Nicolai Hojgaard wins DP World Tour Championship in Dubai

Race to Dubai winner,Rory McIlroy (left) and DP World Tour Championship winner Nicolai Hojgaard pose with their trophies on the 18th green of the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates. (Getty Images Europe)
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Updated 19 November 2023
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Nicolai Hojgaard wins DP World Tour Championship in Dubai

  • Dane secures two-shot victory over trio of challengers at Jumeirah Golf Estates
  • Rory McIlroy finishes tied 22nd to secure fifth Race to Dubai crown

DUBAI: The only thing missing from what has been a stellar season for Nicolai Hojgaard was a win, and the young Dane rectified that on Sunday with a remarkable two-shot victory in the $10.5 million DP World Tour Championship.

At the Earth course of Jumeirah Golf Estates, the 22-year-old seemed out of the reckoning at one stage when he made a bogey from the fairway bunker on the 12th hole. It felt like a costly mistake as he fell to 16-under total, three behind leader Tommy Fleetwood, who was being his usual solid self.

But there is something cathartic about the back nine of the Greg Norman-designed course, at least for Hojgaard. After the first two rounds, he was leading the championship at 11-under par, having done all his scoring on the back nine.

The Ryder Cup rookie pulled himself together and reeled off five straight birdies in an amazing stretch of golf, racing ahead of world No. 15 Fleetwood and No. 4 Viktor Hovland.

But just when it looked like he had left everyone in his wake, Hojgaard failed to make a three-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th, which would have taken him to 22-under.

He left the green despondent, but almost at the same time, Fleetwood three-putted the 17th for a bogey to fall to 19-under, while Hovland dumped his second shot into the water on the par-5 18th and failed to make a birdie.

With both Fleetwood and Hovland closing with rounds of 68, they joined overnight leader Matt Wallace (69) of England at 19-under par, leaving Hojgaard the champion at 21-under.

Winner of two previous DP World Tour titles, including one down the road in Ras Al-Khaimah last year, Hojgaard has played well this season. He secured his card on the PGA Tour card through limited opportunities and made his Ryder Cup debut. And he has now ended the year on a high.

The win takes him to 50th in the Official World Golf Rankings and second in the Race to Dubai, behind Rory McIlroy. With the $1.2 million share from the Bonus Pool and $3 million for winning the tournament, it was a $4.2 million payday for the young Dane.

“It means a lot. It’s the sweetest one,” Hojgaard said. “I put in so much hard work in the last couple years and this year has been a really good year if I look back on it. The only thing that was missing was a win, and to get it this week against this field is unbelievable.

“I can’t believe it’s just happened. Because I was just so focused on the job on the golf course and having a putt on the 18th to actually close it out and let it slip by, it was quite a tough moment for me.

“We were talking about it (the bogey on 12th) out there. Just focus on the job, focus on myself. Don’t worry about what everybody else is doing. We knew there were a lot of birdies on this golf course but at the same time you have to hit the shots, you have to hole the putts and anything can happen coming down the stretch.”

However, it turned out to be a bittersweet moment, as Hojgaard’s twin brother Rasmus fell just short of securing the last of the 10 PGA Tour cards on offer. He finished 18th in the Race to Dubai, one place behind Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune.

“I really wanted him to get that card. He was in a great position,” Hojgaard said. “He’s playing good golf. It came down to a crazy scenario in the end. I feel sorry for Ras but he’s going to bounce back. He always does. He’s one of the best golfers I know and he’s going to come back stronger afterwards.”

McIlroy, who finished tied 22nd but secured his fifth Race to Dubai crown, said: “It’s great. I think it shows my consistency year to year. I think over the last 10 years, I’ve won eight season-long titles between America and here, so it just shows my level of consistency.

“I said to Harry (Diamond, his caddie) on the last green, there are a few guys that can beat me sort of one week or the next week, but I don’t think there’s a lot of people that can beat me throughout the entire season.

“It’s just about trying to be a little more clinical when I get to those weeks where I have chances to win. Overall, it’s been another really solid year. Stroke average has been great and I’ve played really good golf. Hopefully, more of the same going into next year and beyond.”

Besides Hisatsune, the players who secured one of the last 10 PGA Tour cards were: Adrian Meronk, Ryan Fox, Victor Perez, Thorbjorn Olesen, Alexander Bjork, Sami Valimaki, Robert MacIntyre, Jorge Campillo and Matthieu Pavon.


Bayern score late to see off Celtic in Champions League

Updated 19 February 2025
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Bayern score late to see off Celtic in Champions League

  • Bayern started the playoff second leg leading 2-1 from the first game in Glasgow but the visitors canceled out that lead after 63 minutes

MUNICH, Germany: Alphonso Davies scrambled the ball in with seconds left to give Bayern a 3-2 aggregate victory over Celtic and a place in the last 16 of the Champions League.
Bayern started the playoff second leg leading 2-1 from the first game in Glasgow but the visitors canceled out that lead after 63 minutes.
Nicolas Kuhn, a former Bayern reserve team player, pounced on an error by Kim Min-jae to sweep the ball home.
Bayern dominated and peppered the Celtic goal but could not beat Kasper Schmeichel, until, with regular time almost up, the goalie could only parry Leon Goretzka’s header to substitute Davies. The ball bounced in off the Canadian’s shin to give Bayern a 1-1 draw in the match.


Ancelotti downplays Guardiola’s suggestion Man City have 1 percent chance of eliminating Madrid in playoffs

Updated 18 February 2025
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Ancelotti downplays Guardiola’s suggestion Man City have 1 percent chance of eliminating Madrid in playoffs

  • “He doesn’t really think that,” Ancelotti said on Tuesday in a pre-match news conference
  • Guardiola later said he lied a bit when he talked about the 1 percent, and that he knows City’s chances of reversing the first-leg defeat are higher than that

MADRID: Coach Carlo Ancelotti is not buying Manchester City rival Pep Guardiola’s suggestion that his own side have only a 1 percent chance of eliminating Real Madrid in the Champions League playoffs on Wednesday.
Madrid rallied late to win the first leg 3-2 last week in England to seize control ahead of their home match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
After City’s 4-0 win over Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday, Guardiola said his team would arrive in the Spanish capital with a “1 percent” chance of going through to the round of 16.
“He doesn’t really think that,” Ancelotti said on Tuesday in a pre-match news conference. “Tomorrow I’ll ask him before the match if he really thinks that they only have a 1 percent chance. He thinks he has more than that, just as we don’t think that we have only a 99 percent chance. We know that we have an advantage, and we have to make the most of it.”
Guardiola later said he lied a bit when he talked about the 1 percent, and that he knows City’s chances of reversing the first-leg defeat are higher than that.
“You have to play an almost perfect game,” he said. “The result was not so good, we usually come into the second leg with a better result, so it is not the perfect situation. We have to attack, we have to score goals. We want to win, so let’s see if we can adjust some things that didn’t work in the first leg.”
Ancelotti said he was not one of those coaches who liked to fully downplay his team’s advantage.
“It’s foolish to say that we will prepare for the game as if we were tied 0-0,” he said. “Nobody will believe you because it’s a fact that we scored three goals and City two. You can’t change that. We have to try to play the same way as we played a week ago, but without forgetting that we have an advantage.”
Guardiola has never failed in 16 seasons of coaching — four at Barcelona, three at Bayern and nine in Manchester — to take his team to the last 16. The 2012-13 season was the last time City did not play at that stage.
City have been struggling recently, though, and Guardiola said that has to be taken into consideration.
“This season the reality is we have been miles, miles away,” he said. “The results have been poor.”
Madrid got the better of City in the quarterfinals last year, and with a 3-1 win in extra time in the semifinals in 2022. Each time Ancelotti’s team went on to win the title, extending the club’s record to 15 Champions League trophies.
Ancelotti can count on central defender Antonio Rüdiger, who has recovered from the muscle injury that has kept him out in recent weeks. Against City last week, Ancelotti fielded an improvised back line who played together for the first time.
Ferland Mendy, youngster Raúl Asencio and midfielders Aurélien Tchouaméni and Federico Valverde played at the back in England.
Ancelotti said Rüdiger can start on Wednesday, though he didn’t say whether the central defender would replace Tchouaméni or the 22-year-old Asencio.
It is the fourth consecutive season in which the teams are facing each other in the Champions League, with City prevailing in the semifinals two seasons ago on their way to winning the European title for the first time.


Feyenoord knock out 10-man AC Milan to reach Champions League last 16

Updated 18 February 2025
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Feyenoord knock out 10-man AC Milan to reach Champions League last 16

  • Julian Carranza thumped home the winning header in the 73rd minute
  • Argentine attacker Carranza struck for Feyenoord shortly after coming on as substitute

MILAN: Feyenoord reached the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday after a 1-1 draw at 10-man AC Milan which took them past the seven-time kings of Europe 2-1 on aggregate.
Julian Carranza thumped home the winning header in the 73rd minute at a frigid San Siro, canceling out Santiago Gimenez’s first-minute opener for Milan and sending the Dutch through to meet either Inter Milan or Arsenal.
Argentine attacker Carranza struck for Feyenoord shortly after coming on as substitute as the away side pushed to reach the next round, while Milan struggled following Theo Hernandez’s sending off early in the second half.
Already on a booking for a needless foul on Anis Hadj-Moussa just before half-time, Hernandez was ruled by referee Szymon Marciniak to have dived in the penalty box when under pressure from Givairo Read.
The France full-back was dismissed, leaving Milan on the back foot after having dominated up to that point.
Hernandez’s sending off and Carranza’s tie-winning header ruined what looked to be Gimenez’s night when he nodded home the opener against his old team after just 36 seconds.
Mexico forward Gimenez has already scored three times for Milan since signing from Feyenoord during the winter transfer window but his sixth goal in the Champions League this season was also his last.
Sergio Conceicao’s Milan are by no means assured of a spot in next year’s tournament as they sit seventh in Serie A, five points off the top four with a game in hand.


Medvedev edges Khachanov in windy Qatar Open

Updated 18 February 2025
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Medvedev edges Khachanov in windy Qatar Open

  • Medvedev, who won the tournament in 2023, scored his first victory over a top-30 player in 2025
  • In match of long rallies, Medvedev did not carve out a break point until the 12th game of the second set

DOHA: World No.6 Daniil Medvedev eliminated compatriot and defending champion Karen Khachanov 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the second round of the ATP Qatar Open on Tuesday.
Medvedev, who won the tournament in 2023, scored his first victory over a top-30 player in 2025.
Medvedev, the former world No.1, has not won a tournament since the Rome Masters in spring 2023. He was knocked out in the second round of this year’s Australian Open by teenage American Learner Tien.
In match of long rallies, Medvedev did not carve out a break point until the 12th game of the second set, by which time he was a set down. He took his chance and then went on attack in the third set to win in two hours 30 minutes.


A third Russian former champion, Andrey Rublev, the fifth seed, beat Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-4.
Alex de Minaur celebrated his birthday by beating Russian Roman Safiullin 6-1, 7-5, even though the Australian did not enjoy the weather.
“They’re tough days, these ones,” said De Minaur. “It’s cold, it’s windy, you probably don’t want to get out of bed. But once you step on court, you have to do everything you can to win. Whether it’s ugly or pretty tennis, you just put the ball in the court, and that’s what I did today.”
“Out went any sort of tactics you had for the match and it was all about surviving more than anything.”
In the evening matches, Novak Djokovic was making his comeback against Matteo Berrettini after his Australian-Open semifinal injury.
Earlier in the day, Djokovic said that Andy Murray would continue as his coach “indefinitely.”
“I expressed my desire to continue the collaboration with him so I am really glad he did accept,” said Djokovic.


F1 drivers gather in London to launch 75th anniversary season

Updated 18 February 2025
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F1 drivers gather in London to launch 75th anniversary season

  • The F1 75 Live event at London’s O2 arena marks a new approach by the series
  • Teams will present their 2025 liveries, but don’t have to show off the actual cars they’ll race this season

LONDON: All 20 Formula 1 drivers and the 10 teams are expected in London on Tuesday to kick-start the 2025 season with a new live launch show.
The F1 75 Live event at London’s O2 arena marks a new approach by the series. It’s the first time the sport is hosting its own large-scale launch event, rather than leaving it to the individual teams to present their drivers and cars.
The televised two-hour show includes musical acts like country singer Kane Brown, British band Take That and American rapper MGK, also known as Machine Gun Kelly.
Teams will present their 2025 liveries, but don’t have to show off the actual cars they’ll race this season. Teams are still allowed to hold their own launch events to present their 2025 cars, as McLaren and Williams did last week.
It comes at a time when F1 is keen to expand beyond a sports audience, with races in cities like Miami and Las Vegas, a movie called “F1” starring Brad Pitt releasing in June, and the ongoing popularity of the “Drive To Survive” series on Netflix.
“To have this many fans out shows that we bring the sport together away from the racetrack. There’s a lot of excitement,” McLaren chief executive Zak Brown said Tuesday.
“The Brad Pitt movie will no doubt create a huge amount of awareness for the sport. Netflix, I’m sure, knowing what happened last year, will be a drama-filled television show again, which has been great for all of us. So I think the sport’s going from strength to strength.”
Drivers broadly welcomed the new launch show, though two-time champion Fernando Alonso warned it could be “a little bit of distraction” at a time when drivers and teams are fine-tuning their approach to the season.
F1’s preparations for the new season — which marks the series’ 75th anniversary — continue with preseason testing next week at the Bahrain International Circuit. The first race is the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 16.