TMZ Sports - Page 50

Donald Trump is setting the record straight, or at least so he says ... claiming in a statement Monday he did, in fact, sink a hole-in-one while golfing with Ernie Els over the weekend.

"It is 100% true," the former President said.

Trump released the statement after social media accused the 75-year-old and his pals of lying about accomplishing the feat. Fact is, Trump legendarily has cheated on the greens before.

According to Trump, he was out at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. on Saturday ... when he stepped to the tee box on a Par-3 with an iron in his hands.

"I hit a 5-iron, which sailed magnificently into a rather strong wind, with approximately 5 feet of cut," Trump said, "whereupon it bounced twice and then went clank, into the hole."

Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich shared video of the aftermath of the shot ... showing Trump and his golfing partners walking up to the cup with joy. Not a smoking gun, for sure.

In the clip, you can see Trump grab the ball out of the hole -- and high-five everyone in attendance, including Els.

Trump wouldn't say if the ace helped him and Els beat playing partners Gene Sauers, Mike Goodes, and Ken Duke ... but his wry statement sure seemed to insinuate it.

Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk has died from an illness, the NHL team announced on Monday night. He was just 62 years old.

According to the hockey club, Melnyk passed away following a battle with an undisclosed disease. The team noted he fought the illness "with determination and courage."

Melnyk -- a billionaire who made his fortune, in part, in the pharmaceutical and medical sales industry -- bought the Senators back in 2003 for $92 million ... and quickly found success.

The team made the Stanley Cup Final in 2007 -- and is now, according to Forbes, worth around half a billion dollars.

"While successful in business, it was our game and his Senators that he was most passionate about," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement Monday following the owner's death. "Eugene was often outspoken but he maintained an unwavering commitment to the game and his roots and he loved nothing more than donning a Senators sweater and cheering on his beloved team."

"On behalf of the entire National Hockey League," Bettman continued, "I extend my deepest sympathies to Eugene’s daughters, Anna and Olivia, his extended family, and all those who benefited from his generosity."

NHL star and Senators team captain Brady Tkachuk also mourned the loss of Melnyk on Monday ... saying in a tweet, "The Ottawa community will miss you greatly."

In addition to his role as the Senators honcho, Melnyk was also successful in the horse-racing world ... with many of his horses winning coveted titles in Canada.

Mason Rudolph out ... Matt Harvey in???

TMZ Sports has learned the MLB pitcher chatted up Genie Bouchard at a music festival in Miami just weeks after the tennis star broke up with her longtime BF -- and it's got us all wondering, are the two now igniting a new romance?

We obtained a picture and video of Bouchard with the baseball player at Ultra on Saturday night ... and while we're told there was no kissing, touching or feeling going on -- it seems apparent Harvey was interested in getting her ear.

You'll recall, Harvey has been linked to Bouchard in the past -- back in 2014 while Harvey was starring for the Mets, he reportedly tried to grab tickets to one of Bouchard's U.S. Open matches and potentially meet her afterward.

No word on if the two were ever able to connect back in the day ... but the duo certainly seems to have met now.

Of course, 28-year-old Bouchard is just recently single -- she and Rudolph's split is very fresh -- so it's unclear if she's looking to jump back in the dating pool again.

As for 33-year-old Harvey, he's single ... and has been known to date some very pretty people in the past.

It pays to be a fan of Floyd Mayweather -- literally -- 'cause the 50-0 boxing legend is hooking up a verrry lucky fan with $100,000!!

TMZ Sports has learned Mayweather hosted a giveaway for fans ... and randomly picked a fan to hook up with the money.

James McNair, President of The Money Team, tells us ... "When you are associated with Floyd and his businesses anything can happen on any given day that will change your life."

And, changing his life is exactly what the fan says Floyd did for him.

In fact, Mayweather reached out to the fan -- who had to like, RT, and join Mayweverse Discord (JM says they picked up over 75K members in a week), among other rules -- directly through Instagram direct message ... and broke him with the incredible news.

As for the actual NFTs, Floyd is dropping 5,000 through the Mayweverse (his non-fungible token company) that he designed with McNair ... and we're told it's a space TBE intends to stay in for the foreseeable future.

Russell Wilson's love for Ciara is unliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimited -- the Denver Broncos quarterback was getting hot and heavy with his wife after the Oscars ... and they couldn't help but share the sexy moment on video.

Russ and Ciara hit up the Vanity Fair after-party on Sunday ... and as always, they looked incredible. Russ sported an all-black, double-breasted suit with black shoes ... while Ciara donned a revealing burgundy dress and gold shoes.

Ciara shared some BTS shots of their big night on the town ... with Wilson showing the singer a ton of affection as he kisses her on her cheek.

"An after party with you is My Type a Party," Ciara wrote on her post.

Of course, Wilson and Ciara are no strangers to PDA ... and have been practically bragging about how in love they are -- so Sunday's lovefest shouldn't come as a surprise.

No matter how great they looked, there was no upstaging Will Smith, who slapped Chris Rock just hours earlier in the night ... as he was also at the VF bash literally getting jiggy with it.

The NFL is now requiring all 32 of its teams to hire either a minority or a female coach to their offensive staffs -- mandating that the new assistant work "closely" with teams' current head coaches.

The league announced the rule change on Monday ... explaining it wants the new assistants on the offensive side of the ball because it believes owners and GMs have trended toward hiring new head coaches from offensive backgrounds as opposed to defensive ones.

The belief, according to a statement from the league, is that getting more minorities and women into significant positions on offensive staffs could then lead to more minority and female head coaching hires.

"In recent years, head coaches have predominantly had offensive backgrounds," the league said Monday. "We believe this resolution will assist greatly in continuing to source and identify diverse candidates earlier in their career."

Teams will have to make the hires at the beginning of this season ... though clubs who already have a minority or a female on their offensive staff are already considered to have fulfilled the requirement.

The NFL announced the new coaches' salaries will be paid for by a "league-wide fund."

Two of the biggest TikTok stars on the planet will NOT join forces to dominate the social media app ... 'cause JuJu Smith-Schuster says a collab with Patrick Mahomes' lil' bro, Jackson is straight-up "not happening."

Jackson -- who has 1 MILLION followers on TikTok -- was extra hyped when the Chiefs signed Smith-Schuster to a one-year, $10.75 million last week ... saying, "Now we have to collab ..."

Of course, JuJu has a whopping 3 million followers ... and considering Jackson basically lives on the app, it couldn't have been more convenient and fitting for the two to link up.

Well, Smith-Schuster thinks otherwise -- when he was asked about teaming up with the 21-year-old during an interview with Taylor Bisciotti, he shut it down -- real quick!

"Nah," Smith-Schuster said. "That is not happening."

"I'm putting that out there right now, I'm not making no TikToks."

Unsure if he meant in general, or just with Jackson ... 'cause the 25-year-old posted two new TikToks in his new Chiefs jersey right after the interview.

Shannon Sharpe says if he were Chris Rock, he would've thrown haymakers on-stage at the Oscars ... with the NFL star explaining he would've tried to beat the hell out of Will Smith for slapping him.

Sharpe made the claim while breaking down the Academy Awards on FSI's "Undisputed" on Monday ... saying without hesitation, "I would have come up out of that tux. I would have whooped Will Smith's ass."

The 53-year-old Hall of Famer said he would not have been able to remain as calm as Rock ... because he believes a slap to the face is one of the worst things you can do to a man.

"There's three things, especially in our community," Sharpe told Skip Bayless on the show. "You say the n-word, you spit on me, and you slap me. Because if you go back to when we were less than, that's what they did. They didn't punch you, they slapped you."

"Because that's the ultimate sign of disrespect."

Sharpe went on to say he believes Smith's anger was misguided ... saying he thinks Smith should have went after August Alsina over his previous "entanglement" with Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

"Go fight that dude!" Sharpe said. "That's the dude I'm looking for, that was all up in my house doing what I should've been doing!"

U.S. men's soccer star Christian Pulisic gave a touching shout-out to a fan battling cancer during Sunday's game -- by fulfilling his request and doing the worm dance on the field right after scoring!!

The moment happened during USMNT's 5-1 win over Panama in World Cup qualifying on Sunday ... with the 23-year-old midfielder hitting the grass after scoring his second goal -- and busting out the iconic "worm" dance.

"Look at this," the FS1 broadcaster said as Pulisic executed the 1970s move.

"Okay!! Busting out the worm!"

As it turns out, Pulisic's reasoning behind the throwback celly will tug at your heartstrings -- the star says he did it as a promise to a fan named Mason Ogle, a 15-year-old high school soccer player who was diagnosed with bone cancer.

The two met during Saturday's workout ... which Pulisic mentioned after the game ... saying, "I met someone really special yesterday."

"His name was Mason, and his one request was that if I scored, he wanted to see a worm celebration," he said.

"That’s what that was for."

Drake pulled a rare, 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie card -- and 5 other valuable MJ's -- live on Instagram, and they're worth hundreds of thousands of dollars!!

The hip-hop superstar -- who's been heavy into card collecting lately -- busted open a bunch of boxes of top-of-the-line cards, including Flawless and 1986 Fleer boxes with Ken Goldin of Goldin Auctions.

FYI, a box of Flawless alone goes for $46K ... and Drizzy had 10 boxes.

Goldin was opening cards while Drake sat alongside watching. Then, it was Drake's time to take over cracking the packs.

First pack ... a 1986 Fleer MJ rookie that could be worth well in excess of $200K! Depending on the grade, the card has sold for anywhere between mid-50K to over 700K.

Talk about good luck. But, there was more.

Drake ultimately hit on 6 Jordan's ... 3 rookie cards and 3 stickers, before he and Goldin shut down the IG Live.

Former NBA star Charlie Villanueva, who's famously battled Alopecia, ripped Chris Rock for his Oscars barb about the autoimmune disease ... adding that he's "proud" of Will Smith for defending Jada Pinkett Smith.

Villanueva took to Instagram to express his thoughts on the Smith-Rock altercation at Sunday night's Academy Awards ... saying as someone who's had to deal with Alopecia, he knows what Jada is going through.

And, he said he can understand why Smith reacted the way he did following Rock's "balding" G.I. Jane quip.

"She voiced that she struggled with [Alopecia], and Chris Rock thought it was cool to crack a joke," Villanueva said. "We are not with Jada everyday to know the level of the struggle, but Will does."

"As I don’t condone violence, Im proud that Will Smith stood up for his wife."

Villanueva added, "As a fellow Alopecians, I stand with Will and Jada."

Villanueva -- an ambassador for National Alopecia Areata Foundation -- also took to Twitter to send a personal message to those battling Alopecia as well as to Jada ... writing in a tweet, "Remember, you have Alopecia, Alopecia doesn't have you. Don't give up on yourself. Life is just as beautiful as you."

According to The National Library of Medicine, Alopecia affects 1 in every 500-to-1,000 people in the United States ... and can affect men and women equally of any ethnic background.

Villanueva wasn't the only sports figure to praise Will for his reaction Sunday ... former UFC star Tyron Woodley also said on social media that he supported Smith's slap -- saying, "i fight over women, especially the women in my family, Sisters, & Daughter."

Shaquille O'Neal and Steph Curry just added some more hardware to their incredibly decorated trophy rooms -- the two NBA legends just won Oscars for their roles in "The Queen of Basketball" documentary.

The short film was a production of The New York Times, which Shaq and Curry helped produce, about Lusia "Lucy" Harris -- one of the greatest women's basketball players ever.

The film earned the Academy Award on Sunday night for best short subject documentary.

Shaq and Curry helped make the 22-minute doc ... highlighting Harris' incredible achievements on the hardwood -- which included her being the first woman to score a point in the Olympics as well as the first woman to ever be drafted by an NBA team.

Of course, the two are not the first NBA players to win the coveted Hollywood award ... Shaq's former teammate, Kobe Bryant, famously won an Oscar in 2018 for best animated short film, "Dear Basketball."

Kevin Durant and Mike Conley also won in 2021 for producing "Two Distant Strangers," the winner in the best live action short film category.

Jim Thome's wife says the couple is done with the Browns following the Deshaun Watson signing ... explaining she's asked the franchise to cancel their season tickets.

Andrea Thome made the announcement on her Twitter page following Watson's introduction ceremony last week ... saying the sexual misconduct allegations against the new Cleveland quarterback were too much for her and her former MLB star hubby to ignore.

"Very sad after 40 years as a fan, but this is my line in the sand," Andrea said. "I believe women. Especially when there are 22 of them. That press conference did nothing to change my mind."

Andrea claims she wrote a letter to the Browns explaining her decision and asking for a refund -- as the couple had already paid for the tix.

She added that if the org. doesn't pay them back, she will sell off the seats in 2022 for charity.

"I will auction off every single game and publicly donate every cent to different women’s crisis charities in N.E. Ohio," Andrea said, "raising awareness week by week during the season."

Andrea later clarified that she never called Watson "guilty" ... but said the volume of accusers are "enough for me to make a decision that I have every right to make."

As we reported, more than 20 female massage therapists have said Watson was sexually inappropriate with them during sessions over the past couple years. Two grand juries in Texas, though, declined to charge Watson criminally this month.

The QB is still facing a mountain of civil lawsuits from the accusers -- and an NFL investigation into the claims is ongoing.

Jake Paul wants in on the Will Smith vs. Chris Rock feud -- the YouTuber-turned-fighter is offering both actors $15 MILLION to take their beef to the boxing ring!!

Shortly after the slap heard around the world went down at the Oscars, "Impractical Jokers" star Sal Vulcano joked about how much the Most Valuable Promotions founder would cough up to get both legends in the ring for an epic event for the ages.

The 25-year-old fighter -- who previously offered Pete Davidson and Kanye West $30 milli each to face off in the ring -- delivered on his new proposition late Sunday night ... claiming he already has $30 million set aside for a Smith vs. Rock bout.

"I got $15m for Will Smith and $15m for Chris Rock ready to go," Paul tweeted ... adding he already has a date in mind.

"Let’s do it in August on my undercard."

FYI -- The biggest Pay-per-view ever is 4.6 million buys for Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao in 2015.

A Will vs. Chris fight would undoubtedly be successful, but don't hold your breath on it ever happening -- after all, both guys have all the money in the world and it would be quite the height/weight disadvantage for Rock ... but Jake's got the financial backing to make it happen.

The entertainment world wasn't the only one shaken up by Will Smith's Oscars slap on Sunday night -- notable sports figures, including Deion Sanders and Patrick Mahomes' wife, also couldn't believe what they saw.

Just minutes after Will smacked Chris Rock on stage at the Academy Awards over a joke the comedian made about Jada Pinkett Smith ... Sanders commended Rock for taking the blow.

"Chris took it like a STANDUP GUY LITERALLY!!! WOW WOW WOW!" Sanders said on Twitter, before adding, "Lord help us please help us Love each other especially in front of company."

Brittany Mahomes, meanwhile, chastised Smith for letting his anger turn into physical violence.

"You. Don’t. Slap. Someone," the Kansas City star quarterback's wife wrote on Twitter.

Others in the sports world commented on Will as well ... with Steph Curry even cracking a joke on social media over it.

The Golden State Warriors point guard made the quip while praising the Stanford women's basketball team for its big victory on Sunday night.

"This was loud!!!" Curry wrote. "Like that slap on that other channel."

New Las Vegas Raiders star Chandler Jones made a 'Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air' jab after seeing the on-stage swing ... writing on Twitter, "Got in one little fight and we all got scared."

NBA star Bradley Beal added, "Smack the taste out his mouth," while Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson wrote on Twitter in disbelief, "He slapped that boy fr ? Or I’m trippin."

Ozzie Guillen absolutely loathes the idea of an automated strike zone in the MLB ... telling TMZ Sports he thinks robot umps are "the worst thing I've ever heard in my life."

The former Chicago White Sox manager went in on the idea when we asked him this week about the potential rule change -- saying he has no clue how it'd make the game better.

"I hope [the rule change] happens after I die," Guillen said, "because I'll be very, very vocal about it."

The MLB is considering the move down the road -- after it implemented automated strike zones for the 2022 Triple-A season.

The idea is that if it goes well in the minor leagues, it could eventually end up replacing humans behind the plate one day in The Show -- and make a more uniform ball-and-strike zone there.

Guillen, though, said it's a slap in the face to the current umps ... and he also doesn't understand how a computer could do a better job than a human who's standing just inches away from the pitches.

"Whoever came up with this idea never played the game," Guillen said. "Never played Little League baseball games."

Guillen is in favor of adding one rule back to the game ... telling us he'd like to see more roughness come back. He explained he's hoping the league will allow hard slides into second base and into home plate again eventually.

As for if Guillen will ever manage again -- he said he's hopeful after getting an interview with the San Diego Padres last year that a team will give him another shot.