A second place finish at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix, Arizona has cost New Zealand golfer Steven Alker the overall season-long prize.
The Kiwi entered the week No. 1 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings and a win at the tournament would have seen him win the Cup for a second year in a row.
The 54-year old was aiming to become the fourth three-time winner of the 2025 season on PGA TOUR Champions. Alker also won the ultimate prize in 2022.
Alker started the final round with a one shot lead but a mid-round collapse handed the tournament and season prize for the Charles Schwab Cup to American Stewart Cink.
Alker fired a one-under 70 to get to 18-under while Cink carded a bogey-free four-under 67 to finish two clear at 20-under.
In 23 starts this season, Alker won the Cologuard Classic in March, and the Simmons Bank Championship in October this year.
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Dame Farah Palmer will replace Dr. Deb Robinson on the World Rugby Council.Photosport
New Zealand rugby icon Dame Farah Palmer has been appointed to the World Rugby Council as the country’s third representative.
A former Black Ferns captain and three-time Rugby World Cup champion, Dame Farah has extensive governance and rugby experience. She was a New Zealand Rugby Board member between 2016 and 2024 and a member of the New Zealand Māori Rugby Board for 17 years.
Dame Farah replaces Dr Deb Robinson, a former All Blacks and Black Ferns doctor, who has served on the World Rugby Council since 2018.
NZR chairperson David Kirk said: “Dame Farah’s contribution to rugby in New Zealand and internationally has been exceptional, both on and off the field. She combines integrity and leadership and will be a strong advocate for the growth of the game worldwide.
“On behalf of the board I would like to thank Dr Deb Robinson for her excellent contribution to the work of the World Rugby Council, in particular as chair of the Anti-Doping Advisory Committee.”
Dame Farah joins NZR Board member Greg Barclay and Bart Campbell as NZR’s representatives on the World Rugby Council.
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Mitchell isn’t travelling to Napier with the rest of the squad, with Henry Nicholls added to the squad as cover.
Nicholls has been in good form for Canterbury in the domestic ODI competition, leading the run-scoring charts with 306 runs at 76.50, including back-to-back centuries against Otago and Auckland.
The Blackcaps are heading to Napier this afternoon, ahead of the second ODI against West Indies at McLean Park on Wednesday.
The final game in the serIes is in Hamilton on Saturday.
Beamish won the 1500m gold at the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
The other two finalists for the World Athletics Photograph of the Year show America’s Noah Lyles and Tara Davis-Woodhall celebrating their respective titles at the World Champs and a photo of the shadows of the Dream Mile at the Bislet Games in Norway.
The three finalists were selected from 141 images submitted from photographers from 41 countries.
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Coach Scott Robertson has said that the feeling in the All Black camp is much the same one day on from their 33-19 loss to England. It was the third loss this season in a schedule of 13 tests, and the second by a significant margin following a record defeat to the Springboks during the Rugby Championship.
The aftermath of the loss to England sees focus now firmly on the issues that have plagued the All Blacks for the past two seasons, most notably their inability to keep teams under pressure in big tests.
“There’s lots of different reasons, but there’s no excuses from us. And we’ve got to be better in some areas so we can finish teams off,” said Robertson this morning.
“Ultimately, we want to be as consistent as we possibly can, that’s what a professional team wants to be, consistent with everything you work with. You’re not going to win every moment in games, but you’ve got to fight your way back into it, through adversity.
“When you it doesn’t quite come all together, you know, that’s the part that hurts. It’s not for lack of care, I’ll put it that way. But it’s definitely frustration that we work so hard to be consistent and that’s the part that gets you.”
Robertson, who came into the All Black job after seven consecutive championship seasons with the Crusaders, acknowledged that ‘test rugby is pretty brutal’.
Caleb Clarke lays during the Scotland v All Blacks test at Murrayfield.www.photosport.nz
“You lose a couple of player each game on average, just through the Ferocity of the match contacts. The recovery part becomes tougher, the travel, everything that comes with it.
“So when you get energy, new faces, new bodies coming in that, that excitement that…it’s a balance. Sometimes you have all the best laid plans of how you’re going to play, then you come off the field in these the medical ward are fuller than you’d expect.”
Steve Borthwick’s England side notably adjusted their game plan throughout Sunday morning’s test, with a heavy reliance on the kicking game of inside back pairing Alex Mitchell and George Ford. Robertson acknowledged that the aerial game was still a work on for New Zealand players, due to the comparative lack of exposure to it in the domestic game here.
English halfback Alex Mitchell.David Rogers/Getty Images
“It’s a crucial part, an important part of the game…we don’t tend to do it so much in Super Rugby. So coming into test rugby, you have got the most accurate kickers in the world and you’ve got incredible aerial catches. We spend a lot of time on it, look, we’ve got to get better laid plans.”
From a wider perspective, Robertson said that new NZ Rugby chairman and former All Black captain David Kirk has been ‘straight up’ with expectations two years out from the next World Cup.
“Look, he’s pretty pragmatic, he tells you how it is. Straight up, as you’d expect. (Also) hugely supportive. He understands good relationships in the group and we welcome him with open arms…he’s been great to us.”
Unsurprisingly, Robertson more or less confirmed there will be wholesale changes to the side for the last test match of the year. They face Wales in Cardiff, with the home team recording their first win in two years over the weekend when they defeated Japan 24-22 thanks to a last play penalty goal.
“There’ll be some fresh, new energy in the group for sure,” said Robertson, who singled out Ruben Love as a player who will likely start this weekend.
“He’s obviously a 15 that can play 10 and he deserves an opportunity.”
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The Silver Ferns have lost the second netball test against England in London.
They were been beaten by the same score they won by in the first test, 61-58.
It was another tight affair from the start with the evenly matched teams trading goals through the first quarter, which ended with New Zealand in front 13-12.
The Ferns extended their lead to four midway through the second, but England showed resolve to stay in touch, and in the end New Zealand’s lead was just two goals at halftime, 29-27.
England flexed their muscles in the third quarter, thanks to two runs of three consecutive goals, which saw them move four goals clear, 46-42.
New Zealand refused to give up the fight though, and drew level at 53-all, but that was as good as it got, as England rattled off the next three goals in a row, to seize control of the scoreboard for the rest of the match.
The final test in the series is in Manchester on Thursday morning.
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Silver Ferns celebrate their win over Australia at Hamilton.Jeremy Ward/Photosport
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The Black Caps have won a tight match in the first one-day against the West Indies in Christchurch.
After the Black Caps set a total of 269, the West Indies were left with 20 runs to get in the final over, but fell short by seven runs.
Earlier, Daryl Mitchell batted through injury to rescue the Black Caps from collapse.
Mitchell arrived at the crease with his team reeling at 24/2, after losing opener Rachin Ravindra and Will Young in successive balls, both caught behind by wicketkeeper Shai Hope, off the bowling of Matthew Forde.
He steadied the innings with a 67-run partnership with Devon Conway (49), and another 69-run stand with Michael Bracewell (35), before he was finally dismissed for 119 off 118 balls in the final over.
Mitchell appeared suffer an injury late in his knock, but stayed in the middle to guide the Black Caps to safety.
New Zealand set their rivals a target of 270 for victory, with Jayden Seales (3/41) the most successful of the West Indies bowlers.
Keacy Carty batting for West Indies.Photosport
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New Zealand’s Kate McCarthy and Germany’s Jason Osborne were crowned as champions in their respective events.Photosport / Alex Whitehead
In a dominant display, Hamilton cyclist Kate McCarthy has claimed back-to-back titles at the UCI Esports World Championship grand finals in Abu Dhabi.
The unique esport uses stationary bikes attached to smart trainers and a virtual cycling platform called MyWhoosh, and has been held since 2020.
The event has a three-stage point-based system, with different ways to score across the different stages.
McCarthy dominated the first-stage hill climb and it was downhill from there, as she beat out all 21 other finalists.
She opened up a 28-point lead by the end of the first stage – an 8.4km, 24-minute hill climb that featured 554m of elevation.
The Kiwi scored almost the maximum possible points during the second stage, where they were awarded at five checkpoints throughout a 12km loop, pushing her tally to 433.
McCarthy put the competition to bed in the third stage, dominating across the eight short laps.
She totalled 597 points, finishing ahead of Brazil’s Gabriella Guerra, who had 525 points in second, and Italy’s Francesca Tommasi on 478 points in third.
“I was aiming to show what I can do up that first climb and then hopefully hang on for the next two stages,” McCarthy said.
New Zealand’s Kate McCarthy claims the top spot on the podium and back-to-back Cycling Esports World Championships.Photosport / Alex Whitehead
McCarthy’s family was in Abu Dhabi to support her, along with partner and former Olympic cyclist Dylan Kennett.
“It was so cool to have them here,” she said. “They have been watching every race.
“Dad turns up and my partner is there every weekend, and my uncle watches online. It was so good to have them here.”
Racing was online in the qualifying stages, but for the final, the top 22 riders competed in the flesh on stage at the Space42 Arena.
“It adds a different element, because we don’t see each other usually and we don’t get to see what each one looks like, so it is cool to bring it all together and to race each other in person.”
“I am still letting it sink in,” she said, reflecting on back-to-back titles.
“I was just so rapt with last year and with the year I have had, and to get this, I couldn’t have had a better year.”
The winners of both the elite men’s and women’s events receive US$15,000 (NZ$26,579) in prize money.
Former hockey international and Ironman athlete Bridget Kiddle of Marlborough finished 16th in her first trip to the esport world championships.
Christchurch cyclist Ollie Jones – who had been at the forefront of the global growth in esports racing – finished a respectable 10th in the elite men’s event, where Germany’s Jason Osborne won his third straight title.
Fellow New Zealander Michael Vink was forced to withdraw before the competition with illness, despite impressing in qualification.
The esports cycling world champs will once again return to Abu Dhabi in 2026.
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