The final round of the Australian Open golf tournament was played yesterday in Melbourne.

South Korean former world number one Jiyai Shin won the women’s tournament and world no.954 American Ryggs Johnston took out the men’s title.

Ryggs already had a connection to Australia before becoming an Australian Open champion. He is reportedly named after Australian/American actor Mel Gibson’s character in the Lethal Weapon films, Martin Riggs — although the two are spelt differently.

15
The record number of tries scored by Australian women’s rugby star Maddison Levi at the Dubai 7s tournament on the weekend. Levi’s try-scoring heroics helped Australia to a fifth consecutive Dubai 7s title as they beat Olympic champions New Zealand in the final. The men’s team finished seventh.

“I still consider myself to be the guy from Bendigo that does a bit of running. It’s going to take me a while to process that I’m the Australian record holder.”
Australian marathon runner Andy Buchanan, who set an Australian record of 2:06:22 at the Valencia Marathon. The 33-year-old eclipsed Brett Robinson’s previous record by over a minute to become the first Australian to run under the 2:07 mark. Buchanan, who works as a teacher in Bendigo, finished 16th in a high-quality field and qualified for next year’s World Championships in Tokyo. 

Instead of a cheer squad, the Texas A&M University football team in the U.S. has Yell Leaders. The role of the five Yell Leaders is to ‘entertain and energise the crowd’. The tradition originated in the early 1900s when older students ordered the freshmen (first-years) to entertain a crowd that was becoming bored with the match. The Yell Leaders wear white coveralls and use hand signals called “pass-backs” to direct the crowd. 

🏉 The Wallabies were beaten 22-19 by Ireland in the final Autumn International of the year. The Irish came from behind to claim victory in front of the crowd at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, where the home side was celebrating its 150th anniversary. Of four matches in the Northern Hemisphere, the Wallabies finished with two wins and two losses. Australian rugby fans will now eagerly await the British and Irish Lions Tour, set to begin in July next year. 

⚽ The Matildas lost 2-1 in the second of two friendlies against Brazil. Despite some stunning saves from Australian keeper Teagan Micah, the visitors scored the opening two goals in the 29th and 40th minute. After a superb cross from Caitlin Foord, Hayley Raso put the Matildas on the scoreboard in the 42nd minute. However, Australia couldn’t find an equaliser before the final whistle. The Aussies will now turn their attention to two upcoming fixtures against world no.41 Taiwan. 

🏉 Laurie Daley has signed a two-year deal to coach New South Wales in State of Origin. The appointment comes after Michael Maguire left the role to take up a job with the Brisbane Broncos. It will be Daley’s second stint as the Blues coach after leading the side between 2013 and 2017. NSW also announced that NRLW Roosters coach John Strange will take over from Kylie Hilder as coach of the Sky Blues, the NSW women’s team. 

🏏 The Melbourne Renegades won their first Women’s Big Bash League title on Sunday, defeating the Brisbane Heat by seven runs. West Indies star Hayley Matthews was the Player of the Match, scoring 69 runs and taking two wickets. The Heat’s target was reduced due to rain delays at the MCG, but the Renegades’ bowling was too clinical. The men’s competition begins on 15 December. 

⚽ Edoardo Bove, a footballer who plays for Fiorentina in the Italian Serie A competition, is in a medically induced coma after collapsing during a match. According to reports the 22-year-old fell to the ground while bending down to tie his shoelace. He was stretchered off the field and the match between Fiorentina and Inter Milan was abandoned. 

Max Verstappen has backed up last week’s World Title victory with a win at the Qatar Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver finished ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on the podium. Next week’s Abu Dhabi GP will be the last race of the season.

Verstappen started in second but moved into the lead on the first corner, overtaking Mercedes’ George Russell. The Dutchman was pushed by McLaren’s Lando Norris until the Brit was handed a 10-second penalty for failing to slow down for a yellow flag (safety car). Verstappen was untroubled for the remainder of the race and took his season’s win tally to nine.

The Constructor’s Championship (team title) is still up for grabs, with McLaren leading Ferrari by 21 points ahead of the season’s final race. McLaren has not won the Constructors since 1998.

Verstappen said: “Lando and I were just within 1.8s of each other the whole time, pushing each other and honestly it was a lot of fun out there. This track has a lot of grip and this year the tyres were really holding on so that was honestly a lot of fun to be really pushing the tyre. We went really long on that first stint.”

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The North Melbourne Kangaroos won the 2024 AFLW Premiership on Saturday beating the Brisbane Lions 39-9. The Kangaroos had a near-perfect season, remaining undefeated and becoming the first professional Australian rules team to do so. The final victory marked the Kangaroos’ first title, having joined the competition in 2019. 

In a rematch of last year’s Grand Final, which the Lions won, the Kangaroos scored the opening three goals of the match and never looked back. The Roos held the Lions to just one goal all game. Kangaroos star Jasmine Garner was named Best on Ground with the midfielder recording 35 disposals, the most ever in an AFLW Grand Final. Alice O'Loughlin also starred for the winners, kicking three of the six goals. 

Libby Birch also nabbed some history of her own, becoming the first player in the AFL or AFLW to win three premierships with three different clubs. 

This year’s edition of the AFLW Grand Final was the first to be played at night, with the first bounce at 7:45pm at Ikon Park in Melbourne. A sellout crowd of over 12,000 were in attendance.  

Kangaroos coach Darren Crocker said: "I feel relief, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a little bit of weight of expectation coming into tonight. I would have never said it to the players or the people around me but to go through a season undefeated to this point, to have made a grand final last year and be in front at three-quarter time and get overrun."

Lions coach Craig Starcevich said: "Pretty disappointed, obviously, but full of admiration for the opposition to be honest… What I saw in the first half today was the best footy I've ever seen in the AFLW, to be honest. And we were on the receiving end just trying to keep our heads above water to be competitive."

ICYMI: TDA Sport has a new game on Instagram called Blurdle. IYKYK.
Today’s answer: Harry Potter
Useless clue: Wizard

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