HOCKEY
The Norfolk Admirals scored four straight goals and held off the Maine Mariners, 5-4, in an ECHL game on Friday night at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.
Maine jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Tyler Drevitch and Alex Kile. Danny Katic scored later in the first before Stephen Timofeyev scored twice in the second period to give Norfolk a 3-2 lead. Biddeford native Brady Fleurent scored in the third period to put the Admirals lead two, before Nathan Noel pulled Maine back within one. Carson Golder scored later in the third for Norfolk and Kile answered for Maine, but the Mariners couldn’t finish the comeback.
GOLF
PGA TOUR: Tiger Woods returned to the PGA Tour and lasted only 24 holes. Woods withdrew Friday at the Genesis Invitational after hitting his tee shot on the seventh hole.
Rob McNamara, his longtime associate and vice president of TGR Ventures, said Woods felt flu symptoms Thursday night and they were worse when he woke up.
He was 1-over par for the round – 2 over for the tournament – and projected just outside the cut when he asked for a cart and was driven off the course by a rules official. He has been walking slowly and looked drained of energy playing the front nine.
Woods had not played an official event since the Masters last April, withdrawing in the middle of the third round of the rain-delayed major. He played the unofficial Hero World Challenge in December against a 20-man field with no cut, and the 36-hole PNC Championship with his son.
Woods had said he hoped to play one tournament a month through the major season. He had said Thursday he was experiencing back spasms, which led to his shank on the final hole.
• Patrick Cantlay began with an eagle and never let anyone close to him the rest of the round. He shot a 6-under 65 to build a five-shot lead at the Genesis Invitational going into a weekend.
Cantlay was at 13-under 129 and was five shots clear of Jason Day (69), Luke List (69) and Mackenzie Hughes (65).
Jordan Spieth signed for the wrong score and was disqualified for the first time in the 263 tournaments he has played on the PGA Tour.
BASKETBALL
NBA: NBA champion and “Survivor” contestant Scot Pollard has had a heart transplant, his wife said on social media.
“Scot has a new heart!” Dawn Pollard posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Surgery went well and I’ve been told the heart is big, powerful and is a perfect fit! Now on to the crucial part of recovery. Thank you to everyone for the continued prayers and support, but most of all, deepest thanks to the donor, our hero.”
Pollard, who turned 49 on Monday, needed a transplant because of damage to his heart from a virus he caught in 2021 that likely triggered a genetic condition he has known about since it killed his father at 54, when Scot was 16. Pollard’s size complicated efforts to find a donor with a heart big enough to fit his 6-foot-11, 260-pound body.
Pollard’s size complicated efforts to find a donor with a heart big enough to fit his 6-foot-11, 260-pound body. He was admitted to intensive care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center on Feb. 7.
A 1997 first-round draft pick after helping Kansas reach the NCAA Sweet 16 in four straight seasons, Pollard was a useful big man off the bench for much of an NBA career that stretched over 11 years and five teams. He played 55 seconds in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ trip to the NBA Finals in 2007, and won it all the following year with the Celtics despite a season-ending ankle injury in February.
• Delon Wright has agreed to a contract buyout with the Washington Wizards and, once he clears waivers, intends to sign with the Miami Heat, a person with knowledge of the move said.
WNBA: The New York Liberty re-signed star center Jonquel Jones, the 2021 WNBA MVP, the team announced.
The move comes weeks after reports surfaced that Jones intended to stay in New York despite receiving significant interest from other WNBA teams.
Jones returns after helping the Liberty reach their first WNBA Finals since 2002. She was the Commissioner’s Cup MVP in 2023 and posted averages of 11.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.3 blocks per game in the regular season. She shot 52.7% from the field and 35.2% from downtown.
HALL OF FAME: Vince Carter – who played 22 NBA seasons, the most in league history – was among the Hall of Fame finalists announced at All-Star weekend. The finalist nod came in Carter’s first year of eligibility.
Also among the finalists: four-time WNBA champion Seimone Augustus, former Detroit Pistons guard and current Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, former Los Angeles Lakers guard Michael Cooper, Phoenix Suns all-time leading scorer Walter Davis, former Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, and three nominees as contributors – former player and coach Doug Collins, Indiana Pacers owner Herb Simon and NBA legend Jerry West, who was enshrined as a player in 1980.
FOOTBALL
NFL: Chicago Bears great Steve McMichael, who has ALS, was responding to antibiotics after being hospitalized because of a urinary tract infection and is expected to be released in the coming days, his family said in a statement.
McMichael, who was admitted into intensive care at a suburban Chicago hospital on Thursday, was also having fluid removed from his lungs. “Continued prayers are appreciated,” his family said.
The 66-year-old McMichael was hospitalized one week after being voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is scheduled to be inducted Aug. 3 as part of a class that includes former Bears Julius Peppers and Devin Hester.
• Las Vegas Raiders backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was suspended by the NFL for the first two games of next season for violating the performance-enhancing drugs policy of the league and NFL Players Association.
ESPN also reported the Raiders are expected to release Garoppolo next month before an $11.25 million roster bonus kicks in.
OLYMPICS
TRACK AND FIELD: Two-time world championship medalist Mo Katir admitted breaking anti-doping rules and was banned for two years, removing the middle-distance runner from the Paris Olympics.
Track and field’s Athletics Integrity Unit detailed Katir’s three breaches last year of the “whereabouts” rule. They require athletes to specify where and when they will be available for one hour each day for a no-notice visit by sample collectors.
The 25-year-old Katir admitted the rules breaches and was banned until Feb. 6, 2026, the AIU said. He was provisionally suspended on Feb. 7.
He took bronze over 1,500 meters at the 2022 worlds in Eugene, Oregon, and silver in the 5,000 at the worlds last year in Budapest, Hungary.
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