GOLF
Steele ahead at Open
Brendan Steele topped the Texas Open leaderboard at 8 under through 13 holes Thursday when the first round was suspended because of darkness. Steele, whose only PGA Tour victory came in the tournament five years ago, was unable to finish the opening round after play was delayed for 3½ hours because of morning rain. Among those who did finish, Charley Hoffman had a 6-under 66, a stroke ahead of Stuart Appleby and Peter Malnati. Defending champion Jimmy Walker opened with a 75. Bryce Molder (Conway) shot a 2-under 70. Andrew Landry (Arkansas Razorbacks) was 1 under through nine holes.
So Yeon Ryu shot a tournament-record 9-under 63 on Thursday to take the first-round lead in the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic. Playing in the first group of the day off the 10th tee, the South Korean player had seven birdies in an eighthole stretch on the back nine and added two more on the front nine at Lake Merced. Taiwan’s Candie Kung and Japan’s Haru Nomura were two strokes back at 65. Kung opened her afternoon rounds with bogeys on 10 and 11, then birdied the next two and made seven more in a nine-hole stretch from the 17th to the seventh. Two-time defending champion Lydia Ko opened with a 68. Ko already has two victories in California this year, winning the Kia Classic and ANA Inspiration — the first major of the year — in consecutive weeks. Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks) had an even-par round of 72. Gaby Lopez (Razorbacks) shot a 1-over 73.
Brian Campbell took the firstround lead Thursday in the Web.com El Bosque Mexico Championship with a 7-under 65, one stroke ahead of Richy Werenski, Ryan Brehm, Matt Fast and Brad Fritsch. Andrew Putnam was alone in sixth at five-under 67 at El Bosque Country Club in Guanajuato, Mexico. A group of six were tied at 4 under. Tag Ridings (Arkansas Razorbacks) shot a 2-under 70. Scott Gardiner (Farmington), Matt Atkins (Henderson State) and Sebastian Cappelen (Razorbacks) each had a 1-under
- Austin Cook (Jonesboro, Razorbacks) shot an even-par 72 and Zack Fischer (Little Rock) had a 4-over 76.
Alexander Levy and Lee Soomin opened with 6-under 66s and held the first-round lead when play was suspended Thursday at the Shenzhen International. Levy, the 2014 China Open champion, started with a birdie on the 10th hole and turned in 31 after an eagle on the 17th and a birdie on the 18th. He opened his second nine with another birdie. Lee had a bogey-free round containing six birdies in his sixth start on the European Tour. A 45-minute suspension because of lightning in the afternoon resulted in 32 players having to return this morning to complete their first rounds. Raphael Jacquelin, Gary Stal, Eduardo De la Riva, Paul Dunne and Joost Luiten were all at 68 when play was suspended. Two-time major winner Bubba Watson (71) and defending champion Kiradech Aphibarnrat (71) completed their rounds.
Louis Oosthuizen is the latest major champion who said he won’t be taking part in golf’s return to the Olympics. Oosthuizen said scheduling and family issues led him to inform the South African delegation that he won’t be playing in Rio the first full week of August. Adam Scott also said this week he wouldn’t be playing because it doesn’t fit his schedule. Vijay Singh said last week that it wasn’t a priority. All three players were nearly assured of qualifying for their countries.
BASKETBALL
Brooks to lead Wizards
Two people familiar with the deal said Thursday that the Washington Wizards have reached an agreement with Scott Brooks to become the team’s new coach. The people said the two sides reached the agreement Thursday. The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made. Brooks went 338-207 in seven years with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He helped develop Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook into
superstars and led the Thunder to the NBA Finals in 2012. Brooks and Durant remain close. Durant will be a free agent this summer and the Wizards have been making moves both on the court and off to position themselves to make a run at him. Brooks replaces Randy Wittman, who was fired after five seasons.
MIXED MARTIAL
ARTS
McGregor: Not retired
UFC superstar Conor McGregor said Thursday that he’s not retired from fighting. The mixed martial arts fighter posted on Facebook that he would like to focus on training more and less on grueling promotional demands that come with being a pay-per-view star. The 27-year-old fighter known for his over-the-top personality said “I can not dance for you this time.” McGregor has been training for a rematch against Nate Diaz at UFC 200 in July. He lost to Diaz in March, ending a 15-fight winning streak in which he surprised many fans by fighting 25 pounds above his usual weight of 145 pounds. The rematch was set to be fought at 170 pounds, but UFC President Dana White said this week that McGregor has been pulled from the card because of the dispute over promotional appearances. McGregor said he’s still ready to fight at UFC 200 but wants no distractions from training.
MOTOR SPORTS
Stewart OK to race, back in car today
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tony Stewart has been cleared to return to racing and will be back in his car today at Richmond International Raceway.
The three-time NASCAR champion missed the first eight races of the season with a fractured vertebra suffered in a January all-terrain vehicle accident. The injury occurred one week before Stewart was scheduled to start his final season in NASCAR. He’s retiring at the end of this year.
“As soon as the doctors said they were happy with my scans, I wasn’t going to wait any longer to get back in my race car,” Stewart said, announcing his return Thursday on Twitter.
It was a rollercoaster day for Stewart, who was granted a waiver to participate in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship by NASCAR after he announced his return. Hours later, he was fined $35,000 for comments he made criticizing NASCAR over how it polices pit road.
Stewart warned drivers will be injured if NASCAR doesn’t start forcing teams to put all five lug nuts on their cars during tire changes.
“They are totally dropping the ball, and I feel like they really made a very grossly bad decision,” Stewart said of NASCAR’s decision last year to stop policing the lug nuts. “We shouldn’t be playing games with safety to win races.”
Stewart will race Sunday at Richmond, then participate in a Goodyear tire test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He plans to qualify and start his car at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, but he will give up his seat to Ty Dillon after the race begins.
Stewart said the style of racing at Talladega could lead to an accident that could hurt his comeback.
“We’re taking a strategic approach to my return,” Stewart said. “Richmond is a track where I feel very comfortable and because it’s a short track, the speeds are substantially less. The Goodyear test in Indy is sort of a controlled environment, allowing me to get more acclimated with my car at higher speeds. We’ll start the Talladega race to get the points, but understanding the style of racing and the higher potential of getting involved in an incident, we thought it was best to minimize the amount of time I’m in the car.”
He plans to return to full-time racing at Kansas the following week.