GOLF
The 152nd British Open is under way, with Rory McIlroy among the early starters at Royal Troon in Troon, Scotland.
Rory McIlroy takes his first big step toward moving past a major championship collapse. It comes in the last major of the year. McIlroy is among the early starters at Royal Troon as the 152nd British Open gets under way. This is the 10th time at Royal Troon. McIlroy last month was poised to end a decade without a major until missing a pair of 3-foot putts in the U.S. Open to finish one behind Bryson DeChambeau. McIlroy is optimistic about the state of his game. Now he has to handle the wind and bunkers of Royal Troon.
WNBA
Indiana rookie Caitlin Clark broke the WNBA record for assists in a game Wednesday night, finishing with 19 in the Fever’s 101-93 loss to the Dallas Wings. The previous record was 18 by Courtney Vandersloot for Chicago on Aug. 31, 2020. Vandersloot also had 18 in a playoff game on Sept. 28, 2021. And the league’s previous record for assists by a rookie was 16, set by Ticha Penicheiro for Sacramento on July 29, 1998. The record-breaker for Clark came on a play where she set Kelsey Mitchell up for a 3-pointer with 2:22 remaining. That tied it at 93, but Dallas closed with an 8-0 run. Clark entered the game as the WNBA’s assists-per-game leader this season. She added 24 points on 10-for-19 shooting.
Kayla McBride had 30 points and four 3-pointers, Natisha Hiedeman scored 16 of a season-high 18 in the fourth quarter, and the Minnesota Lynx beat the Atlanta Dream 86-79. Minnesota outscored the Dream 30-19 in the final 10 minutes for its highest scoring fourth quarter of the season. Hiedeman, who made three 3-pointers in the opening five minutes of the fourth, banked in a layup with 1:26 remaining to cap a 13-2 run for an 81-74 lead. She reached 15 fourth-quarter points on the basket, while Atlanta had just 14. After Atlanta got within 82-79 with 37.8 left, McBride dribbled down the clock before driving into the lane to make a contested layup with 19 seconds left. McBride added two free throws with 10 seconds left to seal it.
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Mounsef Bakrar and Talles Magno each scored a second-half goal to help New York City FC rally and play Atlanta United to a 2-2 tie. Bakrar scored on a one-touch shot from the center of the area that rolled between the legs of goalkeeper Bradley Guzan into the net to get NYCFC (6-11-7) on the scoreboard in the 65th minute and Magno converted from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute to make it 2-2. Saba Lobjanidze tapped a one-touch pass from the right side of the area to Daniel Ríos, whose rolling shot from near the penalty spot spun over the line into the net just 21 seconds into the game, setting the franchise record for fastest goal. Lobjanidze scored in the 38th to make it 2-0.
Josef Martínez scored two second-half goals to help CF Montreal rally for a 2-2 tie with the New York Red Bulls. Martínez capped the scoring when he converted from the penalty spot in the 81st minute.Jules-Anthony Vilsaint drew a foul in the area, conceded by Sean Nealis. After video review, Nealis was shown a red card (denial of a scoring opportunity) in the 80th minute and the Red Bulls played a man down the rest of the way. Wiki Carmona ripped a rolling shot from 25-yards out that slipped inside the post to give the Red Bulls a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute. Martínez scored in the 67th and, after and own goal by his teammate Mathieu Choinière, converted from the spot in the 81st minute.
Cavan Sullivan became the youngest player to appear in an MLS match, Tai Baribo had his first career hat trick and Kai Wagner added three assists to help (helping) the Philadelphia Union end a 10-match winless streak with a 5-1 romp over the New England Revolution. Sullivan — at 14 years, 293 days — replaced Baribo in the 85th minute, topping the record by 13 days. Freddy Adu set the previous mark at 14-306 when he debuted for D.C. United in 2004. Baribo staked Philadelphia (5-10-9) to a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute, using assists from Jack Elliott and Wagner to score with a header. Ian Harkes had the lone goal for the Revolution (7-14-1).
Philadelphia Union midfielder Cavan Sullivan became the youngest player in Major League Soccer history when he made his debut against the New England Revolution. At 14 years and 293 days old, Sullivan is about two weeks younger than Freddy Adu was when he made his MLS debut in 2004. Sullivan is also younger than any player who has appeared in any of the four major North American sports since at least 1970. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that mark is held by Andrew Bynum. He debuted for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2005 at the age of 18 years, 6 days.
Brian Gutiérrez scored in the second half and Chris Brady made it stand up for the Chicago Fire in a 1-0 victory over FC Cincinnati, which played without reigning MVP Luciano Acosta. The lone goal came in the 69th minute when Gutiérrez took a pass from Hugo Cuypers and found the net for a fifth time this season. It was the second assist for Cuypers, who signed a club-record deal to join the Fire (6-11-7) in the offseason and leads the team with nine goals. Brady, a 20-year-old keeper in his second full season with the club, finished with nine saves to earn his fourth clean sheet of the season. Cincinnati (15-6-3) falls to 0-6-4 in matches where Acosta is unavailable.
Patrick Agyemang scored in the 84th minute and Kristijan Kahlina had six saves to help Charlotte FC to a 1-1 tie with the Columbus Crew. Agyemang slipped a shot from the left corner of the 6-yard box between Hagen’s legs and into the net to make it 1-1. Juan “Cucho” Hernández, who took a couple dribbles and scored with a rolling shot from just outside the area to give the Crew a 1-0 lead in the 31st minute. Cucho became the first player in Crew history to record 60 goal contributions over a three-year span with 38 goals and 22 assists. Columbus (12-3-7), which had won five games in a row by a combined score of 20-2, in unbeaten in six straight.
Rookie Federico Redondo scored the first two goals of his career in the second half after assisting on a first-half score by Diego Gómez and Inter Miami posted a 3-1 victory over Toronto FC. Neither team scored until Redondo fed Gómez for a goal in the 43rd minute to give Inter Miami (15-4-5) a 1-0 lead at halftime. Redondo’s goals came in a six-minute span. The 21-year-old midfielder used an assist from defender Julian Gressel in the 53rd minute to forge a two-goal lead and found the net again — off passes from Gómez and Gressel — in the 59th to make it 3-0. Gressel has an assist in five straight matches. He and Lionel Messi are the second pair of teammates to pull off a five-match run in the same season in league history.
Rookie Petar Musa had three goals for FC Dallas, finishing off his first career hat trick with the go-ahead score in the second half of a 5-3 victory over Minnesota United. Musa used an assist from Paul Arriola to find the net for the first time, giving Dallas (5-8-5) a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute. Musa’s second goal came with an assist from Bernard Kamungo in the 38th minute for a 2-1 advantage. He put Dallas on top for good in the 62nd minute — with an assist from Sebastian Lletget — for a 3-2 lead. Bongokuhle Hlongwane had a goal and an assist for Minnesota United (8-5-5).
Christian Benteke scored the first and last goals of the match and picked up an assist in between to rally D.C. United to a 3-2 victory over Minnesota United. Benteke scored in the 14th minute to give DC United (6-11-8) a 1-0 lead and found the net again in the first minute of second-half stoppage for the winner. Benteke has 16 goals this season, pulling within one of Golden Boot leader Cristian “Chicho” Arango of Real Salt Lake. Minnesota United (8-10-6) pulled even in the 32nd minute when Tani Oluwaseyi, in his return from playing in the Copa America, used an assist from Hassani Dotson to score his eighth goal of the season. Teemu Pukki gave Minnesota United a 2-1 lead when he took passes from Robin Lod and defender Michael Boxall and scored in the 80th minute.
César Araújo and Ramiro Enrique each scored a goal, Pedro Gallese recorded his fifth shutout of the season and Orlando City beat Nashville SC 3-0. Orlando (9-9-6) has won four consecutive games by a combined score of 13-2. Araújo opened the scoring in the 19th minute. Martin Ojeda played a perfectly-placed free kick from 35-yards out on the left side to the back post, where Araújo headed home the finish. An own goal by Nashville’s Alex Muyl gave Orlando a 2-0 lead in the 41st. Enrique capped the scoring in the 80th minute when he bounced a shot from the right side of the area off the crossbar and into the net. Nashville has lost five games in a row.
Rookie Joseph Paintsil had a goal and two assists by halftime to spark the Los Angeles Galaxy to a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Rapids. Diego Fagúndez staked the Galaxy (13-5-7), who moved into first place in the Western Conference, to a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute with his fourth goal of the season. Gabriel Pec notched his third assist on the score and Paintsil picked up his sixth. Pec became the second Galaxy player to contribute to a goal in 10 straight home matches, joining Robbie Keane (2012-13). The Rapids (11-9-5) knotted the score in the 32nd minute when Kévin Cabral scored for a fifth time this season. The Galaxy regained the lead in the 38th minute when Paintsil used another assist from Pec and Edwin Cerrillo’s second helper to score for a seventh time.
Daniel Steres scored his first goal of the season in the 86th minute to help the Houston Dynamo beat the San Jose Earthquakes 1-0. Steres, who came on in place of Griffin Dorsey in the 73rd minute, headed home a perfectly-placed ball played by Amine Bassi for the game’s only goal in the closing minutes. The Dynamo had 58% possession and outshot San Jose 22-8, 7-0 on target. Jacob Daniel Jackson started in goal for the Earthquakes, the 24-year-old’s first appearance since he allowed six goals to Los Angeles FC on June 24, and had six saves.
Stefan Frei finished with three saves on the way to his 112th career regular-season shutout — tying Kevin Hartman for second place on the all-time list — and the Sounders used an own goal in the first half and a Jonathan Bell score against his former team in the second to beat St. Louis City 2-0. Seattle (10-7-7) has won five in a row and is on a seven-match unbeaten streak, going 6-0-1 during the run to climb into sixth place in the Western Conference. St. Louis City (4-10-10), which won the regular-season title as an expansion team last season, continues to struggle in its sophomore campaign, falling to 0-4-0 in four all-time matchups with the Sounders.
Fafà Picault scored the go-ahead goal in the 79th minute and Yohei Takaoka had five saves to help the Vancouver Whitcaps beat Sporting Kansas City 2-1. Picault replaced Ali Ahmed in the 67th minute and put away a header, off a cross played by Sebastian Berhalter, to cap the scoring a several minutes later. Vancouver (11-7-5) is unbeaten, with four wins, in its last five games. Robert Voloder’s own goal — wiping out what looked like a certain goal for Vancouver’s Brian White — gave the Whitecaps a 1-0 lead in the 34th minute. Sporting Kansas City’s Willy Agada scored in the 69th minute to make it 1-1.
Los Angeles FC and Real Salt Lake both fell out of first place in the Western Conference while playing to a 1-1 tie. Both clubs began the night tied with the LA Galaxy in first place, but neither scored in the second half. Cristian Olivera scored an early goal for LAFC in its first outing since its 13-match unbeaten streak ended last weekend with an ugly 5-1 home loss to Columbus. Brayan Vera scored his first goal of the season for Real Salt Lake. Salt Lake had more shots and more possession despite playing without MLS goals leader Cristian “Chicho” Arango.
NBA
Bronny James got some shots to fall Wednesday night in perhaps his best performance yet out of his five games with the Los Angeles Lakers this summer. The son of NBA career scoring leader LeBron James finished with 12 points in the Lakers’ 87-86 victory over the Atlanta Hawks at Summer League in Las Vegas. Bronny James made four of his first five shots, including his first 3-pointer of the summer on his 17th attempt. He finished 5 for 11 from the field, 2 for 5 from 3-point range.
Pat Williams, a co-founder of the Orlando Magic and someone who spent more than a half-century working within the NBA, has died from complications related to viral pneumonia. The team announced the death Wednesday. Williams was 84. He started his NBA career as business manager of the Philadelphia 76ers in 1968, then had stints as general manager of the Chicago Bulls, the Atlanta Hawks and the 76ers — helping that franchise win a title in 1983. Williams was later involved in starting the process of bringing an NBA team to Orlando. The league’s board of governors granted an expansion franchise in 1987, and the team began play in 1989.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Nick Saban is at SEC Media Days again, six months after retiring as Alabama coach. This time he’s asking the questions as part of ESPN’s SEC Network coverage of the four-day event. Saban retired after 17 seasons with the Tide and three decades as a head coach. The seven-time national champion will work for ESPN this season on its “College GameDay” Saturday pregame show. He said he strives to be objective as a broadcaster and steer away from being controversial. Though he already made a headline by picking Georgia and Texas, and not Alabama, to play for the SEC title.
BOXING
UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones has pleaded not guilty to a pair of misdemeanor charges stemming from a drug test at his home in which he was accused of being hostile. He appeared with his attorney Wednesday for a virtual court hearing. Jones has said on social media that the allegations were baseless and that he never threatened anyone. A woman who worked for a company that conducts drug tests on professional athletes initially filed a report with police in April. She accused Jones of threatening her and cursing at her when she and a colleague visited Jones' home for a test in March.
MLB
Paul Skenes, Shohei Ohtani, Jarren Duran and the rest of this year’s All-Stars drew 7,443,000 viewers on Fox, up 6% from the 2023 game but the second lowest for the event. The American League’s 5-3 victory at Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday night saw an increase from the 7,006,000 viewers for the National League’s 3-2 win last year at Seattle. The 2022 game is Los Angeles was watched by 7.51 million. An additional 116,000 viewers watched Spanish-language coverage on Fox Deportes, up 36% from 85,000 last year.
OLYMPICS
French anti-terror police have detained an alleged neo-Nazi sympathizer suspected of wanting to target the Olympic torch relay. The Paris prosecutor’s office said the man was detained Wednesday in the Alsace region of eastern France. It said he runs a group titled “French Aryan division” on the social media channel Telegram and was detained for questioning about death threats, hate speech and other postings he allegedly made. The prosecutor’s office said his alleged comments that triggered the probe by its unit dedicated to fighting online hate didn’t specifically target the Paris Olympics that kick off July 26. But Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the suspect had "a willingness to intervene during a stage, evidently, of the torch relay.”
Sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson's comeback story reaches its crescendo when she goes for gold at the Paris Olympics in the 100 meters. The woman who burst onto the scene three years ago, only to see her Olympic trip squelched by a positive test for marijuana has been leaning on the mantra “I'm not back, I'm better” ever since winning the U.S. and world titles last year. She has yet to tell the full story, which includes bouts with depression and the death of her mother. Whether she stays in the spotlight depends a lot on how she fares in the 100-meter final on August 3rd at the Stade de France in Paris.
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