Monday 15 September 2014 19:22, UK
Some big prizes were handed out this week but, as always, for every gloating winner there are a number of losers counting their losses.
This week there’s been one of the biggest prizes available in sport at the Tour Championship in Atlanta, where the FedEx Cup race - featuring a whopping $10m bonus for the winner - reached a climax.
With a little less cash but just as much prestige, the County Championship title was also decided with one of the biggest counties around enjoying a return to winning ways.
On the down side, one of the biggest sporting organisations on the planet, the billion-dollar NFL, suffered some huge PR own goals and a worrying bunch of events involving their players this week.
What a pay day for American golfer Billy Horschel, who managed to carry the enormous weight of an impending enormous cash prize on his shoulders during the final round of the Tour Championship to get the better of Rory McIlroy in the final pairing to win by three shots.
The American's closing 68 gave him the first prize of £880,000, the overall FedEx Cup title and an incredible £6.2million bonus. Starting the day tied for the lead with McIlroy, it got tense at times during the final round but Horschel showed admirable patience and nerve, while McIlroy faltered and Jim Furyk threatened but also failed to stay the course. Horschel now has to decide what top spend the money on, maybe some new trousers perhaps?
Yorkshire clinched their first County Championship title since 2001 after wrapping up an emphatic innings and 152-run victory over Nottinghamshire on the final morning at Trent Bridge.
Needing just five wickets on day four to secure their 31st title, Yorkshire, thanks to Ryan Sidebottom’s six-wicket haul, completed the task in just over an hour's play and with a round of fixtures to spare. Sidebottom even took the winning wicket of James Taylor, to spark scenes of wild celebration on the outfield.
Louis van Gaal is keen not to make Manchester United supporters wait too long for the return of the Premier League title, after the Dutchman finally grabbed his first league win since taking over from David Moyes when United were easy 4-0 winners over QPR at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Two of his summer signings, Angel di Maria and Ander Herrera, were among the goalscorers and van Gaal expects plenty more of the attacking flair they showed as the season continues, after giving the Old Trafford faithful a sign of better things to come.
Pretty much every day is a good day if you’re Floyd Mayweather, but on a fight night in Las Vegas when you extend your brilliant unbeaten record to 47-0, that’s an extra special day for the pound-for-pound boxing champion.
This time, Mayweather was silencing Argentinian slugger Marcos Maidana, who had pushed him hard in their first fight but did not get anywhere near as close in the rematch with Mayweather just too good for him as he ran out to a unanimous points decision with the three judges scoring the fight 115-112, 116-111 and 116-111. Could Amir Khan be next?
It’s been an awful week off the field for the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell in particular, firstly with a video emerging of Ray Rice hitting his fiancé in an Atlantic City hotel lift. Baltimore Ravens released Rice and he’s indefinitely suspended, but talk of the NFL seeing the tape before a paltry two-game was handed out continues to cause a stir and outrage in the USA for them not coming down harder in the first place.
One of the league stars, Adrian Peterson, is also in trouble after being charged with child abuse by a Texas court, accused of hitting his son with a branch causing some nasty injuries. Minnesota deactivated him for Sunday but what happens next will closely monitored as the league tries to claw back its flagging reputation for regulating player behaviour.
Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew says the protests against him during his side's 4-0 defeat to Southampton were fair and made no excuses for the performance, as the Magpies were abject throughout the clash at St Mary’s as they dropped to the bottom of the Premier League and increasing the pressure on Pardew.
The 53-year-old was the subject of further protests from the travelling fans, with chants against him throughout the game and a 'Pardew out' banner unvelied from the away end. A recent poll showed 85 per cent of supporters did not want Pardew to stay on as Newcastle manager and they made that clear throughout Saturday's defeat at St Mary's.
St Helens have won the Super League leaders' shield after Castleford were beaten 28-6 at Catalan Dragons on Saturday. Nathan Brown's Saints needed just one point from their final two league games to secure the title, but were well beaten by Warrington last week and lost a thriller to Huddersfield on Friday.
Consequently Castleford - 200-1 outsiders at the start of the season - kicked off away to Catalan Dragons knowing the shield would be going back to Yorkshire if they won by any margin. They fluffed their lines, though, and were well beaten, ending the season in fourth. It is the first silverware St Helens have won since their move to Langtree Park and they will get an immediate chance to show it off to the Tigers, with the pair to meet in the first round of the play-offs next weekend.
The Frenchman led the KLM Open in Holland by three shots going into the final round after he shot a third round 64 on Saturday to take control of the event at Kennemer Golf Club. Mentioned as a potential future Ryder Cup player by European captain Paul McGinley last week, Wattel looked in great form Saturday but the pressure really told on Sunday as he went in search of his first European Tour title, and he was unable to handle it as he collapsed to a final round 74 as Paul Casey powered beyond him to claim the silverware.
Casey, whose fiance Pollyanna Woodward gave birth to a baby boy on September 1, carded a closing 66 to finish 14 under par, one ahead of three-time champion Simon Dyson.
