CNN
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As has been the case for more than a decade now, Rory McIlroy arrives at Augusta National one win away from joining golfing royalty.

McIlroy has had three of the sport’s four major titles to his name since 2014 and could complete a career grand slam at the Masters, a feat only achieved by five players: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

Pressure to win at arguably the most famous golf tournament on the planet is nothing new for McIlroy, but his recent form has made expectations even higher ahead of this year’s Masters. Victory here in Augusta would undoubtedly reshape the legacy he is leaving in the game.

“It puts him in the running with Gary Player to be the best international player of the past century,” Joel Beall, a senior writer at Golf Digest, tells CNN Sports.

On Thursday, McIlroy and defending champion Scottie Scheffler tee off as the runaway favorites to win the green jacket, with the Northern Irishman having recently won a second Players Championship crown last month.

That marked the 28th PGA Tour title of McIlroy’s career and his second of 2025 after victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February.

“I feel like I’m a better player now than I ever have been, and it’s nice to see the fruits of my labor paying off,” he told reporters soon after beating JJ Spaun in a playoff to win the Players Championship.

Some of McIlroy’s recent success might lie in small tweaks he has made to his game. He made a ball change earlier this year – switching to the new TaylorMade TP5 – and spoke towards the end of last year about modifying his swing during a three-week period of isolation.

But any confidence a golfer has in their game can quickly unravel at Augusta National. McIlroy knows that better than anyone else.

Back in 2011, the then-21-year-old held a four-stroke lead over the rest of the field having made light work of the course’s famed and challenging greens. His lead remained intact after a wobbly front nine on the final round, but then McIlroy’s game fell apart in spectacular fashion, dropping six shots over the next three holes.

He ended up carding an 80 – his lowest-ever score at the tournament – and finished tied for 15th.

Today, it’s impossible not to talk about McIlroy’s chances at the Masters without mention of that now-notorious meltdown. He went on to win all four of his major titles over the next three years, but at Augusta, his demons have never truly been banished. Perhaps only a win can do that.

“It’ll happen,” McIlroy told CNN in 2018 when asked about his likelihood of ever winning the Masters. “I play that golf course well enough, I’ve five top-10 (finishes) in a row. I’ve given myself the chance … Sooner or later, it is going to happen for me.”

For all that has been said about his final-round collapse in 2011, the world No. 2 has shown time and again that he can perform well at Augusta. He’s added two more top-10 finishes to his name in the past five years and shot one off the course record for a final-round 64 to finish second behind Scheffler in 2022.

“It’s a hard course to win at and expectations build the longer someone of his stature goes without a green jacket,” says Beall, adding: “He’s had a pretty good record at Augusta National and he’s in the prime of his career. Despite worries by fans (and media), he still has a long runway to compete at the Masters.”

McIlroy rounded out his preparation for this year’s event by finishing tied for fifth at the Houston Open at the end of March, five shots behind tournament winner Min Woo Lee.

An elbow problem had been bothering him in Houston, but McIlroy said on Wednesday that the injury was “all good” after receiving some treatment. Now, he’s focused on blocking out all the clamor and pressure about winning a first green jacket.

“I need to treat this tournament like all the other tournaments that I play throughout the year,” he told reporters. “I understand the narrative and the noise, and there’s a lot of anticipation and buildup coming into this tournament each and every year, but I just have to keep my head down and focus on my job.”

Victory at a major feels badly overdue at this point in McIlroy’s career. He has finished in the top 10 on 21 occasions since triumphing at the PGA Championship 11 years ago, his reputation as one of Europe’s greatest-ever players only growing with time.

All the while, the 35-year-old has become a vocal advocate for the PGA Tour amid a fractured golfing landscape and launched the TMRW Golf League (TGL) alongside Tiger Woods – a stadium-based, technology-driven competition which recently concluded its inaugural season.

And with the fifth-place tie in Houston, McIlroy reached a career milestone as only the second player after Woods to earn more than $100 million in prize money on the PGA Tour.

But this week, the focus is all about what he can do on the golf course. The next few days could come to define how McIlroy looks back on his season – and perhaps even his career as a whole.

CNN
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In a shocking move in the final week of the NBA regular season, the Denver Nuggets announced the firing of head coach Michael Malone – who led the team to an NBA title two seasons ago. The team also announced it would not extend the contract of general manager Calvin Booth.

“It is with no pleasure that we announce that we have relieved Michael Malone of his head coaching duties, effectively immediately,” Josh Kroenke, the team’s vice chairman of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, said in a statement Tuesday. “David Adelman will assume our head coaching role for the remainder of the 2024-25 season.

“This decision was not made lightly and was evaluated very carefully, and we do it only with the intention of giving our group the best chance at competing for the 2025 NBA Championship and delivering another title to Denver and our fans everywhere.

“While the timing of this decision is unfortunate, as Coach Malone helped build the foundation of our now championship level program, it is a necessary step to allow us to compete at the highest level right now. Championship level standards and expectations remain in place for the current season, and as we look to the future, we look forward to building on the foundations laid by Coach Malone over his record-breaking 10-year career in Denver.

“There is no amount of gratitude that we can properly convey to his contributions since he joined our franchise in 2015. It is with our utmost respect that we would like to thank Coach Malone for the most successful decade in Nuggets history, setting the all-time wins record and helping deliver Denver our first championship.”

Malone started his tenure as Denver head coach in 2015 and led the team to its first NBA championship in 2023. He compiled 471 wins as the Nuggets’ head coach.

Denver beat the Miami Heat in five games in the 2023 NBA Finals to cap off an impressive playoff run. The Nuggets lost just four playoff games on their way to winning the championship.

Denver is currently fourth in the NBA’s Western Conference standings with a 47-32 record.

The Nuggets, however, are currently on a four-game losing streak as the NBA’s regular season enters its final week.

Denver has lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the San Antonio Spurs, the Golden State Warriors and the Indiana Pacers during the four-game run.

The Nuggets face the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday in their next game. The NBA regular season ends Sunday.

AP
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Kris Jenkins, who made the winning shot for Villanova in the 2016 college basketball championship game, is suing the NCAA and six conferences to recoup income he contends he would have earned if athletes at the time were not barred from making money from their name, image and likeness.

Jenkins is among some 350 current and former athletes who have opted out of a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement with the NCAA that’s on the cusp of final approval. Some of the opt-outs have filed lawsuits to pursue lost income on their own.

NCAA athletes weren’t allowed to make NIL money until July 2021. The so-called House settlement would provide back pay for athletes dating back to 2016, with the amount for each generally determined by sport and how much the athlete played. Jenkins played at Villanova from 2013-17 and in his last two seasons started 72 of 76 games and averaged 13 points per game.

Attorney Kevin T. Duffy Jr. of Greenwich, Connecticut, filed Jenkins’ lawsuit Saturday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. It requests a jury trial and compensation for Jenkins to be determined at trial. The NCAA declined to comment.

According to the lawsuit, Jenkins is entitled to a share of the largesse associated with Villanova winning the national title on his buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

As a result of that shot, the lawsuit says, the NCAA reportedly paid the Big East $19.1 million to distribute among its member schools; the athletic department received a $22.6 million gift, largest in program history; and the athletic program generated $11.4 million in revenue and fully funded its non-revenue sports.

The lawsuit notes alumni donations increased 27% in 2016, enrollment increased and that the publicity value of winning the title was about $250 million and about $1 billion if the value of the game broadcasts were factored in.

The lawsuit says because of the NCAA’s restraints on athlete compensation, Jenkins was denied a share of game telecast revenue and compensation he would have received for media broadcast uses of his NIL (“BNIL”) as well as income he would have earned for his NIL from third parties for use in video games and other opportunities, including marketing, sponsorship, social media, branding and promotional and other NIL deals.

The Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference were named as defendants, the lawsuit said, because each participated with the NCAA in the “collusive restraint of trade and other violations of law alleged in this Complaint.”