KSR Today: Noah Thompson wins 'American Idol'

Eastern Kentucky’s Country Music Highway produced another superstar in Noah Thompson, winner of American Idol’s 20th season. The Louisa, Kentucky native sang his way into Sunday night’s top-three finale, where his performances earned enough of America’s vote to award him the American Idol record deal and $250K prize.

The 20-year-old former construction worker performed three songs during the three-hour finale. First, Thompson sang “I’m on Fire” in the Bruce Springsteen round, followed by an original song titled, “One Day Tonight.”

For the encore round, Thompson wore a suit for the second time in his life (the other was Lawrence County prom) as he again sang Rihanna’s “Stay” for the audience. A risky play for a country singer, Thompson’s twist on Rihanna left Lionel Richie speechless and secured Thompson’s spot as American Idol winner.

Hear it for yourself:

Hours before America named Thompson its American Idol winner, another Kentuckian won big on the national stage…

Justin Thomas won the PGA Championship with record comeback

Louisville native Justin Thomas was seven shots behind the PGA Championship leader, Mito Pereira, when Thomas teed off in Sunday’s final round at Southern Hills. Down big but not out, Thomas shot a 3-under-par 67 on a difficult track to put himself in the mix as the last three groups played out their rounds behind him, all over par for the day. In the clubhouse needing some help, Thomas watched on in hopes of a tie and a spot in a playoff.

When the final pairing of Pereira and Will Zalatoris reached the 18th, Pereira (-6) held a one-shot lead over his playing partner and Thomas, each at 5-under for the tournament. All the Chilean rookie needed was a par to win his first career tournament, but the moment was too big. Rather than hitting a cautious 3-wood off the tee, Pereira succumbed to the chants of “Hit the driver!” and hit a disastrous tee shot far right and into the water. From there, Pereira missed the green on his approach, watched his ball roll off the green on his chip, then two-putted for a double bogey and an all-time collapse on the big stage. He shot 5-over on the final day.

Meanwhile, Zalatoris scored a par on the 18th to set up a three-hole aggregate playoff with Thomas. With a new outlook on his PGA Championship life, Thomas birdied the first two playoff holes and parred the third to beat Zalatoris by one and secure Thomas’ second career Wanamaker Trophy.

The win is Thomas’ second career major championship and his Sunday comeback matched the biggest comeback in the PGA Championship’s 104-year history.

Not bad for a Louisville fan.

Kentucky Men’s Tennis lost in the NCAA title match

Justin Thomas and Noah Thompson won big on the national stage, but the University of Kentucky’s men’s tennis team wasn’t as fortunate in its Sunday title match. Playing in the school’s first-ever NCAA Championship, Kentucky lost to Virginia, 4-0, in the best-of-seven title match to finish as the NCAA runner-up.

Still an amazing finish for the Wildcats, the unexpected tournament run marked the best finish in school history with the Wildcats’ first-ever Final Four appearance.

Gave everything we had and came up just short.

This team has so much to be proud of after such a historic season. #UKRising pic.twitter.com/UwDUdyYC7Q

— Kentucky Men's Tennis (@UKMensTennis) May 22, 2022

Congratulations to head coach Cedric Kauffmann and his team on the great year.

Kentucky Softball’s season also ended on Sunday

UK Athletics suffered another postseason defeat on Sunday when Kentucky Softball lost both of its NCAA Tournament games against Virginia Tech, the tournament’s No. 3 overall seed. Playing at Virginia Tech and in need of one win to advance in the double-elimination tournament, the Cats lost both Sunday games to the Hokies in the Blacksburg Regional, thus ending the tournament run.

A win would’ve put Kentucky in the Super Regional for a fifth straight season.

Kentucky Baseball secured a spot in the SEC Tournament

On the other diamond, Kentucky Baseball earned the final invite to the upcoming SEC Tournament by winning the regular season finale against Auburn in Lexington on Saturday. The Wildcats will now head to Hoover, Alabama to play Auburn again in the opening round of the conference tournament. That one is scheduled for 9 PM tomorrow and will be televised on the SEC Network.

See the entire 2022 SEC Tournament bracket.

Andrew Wiggins submitted his nomination for NBA Dunk of the Year

In the NBA Playoffs, Golden State won Game 3 of its series against Dallas to take a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference Finals. The top play from last night’s game is also one of the top plays of the entire season, a nasty one-handed jam by Andrew Wiggins on top of Luka Doncic’s head to push the Warriors’ lead to 10 in the fourth quarter.

The posterization of Doncic was originally called an offensive foul, but Steve Kerr threw a challenge flag and had the play reviewed at the monitor, where referees rescinded the foul after a second look.

Doncic said afterward, “That was impressive. I’m not going to lie. I saw the video again, and I was like, ‘Oof.’ I wish I had those bunnies.”

Tonight, Boston hosts Miami in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Heat have a 2-1 lead.

Devin Booker attended the Kardashian wedding

Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker got married in Italy over the weekend (did you send a gift?) and Devin Booker was one of the guests in attendance. The former Wildcat was there accompanying his girlfriend, Kendall Jenner, one of the bajillionaire sisters of the Kardashian/Jenner empire.

Kendall and Devin leaving Kourtney and Travis Barker's Wedding 🔥❤ pic.twitter.com/wyhFPsEJ3W

— booken (@kendallxdevin) May 22, 2022

Organized Team Activities begin in the NFL today

In the National Football League, OTAs begin today at many team practice facilities around the league. They’re getting ready for the 2022 season today in Arizona, Buffalo, Carolina, Chicago, Denver, Green Bay, Houston, Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Los Angeles (x2), Miami, Minnesota, New England, New York (x2), San Francisco, Seattle, and Tennessee.

For Kentucky’s purposes, it’s the first OTA for rookies Wan’Dale Robinson, Luke Fortner, Marquan McCall, and Yusuf Corker, and we will track the former Wildcats’ progress on the practice field as best as we can from afar to stay on top of their NFL journeys.

Matt Jones is back from Texas

On today’s episode of Kentucky Sports Radio, Matt Jones is back in Kentucky to talk about all of the latest news with Ryan Lemond and Shannon The Dude.

Tune in at 10 AM.