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Golf: Rory McIlroy (picture) played a round with US President Donald Trump last weekend as he continues his recovery from a rib injury. The world number three has not played competitively since suffering a stress fracture to one of his ribs during the South African Open in January, where he lost a play-off to Graeme Storm. The website ‘No Laying Up’ reported that McIlroy rode in a golf cart for all 18 holes with Trump and quoted the four-time major winner’s opinion on the President’s game. “He probably shot around 80. He’s a decent player for a guy in his 70s,” McIlroy said.
Rugby Union: Former New Zealand flyhalf Dan Carter has lost his sponsorship contract with Land Rover after failing a drink-driving test in France last week. The three-times World Player of the Year, who plays in France’s Top League for the Racing club, signed as a brand ambassador for the Jaguar Land Rover brand last year. “Over the last few days my management and I have had to front up to my sponsors,” Carter wrote on his Facebook page yesterday. “Not surprisingly, Land Rover, who for good reason have zero tolerance towards drink driving, have ended their relationship with me.”
Basketball, NBA: Sacramento Kings general manager Vlade Divac said on Monday that the team moved quickly to trade All Star DeMarcus Cousins after receiving a better offer two days earlier. Cousins learned shortly after Sunday’s All Star Game that he had been shipped to New Orleans in a five-player blockbuster deal that left many scratching their heads at Sacramento’s decision. “When I realized this was going to be the best offer now moving forward I had to pull the trigger,” Divac said. “Most likely we would get less (if we waited), because I had a better deal two days ago.”
Horse Racing: Former Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Charismatic died unexpectedly over the weekend. Charismatic, whose bid for the 1999 Triple Crown ended when he fractured his leg near the finish line in the Belmont Stakes, died Sunday at a thoroughbred retirement farm in Kentucky. Charismatic was found dead in his stall at Old Friends farm near Georgetown. The cause of the 21-year-old stallion’s death was not immediately known but a necropsy will be performed.
Tennis: Great Britain’s Davis Cup quarter-final against France will be played on indoor clay in Rouen, the French Tennis Federation has announced. Andy Murray is expected to return for the tie at Rouen’s Palais des Sports, having sat out Britain’s 3-2 victory over Canada in the World Group first round earlier this month. The tie will be contested over the weekend beginning April 7, five days after the Miami Open, which is played outdoors on hard courts. If Murray were to go far in Miami, it would leave the world number one little time to adjust to the change of surface.