briefs
In golf
When Abraham Ancer glanced at the scoreboard midway through his final round of the FedEx St. Jude Invitational it was hard to imagine he’d be celebrating his first PGA Tour victory in a few hours.
Third-round leader Harris English was at 20 under. Ancer, playing the 10th hole, was five strokes behind at TOC Southwind.
“I said to (my caddie): ‘Harris is running away with it, I’ve got to make some birdies, I’ve got to make a move’,” Ancer said.
The 30-year-old Mexican player didn’t run off a string of birdies, but he played steady, bogey-free golf and won his first title – in his 121st start – beating Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama and Sam Burns with a 6-foot birdie putt on the second hole of a playoff.
“It was a dream come true to win on the PGA Tour,” Ancer said.
Bowden dies
Bobby Bowden did it all.
Not only did he put Florida State on the map by taking the Seminoles from afterthought to dynasty, he left an indelible mark on the game with a rare combination of coaching acumen, gracious demeanor and a compassion for those he coached and competed against.
The beloved, folksy Hall of Fame coach who built one of the most prolific college football programs in history died early Sunday at 91 at his home in Tallahassee, Florida, surrounded by his wife Ann and their six children following a battle with pancreatic cancer. Bobby’s son, Terry, called his passing “truly peaceful.”
And while he’s gone, Bowden’s legacy as a top-notch coach – and human being – will live on.
The numbers are staggering: Bowden piled up 377 wins during 40 years as a major college coach and his teams won a dozen Atlantic Coast Conference titles and national championships in 1993 and 1999. Perhaps the statistic that jumps off the page is his sustained success with Florida State, which finished the season ranked in the top five of the Associated Press college football poll an unmatched 14 straight seasons (1987-2000) under his tutelage.