Update on the latest sports
APGOLF-BRITISH OPEN
Oosthuizen opens with a 64 to lead British Open
SANDWICH, England (AP) — Louis Oosthuizen (OOST’-hay-zehn) and Jordan Spieth (speeth) are leading the way at the British Open.
That’s not the only thing giving the majors a degree of normalcy at Royal St. George’s. The biggest golf crowd since the coronavirus outbreak cheered on the world’s best players at the course in southeast England.
Oosthuizen shot 6-under 64 to tie the lowest opening round at Royal St. George’s and take the clubhouse lead at another major championship. He is coming off back-to-back runner-up finishes at majors. Spieth was only one stroke back by making putts like it was 2017 all over again. He lifted the claret jug at Royal Birkdale four years ago.
MLB-SCHEDULE
Second half begins with Red Sox at Yankees
NEW YORK (AP) — The baseball season’s second half begins Thursday night with just one game. The AL East-leading Red Sox visit Yankee Stadium.
Left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez starts for Boston, which holds a 1 1/2-game edge over Tampa Bay. New York and Toronto are eight games behind Boston.
The Red Sox have wrecked the Yankees lately, going 6-0 against their longtime rivals this season and outscoring them 36-17 in those matchups.
The Yankees, who haven’t announced their rotation for this three-game series, face Boston eight times in their first 10 games coming out of the All-Star break. The stretch could decide whether New York is a buyer or seller heading into the July 30 trade deadline.
MLB-NEWS
Santiago 10-game suspension for foreign substance upheld
UNDATED (AP) — Seattle Mariners pitcher Héctor Santiago’s 10-game suspension has been upheld by MLB special adviser John McHale Jr.
Santiago will start serving the suspension Friday, when the Mariners open their post-All-Star break schedule at the Los Angeles Angels.
Santiago was suspended by Michael Hill, the former Marlins general manager who is MLB’s senior vice president for on-field operations, on June 30. The 33-year-old left-hander became the first player suspended under MLB’s crackdown on unauthorized sticky substances. Santiago also was fined. McHale heard the appeal on July 8 in Seattle.
Santiago is in his 10th major league season, his first with the Mariners.
In other MLB news:
— Chris Sale pitched in a game for the first time since Tommy John surgery in March 2020, throwing three scoreless innings Thursday for the FCL Red Sox at the FCL Orioles Orange. The 32-year-old left-hander allowed four hits and struck out five. Sale had surgery on March 30, 2020, his 31st birthday. He has a $30 million salary this year and next, and $27.5 million each in 2023 and 2024 as part of a $160 million, six-year contract that includes $10 million each season deferred for 15 years.
— Canada’s deputy chief public health officer says the Toronto Blue Jays’ return to their home ballpark is “trending in a very good direction.” But Dr. Howard Njoo would not say when an announcement would be made. Toronto has played its home games this year in Dunedin, Florida, and Buffalo, New York, because of Canadian travel restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. The Blue Jays also played all their home games in Buffalo last year. The team has applied for an exemption to the travel rules. Njoo said there has been “a lot of good back-and-forth” between the Blue Jays and the government over the application.
NFL-NEWS
AP source: Panthers’ Moton agrees to 4-year, $72M extension
UNDATED (AP) — The Carolina Panthers have agreed to a four-year, $72 million deal with offensive tackle Taylor Moton, according to a person familiar with the situation. The person told The Associated Press that the deal includes $43 million in guaranteed money.
The deal was reached about an hour before the 4 p.m. league-wide deadline for signing franchise players to long-term deals. If a deal had not been reached, Moton would have had to play the season under a one-year contract worth $13.7 million under the franchise tag.
Moton has started all 16 games in each of the past three seasons at right tackle and has been the team’s top offensive lineman during that span.
In other NFL news:
— A police report obtained by The Associated Press says Richard Sherman’s father-in-law armed himself with a handgun and fired pepper-spray at the NFL cornerback to protect his family as Sherman tried to bust in the door of his in-laws’ home. Sherman was arrested early Wednesday after police said he crashed his car and tried to break into his in-laws’ home in a Seattle suburb. Sherman was still in jail Thursday and was expected to make an initial court appearance in the afternoon. According to the police report, Sherman’s father-in-law, Raymond Moss, said the football star partially broke in the door by ramming it and he pepper-sprayed Sherman’s face. Sherman’s wife, Ashley Moss, has said he didn’t hurt anybody.
NHL-NEWS
Goalie Ben Bishop to be available in Seattle expansion draft
UNDATED (AP) — Dallas Stars goaltender Ben Bishop has waived his no-movement clause to be exposed in the Seattle expansion draft after approaching the team with the idea. The team confirmed the decision Thursday.
The move allows Dallas to protect veteran goalie Anton Khudobin (koo-DOH’-bihn) from the Kraken. Young goalie Jake Oettinger is exempt from the expansion draft.
Bishop missed last season recovering from right knee surgery. The 34-year-old Bishop is signed for two more seasons at an annual salary cap hit of $4.9 million.
In other NHL news:
— The Florida Panthers have bought out the remainder of veteran defenseman Keith Yandle’s contract. Yandle was signed for two more seasons at a salary cap hit of $6.35 million. The 34-year-old holds the longest active ironman streak in the NHL at 922 consecutive regular-season games played. The Panthers made Yandle a healthy scratch for half of their first-round playoff series. That does not affect his streak. Yandle becomes an unrestricted free agent immediately. He can sign with another team July 28.
— The New Jersey Devils have re-signed restricted free-agent forward Michael McLeod to a two-year, $1.95 million contract. General manager Tom Fitzgerald disclosed that the deal will net McLeod $950,000 this coming season and $1 million the following year. McLeod completed his third NHL season with the Devils, recording career highs with nine goals and six assists in 52 games. He scored his first career NHL goal in late January against Philadelphia and had two game-winning goals during the season. The 23-year-old had a team-high 42 penalty minutes. He was taken 12th overall in the 2016 draft by New Jersey.
OLYMPICS-NEWS
Bradley Beal out of Olympics for health and safety reasons
UNDATED (AP) — Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal will miss the Olympics after being placed into health and safety protocols and the U.S. men’s basketball team said it will replace him on its roster at a later date.
The Americans also announced Thursday that forward Jerami Grant has also been placed in health and safety protocols “out of an abundance of caution.”
Beal had started all three exhibition games for the U.S. so far in Las Vegas, averaging 10.3 points on 10-for-21 shooting.
The Americans have already been playing short-handed during their exhibition games, with Khris Middleton and Jrue (droo) Holiday of Milwaukee and Devin Booker of Phoenix playing in the NBA Finals.
The Americans are scheduled to play two more games in Las Vegas before heading to Tokyo, with their opening game against France set for July 25.
In other Olympics news:
— An Olympic athlete and a staffer linked to the Tokyo Games tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Japan, according to organizers. The two people, who were not identified, were among six new cases — including four contractors who are residents of Japan — reported by the Tokyo local organizing committee. The athlete, who tested positive on Wednesday, went into 14-day quarantine. With the opening ceremony eight days away on July 23, it’s unclear if the athlete will be able to compete. The staffer tested positive on Tuesday and is also in quarantine for two weeks. Organizers say the six cases lifted the total to 26 COVID-19 infections of games participants and workers in Tokyo since July 1.
— Two-time world champion in the 400-meter hurdles Zuzana Hejnova won’t compete in the Tokyo Olympics due to an Achilles tendon injury. Hejnova’s back and Achilles problems prevented her from competing this season and she won’t fully recover for the Tokyo Games. The 34-year-old Czech says she now plans to retire. Hejnova won gold at the world championships in 2013 and 2015. She also took bronze at the 2012 London Olympics and finished fourth at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
— Nneka Ogwumike (nehm-KAH’-dee ah-GWOO’-mih-kay) and Elizabeth Williams have been notified by FIBA that their petitions to play for Nigeria in the Olympics were denied because they played for the U.S. for too long. That’s according to two people familiar with the situation who spoke to The Associated Press Wednesday night on condition of anonymity because no official announcement has been made. One person says Nigeria will appeal the decision and that both players are exploring their options of how to potentially still play for Nigeria in the Tokyo Games that start next week.
— Kenya has been forced to drop two runners from its Olympic team just over a week before the Tokyo Games open because they haven’t taken the required number of out-of-competition doping tests. That has given 1,500-meter world champion Timothy Cheruiyot a last-minute place on the squad. The 1,500-meter runner Kamar Etiang and 400-meter hurdler Moitalel Mpoke Naadokila were taken off the team because they didn’t have three out-of-competition tests within 10 months of the Olympics. That rule is enforced on Kenyan athletes because the country is considered high risk by anti-doping authorities.
OLYMPICS-SURFING-ACCESSIBILITY
Olympic surfing: Can the exclusive sport become accessible?
LEMOORE, Calif. (AP) — Surfing’s Olympic debut and the unexpected rise of Brazilians to the top of the game in the past decade highlight how tough it may be for the exclusive sport to try to attract a mainstream audience. While the surfing community has pledged that the ocean is for everyone, the elite professional ranks show a sport that remains homogeneous, expensive and inaccessible.
A series of recent industry efforts to help groom the next generation outside of the usual hot spots of Hawaii, California and Australia acknowledges the existing disparities among its talent bench.
Gigi Lucas, who founded a nonprofit called SurfearNEGRA that funds and hosts surf training camps for girls of color, said it can cost newbies about $1,000 for the essentials: surfboard, wetsuit, leash and a week of group lessons. It is geography, though, that’s the crux of the accessibility issue, as wave chasing is integral to the sport because it depends on surf conditions that change seasonally from region to region. And with that comes high-priced coastal neighborhoods and travel and transportation from faraway or more urban areas.
