Weekend Sports Recap
The kickoff for College Sports was the main highlight of this week (August 29th – September 5th), including our own Regent Royals! The PGA tour season also came to an end with the Tour Championship and the NASCAR Playoffs began with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Keep reading for a recap of all these exciting sporting events that took place throughout the week!
Regent Royals Athletics
The Royals Men’s and Women’s Soccer teams and the Women’s Volleyball Team all started their seasons this past week. The Men’s and Women’s Soccer Teams each picked up a win against Patrick Henry College on Friday, September 3rd. It was the Men’s first game of the season, while the Women have already played three games this season. This upcoming week (September 7th – September 11th), the Women’s Volleyball Team plays on Tuesday at 6:00 pm at Norfolk State, Wednesday at 6:00 pm at home (Virginia Beach Fieldhouse), and twice on Saturday versus Grove City and La Roche University at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm. Men’s Soccer plays at Virginia Wesleyan at 7:00 pm on Wednesday, then on Saturday at 3:00 pm at Randolph College in Lynchburg. You can find the full Regent Royals Athletics Schedule here.
PGA Tour Championship
Patrick Cantlay won his second straight tournament to win the FedEx Cup and $15 million at East Lake in Atlanta on Sunday, September 5th. He had to hold off the number one ranked player in the world, Jon Rahm, and did so by just one shot to secure the victory. Cantlay had a two-shot lead going into the 17th hole and made a bogey, which cut the gap to one heading into the 18th and final hole. He delivered in the clutch and pressure-filled moment by crushing his driver right down the middle, hitting his second shot onto the green, and two-putting to secure the win. Rahm was consistent and almost mistake-free all week, but he could not make any birdie putts on the final day to give Cantlay a run for his money. He only made two birdies in his final 28 holes. It was an incredible few weeks for Cantlay as he won back-to-back tournaments and the FedEx Cup. The next big event for golf is the Ryder Cup, which will be played in the USA near the end of September.
NASCAR Southern 500
NASCAR’s longest race of the year regarding time, the Southern 500, occurred on September 5th at the Darlington Raceway. This race is one of the four crown jewel races of NASCAR and happens over Labor Day weekend, making it the perfect race to start the playoffs. Darlington Raceway is the oldest and arguably most tough race track on the schedule, so drivers had to stay mentally focused and not make any mistakes all night long. Unfortunately, several drivers in the playoffs had problems throughout the race including, Michael McDowell, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, William Byron, and Ryan Blaney, who all finished outside the top 20.
Meanwhile, at the front of the field, it was a battle between Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson for most of the night. Hamlin had the lead going into the final corner on the final lap, and Larson attempted to ride the wall all the way through the corner to pass him. Larson almost made it work, but it was Hamlin who held on to win his first race of the season and advance himself to the next round. The playoff standings look almost entirely different after Darlington since many drivers had issues. William Byron and Kyle Busch now find themselves below the cut line with two races left in the first round. If they do not run well the next two weeks, their playoff hopes will go up in smoke earlier than anyone anticipated.
That’s all for this week’s sports recap. I am excited to be attending the NASCAR races at Richmond on Saturday, so stay tuned for an article about my experience.
NOTE: Feature image curtesy of WLTX.com.
