From the Pocket: Music works for a showman like Charlie Cameron but fans need space between the notes

The quote “music is the space between the notes” is usually attributed to the French composer Claude Debussy. Or maybe it was Richard Strauss. Hell, maybe it was Richard Champion. Whoever it was, they were talking about savouring silence, about embracing emptiness, about avoiding anything that insists itself upon you.You don’t get a lot of Debussy at football games

Bryson DeChambeau making his own golf clubs in quest for Masters title

Bryson DeChambeau has revealed the latest strand to his career: golf club manufacturing. The two-time major winner used pre-tournament media duties at the Masters to explain he is making his own clubs, in what marks a stark departure from elite golfers working in tandem with equipment companies.“I think it’s the willingness to always try to improve,” DeChambeau said. “There’s this nature that I have about myself where innovation is a habit of mine and I really find and take pride in that ability to learn, even through failure, even through making a bad decision or a good decision.“South Africa [at the recent LIV event] I was trying wedges

Rory McIlroy returns to scene of Masters glory with ‘big weight off my shoulders’

On the Tuesday of last year’s Masters, Rory McIlroy dined with Justin Rose in the clubhouse at Augusta. He arrived right around the time that all the guests at Scottie Scheffler’s champions dinner were having cocktails on the balcony. “I was pulling up Magnolia Lane,” McIlroy says. “And I’m like, well, do I go and park way over at the parking lot? Because I’m not going to park in the champions parking lot.’”Not when there’s Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and everyone else looking down

Jon Rahm adamant he will play for Europe at next year’s Ryder Cup

Jon Rahm has declared he will play for Europe in next year’s Ryder Cup, with the Spaniard confident of ending his standoff with the DP World Tour by this September. Rahm’s sentiment from Augusta National will raise Luke Donald’s confidence that he will be able to call on one of his key team members for Europe’s Ryder Cup defence.Rahm has been subject to fines reaching seven figures for participating on the LIV Tour without consent from the DP World Tour, of which he is still a member. Rahm dropped his appeal over the sanctions recently, which leaves him in default to the DP World Tour and unavailable for Ryder Cup selection. He also turned down a deal which would have seen the situation resolved in return for playing six designated DP World Tour events

‘We’ll start a creche’: how the World Surf League is becoming family friendly for parents on tour | Kieran Pender

The tour brings in maternity wildcard and parental leave, with surfers saying it is a ‘huge step in the right direction’ and ‘so sick’ for the sportThis year’s Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach has felt different for Connor O’Leary. After almost a decade on tour, this is the Australian Japanese surfer’s first World Surf League campaign with a baby in tow. Romii-Sakura O’Leary, who will celebrate her first birthday this month, is one of a growing number of children hanging out in the competitor’s area.“I was watching her crawling around the competition site yesterday,” O’Leary says midway through the Pro, the opening event of the 2026 WSL calendar. “Seeing her crawling around, playing with Kelly [Slater], Steph [Gilmore] was grabbing her, it makes you appreciate the life that we live

Sale believe Courtney Lawes can regain England place after veteran signs one-year deal

Courtney Lawes has been backed to regain his England place following confirmation he will be joining Sale Sharks this summer on a one-year deal. The former national captain has spent the last two seasons with Brive in France’s Pro D2 but has indicated he would love to play international rugby again should the chance arise.While Lawes will be 38 next February and retired from the Test arena after the 2023 World Cup in France, he still feels he can make an impact at the top level of the game. That view is shared by Sale’s director of rugby, Alex Sanderson, who is looking forward to welcoming the former Northampton stalwart to Manchester.“I don’t think we’d have signed him if he was just a player who wanted a paycheck,” said Sanderson