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No Sunday Collapse this time as Brooks Kepka wins the PGA Championship to claim his fifth
major title.
The Heat's unsung heroes crush the Celtics to move within one win of another NBA Finals
appearance.
And Brianna Stewart makes a record setting debut in front of her new home crowd in New
York.
From Wondery, I'm Sarah Kazelle.
And I'm John Gonzalez.
It's Monday, May 22nd, and this is Starting Five.
Sports stories to start your day.
We begin today's show with golf on Sunday.
Brooks Kepka shot a three under 67 in the final round to win the PGA Championship at
Oak Hill Country Club, John.
Yeah, Kepka was hot to start the day with three straight birdies on the first four holes.
Then he held on late when Victor Haveland and Scotty Scheffler made their moves on the
back nine.
Here's Kepka's two putt to win the tournament.
He does ball turns left towards the cup out to the lip.
It doesn't trap big smile on the face of Brooks Kepka.
You know he wanted to make it, but it doesn't matter.
His Brooks Kepka taps in for par.
Brooks Kepka is the winner of the 105th PGA Championship.
Impressive.
All right.
The win was Kepka's fifth major title and his third PGA Championship.
That makes him just the third player since 1958 to win that event at least three times
along with Jack Nicholas and Tiger Woods.
It's a pretty good company.
Here's Kepka following the big win on Sunday, which is pretty remarkable considering he's
still recovering from a bad knee injury.
He suffered back in 2021.
This is incredible.
You know, this is wild.
I look back at where we were two years ago.
Everything that's going on.
It's I'm just so happy right now.
I'm kind of at a loss for words, but this is this is just the coolest thing.
Cool and significant.
You'll remember that Kepka blew a two shot lead going into the final round at the Masters.
So a little redemption here and notably, Kepka is the first live golfer to win a major
championship.
So big day for him, Sarah.
Yeah.
I mean, we should know it's been less than a year since live held its first event.
But like you said, Kepka is now the first live golfer to win a major.
And while Kepka won the tournament, a PGA club pro named Michael Block might have won the
holding weekend, John.
Yep.
He certainly won over a lot of new fans.
That is for sure.
And if that was not enough after the event, the PGA tweeted at him, quote, see you next
week, Michael Block after he received an invite to next week's Charles Schwab challenge.
Love that.
All right.
Now on to the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Golden Knights protected home ice on Sunday with a three to win in overtime in Vegas against
the Dallas stars to take a two nothing lead in the Western Conference finals.
This was a heartbreaker for the stars, John, their defensive effort was really something
to behold, allowing Vegas just 10 shots on goal through the first two periods.
And they were just a couple of minutes away from evening up the series as time ticked down
in the third period.
But then came Jack Eichl for Vegas, setting up Jonathan Marsha.
So with a back shoulder, no look pass that would make Steve Nash proud.
You're plated.
Sooner with Eichl in fast, barbershev, Michael behind the net, centers one.
And they score Jonathan Marsha.
So a beautiful feed by Eichl.
Beautiful.
Like he said, that was absolute art.
And a masterful moment by Eichl who now has nine assists and six goals in his first career
postseason.
And he really is proving to be that dude for Vegas.
So that tied the game up to two with two 22 left in regulation.
So many twos.
Yes.
All the twos.
They went to overtime and Vegas did not need long to lock in the win.
Stalling across the line as Theodore Theodore shot.
Way back goal.
Vegas wins in overtime.
Wyatt Johnson was robbed at one end.
Stevenson is not at the other.
And the Vegas Golden Knights, another comeback win at three, two victory at overtime.
Chandler Stevenson, a minute 12 into the extra period took advantage of a rebound and buried
the puck for another comeback win.
As you heard there on the call, another comeback win.
Through two Western Conference final games, both games have gone to overtime, John.
And both times, Vegas has come from behind to win.
Sure.
And oddly enough, for the first time in NHL history, all four games of the Conference
finals, the East and the West together all have gone to overtime.
Very dramatic.
Yeah, we saw that on Saturday as well, Sarah, with Florida's math, you could chuck scoring
the overtime winner for the second straight game against the Hurricanes.
The Panthers go into game three at home tonight, Monday evening, with a 2-0 lead.
And that series.
Moving now to the NBA playoffs, the Heat continued their scorching playoff run and destroyed the
Celtics in Miami on Sunday.
128-102 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
Yes, stunning stuff here, Sarah.
The Heat steamrolled the Celtics in game three.
Boston scored their fewest points in the first half of the entire playoffs, the had just
46 of the break, and the Celtics trailed by 15 at the half, which was their biggest half-time
deficit of the entire postseason.
They were never in this one.
Now we all know that Jimmy Butler has been incredible during the playoffs for the Heat.
He had 16 points, a rebound, 6 assists, and two steals in game three.
Then he got to take most of the fourth quarter off.
But beyond Butler, the Heat have gotten massive contributions from their supporting cast.
On Sunday night, Gabe Vincent had a game high 29 points, including a career-high 6 triples.
Here's Vincent nailing a 28-foot pull-up three, very casual, and the third quarter to give
the Heat a comfortable 23-point lead.
It's rebounded by Vincent on the third quarter.
But as he got this stroke tonight, 13-2, the one biggest lead.
I am blown away by what the Heat are doing here, Sarah.
Miami has the most undrafted players in the league, and four of them, including Vincent,
are part of Eric's Bolstor's regular rotation.
They've won games by mounting massive comebacks in the fourth quarter, like they did
in game two in Boston.
And now they've won a game at home in Miami by blowing out the Celtics.
This is the eighth seed in the East, Sarah.
As for the second seed, Celtics, the J's, Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown, haven't really
looked like themselves in the series.
Combined, they shot just one of 14 from three on Sunday, and even worse, Tatum has now gone
three straight games with no field goals, count them zero field goals in the fourth quarter.
Yikes.
Yikes is right.
Absolutely nothing is going right for Boston right now.
And Sarah, before this series started, ESPN's analytics crew gave the Heat just a 3% chance
to beat the Celtics.
And now Miami has won one away from sweeping Boston and advancing to the finals.
Wow.
John, I know you have some friends in Boston.
I'm curious when those people go on early vacations, are they Cabo people or Cancun people?
Yeah, we're going to find out.
We're about to find out.
Yes, we are.
The NBA playoffs, by the way, continue tonight, Monday evening when the Nuggets try to complete
their sweep of the Lakers in Los Angeles in the Western Conference Finals.
There have never been two sweeps in both conference finals in the same year, John.
So we'll see if Miami and Denver can make some history.
All right, sticking with basketball, the WNBA season got underway this weekend.
And Sarah Brianna Stewart in the New York Liberty had quite a bounce back performance
on Sunday after a disappointing loss on Friday.
Yeah, John, the Liberty opened up their season with a 16 point road loss to the mystics on
Friday.
Obviously not the way they envisioned it with such high expectations for this season.
But then on Sunday at home against the fever, Brianna Stewart said, not in my house.
In three quarters, Stewart put up 45 points, which was not only a career high for her,
but also a Liberty franchise record.
Here is Stewart with two minutes and 13 seconds left in the third quarter as she broke that
record.
She has a whole honor.
Everyone's a mismatch.
Definitely a height advantage.
Oh, Mexico, Geezy.
What is anything but?
She just elevates over anybody covering her.
Pips that.
Brandtized records for 41 points.
The second game.
Insane.
Capy Pondexter held the previous record with 40 points in a game back in 2010, which also
happened against the Indiana fever.
So sorry fever fans.
Tough times.
Yeah, absolutely.
Now on top of Stewart's 45 points.
She also had 12 rebounds on the day to lead the way in a 90-73 Liberty win.
So two games into the season, two double doubles, and in her post-game interview on
the court, the Syracuse native talked about her first home game with Liberty.
You hear these fans cheering you on and you told me that you had a lot of family in the
building.
What did it feel like to take this court in the state of New York, in front of your family
and friends and in front of the Liberty fans?
It feels like I made the right decision.
How about that crowd?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sounds like she did.
Make the right decision there, John.
And I assume this is going to be the first of many record setting outings with this new
look Liberty team this season.
Man, she is so good.
On the other side of the country, Brittany Griner played her first WNBA home game for
the Phoenix Mercury since October 2021 after being imprisoned in Russia last season.
It was quite an emotional scene as Griner took the court during player introductions.
Now the Mercury lost to the sky, 75-69, but Griner still had a great day, 27 points,
10 rebounds, and four blocks, which moves her into third place on the W's all-time
box list.
All right, we wrap up today's episode with the Premier League and the news.
Everyone was waiting for Manchester City, officially won the league over the weekend.
Again.
I think Thanos stole the IM inevitable line from City, Sarah.
Technically, City won the title on Saturday when Arsenal lost at Nottingham Forest, but
just for good measure, Pep Guardiola's crew beat Chelsea on Sunday, 1-0.
This is City's fifth Premier League title in six seasons and their third in a row that
makes City just the sixth team in English football history to win the top flight in three
consecutive seasons.
Here's Pep calling the feet what it is exceptional.
We have done five prime museums the last six years.
This is something extraordinary.
Everybody knows it.
I think in the whole football, all the managers in the Premier League, all the players, sport
directors, clubs, boards, and whatever they know, how exceptional it is.
He's right.
It's incredible what they've managed to build.
And yet no surprise here that Pep immediately pivoted after that to talking about the next
major goal for City, which is winning the Champions League, something they've yet to
do under Guardiola, which is surprising.
As we mentioned on previous shows, they'll be heavy favourites to win that when they face
Inter Milan in the final in June.
And then if they can beat their rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup, they'll have the treble
they've been aiming for.
So one down, two to go, Sarah.
All right.
So one down, two more infinity stones to go.
And then, yeah, I like the rods.
All right.
That's it for us today.
From Wondery, I'm Sarah Kazell.
And I'm John Gonzalez.
Thanks for listening.
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