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Remembering Manmohan Singh: Architect of India's Economic Reforms
Mark Almond: Will the Little Rocket Man now seize the chance to cause havoc?NASSAU, Bahamas — Scottie Scheffler birdied every hole but the par 3s on the front nine at Albany Golf Club on Friday and finished his bogey-free round with an 8-under 64 that gave him a two-shot lead in the Hero World Challenge. Two months off did nothing to slow the world's No. 1 player. Scheffler already has eight victories this year and is in position to get another before the end of the year. Scheffler was at 13-under 131, two ahead of Akshay Bhatia (66) and Justin Thomas (67), both of whom had to save par on the 18th hole to stay in range going into the weekend. Scheffler started with a lob wedge to 2 feet for birdie and never slowed until after he went out in 29 to seize control of the holiday tournament against a 20-man field. Scheffler cooled slightly on the back nine, except it didn't feel that way to him. "Front nine, just things were going my way. Back nine, maybe not as much," Scheffler said. "A couple shots could end up closer to the hole, a couple putts go in, just little things." Asked if he felt any frustration he didn't take it lower — he once shot 59 at the TPC Boston during the FedEx Cup playoffs — Scheffler sounded bemused. "I think in this game I think a lot of all y'all are looking for perfection out of us," he said. "Today I shot 8 under on the golf course, not something I hang my head about. A lot of good things out there — clean card, bogey-free, eight birdies. Overall, I think I'm pretty pleased." Thomas felt his 67 was stress-free, particularly the way he was driving the ball. The wind laid down again, rare for the Bahamas, though it is expected to pick up on the weekend. Thomas wasn't concerned to see Scheffler get off to a hot start, especially with three par 5s on the front nine and a short par 4 that at worst leaves a flip wedge to the green. "You literally can birdie every hole as soft as the greens are," Thomas said. "He's a great player, a great wedge player, and you have a lot of birdie holes to start. I'm honestly surprised he only shot 8 under. It's a sneaky course because if you fall asleep on some shots, you can get out of position. But if you're on and focused and really in control of everything — like these last two days with no wind — you can just make so many birdies." Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley had a 67 and was four shots behind. No matter how benign the conditions, it wasn't always easy. Cameron Young, who opened with a 64 for a two-shot lead, followed with a 75 despite making five birdies. That included a double bogey on the final hole when his approach tumbled down the bank into the rocks framing the lake that goes all the way down the 18th hole. Patrick Cantlay was trying to keep pace playing alongside Scheffler, but he had three bogeys over the final seven holes and fell seven shots behind with a 71. The tournament, hosted by Tiger Woods, is unofficial but offers world ranking points to all but the bottom three players because of the small field. It's the weakest field in 25 years, but Scheffler at No. 1 gives it enough cachet. He is the first player since Woods in 2009 to start and finish a year at No. 1 in the world. And even after a layoff — giving him time to tinker with a new putting stroke — it looks like it might be a while before anyone changes that. Get local news delivered to your inbox!
According to Bowen Yang , Sydney Sweeney was “game” for anything during her March 2024 viral “ SNL ” hosting gig. Yang said during First We Feast’s “Hot Ones” that he at first was concerned about the “Bowen Straight” sketch needing an intimacy coordinator. The skit has Sweeney finding out Yang is straight, and then having an affair with the openly queer cast member. Yet Sweeney assured Yang that “ Euphoria ” more than prepared her for their onscreen “SNL” intimate scene. “Pitching ‘Bowen Straight’ to Sydney Sweeney was really fun,” Yang said. “I just remember being like, ‘We’re going to need an intimacy coordinator for this and it’s going to be completely up to your comfort,’ and then she was like ‘Bowen, I’m on “Euphoria,” it’s not going to be anything.’ So that was really fun and she was so game for it and she was wonderful.” Sweeney will reprise her role of Cassie for “Euphoria” Season 3. Sweeney previously told Who What Wear that she is looking forward to returning to the series after a hiatus. “I actually like [the delay] because there’s so much room for growth for both me as a person and also Cassie as a character,” Sweeney said, while teasing of the upcoming storyline, “It’s going to be very, very wild.” “Euphoria” Season 3 will now go into production in January 2025 and consist of eight episodes. Meanwhile, Sweeney is also portraying boxer Christy Martin in David Michôd’s biopic, appears in Ron Howard’s “Eden,” and will transform into Kim Novak for Colman Domingo’s directorial debut “Scandalous” about the alleged romance between Novak and Sammy Davis Jr. Sweeney told Vanity Fair that her “SNL” monologue mocking her pinup appeal was part of her political statement about the faux feminism of Hollywood. “I actually had to push for a lot of it ,” she said of the monologue. “Some people were a little nervous about it, but in real life, I’d like to say I’m a funny person. And sometimes I wish that I could address more [things with] my ‘Syd’ self, but I find that with social media there’s such a lapse in how things are communicated. It’s hard to get things across in the way that you intend to — they can be misconstrued. So being able to do it onstage in very Syd fashion, I loved it. I felt like I was taking the power back.”Veterinary Surgical Instruments Market Size: Strong Growth Ahead (2024-2032)
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (AP) — Elijah Howard ran for 110 yards and scored two touchdowns, the Central Connecticut defense made seven interceptions, and the Blue Devils beat Duquesne 21-14 on Saturday to claim the Northeast Conference's automatic bid to the FCS playoffs. Howard provided the game-winning score by running it in from the 6, then threw the 2-point conversion to quarterback Brady Olson to cap the scoring with 13:44 left in the fourth quarter. The defense for the Blue Devils (7-5, 5-1) sealed the game when it stymied the Dukes (8-3, 5-1) on their final three possessions. Following Central Connecticut's last touchdown, Jalen Howard sacked Darius Perrantes on Duquesne’s first play and forced a fumble which the Blue Devils recovered. Central Connecticut failed to add to the lead when Jack Barnum missed a 40-yard field, but Duquesne turned it back over when Perrantes threw an end zone pick. The Blue Devils punted after six plays, but again, Duquesne saw another drive end with a Perrantes interception. Perrantes threw seven interceptions with three going to Christopher Jean, a pair to Davone Walden Jr. and one each to Deon McLean and Vincent Thomas. Duquesne secured at least a share of the NEC title for a conference record seventh time in program history with last week's win over Wagner. It was the second straight year the Dukes played a winner-take-all game for the NEC automatic bid on the road in the final week of the regular season. Last year they beat Merrimack 26-14 to win the NEC title outright. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP collegebasketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketballNone
GivingTuesday estimates $3.6B was donated this year, an increase from 2023
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