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Here’s a look at the top moments from the past couple days, including some impressive Canadians results.
Golf: Rory gets his green jacket, Conners fades to eighth
In one of the most dramatic finishes imaginable, fan favourite Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland recovered from another late meltdown to defeat England’s Justin Rose in a playoff and win the Masters to complete the rare career Grand Slam.
McIlroy entered the final round at Augusta with a two-shot lead over American Bryson DeChambeau and was seven up on Rose as he sought to overcome a decade of agonizing misses since his last major victory in 2014. But McIlroy promptly double-bogeyed the first hole, setting the stage for a vintage Rory-coaster day of impossibly beautiful shot-making and gut-wrenching mistakes that left him needing to par the 18th to hold off the surging Rose, who had completed a 6-under round with a long birdie putt on 18.
After dumping his approach into a bunker, McIlroy missed a five-foot putt for the win, sending him back to the 18th tee for the playoff. Somehow keeping his cool, he striped his drive and then stuffed a wedge to three feet for birdie to capture the elusive green jacket and join Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen as the only players to win all four majors in men’s golf.
WATCH | CBC Sports recaps 2025 Masters, McIlroy’s historic win:
Rory McIlroy wins the Masters, recap with Myles Dichter of Basement Golf
Canada’s Corey Conners tied for eighth, staying right in contention until Sunday. He missed a par putt of less than a foot on the first hole, setting the tone for a 3-over round that left him six shots behind McIlroy and Rose. Conners now has four top-10 finishes at the Masters in the last six years and five top-10s on the PGA Tour this season — one more than he had in all of 2024.
Nick Taylor, the only other Canadian to make the cut, finished tied for 40th at 3 over par. It was the first time in five years that the 2023 Canadian Open champion qualified for the weekend at a major. Here’s more on Sunday’s final round and McIlroy’s emotional victory.
Women’s hockey: Canada eyes a rematch
The United States defeated archrival Canada 2-1 on Sunday at the women’s world championship in the Czech Republic to clinch first place in Group A. Defenders Lee Stecklein and Megan Keller scored for the Americans before forward Laura Stacey replied in the third period for Canada.
The result does not change the fact that the U.S. and Canada, who have squared off in 22 of the 23 women’s world championship finals and six of the seven Olympic gold-medal games, will almost certainly meet in the title game again this Sunday.
As if to underscore that point, Canada rebounded from yesterday’s loss to trounce the host Czechs 7-1 today to finish 3-1 in the preliminary stage and clinch second place in the group. The Americans finish up against Switzerland tomorrow before the quarterfinals on Thursday.
All five teams in Canada’s group, which also includes Finland, automatically advance to the quarters along with the top three from the weaker Group B.
NHL: Winnipeg wins the Presidents’
After clinching the top seed in the Western Conference on Saturday, the Jets wrapped up the first Presidents’ Trophy (for the league’s best record) in franchise history on Sunday when East-leading Washington lost to Columbus. Winnipeg will likely play Minnesota or St. Louis in the first round, though Calgary can still steal one of the two wild-card spots in the West. The Flames are two points behind St. Louis with two games left.
Edmonton, which beat Winnipeg yesterday, is now guaranteed to face Los Angeles in the first round for the fourth straight year. The Oilers won all three previous matchups, but this time they’re banged up and will be without injured defenceman Mattias Ekholm for at least the first round, while the Kings can clinch home-ice advantage with a win tonight in Edmonton.
One more opening-round matchup is set in the West — Dallas vs. Colorado — along with one in the East — Carolina vs. New Jersey. It’s looking more and more like we’ll get a Battle of Ontario between Toronto and Ottawa, and a Battle of Florida between Tampa Bay and the Stanley Cup champion Panthers, while Montreal can clinch its first playoff berth since 2021 and a first-round date with Washington by beating Chicago tonight.
One more interesting NHL note: for the first time ever, all four of the Original Six clubs based in the U.S. will miss the playoffs.
NBA: Post-season matchups set
As Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sat out the final two games of a likely MVP season for the top-ranked Oklahoma City Thunder, the pairings for the play-in tournament were decided. In the Western Conference, it’ll be No. 7 seed Golden State vs. No. 8 Memphis and No. 9 Sacramento vs. No. 10 Dallas. In the East it’s No. 7 Orlando vs. No. 8 Atlanta and No. 9 Chicago vs. No. 10 Miami.
The winners of Tuesday’s 7 vs. 8 games advance to the 16-team playoff bracket. The losers get a second chance on Friday when they face the winners of Wednesday’s 9 vs. 10 games.
Oklahoma City and No. 2 seed Houston await the two play-in survivors in the Western Conference, while the East play-in winners meet No. 1 Cleveland or defending NBA champion Boston in the best-of-seven first round.
The following first-round matchups are set: in the East, No. 3 New York vs. No. 6 Detroit and No. 4 Indiana vs. No. 5 Milwaukee; in the West, it’s the No. 3 Los Angeles Lakers vs. No. 6 Minnesota and Canadian Jamal Murray’ No. 4 Denver vs. the No. 5 Los Angeles Clippers.
In other NBA news, the Phoenix Suns fired head coach Mike Budenholzer today after a disappointing 36-46 season, while New Orleans (21-61) canned top executive David Griffin.
In women’s basketball, Paige Bueckers is expected to be picked No. 1 overall by the Dallas Wings in tonight’s WNBA draft after leading UConn to the NCAA title. The expansion Golden State Valkyries choose fifth, while the 2026 expansion Toronto Tempo are already preparing for next year’s draft.
Curling: Homan makes another final
Canada’s Rachel Homan fell just short of winning her third Grand Slam of Curling title of 2024-25, losing 5-4 to Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni in the women’s final at the season-ending Players’ Championship in Toronto on Sunday.
Still, what a season for Homan and her teammates Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes. They repeated as world champions, went undefeated at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts for the second straight year and reached the final at all five Grand Slams, winning two of them. Their record this season was 75-8 — a win rate of better than 90 per cent.
On the men’s side, newly crowned world champion Bruce Mouat of Scotland defeated Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller on Sunday to capture his record fourth Slam of the season.
While that’s a wrap on the four-player curling season, we still have the mixed doubles world championship coming up April 26-May 3 in Fredericton. Mouat and his teammate Jenn Dodds and Canadian champs Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant are among the duos trying to secure spots in next year’s Winter Olympics.
Other key Canadian results:
* Canada’s divers won a pair of medals at a World Cup event in Windsor, Ont. Sonya Palkhivala and Amélie-Laura Jasmin took silver in the women’s 3m synchro event while Matt Cullen and Benjamin Tessier earned bronze in the men’s 10m synchro. Chinese divers won eight of the nine golds.
* Audrey Lamothe and Ximena Ortiz Montano took bronze in the women’s duet technical event at an artistic swimming World Cup meet in Egypt. It was just their second time competing together.
* Olympic swimmers Blake Tierney, Mary-Sophie Harvey and Taylor Ruck were among the winners at the Canadian Open meet in Edmonton, while double Paralympic champion Nicholas Bennett and Paralympic bronze medallist Shelby Newkirk each won a pair of golds.
* Gymnast Shallon Olsen finished fourth in the women’s vault at a World Cup event in Croatia, while mountain biker Jenn Jackson was also fourth in a women’s cross-country Olympic World Cup race in Brazil.
* Olympic beach volleyball silver medallists Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson were eliminated in the second playoff round at a Pro Tour Elite 16 event in Brazil.
* Canada failed to reach the eight-team Billie Jean King Cup finals after losing to host Japan at a qualifier for the women’s team tennis championship. The Canadians were without Leylah Fernandez, who led Canada to its only BJK Cup title in 2023 and is the country’s highest-ranked women’s singles player. Doubles ace Gabriela Dabrowski also did not participate.
