GOLF
South Korean golfer Jeongeun Lee6 tied the golf majors record for the lowest round ever when she carded a 10-under-par 61 at the Evian Championship on Friday in Evian-Les-Bains, France.
Her bogey-free second round equaled countrywoman Hyo Joo Kim, who shot the lowest score by a female or male in a major in the first round in 2014 also at the picturesque Evian Resort on the shore of Lake Geneva.
Lee6’s 36-hole score of 127 was also the lowest total in a women’s or men’s major, beating the 128 by Brooks Koepka at the 2019 U.S. PGA Championship.
After her 10 birdies in the second round, Lee6 led at 15 under, three shots clear of Thai players Pajaree Anannarukarn — the co-overnight leader — and Ariya Jutanugarn, who carded an 8-under 63.
SENIOR BRITISH OPEN: Darren Clarke isn’t getting ahead of himself after two good rounds at the Senior British Open in Sunningdale, England.
The Northern Irishman shot a 3-under 67 after posting an opening 65 at Sunningdale and holds a one-shot lead after 36 holes. Clarke is at 8-under 132 in the final senior major championship of the year.
Jerry Kelly (66) was a stroke back with defending champion Bernhard Langer (67). The 63-year-old Langer, who eagled the first hole, won in 2019 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes for his fourth victory in the event. The 2020 tournament was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Nacho Elvira started the day sharing the lead of the Wales Open in Newport, Wales and finished with it all to himself after shooting a 4-under 67 in the second round.
Elvira bogeyed the first hole but recovered with six birdies, dropping just one further shot on the 17th and moving to 11 under overall at Celtic Manor.
Swedish golfer Vincent Norrman was playing just his third event as a professional but he carded a 69 to sit second two shots behind at 9 under, a shot clear of Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura, whose 63 was the lowest round of the day by four shots.
PGA TOUR: Adam Hadwin shot a 6-under 65 for a share of the lead with Ryan Armour at 10-under 132 at the 3M Open in Blaine, Minnesota. Armour shot 65.
Hadwin and Armour were two of few players in the afternoon to go low as wind started to play a role following a hot and humid morning with heat indexes reaching 100 degrees.
Bo Hoag (66), Chez Reavie (67), Jhonatton Vegas (69) and Roger Sloan (69) were a shot back. All four played in the morning.
BASEBALL
NECBL: The Sanford Mainers split a doubleheader with the North Adams SteepleCats, winning the opener 7-3 and dropping the second game 5-1 in North Adams, Massachusetts.
The Mainers (13-20) scored three runs in the first inning of the opener on an RBI double by Mitchell Moralez, a single by Shane Paradine and a wild pitch. Sanford went ahead for good with a three-run third. Jonathan Barditch singled home a run, Paradine plated another on a ground out and Ubaldo Lopez scored on an error in the rally.
North Adams (17-14-2) scored four runs in the fifth and held the Mainers to two hits in the second game.
OLYMPICS
BEACH VOLLEYBALL: The very first match of the Olympic beach volleyball tournament has been canceled because a Czech player tested positive for COVID-19.
Markéta Sluková tested positive earlier this week, knocking her and partner Barbora Hermannova out of the Tokyo Games.
The Czechs were supposed to be playing a team from the host country that would have been making its Olympic debut. Instead, the Japanese pair of Megumi Murakami and Miki Ishii earned the victory by default.
Sluková is one of at least three members of the Czech team who have tested positive since their arrival in Japan, including men’s beach volleyball player Ondřej Perušič.
The team has said it’s investigating if the outbreak of COVID-19 is linked to its charter flight to Tokyo.
SOCCER
U.S. WOMEN: Players on the U.S. women’s national soccer team urged a federal appeals court to reinstate their equal pay lawsuit, saying their greater success than the American men was not taken into account by a trial court judge who dismissed their case.
Players led by Alex Morgan sued the U.S. Soccer Federation in March 2019, contending they have not been paid equitably under their collective bargaining agreement that runs through December 2021, compared to what the men’s team receives under its agreement that expired in December 2018. The women asked for more than $64 million in damages plus $3 million in interest under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner in Los Angeles threw out the pay claim in May 2020, ruling the women rejected a pay-to-play structure similar to the one in the men’s agreement and accepted greater base salaries and benefits than the men, who failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. The women asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overrule the trial court’s ruling and put their wage claim back on track.
TOTTENHAM: Son Heung-min signed a four-year contract extension to keep him at the Premier League club through June 2025.
The 29-year-old Son has compiled 107 goals and 64 assists in 280 appearances in all competitions since joining Tottenham from Bayer Leverkusen in August 2015.
No financial details were given.
MANCHESTER UNITED: England winger Jadon Sancho finalized his move to Manchester United by signing a five-year contract with the 13-time Premier League champions.
United paid Borussia Dortmund a transfer fee of 85 million euros ($100 million) for the 21-year-old Sancho, the German club said.
The contract will keep Sancho at Old Trafford until June 2026 and includes an option for a sixth season.
REAL MADRID: Striker Karim Benzema tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of preseason training, Real Madrid said Friday.
COLLEGES
MEN’S BASKETBALL: The two-year probation imposed on UConn men’s basketball for NCAA violations under former coach Kevin Ollie has ended.
The governing body informed the school it has met all NCAA regulations, the university said.
“We will continue to be committed to adhering to the highest standard of NCAA compliance,” athletic director David Benedict said in a statement. “I feel that we have emerged stronger than ever and look forward to a bright future for UConn athletics.”
NCAA officials placed UConn on two years’ probation in July 2019, citing numerous violations that occurred mostly between 2013 and 2018. It also sanctioned Ollie, who was fired in 2018, for failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance. Penalties included the loss of one scholarship for the 2019-2020 season and recruiting restrictions.
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