GOLF
Doug Sanders, a 20-time winner on the PGA Tour, died Sunday morning in Houston, the tour confirmed through a text from Sanders’ ex-wife, Scotty. He was 86.
Sanders was still an amateur when he won his first PGA Tour event in 1956 at the Canadian Open in a playoff against Dow Finsterwald. His best year was in 1961 when he won five times and finished third on the PGA Tour money list.
But he is best known for four runner-up finishes in majors, the most memorable at St. Andrews in the 1970 British Open. He only needed par on the final hole to beat Jack Nicklaus, and Sanders was 3 feet away. He jabbed at the putt and missed it, and Nicklaus beat him the next day in a playoff.
“If I was a master of the English language, I don’t think I could find the adjectives to describe how I felt when I missed that short one,” Sanders said after the playoff, where Nicklaus beat him by one shot. “But that’s golf, and that’s the fascination of the game.”
Sanders also finished one shot behind Nicklaus in the 1966 British Open at Muirfield. He had a one-shot lead going into the final round of the 1961 U.S. Open at Oakland Hills but finished one behind Gene Littler, and he finished one shot behind Bob Rosburg in the 1959 PGA Championship at Minneapolis Golf Club.
BASKETBALL
Devin Booker won the NBA 2K20 Players Tournament on Saturday night, sweeping Phoenix Suns teammate Deandre Ayton in the best-of-three final.
“I played a lot growing up,” Booker said. “It’s all about timing and eye coordination.”
ESPN broadcast the three-day, 16-player Xbox One competition. The last NBA games were played March 11, the day Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus.
Booker’s Houston Rockets topped Ayton’s Los Angeles Lakers 72-62 in Game 1 and the star guard directed the Denver Nuggets to a 74-62 victory over thee Milwaukee Bucks in the second.
SOCCER
OBIT: Peter Bonetti, the former Chelsea and England goalkeeper nicknamed “The Cat” for his outstanding reflexes and agility, has died. He was 78.
Bonetti died after suffering from long-term illness, Chelsea said Sunday.
He kept 208 clean sheets in 729 appearances for the London club over two spells from 1960-75 and 1977-79.
Only Ron Harris, with 795, has made more appearances for the club.
Chelsea said Bonetti was “one of our indisputably all-time great players.”
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