and kept as pets, was routinely portrayed as bizarre and repellent. Her 1948 short story, The Snail Watcher, featuring a kind of awful snail apotheosis, was initially rejected by periodicals 'with horror and disgust'. Highsmith's habit of transporting pet snails in her handbag or, for smuggling purposes, her bra (10 under each breast) was likewise presented, before the arrival of snail slime beauty, as deficient if not actively disgusting. Now, in a eulogy to a Korean snail product, Vogue rhapsodises about 'a slime-y texture that is a sensorial experience on its own'. Along with the slime-tolerance evinced by generations often considered super-sensitive, levels of incuriosity about the snail slime industry are such as to make you wonder, if you still recoil from the whole thing, if that makes you one of the weird ones. What's wrong with you! Why wouldn't you feel fine about industrialised snail labour for a product with uncertain benefits if the snail industry says it's OK? Especially for slime that could give you the prized, regularly slimed look known as 'glass skin'. Being beyond any expectation of rejuvenation, I can't, admittedly, be certain that having a reflective face would not once have seemed worth the torment and premature death of any number of gastropods. But expert consensus, not just in beauty magazines is, overwhelmingly, that it is. Including for an Atlantic magazine writer speculating, with some feeling, about the impact of tariffs on Korean beauty product prices – could US glass skin go the same, chilling way as US free speech? The trade-off between snail and human wellbeing is evidently settled. 'It has made my skin softer and only grossed me out twice,' she tells us. From the snails' perspective, the effect of tariffs – if they drive US buyers back to domestic, non-snail slime products – might amount to a more important commercial pushback than anything so far achieved by animal welfare organisations. While the soaring demand for slime products could encourage recourse to unethical types of extraction, Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has just tried another intervention, warning that 'snails are not skincare tools. They can feel stress, pain and fear.' Secrecy by some within the industry, along with a moderately stressed snail looking, to an amateur, much like a relaxed one, makes this easier to claim than to demonstrate. Even so, in the limited snail mucin studies concerned with ethics, the animals' treatment by some manufacturers sounds, when not actively barbaric, difficult to reconcile with industry assurances. The slime is, after all, a stress response. There is film of snails frothing and retracting into their shells. An analysis by the University of Tennessee Health Science Center found that common methods of snail slime collection include, as well as allegedly low-stress techniques that deliver less product, electrical stimulation, the application of salt solution ('osmotically drawing out a snail's hydration') and the use of force (featuring 'objects such as glass rods, cotton swabs, syringes, droppers, sticks or needles') to increase the yield. Alternatively, the shell might be cracked, generating more mucus, or the extractors might try vibrational, ozone-assisted and ultrasonic stimulation: 'These methods are less favoured as snails often die easily.' The authors prioritise, in conclusion, 'the need for ethical extraction'. Sign up to Observed Analysis and opinion on the week's news and culture brought to you by the best Observer writers after newsletter promotion But without the exposure of a cruel snail extraction facility, it's not obvious how snails get beyond their current designation as insensate slime machines. At some point, the popularity of mucus might give way to another miracle face-plumper, possibly a synthetic version of snail mucin. Alternatively, if the snails get lucky, this resourceful industry will discover superior secretions in another unfortunate animal, ideally one similarly docile, cheap and unlovable enough to be euthanised in its millions. Not that consumers seem to be too picky. No matter how distressing the process, it's not so distressing, even among the usually tender-hearted, as the prospect of looking old. Catherine Bennett is an Observer columnist
Forbes
09-04-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
A Look At The Lefty's 2025 Masters Odds Including Mickelson, MacIntyre, Harman And Highsmith
The Masters is 'A tradition unlike any other', and the 89th Masters Tournament will set a record with eight left-handed golfers playing in the 2025 event. That includes Masters champions Phil Mickelson (3), Bubba Watson (2) and Mike Weir (1), who have won a combined six green jackets between them from 2003-2014. Another major champion, 2023 Open Championship big longshot winner Brian Harman, is playing in his seventh Masters with a best finish of T21 in 2021. Harman won the 2025 Valero Texas Open last week, and he'll try to improve his 2025 Masters odds after missing the cut each of the past three years. The favorite to be the top left-handed player with the best finish in the 2025 Masters is Robert MacIntyre, who is playing in his third Masters with a best finish of T12 on debut in 2021. The 28-year-old Scottish pro is slightly favored over 23-year-old Akshay Bhatia, who finished T35 in his Masters debut last year with no rounds under par. Two former West Coast Conference college golfers and PGA Korn Ferry Tour graduates make their Masters debut this week. Matt McCarty played at Santa Clara and started 2024 on the Korn Ferry Tour. The 27-year-old won the inaugural Black Desert Championship in October in his third PGA Tour start to earn an invitation to the 2025 Masters Tournament. Lefty Joe Highsmith won the 2025 Cognizant Classic on March 2, and the 24-year-old Washington native and former Pepperdine golfer will join one of his mentors Fred Couples along with Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay for a practice round over the back 9 at Augusta National on Wed., April 9. Highsmith's press conference Tuesday shared some of the emotions of making it to Augusta to play in The Masters, and the atmosphere with so many fans even for the practice rounds. 'This is the tournament that every golfer wants to play in since they pick up the game,' Highsmith said. 'To be here and kind of just see the atmosphere and be inside the ropes this time is pretty special.' Masters odds are taking more action at the leading online sportsbooks, and the top golfers are drawing more watch and wager interest as they prepare for the speed and slopes at Augusta National. That includes the 12 top golfers who are the leading win contenders in the 2025 Masters Tournament. The eight left-handed golfers odds to win the Masters are all at least +5000, or 50/1 or greater. But top online sportsbook BetOnline offers Masters Props and specials with group betting options on golfers by country, former Masters champions, top LIV Golfer along with top left-handed golfer, with odds below along with (odds) to win the Masters. Golf odds from BetOnline and leading online sportsbooks refresh periodically and are subject to change, including on futures, props and live betting. As hundreds of thousands of people placed bets on the Super Bowl, including on popular player props, analysts say Georgia missed out on millions they could get from legalizing and taxing sports betting. With no regulated sports betting in Georgia, fans in the Peach state and other visitors to Augusta for the Masters will be unable to place bets at top U.S. sportsbooks. The cybersecurity group GeoComply estimates Georgia could be getting nearly $120 million annually from legalizing sports betting. But fans still have other options as they watch and wager on The Masters and understand the golf rules when betting on match-ups, futures and favorite players while also following the adjusted golf odds and placing live bets during the tournament. Panama-based BetOnline has been a market leader in providing more betting options for fans, and especially those political and sports-crazed fans in Georgia and the three most populated states that currently don't offer betting at U.S. online sportsbooks - California, Texas and Florida. So fans can get in the game and enjoy watch and wager entertainment with BetOnline for The Masters, and also next week's RBC Heritage Signature Event in South Carolina, where there is also no regulated U.S. sports betting. Scottie Scheffler won the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town last year one week after capturing his second green jacket and winning The Masters. As fans follow their favorite golfers and left-handers including Phil Mickelson, check out their tee times Thursday off hole No. 1 along with playing partners. All times Eastern. Follow The Masters and golfers betting odds with tips and trends as the left-handers try to make history again at Augusta. You can bet on it.
USA Today
08-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
This Masters rookie's mom hit golf balls on the day he was born
This Masters rookie's mom hit golf balls on the day he was born AUGUSTA, Ga. — Anne Highsmith was in her mid-20s when a couple of friends stopped by her place in Tacoma, Washington, and invited her to play golf. As luck would have it, her mom's clubs were in the trunk, so she tagged along. Nine holes later, she was hooked. Highsmith hightailed it to her local golf shop and bought a set of irons. Soon she was a regular, rounding out random weekend foursomes as a single until she joined Tacoma Country and Golf Club, one of the oldest clubs in the Pacific Northwest. Highsmith met her husband, Chris, on the first tee at Tacoma. They dated for six months before he proposed at Pebble Beach, where they later honeymooned. When Anne was pregnant with her second son, the couple went out to practice a beautiful spring day. She'd hit a ball, then have a contraction. Son Joe was born later that same day. "I can talk about golf for hours," said Anne, who'd been out shopping for the friends and family flying across the country for Joe's debut in the 89th Masters Tournament. Anne's parents, who are 91 and 89, come on Tuesday. Joe and his older brother Sam invited eight of their high school friends, who will be out at the course on Wednesday. Growing up, the Highsmith family treated Masters Sunday like a national holiday. Anne didn't sleep for a week after her 24-year-old son won his first PGA Tour event to secure the invitation. 'I really don't know how to put it into words,' said Joe of what it means to be one of 21 players making their Masters debut. 'It's going to be unbelievable.' The first time Joe played Augusta National on a cold winter day, he hit driver-driver into the par-5 15th to 8 feet. After years of watching all the old Masters footage he could find on YouTube, he's now putting together his own highlight reel. Three weeks ago, he played 36 holes in one day with brother Sam and Pepperdine head coach Michael Beard. In the coming days, he'll play a practice round with Fred Couples, a close mentor, and have a sit-down with Jack Nicklaus. Beard first spotted Highsmith at an AJGA event in Tacoma before he was old enough to drive and was struck by the lefty's pure swing: 'It just seemed like he had the gift.' Fast forward roughly 10 years later – past a national team title at Pepperdine and a short and successful stint on the Korn Ferry Tour – and Highsmith, in his 34th career PGA Tour start, became a winner at the Cognizant Classic in dramatic fashion. Back-to-back 64s over the weekend at PGA National made him the first player in nine years to win a tournament after making the cut on the number. Mom was supposed to leave at the turn that Sunday but canceled her flight. 'She's been my No. 1 supporter over the years,' said Highsmith, 'pretty much never missed a tournament.' On the bag for Highsmith was Joe LaCava IV, son of legendary caddie Joe LaCava, who caddied for Fred Couples when he won the 1992 Masters and when Tiger Woods won at Augusta in 2019. The victory earned Highsmith a spot in the Masters, PGA Championship and remaining Signature Events in 2025. He's also exempt on Tour through 2027. Highsmith's $1,656,000 payday meant he didn't need to worry about the roughly $500 Uber ride he took to get from the Seminole Pro-Member in Juno Beach, Florida, to Orlando for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Originally slated to play in the opposite field Puerto Rico Open, Highsmith welcomed the last-minute change of plans, not to mention the confidence boost. 'It's not like he's wondering, 'How am I going to have a chance this week?' ' said Beard. 'He kind of knows what to do, and now it's just a matter of him doing it.' After Highsmith won the Cognizant, he sent Beard a text saying he'd put him down as his coach for the Masters. It's not uncommon for the two to talk several times a week when he's competing. Back at Pepperdine, Highsmith was working on his swing one day when Beard asked him a question: Joe, do you want to have a good swing, or do you want to be a good player? That question started a journey of approaching the game in a different way. There was a belief, Beard said, that if he swung correctly or had the right feels that it would equate to low score. Beard wanted him to tap into some of the game's intangibles. At the national championship in 2021, they graded each shot on how clear he was with what he wanted to do rather than the outcome. 'If you just focus on what you really, really want and what that feels like, the fear will eventually just go away,' said Beard. 'You get so focused on overpowering fear with clarity and commitment that you didn't even know your swing was doing exactly what you intended it to do.' Highsmith had such a good foundation fundamentally that Beard felt this approach could take his game to the next level. Long known for his ball-striking, last season Highsmith became the first player on record to make three aces in one PGA Tour season. On Friday at the Cognizant, Highsmith faced a slippery five-foot putt that would send him to the weekend. He called it the worst kind of putt. 'The greens were so baked out and bumpy, and it was right-to-left, kind of falling away," he said. "Just a super sketchy putt. I hate right-to-left putts because I have a tendency to wipe them or block them a little bit. 'I had already been kind of crumbling under the cut pressure. I think I had bogeyed two of the last five or something, made a couple pars, and of course I ended up with this five-footer just to make the cut. … I just tried to make sure, at a minimum, I committed to it. I didn't want to leave knowing that I had wished the last putt on Friday, so I committed to it and fortunately it went in.' One month later, Highsmith is doling out 12 tickets a day to friends and family to watch him compete at Augusta National. Given how he came into the world, it's almost as if he was destined for it.
