It was one of the standout moments of the Ryder Cup last weekend when Bryson DeChambeau unsheathed his driver on the first tee box ahead of his Sunday singles match against Sergio Garcia and then proceed to drive the green 355 yards away and make the putt for an eagle two. The 2020 US Open champion has long divided opinions in the sport for both his style of play and his behaviour and in his column this morning, Johnny Watterson writes that golf is uncomfortable with the disruptive nature of the 28-year-old but perhaps his caution-to-the-wind attitude is something the sport needs. "What a spectacle. A drive and wedge to a par five. What a mockery. The crowd love it. They love the drives that make it and they love the ones that don't. And they love to hate him too," he writes.
Moving to soccer and it was confirmed overnight that Brazilian legend Pelé has been discharged from hospital after undergoing surgery on a tumour on his colon and the 80-year-old will now continue with chemotherapy. "When the path is difficult, celebrate each step of the journey," he wrote on Instagram. "Focus on your happiness. It's true that I can't jump anymore, but these past few days, I've been punching the air more times than usual." Moving on and Stephen Kenny yesterday named his 26-man squad for next Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan and the friendly a few days later against Qatar. While Ireland's qualification hopes are well and truly over at this stage, next week represents another big moment for the manager who is determined that his side begin to turn draws into wins while he himself is doing his best to ignore criticism from certain quarters. Also this morning Jonathan Wilson writes that the myth of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may not survive Manchester United's nightmare season as they were once again saved by Cristiano Ronaldo on Wednesday.
On to GAA and, with the talk of what format next year's championship will take, former Meath player Trevor Giles says he wouldn't be sad to see the provincial championships go. "They don't excite me. They haven't excited me for a lot of years," he said yesterday. On the same subject, former Wexford player John Hegarty is less sure of whether a change is needed as he recalled how the system in 2000 benefitted the weaker teams.
Moving to rugby and Connacht face the Bulls tonight in the URC with both sides looking to make amends for opening day defeats. Connacht head coach Andy Friend has made three alterations to the side that lost in Cardiff, all in the pack, with Naas-born prop Jordan Duggan, Irish international hooker Shane Delahunt and number eight Abraham Papali'i the new faces.
In boxing, Michael Conlan says he feels vindicated by the report which showed corruption in the 2016 Rio Olympics. The report, led by Richard McLaren and commissioned by AIBA, suggested at least nine bouts were suspicious, while two bouts caused the system to "publicly collapse". One of those two was Conlan's against Russia's Vladimir Nikitin, who was so badly injured despite being declared the winner that he was unable to fight in the semi-final but still collected a bronze medal.
