⛳ Tiger's The Toast Of The Town

Time to tee off, it's Thursday, 7 April

🔊 Sport Today Podcast

This morning, Sam Ferris and Lucy Watkin are at the mic. 

Today's listen time: 9.5 minutes.

Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

📺  What we're watching 

🏉 7.40pm - AFL - Power v Demons - Adelaide Oval, Adelaide - Channel 7, Foxtel, Kayo

🏉 7.50pm - NRL - Knights v Sea Eagles - McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle - Channel 9, Foxtel, Kayo

⛳ 12.30am (Fri) - The Masters - Round 1 - Augusta, Georgia - Foxtel, Kayo

All times are in AEST

⛳ Tiger hungry for more success

Time to stock up on coffee and maybe a couple of cheeky doughnuts because the first men’s golf major of the year is about to start, and it doesn’t get bigger than this.

Golden points: It’s hard to know where to look because there are storylines all over the place. But let’s go with Tiger Woods, because, well, it’s Tiger Woods.

• It’s still not 100% official, but the signs are he will play. He’s been practising all week and other players reckon he looks mighty fine with the clubs. 

• All eyes are on Tiger but there are so many other stars in Augusta. 

• That includes 6 Aussies, led by world #6 Cameron Smith. He’s one of the favourites to win his first green jacket. It makes sense given he won the prestigious Players Championship last month.

Key click: Here are some of the key things you need to know about the Masters. 

They said it: “He's won so many times, and he's just not a guy to go do something mediocre. He'll compete, and he'll be ready to roll." - Golfing great Fred Couples is expecting something special from Woods.

Watch it: You get the feeling we’re going to see something incredible over the next 4 days. Don’t be that person who misses out. Coverage starts at 12.30am (AEST) on Foxtel and Kayo and at 5.00am on 9Gem. To get you excited, here's Tiger's ridiculous shot from the 2005 Masters. 

⚾ Let's play some ball 

Take me out to the ball game. Or just let me watch on TV. Either way, baseball is back and the new Major League Baseball season starts tomorrow.

Golden points: The only strikes you’ll see are on the field after the league avoided a lengthy lockout that could have seen the season cancelled.

• Like most things, money was the issue here and nobody could agree on anything. But they got there in the end and the season is starting a week later than it was supposed to.

• It wasn’t just lockouts to worry about in the off-season. There were some monster moves in the player market, and it looks like the rich just get richer.

What are the chances… the Atlanta Braves go back-to-back? No team has done it since the New York Yankees won three in a row from 1998-2000. And it’ll be really hard for the Braves because they let their best player go to the LA Dodgers who are the title favourites. 

Key click: The season starts tomorrow morning with Milwaukee Brewers playing the Chicago Cubs. Make sure you’re up to speed with what to expect this season.

🏀 The winner takes it all 

If you follow American sports then you know the best words you can hear are ‘game 7’. That simply means a playoff series is going to a decider. Well, it’s not 7 games, but we’ve got our own version here in Australia.

The score: Boomers defeated Lynx 76-75. 

Golden points: Get excited basketball fans because the WNBL finals are going to a deciding game 3. 

• The Lynx had the chance to win the title last night after a huge win in the series opener.

• But history did not repeat on their home court in one of the most thrilling finishes possible.

• Marina Mabrey had a massive game for Perth with 30 points. She had the chance to send the game to overtime when she was fouled with 0.2 seconds left. She made the first 2 free throws but missed the 3rd shot.

What’s next: Game 3 is in Melbourne on Saturday. It should be extra spicy after there were a few tense moments at the end of last night’s game. Catch the decider on ABC, Foxtel and Kayo from 5.00pm (AEST).

⚽ Spanish giants to play our All Stars 

Football fans were upset last week when Scottish side Rangers pulled out of its tour of Australia. That’s not ideal. But can I interest you in Barcelona? 

Golden points: The Spanish giants are coming Down Under for the first time to play a friendly at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on 25 May.

• The game will be against an A-League All Stars team. It’s not the first time we’ve seen an All Stars team, but this one comes with a catch. 

• Not all of the comp’s best players will be available because the A-League Men Grand Final is on a few days after the friendly.

• To be fair, the friendly is on a few days after Barcelona’s final game in their domestic comp, and they're expected to bring their best squad. 

Watch it: So we can now add Barcelona to the list of teams coming to play here. That already includes Manchester United and Celtic. A crowd of 80,000 is expected, and hopefully it’s like the time Liverpool played at the MCG.

🏀 No Hollywood ending for LA Lakers

If you were hoping to see LeBron James and his LA Lakers in the NBA playoffs then you might want to make other plans.

Golden points: Big things were expected of the Lakers this year. After all, they're one of the league's glamour teams and they had a brand new big 3 of LeBron, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook. 

• But the dream is over before it ever got going. The Lakers can’t make the playoffs after they were beaten by Phoenix. That was their 7th loss in a row.

• LeBron didn’t play yesterday and that was kinda the theme of their season. The big 3 played 21 games together, and when they did, they didn’t gel.

• A pre-season algorithm had them winning 52.5 games this year, but they are 31-48 with 3 games to go. That means LeBron will have the first losing record since his rookie season.

Watch it: Remember the end of The Hangover? This pretty much sums up a season of regret in LA.

👀 Quick singles

🏉 Panthers winger Taylan May has been charged with assault occasioning bodily harm. The alleged incident occurred just after last year’s NRL Grand Final. May is allowed to keep playing until his court case next month. 

⚽ Chelsea's hopes of defending the UEFA Champions League have taken a hit after they were beaten 3-1 at home by Real Madrid. Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick for the visitors, while in the other game, Villareal beat Bayern Munich 1-0. 

🏏 Australia’s world champion cricketers say they’d love to have retired tennis star Ash Barty return to the sport. We don’t know what the former world #1 has planned, but she has played for the Brisbane Heat in the WBBL in the past.

🏉 Hawks President Jeff Kennett has addressed former AFL player Cyril Rioli’s racism claims in a letter to club members. He says the club is taking the matter very seriously but he won’t quit his role. 

⚽ Look away England fans, because the shirt Diego Maradona wore when he scored the 'Hand of God' goal at the 1986 FIFA World Cup is about to be auctioned. Reports are the Argentina jersey could sell for about $7 million. 

🥊 Harry Garside is the new Australian lightweight champion after he beat Manuer Matet in Sydney last night. It means the Olympic bronze medallist now has a 2-0 professional boxing record. 

🏉 Brisbane Lions AFLW star Emily Bates can't stop winning awards. On Tuesday she was named this season's best and fairest player and last night she won the AFLPA MVP award. 

🙃 Left of field…

If you support the Wallabies then you’re probably sick of seeing Dan Carter kick goals for the All Blacks. After tonight, even he might want a break from kicking.

Golden points: Hopefully the hammies are warm because Carter is going to try to kick 1598 goals in 24 hours for charity. Why that number? That’s how many Test points he scored - the most of all time.

• That’s a lot of kicking. What’s the point? Well, this is all for charity. Carter is trying to raise money for Unicef’s water, sanitation and health program.

• This is going to be tough. Carter converted 293 tries in his Test career, but he’s going to have to fit 12 years of kicking into 24 hours. 

• He won’t have to rely on his lethal left boot. After injuring himself while practising, he decided he’d kick with both feet at Eden Park in Auckland. 

Watch it: The man can’t miss. Here’s proof. 

📽 The highlight reel

There's every chance this kid in red is the #1 pick in the 2035 AFL draft. You heard it here first. 

📸 Photo finish

Liverpool players enjoying a nice relaxing pool session after their win in the Champions League. There's not much time to chill because they've got a huge game against Man City this weekend. 

🏃‍♀️ The finish line

🏆 Today's trivia answer

The Braves beat the Houston Astros 4-2.