Rumors

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI has announced she is pregnant - just days before ex Rory McIlroy goes for glory at The Masters. The former tennis World No1 revealed she is welcoming her third baby with ex-NBA star husband David Lee.

The Sun

Giannis Antetokounmpo has invested in the Los Angeles Golf Club set to play the TGL golf league that Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy co-founded. The NBA star’s investment in LAGC was joined by his brothers Thanasis, Kostas, and Alex — who all play professional basketball. LAGC’s star-studded ownership group includes tennis legends Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. TGL expects to begin play in January 2024 out of its high-tech Florida golf facility on the campus of Palm Beach State College. “We want to make golf our own and for everybody,” Giannis said. “We couldn’t be more excited to shape the future of this sport.”

Front Office Sports

Shaquille O’Neal, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman have invested in TMRW Sports, the latest prominent celebrities to back the platform launched last year by golfers Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Durant and Kleiman are participating through their fund, Thirty Five Ventures, while Wade and O’Neal are investing on their own.

Sportico

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s new technology and sports endeavor, TMRW Sports, just got a whole lot of help. The company announced Tuesday morning a wide-ranging, star-studded group of investors spanning 26 active and retired athletes. Here’s what you need to know: * Some 13 sports are represented among the athletes involved. * Athletes include NBA star Steph Curry, baseball’s Shohei Ohtani, F1 driver Lewis Hamilton and tennis greats Serena Williams and Andy Murray. * The first project is a virtual pro golf tour scheduled for 2024.

The Athletic

Some of the biggest names in sports are investing in the wearable company Whoop amid a global pandemic. The fitness tracking company announced Wednesday it closed a $100 million financing round, valuing it at $1.2 billion. The latest round of investors includes Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, champion golfers Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and two-time NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant (via his business venture ThirtyFive Ventures).

CNBC

Eddie Sefko: Rory McIlroy in his post-round interview after a 67 was asked how he was going to kill the time before late Friday tee time. He rattled off some gym time and practice, then said: "And the basketball is on tonight, so I'll watch that." Everybody's an NBA fan.

Twitter

"This is something people don't realize about me but I can laugh, and laugh at myself,” Laettner said in an interview with Sports Illustrated on Friday. “The very first time I saw an “I STILL HATE LAETTNER” t-shirt was six or seven years ago and I thought it was so funny that Kentucky fans were selling the shirts on stores around campus. So I pointed the shirt out to Rory and maybe he got the feeling then that, hey, Christian can laugh at himself, so that's a storyline we can use in the film.

Sports Illustrated

Given Ochocinco's appeal and influence, advertisers should probably go after him more. He is most associated with Motorola, whose reported $400,000 deal with him included sponsorship of his Twitter page. Although there are many LeBron bashers out there, he did finish the regular season with the most popular jersey in the NBA and his place on this list proves that people still listen and react to him. Mike Vick is obviously a tremendously polarizing figure, so it's amazing to find him up so high on the list. He's currently losing to Peyton Hillis in the Madden cover vote, so he might want to use his Twitter influence to get some more votes. Although Stewart Cink was the golfer who originally pushed Twitter, it's 21-year-old Rory McIlroy leading the golfers. Tiger Woods' sphere of influence doesn't seem to have been affected by his scandal and his lack of winning. Connections to the Kardashians certainly seem to help. Lamar Odom is married to Khloe Kardashian and Reggie Bush was once with Kim Kardashian. NBA players have done some great work on Twitter — as Kevin Durant, Dwyane Wade, Steve Nash and Dwight Howard are all on this list.

CNBC