GREEN MAG

Chris Gotterup was on a roll when his fourth round at the WM Phoenix Open concluded Sunday. About an hour later, he picked up where he left off.

Gotterup posted a birdie on the first playoff hole after late mishaps by Japan's Hideki Matsuyama opened the door for him to win at TPC Scottsdale's Stadium Course in Arizona.

Gotterup, 26, notched his second victory of 2026 and the fourth of his young career. He shot a 7-under-par 64 and waited for a chance in a playoff.

"I just figured I'd stay loose," Gotterup said. "I didn't think this would happen, especially after Friday (71) and Saturday (70). But here we are."

Gotterup and Matsuyama ended up at 16-under 268 on a day when world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler made a strong move toward the top and created considerable buzz.

Gotterup has won three tour events in less than a seven-month span. This was his first time in a playoff.

"I'm having such a good time playing right now," Gotterup said. "Just so awesome. ... There's just so many people who believe in me."

Gotterup, who also won last month's season-opening Sony Open in Hawaii, posted birdies on five of the final six holes in the last round. The last of those came after he recovered from a wayward tee shot.

"I knew I had to make birdie on 18, but you never know," Gotterup said. "Hideki was playing great."

To end the fourth round, Matsuyama's erratic driving finally cost him. His tee shot on the 18th hole ended up in a bunker and his quest to scramble for par failed when he was off the mark on a 24-foot putt. He took his lone bogey of the round.

Then Matsuyama's tee shot on the playoff hole landed in the water alongside the fairway. Gotterup played it steady and recorded another birdie to seal the deal.

Two of Matsuyama's 11 victories on the PGA Tour have come in this tournament. He also won in 2016 and 2017, but he couldn't finish the quest this time.

"Was grinding all weekend," Matsuyama said through a translator. "Didn't have my best stuff, but hung in there. I wanted to avoid the playoff as much as I could, but I just hit a bad tee shot there in regulation at 18 and Chris made a good putt there in the playoff."

Matsuyama carried a one-shot lead on countryman Ryo Hisatsune into the final round.

Matsuyama was trying to win a fourth PGA Tour event in a 24-month period. This marked the sixth time that Matsuyama has been the outright leader through 54 holes on the PGA Tour, and he had won each of the previous five times. He overcame multi-stroke deficits to win the other times in this tournament, but he couldn't protect a lead Sunday.

Scheffler, who began his season two weeks earlier by winning The American Express, became the biggest story of the day for much of the round. He was within one shot of the lead through 15 holes, though he was playing several groups ahead of the last threesome. He finished with 64.

"The last three days I played really solid," Scheffler said, knowing Thursday's 73 cost him. "Overall, proud of the way I fought this week and definitely some good momentum going into next week."

Michael Thorbjornsen (67), Akshay Bhatia (67), South Korea's Si Woo Kim (68) and Denmark's Nicolai Hojgaard (68) shared third place with Scheffler at 15 under.

Scheffler played the front side in 3 under and then strung together three more birdies on Nos. 13-15. That included sinking a shot from the fringe about 72 feet away on the par-4 14th. He also birdied No. 17.

With Scheffler's round complete, Thorbjornsen briefly catapulted into the lead with an 11-foot eagle putt on No. 15. He gave one of those strokes back with a bogey on the next hole after launching his tee shot beyond the green on the par-3 hole.

Thorbjornsen, a 24-year-old seeking his first PGA Tour triumph, settled for his seventh finish in the top five. Hojgaard is also 24 and without a tour victory.

China's Zecheng Dou had the day's best round with 63, moving him to 11 under and tied for 13th.

--Field Level Media

MILAN — After adevastating crash just 13 seconds into her downhill run, Lindsey Vonn "sustained an injury" but is in stable condition, according to U.S. Ski & Snowboard.

Sunday's women's downhill emerged as the most anticipated event in these Olympics, mainly because of Vonn — first for her comeback from her 2019 retirement, thenfrom the torn ACL she suffered a little over a week ago. But her Olympic dreams vanished almost immediately into her run on Sunday morning. Her pole and shoulder caught a gate near the top of the mountain, spinning her sideways and sending her tumbling off the course. Her skis dug into the snow, twisting both knees and leaving her prone and bent on the hillside. According to the Associated Press, Vonn's mandatory air bag worn under her race suit did inflate. A helicopter arrived within 10 minutes to evacuate her from the course, and after about 20 minutes, the event continued.

Vonn was airlifted to Ca' Foncello Hospital in Treviso. "In the afternoon, she underwent orthopedic surgery to stabilize the fracture sustained in her left leg," the hospital said in a statement. She was initially taken to Cortina's Codivilla Putti Hospital for immediate treatment, and later moved to Treviso.

Vonn's teammateBreezy Johnson won gold, but the mood in Cortina in the wake of Vonn's crash was somber.

Advertisement

Vonn, 41, came into the Olympics as one of Team USA's biggest stars, thanks both to her longevity and her determination. She retired after the 2018 Olympics, betrayed by her body and unable to compete at a world-class level. But a 2024 partial knee replacement changed her entire future, allowing her to return to the slopes and work herself into Olympic shape.

She earned her way onto the U.S. team with an array of podium finishes and two World Cup victories. But just a week before the start of the Winter Olympics, Vonn ruptured her left ACL in Switzerland. She spoke at a press conference on Tuesday affirming her intention to compete, and posted respectable times in her two training runs.

The horrifying crashelicited reactions from peers and fans alike.

"It doesn't change anything about her legacy," said fellow American Jackie Wiles, who finished fourth. "She's a fighter, and that's the way that she's going to go out and ski every time."

BOSTON (AP) — Jalen Brunson scored 31 points and Josh Hart added 19 to help the New York Knicks beat the cold-shooting Boston Celtics 111-89 on Sunday.

Knicks Celtics Basketball

Karl-Anthony Towns had 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks, who never trailed over the final 42 minutes. Mikal Bridges (14 points) and recently acquired Jose Alvarado (12 points) rounded out the double-digit scorers for New York, which shot 14 of 45 (40%) from behind the 3-point line.

Jaylen Brown socred 26 points and Derrick White added 19 for the Celtics, who saw their five-game winning streak snapped, Baylor Scheierman started in place for the injured Sam Hauser and finished with 10 points, 13 rebounds and five assists.

Boston shot 37% for the game and was 7-of-41 (17.1%) from behind the arc.

The matchup pitted two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, with Boston entering with a one-game lead over New York for second place. They'll meet one more time during the regular season on April 9 in New York.

New York pushed its advantage to 85-68 entering the fourth quarter after closing the third on a 20-7 run. The lead kept growing when Brunson scored 10 straight points to give the Knicks a 23-point lead with four minutes left.

Advertisement

Boston revisited the "Hack-a-Robinson" tactic that was introduced during last spring's playoff meeting with the Knicks. A career 51% shooter from the free-throw line and connecting at a 38% clip this season, Mitchell Robinson had the last laugh when he went 2 of 2 at the line with 2:32 left in the third after the reserve big man clanked all four free throws he attempted during the first half.

The Knicks led 60-53 at halftime. Brunson had 19 points through two quarters, with 12 coming during the first. Boston trailed by as many as 17 points but made it a two-possession game entering the second half despite shooting 5 of 22 (22.7%) from 3-point range.

Knicks: Host Indiana on Tuesday night.

Celtics: Host Chicago on Wednesday night.

AP NBA:https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

By Renju Jose

SYDNEY, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Pro-Palestine demonstrators plan to rally in Sydney on Monday to protest the visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, as authorities ​declared his visit a major event and deployed thousands of police to manage the ‌crowds.

Police have urged the protesters to gather at a central Sydney park for public safety reasons, but protest organisers ‌said they plan to rally at the city's historic Town Hall instead.

Police have been authorised to use rarely invoked powers during the visit, including the ability to separate and move crowds, restrict their entry to certain areas, direct people to leave and search vehicles.

"We're hoping we won't have ⁠to use any powers, because we've ‌been liaising very closely with the protest organisers," New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna told Nine News on Monday.

"Overall, it is all ‍of the community that we want to keep safe ... we'll be there in significant numbers just to make sure that the community is safe."

About 3,000 police personnel will be deployed across Sydney, Australia's largest ​city.

Herzog is visiting Australia this week following an invitation from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ‌in the aftermath of the deadly shooting at Bondi Beach.

He is expected to meet survivors and the families of 15 people killed in the December 14 shooting during a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney's Bondi Beach.

In a statement, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-Chief Executive Alex Ryvchin said Herzog's visit "will lift the spirits of a pained community."

Herzog's visit has drawn opposition ⁠from pro-Palestine groups, with protests planned in major cities ​across Australia, and the Palestine Action Group has launched ​a legal challenge in a Sydney court against restrictions placed on the expected protests.

"A national day of protest will be held today, calling for the ‍arrest and investigation of Isaac ⁠Herzog, who has been found by the UN Commission of Inquiry to have incited genocide in Gaza," the Palestine Action Group said in a statement.

The Jewish Council of ⁠Australia, a vocal critic of the Israeli government, released an open letter on Monday signed by over 1,000 ‌Jewish Australian academics and community leaders, urging Albanese to rescind Herzog's invitation.

(Reporting by ‌Renju Jose in Sydney; editing by Diane Craft)

NEW YORK (AP) — The FBI collected ample proof thatJeffrey Epsteinsexually abused underage girls but found scant evidence the well-connected financier led a sex trafficking ring serving powerful men, an Associated Press review of internal Justice Department records shows.

Videos and photos seized from Epstein's homes in New York, Florida and the Virgin Islands didn't depict victims being abused or implicate anyone else in his crimes, a prosecutor wrote in one 2025 memo.

An examination of Epstein's financial records, including payments he made to entities linked to influential figures in academia, finance and global diplomacy, found no connection to criminal activity, said another internal memo in 2019.

Summarizing the investigation in an email last July, agents said "four or five" Epstein accusers claimed other men or women had sexually abused them. But, the agents said, there "was not enough evidence to federally charge these individuals."

The AP and other media organizations are still reviewingmillions of pages of documents, many of them previously confidential, that the Justice Department released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act and it is possible those records contain evidence overlooked by investigators.

Here are takeaways from what the documents show about the FBI investigation and why U.S. authorities ultimately decided to close it without additional charges.

Origins of the investigation

The Epstein investigation began in 2005, when the parents of a 14-year-old girl reported that she had been molested at the millionaire's home in Palm Beach, Florida. Then-Miami U.S. attorney Alexander Acostastruck a dealletting Epstein plead guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl. Sentenced to 18 months in jail, Epstein was free by mid-2009.

In 2018, a series of Miami Herald stories about the plea deal prompted federal prosecutors to take a fresh look at the accusations.

Epstein wasarrested in July of 2019. One month later, hekilled himselfin his jail cell.

A year later, prosecutors charged Epstein's longtime confidant,Ghislaine Maxwell, saying she'd recruited several of his victims and sometimes joined the sexual abuse. Convicted in 2021, Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison term.

Lack of evidence for coconspirators

Prosecution memos, case summaries and other documents made public in the department's latest release of Epstein-related records show that FBI agents and federal prosecutors diligently pursued potential coconspirators. Even seemingly outlandish and incomprehensible claims, called in to tip lines, were examined.

Some allegations couldn't be verified, investigators wrote.

In 2011 and again in 2019, investigators interviewedVirginia Roberts Giuffre, who in lawsuits and news interviews had accused Epstein of arranging for her to have sexual encounters with numerous men, including Britain's formerPrince Andrew.

Investigators said they confirmed that Giuffre had been sexually abused by Epstein. But other parts of her story were problematic.

Giuffre acknowledged writing a partly fictionalized memoir of her time with Epstein containing descriptions of things that didn't take place. She had also offered shifting accounts in interviews with investigators, they wrote.

Two other Epstein victims who Giuffre had claimed were also "lent out" to powerful men told investigators they had no such experience, prosecutors wrote in a 2019 internal memo.

Photos and video don't implicate others

Investigators seized a multitude of videos and photos from Epstein's electronic devices and homes in New York, Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands. They found CDs, hard copy photographs and at least one videotape containing nude images of females.

No videos or photos showed Epstein victims being sexually abused, none showed any males with any of the nude females, and none contained evidence implicating anyone other than Epstein and Maxwell, then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey wrote in an email for FBI officials last year.

Had they existed, the government "would have pursued any leads they generated," Comey wrote. "We did not, however, locate any such videos."

Investigators who scoured Epstein's bank records found payments to more than 25 women who appeared to be models — but no evidence that he was engaged in prostituting women to other men, prosecutors wrote.

Prosecutors weighed the possibility of charging some of Epstein's close associates, including an assistant and business clients, but ultimately decided against it because of lack of evidence.

No client list found

Attorney General Pam Bondi toldFox News in February 2025that Epstein's never-before-seen "client list" was "sitting on my desk right now." But FBI agents wrote superiors saying the client list didn't exist.

On Dec. 30, 2024, about three weeks before President Joe Biden left office, then-FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate reached out through subordinates to ask "whether our investigation to date indicates the 'client list,' often referred to in the media, does or does not exist," according to an email summarizing his query.

A day later, an FBI official replied that the case agent had confirmed no client list existed.

On Feb. 19, 2025, two days before Bondi's Fox News appearance, an FBI supervisory special agent wrote: "While media coverage of the Jeffrey Epstein case references a 'client list,' investigators did not locate such a list during the course of the investigation."

Aaron Kessler in Washington contributed to this report.

___ The AP is reviewing the documents released by the Justice Department in collaboration with journalists from CBS, NBC, MS NOW and CNBC. Journalists from each newsroom are working together to examine the files and share information about what is in them. Each outlet is responsible for its own independent news coverage of the documents.