City were heading for a frustrating evening at the Etihad Stadium on Monday until Kompany let fly with a 25-yard shot into the top corner 20 minutes from time — the centre-back’s first City goal from outside the box.

Victory saw City go top by a point from Liverpool heading into Sunday’s last round of league matches.

“I hadn’t scored this season but I always feel in big moments that I’m going to do something,” Kompany told Sky Sports.

“Today was a little bit of frustration, everyone was saying ‘don’t shoot, don’t shoot’ and I could really hear it; I thought hold on a second, I’ve not come this far in my career for young players to tell me if I can take a shot, and I just had a go!”

The Belgian last hit the target from outside the area back in 2007 but Kompany insisted: “I’ve scored goals like that in training!

“It’s 15 years I’ve been in top-level football, midfielders telling me ‘don’t shoot, play the ball wide’ and every time they miss, for 15 years I’ve been saying ‘I promise you, one day I’m going to have a shot from outside the box and I’m going to score a goal and you’re going to be really happy with that one’.”

– ‘Big believer’ –

City manager Pep Guardiola admitted he too was among those who didn’t want Kompany to let fly from distance.

“Don’t shoot! Pass the ball, pass the ball!,” said Guardiola when asked about his thoughts as Kompany took aim.

“Honestly, I wasn’t too confident but football is mad for that. The artists are the players, they have to decide things in a fraction of a second and what’s important isn’t the goal, it’s him shooting while believing he was going to score.

“He’s a big believer and that helped us to win the game,” the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss added.

The 33-year-old Kompany’s career has been blighted by injuries, with Guardiola saying: “He’s not young and to be consistent is difficult for him every three days, but when we have a game once every week, he’s an incredible player.”

City will be assured of retaining the title if their result away to Brighton is equal or better to what Liverpool achieve against Wolves at Anfield on Sunday.

However, a win for Liverpool and anything less for City would see the Reds secure their first English championship since they last won the old First Division title in 1990.

And Kompany warned: “It’s a big goal, we’ve not achieved anything (yet).”

But Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, who made several fine saves on Monday, said: “City are a top-class side, and we have lost to the potential champions.

“I can’t see them losing their next game.”

Presenting the golfing great with the nation’s highest honor, Trump praised Woods’ “relentless will to win, win, win.”

“These qualities embody the American spirit of pushing boundaries, defying limits and always striving for greatness,” the president said.

Trump congratulated Woods on “your amazing comeback and your amazing life and for giving sports fans a lifetime of memories.

“We can’t wait to see what’s next, Tiger,” he said.

The 43-year-old Woods choked up as he thanked his mother, his two children, his girlfriend and his caddy during the ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.

“You have seen the good and the bad, the highs and the lows,” said Woods, who battled back from injury to win the Masters last month, his first major title since the 2008 US Open.

“My dad is no longer here, but my mom is here,” Woods said. “I love you, Mom.”

“I have tried to hang in there and I have tried to come back and play the great game of golf again,” Woods said. “I have been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to do it again.”

He said his Masters victory was “probably the highlight of what I have accomplished so far in my life on the golf course.

“To have had that type of experience and to be able to come out on top and win,” he said.

Established by John F. Kennedy in 1963, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is bestowed upon those who have made an “especially meritorious” contribution to US security or national interests, world peace, cultural pursuits or other non-specified endeavors.

It has been awarded to nearly three dozen sports figures including golf legends Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, honored by president George W. Bush.

President Barack Obama gave the medal in 2014 to Charlie Sifford, the first African American golfer to play on the PGA Tour.

Despite missing out on his breakthrough victory, Kaske took solace in his runner-up finish as it propelled him to seventh place on the Merit rankings and allowed him to virtually secure his playing rights for the 2020 season.

The 32-year-old Finnish held up admirably through 72 holes of regulation play to force extra time with Korea’s Taehee Lee on a nine-under-par 275 total.

The duo went head-to-head till the third play-off hole, held on the par-four 18th, where Kaske was eventually eliminated after a bad break left him with a difficult approach to the green while Lee prevailed with a birdie putt from six feet.

“We kept giving our chances away. I hit a good drive on the third play-off hole but landed in a sandy divot. I had a terrible lie and I couldn’t get in contact with the ball but Lee hit it nicely from the fairway to birdie the hole and win the tournament.

“It looked like I was going to win it pretty easily at some point. But then I started to make stupid mistakes and it looked like he was going to win it. I think we switched the lead about five times in the last hour,” said Kaske, who took home a prize purse of US$106,719.

After missing the mark in his second attempt at the Asian Tour Qualifying School in 2015, Kaske decided to switch his focus to the Asian Development Tour (ADT) where he would claim two victories that year.

Kaske grinded it out on the region’s secondary circuit for three years before a solid season of eight top-10 finishes led him to finish in fifth place on the 2018 ADT Order of Merit and secure his Asian Tour card for the 2019 season.

With his foot firmly on the gas pedal, Kaske will make another attempt at a breakthrough victory at the Asia-Pacific Open Diamond Cup, which gets underway at the Sobu Country Club in Japan this week.

“This result should help me keep my card for next year as well. Obviously, I would have loved to win but my goal for this year was to keep my card so I’ll take the second-place finish.

“It was good to give myself a chance but I don’t know what to say right now. I can’t analyse this anymore, it is still a good result for me and my best result on the Asian Tour so far,” added Kaske.

Young Thai talent Jazz Janewattananond was pleased to inch closer to Merit leader Scott Hend, as he took home US$31,702 thanks to his tied-19th finish at the Volvo China Open.

Australian Hend, who came in tied-65th in China, now leads by US$56,235 over Jazz with his current haul of US$527,531 on the money list.

“My goal this week was to get my momentum going before the PGA Championship because I haven’t been playing that well lately and I feel I can do better. I missed the cut in India by one shot so that was not fun. But I made the cut this week and I need momentum like that to be on form,” said Jazz, who will make his debut at the PGA Championship next week.

After capping a successful week with two events in China and Korea, the Asian Tour will head to Japan for the Asia-Pacific Open Diamond Cup this week.

The event, co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO), will see a talented field of 144 players vying for a prize purse of ¥150,000,000 (US$1,338,000) at the Sobu Country Club from May 9 to 12.

Ends.

Top-20 players on the Habitat for Humanity Standings

Pos       Player   Order of Merit (US$)

1 Scott HEND (AUS) $527,530.94

2 Jazz JANEWATTANANOND (THA) $471,295.40

3 Masahiro KAWAMURA (JPN) $249,266.67

4 Zach MURRAY (AUS) $197,444.91

5 Johannes VEERMAN (USA) $158,720.00

6 David LIPSKY (USA) $137,309.79

7 Janne KASKE (FIN) $106,719.00

8 Prom MEESAWAT (THA) $91,980.10

9 Scott VINCENT (ZWE) $90,546.66

10 Panuphol PITTAYARAT (THA) $87,509.11

11 Berry HENSON (USA) $78,774.09

12 S. CHIKKARANGAPPA (IND) $77,128.12

13 Yuta IKEDA (JPN) $74,749.19

14 Ajeetesh SANDHU (IND) $70,801.84

15 Paul PETERSON (USA) $67,402.25

16 Sadom KAEWKANJANA (THA) $63,000.00

17 Jarin TODD (USA) $62,241.25

18 Gavin GREEN (MAL) $61,189.13

19 Ben CAMPBELL (NZL) $55,648.48

20 Adilson DA SILVA (BRA) $55,108.36

The Manchester City boss says the English top division is the toughest domestic competition he has faced during a 10-season coaching career that has brought him 25 trophies.

City have won 12 Premier League matches in a row, and are on course to finish just two short of matching last season’s competition record of 100 points, yet they are being pushed all the way by Liverpool, who have set extraordinary standards of their own.

Jurgen Klopp’s side have lost just once in the league all season, against City in January, and recorded their eighth successive top-flight victory on Saturday, beating Newcastle 3-2 to return to the top of the table.

City have a game in hand, at home to Leicester on Monday, but are likely to have to win both that and their final league match at Brighton next Sunday to retain their title.

“Yeah, it’s the toughest league I’ve ever played as a manager, because of the quality of the rivals,” said Guardiola, a former manager of both Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

“No doubts. That’s why being there is incredible. But, of course, only one will take the prize and the other one will be at home sad.”

– Liverpool ‘wow’ –

Guardiola is thrilled his City players have maintained their standards following last season’s record-breaking points total, with the club three wins away from completing an unprecedented domestic treble of Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup.

“When you get 100 points, everyone thinks we won’t do what we have to do (the following season), that we will do less because we won, but it has been completely the opposite,” the Catalan manager said.

“Arriving at this stage, two games left with 92 points, after 100 points last season, being there, that is the most satisfaction I’ve had as a manager.

“It’s not easy, honestly. And they did it again. Now, we try to win against Leicester and then go to the final league game at Brighton with it in our hands, with a chance to be champions.”

The standard of this season’s title race has rarely been equalled at the highest level of English football.

Since the rules were changed in 1981 to make a win worth three points, only once has a top-flight team finished with more than 95 points, and that was City last season.

Yet both City and Liverpool are on course to pass that total this time around; Klopp’s team have 94 points with one match left, at home to Wolves next Sunday.

Guardiola suggested Liverpool are one of the two best sides he has ever faced as a manager, with the other being the Barcelona team that thrashed City 4-0 in a 2016 Champions League meeting.

“The difference is Liverpool. We did the same job (as last season), he said.

“In my career as a manager, I played against incredible sides. There are two that were ‘wow’. One is Barcelona with Luis Enrique, with Neymar, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez in front. The other is this Liverpool. I think they’re the best two sides I’ve faced as a manager.

“That’s why I am so happy being there, with it in our hands, fighting against them until the end, after being seven points behind at one stage this season, after collecting 100 points last season.

“When you are seven points behind, you can say: ‘It’s done’. We did the opposite of that. We were like (chipping away at) a stone. After that, we arrive here.”

A late double from Lionel Messi in the Camp Nou on Wednesday has left Jurgen Klopp’s men with a mountain to climb to overturn a 3-0 first leg defeat if they are to reach a second consecutive Champions League final.

Liverpool have overcome such deficits before in the Champions League, most famously in the 2005 final against AC Milan.

But hopes of another famous European comeback at fortress Anfield were dealt a blow when Mohamed Salah was stretchered off with a head knock as Liverpool edged out Newcastle 3-2 on Saturday to move two points ahead of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.

Salah watched a thrilling end to the match at St. James’ Park in the dressing room as his replacement Divock Origi headed home fellow substitute Xherdan Shaqiri’s free-kick four minutes from time.

Origi, who also scored a 96th-minute winner to beat Everton in the Merseyside derby in December, Shaqiri and Daniel Sturridge have made important contributions in a supporting role to a club record points tally for Liverpool this season.

“We are always ready to get on the pitch and make a difference,” said Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson.

“The lads who have been left at home and lads who are on the bench and haven’t come on, they are buzzing for us.

“There’s no egos in this squad and that’s why we are where we are today and long may it continue.”

However, with Roberto Firmino already ruled out due to a groin injury, few would give Liverpool any hope of overhauling a three-goal deficit without two of their prolific front three should Salah not start.

Klopp therefore has a difficult balancing act deciding whether it is worth emptying the tank of his injury-hit squad once more on Tuesday or to save their legs for Wolves’ visit to Anfield on the final day of the Premier League season.

“We are now qualified for the league final, which is brilliant,” said Klopp at taking the title race to the final game of the season.

Despite a sensational season, Liverpool’s chances of winning either trophy are fading.

To have any hope of a first league title in 29 years, Klopp’s men must hope that Manchester City’s relentless run of 12 straight league wins comes to an end either at home to Leicester in their game in hand on Monday, or at Brighton come Sunday.

Barcelona will also not be complacent heading to Anfield a year on from letting a 4-1 first leg lead against Roma slip away in the quarter-finals.

Messi made it clear from before the season began that the Champions League was his and Barca’s primary target in his first campaign as club captain.

Moreover, while Liverpool toiled on Tyneside on Saturday night, Barca coach Ernesto Valverde had the luxury of making 11 changes for an inconsequential 2-0 defeat to Celta Vigo having already wrapped up the Spanish title.

Yet, Origi’s winner at Newcastle personified Liverpool’s persistence and refusal to give up.

Four times in their last seven league outings Liverpool have won the game in the final 10 minutes.

Now they must harness the same belief if Barca are to be given a fright at Anfield.

“If we do fall short this season we will be back next season and we just need to keep going and keep going, and hopefully get what this club deserves,” added Robertson.

“First of all Tuesday, a hell of a task, but if we can get a wee bit of luck then hopefully we will progress.”

All classes headed out to their respective courses to be greeted by light breeze and come start time, it was even lighter. A start for IRC Racing 1 was aborted in sequence forcing the Race Officer to AP while the fleet waited, and waited. Come early afternoon, Classes 1-6 were sent back to shore and the AP raised onshore. 13:30 it was down and the fleet headed back out to be greeted by a storm, lots of rain, some thunder, gusts and finally enough breeze to get in some racing.

Meanwhile, on the dinghy courses, in between the waiting they managed to get in some racing, two for most classes, and the SV14s completed three. Adding to the fun today were the IOM radio controlled yachts. While the rain proved a little tricky, the lack of wind didn’t and they had a great opening day of their two-day series.

Keelboats and Multihulls

In Race 6 today, Noppakao Poonpat, skippering THA72, got the best of starts while Team Hollywood ducked behind for fear of being OCS. THA72 lead around the windward/leeward course and rounding the top mark for the second time, ahead. As both rounded the two TP52s split and Team Hollywood chose the better side of the course to cross the line first and claim the handicap win. An OCS for both on the second race saw a re-start in which THA72 was over again and in the process gifted the win to Team Hollywood.

Two wins for Fujin in IRC Racing 2 today sees them cement their lead at the top, while a nine second advantage on corrected time for Tenacious in today’s second race see them finish the day with a 2,2 to keep the pressure on.

The lights winds weren’t kind to MoonShadow2 in IRC Racing 3 as they slipped to a 3,2 on the day. Two hard earned first place finishers for the Japanese crew on Team Spray see them with a two point lead at the top with the discard now in play.

There was just a single race today for the Platu class. An OCS for Easy Tiger V saw them playing catch-up throughout. Rounding the top mark second to last, they managed to claw back some places to finish in eighth. However, in the protest room the Jury decided they were not OCS and offered redress, resulting in them being named winner of the race and they now go into the final day with a comfortable lead ahead of Team ViewPoint in second.

A long race in softening breeze for the Multihulls and it was Bob Garner and crew on BladeRunnerIX who sailed smart to add another bullet to their tally and increase their lead to five points over Sonic in second and Edenko in third.

TagsPatience is the name of the game on Day 4 of the 2019 Top of the Gulf RegattaPatience is

Tsitsipas, 20, claimed a third career crown after lifting trophies in Stockholm last October and Marseille in February and is expected to rise to nine in the world on Monday.

Uruguay’s Cuevas, 33, made the final as a lucky loser having originally lost in qualifying last weekend.

“You really have to fight hard and give your soul out on the court. This title means a lot to me,” said Tsitsipas.

“It’s on clay, it’s one of my preferred surfaces. It’s nice to have completed the clay-hard court title sweep that I’ve been fighting for. Next is grass, or maybe even more clay-court titles this year, that would be wonderful.”

On Saturday, Sakkari had claimed her maiden WTA title with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over Britain’s Johanna Konta in the Rabat clay court final.

Osaka has struggled since splitting with her coach Sascha Bajin in February while an abdominal injury forced her to withdraw in Stuttgart eight days ago, creating doubts about her challenge at the French Open later this month.

But there was little sign of physical problems during a testing 6-2, 7-6 (8/6) victory over Cibulkova and afterwards, Osaka said: “I feel good. I don’t have much pain in my abs so that’s always a good sign.”

The Japanese world number one will now face Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo in round two.

Osaka looked set for a more comfortable passage after a dominant opening set but she was stretched by the battling Cibulkova in the second.

By the end, Osaka had hit 43 winners and eight aces while world 33 Cibulkova conjured up 23 winners.

“I was also kind of thinking, like, there is nowhere else I’d rather be and honestly I train for these moments so I have to give it 100 percent,” said Osaka after her first main draw win in Madrid.

“I feel like there’s an adjustment period for me on clay and it took a few years.

“But now I’m more comfortable. I’m not sure if it’s because I had a really long training block before I came to start the season, but yeah, it feels good.”

Osaka’s pair of Grand Slam successes have come on hard, at the US and Australian Opens, but she is yet to find her best on clay.

If the abdominal injury has healed, Osaka can feel encouraged by her performance against Cibulkova, one of the tour’s gutsiest competitors even if the Slovakian is also enduring a difficult start to 2019.

– Pliskova saves four match points —

Meanwhile, French Open champion and two-time Madrid winner Simona Halep brushed past Russian qualifier Margarita Gasparyan 6-0, 6-4.

“It was a good match, even if the first set was fast. The second one was tougher, and I feel happy that I could win this match,” said third-seeded Halep.

Former world number one Caroline Woznacki’s Madrid Open lasted just minutes when she retired at 0-3 down to France’s Alize Cornet suffering with a back injury.

Wozniacki, the 2018 Australian Open champion, has been battling rheumatoid arthritis in recent months.

“I don’t consider it like a real win over Caroline,” Cornet said.

Fourth seed Karolina Pliskova saved four match points to see off highly-rated Ukrainian teenager Dayana Yastremska 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.

Unseeded Pauline Parmentier of France defeated Ukrainian sixth seed Elina Svitolina, who had been struggling with a knee injury, 6-4, 7-6 (8/6).

US 13th seed Madison Keys was also a surprise first round loser, going down 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to Sorana Cirstea of Romania.

However, there were no such problems for former US Open champion — and recently engaged — Sloane Stephens as the eighth seed defeated Polona Hercog of Slovenia 6-2, 7-6 (7/4).

Stephens, who announced her engagement to US football international Jozy Altidore last week, goes on to face former world number one Victoria Azarenka.

Only two ATP matches were played on Sunday. Australia’s Nick Kyrgios was a 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 loser to Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, a quarter-finalist in Barcelona last month.

Felix Auger-Aliassime, just 18, won the all-Canadian battle with Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 7-6 (9/7) to set-up a second round clash against world number two Rafael Nadal.

Maurizio Sarri’s side beat Watford 3-0 to lift them into third spot behind Liverpool and Manchester City and their day was made all the sweeter as United drew at relegated Huddersfield and Arsenal were held by Brighton.

The results mean that with one round of fixtures remaining Chelsea, on 71 points, cannot be caught by fifth-placed Arsenal, who are on 67 points, or United, a point further back.

Fourth-placed Tottenham, on 70 points and with a far better goal difference than north London rivals Arsenal, are virtually assured of Champions League football next season barring an unlikely sequence of events.

Sarri’s team were booed off after a sloppy first half, but two goals in three minutes from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and David Luiz lifted the mood at Stamford Bridge before Gonzalo Higuain sealed victory, Chelsea’s first in four games in all competitions.

Finishing in the top four and winning the Europa League would make the Italian manager’s troubled first season a relative success.

“We want to be in the top four at the end of the season. We want to be in the Champions League,” said Sarri, whose side drew the first leg of their Europa League semi-final against Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1.

“The Europa League is also a very important competition and we want to win it because we think we deserve to a trophy this season. So we have two targets.”

Despite their miserable 1-1 draw, Arsenal can still reach the Champions League after two seasons away from Europe’s top club competition if they win the Europa League.

They are in a strong position after beating Valencia 3-1 in the first leg of the semi-final.

Arsenal, who came into the match after three straight Premier League defeats, started brightly at the Emirates and took the lead through an early Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang penalty.

But they squandered opportunities to extend their advantage and were made to pay when Glenn Murray scored from the spot following the hour mark after Granit Xhaka fouled Solly March.

Arsenal poured forward in search of a winner but Aubameyang volleyed wide from close range and Brighton goalkeeper Mat Ryan made several fine saves to keep them at bay.

Disappointed boss Unai Emery turned his thoughts to Thursday’s second leg of their Europa League tie, with Arsenal set to finish outside the top four for a third consecutive season.

“We knew it is going to be difficult but our focus is now the Europa League,” he told the BBC. “We have the opportunity in the Europa League to do something important and we will try and do that.”

– United embarrassed –

United slinked off the pitch at Huddersfield after an embarrassing 1-1 draw, with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitting his side did not deserve to qualify for the Champions League.

The visitors had to rely on Huddersfield for a helping hand for their only goal as Scott McTominay’s strike from the edge of the box went straight through Jonas Lossl’s to given them an early lead.

Huddersfield had only scored nine goals at home all season, but one hopeful punt from Lossl cut United open for the equaliser on the hour mark.

Luke Shaw failed to cut out the Danish goalkeeper’s clearance and allowed Isaac Mbenza a clear run on goal to slot between David de Gea’s legs.

United have now won just two of their past 11 games in all competitions, leaving the decision to hand Solskjaer the job on a permanent basis in March open to question.

“We gave ourselves a chance to be in the Champions League,” Solskjaer said of a run of 14 wins in his first 17 games in charge before the rot of the past few months set in.

“We got so many opportunities to grab third or fourth and weren’t able to. The Europa League is the right place to be for us next year.”

Barring an astonishing Spurs collapse, the only issue that remains to be decided in the Premier League is the destination of the title.

Manchester City, two points behind leaders Liverpool but with a game in hand, host Leicester on Monday, with the final round of fixtures taking place next Sunday.