3 takeaways from a big sports weekend
Tiger, Hamelin, Gushue fall just short of storybook endings
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Let's break down that big sports weekend
Only in April can you get important events in golf, swimming, curling and skating happening at the same time. To untangle it all, here are three takeaways from a delightfully diverse weekend of sports:
1. Scottie Scheffler is for real, but Tiger is still the people's champ.
Scheffler arrived at Augusta on a serious roll, having won three of his previous five tournaments to soar to No. 1 in the world rankings for the first time. But there were questions about whether a 25-year-old who'd never won a major, and who was largely unfamiliar to casual golf fans, was truly worthy of that honour.
Scheffler answered them all with an emphatic Masters victory that saw him jump out to a five-stroke lead through two rounds before cruising to the green jacket by three shots. His dominance, both in this tournament and over the last two months on tour, should be the talk of the golf world right now. But everyone seems more interested in the guy who finished 47th.
Sorry, that's an unkind way of putting it, because what Tiger Woods did at the Masters was incredible. No one expected to see him back playing competitive golf so soon after nearly losing his right leg in a February 2021 car crash — much less playing as well as he did on Thursday, when he tied for 10th place in the opening round. The wheels came off after that, and Woods hobbled to a pair of 78s on the weekend — his worst rounds ever at the Masters. He said afterwards that he'll definitely play the British Open in July at his beloved St. Andrews, but he's not sure about the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open in the meantime.
Hats off also to Canada's Corey Conners, who tied for sixth. That's up two spots from last year, and it's the best finish by a Canadian at the Masters since Mike Weir won it in 2003. Conners now has three straight top-10 finishes at Augusta. Read more about Sunday's final round and watch highlights here.
2. This could be the summer of Summer.
There's probably never been a Canadian swimming trials as star-studded as the one that wrapped up Sunday in Victoria. The lineup of decorated competitors was headlined by seven-time Olympic medallist Penny Oleksiak, reigning Olympic and world 100m butterfly champion Maggie Mac Neil, and reigning 100m backstroke world champion and four-time Olympic medallist Kylie Masse. But the star of the meet ended up being someone who's never reached the podium at the Olympics or the main world championships — at least not yet.
Fifteen-year-old sensation Summer McIntosh won four races at the trials — the women's 200m and 400m freestyle, 200 butterfly and 400 medley — to serve notice that she'll be a contender at the world championships in June and the Commonwealth Games in July/August. She was officially named to the Canadian team for both events today — joining Oleksiak, Mac Neil, Masse and others who will do the double this summer. McIntosh's near-future looks especially bright in the 400 free. She placed fourth in this event as a 14-year-old at the Olympics, and broke the Canadian record she set in Tokyo at the Canadian trials.
Other young standouts at the trials included 19-year-old Josh Liendo, who won the men's 100m butterfly along with the 50m and 100m freestyles; and 18-year-old Para swimmer Nicholas Bennett, who won and set national records in his 200m medley, 200m freestyle, 100m breaststroke and 100m butterfly events. Bennett, who competed in the Paralympic Games last summer, is headed to his first Para swimming world championships in June in Portugal. He was among the 31 swimmers named today to the Canadian team for that meet.
If you'd like to know more about some of Canada's best swimmers, CBC Sports' Devin Heroux was in Victoria covering the trials and wrote stories on McIntosh, Mac Neil, Liendo, Oleksiak and Taylor Ruck, who has rediscovered happiness in and out of the pool after battling an eating disorder.
3. You don't always get the sports-movie ending.
That was true of Tiger Woods, and also for a pair of Canada's Winter Olympic stars over the weekend.
The short track speed skating world championships in Montreal presented a wonderful opportunity for Charles Hamelin to punctuate his incredible career with one last victory. After nailing his Olympic exit by helping the Canadian men's relay team to gold in Beijing, the almost-38-year-old was looking to do the same in front of a home crowd at the worlds.
It didn't quite work out, but Hamelin and his teammates still grabbed a bronze. His staggering career totals: 38 world championship medals (including 13 gold), a Canadian record-tying six Winter Olympic medals (including four gold) and 142 World Cup podiums.
Hamelin leaves the Canadian team in good hands. Four-time Olympic medallist Kim Boutin took silver in all four women's individual races and the relay and also finished second in the overall points chase in Montreal. Pascal Dion placed second in the men's overall competition after taking silver in the 1,500 and gold in the 3,000. He and Steven Dubois, who won three Olympic medals in Beijing, were part of the men's relay bronze.
As Hamelin was competing for the final time yesterday, Brad Gushue was preparing for a different sort of farewell at the men's curling world championship. For the last eight seasons, the St. John's skip has played with Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker — a partnership that produced four Briers titles, a world title and an Olympic bronze. With Gallant set to leave the team after this season, the b'ys were hoping to add one last world title in Las Vegas.
Unfortunately, they were foiled in last night's final by the great Nik Edin, who followed up his first-ever Olympic gold medal by leading Sweden to the world title for the fourth consecutive time and sixth time in his career. Poor playing conditions also had a role in Gushue's settling for silver, with the normally stoic skip calling the Vegas surface "the worst ice I've ever curled on in a major championship." This tough loss aside, it was quite the run for this Gushue rink. Relive it in this video essay by Devin Heroux with production magic by Steve Tzemis:
Quickly...
The Lakers want Nick Nurse. Big-shot NBA reporter Shams Charania wrote today that the Raptors' head coach is "among [L.A.'s] top targets" to replace Frank Vogel, who's on his way out after the Lakers stunningly missed the playoffs. The idea of joining one of sports' marquee franchises and coaching superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis might be tempting to Nurse, but he still has two years left on his contract with Toronto. The Raptors would have to grant him permission to speak to the Lakers, and the teams would have to agree on a trade or some other form of compensation for him to go to L.A. Meanwhile, Nurse and the Raptors are preparing to face the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs. That matchup, which will see Toronto take on possible NBA MVP Joel Embiid and former MVP James Harden, opens Saturday at 6 p.m. ET in Philly.
The Canadian women's soccer team continues its Celebration Tour tonight. Friday's exhibition match vs. Nigeria was an emotional one for the Olympic champs. Before kickoff in Vancouver, they finally got a chance to properly honour captain Christine Sinclair for breaking soccer's all-time international goals record right before the pandemic. Then, just after halftime, Olympic hero Steph Labbé was subbed out so she could walk off to a standing ovation in the final match of the fearless goalie's career. Canada defeated Nigeria 2-0, and they'll meet again tonight in Langford, B.C., at 10:30 p.m. ET. Read more about Friday's festivities and watch highlights here.
You're up to speed. Talk to you tomorrow.
