GOLF
England, South Korea, Aussies tie for early lead in World Cup
Ian Poulter and Tyrrell Hatton birdied six holes on the back nine Thursday to give England a share of the lead with South Korea and Australia after the opening fourballs at the World Cup of Golf in Melbourne, Australia.
Cameron Smith made a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th to ensure he and Australia teammate Marc Leishman were in a tie atop the leaderboard with Byeong Hun An and Si Woo Kim of South Korea, all with 10-under 62s.
Those countries have a one-stroke lead over three teams – Belgium (Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry), Malaysia (Gavin Green and Ben Leong) and Soren Kjeldsen and Thorbjorn Olesen, who won the title for Denmark by four strokes two years ago. The U.S. team of Kyle Stanley and Matt Kuchar was in a large group tied for 13th among 28 teams after a 66.
EUROPEAN: The 2019 tour got underway on Thursday with Aaron Rai, Jason Scrivener and Yusaku Miyazato shooting 5-under 65s to share the lead after the first round of the Hong Kong Open.
HOCKEY
NHL: The Edmonton Oilers acquired defenseman Chris Wideman from the Ottawa Senators for a 2020 sixth-round pick.
Wideman has two goals, three assists and 12 penalty minutes in 19 games this season. Wideman, a 28-year-old St. Louis native and former Miami University player, had 16 goals, 27 assists, 98 penalty minutes and a plus/minus rating of plus-7 over 175 games in four seasons with Ottawa.
TENNIS
DAVIS CUP: France captain Yannick Noah chose Jeremy Chardy ahead of Lucas Pouille for the opening match of the Davis Cup final Friday against Croatia at Lille, France.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will then play Marin Cilic, Croatia’s top player, in the second singles match. Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut are set to face Mate Pavic and Ivan Dodig in the doubles Saturday.
BIATHLON
ATHLETES SUSPENDED: Nine biathletes from Kazakhstan were suspended on suspicion of doping, including the entire women’s Olympic team.
SKIING
WORLD CUP: Beat Feuz of Switzerland was the fastest in practice for the World Cup men’s downhill Saturday at Lake Louise, Alberta.
The downhill winner last year at Lake Louise, Feuz had a time of 1 minute 45.90, seconds. Dominik Paris of Italy was second, 1.17 seconds back. Johannes Kroell of Austria was third, 1.32 seconds behind.
SOCCER
PRESIDENT BACKED: The 11-member Oceania Football Confederation said it’s backing the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, for re-election.
The group said its executive committee – comprising 11 member federation presidents in New Zealand and the Pacific islands – voted unanimously to support Infantino.
– Staff and news service report
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