Here are three sport stories from this week. Only two of them are true.

The answer is at the bottom of today's two-minute section!

270,000
The number of fans expected to attend Gather Round in South Australia this weekend. Gather Round is the AFL's festival of football, with all 18 clubs playing in the same state across one weekend. This year kicks off on Thursday night with Carlton taking on the Adelaide Crows.

“The National Championships is the pinnacle of athletics here in Australia. Whoever takes it here is the king.”
Three-time Aussie Olympian and middle-distance runner Peter Bol speaking ahead of the Australian Athletics Championships, which begin in Sydney today. Bol will compete for national titles alongside fellow middle-distance stars, including Cameron Myers, Jess Hull, and Claudia Hollingsworth. The meet will also see Gout Gout and Lachlan Kennedy reignite their sprint rivalry. The event runs through to Sunday and will be streamed on 7Plus from tomorrow.

The Penrith Panthers have started the NRL season in historic fashion, becoming the first team in league history in the league’s to win their opening five matches by 20 points or more.  They’ll look to extend that run tonight when they face the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the opening game of Round 6.  

⚽ Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Atlético Madrid both won their Champions League (Europe's top club competition) quarter-final first legs on Wednesday (local time). PSG, the tournament’s reigning champions, beat Liverpool 2-0 in Paris, with Désiré Doué and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia both scoring goals. Liverpool failed to register a single shot on target. The other match was a Spanish derby as Atlético stunned Barcelona 2-0, with Julián Álvarez and Alexander Sørloth scoring for the away side. The second legs will be played next week, with semi-final spots up for grabs. 

⛳ Prosecutors are seeking access to prescription drug records as part of an ongoing investigation into a driving incident involving Tiger Woods, with a subpoena set to be issued on 22 April if his legal team does not object.  Woods was arrested last month after his vehicle hit a trailer and flipped onto its side near his home in Jupiter Island, Florida. He passed a breathalyser test but refused a urine test, before officers allegedly found two hydrocodone pills in his pocket. Hydrocodone is a prescription opioid commonly used to treat severe or chronic pain. Woods has pleaded not guilty to two charges and announced he is stepping away from golf to focus on his health.

🏊 The Australian Open swimming championships wrapped up on the Gold Coast on Wednesday night, with a remarkable comeback from Sam Williamson, who won the 50m breaststroke just 10 months after rupturing his patella tendon and fearing his career was over. Mollie O'Callaghan also impressed, taking out the 200m freestyle. In the distance events, Sam Short and Lani Pallister both completed triple wins across the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle. Attention now turns to the Australian Swimming Trials in June in Sydney, where team selection for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and Pan Pacific Championships in Los Angeles will be decided. 

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Golf's first major of the year, and arguably the sport's most prestigious tournament, tees off at Augusta National in Georgia tonight (AEST). 

Think of the Masters as the Wimbledon of golf: The tournament takes place at a stunning venue, is steeped in tradition, and is the one title every player wants above all others. 

This year, four Australians are in the field, with genuine reasons for optimism.

Min Woo Lee is Australia's best hope. The 27-year-old arrives in career-best form, having finished runner-up at Pebble Beach and third at the Houston Open, and is making his sixth Masters start. His best finish at Augusta is a tie for 14th from 2022, but his form this year could see him emerge as a genuine contender this weekend.

Jason Day makes his 16th appearance. The former world No. 1 was runner-up on his Masters debut in 2011 and has five career top-10s at Augusta. A top-six finish in Houston two weeks ago suggests his game is in good shape.

Adam Scott, 45, returns for his 25th start at the Masters. In 2013, Scott became the first Australian to win the green jacket (the trophy awarded to the Masters champion), and he is always a threat here.

Then there's Cameron Smith, who is playing his 10th Masters. Smith, who joined LIV Golf in 2022, produced four top-10s from his six starts before joining the Saudi-backed breakaway league.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy is chasing a feat only three players have managed: back-to-back Masters titles. The Northern Irishman’s victory last year saw him end an 11-year major championship drought and become the sixth men’s golfer to complete a career grand slam by winning all four major tournaments. 

England’s Justin Rose, who lost a playoff to McIlroy on the final hole last year, arrives having won a tournament in February by seven shots. American world No.1 Scottie Scheffler is the outright favourite, having won the Masters in 2022 and 2024.

You can watch the Masters on Kayo and Foxtel.

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A world-first study is about to test whether a new Australian-made piece of headgear can reduce concussion risk in contact sport. Leading scientists, however, are already questioning whether it will make a difference.

Monash University is set to begin a two-year, $800,000 study in the coming weeks, testing headgear called GameGear across 600 AFL and NRL players in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. The study will combine clinical assessments, biomechanics and blood-based biomarkers to measure the headgear's impact on concussion risk. Lead researcher Associate Professor Stuart McDonald told The Daily Aus that the trial is expected to conclude in late 2027.

GameGear is on sale for $215 and has become the first product to pass the AFL's new headgear standards. In the NRL, Manly Sea Eagles forward Jake Trbojevic, who had three notable concussions last season, has opted to wear the headgear in games.

Swinburne University's Professor Alan Pearce told the ABC that selling the headgear before the study's completion was "potentially dangerous", warning it could give players and parents a false sense of protection. Boston University's Dr Chris Nowinski also weighed in, pointing to the fact that American football produces the highest rates of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head impacts, of any sport in the world, despite its players wearing the most advanced headgear available.

CTE has been diagnosed post-mortem in several Australian footballers, including St Kilda's Danny Frawley, Richmond's Shane Tuck, and AFLW Adelaide Crows premiership player Heather Anderson.

Previous research into headgear has consistently found it does not prevent concussion. However, Prof.McDonald said  this study is designed differently. Past studies compared players who chose to wear headgear with those who did not, which introduced bias. Players with a history of concussion were more likely to choose headgear, skewing results.

This trial uses a cross-over design, meaning each player's outcomes will be measured both with and without the headgear,  effectively giving each participant their own control. Prof. McDonald said the study will also examine blood-based biomarkers and use instrumented mouthguards to measure head acceleration following collisions.

"The combination of these detailed outcomes are expected to provide a comprehensive assessment of the headgear's ability to reduce head acceleration and brain injury risk," he said.

Prof. McDonald also said GameGear’s thicker construction and “nodal impact attenuation” design may help reduce head acceleration more than earlier models. The design uses a pattern of nodes that help absorb and spread the force of impacts.

Concussion has become one of the most pressing issues in Australian contact sport, with growing scrutiny on how leagues and insurers are managing the long-term risks for players. 

More than 100 former AFL players are currently pursuing a class action in the Victorian Supreme Court, alleging the league was negligent in its handling of head injuries during their careers. 

Adding to concerns around player welfare, last month more than 500 current AFL players were informed their superannuation insurance will no longer cover head trauma from 1 May, after insurer Zurich told fund trustee AMP it could not sustain the volume of claims.

Answer: No, a squirrel did not run onto the court at the Monte Carlo Masters this week. On that note though, Alex de Minaur is playing in the Round of 16 tonight!