ace of spades wildcard

ace of spades wildcard Bryson DeChambeau is 0-for-91 (and counting) in his ace chase. @brysondechambeau Thirteen days ago, Bryson DeChambeau published a 40-second video to his social channels. The reigning U.S. Open champion was standing in his driveway in shorts, a T-shirt and a Crushers (his LIV team) hat turned backward. By his feet was a hitting mat pinned down by dumb bells. Behind him, two stories of floor-to-ceiling glass that is the façade of his gleaming Dallas-area home. Out of the picture, on the far side of the house: an artificial green in DeChambeau’s backyard. A hole cut a few paces off the front edge of that green was the target for the shotmaking challenge DeChambeau was about to explain to his audience. “This is Day 1 of trying to make a hole-in-one over my house,” he says in the video. “And because it’s Day 1, I only get one ball.” The implication: If DeChambeau did not hole that shot — it looks to be approximately 100 yards — he’d come back on Day 2 for two more attempts, and on Day 3 for three more swipes, and so on. Alas, DeChambeau did not jar that first try, though he did come close, his ball landing a couple of feet in front of the hole before stopping about 18 inches past it. His stunt would live to see another day. And another. And another. And well, as of Sunday, DeChambeau still has not made an ace. He is now 0-for-91, albeit with more than a handful of shots that looked destined to drop before stopping just short of the hole or veering just right or left of it. A post shared by Bryson DeChambeau (@brysondechambeau) If DeChambeau’s swing has failed him, though, the internet has not. His now 13-part series has cumulatively driven more than 50 million views on Instagram, with millions of more eyes finding the videos on TikTok, YouTube and X. Among those following along is the comedian Bert Kreischer, who on Day 10 wrote in the comments, “Im way too invested – I’m now rooting for you to not get a hole in one so this doesn’t stop.” Added another commenter, “Day 10 of asking you to hit it straight into a window.” That’s an unlikely result; DeChambeau is far too skilled. But the mere prospect of a bladed shot undoubtedly is part of the videos’ allure. So, too, are all the agonizingly close misses. According to the National Hole in One Registry, the odds of a professional golfer making a hole-in-one are roughly 3,000 to 1 . But that stat isn’t particularly useful in this instance given DeChambeau is hitting the same shot over and over and from a distance much shorter than the length of most par-3s that pro golfers are accustomed to playing. Golf stats whiz Lou Stagner, who said he is “hooked” on DeChambeau’s quest, estimated on X that DeChambeau’s odds of holing out on any given driveway swing are about 1 in 175. Assuming those odds, Stagner computed that DeChambeau’s chances of making an ace by Day 10 were 27 percent; by Day 15, 49.7 percent; and by Day 30, 93 percent. Predictably, bookies also have set lines. On Thursday, Oddschecker handicapped the chances of DeChambeau holing a shot before Thanksgiving at -150, or 60 percent, and the odds of him breaking a window at +160, or 38.5 percent. Whatever DeChambeau’s chances, his latest made-for-virality escapade is yet more evidence that no player is more successfully bridging the gap between “Pro Golfer” and “YouTube Golfer” than the 31-year-old DeChambeau. One week, he might be smashing drives on the LIV tour or locking horns with Rory McIlroy at the U.S. Open, the next he might be blasting tee balls through cardboard or watching a Space X launch with Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. Speaking of the President-elect, DeChambeau’s attempt at breaking 50 with Trump as his sidekick has now garnered more than 13 million views on YouTube. Ace chases aren’t a new gag. The DP World Tour’s excellent social-media team has been orchestrating them for years, challenging its players to make a hole-in-one with 500 swings or fewer. Earlier this year Barstool Sports personality “Jersey Jerry” spun up his own ace chase when he hopped on a simulator and pledged not to leave before he jarred a tee shot, live-streaming every hook, slice and top. After 37 hours and 2,627 swings, the internet rejoiced when Jerry mercifully achieved his goal. DeChambeau’s challenge is something different, though, because (1) he has a finite number of attempts in each installment, and (2) with the metronome-like consistency of his mechanics, every swing could be the one. DeChambeau’s seventh swing on Day 13 certainly looked to be. That try landed just short of the hole before rattling the stick and bouncing in and out of the cup. ”Are you kidding me?” DeChambeau said, clenching his hands behind his head. “Oh my god, how does that happen?” Day 14 drops tomorrow. Perhaps one of DeChambeau’s tee shots finally will, too. Latest In News Golf.com Editor As GOLF.com’s executive editor, Bastable is responsible for the editorial direction and voice of one of the game’s most respected and highly trafficked news and service sites. He wears many hats — editing, writing, ideating, developing, daydreaming of one day breaking 80 — and feels privileged to work with such an insanely talented and hardworking group of writers, editors and producers. Before grabbing the reins at GOLF.com, he was the features editor at GOLF Magazine. A graduate of the University of Richmond and the Columbia School of Journalism, he lives in New Jersey with his wife and foursome of kids.

Regardless of the reasons behind the investigation, the case of NVIDIA serves as a reminder of the complex interplay between business, technology, and geopolitics in the global economy. Companies must navigate these challenges with caution and strategic foresight to avoid becoming entangled in regulatory hurdles and geopolitical tensions.

WASHINGTON — The stunning overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad by Islamist rebels half a century after his family took power raises an old question when it comes to regime change in the Middle East: Will the new governing forces behave any better than those that have been deposed? “The Assad regime has fallen ,” President Biden declared Sunday from the White House. “It’s a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria.” “It’s also a moment of risk and uncertainty, as we all turn to the question of what comes next,” Biden said. In a matter of weeks , the rebels achieved what the United Nations, the U.S. and other Western powers long tried but failed to do. The Russian government announced late Sunday local time that Assad and his family had arrived in Moscow and were being given asylum, Russian state news agencies reported. Decades of brutal rule by Assad has left Syria fragmented ethnically, religiously and politically. The victorious insurgency is also divided. The leading group, Hayat Tahrir al Sham, known as HTS, traces its roots to the terror organizations Islamic State and Al Qaeda but claims to have reformed. Long concerned about HTS taking power, Washington continues to designate it a terrorist group, which will complicate any dealings with it. The rebel victory also scrambles regional relations. It deals a major setback to Assad’s allies Iran and Russia while boosting Turkey, which backed the HTS and will probably be Washington’s main conduit to Syria’s new leaders. The U.S. backed a different rebel group, the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, a Kurdish militia that helped defeat Islamic State but that Turkey considers a terrorist group. Clashes between the SDF and Turkish-backed factions were already being reported on Sunday. Israel, meanwhile, is glad to see the departures of an Iran-backed Assad but not exactly thrilled at having Islamist leaders next door. The country was already bolstering a buffer zone along the border between the Israel-controlled Golan Heights and Syria and joined in the bombing of a small number of sites inside Syria. By any measure, the immediate future of Syria will be an unstable and potentially violent melange of competing groups, intense jockeying for power and settling of scores. Among worst-case scenarios are a deepening civil war or the conversion of the once-wealthy and now devastated country into a haven for militants such as the Islamic State. After 24 hours monitoring what the White House called the “extraordinary” developments in Syria, Biden convened his National Security Council Sunday for updates and planning before speaking to the American public. “We will remain vigilant,” Biden said, pledging to keep militants at bay and “do whatever we can to support” the Syrian people “to help restore Syria after more than a decade of war and a generation of brutality from the Assad family.” By contrast, Donald Trump, who becomes president in about six weeks, said on his social media platform that the U.S. should “stay out of it.” “This is not our fight,” he said. Similarly, as president in 2019, he declared that “someone else should fight” in Syria and in a much-criticized move ordered the withdrawal of most U.S. troops posted there, clearing the way for Turkey to move in and attack the United States’ Kurdish allies. Several hundred U.S. troops remain in Syria, officially to counter any resurgence by Islamic State. There are other looming issues, however, that might demand a U.S. role, officials said. Syria will need huge amounts of humanitarian aid, especially if some of the millions of citizens who fled as refugees during the last decade of war begin to return to the ruins of their former homes. Also, critically, U.S. officials expressed concern about Assad’s large stockpiles of armament, including missiles and chemical weapons, that could end up in the hands of the rebels. Assad notoriously used chemical weapons on his own people to put down rebellion and dissent. Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, voiced support for Assad after a 2017 visit to Syria. She said she doubted U.S. intelligence reports that he had used chemical weapons inside his country. For many ordinary Syrians, however, the principal concern is how minorities will be treated. Some, like the Alawite Shiite Muslim faction to which Assad’s family belonged, as well as some Kurds and Christians, are seen as having colluded with the regime. Most of the rebels are Sunni Muslims. The first government to congratulate the opposition victory in Syria was Afghanistan’s radically conservative and repressive Islamic Taliban. Ahmed Sharaa, the bearded commander of HTS, has sought to portray the group as a reformed and more moderate faction than its past associations suggest. He has preached tolerance and pluralism, although his rule over Syria’s Idlib province where HTS has held sway only displayed the most minimal version of such policies. Christians, for example, have been allowed to attend church. “These sects have co-existed in the region for hundreds of years,” he told CNN in an interview last week as the rebels were advancing toward Damascus. “No one has the right to erase another group.” He promised a “transition to a state of governance and institutions” and even suggested HTS could disband having achieved its military victory. That would be a very unusual transition in the Middle East, where players who gain power tend to hold on to it. The Assad regime began in 1970 with Bashar’s father Hafez. With an insidious intelligence service, routine imprisonment and torture of dissidents and iron-fist control of media and public speech, the Assads maintained a ferocious and violent control of the Syrian population. The Arab Spring protests of 2011 led to a brutal crackdown and eventually a civil war that killed an estimated 500,000 people. Assad remained in power with military help from Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed political and military faction based in Lebanon. Over the last year or so, those three allies all lost their ability to defend him. Russia is overextended in its nearly three years of war in Ukraine. Iran has been battered by Israel from outside and dissent and economic turmoil on the inside. And Hezbollah has been vastly weakened by Israeli assassinations and bombardments. It is expected that Syria’s new leaders will close the Russian air base and port on the Mediterranean coast. Iran has lost a large portion if not all of its land and air routes to Lebanon and Hezbollah , its proxy there. In his speech Sunday, Biden claimed some credit for the recent turn of events in Syria, as uncertain as its future may be. “Our approach has shifted the balance of power in the Middle East through this combination of support for our partners, sanctions, diplomacy and targeted military force when necessary,” he said.

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Iron ore prices are forecast to maintain an average of $100/tonne in 2025 as China’s sluggish property sector continues to subdue demand, says BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions. According to a report published Nov. 15, BMI analysts say they expect iron ore prices to continue to be hit by a weak demand outlook, barring additional support measures from China in the coming months. “Iron ore prices are likely to remain highly sensitive to potential stimulus announcements, with market sentiment skewed towards expectations of further support in light of anticipated rekindled trade tensions under a second Trump presidency,” the report notes. “The extent of any provided stimulus will be crucial in determining whether it can turn the tide for the iron ore market,” it adds. Demand subdued On the demand side, BMI’s report points out that steel production in China, and thus demand for iron ore, still remains sluggish, with property sector weakness adding to the grim picture. According to the World Steel Association, during the first nine months of 2024, China’s production of crude steel declined by 3.6% year-on-year, with production in September falling by 6.1%. While China’s manufacturing PMI surprised to the upside, returning to an expansionary territory for the first time in six months, registering a reading of 50.1 in October compared to 49.8 in September, BMI says the “ongoing property downturn still shows little sign of reversing.” During the first nine months of 2024, investment in the real estate sector declined by 10.1% y-o-y, after falling by 10.2% over January-August 2024, while new construction floor starts contracted by 22.2%, BMI data shows. “The recently unveiled raft of stimulus measures presents an upside, however, our country risk team highlights that addressing the property market downturn will be a multiyear effort, given the scale of unfinished projects and unsold housing stock,” BMI notes. Elevated inventories While China’s imports of iron ore remain elevated, rising by 4.9% y-o-y over January-October 2024, with demand turnaround expectations and a lower price environment acting as a tailwind, BMI says they were likely adding largely to stocks. Data shows a strong build-up of iron ore inventories at Chinese ports, rising by 31% year to date to 149.9 million tonnes (mt) as of Nov. 8, which has the potential to place a cap on prices in the coming months. Outside of China, steel production and demand for iron ore remain muted so far. According to the World Steel Association’s report, global crude steel production declined by 1.9% y-o-y over January-September 2024, with September registering a sharp decrease of 4.7%. Supply healthy On the supply side, iron ore production remains healthy across major miners, BMI notes. Iron ore shipments and production broadly increased for most majors, with miners aiming to maintain their production levels. BHP saw record iron ore production in FY2024 (year ended June 30) of 260mt, a 1% y-o-y increase, and FY2025 production to come in at 255-265.5mt. Fortescue maintained its iron ore shipments guidance for FY2025 at 190-200mt, slightly up from 191.6mt reached in FY2024. Vale’s iron ore production guidance for 2024 has been recently revised upwards to 323-330mt from the previously expected 310-320mt. Lastly, Rio Tinto’s 2023 iron ore shipments rose by 3% y-o-y to 332mt, with the Australian miner setting its 2024 guidance at 323-338mt. Long-term outlook Looking beyond 2024-2025, BMI analysts maintained their view that iron ore prices will likely follow a multi-year downtrend, as cooling steel production growth and higher iron ore output from global producers continue to loosen the market. In the long term, they forecast prices to decline from an average of US$110/t in 2024 to US$78/t in 2033. While significantly lower than US$156/t in 2021, the US$97/t annual average that we forecast for 2024-2028 would still be higher than the 2016-2020 average of US$78/t, BMI says. “China’s slowing demand growth will be the main driver of lower prices, a trend that is now already in its early stages,” BMI’s report notes. “A structural shift away from industrial, steel-intensive sectors towards services and less steel-intensive infrastructure will have a negative impact on iron ore demand. This shift in China’s economic growth trajectory is expected to depress steel consumption and production growth rates. “While domestic steel production was allowed to significantly outstrip steel demand over the past decade, with the resulting surplus exported, we expect production growth to be brought more closely in line with domestic consumption patterns in the coming years.” Based on these forecasts, BMI expects China’s annual iron ore consumption to peak before the end of the decade, while iron ore demand across Asia more broadly will continue to grow, but at a very slow rate.Steps for Early Cancer Setection and Prevention: Collector

Bryson DeChambeau is 0-for-91 (and counting) in his ace chase. @brysondechambeau Thirteen days ago, Bryson DeChambeau published a 40-second video to his social channels. The reigning U.S. Open champion was standing in his driveway in shorts, a T-shirt and a Crushers (his LIV team) hat turned backward. By his feet was a hitting mat pinned down by dumb bells. Behind him, two stories of floor-to-ceiling glass that is the façade of his gleaming Dallas-area home. Out of the picture, on the far side of the house: an artificial green in DeChambeau’s backyard. A hole cut a few paces off the front edge of that green was the target for the shotmaking challenge DeChambeau was about to explain to his audience. “This is Day 1 of trying to make a hole-in-one over my house,” he says in the video. “And because it’s Day 1, I only get one ball.” The implication: If DeChambeau did not hole that shot — it looks to be approximately 100 yards — he’d come back on Day 2 for two more attempts, and on Day 3 for three more swipes, and so on. Alas, DeChambeau did not jar that first try, though he did come close, his ball landing a couple of feet in front of the hole before stopping about 18 inches past it. His stunt would live to see another day. And another. And another. And well, as of Sunday, DeChambeau still has not made an ace. He is now 0-for-91, albeit with more than a handful of shots that looked destined to drop before stopping just short of the hole or veering just right or left of it. A post shared by Bryson DeChambeau (@brysondechambeau) If DeChambeau’s swing has failed him, though, the internet has not. His now 13-part series has cumulatively driven more than 50 million views on Instagram, with millions of more eyes finding the videos on TikTok, YouTube and X. Among those following along is the comedian Bert Kreischer, who on Day 10 wrote in the comments, “Im way too invested – I’m now rooting for you to not get a hole in one so this doesn’t stop.” Added another commenter, “Day 10 of asking you to hit it straight into a window.” That’s an unlikely result; DeChambeau is far too skilled. But the mere prospect of a bladed shot undoubtedly is part of the videos’ allure. So, too, are all the agonizingly close misses. According to the National Hole in One Registry, the odds of a professional golfer making a hole-in-one are roughly 3,000 to 1 . But that stat isn’t particularly useful in this instance given DeChambeau is hitting the same shot over and over and from a distance much shorter than the length of most par-3s that pro golfers are accustomed to playing. Golf stats whiz Lou Stagner, who said he is “hooked” on DeChambeau’s quest, estimated on X that DeChambeau’s odds of holing out on any given driveway swing are about 1 in 175. Assuming those odds, Stagner computed that DeChambeau’s chances of making an ace by Day 10 were 27 percent; by Day 15, 49.7 percent; and by Day 30, 93 percent. Predictably, bookies also have set lines. On Thursday, Oddschecker handicapped the chances of DeChambeau holing a shot before Thanksgiving at -150, or 60 percent, and the odds of him breaking a window at +160, or 38.5 percent. Whatever DeChambeau’s chances, his latest made-for-virality escapade is yet more evidence that no player is more successfully bridging the gap between “Pro Golfer” and “YouTube Golfer” than the 31-year-old DeChambeau. One week, he might be smashing drives on the LIV tour or locking horns with Rory McIlroy at the U.S. Open, the next he might be blasting tee balls through cardboard or watching a Space X launch with Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. Speaking of the President-elect, DeChambeau’s attempt at breaking 50 with Trump as his sidekick has now garnered more than 13 million views on YouTube. Ace chases aren’t a new gag. The DP World Tour’s excellent social-media team has been orchestrating them for years, challenging its players to make a hole-in-one with 500 swings or fewer. Earlier this year Barstool Sports personality “Jersey Jerry” spun up his own ace chase when he hopped on a simulator and pledged not to leave before he jarred a tee shot, live-streaming every hook, slice and top. After 37 hours and 2,627 swings, the internet rejoiced when Jerry mercifully achieved his goal. DeChambeau’s challenge is something different, though, because (1) he has a finite number of attempts in each installment, and (2) with the metronome-like consistency of his mechanics, every swing could be the one. DeChambeau’s seventh swing on Day 13 certainly looked to be. That try landed just short of the hole before rattling the stick and bouncing in and out of the cup. ”Are you kidding me?” DeChambeau said, clenching his hands behind his head. “Oh my god, how does that happen?” Day 14 drops tomorrow. Perhaps one of DeChambeau’s tee shots finally will, too. Latest In News Golf.com Editor As GOLF.com’s executive editor, Bastable is responsible for the editorial direction and voice of one of the game’s most respected and highly trafficked news and service sites. He wears many hats — editing, writing, ideating, developing, daydreaming of one day breaking 80 — and feels privileged to work with such an insanely talented and hardworking group of writers, editors and producers. Before grabbing the reins at GOLF.com, he was the features editor at GOLF Magazine. A graduate of the University of Richmond and the Columbia School of Journalism, he lives in New Jersey with his wife and foursome of kids.Montana State Bobcats to host UT Martin in second round of FCS playoffs