Luke Donald unsurprisingly kept faith with his history-making foursomes pairings as Europe looked to extend their lead on day two of the Ryder Cup.

After enjoying an unprecedented clean sweep of the opening session, the home side also staged three dramatic comebacks in the afternoon fourballs to ensure the United States failed to win a match in a day’s play for the first time.

The resulting five-point lead equalled the largest in the contest’s history, a margin most recently achieved at Oakland Hills in 2004, when US captain Hal Sutton disastrously paired Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson twice on day one.

Donald’s only change was to send Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood out first, against Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, with Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton switched to match four against Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.

Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg remained in match two against world number one Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka, with Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka taking on Max Homa and Open champion Brian Harman.

United States captain Zach Johnson had kept two foursomes pairs together despite the opening whitewash, although his hand had no doubt been forced by an illness spreading through the team.

“There’s been some unforeseen things that we’ve had to navigate around, which is really unfortunate, in the sense of health,” Johnson said.

“It’s not an excuse because we have depth but I’ll just say I’m grateful we have a team doctor. Guys are fighting and playing regardless.

“It’s one of those where sometimes the energy is probably a little low, but the ability and desire to go out and play is still there.”

Jose Abreu hit a two-run double that was nearly a three-run homer and Jose Urquidy delivered as an emergency starter to lift the Houston Astros to a 2-1 win over Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday.

The game remained scoreless until the sixth when Alex Bregman hit a one-out infield single, and Kyle Tucker singled one out later.

Abreu drilled a pitch from Zac Gallen deep to center that was initially called a three-run home run before video replay showed the ball hitting the line on the wall, resulting in a 2-0 Houston lead.

The hero for the Astros turned out to be Urquidy, who was called on to start in place of scheduled starter J.P. France, scratched due to a family emergency.

Urquidy, who has been used out of the bullpen since his last start on Aug 23, limited Arizona to two hits over six innings with three walks and two strikeouts.

Phil Maton and Hector Neris each worked one scoreless inning and Ryan Pressly gave up Gabriel Moreno’s RBI double in the ninth before getting Jace Peterson on a game-ending groundout.

The Astros pulled within one game of AL West-leading Texas and remained one game ahead of Seattle in the race for the final wild card.

Arizona still holds the second NL wild card but had its lead over Miami cut to one-half game with Cincinnati and the Cubs both two games behind.

Gallen failed in a bid to become the majors’ second 18-game winner, allowing two runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings with one walk and seven strikeouts.

Crawford hits slam as Mariners keep playoff hopes alive

J.P. Crawford hit a grand slam and Ty France and Josh Rojas also homered as the Seattle Mariners stayed in the thick of the playoff race with an 8-0 rout of the Texas Rangers.

Seattle has won three or four following a four-game skid to remain one game behind Houston in the race for the final AL wild card.

The Mariners are still alive in the AL West, sitting two games behind Texas and one behind Houston with two games remaining.

The Rangers remained a victory away or Astros loss away from securing a playoff berth. There also remains the possibility of a three-way tie for the division title.

Bryan Woo pitched out of trouble to keep Texas scoreless through 3 2/3 innings and five relievers finished up with the final four keeping the Rangers hitless.

Blue Jays on brink of playoff spot

Alejandro Kirk homered and drove in three runs and Bo Bichette had four hits as the Toronto Blue Jays moved a step closer to the postseason with an 11-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Brandon Belt and Matt Chapman also went deep for the Blue Jays, who maintained a one-game lead over Houston.

Toronto can clinch a wild card with a win or a loss by Seattle over the next two days.

The Blue Jays took control with three runs in the third – two scoring on Kirk’s single – and extended to a 6-1 lead with three more runs in the fourth.

Belt led off with a home run and Bichette and Cavan Biggio singled and scored when center fielder Manuel Margot let the ball roll under his glove all the way to the wall.

Europe captain Luke Donald insisted his side would not rest on their laurels after claiming a record-equalling five-point lead on the opening day of the 44th Ryder Cup.

After enjoying an unprecedented clean sweep of the opening session, the home side also staged three dramatic comebacks in the afternoon fourballs to ensure the United States failed to win a single match in a day for the first time.

“Unbelievable start, historic day, but we want it to be an historic week so the job is certainly not done,” Donald said.

“We will all celebrate an amazing day, but we’ll be back with the goal of trying to win tomorrow morning’s session. We’ll be getting our guys focused to be back in the saddle, so to speak.

“We’ll enjoy the last hour [of play] and the celebration, but once I’m back at the hotel we’ll have a team meeting and we’ll be back to business.”

Donald was well aware that the United States could easily have ended the day just 5-3 behind as they were ahead in three of the fourballs on the closing stretch, only for Jon Rahm to finish eagle, par, eagle and Viktor Hovland to hole from 20 feet for birdie on the 18th.

Justin Rose then also birdied the last to ensure the five-point advantage and match Europe’s lead at Oakland Hills in 2004, when US captain Hal Sutton disastrously paired Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson twice on the opening day.

His partner Nicolai Hojgaard had driven the green on the short 16th, but Rahm decided to chip in anyway for an eagle to win the hole.

Top statistician Justin Ray sums up the historic nature of day one.

Brooks Koepka was not happy with Jon Rahm after the Spaniard finished eagle, par, birdie to snatch half a point.

0635 Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood v Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth

0650 Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg v Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka

0705 Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka v Max Homa and Brian Harman

0720 Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton v Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele

Saturday and Sunday will feature sunny skies with a few afternoon clouds building up over the mountains along with temperatures near 30 degrees centigrade (85F) each afternoon. No rain is expected through the period.

Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray said he wants Sky Bet Championship teams to feel his side’s attacking threat after they beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 at Hillsborough to move up to fourth in the table.

A Dan Ballard header and two goals from Jack Clarke, the second a penalty,  ensured the Black Cats’ victory in a little more than half an hour.

Mowbray said: “We needed to start fast, we were mindful of our last away game at Blackburn. Tonight we started fast and gave ourselves a great platform to go on.

“To get three goals before half-time was great. The only thing, and I said it in the dressing room, I was a little disappointed we didn’t go on and score more.

“They are a young group of lads and they have to learn. I can’t really complain; to come away and score three goals is good.

“But you always feel in this stadium that one goal goes in and you never know, so we talked about not giving them chances and it wasn’t until the last few minutes that they had any.

“If anything, we had to let them feel our threat more in the second half and be more clinical; score some more goals. I want every team to fear us and sit players behind the ball as a result.

“We were happy to keep the ball but moving forward, I would like other teams in this league to feel our threat – that if they get it wrong we are going to score.

“Of course, it’s about winning but the bigger picture is I want us to be an even better team and when teams aren’t quite right, we can really damage them.

“But it’s another three goals away from home for the third time on the bounce, so we just have to keep rolling.”

Wednesday boss Xisco Munoz apologised to supporters, with his side making the joint-worst start after nine games in Championship history.

Munoz said: “We started so badly and everyone is disappointed. This is the level we are at and after the second goal the game was done. In the second half we had some better moments but not enough.

“In the first half an hour we have three shots and they have three shots but they score the goals. We need to change the dynamic and be better in the final third.

“We changed systems and we changed players. We continued to try to find solutions and we tried to take risks after the second goal but it’s very hard to react the way we want to.

“We need to try to change a lot of things and my way is to try to find solutions. To get results you need to earn them but it was impossible after the first half.

“The results are very poor, that’s clear. But if you ask me if we have improved since I arrived, then yes. It’s not easy and we need to manage the pressure.”

Wednesday are in disarray off the field, with chairman Dejphon Chansiri releasing a statement earlier in the day stating he would be putting no additional money into the club.

Munoz added: “I can’t speak about the chairman; my job is the football side of things and the focus is on the players.

“To the fans, I’m so sorry. I’ve been under pressure since the first day. It’s a big challenge but I will continue to fight every day.”

Mark Selby prevailed in a final-frame decider to see off Jack Lisowski and reach the semi-finals of the Cazoo British Open.

The four-time world champion trailed 2-0 but it was nip and tuck thereafter before Selby held his nerve to come through 5-4.

A break of 98 in the third frame got Selby on the board and he made it three frames in a row with a 132 to take the lead.

But Lisowski twice managed to level the contest before a break of 65 in a total of 103 carried Selby over the line to set up last-four clash with Xiao Guodong, who defeated Tom Ford 5-3.

The afternoon session in Cheltenham saw Mark Williams ease to a 5-1 victory over China’s Fan Zhengyi.

Looking for his first ranking event victory since British Open success two years ago, the Welshman produced two centuries in a one-sided encounter.

Williams next faces Iran’s Hossein Vafaei, who was a 5-2 winner against tour rookie He Guoqiang.

The San Francisco Giants have fired manager Gabe Kapler after missing the playoffs for the third time in his four-year tenure, the organisation announced Friday.

The move is a full reversal from the public vote of confidence given last month by chairman Greg Johnson and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, making Kapler appear to be a lock in the dugout in 2024.

At the time, the Giants were in position for a wild card spot in the NL playoffs but have since been eliminated from post-season consideration and are in danger of finishing below .500 unless they sweep their final series of the season. 

Zaidi appeared on local radio station KNBR Thursday, and his comments signalled a change of heart.

“I just think we have to look at everything," Zaidi said during the interview. “There's a time and place for everything. One hundred sixty-two games is a grind. We want our players to be comfortable being able to wash off those tough losses.

“But when you’re in do-or-die games, like we were in Arizona, you want them to feel different. I think we’re really going to have to ask ourselves if we were prepared to sort of elevate our level of focus in play for those games that really matter down the stretch.”

Entering play Friday, the Giants have lost 10 of their last 13 games, including a pair against division rival and fellow wild-card hopeful Arizona on Sept. 19-20. The combined score of those games was 15-5.

The Giants are 29-40 since the All-Star break.

Kapler, 48, was 456-411 as manager in San Francisco and helped the team win a franchise-record 107 games in 2021. The Giants’ reward for a historic season was facing the 106-win Los Angeles Dodgers in the Divisional round, and Kapler’s squad was eliminated in a Game 5 nail-biter.

“Gabe led our team through an unprecedented pandemic in 2020 and a franchise-record 107 wins and post-season berth in 2021,” Zaidi said in a statement Friday. “He has been dedicated and passionate in his efforts to improve the on-field performance of the San Francisco Giants and I have tremendous respect for him as a colleague and friend.”

Before arriving in San Francisco, Kapler managed the Philadelphia Phillies for two seasons with a 161-163 combined record and no play-off appearances.

New Zealand captain Ardie Savea expressed his pride after the All Blacks demolished Italy at the Rugby World Cup.

An opening defeat by France that put their quarter-final hopes in jeopardy was forgotten as they ran in 14 tries in Lyon, eventually winning 96-17.

Savea told ITV1: “Not just myself but all the boys that played tonight, to put that effort in, I’m very proud.

“We’ve got talent across the board. We hadn’t really clicked but tonight we played some free rugby and that’s how I want my boys to play. We put a lot into this week and we got the rewards tonight.”

Centre Jordie Barrett added: “It’s massively satisfying. We didn’t start the tournament the way we wanted to but we put a few things in place and a step in the right direction tonight.”

He is not getting carried away about the All Blacks’ chances in the tournament as a whole, though, saying: “We’re one day at a time. I know it sounds cliche but we nailed our preparation for this game.

“We’ve got Uruguay in front of us in six days’ time so we’re not going to treat our preparation any differently and anything further than that is a bonus.”

Italy now face the prospect of having to beat France to have any chance of reaching the last eight, and fly-half Tommaso Allan felt his side contributed heavily to their downfall.

“When you give so many penalties away against New Zealand and they keep playing in your half, they’re going to keep scoring,” he said. “We lost all our scrums, lost all our line-outs really, so it’s just tough to start from that.

“We talked at half-time about trying to get some confidence for next week. We know it’s going to be as tough as this if not tougher. We’ve just got to stick together now. Start from scratch, don’t even think about this game, throw it in the bin.”

Mikel Arteta believes Basque food is the secret behind the success of a string of managers from the region.

The Arsenal manager is one of a number of coaches born in the area of northern Spain to make a name for himself on the touchline.

He will come up against another on Saturday in the shape of Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola, a former childhood team-mate of Arteta.

Aston Villa’s Unai Emery was also born in the Basque Country – as were Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso and former Wolves, Spain and Real Madrid manager Julen Lopetegui.

Now Arteta has discussed why he feels such a small area is responsible for creating such success.

“The food! We have the best food in the world. The best restaurants by square metre, the most beautiful city,” he said.

“It has to be linked to that — what we eat, the way we live. The quality of life in our city is incredible. I think it is related to our roots. The education, the passion about the game. You breathe it within the city. You breathe it everywhere you go.

“We played on the beach. You go there on a Saturday or Sunday and there are 300 kids playing on the beach.

“You sense that in the city. It is not just about now, because in the past they always produced coaches and good players. Somebody is doing the right thing.

“When I said the food I was not joking. It is the way they look after the city. The education, the people.

“Finding the quality and I am really really proud that I see a lot of people — not only in sport, in other industries as well — that manage to get out and promote our city in the right way.

“I think it’s the education that we get. It’s the level of coaching that we get, they really take care of the academy.

“You have seen Real Sociedad, Athletic Bilbao, Eibar all those teams do great work to raise talent and it’s not a coincidence that a lot of players have come through there.”

While Arteta and Iraola go way back, the Arsenal boss insists there will be no room for niceties come 3pm on Saturday.

“Very easy. You are in winning mode,” he replied when asked how easy it will be to put aside their friendship at the Vitality Stadium.

“Get the best for your team and get in the battle. Before and after is a different story, especially after, but during there is nothing there.

“He was really excited to come. He was really complimentary about the club and the support he was getting with players and staff. He was happy to be part of the league.

“We know each other really well. We played together, we had fantastic times together. We played together in Antiguoko, which is a team in San Sebastian – that’s the beauty of football that 30 years later we are here together in the Premier League as managers. I’m really happy for that.”

Pep Guardiola believes changes to gruelling playing schedules will only happen when players themselves take action.

The Manchester City boss pointed to the example of the Spain’s women’s team and the changes that have occurred at the country’s football federation after its now-former president Luis Rubiales kissed forward Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the medal ceremony after they won the World Cup in August.

At his press conference ahead of City’s Premier League trip to Wolves on Saturday, Guardiola was asked about comments made by Burnley manager Vincent Kompany, his former captain, who said appearances within a season should be capped for top players.

Guardiola said: “I would say every idea that you reduce a little bit the amount of games for the players would be nice. But there’s not going to be change.

“There is only one solution to change something – the players decide for themselves, (to say), ‘Stop, we have to change something’. And after, FIFA and UEFA will maybe react a little bit.

“This business, the show must go on. Without Pep? Keep going. But without the players, the show will not go on, that’s for sure. So it depends on them, they decide if they accept.

“Look what happened in Spain with the women’s team. The players decided they had to change something and they changed it. They did it. The best legacy they have done is that.

“The women’s team in Spain did it. I don’t know (if), in world football, the men’s, they are able to do it.”

He added: “When we have a break it has to be a proper break. This is my point of view.

“I always use the example of the NBA. They play 80 games in a few months but then have three or four months off. You can regenerate. Then after, full (on).

“The problem here is it is full (on) and after we have three weeks off. For me it’s a lot. But it’s my personal opinion.

“I don’t want to influence, because I’m not going to influence anyone. I think it has to be the players. If the players want to change something, they are the only ones who can do it.”

Saturday’s match at Molineux could see Matheus Nunes face his old club after leaving Wolves to join City last month.

It was reported at the time that Nunes had stopped training with the midlands outfit ahead of the move, but Guardiola said on Friday: “When I spoke to him…he said to me, ‘I never, never, ever said I’m not going to train’.”

On the reception Nunes might receive from the crowd on Saturday, Guardiola added: “Hopefully he is strong to accept the situation.”

Guardiola was also asked for his thoughts on the allegations surrounding his old club Barcelona.

In March, Spanish prosecutors filed a complaint and UEFA announced it was opening an investigation into Barca after it was reported the club had made payments to companies owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice-president of Spain’s referees committee, between 2001 and 2018.

Police on Thursday searched the headquarters of the committee in relation to the case. Barcelona deny any wrongdoing.

Guardiola, who was Barcelona boss from 2008 to 2012, said: “Wait and see…let the justice, the process (run).

“So far what I heard…I didn’t see or read, because I’m out of that, but I didn’t see Barcelona really, really, really, really pay a referee to take a benefit. I didn’t see that, I didn’t read it.

“That’s why I want to wait before have an opinion, because Barcelona is going to defend what they have to do, and we will see.

“What I’m pretty sure is when Barcelona won, it was because they were better than the opponents. That I’m pretty convinced about right now – in our day.

“We won because we were far better than our rivals. And when they were not, they don’t win, they lose. But justice will decide what really happened.”

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has acknowledged Liverpool’s trophy-laden era during the 1970s’ and 1980s’ planted the seeds for him to become a manager.

Postecoglou has made no secret of his childhood love for Liverpool and recalled on several occasions how he used to watch matches in the early hours of the morning in Australia with his dad Jim.

Kenny Dalglish was an early hero for the 58-year-old and he believes watching the teams of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley win European Cups helped shape his pathway to a coaching career that has seen him manage across the globe.

“I was just consumed by football,” Postecoglou reflected ahead of Saturday’s visit of Liverpool.

“I’ve said before, it wasn’t just playing the game. My infatuation was with all the game, I wanted to read about it all and yeah I was fascinated by the culture at a club like Liverpool.

“The Boot Room, Shankly, Paisley, and Ronnie Moran, all those guys because I just loved reading about it. Just as I was interested reading about Sir Alex (Ferguson) or Jock Stein.

“It seemed that even at a young age I had a real fascination with managers and people of influence within the game because I loved the game.

“We all as kids have something we love and takes us away from the world we were in and that was my world. I just loved reading about the history of football clubs and the great people within them.

“Certainly Liverpool at the time there was always a unique story there about this mythical boot room where all the magic happened. For me it was almost like reading fairytales all the time.

“Obviously that has an influence, yeah it does because that’s where all the seeds are planted, my love for the game.”

Dalglish would have been the Liverpool player on Postecoglou’s wall as a child, but he was quick to point out that is no longer the case.

He added: “I was mad about Kenny Dalglish. Everything was about Dalglish for me, whether that was Celtic or Liverpool. I was a mad Kenny fan.

“It was just about that time when I was what 12, 13 and you know we look for heroes in our lives. He was it for me, scoring in European Cup finals and the way he played.

“Like any kid, I had the posters up on my wall, so Liverpool was my team, but you grow up, things change. I used to love Happy Days back then too, but I don’t have pictures of the Fonz on my wall today either!”

Postecoglou has plenty of respect for this current Liverpool team and their manager Jurgen Klopp, who will pose a huge test to the Australian’s lengthy unbeaten home record in league matches.

You have to go back to 2020, when Postecoglou was in charge of Yokohama, for the last time he lost a home league fixture – when Kashima won in the J1 League.

A dramatic stoppage-time turnaround against Sheffield United a fortnight ago made it 50 home league matches without defeat for the former Celtic boss, but he knows Liverpool will test that run.

“Over those 50 games I’ve had some big tests, I’ve had some good teams, to be fair,” Postecoglou admitted.

“I put a lot of stock in home form because that’s the time where you can give your supporters, who you know are going to be the majority in the stadium, that feeling you want to give them, of experiencing their team winning a game of football.

“I put a lot of stock in that. It’s 50 games against all types of opposition, different types of circumstances.

“There would have been games in there where we were down to 10 men, there would have been games where we would have been down. Well, two weeks ago in the 95th minute.

“There are always tests to go for that long. I’ve probably been lucky along the way too.”

New Zealand lit the touchpaper on their Rugby World Cup campaign with a 14-try hammering of Italy.

Defeat by France had left the All Blacks at risk of missing out on the quarter-finals but there appears no chance of that after a 96-17 romp in Lyon.

Aaron Smith scored a hat-trick of tries in the first half while lock Sam Whitelock came off the bench in the second half to overtake Richie McCaw as the most-capped All Black in Test history with his 149th appearance.

Italy would have dumped New Zealand out of the competition with a win but that never looked remotely on the cards from the moment in the sixth minute when Beauden Barrett launched a perfect cross-field kick for Will Jordan, who performed a leaping touchdown in the corner.

Tommaso Allan got Italy on the board early with a penalty but the rest of the first half was a horror show as Smith crossed three times, Ardie Savea twice and Mark Telea once, with the line-out proving particularly profitable.

Richie Mo’unga converted all seven first-half tries and nine in total, missing only his 10th attempt before being substituted.

Trailing 49-3 at half-time, Italy came out strongly for the second half and scored their first try in the 48th minute, Ange Capuozzo showing his speed in the corner.

But the All Blacks went straight down the other end and crossed again, Brodie Retallick applying the finish touch after Scott Barrett had charged down an attempted clearance.

Cam Roigard was denied a try after he was deemed to have made a double movement but moments later Dalton Papali’i notched the All Blacks’ ninth score.

They were approaching a century as Dane Coles twice, Damian McKenzie, Jordan and Anton Lienert-Brown all scythed through the Italian defence.

The final word went to Italy through Montanna Ioane’s try but this was emphatically the All Blacks’ night.

Ben Earl may be taking his debut World Cup by storm but Maro Itoje insists his England team-mate raised eyebrows when he first arrived at Saracens.

Earl has emerged as one of England’s top performers during their canter into the quarter-finals with a group game to spare and he is competing with Billy Vunipola to start at number eight against Samoa on Saturday week.

The dynamic back row was repeatedly overlooked by Eddie Jones despite being crowned Premiership Player of the season in 2022 and even under Steve Borthwick his 2023 Six Nations was cut short, with instructions to work on aspects of his game.

It was not until the World Cup warm-up fixture against Wales at Twickenham last month that he was finally picked in the starting XV – three-and-a-half years after making his Test debut off the bench.

Now his reputation is soaring through his potent carrying, impact in attack and spirited on-field celebrations – a far cry from the 18-year-old Itoje first encountered in 2016.

“When Ben came to Saracens I thought ‘who the hell is this guy?’ He probably didn’t give the best first impression!” Itoje said.

“He was a young guy from Tonbridge and he had this floppy, public school hair. He was very sure of himself!

“He’s always been a nice guy, but you just thought ‘who the hell’s this guy?’ But he’s been great and he’s worked at his game.

“He hasn’t had a linear path. He’s had bumps, peaks and troughs along the way and he’s grown and grown and grown into the player that he is today.

“Some of the stuff he’s doing for England now we’ve been seeing for a while at Saracens. And he’s only 25, so he’s only going to get better.

“He’s got great physical attributes but he’s also very attentive, he wants to learn and he wants to improve.

“Through his journey you’ve seen the toughness and the ruggedness to his spirit that he’s kept on persevering.

“No doubt he would have been a bit gutted because he would have thought he was playing really well and was deserving of a place, but for whatever reason he wasn’t getting a look-in.

“But he’s stayed consistent with his performances and he’s always had a great mindset and attitude.

“If you’re consistent over a period of time, even when the proverbial tunnel looks dark, there is light there and he’s shown that. We’re only just beginning to see the fruits of his labour.”