Weekend winners
Justin Rose. Dude is the best player on the planet right now and the gap between Rose and everyone else is a) growing and b) bigger than you may realize. In the last two years, Rose has 15 top-three finishes – including Sunday’s win at Torrey Pines – and has 13 top-10s in his last 17 starts. He is the world’s No. 1 ranked player for the first time in his career. (Side note: Rose is the Vegas favorite for a little tournament called the Masters, and the cheese factor is off the charts for a Jim Nantz call about a ‘Rose’ being brilliant at Augusta National, which was a nursery before it was crafted into the the best golf tract this side of Heaven.)
Holly Warlick got a much-needed win Sunday as the Lady Vols ended a historic losing streak. Still, it feels like a stretch to think she won the weekend because there was a time not that long ago that beating LSU – or just about any SEC team – in Knoxville was not a cause for celebration. It was simply the expectation.
Kentucky basketball. OK, there were a lot of choices from the college basketball realm. But know this: UK looks the part for the long-haul. (Yes, so do the Vols, but UT’s test with West Virginia pales in comparison to what UK did to KU in a physical and fun Wildcats’ W.) One of the sneaky things that really matters in all of sports, but especially college and high school sports, is when a coach really likes a team, special things can happen. And judging by his demeanor and his statements, Coach Calipari really enjoys coaching this UK bunch.
Drew Lock. The former Missouri QB looked like the best quarterback among the collection at the Senior Bowl on Saturday. Yes, Duke’s Daniel Jones was the MVP, but Lock looked the part of fringe-first-rounder way more than Jones. Being third behind Dwayne Haskins and Kyler Murray is worth a lot of coin friends.