GOLF
McCarthy wins Web.com
Denny McCarthy won the season-ending Web.com Tour Championship at Atlantic Beach, Fla., on Sunday to earn fully exempt PGA Tour status and a spot in the Players Championship. McCarthy closed with a 6-under 65 for a four-stroke victory over Lucas Glover at Atlantic Beach Country Club. The 25-year-old former Virginia player earned $180,000 to top the 25 PGA Tour card-earners with $255,793 in the four-event Web.com Tour Finals. McCarthy finished at 23-under 261. Glover, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, closed with a 69. He made $108,000 to finish seventh with $125,212 in the series for the top 75 players from the Web.com regular-season money list, Nos. 126-200 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings, and non-members with enough money to have placed in the top 200. Jim Knous earned the 25th and final card from the four-event money list with $41,931, edging Justin Lower by $500. The top-25 finishers on the Web.com regular-season money list competed against each other for tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting in their totals. Sungjae Im topped the list to earn the No. 1 priority spot of the 50 total cards.
Stricker wins Sanford
Steve Stricker won the inaugural Sanford International for his third PGA Tour Champions title of the year, closing with a 3-under 67 for a four-stroke victory at Sioux Falls, S.D. Stricker led wire-to-wire at Minnehaha Country Club after rain limited him to only seven pre-tournament holes. The 51-year-old Wisconsin player birdied three of the first four holes and offset bogeys on 13 and 18 with birdies on 15 and 16. He shared the lead after each of the first two rounds. Stricker finished at 13-under 197, and matched Paul Broadhurst for the tour victory lead. Tim Petrovic (65) and Jerry Smith (70) tied for second.
Lewis prevails in Portugal
Tom Lewis won the Portugal Masters for a second time, shooting a 5-under 66 for a three-stroke victory over fellow Englishman Eddie Pepperell and Australia’s Lucas Herbert. Lewis finished at 22-under 262 — following an opening 72 with rounds of 63 and 61 to get into contention. He won the 2011 tournament for his only other European Tour title. Pepperell shot 67, and Herbert 71.
TENNIS
Zverev victorious
Alexander Zverev beat Kevin Anderson on Sunday night to give Team Europe a victory in the second Laver Cup. Zverev won the final five points to defeat Anderson 6-7, 7-5, (10-7). His victory helped Team Europe beat Team World 13-8 in the Chicago event. Roger Federer earlier put Team Europe ahead by saving three match points for a 6-7, 7-6, (10-7) victory over John Isner. Isner staggered Federer with a body serve that caused the 20-time Grand Slam winner to stumble early in the match. But Federer regrouped and fought off two match points in the second-set tiebreaker before capturing the deciding 10-point tiebreaker used in the Laver Cup. In the opening doubles match, Jack Sock and Isner saved two match points in the deciding tiebreaker to beat Federer and Zverev 4-6, 7-6, (11-9). Team Europe won the first Laver Cup last year in Prague.
Simon takes Moselle Open
Frenchman Gilles Simon earned his third Moselle Open title on Sunday with a 7-6 (2), 6-1 win over German qualifier Matthias Bachinger at the tournament in Metz, France. Simon, 33, claimed his second title this season after his victory at the Tata Open in January. Simon, who also won the tournament in 2010 and 2013, hit 10 aces and saved three of the four break points he faced. After starting the year ranked 89th, he is now guaranteed to move into the Top 30 in the ATP rankings.
Thiem wins St. Petersburg
Dominic Thiem breezed past Martin Klizan 6-3, 6-1 to win the St. Petersburg Open on Sunday. Thiem held serve throughout and wrapped up the win in just 1 hour 8 minutes to take his third title of the season. It was the big-hitting Austrian’s first final since losing the French Open final to Rafael Nadal. Thiem, ranked eighth in the world, hadn’t won a hard-court title since beating Bernard Tomic at the Mexican Open in February 2016 and his previous seven finals were all on clay.
Bertens successful
Kiki Bertens won her third WTA Tour singles title of the season on Sunday and denied Ajla Tomljanovic her career first with a 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-2 victory over the Croatian-born Australian at the Korea Open at Seoul. The second-seeded Bertens, who won the final six games of the match, was a service break down twice in the first set, but fought back to level and then dominated the tiebreaker thanks to a strong first serve. Bertens was behind 2-0 in the second set before coming back to take a 4-3 lead with a break, but Tomljanovic broke in the 10th game when Bertens netted a forehand, giving the Australian the second set. Tomljanovic again took a 2-0 lead in the final set, hitting a blistering forehand to the back of the court on break point that Bertens could only watch streak past her. But the Dutch player again staged a comeback, not dropping another game.
FOOTBALL
Wake Forest fires DC
Wake Forest has fired defensive coordinator Jay Sawvel. Coach Dave Clawson announced the move Sunday, a day after the Demon Deacons’ 56-27 loss to No. 8 Notre Dame, while saying it was “not a spur of the moment decision.” Wake Forest (2-2) has allowed 97 points in its past 2 games, and in 4 games has given up 10 touchdowns covering at least 20 yards. The Demon Deacons rank 114th in the nation, allowing 484 yards per game, and give up an average of nearly 314 yards passing to rank 121st in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Wake Forest promoted defensive analyst Tim Gilmore to a full-time coaching position and will split other defensive responsibilities among the remaining staff.
BASKETBALL
Report: Cavs want Butler
The Cleveland Cavaliers have joined the trade sweepstakes for disgruntled Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star Jimmy Butler, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Sunday. Cavs owner Dan Gilbert was seen talking privately with Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor at the NBA Board of Governors meeting on Friday, according to Wojnarowski. Butler, 29, made his fourth All-Star game last season, averaging 22.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists, higher than his career numbers of 16.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists. But according to reports, he did not get along with Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns. The dysfunctional relationship with Wiggins became public via social media in recent days. Butler will be a free agent next summer and has told the Timberwolves he does not intent to re-sign with them and wants to be traded.