Happy Friday sports fans,

It’s Masters Weekend—one of the greatest moments on the sports calendar—and we could just fill this viewing guide with all the storylines you need to be following from Augusta. But there’s more than just golf on this weekend.

Let’s get into it…

⛳ The Masters

All eyes are on Scottie Scheffler, the reigning champion looking to become only the ninth player in history to win three green jackets.

Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, is still looking for his first—despite finishing in the top-10 seven times over the years. Rory has had a fascinating career: he once was deemed the heir apparent to Tiger Woods and won four majors (representing three of the four legs of the career Grand Slam) at only 25. The only other players to accomplish that feat so young? Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. 

In the ensuing decade, though, Rory has gone 0-39 at majors. He’s fought injuries and landed in the tabloids. Before this year’s tournament, Rory had lunch with Jack Nicklaus to ask for advice on how to play Augusta. There’s certainly nobody who knows the course better—and no better time to get the monkey off of Rory’s back. “I think timing in life, he's had his adversities, his opportunities to win majors and let them slip,” Gary Player said earlier this week. “I think his time is right.”

Elsewhere, check out Hiroshi Tai, the 23-year-old who is the first Singaporean ever to play in the tournament. In 2020, Tai was committed to play college golf at Georgia Tech, but had to delay his enrollment to complete Singapore’s mandatory two years of military service. Tai served in the Navy, attained the rank of third sergeant, and then went to Georgia Tech and did nothing less than win the NCAAs. Now, he takes on Augusta. “Dream come true,” he says.

Today’s play is already underway (full tee times available here) on ESPN and Paramount+. Saturday and Sunday’s rounds will be broadcast on CBS and Paramount+.

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🧊 The Frozen Four

College hockey’s national championship doesn’t only have the best name in sports (the Frozen Four? Come on…). It’s also always one of the most passionate, intense, and exciting events in college sports.

In last night’s semifinals, Western Michigan beat defending champion Denver in what has to be the game of the year. Western Michigan led for most of the game, then Denver struck back with two goals in the third period. Nobody scored in the first overtime period, and Western Michigan won it when Owen Michaels netted his second goal of the game 30 seconds into the second OT. It was the first Frozen Four game to go to double overtime since 1996, but it was the second 2OT matchup between Denver and Western Michigan in the past few weeks. Western Michigan met Denver in their conference title game and won in double OT there as well.

Saturday will be the first time that Western Michigan has ever played for a National Championship. They’ll meet Boston University, who made their third-straight Frozen Four but hasn’t made the first title game since 2015. The Terriers are led by Quinn and Cole Hutson, brothers who lead the team in goals and assists respectively.

The National Championship is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

🏐 Year One for League One

League One volleyball—LOVB—will wrap up its inaugural season this weekend with its first-ever playoff tournament, held in Louisville. One thing that’s been fun about watching LOVB this season is that the league has—wisely—found a way to piggyback off of the momentum of college volleyball, placing its six teams in markets whose collegiate teams have primed passion for the sport. That means that instead of New York and Los Angeles, LOVB has teams in Austin, Omaha, Madison, Houston, Salt Lake, and Atlanta. Each team is full of local alumni; for example, former Longhorn legends Madisen Skinner and Logan Eggleston play for Austin’s team, which powered their way into the semifinals last night.

One fun twist in LOVB: the introduction of…THE SUPER POINT. Once each set, a team’s coach can press a button at the scorer’s table which signals the super point. It means that the following point is worth two—for either team. So if a team’s coach plays the super point and they don’t win, the opponent can extend their lead. It’s a fun wrinkle that makes play even more intense.

The semifinals are tonight with Austin vs. Atlanta at 6:30 p.m. ET, followed by Omaha vs. Houston at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

The finals will feature the winners of each of those games at 4 p.m. ET on Sunday, also on ESPN2.

🧦 Garret Crochet returns to Chicago

Over the offseason, starting pitcher Garret Crochet traded his white socks for red ones, moving from the Southside of Chicago to Boston in the winter’s biggest blockbuster. Crochet was the lone bright spot for the absurdly horrible White Sox last season, but they shipped off the 25-year-old with hopes that it would accelerate their rebuild. The Red Sox then promptly signed Crochet to a $170 million extension— more than double the White Sox’ entire 2025 payroll.

On Sunday, Crochet will lead the Red Sox as he returns to Chicago for the first time since the trade. As Luka Doncic showed us earlier this week, returns can be emotional—and they can be tinged with a heavy dose of revenge.

The Sox play the Sox on Sunday at 2:10 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on NESN, Chicago Sports Network Plus, and can be streamed on MLB.TV.

⚾ A Top 10 Matchup in Athens

How good is SEC baseball this year? Six of the top-7 schools in the nation play in the SEC. This weekend, No. 1 Arkansas travels to Athens to take on No. 7 UGA. Arkansas is good, ranking top-10 nationally in both batting average and ERA.

But really, this weekend is about UGA proving whether or not they can hang with the best-of-the-best this season. Last weekend, the Bulldogs went to Austin and were swept by No. 2 Texas. Now the No. 1 team is coming to Athens. Can the Bulldogs get the program-defining win?

Arkansas plays Georgia tonight at 6 p.m. ET, Saturday at 4 p.m. ET, and Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, all on SEC Network Plus.

🏎️ F1 takes its traveling circus to Bahrain this weekend, and Lando Norris of McLaren is clinging to a single-point lead against four-time reigning champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull. (Sunday, 10:55 a.m. ET, ESPN2)

🥎 Virginia Tech softball has won 14 games in a row and looks to extend that record while hosting Notre Dame this weekend. On Tuesday, senior center fielder Bre Peck hit three home runs in one game, becoming the Hokies all-time career home run leader. (Sunday, 6 p.m. ET, ACC Network) 

⚾ A little more than a week ago, New York Yankees shortstop Jazz Chisolm called MLB fans “idiots.” Since then, he has gone 2-29 from the plate. The Yankees have the San Francisco Giants this weekend…we’ll see if he can keep it up. (Tonight, 7:05 p.m. ET, YES)

🏀 The Denver Nuggets host the Memphis Grizzlies tonight as both teams fight for playoff positioning. The strange thing? Despite being squarely in the playoff picture, both teams fired their coaches in the past two weeks. As Ricky Bobby says, “If you’re not first, you’re last.” (Tonight, 9 p.m. ET, League Pass)

🐟 For a different type of basketball, if you’re in Los Angeles, head to Little Tokyo this Saturday where musician Bon Iver is celebrating his new album Sable, Fable with a pickup basketball game featuring Team Sable vs. Team Fable. There’s food, drinks, music, and of course, hoops. (Saturday, 3-7 p.m. PT)

🗓️ Coming Tuesday:
One remarkable story you may have missed from the wide world of sports.

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