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The PGA Championship has been on a heater this decade

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🚨 Headlines

🏀🏒 Wolves, Oilers advance: The Timberwolves knocked out the Warriors and the Oilers eliminated the Golden Knights as both teams are returning to the conference finals for the second straight year.

🏈 Henry gets paid: The Ravens signed Derrick Henry to a two-year, $30 million extension, making him the highest-paid running back ever over the age of 30.

⚾️ 10 in a row: The Twins swept a doubleheader against the Orioles to extend their winning streak to 10 games, the longest by any team this season.

⚽️ Still winless: The LA Galaxy squandered a two-goal lead against Philadelphia en route to their 10th loss, continuing the worst start by a defending champion in MLS history (0-10-3).

⛳️ The PGA Championship is on a heater

The PGA Championship is the odd man out among golf's four majors. But take a closer look and you'll see that it's given us nothing but bangers this decade.

From Yahoo Sports' Jay Busbee:

Yes, the three best major tournaments of the first half of the decade are Rory McIlroy's Masters win this year, Bryson DeChambeau's U.S. Open win at Pinehurst last year and Cam Smith's victory at the Open Championship in 2022.

But those three tournaments have delivered some less-than-compelling finishes, too — victories by four shots (Jon Rahm, 2023 Masters; Scottie Scheffler, 2024 Masters), five (Dustin Johnson, 2020 Masters) and six strokes (DeChambeau, 2020 U.S. Open; Brian Harman, 2023 Open), for instance.

Meanwhile, at the PGA Championship: The five tournaments this decade have been decided by no more than two strokes, and they include a historic win by Lefty, a seven-shot Sunday comeback and the inaugural major title for two current top-five players.

2020 (Harding Park): This was the first major after the COVID lockdown, so someone could've won by 50 and we'd still be grateful. But the entire field came to play and Collin Morikawa, in his first PGA Championship, won thanks to a magnificent eagle on the 16th.
2021 (Kiawah Island): If Phil Mickelson hadn't followed up this victory by detonating pro golf, we would have remembered it as a modern-day Jack-Nicklaus-in-1986. Still, winning at age 50 makes him the oldest major champion ever.
2022 (Southern Hills): Justin Thomas shot a final-round 67 to erase a seven-stroke lead and beat Will Zalatoris in a playoff, matching the largest comeback in tournament history in one of the most tense major finishes of the 2020s.
2023 (Oak Hill): Brooks Koepka's fifth major made him just the sixth golfer to win at least three PGA Championships, rebounding from what looked like a career-destroying knee injury to become the first active LIV Golf player to win a major.
2024 (Valhalla): Xander Schauffele's 72nd-hole birdie gave him a one-stroke win over Bryson DeChambeau and his first major title. Oh yeah, and Scottie Scheffler was arrested hours before shooting a 66.

Coming up: The 107th edition tees off today at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, where Scheffler and McIlroy — who's won four times here — are co-favorites (-500 at BetMGM).

📉 Division champs are struggling

Toronto is on the brink following Wednesday's 6-1 loss to Florida. (Nathan Denette/AP Photo)

The current state of division champions in the NBA and NHL playoffs…

Cavaliers: ❌

Lakers: ❌

Rockets: ❌

Magic: ❌

Golden Knights: ❌

Celtics: Down 3-2

Maple Leafs: Down 3-2

Jets: Down 3-1

Capitals: Down 3-1

Thunder: Up 3-2!!!

🏀 Are injuries the cost of the modern NBA?

Jayson Tatum's ruptured Achilles, untimely and unexpected as it was, may be nothing more than a symptom of a game that pushes players to their physical limits like never before.

From Yahoo Sports' Tom Haberstroh:

In Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals, Klay Thompson went up for a dunk and came back down never the same.

Thompson's left knee buckled during an awkward landing under the rim against the Raptors. In the blink of an eye, the course of Thompson's career and the Warriors had forever changed. Thompson's ACL was torn, and so was his place as the Warriors' constant.

Thompson had been the Warriors' flame-throwing metronome, a five-time All-Star with a gritty resiliency that few could match. He had never suffered a major injury or anything serious enough to knock him out for anything beyond a handful of games. And then, the big injury. And another, when his Achilles ruptured during his rehab.

That was on my mind when Jayson Tatum crumbled to the ground on Monday night in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. How sudden and unexpected it was. How unfamiliar it was. This wasn’t an injury-prone star, far from it. From a health standpoint, Tatum was the Celtics' version of Klay Thompson, always there in time of need.

Another ominous line that connects the two stars: Thompson was the last player who played as many games as Tatum did through his first eight seasons in the league. At the end of his eighth season, Thompson broke down. Like Tatum, Thompson was his team's iron man. Until, in a flash, he wasn't.

This is the new NBA. Whether you're injury-prone or an iron man, a game that is geometrically expanding and seemingly becoming more physical is taking its toll on the brightest stars. No matter how clean a player's track record, the growing churn of the NBA grind seems to spare no one.

Bottom line: Stars in the pace-and-space era are getting injured in the postseason more than ever. Is today's game itself to blame?

Keep reading.

🏈 NFL schedule grid

The NFL schedule has been released, so here's all 272 games in one graphic.

Quick links:

Most standalone games: The Chiefs, Cowboys and Commanders (8) lead the way, followed by the Lions, Vikings and Eagles (7), and the Dolphins, Packers and Falcons (6).

Plus: NFL players prepare for the Super Bowl. NFL social-media teams prepare for schedule release day. Who had the best videos?

🏏 The most famous athlete you've (probably) never heard of

Indian cricketer Virat Kohli is retiring from Test cricket, ending a 14-year career that saw him become a national hero — and one of the world's most famous athletes.

How famous? While most Americans may not be familiar with Kohli due to cricket's limited appeal in the states, the legendary batsman is a global celebrity on a scale that makes even the biggest U.S. sports stars seem niche.

Consider this: LeBron James has 159 million followers on Instagram, making him the most-followed American athlete on the platform. Kohli has 272 million followers — 113 million more than James and the third-most of any athlete on the planet.

Most-followed athletes (IG):

⚽️ Cristiano Ronaldo (653M)
⚽️ Lionel Messi (505M)
🏏 Kohli (272M)
⚽️ Neymar (229M)
🏀 James (159M)

What's next: While Kohli is retiring from Test cricket (five-day format), the 36-year-old will continue to play for India in One-Day International (ODI) matches.

📺 Watchlist: Will the Jets extend the curse?

It's win or go home for the Jets. (Sam Hodde/Getty Images)

The Jets host the Stars tonight (9:30pm ET, TNT) with their season on the brink, trailing 3-1 after dropping Games 3 and 4 in Dallas.

Presidents' Trophy curse: The Jets are in danger of becoming the 12th consecutive Presidents' Trophy winner (best record) to fail to win the Stanley Cup. In fact, just eight of the first 38 winners have won the title, most recently the Blackhawks in 2013.

More to watch:

🏀 NBA: Thunder (3-2) at Nuggets (8:30pm, ESPN) … Can Denver force Game 7 and send this series back to OKC?
🏒 NHL: Hurricanes (3-1) at Capitals (7pm, TNT) … Carolina looks to advance to the conference finals for the second time in three years.
⛳️ PGA Championship: Round 1 (7am, ESPN+; 12pm, ESPN/ESPN2) … 156 golfers tee it up at Quail Hollow, including a superstar grouping of Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele.
🎾 Tennis: Italian Open (7am, Tennis) … Women's semifinals and men's quarterfinals.
⚾️ MLB: Astros at Rangers (8:05pm, MLB) … Hunter Brown (6-1, 1.48 ERA) vs. Jacob deGrom (3-1, 2.72).
🥍 Women's Lacrosse: NCAA Quarterfinals* (12pm, ESPNU)

*Eight teams left: No. 1 UNC vs. Princeton, No. 2 BC vs. No. 7 Yale, No. 3 Northwestern vs. Penn, No. 4 Florida vs. Duke.

⚾️ MLB trivia

Kershaw warms up in the outfield on Tuesday. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Clayton Kershaw is set to debut on Saturday, when he'll become the fourth active MLB player to appear in at least 18 seasons.

Question: Can you name the other three?

Hint: All pitchers.

Answer at the bottom.

📸 Photo finish

(Vatican Media/Vatican Pool/Corbis/Getty Images)

Jannik Sinner visited the Vatican during an off day at the Italian Open and gifted a racket to Pope Leo XIV, an avid tennis player and fan.

Trivia answer: Justin Verlander (20 seasons), Max Scherzer (18) and Charlie Morton (18)

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