Category: Sports News Feed

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball is set to have its earliest opening day next year except for international games, starting on March 24 — if there is an opening day.

MLB said Thursday its 2027 season will start with a single game to be televised that night by Netflix. The teams have not been chosen.

Opening matchups include Cleveland at the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis at Cincinnati, the Chicago White Sox at Detroit, Texas at Houston, Minnesota at Kansas City, Atlanta at the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Mets at Miami, the Los Angeles Angels at Milwaukee, Toronto at the New York Yankees, the Athletics at Pittsburgh, Arizona at San Diego, Colorado at San Francisco, Boston at Seattle, Baltimore at Tampa Bay and Philadelphia at Washington.

Baseball’s labor contract expires Dec. 1 and a management lockout is expected. In 2022, an agreement wasn’t reached until March 10, causing opening day to be pushed back from March 31 to April 7.

Chicago’s Wrigley Field will host the All-Star Game on July 13 and a rivalry weekend will follow.

The regular season is scheduled to end Sept. 26.

The Athletics are scheduled to play most of their home games in West Sacramento, California, for the third straight season before moving to a new ballpark in Las Vegas. They will have a homestand at the Triple-A ballpark in Las Vegas starting May 31 against San Diego and Cincinnati.

With no labor contract in place for 2027, no international games are scheduled.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Pitcher Chase Burns has agreed to a $105 million, seven-year contract with the Cincinnati Reds that covers 2027-33, two people familiar with the deal told the Associated Press on Thursday.

The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been announced. Burns has a $785,000 salary while in the major leagues this year and $198,173 in the unlikely event he is sent to the minors.

Burns’ deal would run through the 2033 season and under the current labor contract covers three seasons of arbitration eligibility and the first two years after he would have been eligible for free agency. It does not include options or deferrals.

The 23-year old right-hander was selected to the All-Star Game this season for the first time, but did not participate after he tweaked his right groin during a July 8 game against Philadelphia when trying to field the throw home on a wild pitch during the second inning.

Burns is 11-1 in 18 starts this season, including 15 starts where he has allowed two runs or fewer. His wins are tied for second most in the majors and his 2.54 ERA is the sixth lowest. His 118 strikeouts are seventh in the National League.

His fastball has an average velocity of 97.8 mph along with an above-average slider, Burns is generating a 31.7% whiff rate on swings, seventh in the majors.

Burns is the third pitcher in club history with at least 11 wins and 118 strikeouts before the All-Star break, joining Edinson Volquez (2008) and Jim Maloney (1963).

The contract extension also continues the trend of teams signing their young stars early. The Reds’ longtime NL Central rival, the St. Louis Cardinals, signed rookie second baseman JJ Wetherholt to a $112.5 million, eight-year contract last week.

Burns was the second overall pick out of Wake Forest in the 2024 amateur draft. He went 7-3 with a 1.77 ERA in 13 starts in the Reds’ farm system before being called up to the majors last June. He was 0-3 with a 4.57 ERA in 13 games, including eight starts, in his rookie season.

It is the largest guaranteed contract in the majors given to a pitcher with less than four years of service time and exceeds the previous high by 40% for someone with one year or more.

Burns is also the first pitcher to sign a contract worth at least $100 million prior to at least five years of service time to exclude club options.

The deal ties Homer Bailey’s for the largest guarantee given to a Reds’ pitcher and the third largest for any player in franchise history, only eclipsed by Joey Votto and Ken Griffey Jr.

Burns’ first start after the All-Star break is scheduled for Tuesday at Seattle. After making the postseason last year, Cincinnati is in last place in the NL Central with a 43-52 mark and eight games out of a wild-card spot.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

NEW YORK (AP) — If LeBron James knows where he will play this coming season, he’s still not saying.

The NBA’s career scoring king and current free agent spoke publicly for the first time in weeks Thursday afternoon, though stopped short of revealing which team he’ll choose to play for this fall — despite at least one cry from someone in a jampacked room shouting for him to “pick a team.”

“It’s going to be fun wherever I land,” James said.

The four-time NBA champion was recording an episode of his “Mind the Game” podcast alongside guest co-host Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers in New York on the opening day of Fanatics Fest, a four-day event featuring dozens of athletes, celebrities and sports legends. Single-day general admission tickets were sold out, organizers said, and it’s likely that many of those patrons — there were at least several hundred there, phones out to capture the moment — were hoping to hear James’ next decision.

Not yet, he said.

An 11-year-old asked James about free agency and developing his next team — “first of all, that was a hell of a question and some of the media people here probably should learn from the young fella,” James said — and the youngster got perhaps the best answer of the session, with James indicating that the 2026-27 season may not necessarily be his last as a player.

“It’s a big decision for not only myself, but for my family as well,” James said. “Just for the last part of my career and where I want to spend the last few years or the last year or the last two years of my NBA career … I’m going to try to fit into whatever team I’m going into, but also give them all the tools and give them all the knowledge that I’ve been able to grasp over the last 23 years. I know the game. I know the ins and outs of the game of basketball.”

Thursday’s appearance has been planned for months; it was announced publicly in May. James playfully chided Haliburton for asking him about his future — “didn’t we talk about this in the back?” James asked, and Haliburton said he’d ”leave it alone.”

Of course, they didn’t leave it alone. James made reference to a slew of teams such as Cleveland, Miami, Philadelphia and Golden State, though didn’t appear to give much in the way of hints. He did sip from a bottle of red wine that he opened and shared with Haliburton, calling it one of his podcast traditions.

And when fans shouted out suggestions for James’ next team — one even asked him to play for the New York Yankees — no clues were forthcoming.

“We’ll see,” he said.

James is the NBA’s oldest active player at 41 and the only player in league history to have a career spanning 23 seasons; this coming season will be his 24th. Speculation has been rampant for more than two months about his future, officially starting in May when the Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated from the NBA playoffs.

At that time, James said he didn’t know what he would be doing.

And the only developments that he’s revealed since came on June 30, when he said he would play this coming season and that he was leaving the Lakers after an eight-season run highlighted by the 2020 NBA title.

For more than two weeks, the NBA has been waiting to hear what comes next. James, as he did in a social media post at the time, lauded his time with the Lakers, who also offered him well wishes as he moves forward.

“I spent eight great years with the Los Angeles Lakers,” James said.

James’ resume is beyond compare in NBA history. He’s a 22-time All-Star, a 21-time All-NBA selection, a four-time Most Valuable Player, a four-time NBA Finals MVP, a three-time All-Star Game MVP, and was a member of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team.

He’s also coming off a season where he averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game. For his career, he’s averaged 26.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 7.4 assists in more than 1,600 games.

The podcast was the first of two known speaking engagements for James in New York on Thursday.

He also has an appearance at the Game Plan Summit, an invitation-only event presented by CNBC and Boardroom. James is slated to have a conversation with Boardroom co-founder Rich Kleiman — Kevin Durant’s longtime business partner — about “how he’s built an empire beyond basketball, what’s ahead for him in business, and why the next generation of athletes is poised to wield more influence than ever before.”

James started his career in Cleveland in 2003 and spent seven seasons with the Cavaliers before heading to Miami for four seasons — where he won his first two titles. He then returned to Cleveland for four more seasons, leaving in 2018 to start an eight-season run with the Lakers.

Cleveland and Miami are believed to be on James’ radar again as he weighs this decision, as are several other teams including Philadelphia, Minnesota and Golden State.

“I’m looking forward to what comes next as I wind down my journey,” James said.

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Reynolds reported from Miami.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

ATLANTA (AP) — England hired a German coach to end 60 years of hurt but saw its World Cup hopes come crashing down in the most English of ways.

Another defeat in the semifinals. Another defeat from a winning position.

The English media was predictably critical of coach Thomas Tuchel after Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to Argentina.

“Same old story” read one headline. Another declared that “Tuchel just shrank.”

Tuchel, a serial trophy-winning coach with Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich, was hired to put a second star on England’s jersey and end the decades-long wait for a first trophy since the World Cup in 1966.

The wait goes on.

Former England captain Gary Lineker raised the question about Tuchel’s future, saying he was “brought in specifically to take us over the line.”

“Is he the right man to take us forward?” Lineker said on his Netflix show ‘The Rest is Football.’ “He just got it so wrong in the big moment.”

Tuchel’s predecessor, Gareth Southgate, was credited with making England fans fall back in love with the men’s national team after years of underachievement. He reached back-to-back European Championship finals but ultimately fell short, with his supposed cautious approach said to have cost England in clutch matches.

Southgate’s substitutions were criticized as well as his tactics when England relinquished leads against Croatia in the World Cup semifinals in 2018 and Italy in the final of the Euros three years later.

There was criticism of the English soccer federation’s decision to turn to a German, but Tuchel, a Champions League winner, was supposed to be difference maker in those key moments.

Leading 1-0 going into the 85th minute and in a defensive shell, England saw its hopes shattered on Argentina goals from Enzo Fernandez and substitute Lautaro Martinez.

“It’s a real panic. You can’t go a goal up and then surrender the ball and surrender any opportunity of trying to get the second goal,” former England captain Wayne Rooney told the BBC. ”I just think the decisions Thomas Tuchel made, and I think we have to be honest on this, have cost us tonight.”

Lineker said Tuchel’s tactics and substitutions after going 1-0 up “made zero sense to me.”

Tuchel, who signed a two-year contract extension ahead of the World Cup, stood by his decisions.

“As soon as you lose, you get criticized. It’s just what it is,” Tuchel said. “No one knows what would have happened if I had made different decisions so it makes no sense to engage in that and lose my head.

“I’m responsible for them. I took them, so I take the criticism. That’s just the way it is.”

FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said shortly after the loss that it is “heartbreaking to be so close.”

“The players and Thomas gave it everything today and the squad, coaches and staff could not have worked harder during the tournament,” he said in a statement. “I would like to thank them all — and also give my heartfelt thanks to our wonderful fans here in the USA and at home. We felt your support every step of the way and we are all so disappointed not to go further.”

England will face France in the third-place game on Saturday in Miami.

Defeat to defending champion Argentina continued a pattern for the England men at the World Cup.

It has not beaten one of the traditional major nations at soccer’s biggest tournament since the 1-0 win over Argentina in the group stage in 2002. Before that, England beat France in the group stage in 1982.

Knockout eliminations have come at the hands of Argentina and Germany on three occasions each, Brazil, Portugal and France. There was also the 2018 semifinals defeat to Croatia, a team that has never won a major trophy.

Tuchel, however, does not buy into the narrative that repeated failure is a specifically English problem.

“I love to see these things in a football matter and through football glasses. So first of all I always think it’s solvable on the football field,” he said. “I don’t believe so much in an English thing or in a curse or whatever or history repeating itself.”

Britain and Ireland are co-hosting Euro 2028.

“I have a contract until the home Euros, and I’m looking forward to that, even if right now it is difficult to look that far ahead,” Tuchel said.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jordan Walker rooted for Chipper Jones as a young Braves fan raised in suburban Atlanta and used to beg his family to take him to baseball games at Turner Field.

Walker’s parents — “Jordan’s Dad” and “Jordan’s Mom,” as known by their customized jerseys this week at the Home Run Derby — often obliged. Derek Walker and his 7 year old son were out in left field seats for an April series in 2010 when Braves slugger and future Gold Glove winner Jason Heyward made his debut.

Oh, for sure the younger Walker still cheered for Jones.

But to see a young Black star such as Heyward command the outfield the way Walker wanted to play, a new favorite player was born.

“As soon as Jason Heyward debuted,” Walker said. “I was like, oh yeah, that’s the guy. That’s who I want to be like.”

The significance of representation in the Black community was never lost on Walker.

So when Walker, a former St. Louis Cardinals’ first-round pick once on the cusp of bust territory after several demotions over the last few seasons, had his breathtaking, breakthrough moment with a six-swing, six-homer rally past Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber to win the Derby, he hoped his star-making turn would inspire more young Black athletes to follow in his footsteps and choose baseball.

Just as he was inspired by Heyward.

“For Black kids, I want to kind of be a role model for them,” Walker said, “like he was for me.”

With each prodigious blast off his customized Iron Man bat, the 24-year-old Walker silenced the Philly boo birds clamoring for a home team Schwarber victory and shined in his coming-out party beyond the St. Louis bubble and to the entire baseball world.

He flashed the kind of swag that appealed to a younger generation much in the way Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. did in his heyday. Walker wore his Cardinals hat backward, chewed a big wad of bubble gum and reveled afterward in flashing his imitation Liberty Bell bling, the champions’ chain presented by Ryan Howard.

None other than career home run leader Barry Bonds gave Walker his stamp of approval — “you got my trophy, too” — for winning the greatest Derby he’s ever seen.

“That means the world to me,” Walker said.

Walker is among the scores of All-Star talents leading a modest uptick of Black baseball players in the major leagues. When Houston and Philadelphia played the 2022 World Series that featured no U.S-born Black players, Astros manager Dusty Baker noted, “It looks bad. But there is help on the way.”

They’re here — with Walker as the All-Star weekend centerpiece.

“I think once kids see more people to look up to,” All-Star Nationals outfielder James Wood said, “the more kids will get back into baseball.”

Baseball has seen modest gains with Black baseball players

Take a look around the All-Star clubhouses and it was clear — while not at the pace perhaps MLB would like — Walker helped represent a new wave of emerging Black talent.

Three-time AL MVP and Yankees slugger Aaron Judge sat out with an injury, but Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams and outfielder James Wood, Cincinnati Reds ace Chase Burns and Braves catcher Drake Baldwin ushered in the next, young group of future Black stars. The game also featured Minnesota Twins veteran Byron Buxton.

“I feel like there’s been like a little surge in getting more Black players in the game,” Wood said. “We’ve got four on our team right now. Last year at one point, we had five. I think you’re seeing it come back.”

MLB said that 6.8% of players on opening day rosters, injured lists and the restricted list were Black, up from 6.2% at the start of the 2025 season and 6.0% at the beginning of 2024. This year’s 0.6% increase was the most in a season since a 0.7% rise from 2017 to 2018.

Twenty of the 64 Black players had been in MLB-sponsored programs such as the MLB Youth Academy, Breakthrough Series, DREAM Series, Nike RBI and the Hank Aaron Invitational.

MLB said the total included 22 players 25 or younger and eight older than 32. The average age of Black players was 27.8 and the overall average 29.25.

The 23-year-old Burns, 11-1 with a 2.54 ERA with the Reds, was proud to hear Walker champion a Black youth movement at the Derby.

“You don’t see a lot of Black athletes in baseball,” Burns said. “I don’t know why that it is. I think it’s great for guys like me and him to strive to get Black athletes into the game of baseball, whether it’s talking about it or doing stuff in the community. I think it’s great he pointed it out.”

Walker hopes he can keep leading the way

The best chance, naturally, for Walker to serve as a role model for the next generation is to make sure he’s not just a one-Derby wonder.

Walker has 22 home runs, leads baseball with 74 RBIs and is a solid 13th with an .886 OPS — Wood is second at .985 — for a Cardinals team in the NL wild-card hunt. The Cardinals are finally getting the production expected out of the right fielder they drafted with their first-round pick in 2020.

Walker, who signed out of high school after he had committed to Duke, skipped Triple-A and made the opening day roster as the youngest player in baseball in 2023 and tied Eddie Murray’s under 21-rookie record with a 13-game hitting streak.

He was sent down later that season; was the 2024 opening day right fielder and demoted again with a .155 batting average. Walker suffered a variety of injuries in 2025 and played in just 111 games that suddenly put his future as a key Cardinals’ contributor very much in doubt.

Leaning on the same convictions that made him believe he could overtake the mighty Schwarber in the Derby championship round, Walker said a day after his win he never wavered in his belief that he would blossom into an everyday player and All-Star with the Cardinals.

He tinkered with his swing during an extend rehab assignment last season and the results were on full display in Philadelphia with 12 home runs in the final round.

“When my swing’s fluid and easy, that’s when it’s at it’s best,” Walker said. “That’s really what it is.”

Walker, who struck out in his lone at bat in the All-Star Game, earned a $1 million prize for winning the Derby, which is more than his 2026 salary of $799,400.

(Here’s a fun fact: Walker has 49 career homers off 49 different pitchers.)

As for the backward hat, “I call it the Griffey because no one did it better than him.”

No one did it better than Walker at the Derby.

He just hopes his win can be a launching pad for a next generation of Black athletes into the big leagues.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Myles Garrett has been the NFL’s dominant defensive player for years, leading to his record-setting campaign with 23 sacks last season before being traded in June from Cleveland to the Los Angeles Rams.

Garrett’s performance helped him earn the honor of being named the top off-ball linebacker in the NFL by The Associated Press.

A panel of eight AP Pro Football Writers ranked the top five players at edge rusher, basing selections on current status entering the 2026 season. First-place votes were worth 10 points. Second- through fifth-place votes were worth 5, 3, 2 and 1 points.

Garrett got all eight first-place votes and won the voting with 80 points. Green Bay’s Micah Parsons was the only other player named on all eight ballots and was second with 27 points. Houston’s Will Anderson Jr. was third, Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt was fourth and Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson was fifth.

Brian Burns of the New York Giants, Baltimore’s Trey Hendrickson, Las Vegas’ Maxx Crosby, San Francisco’s Nick Bosa and Jacksonville’s Josh Hines-Allen also received votes.

1. Myles Garrett, Los Angeles Rams

Garrett won his second AP Defensive Player of the Year award last season and earned All-Pro honors for the fifth time after breaking the single-season sack record held by Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt. His 125 1/2 career sacks are the second-most to Reggie White among players in their first nine seasons in the NFL and Garrett is the only player with five straight seasons with at least 14 sacks.

Now after playing in only three playoff games in his career with the Browns, Garrett could have a chance to deliver in the postseason following the trade to the preseason Super Bowl favorite Rams.

2. Micah Parsons, Green Bay Packers

Parsons was dealt from Dallas to Green Bay before last season and delivered 12 1/2 sacks in 14 games while earning his third career All-Pro honor. Parsons’ season ended early following a torn ACL in Week 15 that is expected to sideline him for at least the start of this season.

But Parsons has performed at a high level every year in the NFL and is the only player ever to start his career with five straight seasons with at least 12 sacks.

3. Will Anderson Jr., Houston Texans

Anderson is the anchor of one of the NFL’s top defenses and earned his first All-Pro honor last season when he had 12 sacks and 20 tackles for loss. He turned that performance into a three-year, $150 million contract extension in the offseason.

In three seasons with the Texans, the 24-year-old Anderson has piled up 30 sacks and 136 tackles, including 46 for loss. He also has 64 quarterback hits in his career and has forced four fumbles and recovered three.

4. T.J. Watt, Pittsburgh Steelers

Watt’s production has dipped a bit in recent years but he still remains one of the game’s top pass rushers. He had seven sacks in 14 games last season when he earned his eighth straight Pro Bowl bid.

He has led the NFL in sacks three times and has 115 for his career.

5. Aidan Hutchinson, Detroit Lions

The No. 2 pick in the 2022 draft bounced back from an injury-shortened 2024 campaign to record a career high last season with 14 1/2 sacks to make his second Pro Bowl and be named a second-team All-Pro.

Hutchinson has 43 sacks, 100 quarterback hits, 44 tackles for loss and five INTs in 56 career games.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

NEW YORK (AP) — The most expansive season in NHL history will begin in September, not October, and limit most teams to four preseason games.

The league’s first 84-game season since 1993-94 opens Sept. 29 as 32 teams will combine to play a total of 1,344 games. The season runs through Saturday, April 10, before the playoffs begin the following week.

The increase from an 82-game slate, which had been the standard since the mid-’90s, was agreed upon by team owners and players in the last round of talks on a collective bargaining agreement. The intent is to provide more space between the end of the Stanley Cup Final and the draft in late June before free agency commences July 1.

When the Panthers and Oilers went the distance in ’24, there were just three days between Game 7 on June 24 in South Florida and the first round of the draft on June 28 in Las Vegas.

After defeating Vegas to win the Stanley Cup, the Carolina Hurricanes will raise their second championship banner on Sept. 29 against Florida.

That opening night, featuring five games, matches the earliest start date in NHL history and is the first time the regular season begins in North America before October. The Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings played games in London on Sept. 29 and 30, 2007.

The most recent — and only other — September hockey outside of exhibitions came during the pandemic playoff bubble in 2020, culminating when Tampa Bay hoisted the Cup in an empty arena in Edmonton on Sept. 28.

Games to watch

Oct. 21: New Florida Panther Brady Tkachuk returns to Ottawa. The former Senators captain plays his first game against his old team since getting traded to Florida to play with his brother, Matthew. It did not end well in Canada’s capital, from Brady bristling at his name being in rumors to asking out and then the team offering to take Tkachuk No. 7 jerseys fans wished to exchange.

Oct 25: Heritage Classic. The Montreal Canadiens visit the Winnipeg Jets in the return of outdoor hockey to Canada for the first time since 2023.

Dec. 21: Stanley Cup Final rematch: The Hurricanes return to the scene of their championship triumph to face the Golden Knights in Las Vegas. The two teams meet again in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Jan. 17.

Dec. 31: Winter Classic: Utah takes center stage outside, hosting the Colorado Avalanche in the Winter Classic in Salt Lake City.

Feb. 20: Jerry World hockey: The Dallas Stars host Vegas in at the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium in Arlington, Texas.

April 4: Washington hosts Pittsburgh. Alex Ovechkin is back for a 22nd NHL season with the Capitals. If this is it for him at age 41 — and it very well may not be if he wants to shoot for 1,000 career goals — this would be the last regular-season game against Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the Penguins.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

SOUTHPORT, England (AP) — Turns out Bryson DeChambeau had enough strategy to get in the mix Thursday at Royal Birkdale, often ripping driver to take the fearsome bunkers out of play and doing enough right for a 3-under 67 that left him one shot out of the early lead in the British Open.

Sungjae Im and Dan Brown led the way at 4-under 66, the lowest score Royal Birkdale offered even in a mild wind, which strengthened and switched late in the afternoon as Rory McIlroy and others were just getting started.

Defending champion Scottie Scheffler had few complaints after a 68, even after four birdies in his opening six holes and no birdies the rest of the way. He had a pair of soft bogeys and played the two par 5s on the back nine in 1 over.

“If I continue to strike the ball the way I did today and just keep giving myself looks, that’s part of it,” Scheffler said. “Golf is played over 72 holes, and I definitely liked what I saw today.”

As for DeChambeau’s strategy? Part of it might have been declining to speak to the media, which he did again Thursday and has at the majors this year during competition rounds. The two-time U.S. Open champion has missed the cut in all three majors.

Strategy became a talking point when three-time British Open champion Nick Faldo told the Sky Sports Golf Podcast this week, “DeChambeau has zero clue of strategy. He said last year, ‘I’m going to go out and attack the links’. Well, I’ve never attacked a links. You thread it, don’t you? You feed it down the fairway. … You don’t think, ‘Oh, I’ll just blast it down there.’”

DeChambeau twice blasted it over the trouble and close to the green at the par-4 second and the par-4 10th, the latter a blind shot. He made birdie on both. And while Jon Rahm was among those who said going long can lead to trouble at some point, the only two shots DeChambeau dropped came from his putting (the par-5 14th) and chipping (the par-4 18th).

He was tied for the lead until going from wispy, yellow rough over the back of the 18th, chipped weakly to 8 feet and missed the putt. He missed three birdie chances from around 10 feet or under, one of them on redesigned, 321-yard fifth hole, when his drive settled on a hump behind the green.

DeChambeau agreed to take a few questions from the R&A and said, “I feel like I did a really good job today of being incredibly strategic and focused super hard on placing it in the right places. Besides 18, I placed the ball in some good areas. I just need to hit more fairways. Other than that, I feel like my strategy was nice today.”

Brown ran off three straight birdies around the turn and found himself atop the leaderboard, just as he did at Royal Troon two years ago after the first round. That year, he was in the penultimate group with hardly anyone watching. This time he was out early with Im, who had four birdies on the back nine as they matched 66s.

Robert MacIntyre and Francesco Molinari, the Open champion from Carnoustie in 2018, were part of the large group of players at 67. That included Ryan Gerard in his Open debut, M.J. Daffue of South Africa and Alex Smalley, the only player to reach 5 under at any point.

Smalley, who took a two-shot lead into the final round at the PGA Championship, was leading until his drive on the 18th was fading with the wind and then the luck of links golf took over. One wild bounce sent it further right and out-of-bounds. He finished with a double bogey for a 67.

“Got up to where the ball was supposed to be and was told it hit a spectator fence and kicked another 15 yards right out-of-bounds. All three of us in our group actually hit it over there, and mine just got an unlucky break,” Smalley said. “Poor tee shot, poor break. Sometimes that’s how it goes.”

Scheffler played in the group with DeChambeau and they traded birdies early. For six holes, the world’s No. 1 player had total control of his shots and looked as though he couldn’t miss. He got to 4 under when he gave a leg kick as his 40-foot birdie putt dropped on No. 6.

But then he missed the seventh green — 139 yards, downhill — to the left between a pair of bunkers, and his pitch was so strong it flirted with going in a bunker on the other side. He missed a 5-foot birdie chance on the 11th, and then made a mess of the par-5 17th.

Scheffler missed his approach well to the right and was so surprised to see it buried in deep grass he felt it might have been embedded from someone stepping on it. But no one stepped forward, and he was denied a free drop. He yanked that across the fairway to more deep grass, then hit a splendid chip to 4 feet, only to miss the par putt.

“It was underneath the wire and it was just … I’m hoping somebody stepped on it, but nobody would fess up. Apparently nobody did,” Scheffler said. “I was just shocked at how deep the ball was in that grass. I considered actually taking an unplayable.

“Sometime you hit it over there and you get a clean lie and you’re able to give yourself a look, and then other times like today, you pay a pretty severe price,” he said. “But I guess don’t hit it offline.”

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

SOUTHPORT, England (AP) — The only Argentine golfer in the British Open field was playfully jeered by some spectators on the first tee Thursday, the morning after his national soccer team’s epic comeback win over England at the World Cup.

Mateo Pulcini delivered an amusing response a few hours later.

After holing a 40-foot putt for birdie on the 18th green at Royal Birkdale, the 25-year-old amateur cupped both of his ears in a gesture to spectators that mimicked the celebration his countryman, Enzo Fernandez, produced after scoring Argentina’s 85th-minute equalizing goal on Wednesday. Argentina went on to win 2-1 in the semifinals.

“I was pretty excited and that came to my mind,” he said, “and I did it.”

Pulcini stressed there were only “a few boos” on the first tee and that it was just a bit of fun.

“People are being great. Fans are being spectacular. They were cheering for me as well,” he said.

Asked what felt better — his putt on the 18th or seeing Fernandez’s goal — Pulcini said: “Enzo’s goal, for sure.”

Pulcini is making his debut at the British Open after qualifying by winning the Latin American Amateur Championship in a playoff in Peru.

He shot 5-over 75 on Thursday.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

NEW YORK (AP) — Cheryl Reeve has seen a lot of improvements in officiating this season and it’s helped the WNBA have record offensive numbers so far through the first half of the season.

There’s still areas that need to be worked on, but it will take more than 20 games for everything to be cleaned up.

“We’ve seen great improvements on the very things that were broken,” the Minnesota Lynx coach said. “There was a level of impeding players and trying to cut off a screen. We don’t want the unnecessary physicality.”

The league put together a task force, which Reeve is on, in the offseason to help clean up some of the physicality in the game. The main point of emphasis was to help players’ freedom of movement. Despite some hiccups early on, it has led to more offense as teams are averaging around 86 points a game — the highest ever. They are shooting nearly 45% from the field — also the best in league history.

So far this season there have been roughly 4 1/2 more fouls called per game with 75% of them being non-shooting fouls.

“I think it’s fair for our coaches and players to be able to say we’re happy and we think positive things are taking place, but still I disagree with the calls that are affecting our team tonight,” Monty McCutchen, who is the head of WNBA officials, told The Associated Press.

“I want coaches to remain advocates for their teams,” McCutchen added. “We have gotten positive feedback that we’re on the right track. we’ll continue to work through specifics when we fail that task and we’ll continue to check in with the officiating task force to make sure that we’re aligned with the expectations.”

By no means are things perfect. Coaches and players have complained of inconsistencies between officiating crews. What might be called a foul in one half might not be deemed a foul at another point in the game. Obvious fouls are getting missed too.

“It’s never going to be perfect, but we’re trending in the right direction,” Reeve said. “We’ve put resources into this.”

Reeve recalled a play that she asked to be reviewed during her team’s game against Dallas. The officials looked at the play and upgraded it to a flagrant.

The league is constantly reviewing plays. Alyssa Thomas’ punch to the throat of Caitlin Clark that was upgraded to a Flagrant-2 was one of four that the league reviewed that night and was the only one upgraded.

Common fouls aren’t the only thing on the rise. Both technical fouls and flagrant fouls are up too. There have been 124 technicals assessed this season (four more were rescinded). Last year there were 171 total. There have been 44 flagrants called this season as compared to 51 all of last year.

“I think they are doing a better job at reviewing hostile acts,” Reeve said. “We didn’t ask for that, but if that’s what it takes to clean it up (it’s worth it).”

Not everyone is a fan of all the reviews. Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said after a loss to Indiana last week that there were too many of them.

“It’s exhausting when they go to the review every time. I mean, these games are getting longer and longer. It’s encouraging more drama,” she said. “So, it’s like somebody gets hit, and it’s like take them to the hospital. And they jump up, and they’re fine. So I actually think it’s not just today. It’s across the league. There’s so many reviews.”

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball