Phoenix – Page 2 – Syndication Server

Kalitta, Alexander, Cuadra lead Friday NHRA Phoenix qualifiers

Top Fuel veteran Doug Kalitta is in line for his second straight No. 1 qualifier position in Phoenix, powering to the provisional top spot on Friday at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. Blake Alexander (Funny Car) and …

Kalitta, who has 49 career Top Fuel victories, went 3.679-seconds at 330.23 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Mac Tools dragster to go to No. 1. Should it hold, Kalitta would pick up his first No. 1 qualifier since last year in Phoenix and the 52nd in his career. It marks another strong moment in the early part of the season for the veteran. He struggled a year ago, including a first-round upset in Phoenix last year, but is motivated for a big turnaround in 2023.

“The car was strong and to go out and run a 3.67 was pretty cool,” Kalitta said. “My guys have been working their tails off on this thing and we’re super hungry to make it happen. There’s no better place to do it than here because we love coming to Phoenix.

“Last year was just one of those years. For whatever reason, the car just wasn’t happy, and it wasn’t responding to what we were doing. It was a long year, but I think all the changes and everything we’ve made have been paying off. Hopefully we’ll just stay on a nice roll.”

Kalitta will also be part of Saturday’s first Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge, which offers a bonus purse and bonus playoff points, plus competitive racing during qualifying. It includes semifinal rematches from the previous race, including Kalitta taking on Steve Torrence and Gainesville winner Mike Salinas racing Leah Pruett. Salinas is currently qualified second with a 3.689 at 335.73, with Austin Prock’s 3.696 at 330.31 putting him third.

Alexander made the most of his one pass on Friday in Funny Car, going to the top in his 11,000-horsepower Pronto/Head Inc. Ford Mustang with a run of 3.927 at 322.50. If that holds, Alexander would earn his first No. 1 qualifier in a loaded Funny Car class, as the talented driver made one of only two three-second runs during the session. After a first-round loss to open the year, it was also a positive move in the right direction.

“We came out today with the mindset of we didn’t do that well on Friday in Gainesville. In fact, we lit the car on fire, and we just wanted to get down the track today,” Alexander said. “It turned out to be a nice ending for us. We work really, really hard and even when you have a bad weekend you work extra hard. So we’re happy. We know what this car needs and we just need to keep moving forward.”

Chad Green, who is competing in Saturday’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge, is currently second after going 3.952 at 319.29 and Terry Haddock is third with a 4.044 at 308.14. Green will face off with J.R. Todd in the Challenge, while Matt Hagan takes on Alexis DeJoria in a semifinal rematch from Gainesville.

In an impressive Pro Stock qualifying session, Cristian Cuadra went to the top position, closing in on his first career No.1 qualifier with a run of 6.552 at 210.24 in his Corral Boots Ford Mustang. Cuadra has advanced to one final round in his career but hasn’t finished on top in qualifying. That could change this weekend in Phoenix after a strong start on Friday.

“When I saw my time slip, I was excited but I thought it wasn’t going to be No. 1 because the fast cars, Erica [Enders], Greg [Anderson], and T.J. [Troy Coughlin Jr.] all those cars are always really fast,” Cuadra said. “I was really, really amazed. Hopefully, I can keep it for tomorrow. I’m really excited. I really want to be the first Mexican to be No. 1. That’s something important for me. We want to make history in Mexico, and we’re already making it.”

Kyle Koretsky, who qualified No. 1 in Phoenix last season, is currently second after a run of 6.554 at 210.37 and KB Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn is right behind thanks to a run of 6.556 at 210.11. The Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge matchups include Troy Coughlin Jr. racing Glenn, and Mason McGaha taking on Greg Anderson.

Qualifying continues at 12 p.m. MT on Saturday at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park.

TV ratings: Gainesville, Phoenix

March Madness is heating up, which means a lot more competition for sports fan’s eyeballs, but motorsports held its own. The NASCAR Cup Series round from Phoenix last Sunday afternoon averaged a 1.93 Nielsen rating and 3.389 million household …

March Madness is heating up, which means a lot more competition for sports fan’s eyeballs, but motorsports held its own.

The NASCAR Cup Series round from Phoenix last Sunday afternoon averaged a 1.93 Nielsen rating and 3.389 million household viewers on FOX, per numbers from ShowBuzzDaily.com. That was down from a 2.33/3.991m for this race last year, and from a 2.22/3.991m for the previous week’s race in Las Vegas.

NHRA’s Camping World Drag Racing Series launched its season at Gainesville on FOX, and averaged a 0.58 and 945,000 viewers. Additional coverage on FS1 bumped up the total race day audience to 1.12m, the highest ever for the Gatornationals during the FOX era, according to the sanctioning body. Last year’s finals were delayed on FS1 and averaged 0.28/458,000.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix on Saturday averaged a 0.60 and 1.025m viewers on FS1, down from 0.70/1.087 last year. The ARCA Menards Series race at Phoenix on Friday night averaged 0.12/172,000 on FS2.

Check the yardage book: TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course for the 2023 WM Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour

StrackaLine offers hole-by-hole maps of TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course, including its famous 16th that becomes the scene of a giant party.

TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course, site of the 2023 WM Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour, was designed by the team of Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish and opened in 1986. It was renovated in 2014.

The Stadium Course has been the site of a Tour event since 1987. It will play to 7,261 yards with a par of 71 this week.

The layout ranks No. 4 in Arizona on Golfweek’s Best list of top public-access layouts in each state. It ties for No. 75 on Golfweek’s Best list of top resort courses in the U.S., and it ties for No. 94 among all public-access layouts in the U.S.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week at TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course.

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The Super Bowl, the WM Phoenix Open and you: Check out the top 10 public-access courses near Phoenix-Scottsdale

The Valley of the Sun offers plenty of great public-access golf courses.

Headed to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area for the annual giant party that is the WM Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour? Maybe you scored a ticket to watch the Eagles square off against the Chiefs in Super Bowl 57 at State Farm Stadium in nearby Glendale? Perhaps you’re one of the truly lucky ones planning to attend both?

Then pack your golf clubs because the Valley of the Sun offers plenty of great public-access golf courses. For most of the year, we recommend you start with these top 10 in the area. Of course, only nine are really options for the week of the Super Bowl and WM Phoenix Open, as TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course is booked to host the pros, but you get the idea.

Golfweek’s Best ranks courses around the world, utilizing a pool of more than 800 course raters. The most popular rankings list in the program is the Best Courses You Can Play list for public-access layouts in each state. To analyze the top 10 public-access courses around the Phoenix and Scottsdale area, we started with those rankings for all of Arizona. Then we included only those courses within a 90-minute drive of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, which sits about halfway between TPC Scottsdale and State Farm Stadium.

But don’t consider these your only options. Check out even more great courses in Arizona on the state-by-state public-access list. But be ready to pay a premium for a tee time the week of the Super Bowl and PGA Tour event, as many courses in the valley utilize fluctuating on-demand pricing all year, and all the courses will see a spike in demand on what will be the busiest week of the year.

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Man of the people Max Homa follows PGA Tour win with $400 muni skins game payout in Phoenix

Max Homa went from a $1.5 million PGA Tour payout to $400 in a Phoenix skins game.

Max Homa took home more than $1.5 million Saturday afternoon with his win in the Farmers Insurance Open, finishing with a birdie at Torrey Pines in San Diego to beat Keegan Bradley and a cast of other major champions and up-and-comers on the PGA Tour.

How did he celebrate? With another victory at a popular municipal golf course, albeit this one with a much smaller payout.

Homa, now a six-time winner on the PGA Tour who has amassed more than $4 million in earnings in five events this season, shot 5-under 67 on Monday at Papago Golf Club in Phoenix to win the stroke-play pot in a popular skins game.

His prize from Monday: $400.

Not that we need any more reason to love and laud Max Homa, but two days after he wins his 6th PGA Tour event he shows up at a municipal course in Phoenix to play a weekly skins game. This is grass roots stuff and the essence of why most of us love this game. pic.twitter.com/jNBqH098Hc

— Brandel Chamblee (@chambleebrandel) January 31, 2023

Before you start thinking he beat up on a bunch of locals with muni games, it’s worth noting the Papago skins game was brimming that day, as it usually is, with good players – pros and ams alike. Griffin Wood, who finished second, plays on the PGA Tour Canada series.

So tough spot to make rent money at Papago. Just an educated guess, but a par on the par-5 ninth hole probably didn’t pay in Monday’s skins pot. Like many skins game, it appears the entrants’ money was divided between a low-gross prize pot and a skins pot.

Papago ranks No. 20 in Arizona on Golfweek Best’s list of top public-access courses. The muni track not far from Arizona State University – Papago is home to the schools’ golf teams – has been reworked in recent years and is typically in excellent condition for a layout that sees so many rounds each year. As this writer will attest, the attached restaurant is top notch.

Oh I have video proof too https://t.co/xsSFI0WVBG pic.twitter.com/7sVOTKC9UK

— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) January 31, 2023

All in all it’s a great look for Homa, who has become a legit star on the PGA Tour as well as on social media, where his quick wit and availability has started to create an almost-Arnold Palmer like following. It’s hard to imagine some PGA Tour winners mingling with a muni crowd, but as he has proved, Homa is a natural in just about any setting.

And Homa’s round answers a question many local golfers ask about their public-access home tracks: How would a PGA Tour star score here? The Papago crowd has its answer.

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Anderson Silva: ‘Definitivamente no’ estoy poniendo en riesgo mi reputación al pelear contra Jake Paul

LOS ANGELES – Anderson Silva regresará al ring el próximo mes para enfrentarse a un oponente que no es el típico peleador tradicional. El antiguo campeón de peso semi completo de la UFC se enfrentará a la estrella de YouTube Jake Paul en una pelea …

LOS ANGELES – Anderson Silva regresará al ring el próximo mes para enfrentarse a un oponente que no es el típico peleador tradicional.

El antiguo campeón de peso semi completo de la UFC se enfrentará a la estrella de YouTube Jake Paul en una pelea de box para 187 libras este próximo 29 de octubre en Phoenix. Paul lleva boxeando varios años y ha acumulado un récord de 5-0; tres de esas victorias fueron ante campeones de la MMA como Ben Askren y Tyron Woodley.

Aun así, a pesar de no ser un completo novato, muchos siguen cuestionando la capacidad de Jake Paul. Eso pone mucha presión sobre los hombros de Silva si es que llegara a perder, o es lo que podríamos pensar.

“Definitivamente no, definitivamente no”, le dijo Silva a MMA Junkie y a otros reporteros el lunes cuando le preguntaron si su legado estaba en riesgo contra Paul. “Vine aquí a hacer lo mejor. Estoy entrenando muy fuerte cada día y los peleadores pelean.”

“Tienen a dos peleadores dentro del ring. Dos peleadores tienen 50% de probabilidad de ganar. Yo tengo 50% y Jake tiene 50%. No importa si la gente dice, ‘Oh, no es un peleador de verdad o no’. Pero cuando entras al ring, no vas a detenerte, vas a matar, vas a morir. Ese es el punto.”

“La araña” aún no sabe cómo terminará su pelea contra Paul, pero el brasileño promete un espectáculo aún mejor que el de sus peleas anteriores.

“No lo sé, pero prometo que pelearé muy, muy duro”, dijo Silva. “Verán a un Anderson diferente”.

Artículo traducido por Ana Lucía Toledo

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Golfweek’s Best 2022: Top public and private golf courses in Arizona

The top public-access offerings in this stacked golf state go on for miles, especially in the Phoenix-Scottsdale region.

Arizona is a gifted golf state, with desert courses of all kinds to suit any budget or taste. Especially in the region of Phoenix and Scottsdale, there are miles and miles of fairways to welcome residents, visitors and seasonal snowbirds alike.

Tops among the public-access offerings is We-Ko-Pa’s Saguaro Course, designed by famed architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. One of two courses at the facility operated by a casino next door, the Saguaro Course ranks No. 1 in Arizona on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for each state.

MORE COURSES: Best Modern | Best Classic | Top 200 Resort |
Top 200 Residential | Top 100 Best You Can Play

Golfweek’s Best offers many lists of course rankings, with the list of top public-access courses among the most popular. All the courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time.

Also popular are the Golfweek’s Best rankings of top private courses in each state, and that list is likewise included below.

Nets want Devin Booker in trade with Suns for Kevin Durant, not Ayton

Reports indicate that the Brooklyn Nets want Devin Booker in a potential Kevin Durant trade with the Phoenix Suns.

As one the most talented players in the NBA requests a trade from the Brooklyn Nets, the organization is reportedly not willing to part with Kevin Durant only to receive DeAndre Ayton.

John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports reports that the team “is not interested in” Ayton, and “may have to make a deal without him or with a third team.”

Ayton is a very talented young big man who is looking for a change in environment. With an impressive skillset around the rim and lockdown paint defense, Ayton makes himself a trade target for any team needing a big across the league.

Now if Kevin Durant is absolutely determined to play in Phoenix, Brooklyn reportedly would only accept the trade if it means bringing sharpshooter Devin Booker to play in Barclay’s Center.

NBA insider Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report reports that the Nets want Booker back:

From Brooklyn’s perspective, sources said, there’s no deal to land Durant in Phoenix that doesn’t start with sending back Devin Booker to Barclays Center. The Suns, of course, would likely hold the line firm. But early indications are the Nets brass is not particularly inclined to take a sign-and-trade that brings back restricted free agent Deandre Ayton.

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Monica Barbaro on Phoenix and her rise in Top Gun: Maverick

Women weren’t allowed to fly combat for the Navy until 7 years after the original Top Gun came out. Now Phoenix rules the sky in Top Gun: Maverick.

It’s Top Gun: Maverick Week here at For The Win, where we’ve taken to the skies for five days of content to celebrate the premiere of the sequel to 1986’s iconic ode to naval aviation. Strap in for a wild ride (no spoilers!).

When the original Top Gun released in 1986, women were still seven years from being allowed to fly combat missions for the Navy. As a result, there were only two actresses in a major role: Kelly McGillis as contractor-turned-Maverick’s-love-interest Charlie and Meg Ryan as Goose’s wife Carole.

In the long-awaited sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, we finally get to see a woman in the cockpit as Monica Barbaro portrays Phoenix, a pilot that is vying for a spot in the challenging and dangerous mission that Maverick (Tom Cruise) is training them to do.

Today, women make up just 12 percent of all Navy pilots, and Barbaro felt pressure to play Phoenix in a way that would make them proud. “It was just an incredible honor to represent the female aviators that I got to meet and got to fly with,” Barbaro said during the Top Gun: Maverick press junket. She took some of those female aviators with her to the movie’s premiere and was grateful for their support throughout the whole process.

The movie doesn’t burden Phoenix with a romantic storyline, but clearly establishes her friendship with Rooster (Miles Teller), contentious rivalry with Hangman (Glen Powell) and fantastic working relationship with her weapon systems operator, Bob (Lewis Pullman). The message? She’s an incredible pilot who just happens to be a woman.

“Initially she was written like she was overcompensating for the fact that she was a woman in the original script and being the bro-iest bro of the crew,” Barbaro said of Phoenix’s beginnings. While Monica and the rest of the actors were in training, Jerry Bruckheimer, Joe Kosinski and leading man Tom Cruise had already started tweaking her character.

“As I was in training, they were like, ‘OK, just FYI, she’s changing a lot,'” Barbaro said. “It was really important to Tom [Cruise] and Joe [Kosinski] and Paramount, and then also so important to the Navy and our pilot consultants, to represent her in that strong, capable way where she’s just really confident about what she’s great at and not overcompensating for everything.”

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The training Barbaro and her cast mates had to go through was intense and included water survival and high G training to prepare them for all of the demanding flying scenes. Despite all that training, flight hours in an F/A-18, and becoming a movie star, Barbaro has remained humble about the process. There is one thing she refuses to stay cool about, however.

“They made a Phoenix Barbie, which I think is like, the coolest thing on the planet. It’s the only thing I refuse to be humble about. It’s super cool.”

The original Top Gun led to an increase in applications to the Naval Academy and greater interest in aviation, and Bruckheimer hopes the sequel will inspire a new generation.

“I think it’s terrific, I really do,” Bruckheimer said. “I’m so thrilled that on the first movie a lot of fathers took their sons and Navy recruiting went up 500 percent after the first one. A lot of the pilots that we talked to said, ‘I joined the Navy because I saw Top Gun,’ and I think it’s going to happen all over again.”

Barbaro felt similarly regarding the reach this film could have.

“I became very close with a lot of the guys at Top Gun and to the instructors … the way they talked about hoping their daughters would be interested in aviation I think was cool.

“I think in a big way, watching a big media movie represent a woman in a way that that she’s strong and capable and cool … this is why representation matters. You need evidence of these things and you need to see it to be like, ‘OK, that’s a possibility for me’ or ‘ Oh, that is a possibility for my for my daughter.'”

“It’s an honor,” Barbaro said of depicting a naval aviator. “They’re big shoes to fill.”

Top Gun: Maverick hits theaters worldwide on May 27.

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On Site: Suns and Warriors battle on Christmas Day

What you need to know before placing your bets

Two of the top teams in the Western Conference link up for the third time in the last month as the Suns look to grab a 2-1 series lead at home on Christmas. On Site checks in with Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic to set up the NBA’s marquee Christmas game.

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