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LAS VEGAS — Rory McIlroy capped a big weekend in Las Vegas on Sunday by surging past Rickie Fowler and holding off Collin Morikawa to win the CJ Cup at Summit for his 20th PGA Tour title.

McIlroy seized control with a 35-foot eagle putt from just off the green on the par-5 14th and then playing mistake-free down the stretch for a 6-under 66.

McIlroy is the 39th player to win at least 20 times on the PGA Tour, and it’s his fifth straight PGA Tour season with at least one win.

Fowler, who started the final round with a two-shot lead as he tried to end nearly three years without a victory, faded with a pair of three-putts and shot 71 to tie for third. The threat came from Morikawa, a member at The Summit Club, who shot 29 on the front to get in the mix and closed with an eagle for a 62.

That forced McIlroy to play mistake-free after his big eagle putt on the 14th, and he never came close to a bogey in finishing at 25-under 263.

“It is a big carrot,” McIlroy said of the 20 wins. “I didn’t know it would be this week.”

He went into the weekend nine shots out of the lead, made up plenty of ground with a 62 on Saturday and then pulled away by taking advantage of the scoring holes.

It was similar to his first win on the PGA Tour in 2010 at Quail Hollow. McIlroy was nine shots behind going into the weekend at that tournament and closed with rounds of 66-62 to win.

Morikawa was watching from the balcony overlooking the 18th green to see if he would get a chance for extra holes, though it was asking a lot for McIlroy to drop a shot on the par-5 closing hole. McIlroy laid back off the tee, played short of the green and hit wedge to the back pin to assure a two-putt par and another trophy.

Part of him was sparked by a disappointing Ryder Cup, when he didn’t win a point until Sunday singles when it was too late and was choked up with emotion talking about it.

He wanted to get back to his roots as a player, and it worked out just fine against a strong field that allowed McIlroy to move from No. 15 in the world to back among the top 10.

“Being me is enough,” he said. “Being me can let me do things like this.”

Keith Mitchell, who had a five-shot lead going into the weekend until a 73 in the third round, closed with a 67 and tied for third with Fowler.

Fowler was poised to end a 32-month drought by starting the final round with a two-shot lead and looking as though he was intent on finishing it off. He made an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 4 that became a two-shot swing when McIlroy had a careless three-putt bogey.

That began to change on the par-5 sixth. From the middle of the fairway, Fowler pulled a fairway metal into the desert, took a penalty drop, and then three-putted from 35 feet for a double bogey. McIlroy made birdie and just like that they were tied, along with others farther along in the round.

Talor Gooch holed out for eagle on the par-5 18th for a 62. Morikawa went out in 29 and was tied for the lead. Robert Streb also was tied for the lead at that point at 21-under par.

McIlroy and Fowler in the final group were tied at 22 under going to the back when Fowler made another mistake.

McIlroy was looking at potential bogey, coming out of a fairway bunker well short of the green on the 10th and facing a tough flop shot over another bunker to a tight pin. Fowler had 18 feet for birdie. McIlroy hit to inches away for par, while Fowler gunned his birdie chance some 5 feet by the hole and missed that for a three-putt bogey.

Fowler never caught up.

Morikawa ran out of momentum. Sure, he closed with a birdie that forced McIlroy to play mistake-free over the final four holes, but the British Open champion failed to take advantage of birdie chances on the reachable par-4 12th and the par-5 14th with an iron from the fairway.

“Whenever you shoot 62 you’re always going to be pleased,” Morikawa said. “But I thought I left a few out there, especially with some putts. But overall I’m very pleased the way this last 18 went, especially at a course that I’ve played a lot. I felt very comfortable and it’s a good way to start the season.”

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Purdue RB Mockobee has season-ending surgery

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Purdue RB Mockobee has season-ending surgery

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue running back Devin Mockobee will miss the rest of his final college season after undergoing ankle surgery late last week, coach Barry Odom announced Monday.

Mockobee finishes his career as the fourth-leading rusher in Boilermakers history with 2,987 yards, trailing Mike Alstott, Kory Sheets and Otis Armstrong, a College Football Hall of Famer. Mockobee also ranks in the school’s top 10 in carries with 630 and career 100-yard games with nine.

Odom said Mockobee injured his ankle late in an Oct. 25 loss to Rutgers. He was ruled out of last weekend’s 21-16 loss at No. 21 Michigan following Friday’s surgery.

“We were hoping we would get a little bit better news after they did that procedure on his ankle, but unfortunately, the injury he sustained, he’s played his last game here,” Odom said. “I sure hate that because he is such a wonderful young man, a great leader of this program and a great representative of Purdue University. The things he poured into this program and university since I’ve been here, he will go down as one of the really enjoyable, great guys I’ve had a chance to coach. We’ll be connected forever, and I know this place means a lot to him.”

Losing this season’s leading rusher couldn’t come at a worse time for the Boilermakers (2-7, 0-6 Big Ten). They are mired in a six-game losing streak and remain one of four winless teams in league play. Purdue’s next chance to snap a school-record 15-game losing streak in conference games comes Saturday when it hosts No. 1 Ohio State (8-0, 5-0).

Antonio Harris started against Michigan then rotated with Malachi Thomas. Harris finished with 11 carries for 54 yards and one touchdown while Thomas had 15 carries for 68 yards. Malachi Singleton, a quarterback, also finished with six carries for 24 yards.

Odom did not say whether he would follow a similar game plan against the Buckeyes.

Mockobee joined the Boilermakers as a walk-on from Boonville, Indiana, but quickly emerged as their top rusher in 2022.

He set school freshman records by rushing for 968 yards and posting four 100-yard games while scoring nine times for the Big Ten West Division champions. After losing the Big Ten championship game to the Wolverines, first-time head coach Ryan Walters gave the 6-foot, 202-pound rusher a scholarship.

But Mockobee struggled with fumbles in 2023, starting just four games and finishing with 811 yards and six TD runs. He rebounded by starting all 12 games in 2024 and producing 687 yards rushing and four scores. He had a team-high 521 yards rushing and 4 TD runs in 8 games this season before getting injured.

Mockobee finished his career with 86 receptions for 839 yards and 3 touchdowns and the only completed pass of his career was a TD pass earlier this season.

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NCAA sends concerns to prediction market Kalshi

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NCAA sends concerns to prediction market Kalshi

The NCAA sent a letter to Kalshi, a company that offers prediction markets on college basketball and football, expressing its concern about the company’s “commitment to contest integrity and the protection of contest participants,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by ESPN.

In the letter, dated Oct. 30, NCAA chief legal officer Scott Bearby asked Kalshi how it monitors collegiate sports markets for integrity concerns and activity by prohibited customers, who it considers a prohibited customer, whether it will report integrity concerns to the NCAA and whether the company will cooperate with NCAA investigations.

“We welcome Kalshi’s stance on its efforts to protect the integrity of NCAA competitions and to reduce instances of abuse and harassment directed at student-athletes and other participants,” Bearby wrote.

The NCAA also asked if Kalshi would ban prediction markets similar to prop bets, which the company began offering this fall.

Prop betting markets, Bearby noted in the letter, heighten “the risk of integrity and harassment concerns.” In March last year, NCAA president Charlie Baker called for a ban on prop bets on college athletes in states with legal sports wagering.

The NCAA also asked Kalshi in the letter to review language on its website that the NCAA says implies a relationship between them.

“Kalshi has robust market integrity provisions required by our status as a federally licensed financial exchange,” a Kalshi spokesperson said in a statement to ESPN. “We value the NCAA’s feedback and are working on adjusting the language on our site. We are currently reviewing and addressing their additional requests.”

Prediction markets like Kalshi have emerged over the past year and are competing with traditional sportsbooks in the betting market. Kalshi is battling multiple lawsuits by state gambling regulators, who allege that the company is violating state laws by offering event contracts that mimic sports bets. Kalshi argues that it does not fall under state jurisdiction and is instead regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal agency.

In March, Kalshi announced a partnership with IC360, an integrity monitor used by many collegiate and professional leagues.

The NCAA has faced an increasing number of alleged betting violations by players in recent years. In September, the NCAA announced that a Fresno State men’s basketball player had manipulated his performance for gambling purposes and conspired with two other players in a prop betting scheme. In total, the association has opened investigations into potential betting violations by approximately 30 current or former men’s basketball players.

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Canes query ACC on late roughing call in SMU loss

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Canes query ACC on late roughing call in SMU loss

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Miami has asked the Atlantic Coast Conference for clarity on a number of officiating decisions made in its loss this past weekend to SMU, including a critical 15-yard penalty in the final moments of regulation.

Miami lost the game, 26-20. The Hurricanes, who were as high as No. 2 in the AP Top 25 last month, have dropped two of their last three games and are now ranked No. 18.

Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said Miami has not gotten an answer from the ACC. It’s unclear if any explanations will be coming.

“Certainly, we’re waiting what the response is, as well as on the roughing the passer one which we certainly don’t agree with,” Cristobal said Monday. “But at this point in time, the best we can do is turn it in and hope for a better result next time.”

The Hurricanes’ Marquise Lightfoot was called for unnecessary roughness against SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings with about a minute left in the fourth quarter, giving the Mustangs 15 yards and a first down. Miami had called time out just before the fourth-and-9 play was snapped, and the Hurricanes argued to no avail that Lightfoot did not hear the whistle.

Replays showed that Lightfoot, who did make contact with Jennings, tried to hold the SMU quarterback up after apparently realizing the play was dead.

That penalty gave SMU the ball on the Miami 37, and the Mustangs went on to kick an overtime-forcing field goal.

Miami also was incensed about how a pass interference flag that would have aided the Hurricanes was picked up, and how officials missed a Hurricanes receiver getting tackled in the end zone on a play that wound up as a Miami interception in overtime.

Miami was called for 12 penalties in the game for 96 yards, compared with four by SMU for 40 yards. The eight-penalty differential tied Miami’s biggest of the season; it had 13 penalties compared with five by Florida State when those teams played in Tallahassee last month.

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