Fashion's biggest night had some of the sports world's biggest stars in attendance on Monday night at the Met Gala.
Sports standouts ranging from the NFL to tennis to Formula 1 walked the carpet in their custom outfits all interpreting the theme "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" in different ways.
Tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams returned to the Met Gala. At last year's Met, Serena famously announced her second pregnancy with husband Alexis Ohanian during a carpet interview.
Take a look at all the athletes that went to the 2024 Met Gala.
Serena Williams
The 23-time Grand Slam champion wore a custom gold Balenciaga dress that many deemed a "going for gold" theme to commemorate her legendary tennis career.
The five-time Wimbledon champion also wore a shining dress, but with hers more on the silver side. Her custom Marc Jacobs dress was reflective like a disco ball, but with a sheer first layer.
Lewis Hamilton
The Formula 1 driver, who's known for his fashion sense, wore a significant outfit on the carpet. His custom Burberry suit was made in honor of one of Britain's first Black gardners, John Ystumllyn. An excerpt from Alex Wharton's 'The Gardener' poem was embroidered into the inside of his suit jacket.
The Chicago Sky rookie became the first WNBA rookie to walk the Met Gala carpet on Monday, and it was fitting that she flew from practice that morning to make it to the New York City event at night. It was also Reese's 22nd birthday as she walked in her 16Arlington by Marco Capaldo seafoam colored dress.
Training camp in the morning, Met Gala at night, preseason game tomorrow.
The Brooklyn Nets guard wowed fans with his Thom Browne suit. The black sparkly suit with a plaid design at the top wasn't complete without the briefcase with a giant clock on it. This piece fit more into the "Garden of Time" theme.
LPGA star Korda, who won five consecutive tournaments already this year, took a break ahead of this month's U.S. Women's Open to attend the Met Gala in an Oscar de la Renta gown. Her dress included red flowers with green leaves.
The new Miami Dolphins receiver wore an embroidered suit jacket with flowers and birds on it from Bode. His pants continued some of the design from the jacket as well.
Dwyane Wade
The retired NBA star walked the carpet with his wife, actress Gabrielle Union. Wade wore a lilac colored Versace suit completed with a plain white T-shirt and black shoes, while Union gave off mermaid vibes with her Michael Kors dress.
After a couple of weeks of less-than-exciting PGA Tour events, we're about to enter a stretch of must-watch golf, starting with this week's Wells Fargo Championship.
Quail Hollow is set to host the sixth signature event and the majority of the best golfers on Tour are set to compete in it. With that being said, there's one notable absentee this week, Scottie Scheffler. The No. 1-ranked golfer in the world is awaiting the birth of his first child so he'll be taking the week off before heading to Valhalla for next week's PGA Championship.
That leaves Rory McIlroy as the betting favorite this week, fresh off a win alongside Shane Lowry at the Zurich Classic.
Let's dive into everything you need to know to bet on this event, including the odds and my three picks to win.
Saturday: 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel), 3 p.m. - 6 p.m. ET (CBS)
Sunday: 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel), 3 p.m. - 6 p.m. ET (CBS)
Wells Fargo Championship Purse
Dates: Thursday, May 9 - Sunday, May 12
Purse: $20 million ($3.6 million to winner)
Defending champion: Wyndham Clark
Wells Fargo Championship Notable Golfers
Wyndham Clark: Wyndham Clark's magical 2023 season started right here at Quail Hollow where he captured his first PGA Tour win. He ran away from the field en route to a four-stroke victory over Xander Schauffele and then followed it up by winning the U.S. Open in June. He's fresh off a T3 finish at the RBC Heritage so he may be rounding back into form after a missed cut at the Masters.
Max Homa: Max Homa has won this event twice, but only once when it was at Quail Hollow. His second win came in 2022 when this event was hosted at TPC Potomac due to Quail Hollow hosting the Presidents Cup. He's still searching for his first win in over a year and returning to this course could be the perfect opportunity for him to do exactly that.
Wells Fargo Championship Best Bets
Wyndham Clark +1800
The first name that sticks out to me is the defending champion, Wyndham Clark. His T3 finish at the RBC Heritage helps me forget his abysmal performance at Augusta and it's tough not to think he can win here again in 2024.
He's second on the Tour in total strokes gained this season behind only Scottie Scheffler, and he's already proven 2023 wasn't a flash in the pan by winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February. He followed up that win with a second-place finishes at both the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship.
Quail Hollow fits his style of golf to perfection. You have to be long off the tee here and Clark enters this week ranking sixth in driving distance along with seventh in total ball striking.
Don't be surprised if he successfully defends his title this week.
Hideki Matsuyama +3300
Hideki Matsuyama was one of the more popular bets at the Masters last month, but the 2021 winner at Augusta had a disappointing outing, finishing T38. Well, I'm not ready to jump off the Matsuyama train quite yet, especially now that he has had some rest and should be good to go at Quail Hollow.
The 32-year-old enters this week's event ranking ninth in total strokes gained and, more importantly, leads the field in strokes gained: around-the-green, an area of utmost importance at Quail Hollow.
He has had solid performances here in the past, including a top-five placing in 2017, and I believe he's being extremely undervalued on the odds board at his current price.
Rickie Fowler +6600
My dark horse bet this week is none other than Rickie Fowler. He hasn't had his best stuff in 2023 but has improved in his last two starts, finishing T30 at the Masters and following it up with a T18 finish at the RBC Heritage. That could be a sign that he's finding his form and now he returns to a course he's had success at in his career.
Fowler got his first PGA Tour victory here back in 2012 and finished inside the top five three times since then. That means we can get long odds on a golfer who seems to be rounding into form at a course that he's extremely comfortable at.
He's worth a sprinkle at 66/1.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.
The golf season's second major is two weeks away and we’re already seeing some interesting odds movement ahead of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club on May 16-19.
PGA Tour rookie Ludvig Aberg has shot up the odds board this year and somehow has shorter odds than multiple major champions who are playing as well, if not better than him currently.
One of those players is reigning PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka. A three-time winner of this event coming off an impressive performance that led to victory on the LIV Tour, Koepka is somehow sitting behind Aberg in odds to win, which seems insane considering his form and history at this event. But here we are.
Koepka is currently the fifth-betting favorite with odds of +1600 at FanDuel Sportsbook to hoist his fourth Wanamaker Trophy.
Aberg is +1500 at FanDuel to win the title. That’s tied with two-time major champion Jon Rahm for the third-shortest odds. Only Scottie Scheffler (+400) and Rory McIlroy (+1100) have shorter odds at FanDuel than Aberg.
Directly behind Aberg in the FanDuel odds are Xander Schauffele (+2100), Wyndham Clark (+2400), Collin Morikawa (+2900), and Cameron Smith (+2900), among others. Clark, Morikawa and Smith have all won majors and Schauffele has three-times more top fives in majors (6) than Aberg has appearances.
This is Aberg's second major championship appearance and first PGA Championship. Since its inception in 1916, only nine players have won the PGA Championship in their first appearance. Morikawa was the most recent in 2020. Before that it was Keegan Bradley in 2011 and Shaun Micheel in 2003.
Not impossible, but not likely either.
Aberg finished second at the Masters and T-10 at the RBC Heritage the week after. He’s playing in the PGA Tour’s Wells Fargo this week and his performance will be worth monitoring. Those odds still seem high given his lack of experience playing in majors.
Koepka, meanwhile, has rounded into form after a disappointing T-45 finish at the Masters. He admitted he felt “embarrassed” by his performance at Augusta and has a greater focus since, which has led to better results on LIV.
He won the LIV Golf tournament in Singapore this past weekend and shot a three-round 14-under to finish 10th in Australia the week before. His putter was on fire in Singapore and he continues to be one of the best ball strikers in the game.
Koepka won back-to-back PGA Championships in 2018-2019. He also won back-to-back U.S. Open titles in 2017-2018. Clearly, he knows how to string together major wins in the same event.
While he hasn’t played well at the most recent two majors (T-64 at the British Open last year to go along with his T-45 at Augusta), putting Koepka behind Aberg in the odds seems wild. Even DraftKings having Koepka and Aberg tied at +1600 is surprising.
Aberg has proven he can play with the most elite players in the world. But he’s yet to prove he can beat them. His lone PGA Tour win was a fall event last year where the top competitor was Mackenzie Hughes at four strokes behind him.
Not exactly a pressure-packed moment.
Aberg faced that pressure at Augusta on the back nine Sunday and pulled his approach shot into the water on 11 and made a double bogey. He rebounded with two birdies on 13 and 14, but he was so far behind Scheffler at that point there the pressure was gone.
This is not to say Aberg won’t contend at the PGA Championship or win a major in the future, maybe even this year. This is more of a note on the odds being off based on experience and historical performance.
Koepka should be ahead of Aberg in the odds, not behind or tied with him. That’s a bet worth considering.
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Brooks Koepka became the first player to win four times as part of the LIV Golf League, shooting a final-round 68 at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore on Sunday to beat Cam Smith and Marc Leishman by two strokes.
His timing wasn’t bad, either.
A few days after offering concern about his game in light of a poor Masters performance, Koepka stepped up and won the LIV Golf Singapore even to give himself a boost heading into the defense of his PGA Championship title in two weeks.
The year’s second major begins on May 16.
“It’s all starting to come around,” said Koepka, who last year won his fifth major title when he captured the PGA at Oak Hill, becoming the first active LIV golfer to win a major. “I like the way things are trending.’’
They didn’t seem to be trending well just a few days ago when Koepka made clear he was not happy with his tie for 45th at the Masters. “I felt like I wasted all that time from January up until then,’’ he said.
He tied for 10th at the LIV Golf event in Adelaide the week prior and heading into the Singapore tournament that he simply needed to get putts to drop.
“I’ve put in a lot of work,’’ he said. “I feel like on the golf course, off the golf course, it’s been a good two weeks, to say the least. Take a week off and then grinding pretty hard with (instructor) Claude (Harmon) over the last few days, I thought that was very important. Kind of started to see it turn maybe Wednesday, Thursday of Adelaide, so to see it pay off here is huge.”
Koepka won his third PGA Championship Wanamaker Trophy last year. In each of his first four major victories, he won back-to-back at the 2017 and ’18 U.S. Opens and the 2018 and ’19 PGAs.
After a second-round 64, Koepka started the final round with a three-shot lead over Abraham Ancer, Adrian Meronk, Thomas Pieters and Mathew Wolff. He never relinquished his lead, although several challengers closed the gap at times.
“I felt the heat, but it was mainly because of how hot it was,” Koepka said. “Just played very consistent, missed it in the right spots. When you're playing with a lead, you do that. You don't have to force anything.”
Smith and Leishman were part of the winning Ripper GC team, capturing the team title for the second straight week.
Watching a Jordan Spieth round nowadays is like being on a roller coaster.
For one golf fan during Friday's second round at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, watching Spieth also came with a surprise bruise.
As the Texas native teed off on the 16th hole, his tee shot went so far right that he hit a spectator directly on the elbow. Luckily for Spieth, the ball bounced off the fan's elbow right onto the green.
The spectator was thankfully O.K., even though he is walking away from the tournament with a huge welt near his elbow. Spieth gave him a signed ball and glove to apologize for the injury but also thanking him for help on the shot.
The fan appeared to be in good spirits despite the unfortunate injury.
Spieth ended up bogeying the 16th hole even with the fan's help to put him on the green. He missed the cut for this week's tournament after finishing four-under par.
Jack Nicklaus helped kick off the 2024 Masters tournament as one of the former champions selected to take an honorary tee shot ahead of the first tee time. It turns out he wasn't satisifed with merely one swing at Augusta.
The golf legend spoke to reporters in Dublin, Oh. this week ahead of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village and revealed he stuck around Augusta after Scottie Scheffler won to play a few rounds. Nicklaus said he played three times and shot an 88, 90, and 91. He gave a good quote about it, too. Per Golfweek's Todd Kelly:
“I shot 88, 90 and 91. That’s a 269 for three rounds, which is a pretty good four-round score,” he said. “That’s what I play anymore. They don’t have any forward tees at Augusta. I can’t play 6,400 yards. I hit the ball 190 yards anymore, if I kill it. I played once last year, once the year before, and I’ve played four times this year already.”
Not too shabby for an 84-year-old to break 90 in tournament conditions at one of the hardest courses in professional golf. And it's hard to imagine there aren't too many folks of a similar age still able to pipe it nearly 200 yards down the middle off the tee. Not to mention having the skill required to break 100 at Augusta in April, something great amateur golfers 50 years younger than Nicklaus struggle with.
USGA CEO Mike Whan wants any golfer who's good enough to qualify to compete in the U.S. Open.
Yes, that includes everyone from LIV Golf.
Per U.S. Open tradition, players not exempt into the field must earn their spot through qualifying events. Anyone with a USGA Handicap Index of 0.4 or less can enter a local qualifier, advance to a 36-hole regional event and earn a spot. (Many top pros not already in the U.S. Open field are exempt from local qualifying and only need to advance via a 36-hole event.) Since 2004, the U.S. Open field has averaged 74.2 players who have advanced through one or both stages of qualifying.
Speaking with Sports Illustrated at Lancaster Country Club, host of the this year's U.S. Women’s Open from May 30–June 2, Whan said he’s proud of the USGA’s uninhibited embrace of LIV Tour players competing in the U.S. Open and continues to welcome them "with open arms."
“One of the advantages we have versus most other championships in golf is, a lot of other championships call themselves open but we are the most open, meaning half of the spots in the U.S. Open are not held and are going to be filled by qualifying players,” Whan said.
“There is a good chunk of LIV players and other major winners who are already in and have played since LIV started playing and we're proud of that. But there are a lot of great players on the DP World Tour, the PGA Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour, and the Asian Tours that aren't in either and they have to go play 36 holes and try to qualify.”
LIV players Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith, Martin Kaymer, Tyrrell Hatton and Adrian Meronk are exempt and expected to play in the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort on June 13-16.
Former major champions and current LIV players Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed, Charl Schwartzel, Henrik Stenson and Graeme McDowell are among 35 players from LIV who will attempt to earn a spot in the field through final qualifying.
“We saw it last year, we had a pretty consequential amount of LIV players go to qualify,” Whan said. “We had players who went to qualify and got in and some went to qualify and didn't. The same will be true this year.”
One LIV player who isn’t attempting to qualify is Talor Gooch. He made waves ahead of the Masters by saying if Rory McIlroy were to have won the tournament to complete his career grand slam, “there’s just going to be an asterisk.” Gooch's reasoning was he and other LIV players weren’t in the field.
Gooch could have competed for a spot in the U.S. Open through qualifying. The USGA confirmed he did not enter and Gooch confirmed Thursday he will not attempt to qualify.
“When people talk about other majors, some of those majors are kind of full and the only way to get in is an invite,” Whan said. “In our case, half of our field is not only not full, it's wide open. If you're good enough to get in, we welcome you with open arms.”
Tiger Woods is making the rounds promoting his new clothing line this week. On Tuesday he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. After explaining why his clothing line is called Sun Day Red (He wears red on Sunday. Get it?), Woods and Fallon looked at some tree memes.
Tiger was back on NBC on Wednesday morning for an interview with Carson Daly on TODAY. It turns out that Woods and Daly are old golf buddies. If you didn't know that then Daly leading off the interview saying "we have so much history together," must have been surprising to hear.
Tiger Woods sits down with Carson Daly to talk about golf, growing up in Southern California, his father and his new apparel line, Sun Day Red. pic.twitter.com/2TFbSNxzxq
Woods also explained the meaning of his new logo, saying that the tiger, which he describes as "nice and clean," has 15 stripes to represent each of the major championships he has won. He also said that his goal is to ruin the logo by winning another.
It sounds like he'll take his next shot at making his logo irrelevant later this month at the PGA Championship. Woods didn't specifically commit to any events, but Daly asked if he was still planning to play a tournament a month this year Tiger said, "I have basically the next three months. So I have three majors and hopefully, you know, that all kind of works out."
If he doesn't capture his first win since the 2019 Masters, he should at least try to create another memeable moment so he has something fresh to talk about the next time he has to promote his clothing line.
Last week: Jake Knapp won the Mexico Open at Vidanta.
Notes: The tournament again leads off the Florida swing under a new name. Cognizant takes over as title sponsor of what previously was the Honda Classic. ... Rory McIlroy is playing to beef up his pre-Masters schedule. He last played the tournament in 2018. ... Six of the seven winners on the PGA Tour this year were outside the top 50 in the world ranking. The exception was Wyndham Clark, No. 10 when he won at Pebble Beach. ... This is the last tournament for the leading top 10 in the FedEx Cup and the leading five players in “swing category” to earn a spot in Bay Hill next week. ... Since turning pro after winning The American Express, U.S. Amateur champion Nick Dunlap finished in last place at Pebble Beach and missed the cut at Riviera. He is in the field this week. ... NCAA champion Fred Biondi, who turned pro last year, received a sponsor exemption. ... The field features five of the top 25 in the world ranking.
Last week: Patty Tavatanakit won the Honda LPGA Thailand.
Notes: This is the second of three straight weeks in Asia. The HSBC Women’s World Championship dates to 2008 and typically gets a strong field. ... Jin Young Ko is going for her third straight title in Singapore. ... Lorena Ochoa set the course record of 268 in 2008, the inaugural year of the tournament. ... The field features eight of the top 10 in the women’s world ranking, missing only Nelly Korda and Charley Hull. ... Atthaya Thitikul, No. 11 in the world, has an injured left thumb and does not plan to return until the end of March. ... Former U.S. Women’s Open champion In Gee Chun is playing on a sponsor’s invitation. ... Minjee Lee is in the field, playing for the first time this year on the LPGA Tour. ... Solheim Cup captain Stacy Lewis has named Paula Creamer, Angela Stanford, Brittany Lincicome and Morgan Pressel as assistants for this year’s matches in Virginia.
Last tournament: Dustin Johnson won LIV Golf Las Vegas.
Notes: Brooks Koepka is going for his third straight LIV victory in Saudi Arabia. The tournament was played in the fall the last two seasons. ... Anthony Kim is expected to make his LIV debut as an individual. Kim has not competed anywhere since May 2012 at the Wells Fargo Championship. He is now 38. ... Dustin Johnson’s victory in Las Vegas makes him the first player to win in each of the three seasons of LIV Golf. Among those with a chance to match him this week are Koepka and Cameron Smith. ... Johnson, Graeme McDowell, Harold Varner III and Abraham Ancer have all won in Saudi Arabia outside the LIV Golf League. ... Jon Rahm’s new team is leading the standings after two events. ... Joaquin Niemann was the only LIV Golf player who received a special invitation to the Masters based on his European tour performances in the offseason. ... Patrick Reed is no longer among the top 100 in the world.
Last week: Darius van Driel won the Magical Kenya Open.
Notes: The tournament is co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour of South Africa. ... This is the second of three straight tournaments on the African continent. ... The field features only four players from the top 100 in the world. The highest-ranked player is Rikuya Hoshino, who is at No. 81. ... South Africa only has five players in the top 100 in the world. Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who plays the PGA Tour, is the top-ranked South African at No. 59. ... Only two players from Nos. 126-200 in the FedEx Cup last year are in the field, Matthias Schwab and Jonas Blixt. Dylan Frittelli was in that category until winning earlier this year to get full European tour membership. ... Keita Nakajima, a former world No. 1 amateur, is in the field. He is eligible from winning the Japan Golf Tour money title last year. ... The tournament only became part of the European tour schedule last year.
Asian Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia: New Zealand Open, Millbrook GC (Coronet and Remarkables), Arrowtown, New Zealand. Defending champion: Brendan Jones. Online: https://asiantour.com/ and https://pga.org.au/.
