LIV golf stars face career limbo with Saudi investment expected to end in 2026

Several of golf’s leading names are facing career limbo at the end of 2026 amid expectation Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will withdraw backing for the LIV Tour.While the likelihood is Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm will be afforded a pathway back to the PGA Tour, the future for others who made lucrative switches to LIV is far more uncertain.LIV’s executives, who were in bullish form over the circuit’s future at last week’s Masters, subsequently attended a summit with the PIF in New York. There the financial impact of the Middle East crisis is believed to have been cited for a sudden and dramatic change in the fund’s approach.Insiders believe the PIF will seek to apply force majeure as a means to extricate itself from contracts beyond the end of this year

Chris Westwood obituary

My husband, Chris Westwood, who has died aged 82, had an overriding passion for sailing. Learning in a homemade Mirror he became adept at reclaiming dinghies, and regularly raced on the River Medway in Kent. Chris’s appetite for mastering sailing techniques was noticed at Deptford Sailing Centre in south London, where he taught Inner London Education Authority-funded evening classes for 10 years from 1975, while working as a civil servant.He was a member of many sailing clubs on the River Thames and Medway, and a dinghy captain and secretary at Greenwich Yacht Club, where he and I met in 1988; Chris also supported disabled people, helping them to sail on the tideway. He later became a committee member at Erith Yacht Club

Gout Gout may be bigger than Cathy Freeman, but he alone is not athletics’ elixir

The video – shared millions of times across social media – is irresistible, showing Gout Gout recording the fastest 200m time by a teenager, ever, on Sunday at the national athletics championships in Sydney. Witness the moment in person, and it was one of Australian sport’s unforgettable days.Yet look at the background behind the teenager, and you see an almost empty grass hill. As Gout turns and celebrates, saluting the crowd, he does so to a half-empty grandstand.This was the highlight of the annual athletics calendar, a pleasant autumn afternoon in the middle of school holidays in Sydney, at a venue next door to the Royal Easter Show well serviced – on this day at least – by public transport

‘It was stressful’: inside Scotland women’s Rugby World Cup contract wrangle

“There were players who were definitely struggling,” says the former Scotland international Beth Blacklock of the contract uncertainty that surrounded the squad before their run to the 2025 Rugby World Cup quarter-finals.In pre-World Cup camps talks were taking place between players and the Scottish Rugby Union. Some of the 32-player squad had deals that ran until May 2026 but the rest of the team had arrangements that ended in October after the World Cup had concluded.The talks, which took place before the tournament began, were described as “disruptive” to their preparations by the Scotland captain, Rachel Malcolm, at the time. In November last year the SRU announced an increased number of players – 35 – would be financially supported but only 21 of the 32 in the World Cup squad were to receive a contract

Gossip around Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers’s relationship misreads the WNBA

The former UConn star’s draft night should have been about her talent. Instead, speculation shows how the league is still being viewed through the wrong lensSign up for our WNBA 30 newsletterFor the first time in a while, there was no consensus on who would go No 1 overall in the WNBA draft this year. When the Dallas Wings did make their pick, they chose Azzi Fudd, who had distinguished herself under Geno Auriemma at UConn, including a national championship in 2025.The moment she was picked was pure: a delighted and seemingly nervous Fudd joined WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert onstage. She took photos with her jersey, made it through the ESPN interview that immediately followed, and beamed at her family and teammates in the audience

Andy Simpson, the unluckiest England rugby player in history, finally gets his Test cap

Longsuffering hooker, who warmed bench for 21 Tests and lost part of a thumb, is getting RFU recognition at lastInitially, Andy Simpson thought it was a Saturday morning wind-up. Someone from the Rugby Football Union museum was phoning to tell him that, at the age of 71, he was finally a capped England player. Given he had retired without featuring in an officially recognised Test – “the first thing you think is: ‘Who’s taking the mickey here?’” – his scepticism was understandable.But no, it was totally legit. Simpson is among 47 former players now basking in a warm, rosy glow that had previously eluded them