SOCCER

Golden Boot winner Valentín Castellanos and Alexander Callens scored less than four minutes apart early in the second half and New York City FC beat Atlanta United 2-0 on Sunday in the first round of the MLS playoffs.

Fourth-seeded NYCFC will play at Supporters Shield winner New England on Nov. 30. NYCFC has made the Eastern Conference semifinals five times in six seasons, but never advance farther. Atlanta was seeded fifth.

Castellanos, who had 19 goals during the regular season, was left alone on the back of the defense as NYCFC had a set piece start at the end line. Maximiliano Moralez centered the ball and Castellanos got his foot on it and put a high bouncer into the goal in the 49th minute.

Minutes later, NYCFC put a ball on frame off a corner but Atlanta goalkeeper Bradley Guzman got a hand on it, deflecting it off the crossbar. Callens was alone to head the ball into the open net.

• Sebastian Blanco scored the go-ahead goal and added an insurance goal and the Portland Timbers eliminated Minnesota United from the MLS playoffs with a 3-1 opening-round victory in Portland, Oregon.

The fourth-seeded Timbers advanced to play the top-seeded Rapids in Colorado on Thanksgiving Day.

Minnesota goalkeeper Tyler Miller was held out of the match after testing positive for COVID-19. He announced his test results on Twitter just before kickoff. Dayne St. Clair started in Miller’s place.

Larrys Mabiala also scored for Portland. Franco Fragapane opened the scoring for fifth-seeded Minnesota.

GOLF

PGA: Talor Gooch ran off three birdies in four holes to start the back nine and never let anyone get close, shooting 6-under 64 for a three-shot victory in the RSM Classic in St. Simonds Island, Georgia.

Gooch tied the tournament record of 22-under 260 set by Kevin Kisner in 2014. He became the seventh player in the 12-year history of the event to make the RSM Classic his first victory.

Mackenzie Hughes of Canada, who won the tournament in 2016, rallied from the group ahead of Gooch with four birdies among his last six holes, capped by a 20-foot putt at No. 18 for a 62 to finish second at 19-under 263.

LPGA: Jin Young Ko opened with a 25-foot birdie putt and never looked back in the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida. She shot 30 on the front nine and closed with the low round of the tournament at 9-under 63 for a one-shot victory of Nasa Hataoka of Japan.

EUROPEAN TOUR: British Open champion, Ryder Cup winner and now the first American to finish a season as the European Tour’s No. 1 player.

It’s been quite the year for Collin Morikawa.

The 24-year-old Californian showcased his world-class iron play down the stretch in making five birdies in his last seven holes to shoot a final-round 66 at the DP World Tour Championship.

TIGER WOODS: One swing, two words and three seconds of a video was all it took from Tiger Woods to get everyone talking Sunday about his future on the golf course.

Making progress pic.twitter.com/sVQkxEHJmq

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) November 21, 2021

Woods had not made a public comment about injuries from his Feb. 23 car accident in Los Angeles since May, and he didn’t have a lot to offer on Twitter.

“Making progress,” was all he said, accompanied by the video of a smooth swing with a wedge. Woods was wearing a black compression sleeve on his right leg, with a large bucket half-filled with golf balls on a practice range.

TENNIS

ATP FINALS: If Alexander Zverev’s performance this weekend is any indication, a lot can be expected from the third-ranked German in 2022.

Zverev beat the top two players in consecutive matches to earn his second title at the ATP Finals.

After eliminating No. 1 Novak Djokovic over three sets in the semifinals, Zverev put on a dominant performance in Sunday’s final, beating No. 2 Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-4.

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