Digest: Mirim Lee shoots 10-under 62 to tie Women’s British Open
Golf: Mirim Lee shot a 10-under 62 on Thursday to match the Women’s British Open record and open a three-stroke lead in the major championship at tree-lined Woburn (England) Golf Club.
Three weeks after shooting a 64 in the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open, the 25-year-old South Korean player made the last of her 10 birdies on the par-3 17th and closed with a par.
Lee fell a stroke short of the LPGA Tour major record of 61 set by Hyo Joo Kim in the first round of the 2014 Evian Championship. Minea Blomqvist shot a 62 in the third round of the 2004 Women’s British Open at Sunningdale, and Lorena Ochoa had a 62 in first round of the 2006 Kraft Nabisco. Lee also matched her official LPGA Tour career low set in the second round of the 2014 LPGA Taiwan.
“I’ve shot 11 under before,” Lee said. “It was back in, I think, second round of LPGA Q-School, final stage. Just so happens my caddie at the time (John Kileen) was my caddie today.”
Ariya Jutanugarn was second after a bogey-free 65.
“I love this course,” said Jutanugarn, the long-hitting Thai player won three straight events in May.
China’s Shanshan Feng had a 66, and American Stacy Lewis and South Korea’s Mi Hyang Lee shot 67.
Lee birdied the first two holes, added another on the fourth and made five straight on Nos. 7-11 to reach 8 under. She also birdied the par-3 13th on the Marquess Course, the forest layout that is a big change from the seaside links that dominate the tournament rotation.
“When you normally think of British Open, you think of high roughs, difficult roughs,” Lee said. “But here it feels more like California, so I think that really made me feel comfortable.”
NBA send Pacers, Nuggets to London
NBA: The NBA has announced that the Indiana Pacers and Denver Nuggets will play in London on Jan. 12.
The game will be played at The O2 arena, league officials said Thursday. Denver will be considered the home team and tickets will go on sale at the start of the upcoming season.
It is the first time the Pacers have played a regular-season game overseas, though they have played preseason games in China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Germany and Spain.
The NFL’s Indianapolis Colts also will play in London on Oct. 2 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
CFP abandons plan to play semis on Dec. 31
College football: The College Football Playoff has abandoned a plan to play most of its semifinals on New Year’s Eves after television ratings tumbled last year, moving the dates of future games to ensure they will be played either on a weekend or a holiday.
The changes will start with the 2018 season. The TV ratings for last year’s semifinal games played on Thursday, Dec. 31, dropped 36 percent from the semifinals played the season before on New Year’s Day.
This season’s semifinals are still set for Saturday, Dec. 31. Next season’s playoff is scheduled to be back on Jan. 1. In 2018, the games initially scheduled to be played on New Year’s Eve, will now be played Saturday, Dec. 29.
The 2019 games will move to Saturday, Dec. 28.
The other seasons affected by the change are 2024, when the semifinals will be moved to Saturday, Dec. 28, and 2025, when the games will be played on Saturday, Dec. 27.
NCAA recommends less contact in practices: The NCAA football oversight committee recommended Division I football programs hold only one “live-contact” practice per week.
The current guidelines, which are not enforceable rules, allow two live practices per week. The new guidelines announced Wednesday will take effect this season.
Live practices are defined as those that involve tackling to the ground and full-speed blocking, and can occur in full or half pads. Live contact does not include thudding, when players are not taken to the ground.
The Ivy League announced earlier this season that it would eliminate live tackling in practice, and even at the FBS level teams rarely have live tackling in practice.
The new guidelines would allow an additional contact practices for players who do not play in a game.
Arizona Coyotes sign Murphy to 6-year deal
NHL: The Arizona Coyotes locked up two of their best young defenseman on Thursday, signing Connor Murphy to a six-year contract and Michael Stone to a one-year deal
Murphy’s deal is for $23.1 million with a salary cap hit of $3.85 million. Stone’s deal, which allows him and the team to avoid a salary arbitration hearing next week, is worth $4 million.
Murphy elevated his game last season, often pairing with All-Star Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and led Team USA with three goals during this year’s world championships.
The 23-year-old had six goals and 11 assists in 78 games with the Coyotes in 2015-16, his second full NHL season. He has 11 goals and 21 assists in 181 career games after being drafted with the 20th overall pick of the 2011 NHL draft.
Wild, Gumba agree to two-year deal: The Minnesota Wild and defenseman Matt Dumba have agreed to terms on a two-year, $5.1 million contract.
Dumba will make $2.35 million this season and $2.75 million next season.
The 22-year-old Dumba was the Wild’s first-round draft pick in 2012. He totaled 10 goals, 16 assists, 83 hits and 56 blocked shots in 81 regular-season games in 2015-16, all career highs. In 152 career NHL games over the last three seasons, Dumba has 19 goals, 25 assists and a plus-9 rating. The right-shot, 6-foot, 193-pound Dumba also chipped in two goals and four assists in 16 playoff games over the last two years.
IOC bans Moon for plagiarism allegations
Miscellany: South Korea’s Moon Dae-sung has been suspended as a member of the International Olympic Committee over allegations that he plagiarized his doctoral thesis. The IOC said that that Moon’s membership will be suspended until South Korea’s Supreme Court reaches a verdict over his dispute with a Seoul university, which stripped him of his degree in 2014 after concluding that he stole from the works of another researcher.
The IOC says the decision was based on a recommendation by its Ethics Commission, which acknowledged damage to the reputation of the Olympic Movement.
Nyquist 6-5 favorite over Exaggerator: All set to return to the races, Nyquist will take on five challengers in the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in his first start since his only loss in the Preakness more than two months ago.
The Kentucky Derby winner is the 6-5 morning-line favorite for Sunday’s 1 1/8-mile Haskell over a field that includes Exaggerator, who ended Nyquist’s 8-0 record in the second leg of the Triple Crown.
“We’re coming into the race with a lot of optimism,” Nyquist’s trainer Doug O’Neill said at Thursday’s post-position draw at the track in Oceanport, New Jersey. “Hopefully, he brings one of his better races because he will need that to win.”
Nyquist breaks from the inside No. 1 post under Mario Gutierrez, while Exaggerator is the 5-2 second choice and leaves from the No. 6 post under Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux.
“The far outside post is perfect for my horse,” trainer Keith Desormeaux, Kent’s brother, said. “He’s an off-the-pace style runner. The inside runners can shoot away from there, go to the front, and he can watch all of the goings on from the outside and take back and make his run when he’s ready.”
Nyquist and Exaggerator are meeting for the sixth time. Nyquist won the first four, including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the Derby before Exaggerator ended the streak in the Preakness. Nyquist did not run in the Belmont; Exaggerator finished 11th.
The rest of the Haskell field is American Freedom (3-1), Gun Runner (4-1), Awesome Slew (15-1) and Sunny Ridge (20-1).
American Freedom is trained by Bob Baffert, who last year was on top of the racing world when he came to the Haskell and won with Triple Crown champion American Pharoah. The Hall of Fame trainer is looking for his ninth Haskell win. The lightly-raced American Freedom missed the Triple Crown races, but comes into the Haskell off wins in the Sir Barton Stakes and the Iowa Derby.