Latest news with #WGR
New York Times
14-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
2025 PGA Championship pool picks: Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau among the picks at Quail Hollow
The world's top players are set to tee off on Thursday for the 2025 PGA Championship. This year, the calendar's second major happens to be located at a venue that has treated one of the favorites quite well over the years. Rory McIlroy, who claimed his first Masters Tournament victory last month, should feel very comfortable at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, as he's been quite successful there through the years. Advertisement Eyes are on the sport's stars this week, but there are several value picks for your PGA Championship pool. Here's how it works: One player is selected from each tier of 10 inside the Official World Golf Ranking's Top 50. Let's get to the picks! Odds from BetMGM. Odds: +500 I almost picked McIlroy to win The Masters (here's proof), but was swayed by the numbers and went with someone else. Applying that same strategy to the PGA Championship, McIlroy has to be the selection from the top tier. One stat in particular jumps off the page, and that's McIlroy's number of wins at this venue. He's won four times in 13 events at Quail Hollow. That's a batting average above .300. Aside from the wins, he's also finished T10 or better in five of his other nine starts. The past wouldn't hold as much weight if it weren't also the case that McIlroy is in great form. He's won three times in nine starts this season, including The Masters, and hasn't finished lower than T17 in any event this year. He's been excellent off the tee. McIlroy leads the PGA Tour in strokes gained from the tee box and ranks second in this week's field to Bryson DeChambeau (we'll discuss him shortly) in true strokes gained off the tee, according to Hello, friends. Rory McIlroy just went 56 (!) yards longer than anyone else off No. 1 (and made birdie). T2. One back. — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 12, 2025 In the last 10 years, only two players, Gary Woodland in 2015 and Harris English in 2023, have snagged a top-five finish at this course without gaining strokes off the tee. Quail Hollow rewards players who can absolutely crush drives, which leads nicely into the next tier's selection. Odds: +800 Because he's playing on the LIV Golf Tour, DeChambeau is ranked lower in the WGR than he probably should be, which makes him a great pick at this tier. Advertisement He is leading the LIV tour with an average driving distance of 333.3 yards, and his 1.98 true strokes gained off the tee this year leads the PGA Championship field. DeChambeau is also in good form. Here's how he finished his last four events: He hasn't played at Quail Hollow since the 2021 Wells Fargo Championship, but he finished T9 in that event while gaining 1.04 true strokes off the tee, according to .@brysondech has been driving greens all year 😅👀#LIVGolf — LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) May 13, 2025 Odds: +9000 The two options at this tier were both repeat selections from the aforementioned Masters pool picks, Lee and Daniel Berger. Berger is probably playing better all around golf and is gaining strokes off the tee. But he's doing so with accuracy as opposed to distance. I'm scouting for the long ball here, which decidedly tipped the scales to Lee, who ranks fourth on the PGA Tour in average driving distance this season (316.1). The Australian isn't the most accurate driver, and the form he'd found with his irons and putter ahead of The Masters hasn't been there since. But this course rewards players who hit for power, and Lee has had no trouble with that this season. Min Woo Lee's 2-iron is a weapon at Sawgrass 🔥 — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 14, 2025 Odds: +15000 Novak won't be winning any long driving contests, but he's swinging the sticks as good as anyone on tour right now. Here's how he's finished his last four tournaments: While Novak's worst finish over the last month came at his most recent tournament, he closed Round 4 strong, shooting a 64 — the lowest score of any golfer that day. Since the beginning of April, he ranks seventh in total true strokes gained (2.26) among the PGA Championship field. What a break 😅 Andrew Novak's tee shot *almost* went south @Bermuda_Champ — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 16, 2024 Odds: +20000 Here's another player who doesn't fit the power-hitter mold of the earlier picks but does come into the tournament playing some strong golf. Hughes ranks just below Novak in total true strokes gained (2.02) among the PGA Championship field since April 1. He's coming off a T2 finish at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, where his putter was working well. Advertisement Hughes also finished T6 last year at Quail Hollow in the Wells Fargo Championship. Odds: +10000 Mitchel hasn't finished outside of the top 20 since March's Valspar Championship. His solid results have been boosted by hot starts at each tournament. Here's what he shot in his last four Round 1s (excluding the Zurich): He's been so good in Round 1s this year that only World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler has more total true strokes gained (4.56) on opening days, according to A hot enough start at the PGA Championship could keep him in the mix. (Photo of Rory McIlroy: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
PGA Tour Star to Miss Next 3 Majors After Revealing Devastating Injury News
Some disappointing news struck the golf world on Tuesday, May 6, ahead of this week's Truist Championship and the upcoming PGA Championship, which begins on May 15. Billy Horschel, 38, who finished eighth at the 2024 PGA Championship, announced he will be sidelined until 'late summer' after consulting with doctors following the Masters—where he missed the cut—and the RBC Heritage. He is scheduled to undergo hip surgery early next week in Colorado. Advertisement The procedure will force him to miss the next three majors of the 2025 season, unless he experiences a rapid recovery and is able to return in time for The Open Championship, which begins on July 17. "Health update. After consulting with doctors and my team, I have decided to have right hip surgery early next week out in Colorado," Horschel posted on X. "It's an unfortunate situation with so many great events left on the calendar but this is a preventative measure. I'm already itching to start rehab, get back to practicing and I look forward to returning to the course sometime around late summer/early fall." He continued, "I would like to thank my family, friends, sponsors and partners for their continued support of me. I will share positive news on my rehab as I progress and I look forward to seeing everyone at the course again soon!" Check it out: Horschel's last win on the PGA Tour came at the 2024 Corales Puntacana Championship, and he is currently ranked 24th in the world according to the World Golf Ranking (WGR). His most recent performance, at the RBC Heritage in late April, saw him finish tied for 27th. Billy Horschel reacts to his putt on the no. 2 green during the first round of the Masters Tournament.© Michael Madrid-Imagn Images His best finish in 2025 came at the Valspar Championship, where he tied for fourth. However, out of the 10 tournaments he's competed in this year, Horschel has missed the cut four times. Related: Major Rickie Fowler Announcement Made Ahead of the 2025 PGA Championship
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Let's Talk Ball: Right & wrong from Beane, Bills draft
Brandon Beane seemed to some things that he needed to get off his chest when he appeared on Buffalo radio station WGR Monday morning. Buffalo Kickoff Live co-hosts Thad Brown and Carl Jones had some things they needed to get off their chest about what Beane had to say. They aren't surprised the Bills front office is starting to boil over a bit. It's not because this draft was bad. Thad and Carl discuss why Maxwell Hairston can expand playmaking options at corner. And he might not be the only one. Plus, the picks that opened eyes and why this was a good and bad year to remake the defensive line. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
03-04-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Fifty years ago, a deejay and a Sabres novelty song inspired Terry Pegula's Buffalo sports empire
Terry Pegula didn't grow up a hockey fan. He paid no attention to the sport until he got to college. The Philadelphia Flyers became his favorite team, a fandom he carried into the real world as a petroleum engineer. His first job out of Penn State sent him to Texas, and then he made an ordinary decision that echoed decades into the future and inspired a Buffalo sports empire. Advertisement Fifty years ago, late in the 1974-75 NHL season, Pegula relocated to rural Western New York for a job at Felmont Oil and started hearing new voices that transformed him. It was in Olean, N.Y., near the Pennsylvania border and about 70 miles south of Buffalo, where Pegula would listen to WGR 550-AM, in those days an adult top 40 station that played Jim Croce, the Mamas and the Papas, America, Anne Murray and B.J. Thomas. WGR also aired Buffalo Sabres games and took great lengths to hype the young franchise. Pegula was hooked by morning disc jockey Stan Roberts and an inescapable, jaunty novelty song. 'He's the reason I own the Sabres,' Pegula said in a 2019 interview with The Athletic. 'Stan Roberts was one of the funniest people I've ever heard on a radio show. That was my wake-up every morning, and they promoted the Sabres. 'They'd play that song, 'We're Gonna Win That Cup,' and I just got brainwashed.' This is the golden anniversary of the Pegula sports empire's origin story, ignited through a crackling radio signal that drove a future billionaire to buy the Sabres, which led to the acquisition of two National Lacrosse League teams and the American Hockey League's Rochester Americans, which led to the construction of the $200-plus million Harborcenter downtown and, eventually, to the $1.4 billion Buffalo Bills purchase, which led to the construction of a $2.2 billion (and almost certainly climbing) NFL stadium in Orchard Park. Possibly none of the above transpires if Roberts wasn't committed to Sabres coverage and hadn't spun that 45 rpm record every morning. 'No one has ever talked to me about it,' Roberts said. 'He credits me and WGR into brainwashing him to be a Sabres fan? And he buys the Sabres? And he buys the Bills? And he builds a hotel and rink complex downtown? Advertisement 'I was there for decades and nothing happened. Things went downhill. The steel mills closed. The refineries closed. It was possible the Sabres would leave Buffalo. He saved that from happening. The Buffalo Bills could've left too, and he saved that from happening. Anything I had to do with him getting there makes me proud.' Donna McDaniel was oblivious that her voice had such an impact on Buffalo sports when 'We're Gonna Win That Cup' was released 50 years ago this week. 'I'm completely blown away,' the singer said from her home in Southern California. 'I can't believe that. I didn't know any of it.' For almost six years, The Athletic has endeavored to revisit Pegula's ownership origin story. The first attempt in 2019 involved a Pegula-Roberts sit-down in South Florida, where they both live, but the meeting was canceled. Another attempt in 2023 involved McDaniel possibly returning to sing 'We're Gonna Win That Cup' before a Sabres game, but that idea died during one of the many front office shakeups and another abysmal season launch. The story also grew inconvenient. Fond reflections seemed increasingly strange while the Sabres kept missing the playoffs — their drought will reach an NHL-worst 14th straight season — and firing coaches and losing top players. Anguish has engulfed the civic institution so thoroughly that fans have gone from full swoon when Pegula bought the team to emphatically voting him the NHL's worst owner in a recent The Athletic poll. 'I'm probably among the majority who will happily accept the credit, but shy away from any blame,' Roberts cracked. 'Just remember I'm not getting younger!' The Sabres in 1974-75 were only five seasons old, had missed the playoffs four times and had never won a playoff series. But, propelled by the French Connection, they ravaged opponents, electrified Memorial Auditorium and captured Buffalo's imagination. Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin and Rene Robert recorded at least 95 points apiece. Three others scored at least 30 goals. Don Luce posted a plus-61 rating, still the club record. Craig Ramsay's plus-51 ranks third. Jerry Korab, Jim Schoenfeld and Bill Hajt patrolled the blue line. The goaltending, while unspectacular, was above average between Gary Bromley and veteran backup Roger Crozier, a one-time Conn Smythe winner. Advertisement 'They broke all the fire laws that ever existed,' said Jim Lorentz, a right wing on that squad and later the Sabres' broadcast analyst. 'There were so many people in the building. There were many games we'd look up to the standing-room (section), and they were five, six deep. 'The fan connection that we had was just amazing. And as the team got better and better, the excitement grew.' The Sabres won the Adams Division by 19 points and needed only five games to dispatch the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round. Then the Sabres eliminated the Montreal Canadiens, well into a stretch of 10 titles over 15 seasons. Next up were Pegula's new team against his first fave — with the Stanley Cup at stake. So scintillating and seminal were those Sabres to his sporting core that, upon buying them, Pegula cried upon spotting Perreault in the crowd for the news conference. A communal cry was captured when 'We're Gonna Win That Cup' was pressed into vinyl. In radio's heyday, novelty sports songs were prevalent. We're not talking about 'Chariots of Fire,' the 'Rocky' theme song or 'One Shining Moment,' but sendups such as the 1978 polka 'Steelers Fight Song,' the 1979 Pete Rose disco tune 'Charlie Hustle,' 'The Super Bowl Shuffle' in 1985, 'Get Metsmerized' and 'Let's Ram It' in 1986 and 'Packarena' in 1996. You know, we're gonna win that Cup. You know we're gonna win that Stanley Cup. Me and the Buffalo Sabres, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know our Don Luce. He's going to skate circles around you. Cuz my Sabres are razor sharp, yeah, yeah. We got Bones, we got Roger Crozier, making them saves. You know we got the French Connection, and where there's a Gil, there's a way. You know, we're gonna win that Cup. We're gonna slap, gonna slap that puck. Me and the Buffalo Sabres, yeah, yeah, yeah. We got Gare and big Jerry Korab, leading the way. You know we got Robert and Martin, making that big power play. You know, we're gonna win that Cup. We're gonna slap, gonna slap that puck. Me and the Buffalo Sabres, yeah, yeah, yeah. Advertisement 'We're Gonna Win That Cup' was written by local music legend Tommy Calandra, with help from Roberts and WGR sidekick Jerry Reo. Calandra first gained fame as the bassist for Raven, a 1960s blues-rock group George Harrison tried to sign to the Beatles' label, Apple Records. Raven recorded one album with Columbia Records before Calandra returned to North Buffalo, resurfaced as a pianist and opened a production studio. He wrote several famous jingles and other sports tunes such as 'Look Out: Here Comes the French Connection,' 'Ain't Nobody Gonna Buffalo My Bills' and 'Electric Company Song' that received heavy radio airplay. His musical news commentaries for WBEN 930-AM brought Peabody Award and Pulitzer Prize nominations. The B-side of 'We're Gonna Win That Cup' featured Roberts setting up Sabres highlights called by Ted Darling and Rick Jeanneret. 'They sold a lot of copies, and I heard it everywhere I went,' McDaniel said. 'I even got to sing it at one of the games out on the ice, but I never saw any money from it.' The 1970s were a fascinating time for Buffalo athletes in pop culture. Bills tailback O.J. Simpson appeared in major motion pictures and starred in iconic Hertz commercials. Sabres defenseman Jim Schoenfeld released two albums of mostly covers, but with a few original tunes. Lorentz and left wing Rick Dudley released singles. Perreault fancied himself an Elvis impersonator. 'It was so thrilling,' McDaniel said. 'We were the house band at Mulligan's, and all the Bills and Sabres players would come there, O.J. Simpson and Ahmad Rashad and Danny Gare. They were like rock stars, and the fans would come there, too, just to be around them.' McDaniel, a North Tonawanda High grad, became an actual rock star. After she charted with the solo number 'Save Me,' she was an original member of Motley Crue's background vocal/dancing duo, Nasty Habits, for three tours before joining Billy Idol. She performed with Toto, singing lead on three songs, and with Eagles members Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh. One of her own groups, Donna and the Kids, comprised bassist Jason Scheff (Chicago frontman), guitarist Dawayne Bailey (Chicago, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band), Guy Thomas (Kenny Loggins, Jackson Browne) and drummer John Keane (renowned TV show composer). McDaniel fronted a Disneyland house band that included The Cult and Guns N' Roses drummer Matt Sorum. Advertisement Roberts, meanwhile, was radio royalty. 'Absolutely a giant in Buffalo broadcasting,' late Sabres play-by-play voice Rick Jeanneret said. Roberts, a New York City native, came to Buffalo in 1960 to work for 50,000-watt juggernaut WKBW 1520-AM and thrived through his combination of comedic skills and bass-baritone gravitas. Roberts briefly left for a job in Boston, but WGR lured him back in 1972 to host its 6-10 a.m. morning show. As the peppy jingle serenaded listeners, 'Stan Roberts, the corny DJ, floats the jokes right down the drain.' He voiced the daily Dial-a-Joke, wore a lampshade on his head in Royalite television commercials and was the public address announcer at Rich Stadium. 'Stan famously implored everybody to stay off the field after the Bills clinched the AFC East in 1990,' said Buffalo broadcast historian and former WBEN news director Steve Cichon, 'as drunken fans poured over the wall with hacksaws to take the goalposts apart,' 'To avoid injury, please, stay off the field! We'll need the goalposts for the playoff game next week! Please, stay off the field!'' Roberts' involvement with the Sabres made the most impact. He conducted postgame interviews and the next morning replayed the coach's news conference and highlights. His 'Ask the Sabres' feature was interactive for the time. Fans would submit questions to ask a player for the show. Roberts would write the question on a specially printed card to be autographed by the player and returned to the fan. Players basked on Roberts' platform. 'He was hilarious, a really witty guy,' Pegula said. All that 1975 Sabres hype, as things usually go in Buffalo, didn't pay off. Not then, not ever. In the Stanley Cup Final, they met the defending champions. The Sabres hadn't beaten the Flyers for 11 straight games and hadn't won at the Spectrum since the club was founded, a skid that reached 20 games before ending in November 1977. Advertisement Philadelphia goalie Bernie Parent chilled Buffalo's scalding offense, posting a 1.75 GAA and .937 save percentage in the six-game series. The Sabres did, however, win both times when McDaniel sang 'We're Gonna Win That Cup' before Games 3 and 4. 'I haven't heard it in a long time,' said Schoenfeld, the 1974-75 captain, 'but whenever I do, I grin for the happiness and nostalgia. At the same time, I'm reminded we didn't get the job done. 'It's bittersweet. There was something left undone.' Several remakes of 'We're Gonna Win That Cup' — with updated names and enhanced production — proved equally unprophetic. In 1984, Calandra teamed with singer Cathy Miller on a new version. When the Dominik Hasek-led Sabres made a Stanley Cup push in 1999, a year after Calandra died at 56, Buffalo News reporter Dale Anderson wrote fresher lyrics for singer Maria Sebastian. Buffalo punk-pop band The Razzels cut a modified cover version. Of the Sabres' four owners, Pegula's stewardship has been the worst. The Sabres reached the playoffs shortly after he bought them in February 2011, but they haven't returned. Because that team was built and managed by previous owner B. Thomas Golisano for the first five months, Pegula cannot claim sole responsibility for a single playoff appearance yet. Counting this season — the franchise's 54th — Buffalo has failed to reach the playoffs 25 times, all but 11 happening on Pegula's watch. The Knoxes missed six times in the 27 seasons they completed as owners. John Rigas missed once in five seasons. Golisano missed four times in seven seasons. Pegula's Sabres are tied with the New York Jets for the longest drought in North America's four major sports, and Buffalo still is searching for its first world championship. 'Let's be honest: A lot of things have to go your way,' said Schoenfeld, who coached the Sabres, New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals and Phoenix Coyotes before returning to the 2014 Stanley Cup Final as a member of the New York Rangers' front office. 'There is a fine line between winning and losing. I thought we'd go back (to the Stanley Cup Final) for the next four or five years, but that's sports. 'That's why it's just not a happy memory for me. I could write my own song: 'We Didn't Win That Cup.' I still come away with that.' (Photo of Terry Pegula with Rene Robert, Rick Martin and Gilbert Perreault before a game in February 2011: Rick Stewart / Getty Images)
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Graeme Roustan Show: Katherine Henderson
The Hockey News' Money and Power 2025 hockey business annual is available at featuring the annual 100 people of power and influence list. W. Graeme Roustan, owner and publisher of The Hockey News, sat down with special guests for peer-to-peer conversations also featured in the issue, including Hockey Canada's president and CEO, Katherine Henderson. Here's their full conversation in The Graeme Roustan Show: (Don't see the video? Click here.) Read along with an excerpt from their discussion: W. GRAEME ROUSTAN: You've been involved in sports for decades. What got you all excited about getting into sports years ago? KATHERINE HENDERSON: It was an interesting one. I started my career as a packaged goods marketer, and I ended up on the sponsorship end of things. I was working on some of the very first Olympic sponsorships with General Mills. I worked for Colgate-Palmolive for a number of years, and we had sponsorships related to the NHL, the NBA, Major League Baseball, women's professional golf, as well as a lot of amateur sport. And so, coming through that, I was quite interested. As my career started to really flourish, I was in Toronto when they were bidding for the Pan Am Games. And because I had seen what games, major games, can do for a city, I put my name out there and said, 'I really want to go over onto the sports side of things.' And that's kind of where it took off from there. WGR: Why is it that so many people start off with the big companies like Colgate-Palmolive and then they end up in the CEO's office? KH: I think one of the things that's really important in packaged goods is a recognition that your brand, which is the promise that you give the people that you interact with, your public, is the most critical asset that you own. And what you learn in a packaged-goods company is how to make sure that you protect that brand at all times and that you leverage it to grow it. Well, the segue is incredible because Hockey Canada had a brand problem. WGR: How much of your corporate business career has helped you with Hockey Canada? KH: Well, I think it helps tremendously. It's a real hodge-podge of experiences in there. So it's a neat cocktail to be able to walk in and take on this role. But I would say when people think about brands, they tend to think about logos. And what I'm really talking about is the kind of a values foundation of a promise that you give to your public that you must protect. And you must be able to deliver on that over and over and over again consistently. And so when I'm talking about brand, that's what I'm talking about right now. Coming into Hockey Canada, yes, there are and were a number of issues. Although I do think that standing behind the values of what it is that you're attempting to deliver to Canadians is critically important, being open and transparent about what it is that you are trying to do and then bringing the public along with it is going to be really important. You know, it has been important over the past year, and it will continue to be important in the future. WGR: Let's talk a little bit about women's hockey and how important it is to Hockey Canada. KH: So, it's incredibly important. I just flew back from Saint John, N.B., and I was in Quispamsis watching the women's U-18 national championship. Ontario Red won it. And it was mind-blowing how good the hockey is. WGR: Years ago, women's hockey just didn't have the visibility that it does right now. KH: There were a lot of assumptions made by people about whether it was competitive or not. I think once you spend the time getting people to actually watch, and I think the PWHL and its forerunners, the CWHL, have really accelerated that pathway so people can see how good the hockey is. Canadians love hockey. That's what they love. And I think, at the end of the day, watching really good hockey players performing at the top of their game is what Canadians really like. So, that visibility is really important. Recently, Hockey Canada released a discussion paper, and we released it to Canadians. And it basically outlines the obstacles that we believe still exist in the women's game. And what we're asking Canadians and a number of stakeholders to do is to help us solve those problems and help us figure out the pathway that's going to make women's hockey grow to the level that we would like to see it grow, to the level that Canadians have asked us to see it grow. For this, more interviews and a deep look into the world of the hockey business, check out The Hockey News' Money and Power 2025 issue, available at
