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After four days of ultra-competitive golf in sweltering conditions at the Bellerive Town and Country Club, Missouri, the 2018 PGA Championship produced an epic clash between a rising star and one of the greatest golfers ever, as Tiger Woods duelled with Brooks Koepka for the title.

Koepka had already made a little history earlier in the summer, when he became the first man since Curtis Strange in 1989 to successfully defend the US Open title, but going into the PGA Championship, he was only the ninth favourite to win the tournament, based on the implied probabilities on the bigbetbookmakers.com site, one place ahead of Tiger Woods.

The fourteen-time Major winner went into the PGA Championship on the back of a remarkable resurgence. Having failed to break the top ten of any Major tournament since 2013, and after five years in which his retirement was prophesised on multiple occasions, Woods had produced a superb late charge at the British Open, to finish sixth, and for the first time in many years, he was going into a Major tournament with a realistic chance of being involved in the finish.

But the two players who would end up duelling for the trophy both made slow starts. Neither figured in the top ten at the end of the first round, although a 69 from Koepka and a 70 from Woods kept them both in contention going into Friday. That was the day when Koepka made his move. In a weather-interrupted round, he shot a course-record-tying score of 63, along with Charl Schwartzel, to move within two shots of the leader Gary Woodland and one behind Kevin Kisner.

Both Woodland and Kisner fell away during Saturday’s play, but Koepka continued to play consistent golf, shooting a 66 to take over the lead going into the final day. But four shots back, Woods had begun to creep into contention after two solid rounds of 66 that put him in a six-way tie for sixth place to set up a dramatic Sunday outside St Louis.

The final round began well for Koepka, who picked up a birdie on the first, but bogeys at the fourth and fifth set him back, and saw Woods close to within one shot, along with Justin Thomas. Koepka dug deep at the end of the front nine, scoring three consecutive birdies, but Woods staying in touch, and at the start of the back nine, was only three shots behind. That gap closed to one as Woods, to the delight of the Bellerive crowds, birdied the twelfth and thirteenth.

But Koepka wasn’t done. He picked up birdies at 15 and 16, while Woods was overtaken by Adam Scott. The Australian dropped a shot at the last, and the packed stands at the eighteenth roared as Woods birdied it, to finish a superb round of 64, his best ever final round at a Major tournament. With the trophy in his grasp, Koepka may have been feeling the pressure, but he didn’t show it, making par on the 17th and 18th holes to finish with a solid 66, in the process becoming the first player since Woods to win the US Open and the PGA Championship in the same season.

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Over the years, the English domestic Twenty20 cricket tournament has provided some thrilling finishes, and 2018 was no exception as Worcestershire Rapids won the competition for the first time on a dramatic Finals day at Edgbaston in mid-September.

The Rapids were regarded as rank outsiders before the competition started. According to the implied probabilities on the bigbetbookmakers.com site, only Leicestershire had longer odds of success, but the Rapids were boosted by the return of England international Moeen Ali.

The Worcestershire stalwart had often been unavailable for county duty, but in 2018, he was appointed captain for the Twenty20 tournament and brought a level of commitment and calm, but decisive leadership to the role, bringing together a team made up largely of unheralded talents and steering them to Finals Day. Along the way, they’d topped the North Division, winning nine of their thirteen games, and secured a comfortable five-wicket win over Gloucestershire in the last eight.

Up against a strong Lancashire Lightning team in the semi-finals, the Rapids put on a dominant performance, restricting Lancashire to 149 to set up the final against Sussex Sharks. The high-scoring Sharks had been impressive in their semi-final, registering a huge total of 202, which Somerset were unable to match. Worcestershire, bowling first, restricted them to a modest score of 157, but chasing any target in a final is traditionally seen as a difficult task.

With 14 balls to go, Worcestershire still needed 25 runs to win, but fortunately they had the star of Finals Day, Ben Cox, at the crease. Up against one of the finest death bowlers in Twenty20 cricket, Chris Jordan, Cox swiped an audacious six back over the bowler’s head to cut the required target to 19 from 13, and bring up a huge roar from the Worcestershire supporters.

The Rapids needed 17 to win from 12, but off the second ball of the 18th over, Joffra Archer completely miscalculated, bowling a beamer that went for six wides. Cox then capitalised from the free hit next ball, smashing a six over the leg side boundary, and with four runs needed for victory, he obliged off the very next ball, guiding it through square leg to bring up a famous win.

Cox finished with 46 not out and the Man of the Match award, to go with his 55 in the semi-final, to cap a remarkable Finals Day for the wicket-keeper, who earlier in the week had been left out of Worcestershire’s County Championship squad for their game against Surrey. And along with the all-round contributions of Moeen Ali, who powered the Rapids with bat and ball, Worcestershire were also boosted by the guile of the tournament’s top bowler Pat Brown, a young medium pacer whose subtle variations kept a lid on the Sussex innings, and who ended the T20 Blast with 31 wickets.

Worcestershire are the 13th team to win the Blast in its 16 seasons, and no team has been able to retain their title in the tournament’s history, so the Rapids will face a tough challenge next year in what promises to be another exciting and wide-open Twenty20 festival.

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This weekend features two stacked bills from either side of the Atlantic. The bigger of the two comes from Texas, as the Krusher, Sergey Kovalev, looks to inflict revenge on the WBO light-heavyweight champion who ripped his belt from him in August last year, Eleider Alvarez.

The Colombian stopped Kovalev in the seventh round in one of the shocks of the boxing year; it’ll soon be telling whether Kovalev has turned old overnight, or the Russian slugger simply had a bad night at the office.

The other big card comes from East London, as Ted Cheeseman challenges Sergio Garcia for the EBU super welterweight title in front of a predicted 6,000 strong crowd. The Big Cheese is being dubbed as one of the next big stars coming from the Matchroom stable, and is a 4/11 favourite to get the job done against the Spaniard on Saturday night.

Cheeseman and Alvarez to win @ 2.3/1 [BetVictor]

It’s a double that returns a good price. After dissecting the first Kovalev vs. Alvarez fight last August it’s hard to see what more the Krusher can do. The 35-year-old challenger has had a tough two years suffering back-to-back defeats against Andre Ward, two knock-over jobs against Shabranskyy and Mikhalkin and then the loss of his WBO 175-pound title.

Alvarez won the first fight in devastating fashion. It was a big KO which many thought would spell the end of the Krusher’s career, however, he has taken the rematch looking to gain revenge for his third professional loss. Alvarez was faster, sharper, smarter and more accurate last August, and with a desire to get back into training camp surely wilting for the Russian, this time around it may be more emphatic.

Kovalev hasn’t got any quit in him, but he may not be able to accept that he is finished at the highest level. Alvarez is unbeaten in the pro ranks with notable wins over the faded Chilemba, Bute and Pascal; the timing of his rise in the light-heavy division has been faultless.

Now for Cheeseman. The Bermondsey-boy will be fighting a mile away from where he grew up, with a huge support expected inside the O2 Arena. Garcia is unbeaten in his 28 professional contests, but is yet to fight out of his native Spain where he has recorded 13 KOs. Garcia picked up the vacant EBU crown last September, but is looking to cash out in a trip to London to face an unbeaten fighter for just the third time in his career.

It’s unlikely that Garcia has the power to stop the exciting Cheeseman, and with the Spaniard unlikely to get a decision on the cards in London – especially against a high-volume fighter like Cheeseman – it’s hard to see Garcia coming away with the W.

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Tampa Bay Lightning are leading the way in the 2018-19 NHL season, dominating the Eastern Conference and laying down a marker for the rest of the League.

After losing out in the Conference Finals to the eventual Stanley Cup champions Washington Capitals last year, the Lightning were rated as narrow favourites in a wide open competition this year, according to the implied probabilities displayed on the Bigbetbookmakers.com site, but they have made it a procession in the East. Going into the All Star break, Tampa Bay held a thirteen point lead over their nearest challengers, the New York Islanders, and a fourteen point lead over their nearest challengers in the Atlantic Division, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In their wake, none of the other Eastern teams have been able to put together consistent form to close the gap, including the defending champions. The Capitals were going okay heading into January, but a record of 0-5-2 in seven games going into the All-Star Weekend saw them slip behind the Islanders in the Metropolitan Division, with the Columbus Blue Jackets close behind and nine teams jostling for Wild Card spots, separated by only a few points.

The battle in the West is looking a lot more open. Calgary Flames lead the way, and have opened up a small gap on their pursuers. Along with last season’s pace setters, the Nashville Predators, the Flames, the San Jose Sharks, Winnipeg Jets and Vegas Golden Knights – last season’s Stanley Cup runners-up, all look good for play-off spots, but behind them, there is a ferocious fight developing for the final play-off position the two Wild Card places.

The Minnesota Wild are in a strong position are at the front of the chasing pack, but there are seven other teams in realistic contention. Of those, the Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche both have an advantage, as they hold tiebreaking wins over another contender, the Vancouver Canucks.

Anaheim Ducks are another potential Wild Card team, but they have hit a run of bad form at the wrong time, winning only two out of sixteen games going into the All-Star break, and they also have a tough medium-term schedule, which will see them play a string of road games in the next month. The Arizona Coyotes also have a difficult upcoming schedule, while the Edmonton Oilers are hoping that a change of General Manager will give their play-off hopes a boost, after they fired Peter Chiarelli at the end of January.

With the trade deadline looming at the end of February, there is still time for a number of teams to reshuffle and reshape their rosters, and Columbus in particular have tough trade and contract decisions to make as star players Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky are eye-catching potential free agents in July. But so far in 2018-19, no team has yet suggested they can match Tampa Bay who boast two of the league’s top seven scorers in Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point, along with a top five goaltender, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and will be tough opponents in the Stanley Cup Play-Offs.

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