Inquirer.com – Zurich DR

Category: Sports Wires

  • NCAA panel approves new eligibility rules giving Division I athletes five years to play five seasons

    NCAA panel approves new eligibility rules giving Division I athletes five years to play five seasons

    Eager to lessen the chaos of the transfer portal era and court fights with players trying to extend their careers, the NCAA approved a new eligibility model for Division I athletes on Tuesday that will allow five seasons of competition over a five-year period that begins with their full-time enrollment or the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first.

    The Division I Cabinet unanimously approved the change from the longstanding tenet of college sports that gave athletes five years to complete four seasons of competition with their eligibility clock starting at the time of enrollment, regardless of age.

    The move will all but eliminate waivers or redshirt years for extended eligibility except for religious missions, maternity leave or active-duty military service. No longer will extensions be considered for athletes who are injured.

    “While previous NCAA rules have served college sports well for a long time, we heard also loud and clear from NCAA members and student-athletes that eligibility rules should be easier to understand,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said.

    The NCAA believes the age-based model will make rules easier to administer and help make roster management more predictable for coaches.

    “I think this new rule is one of the most sensible things the NCAA has ever done, and it will absolutely eliminate the type of eligibility litigation that’s predominated lately,” said attorney Tom Mars, who represented Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss in his successful quest for an additional year of eligibility in a case that went to the Mississippi Supreme Court.

    Mars added, “Let me put it in bottom-line language: There’s no way somebody could file an eligibility case based on a medical waiver now with the new rule. Can’t be done. You can file it, I guess, but it will be immediately dismissed.”

    The rules, which will become official when the Cabinet adjourns its meetings on Wednesday, are set to take effect this fall. Division I includes more than 350 schools, some 200,000 athletes and, with football and basketball leading the way, is by far the most lucrative of the three in the NCAA.

    The five-in-five language also is included in Senate legislation intended to address numerous concerns across college sports and comes after a wave of lawsuits from athletes seeking to extend their college careers and ability to earn money through revenue sharing and name, image and likeness deals. Still to be seen is whether the new rules will withstand legal scrutiny alongside the existing challenges.

    Heisman Trophy runner-up and Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia remains the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging an NCAA rule counting seasons spent at junior colleges against players’ Division I eligibility time. That case is slated for trial in February.

    “I wouldn’t say that the rule change itself will slow lawsuits down,” said Sam Ehrlich, a Boise State assistant professor of legal studies in business and management who tracks litigation against the NCAA.

    Ehrlich said athletes very well could continue to petition courts for extended eligibility based on antitrust arguments, but appellate courts recently have delivered wins for the NCAA by overturning preliminary injunctions in several cases.

    The new eligibility model will affect all athletes who enroll in 2027-28. Currently enrolled athletes with eligibility after the 2025-26 academic year, and those who are incoming freshmen this fall, can apply the age-based model or continue under previous eligibility rules. It would be advantageous this year for some incoming freshman hockey players to use the traditional model if they are coming from the junior ranks and are 20, as is common in the sport.

    For schools with current athletes who may be eligible for hardship waivers or extensions of eligibility under current rules, the D-I Cabinet indicated the deadline to submit requests to the NCAA is July 31. After that date, waivers would no longer be available.

    Ryan Downton, the attorney for Pavia in his case against the NCAA that won him a sixth year of eligibility last season, said he was happy to see athletes allowed five seasons of competition. But he said it was likely that high school class of 2022 athletes who are now cut off from further competition will go to court.

    “These athletes are still within their five-year eligibility window and spent their entire college careers competing against fifth- and sixth-year players due to the COVID waiver,” Downton wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “We hope the courts will correct the unfairness of the NCAA’s ruling and allow class of 2022 players to play their fifth season in 2026-27.”

    Ramogi Huma, executive director of the National College Players Association, wrote in a text to the AP that he had not seen the final language that was adopted but that the rule’s “general structure that has been discussed is within reason.”

    “But it’s important for athletes to have an opportunity to seek hardship waivers,” he wrote.

  • Giannis Antetokounmpo getting traded to Heat in blockbuster, AP source says

    MIAMI — Giannis Antetokounmpo wants more championships. So do the Miami Heat.

    And the Heat finally have another superstar.

    Ending a marathon watch for the next great Miami get, the Heat landed Antetokounmpo — a two-time NBA MVP and 10-time All-Star — from the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night in exchange for a massive haul of players and draft picks.

    The terms, according to a person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the move has yet to receive the required league approval: Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis are heading to Miami for Wisconsin native Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware and Kasparas Jakucionis. Milwaukee also gets at least four picks, including the No. 13 selection that will be made in Tuesday night’s NBA draft.

    It ends a wild back-and-forth in the final days of the saga, with the Bucks considering offers from both Miami and Boston for Antetokounmpo — who led Milwaukee to the 2021 NBA title, was on the NBA’s 75th anniversary list of its greatest players ever, is a nine-time All-NBA selection and is coming off an injury-shortened season where he averaged 27.6 points per game.

    There has been no secret that this is what Miami has sought, because this is what Miami usually seeks. The Heat pulled off similar moves by landing Shaquille O’Neal in 2004 (helping lead to the 2006 NBA title) and by getting LeBron James and Chris Bosh to play alongside Dwyane Wade in 2010 (leading to four NBA Finals runs in four seasons together, along with the 2012 and 2013 NBA titles).

    Now, it’s Antetokounmpo’s turn. At 31, the Heat clearly believe he still has many good years left — and it’s generally presumed that by making this deal they’ll give the Greek superstar a massive extension later this year.

  • Wyndham Clark avoids record collapse and holds on to win the U.S. Open

    SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Wyndham Clark couldn’t remember being in a darker place. He was publicly reviled for a moment of petulance when he smashed a locker at Oakmont after missing the cut in the U.S. Open last year. His game, his reputation, he felt it all was slipping away.

    Sunday at Shinnecock Hills wasn’t much better. The New York crowd behind Scottie Scheffler in his bid for a career Grand Slam turned on Clark, cheering his misses and wishing for the worst.

    That’s what made this U.S. Open title so much sweeter.

    On the edge of the greatest collapse in U.S. Open history, Clark held his nerve against a charge by Sam Burns and a Shinnecock Hills crowd that never gave him much love until he showed his mettle with his second U.S. Open title in four years.

    U.S. Open: PGA Tour players have scuttled the rollback of the golf ball, for now and forever

    “The first one was kind of just the breakthrough of knowing I can do it,” Clark said after a two-putt par from 50 feet for a 3-over 73 and a one-shot victory. “And then this one was a lot of redemption. Last year was so tough, a terrible year. I left this place in shambles, and it’s amazing what a year can do. I’m leaving here this Sunday as a champion, and I’m just so blessed.”

    Clark, who won the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, became the first wire-to-wire winner of the U.S. Open since Martin Kaymer at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014.

    This sure didn’t feel like a stroll through the Hamptons.

    He had the largest 54-hole lead in the U.S. Open in 15 years. It was down to a single shot in just five holes, and stress followed him the rest of the way.

    The clincher for Clark was on the par-5 16th, where on Saturday he made the only eagle of the week. This time it was his worst drive, well left into the gnarly fescue. He gouged that out and narrowly cleared a bunker. His 8-iron barely stayed on the back of the green. He rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt for a two-shot lead with two holes to play.

    It was a signature moment with muted applause. The gallery rooted against him all day, putting all their support behind Scheffler, who made his own share of mistakes and never got closer than three shots of Clark all day.

    “Winning major championships is extremely difficult,” Scheffler said after a 71 to tie for fourth. “He had some stones down the stretch. … Being in the arena is not for everybody, and I think it shows a lot about Wyndham, how he handled not only this golf course but I think the crowd today. And he is a well-deserving champion.”

    Clark had the highest final round of a U.S. Open champion since Graeme McDowell closed with a 74 to win at Pebble Beach. No matter. The 32-year-old American has two U.S. Open titles, and two wins in the last month.

    Burns closed with a 67, his second chance in as many years to win the U.S. Open. He bounced back from a three-putt bogey on the 15th with an 18-foot birdie to stay within one shot. He made a weak pass at a 10-foot birdie putt to tie for the lead on the 17th. What haunts him is a 17-foot birdie chance on the 18th that grazed the right edge of the cup, causing him to drop to his knees.

    “I would say last year at Oakmont I felt more I lost the golf tournament. I certainly don’t feel that way today,” Burns said. “I did everything I could to have a chance to win today.”

    Clark finished at 4-under 276 and got a surprise at the end when his father, Randall, took an overnight flight from Denver to watch his son win for the first time.

    Even the New York crowd had no choice but to salute him.

    “New York didn’t really like me — I love you guys,” Clark said at the closing ceremony, hoisting the silver trophy. “But I get it. Some of it’s self-deserved. I did some unfortunate things last year that I really regret, and I’ve been sorry multiple times and I’m still sorry, so hopefully I can win you guys over eventually.”

    Clark noticed fans leaving early on Saturday and hoped for a big crowd and big energy for the final round. He got every bit of that, and it was uncomfortable at times. One was ejected when he shouted, “Don’t choke, Wyndham.” The grandstand behind the seventh green broke into cheers when his shot rolled off the green and into the bunker.

    “I get it — they were rooting for Scottie,” Clark said. “Grand Slams only happen a few times. He’s going to get it. He’s the best player in the world. But today it’s my day.”

    It almost wasn’t.

    But Burns never caught him. No one did.

    Tom Kim, who like Scheffler celebrated a birthday on Sunday, was on the fringes of seriously contending until he fell back with a bogey on the 17th and shot 70 to finish third.

    Clark’s hit a superb wedge that spun back to 4 feet for birdie on the 10th to restore the lead to two shots. But then he went long on the 13th with a pitching wedge and couldn’t save par. And then came his big moment on the 16th, and one last act of lagging a 50-foot putt to tap-in range.

    That’s how it was at Los Angeles in 2023, when he needed two putts from 60 feet and lagged it close. Clark simply is at his best against tough tests, and rough arenas. Three years ago, he denied Rory McIlroy. This time it was Scheffler.

    “The first one was amazing, and this one seems even better,” Clark said. “I think especially after such a sour taste last year in this championship, to have some redemption and win this again is almost surreal.”

    A month ago, he was two years without a win and No. 75 in the world. Then he shot 60 in the final round to win The CJ Cup, contended the next two weeks and won his second major. It moves him to No. 8 in the world.

    The smile he wore holding that U.S. Open trophy would suggest he feels on top of the world.

  • A year after smashing a locker, Wyndham Clark finds himself leading at another U.S. Open

    SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — The smashed-up locker at Oakmont last year is as much a part of Wyndham Clark’s resume as the U.S. Open title he won two years before that.

    Such is life in a world teeming with cell phone cameras and viral video. Such is life in professional golf, a sport built on managing failure and harnessing emotions — and where success one week, or one year, doesn’t always carry over to the next.

    Clark’s spot at the top of the U.S. Open leaderboard after his second round at Shinnecock on Friday brought up expected reminders of his emotion-filled journey through a sport — a life, really — that Clark himself acknowledged nobody truly conquers.

    “I was on top of the world in my game, at least when I won the U.S. Open, and then had some good years,” the 32-year-old said. “Then, next thing you know, I’m apologizing for breaking a locker.”

    Much as tennis great John McEnroe will always have “You cannot be serious!” alongside the seven grand slam singles titles he won in another of sports’ biggest pressure cookers, Clark will always have the broken locker at Oakmont. He will always have the underhanded fling of the driver that smashed an advertising board and snapped off the clubhead at the PGA Championship, a few months before the locker debacle.

    Because of that, he’ll probably also always have his share of detractors and critics — people watching for some brilliance on the golf course, but also waiting for the next big blowup.

    “I’m fierce, competitive, love the game, respect the game, and I just had a bad moment,” Clark said. “Hopefully I can win those people back.”

    His breakthrough three years ago at LA Country Club was tinged with tears and stories of the personal growth Clark had to make to reach that point.

    Much of it had to do with the emotional residue left from his mom’s death in 2013 — a family tragedy that he conceded had left him spiraling.

    “I didn’t show any emotion off the course,” Clark explained after his victory that day. “But when I was on the golf course, I couldn’t have been angrier.”

    The easy way for the armchair psychologists (and sports pundits) to explain things after that win was to conclude that Clark’s victory proved he had harnessed the emotion, turned the page and beaten back all the demons.

    It’s never that simple.

    “For any of us, this is a process,” Clark’s sports psychologist, Julie Elion, wrote in her new book ’Mastering Your Mental Game.” “Golfers don’t reach the top and then stay there forever.”

    Clark followed the U.S. Open win with 18 months of good golf, including a win at Pebble Beach. Last year was something different — he only had two top-10 finishes, did not make the FedEx Cup playoffs and was nowhere to be seen at the Ryder Cup.

    “Mastering our mental game in golf or reaching a state of growth or self-improvement in life isn’t always a permanent condition,” Elion wrote. “It takes more work over more years, and there are frequently hills and valleys.”

    At Shinnecock, Clark held a four-shot lead after his second round. Heading into the weekend, he finds himself back on the rise again. He recently took to social media to tell the world he had a new girlfriend, Emily Tanner, who held hands with him as they exited the 18th green after Friday’s round of 1-under 69.

    Four weeks ago, Clark won the Byron Nelson for his first victory in 28 months.

    “I kind of looked at it objectively and took a bird’s-eye view on it and said, ‘OK, I’m not hitting it good off the tee, I’m not putting as good as I was,’” he explained about his turnaround. “And I said, ‘All right, I’ve got to attack that.’”

    He hired a swing coach, Pat Coyner at Cherry Hills, near where Clark grew up outside of Denver.

    He’s been hitting his driver straighter of late. His iron game has improved dramatically (up 110 spots in the analytic-driven stat: strokes gained on approach shots). He found a new putter, which has helped him dial in dramatically over the past four weeks, during which he also finished third at the Memorial and played in the final group last Sunday at the Canadian Open.

    Never more did it look in sync than Friday on No. 18, where he sank a 33-footer to finish the day in red numbers.

    Now, a chance for another breakthrough at the U.S. Open. With a win, he would celebrate again. But he knows as well as anyone that it wouldn’t mean all the problems — or the work, both on and off the course — are behind him.

    “I just think with the mental game there’s ebbs and flows,” Clark said. “If you think of it as climbing Everest, sometimes you go up, sometimes you have to go down to go back up. I think that’s kind of what happens both on the golf course and off the golf course. Right now I’m trending back up, which is nice.”

  • MLB eliminating clock for All-Star Home Run Derby as event switches to Netflix

    MLB eliminating clock for All-Star Home Run Derby as event switches to Netflix

    NEW YORK — Baseball’s Home Run Derby is eliminating the clock.

    Each hitter will have 20 swings in the first round of this year’s contest at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park on July 13, Major League Baseball said Thursday. The change coincides with a switch in broadcaster to Netflix from ESPN, which had televised the event since 1994.

    A player who homers on swing 20 will keep on swinging until he doesn’t connect for a long ball. The top four hitters advance, with distance of the longest homer used as a tiebreaker.

    Hitters will be seeded for the second round, where No. 1 faces 4 and 2 meets 3.

    Each player takes 15 swings in the second round, with batters again homering on their final swing continuing until not homering. A best-of-three swingoff would break ties.

    The format for the second round will be used for the final.

    No bonus rounds will be used.

  • US Open starts on soft Shinnecock with strong wind. Sam Stevens takes the early lead

    SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Shinnecock Hills has never looked like this for a U.S. Open, not with such receptive greens and putting surfaces slow enough to keep shots from rolling off the edges and down the slopes.

    About the only familiarity Thursday was the scoring, kept in check by a strong wind that finally shooed away the fog and gave Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and the rest all they could handle.

    Sam Stevens overcame a double bogey to start his round — a hole that took him over two hours to play because of the fog — and strung together six birdies that carried him to a 2-under 68, making him one of only six players from the early starters to beat par.

    McIlroy saved par on a wild ride along the fourth hole, hit a pitching wedge into 12 feet on the downwind par-5 fifth hole for eagle, closed with two bogeys and was more than happy with a 69, particularly considering it was 11 shots better than the start he had at Shinnecock in 2018.

    Also at 69 were Ludvig Aberg and 2023 British Open champion Brian Harman, Max Greyserman and Ben James, the college star in his second week as a pro.

    Scheffler, needing a U.S. Open title for the career Grand Slam, had to rely heavily on his short game to salvage a 72.

    “The greens haven’t been too firm, the fairways haven’t been too firm, so I’ve really felt like it’s pretty scorable,” said Stevens, who had only his second sub-70 round in his fourth U.S. Open. “Obviously, it’s difficult, but overall it’s an awesome place. I think the setup is great right now.”

    For one day — half of the opening round — the USGA might have been leader in the clubhouse.

    Coming off two Opens at Shinnecock when the course got out of control, the USGA planned to slow the greens to 10 1/2 on the Stimpmeter — rare for any major, much less the U.S. Open — and keep plenty of water on the putting surfaces.

    It was all due to the wind, which did not disappoint. The sustained wind approached 25 mph, and gusts were even stronger. And if that wasn’t enough, it shifted directions in the middle of the day.

    “It was tough around here without wind, and then it was blowing pretty hard — really hard,” Keegan Bradley said after a 70. “The USGA did a great job setting the course up because if the greens were any faster or firmer, we might not be playing right now.”

    McIlroy hit wedge to 3 feet on No. 3, his 12th of the day, not the play he envisioned. He was trying to land it four paces short of the pin. It went four paces long and spun back to set up an easy birdie.

    “The greens obviously are very receptive with them expecting this wind,” he said.

    For all the concern about wind and the course drying out, it turned out to be another weather that got in the way — fog. Thirty minutes after the U.S. Open began, play was stopped and led to a two-hour delay. It was particularly tough on Stevens.

    He laid back off the tee at No. 10 and was preparing for his approach when the horn sounded. When he returned, his 6-iron came up short and back down the hill, he chunked his wedge and his U.S. Open began with a double bogey.

    “Didn’t get to hit my second shot for 2 1/2 hours, or whatever it was,” Stevens said. “Got off to kind of a weird start, but made a birdie on the very next hole. It felt like I settled in after that … The greens were a bit softer. I felt like you could hit good shots close to the hole, and then made a few nice putts, so overall good.”

    McIlroy, whose lone U.S. Open title was 15 years ago on rain-softened Congressional, did some of his best work on the fourth hole. He pulled his tee shot into the knee-high, wispy hay on the left, and his next shot bounced off a cart path some 50 yards away. He hit wedge over where the gallery had been standing and holed an 18-foot putt. He followed that with his eagle — his first at the U.S. Open since 2017 at Erin Hills — until getting tripped up at the end.

    “The greens are pretty slow and quite receptive. I think they need to be at this point. It’s a challenging golf course already, and you put 30-mile-an-hour winds on top of it, it tests the best players in the world pretty well,” McIlroy said. “I think they were prudent with the course setup.”

    Scheffler fell to 3 over when he missed the fairway in high grass to the right on No. 8, did well to punch out into a bunker, blasted out to 18 feet and three-putted for double bogey. Then, his blind shot to the ninth green came back off the front of the green. He holed a 6-foot putt to save par, and that proved key as he limited the damage with a 34 on the back.

    “If you told me when I was staring at my par putt on 9 that I would post 2 over today, I would definitely have taken it at the time,” Scheffler said. “Overall, it was a good battle.”

  • College sports bill clears key Senate hurdle despite SEC, Big Ten opposition

    WASHINGTON — A bill that top lawmakers and athletic leaders have described as the best chance to stabilize college sports cleared a key vote in the Senate on Thursday with bipartisan support after weeks of input from schools, conferences and athletes.

    The bipartisan Protect College Sports Act aims to regulate payments to players, limit them to one free transfer over their careers and create a rule to restrict coaches from changing jobs during a season. It advanced out of the Senate Commerce Committee on a 19-9 vote Thursday and now heads to the full Senate for consideration.

    The legislation is the product of months of negotiations between Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, the top lawmakers on the Senate Commerce Committee, and comes as lawmakers in both chambers of Congress are grappling with whether it’s time for them to intervene in college sports.

    “The greatest risk facing college athletics today is not any single controversy, court decision, or headline. The greatest threat to college sports is inaction,” Cruz said in opening remarks.

    Bill moves forward without Big Ten and SEC support

    The committee vote advancing the bill — which included Senate Majority Leader John Thune voting in favor — followed endorsements from several athletic conferences, the NFL and its players union, and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. The Olympic committee backed the revised measure after lawmakers added additional protections for women’s and Olympic sports.

    Yet the two most powerful conferences in college sports — the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten Conference — are not supporting it. In a joint statement released Thursday morning, the two conferences wrote that “revisions are needed to secure our support for the bill.”

    “What we did today was say we’re not going to let the most powerful, richest conferences dictate to the rest of America what’s going to happen to 500,000 athletes,” Cantwell said after the committee vote.

    Earlier this month, the Congressional Black Caucus also urged the Senate to suspend action on the bill in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that effectively disabled a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. Democratic Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, a member of the CBC, voted against the legislation Thursday.

    Support and opposition for the bill does not fall neatly along party lines, reflecting the national reach of SEC and Big Ten schools and broader divisions in Congress.

    While President Donald Trump has backed the bill, multiple Republicans opposed the legislation Thursday, while several Democrat supported it.

    Some of the senators who voted against the bill represent states that are home to prominent SEC and Big Ten programs, including Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat, and Republican Sens. Todd Young of Indiana and Roger Wicker of Mississippi.

    “We still are trying to get some changes that the Big Ten would like to see,” Peters told The Associated Press late Wednesday.

    A long road ahead

    Clearing the committee is just the first step in a long process.

    Passage through the Senate is far from guaranteed, as leaders already have a packed schedule and a dwindling number of legislative days left before the November election. The bill would need to clear a 60-vote threshold in the 53-47 Republican-controlled chamber.

    The bill will also still need to clear the House. Earlier this year, House Republican leadership had been working toward a vote on its own college sports bill, known as the SCORE Act, before the Congressional Black Caucus announced its unanimous opposition.

    Still, supporters on Thursday touted the committee action as a massive step forward.

    “Today we are proving that we are resilient in keeping this product moving,” Cantwell said.

  • Scheffler is chasing a career Grand Slam at the U.S. Open. It’s not what motivates him

    SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — The comparisons with Tiger Woods began a few years ago when Scottie Scheffler started to separate himself by miles over the rest of golf with alarming control of his shots from tee-to-green that resulted in big wins and a No. 1 ranking for more than three straight years.

    The next comparison could come this week.

    Not since Woods has anyone completed the career Grand Slam in his first attempt, at least not in the modern era that dates to 1960 when it became a thing in professional golf.

    Woods took only 35 days between his epic 15-shot victory in the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and his eight-shot victory in the British Open at St. Andrews.

    Scheffler reached the cusp of the career slam when he overwhelmed yet another field at the British Open at Royal Portrush. Now comes the U.S. Open, the major he has played more than any other, and a Shinnecock Hills test that will be new to him.

    Does he want to win? Without question. Does he need to? That goes a little deeper with Scheffler, who cares more about the process than the result.

    “For me, would it be a dream to win the U.S. Open? Of course,” Scheffler said Tuesday. “But at the end of the day, the Grand Slam has never been a motivating factor for me. I always just wanted to be the best version of myself, and that got me this far.”

    It brought him two Masters titles in 2022 and 2024, the PGA Championship and British Open last year, all of them without drama when he walked up to the 18th green.

    “So when it comes to this golf tournament, I’m going to step on the first tee and remind myself I’ve done everything I possibly could in order to play well, and now it’s just a matter of going out there and trying to execute and going back to enjoying the competition versus feeling like you have to win for some reason,” he said.

    He didn’t go as deep as he did at Portrush last year, when he delivered a remarkable soliloquy asking why he wants to win so badly when the joy lasts only a few minutes.

    But it’s clear he relishes the challenge, and Shinnecock figures to be every bit of that.

    Tuesday brought more wind, this time from a different direction, and there’s really no escaping it. Part of the genius of this William Flynn design are three sections of holes that form a triangle, ensuring players face a different wind for each of them.

    The USGA has done its part to make sure it doesn’t get out of control, keeping the course as green and hydrated as possible in anticipation of a windy week.

    “I think it’s the best championship test in the country,” said Rory McIlroy, who last year at the Masters became only the sixth player to win the career Grand Slam. “I think it tests all aspects of the game — driving, iron play, you need to have your wits about you on the greens. It’s a lot of strategy, thoughtfulness.

    “Look, it’s a golf course where it can turn very quickly. You get a day like [Monday] with a lot of wind and dry, clear conditions like this, and I think we’re just going to have to be mindful of that as the week goes on.”

    McIlroy and Scheffler were at Shinnecock on the same day June 1 for a sneak preview, both noticing wider fairways, even though McIlroy was the only one of them who was in the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock, just not for long. He shot 80 the first day, 70 the next and was on his way home.

    Adam Scott has his own love-hate relationship with Shinnecock. It’s among his favorite courses in the world, so much that he plays it often in social settings — he once set the course record of 63 in one such round — but missed the cut in the U.S. Open in 2004 and 2018.

    “I still love the golf course,” Scott said, who is playing his 100th consecutive major this week. “I think it’s as good as any test we have at the U.S. Open.”

    He has played 15 U.S. Open courses during the streak.

    This is the ninth U.S. Open for Scheffler — two of them as an amateur — with his closest call in 2022 at The Country Club, where he finished one shot behind Matt Fitzpatrick.

    But he is the favorite, as is the case at every tournament he plays, even though this year has been one in which he has similar numbers except for the trophies he has accumulated. His only victory was his first start of the year, The American Express in the California desert.

    There were three straight runner-up finishes, including the Masters. He had an astonishing run of 18 consecutive top 10s end at Riviera in February. His worst result was a tie for 24th at Bay Hill.

    But that one win was five months ago.

    “I’d say I feel like I’ve been close most of the year,” Scheffler said. “I feel like I just haven’t been as sharp as I needed to be. I think the margins in this game are so small. For me to be winning a lot of tournaments, you’ve got to just be really, really sharp.”

    One week at Shinnecock can change that. And then for Scheffler, it would be on to the next one.

  • WNBA to expand to 50-game schedule for next season

    NEW YORK — The WNBA is expanding its schedule to 50 games per team next season — the most in the league’s 30-year history.

    The new collective bargaining agreement that was ratified earlier this year allows the league to play up to 50 games for the next two seasons. There can be up to 52 regular-season games in 2029 and for the rest of the CBA.

    “Demand for the WNBA has never been greater, and expanding to a 50-game regular season reflects the extraordinary momentum we are seeing across the league,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, a Collingswood native, said in a statement.

    “This move reflects our commitment to growing the game and creating more opportunities for fans to watch the best players in the world and experience the extraordinary talent and competition that define the WNBA.”

    Ex-Villanova star Lucy Olsen continues her growth with the WNBA’s Washington Mystics

    The league is playing 44 games again this season. Over the next few seasons, the WNBA is adding three new teams through expansion. Cleveland is joining in 2028, Detroit in 2029, and Philadelphia in 2030. Connecticut is moving to Houston next year.

    When the league first started in 1997, teams only played 28 games. That’s grown over the past three decades with the exception of 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Engelbert has said she’d love to play games overseas starting next season. The league expanded its footprint to Canada this year with the addition of the Toronto Tempo — the first WNBA franchise outside of the United States.

    The WNBA has added a lot of new TV and streaming partners over the past few years including ION, USA Sports, NBC, and Amazon to go along with ESPN and CBS.

  • Lionel Messi ties Klose’s World Cup scoring record with unforgettable hat trick for Argentina

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lionel Messi delivered his first World Cup hat trick while matching Miroslav Klose’s career tournament scoring record Tuesday night, giving thousands of Argentina fans packed inside of Arrowhead Stadium for a match against Algeria a moment they will never forget.

    Messi scored his first goal in the opening minutes off a nifty feed from Inter Miami teammate Rodrigo De Paul, the second early in the second half, and the third moments before subbing out to a standing ovation.

    The goals came 20 years to the day that Messi made his World Cup debut for Argentina in a match against Serbia and Montenegro — he scored in that one, too — and made him only the second player to score in five editions of the tournament.

    The USMNT-Paraguay game was the most-watched soccer broadcast in U.S. history

    Messi has 16 goals in his six World Cup appearances, and it seems inevitable that Klose’s record will fall in the coming weeks. The hat trick was the 61st of his career and his 11th while playing with the national team.

    It was the fifth straight World Cup game in which Messi has scored.

    The hat trick also upstaged two of soccer’s other big stars — Kylian Mbappé of France and Erling Haaland of Norway — who had big games Tuesday. Mbappé scored twice in France’s 3-1 win over Senegal earlier in the day and is tied for fourth on the World Cup scoring list with 14, while Haaland scored twice for Norway in its 4-1 win over Iraq.

    Messi, who turns 39 next week, had been dealing with a minor hamstring injury with Inter Miami that slowed him in the lead-up to the World Cup. But the eight-time winner of the Ballon d’Or, which honors global soccer’s best player, had no problems in a tuneup last week with Iceland, scoring on a penalty kick while playing 20 minutes.

    Messi’s appearance against Algeria was the 200th of his international career, which began in 2005 at the age of 18. The only players with more are Portugal’s Ronaldo, who will play in his 229th on Wednesday, and Bader al-Mutawa, who played in 202 for Kuwait.

    Argentina is among four teams making their base camp in the Kansas City metro, and much as it has the rest of the world, Messi-mania has swept through the area ever since La Albiceleste’s arrival about two weeks ago.

    A USMNT history lesson is a reminder: The win over Paraguay was big, but it was only one game

    On match day, thousands of fans wearing his No. 10 jersey trekked into the home of the NFL’s Chiefs on the outskirts of Kansas City, singing odes to their hero from Rosario. Meanwhile, during a watch party at the downtown Power & Light District, a goat accompanied by former NFL quarterback-turned Fox broadcaster Jameis Winston came on stage wearing an Argentina jersey.

    The humorous moment seemed to have foreshadowed a big night for Messi when he scored an hour later, and the argument that he is soccer’s GOAT — the greatest of all time — is becoming no argument at all with every World Cup goal he scores.