Briefly: Ames tops Stricker, Kelly in Des Moines

Stephen Ames birdied the 17th hole and closed with a 5-under 67 on Sunday for a one-shot victory over Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly in the Principal Charity Classic, giving Ames his third PGA Tour Champions title this year.

Stricker

Ames, Stricker and Tim Herron shared the 36-hole lead. Herron fell back with a 72. Stricker, coming off his second straight major title this year at the Senior PGA Championship, played bogey-free for a 68. He just couldn't keep up with Ames.

"It was a battle today, there's no doubt about that," Ames said. "Steve, obviously the way he's played this year already tells you it was going to be a good battle, and the fact that I ended up on top is more fulfilling than anything else right now."

Kelly had four straight birdies on the front nine and closed with two birdies over the last three holes, but he had to settle for par on the 18th that kept him out of a playoff.

Stricker and Ames lead the PGA Tour Champions with three victories apiece this year, though Stricker kept his lead in the Charles Schwab Cup on the strength of his two majors.

Stricker now moves on to his native Wisconsin as the player-host of the American Family Insurance Championship.

Viktor Hovland was happy with his three PGA Tour victories, even if they were at resort courses that were soft and susceptible to firing at flags. He wanted a win on American soil, where par was at a premium, and he got every bit of that Sunday at the Memorial.

Hovland

Two shots behind and facing the three hardest holes at Muirfield Village, Hovland set his sights on a score instead of the leader, Denny McCarthy, and then delivered his best stuff of the day.

Hovland holed a 30-foot birdie putt — the only birdie of the day at No. 17 — around two par saves for a 2-under 70 that got him into a playoff, and then he beat the hard-luck McCarthy with a 7-foot par to win the Memorial.

His previous three wins were twice at Mayakoba on the Gulf coast of Mexico and once in Puerto Rico. This victory came on conditions so difficult that even Jack Nicklaus was stunned to feel how firm the greens were when he stepped on the 18th to congratulate Hovland.

The 25-year-old from Norway won $3.6 million and moved to No. 5 in the world ranking with his fourth PGA Tour victory, and eighth worldwide since turning pro four years ago out of Oklahoma State.

Coco Gauff put aside a bloody knee and a poor stretch of play in the first set to reach the French Open quarterfinals for the third consecutive year with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova on Monday.

Next for Gauff will be a rematch against No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who beat the 19-year-old American in last year's final at Roland Garros and is 6-0 overall in their head-to-head meetings.

Swiatek advanced Monday when her opponent, Lesia Tsurenko, stopped playing because of trouble breathing while trailing 5-1 in the first set.

Today's women's quarterfinals are Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka vs. Elina Svitolina, and 2021 French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkovs vs. Karolina Muchova. The only seeded player in the bunch is No. 2 Sabalenka.

The Montreal Canadiens signed former Badger and Mosinee native Cole Caufield to an eight-year, $62.8 million contract extension on Monday.

Caufield

The deal, which will pay the 22-year-old winger an average annual salary of $7.85 million, runs through the 2030-31 season.

Montreal selected Caufield in the first round (15th overall) of the 2019 draft. Since making his NHL debut in 2020-21, the forward has 84 points (53 goals, 31 assists) in 123 NHL games.

Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek announced the decision Monday to hire the 60-year-old Cronin, who will be a first-time NHL head coach.

Cronin has 12 years of experience as an NHL assistant with the Toronto Maple Leafs and in two stints with the New York Islanders. The Massachusetts native has been the head coach of the AHL's Colorado Eagles since 2018, and he spent six years as a collegiate head coach at Northeastern.

Get local news delivered to your inbox!

A 49-year-old man from Racine died in a vehicle versus pedestrian crash on Friday, the Mount Pleasant Police Department reported.

MOUNT PLEASANT — A Sportsman's Warehouse employee has been accused of taking two guns from the store.

ROCHESTER — A Kenosha woman has been charged with a sixth OWI offense.

MOUNT PLEASANT — Three people were injured in a shooting Saturday night, according to a news release from the Mount Pleasant Police Department.

Racine County may soon get its first indoor ice rink where hockey players, figure skaters, league participants and recreational skaters can en…