Clark sets a big target as Scheffler grits it out

Scottie Scheffler had his 25th consecutive round under par Friday in The Players Championship, and this was hard work. He felt pain in his neck that required treatment on the course, and he struggled to swing and to stay within range of Wyndham Clark.

Clark was playing in the group behind, oblivious to Scheffler’s injury or anything else. He ran off four straight birdies on the front nine and finished with a 7-under 65, one shot short of the 36-hole record at the TPC Sawgrass.

He finished with a fourshot lead over Xander Schauffele and Nick Taylor for the top spot.

Scheffler, who is tied for sixth, was simply happy to be done. He felt something wrong on his fourth full swing of the day, a shot that went left on the par-5 11th that kept him from a good look at birdie. He got treatment before his tee shots on three straight holes and managed a 3-under 69.

“I felt a little something in my neck, and then I tried to hit my tee shot on 12, and that’s when I could barely get the club back,” Scheffler said through a PGA Tour official. “So I got some treatment, maybe loosened it up a tiny bit. But most of the day, I was pretty much laboring to get the club somehow away from me.”

The Big East Tournament will be held at Madison Square Garden through at least 2032, ensuring one of college basketball’s most popular and storied events will take place at “The World’s Most Famous Arena” for 50 consecutive years. The league and the arena announced a contract extension Friday during a news conference at MSG before the Big East semifinals. Their current deal was set to expire in 2028.

College basketball:

NFL: The Steelers are trading quarterback Kenny Pickett to the Eagles. The Steelers will receive a third-round pick in this year’s draft and two seventh-round choices in the 2025 draft in exchange for Pickett and a fourthround pick this year.