U.S. Open final round update and new Beal finalist emerges
The Sunday morning edition of "Four things to know before 4 AM" is live!
Happy Father’s Day. Please give your dad the biggest of hugs (if you can) today, as he deserves to be pampered on this international day. Speaking of ‘international’, the third and penultimate PGA Tour major is heading into its final day. The top five players are within four strokes of tying the co-leaders.
We also have an update on the latest regarding the developments of current Washington Wizards’ star Bradley Beal, and we could have the potential end of a Hall of Fame coaching career for a college basketball head coach following an incident earlier this weekend.
1) Who is leading the pack in the final round of the U.S. Open?
We have reached the fourth and last day of golf’s third major in the U.S. Open, taking place at the Los Angeles Country Club. Three familiar faces are littered in the top five, with Rickie Fowler (tied for first at 10-under), Rory McIlroy (third at 9-under) and Scottie Scheffler (fourth at 7-under) all in clear contention for the title.
Rounding out the top five is 29-year old American Wyndham Clark (tied for first), whose last PGA Tour win was the Wells Fargo Championship last month, and 33-year old American Harris English (fifth, at 6-under), whose best performance this year was a second place tie at the Arnold Palmer Invitational back in early March.
Fowler had a chance for the outright first place lead heading into today’s final round, but he unfortunately two-putted and eventually bogeyed the 18th and last hole of the day. This, after he finished with an impressive 8-under par in Thursday’s first round.
Unlike most of the notable names, Fowler not only has not won a major championship in his career, his last PGA Tour win was the Phoenix, Arizona’s Waste Management Open title back in 2019. He has three second-place finishes in the Masters (2018), the U.S. Open (2014) and The British Open (2014) and one third-place finish in the PGA Championship (2014) as his best performances in the four majors.
Let’s see if any of these five golfers emerge as the victor today. We may see a dark horse in the top ten make a huge push for that U.S. Open title, like sixth-place’s Xander Schauffele or Dustin Johnson… Or even ninth-place Bryson DeChambeau.
2) A new suitor in the Bradley Beal saga
In case you have missed the news, the Washington Wizards overhauled their front office over the past couple of months, firing General Manager Tommy Sheppard and replacing him with a triumvirate of new president Michael Winger (who was formerly the GM of the Los Angeles Clippers), Vice President of Player Personnel Travis Schlenk (formerly President of the Atlanta Hawks) and General Manager Will Dawkins (formerly the VP of the Oklahoma City Thunder).
What the trio has in common, long story short, is that they were all apart of the Sam Presti tree. Presti, you see, is the current GM of the Thunder, and he has skillfully rebuilt the franchise in the post-Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden era to one that is on the brink of annual playoff contention with not only a boatload, but a ‘cruise-load’ of future draft picks through artful management.
That brings us back to Mr. Bradley Beal. The Wizards’ star guard signed the first-ever NBA contract in NBA history that involves a NTC (No-Trade Clause) last off-season, allowing him to choose his new destination, should the team part ways with him. He was also given a five-year, $251 million extension with the team, under former GM Sheppard.
The new front office has given the proverbial green light to seek a trade for the overpaid face of the franchise, and with that brought several suitors - five teams are reportedly interested in Beal’s services, despite his bloated contract. However, according to NBA reporter Shams Charania, that number is down to just two finalists:
The Heat have always been interested in Beal’s services, dating back to when starting center Bam Adebayo exchanged jerseys with Beal postgame back in February 2021. They need a consistent scoring threat besides Bam and Jimmy Butler, and Beal would be the perfect fit.
The Suns are a head-scratching finalist. This, mainly because the team completely gutted their assets (players and first round draft picks) in acquiring Kevin Durant this past February. That, and the potential of having to pay Durant, Devin Booker and Beal would also result in a more ‘stars and scrubs’ type lineup that is oddly very reminiscent of the Miami ‘Heatles’ days from 2010 to 2014 with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. What may push Beal to head to Phoenix (versus Miami) could come down to the relationship his agent (Mark Bartelstein) has with the Suns. You see, Bartelstein is the father of Suns’ CEO Josh Bartelstein, so a trade may come to fruition between father and son.
We will see if any trade is agreed-upon within the next several days prior to Thursday’s NBA Draft, or if the Wizards hold-off until after the draft to make its decision.
3) The red-hot Reds are only a half-game from first in the NL Central
The only baseball coverage today surrounds a midwestern team making an early summer surge in its division. The Cincinnati Reds, known as a bottom-dwelling National League team for the past decade (never winning more than 83 games in a season since 2013), are suddenly just a half-game out of first place in the NL Central.
The team started slowly - opening to a 12-17 record and a full eight games behind the first place Pittsburgh Pirates (20-9 at the time) on May 1. Since then, the team has gone an impressive 23-18, and an insane 9-2 over the past 11 games since their top prospect - shortstop Elly De La Cruz - injected new life into this Ohio team.
This young team (second-youngest at an average age of 27.3) has clearly surpassed preseason expectations as we near the halfway point of the season. Despite the inexperience, the infield duo of 25-year old utility infielder Spencer Steer (second year in MLB and with the Reds) and 26-year old, third-year second baseman Jonathan India have combined for 89 runs, 141 hits, 34 doubles, 17 home runs and 18 stolen bases, as both lead the major hitting categories for the organization this season.
In terms of pitching, the Reds are led by their ace in Hunter Greene (1-4, 4.01 ERA). Despite the losing record in 13 games started this season, Green still leads the team in strikeouts by a mile (97 to the next best of 50 - third-best in the NL), and own one of the best closers in Alexis Diaz, who has saved 18 games (best among NL relievers) with a solid 1.86 ERA to go with an NL-best 15.5 strikeouts per nine innings pitched among relievers.
4) Huggins arrested on DUI charge - the current West Virginia head coach steps-down
Lastly, I conclude with this ongoing story that broke yesterday morning, and whose latest updates circulated through the wee early morning hours today. That is, legendary college basketball head coach Bob Huggins is resigning from his position at West Virginia University after he was arrested Friday night for allegedly driving under the influence.
Huggins, 69, announced his resignation early this morning, and this would put a damper on this Hall of Fame resume (he was inducted last year) - as his second off-the-court incident this college basketball off-season. Just last month, on May 8. he was on a Cincinnati radio station and was discussing his head coaching career with the University of Cincinnati Bearcats (from 1989-2005). According to The New York Times:
“In recalling a Crosstown Shootout game between [Cincinnati and immediate rival Xavier], he twice called Xavier fans a homophobic slur, saying they would “throw rubber penises on the floor and then say they didn’t do it.”
Huggins was punished by the university with a $1 million salary deduction and a three-game suspension after that incident.
Now, this DUI was a worse look for Huggins; according to a police report, a breath test determined that Huggins' blood alcohol content was 0.21%, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08% in Pennsylvania.
Huggins won 11 conference regular season titles, 10 conference tournament titles and took his teams to 26 NCAA Tournaments and two Final Four appearances (1992 with Cincinnati and 2009 with West Virginia).
However, this second incident has resulted in Huggins submitting a letter of resignation, and this could be the final straw for his head coaching career, dating back to 1984.
That will do it for today’s Snippets.
Enjoy the final round of the U.S. Open, as well as the CONCACAF Nations League championship between Team USA and Canada this evening, on this Father’s Day. Hopefully, Fowler will win his first-ever major, and Team USA wins without two of their best midfielders in Weston McKinnie and Sergio Dest.
Until next time, signing off.