Gary Lemke looks back at a jam-packed sporting weekend as Crystal Palace secured their first major trophy by lifting the FA Cup, while Cornal Hendricks was honoured as all SA teams were victorious in the URC.
BEAM HIM UP. SCOTTIE’S ON ANOTHER PLANET
Scottie Schleffler is the world No1 golfer for a reason, and he continues to draw comparisons with a peak Tiger Woods – don’t laugh, take some time and Google performances.
He posted a level-par 71 in the final round of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, which was enough to see off Bryson DeChambeau, Harris English and Davis Riley by five shots. It was Scheffler’s third Major and his 15th PGA Tour win.
Scheffler has been world No1 for 116 consecutive weeks (more than two years), and counting. Two South Africans made the cut. Christiaan Bezuidenhout tied 50th, 15 shots behind Scheffler and Garrick Higgo tied 55th after a closing 80.
ALL ON THE LINE IN FINAL ROUND OF EPL
There is one round left in the English Premier League, but still plenty up for grabs. Liverpool are champions, Arsenal will finish second, Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton are going down, but five teams are within one point of each other with three spaces remaining to qualify for the Champions League.
Man City play Brighton on Tuesday night, and if they win, they will have all but qualified. Sunday’s final day standout is at the Forest ground where Nottingham Forest host Chelsea.
The winner of that will qualify for the Champions League. There were two farewells this weekend – Everton said goodbye to Goodison Park, beating Southampton 2-0, while Jamie Vardy scored his 200th goal for Leicester in his final home appearance for the club.
VERSTAPPEN KEEPS MCLARENS IN HIS MIRRORS
Horseracing punters will know the expression “floating quartet bankers”, and for the fifth time in the seven races this Formula One season, Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen were in three of the first four cars over the finish line.
This time it was Verstappen’s Red Bull which led home the McLarens of Norris and Piastri in the Emilia Romagna GP at Imola. Despite three safety cars, the race was about a 6 out of 10 on the scale of excitement, with Verstappen winning by six seconds.
Piastri leads the overall standings on 146 points, followed by Norris (133) and Verstappen (124), and it’s hard to see the “quartet bankers” missing out again this weekend in Monaco.
HENDRICKS HONOURED AS ALL SA SIDES WIN
The raw emotion was at Loftus where the Bulls paid tribute to the memory of Cornal Hendricks by swamping the Dragons 55-15, while the Hollywoodbets Sharks (12-3 over the Scarlets) and the Stormers (34-24 against Cardiff) also won.
The Lions (29-28 against the Ospreys) made it a South African clean sweep over Welsh opposition in the final round of the United Rugby Championship.
The Sharks also showed class by wearing warm-up jersey tributes to Hendricks, who died of a heart attack aged 37 last week. The quarter-finals now pit the Stormers at Glasgow Warriors, the Bulls host Edinburgh, and the Sharks are home to Munster.
BRILLIANT DEFENCE HELPS PALACE WIN FA CUP
The drought lasted generations, but Crystal Palace won the first trophy in their 105-year history when they beat favourites Man City 1-0 to lift the FA Cup final at Wembley. It reminds me of the 1988 final, which I attended.
The underdogs (then Wimbledon over Liverpool) won 1-0, the goalkeeper was the hero, saving a penalty (then Dave Beasant, now Dean Henderson) and for the neutral, a warm glow that there’s still the romance of the cup.
Remarkably, Palace conceded one goal along the way. They beat Stockport County 3-0, Doncaster Rovers 2-0, Millwall 3-1, Fulham 3-0, Aston Villa 3-0 and City 1-0. City’s penalty was missed by Omar Marmoush, who was handed the ball by Erling Haaland. Why, oh why?
OTHER SPARKLING SOUTH AFRICAN PERFORMANCES
South Africa’s footballing future is in good hands, with the Under-20 men winning their age-group AFCON tournament, beating Morocco 1-0 in the final and being crowned champions for the first time. Gomolemo Kekana’s goal delivered the title to South Africa in their first final appearance since 1997 …
Akani Simbine’s remarkable 2025 continued when he won the men’s 100m in a wind-assisted 9.86 sec at the Atlanta Grand Prix. He has now won a World Indoor 60m bronze, a World Relays 4x100m gold, two Diamond League 100m races and now in Atlanta …
Hamish Lovemore, ninth in the Olympic K1 500m, finished second in the Sprint World Cup in Hungary. He will be a massive medal candidate at the next Olympics. Bookmark this.
