Spain crowned Women's World Cup champs under incredible circumstances. Preseason Week 2 winners and losers

Spain v England: Final - FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023

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Happy Monday, everyone!

Let's get right to it.

🏆 Good morning to everyone but especially ...

THE SPAIN WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM ...

They reached the top of the mountain, and yet, it may only be the beginning. Spain defeated England, 1-0, on the strength of a wonderful 29th-minute strike by Olga Carmona to win the nation its first Women's World Cup. Sadly, after the match, she was informed that her father died before the start of the match.

For Spain, it's a marvelous accomplishment when you consider that the federation has yet to truly invest in women's soccer ... which means there could be even better days ahead.

Spain didn't even make its own women's league professional until 2021, and according to reports, the Royal Spanish Football Federation spent just 1% of its budget on the women's game as recently as 2014.
Spain first qualified for the World Cup in 2015 and had never been past the round of 16 before this year.
In September 2022, 15 players asked not to be called up to the national team due to several issues, including some regarding the coaching staff. While concessions were made and the environment seemingly improved to some degre, several top players still declined to make themselves eligible.
That tension was on clear and obvious display after Spain's triumph with players icing out coach Jorge Vilda from their celebrations. Vilda was booed both before and after the match.
Spain also won the whole thing despite missing two-time Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas, who tore her ACL. Sandra Herrera explained how Aitana Bonmati, who won the Golden Ball for best player in the tournament, stepped up in Putellas' absence.

The Spanish women also hold the U-20 and U-17 World Cup trophies currently, making it easy to see why La Roja are atop Sanda's way-too-early 2027 Women's World Cup Power Rankings.

Herrera: "The world champions showed up and stepped out on the biggest stage. They did it all through discourse and disagreement with their federation and coaching staff. Aitana Bonmati, Jenni Hermoso and Salma Paralluelo are all stars in different phases of their career who came together to make history at a crucial time."

The United States, meanwhile, sit far from the top in Sandra's rankings.

... AND A GOOD MORNING TO VIKTOR HOVLAND AS WELL

They say that in order to be the best, you have to beat the best. Not only did Viktor Hovland beat the best golf has to offer Sunday, he beat the best score Olympia Fields had ever seen. Hovland shot a course-record 61 to surge to the BMW Championship title, setting the record for lowest final round in a FedEx Cup Playoff event in the process.

Hovland got red-hot on the back nine with seven birdies and zero bogeys for a jaw-dropping 28. He's the first player to shoot 28 or lower on the final nine to win a PGA Tour event since Kevin Streelman did it at the 2014 Travelers Championship.
Hovland punctuated the performance with a masterful 18th hole in which he hit his 158-yard approach to less than 7 feet and made the birdie putt to take the outright lead over Scottie Scheffler, who was a few holes behind. Scheffler then bogeyed 17 to fall two back where he tied for second along with Matt Fitzpatrick.
Hovland gets a massive payday and moves all the way up to second in the FedEx Cup standings, only behind Scheffler. As such, Hovland will start the Tour Championship later this week at 8 under. Scheffler will start at 10 under. You can see where all 30 golfers will start here.

After a nervous afternoon, Jordan Spieth will be in the field at the Tour Championship. Following a rollercoaster back nine, Spieth had to wait out several golfers to see whether he'd move onto Atlanta. He's the 29th man in and will start the event at even par.

Back to Hovland for a second because he was tremendous, writes Patrick McDonald.

McDonald: "Hovland's performance is one for the memory banks. Not often does everything go right for a player with the right skillset at the right stage of the tournament. It's only possible if said player continues to make the right decisions, and while it may seem like those decisions came easy, like the birdies did, it took time, patience and practice to get here. That is just as impressive."

Finally, the six automatic qualifiers for the U.S. Ryder Cup team have been determined as the qualifying period ended Sunday. Those six:

Scottie Scheffler
Brian Harman
Wyndham Clark
Max Homa
Patrick Cantlay
Xander Schauffele

Captain Zach Johnson will pick the other six players after the Tour Championship.

👍 Honorable mentions

What can't Lionel Messi do? The Argentinian superstar scored in the 23rd minute as Inter Miami beat Nashville SC after an 11-round penalty shootout to win the Leagues Cup. It's the first trophy in Inter Miami's history.
Aaron Rodgers will make his Jets "debut" in the preseason finale.
Anthony Edwards exploded for 34 points as Team USA rallied past Germany.
The Padres promoted 17-year-old catching prospect Ethan Salas to Double-A.
The Nationals beat the Phillies, 4-3, in the Little League Classic.
The Giants are calling up top pitching prospect Kyle Harrison.
"Suga" Sean O'Malley TKO'ed Aljamain Sterling to take the bantamweight title.
Myles Jack called it a career.
William Byron won the Go Bowling at The Glen.

👎 Not so honorable mentions

Tony Gonsolin (elbow) is likely done for the year.
Pete Alonso apologized for throwing the ball from Masyn Winn's first hit into the crowd.
NFL cuts are rolling in.

🏈 Preseason Week 2 winners & losers, rookie QB rankings

Preseason Week 2 is (almost) in the books -- the Commanders host the Ravens tonight -- and Tyler Sullivan has winners & losers from all of the action, including one team led by a quarterback ready to explode in his second season.

Sullivan: "Winner: Steelers offense -- Kenny Pickett started the game and played the opening two series, leading the offense to back-to-back touchdown drives. The second-year quarterback was an efficient 3-for-4 passing for 43 yards, which included a 25-yard touchdown to tight end Pat Freiermuth. ... If Pickett can take a leap in Year 2 and align himself with players like Jaylen Warren that can score on a single touch, the Steelers could be a surprise team in 2023."

Pickett wasn't the only young quarterback to impress: Jordan Love continued his stellar preseason play for the Packers, and even with Rodgers gone, I wouldn't count out Green Bay as a pretty solid team in the NFC North if not beyond.

Going even younger on the quarterback tracker, Jordan Dajani looked at all of the rookie signal-callers. Conspicuously absent from that list this week was Anthony Richardson. The Colts starter didn't suit up against the Bears, a decision from Indianapolis that Jordan calls "curious to say the least." I think Jordan is being nice.

You can see highlights from the entire week here.

Unfortunately, there were some really scary moments as well:

Patriots cornerback Isaiah Bolden was put on a stretcher and carted off. New England and Green Bay agreed to suspend the game after that play, and Bolden has been released from the hospital.
Buccaneers quarterback John Wolford was also put on a stretcher and carted off after suffering a neck injury. He was able to travel home with the team.

In other injury news, promising Cowboys rookie linebacker DeMarvion Overshown tore his ACL and will miss the season.

⚾ MLB Power Rankings: Here come the Mariners

We're now inside six weeks of regular-season baseball left and plenty of teams are rendering themselves relevant -- or irrelevant -- for postseason discussion. The Yankees are in the latter category having lost eight straight games, tying their longest losing streak in the last 40 years. There's seemingly always something to talk about with the Yanks, but with them now nine games out of the last AL playoff spot, we can probably turn our focus elsewhere.

Where, specifically, you ask? How about the team currently in possession of that last AL playoff spot: the Mariners. Behind record-setting -- how about 17 hits in four games or nine consecutive hits? -- star Julio Rodríguez, Seattle polished off a sweep of the Astros and has won six straight.

The Mariners are 8-2 against the Astros this year and jumped ahead of them in Matt Snyder's MLB Power Rankings. But they're not quite in the top five: