Eckroat earns first PGA win by taking Cognizant Classic

Austin Eckroat waited a long time to become a winner on the PGA Tour. Another day didn't hurt.

Eckroat got the first victory of his tour career Monday, topping Erik van Rooyen and Min Woo Lee by three shots to win the weather-delayed Cognizant Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.. Among his prizes: $1.62 million along with tour status for two years and a trip to the Masters for the first time.

Eckroat shot a final round of 4-under 67, finishing at 17-under 267.

“This has always been my dream to win on the PGA Tour,” Eckroat told Golf Channel after finishing off his first tour victory in 50 career starts.. “And just to win, I haven't won since 2019 — it was a college event. It's just been so long. I'm just so happy.”

He left PGA National on Sunday night when darkness stopped play with a one-stroke lead and was never caught. Back-to-back birdies on the 12th and 13th holes protected his lead, and a 12-footer for birdie on the par-4 16th pushed the edge out to three shots.

Van Rooyen had his round of 8-under 63 on Sunday to finish at 14 under. Cameron Young (66), K.H. Lee (66), Shane Lowry (71), David Skinns (71) and Jake Knapp (66) all ended their rounds on Monday, all wrapping up at 13 under.

But nobody caught Eckroat, a 25-year-old who was a star at Oklahoma State before turning pro.

His most memorable tour moment, before Monday, likely was last year in the final round of the U.S. Open when he became the sixth player in that tournament's history to post a nine-hole score of 29.

Houston maintains top spot in men's poll

Houston still has a tight grip on No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25.

The Cougars received 52 first-place votes from a 62-person media panel in the poll released Monday to hold the top spot for the second straight week.

UConn moved up a spot to No. 2 and had six firstplace votes to leapfrog No. 3 Purdue, which had four first-place votes. Tennessee and Arizona rounded out the top five.

Houston moved to No. 1 for the first time this season a week ago and won both of its games last week: a 67-59 home win over Cincinnati and a victory at Oklahoma 87-85.

UConn had a nice bounceback after being knocked from the No. 1 spot following a six-week run, blowing out Seton Hall 91-61 at home for its first outright Big East title in 25 years.

Purdue dropped a spot despite an 80-74 win over Michigan State that clinched a share of a second straight Big Ten title.

Kansas spent the first three weeks at No. 1 and has been in the top 10 for three years.

Consecutive losses to No. 20 BYU and No. 11 Baylor last week, however, ended the Jayhawks' run as they fell seven spots to No. 14 in this week's poll, their worst ranking since hitting No. 15 midway through the 2020-21 season. The Jayhawks were in the top 10 for 55 straight weeks, which had been the longest active streak. Houston now has the longest active top10 run at 36 straight weeks.

• Jeremy Roach had 21 points and freshman Jared McCain scored 14 of his 16 after halftime to help No. 9 Duke (24-6, 15-4 ACC) pull away for a 79-64 win over host North Carolina State (17-13, 9-10) on Monday night.

• Jalen Bridges scored a career-high 32 points and 11th-ranked Baylor overcame a double-digit deficit in the final 13 minutes to beat visiting Texas 93-85.

Ja'Kobe Walter and RayJ Dennis each had seven points in a 21-2 run for the Bears (22-8, 11-6 Big 12) during a stretch when Texas missed 11 consecutive shots. The Longhorns also lost big man Dylan Disu to a left knee sprain after he went down with just over 11 minutes left.

Bridges was 8-of-11 shooting, including 6 for 7 from 3-point range. He also had nine rebounds. Dennis had 16 points and eight assists.

Max Abmas, the NCAA men's active career scoring leader, had a season-high 33 points to lead Texas (1911, 8-9).

Freshman JoJo Tugler, one of Houston's best defenders, broke a bone in his right foot, will have surgery and miss the remainder of the season.

It's the third season-ending injury for the Cougars. Sophomore wing Terrance Arceneaux tore his Achilles tendon in a game against Texas A&M in December, and reserve guard Ramon Walker tore his meniscus in practice about last week.

Tugler, a 6-foot-7 forward, was averaging 3.8 points and 4.1 rebounds in 28 games this season in 16 minutes per game.

• Pacific fired basketball coach Leonard Perry after the team went winless in the West Coast Conference regular season.

The school announced that Perry would be reassigned to other duties at the school and associate coach Josh Newman will serve as interim head coach at the conference tournament.

Perry had a 29-65 record in three seasons for the Tigers. Pacific is 6-25 this season and lost all 16 conference games.

• Stanford and Iowa jumped up behind topranked South Carolina in

The AP Top 25 women's basketball poll as the top 10 got a shuffle on the eve of conference tournaments and Fairfield cracked the rankings for the first time in school history.

Stanford moved back up to No. 2 after a weekend sweep of Oregon State and Oregon. Iowa knocked off then-No. 2 Ohio State on Sunday behind Caitlin Clark, who became the NCAA all-time Division I scoring leader during the game. The Big Ten champion Buckeyes fell to fourth.

Fairfield (26-1), which entered the poll at No. 25, has won 24 straight games and is the only team in the country besides undefeated South Carolina with one or fewer losses.

The Gamecocks are in a familiar spot atop the poll after finishing their regular season undefeated for the second consecutive year.

USC was fifth, its highest ranking since 1994 when the team was fourth. Texas dropped three spots to sixth.

UCLA, LSU and UConn were next. N.C. State moved up two places to 10th, passing ACC regularseason champion Virginia Tech, which fell six places to 11th.

Fairfield became the fourth team from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference to earn a spot in the Top 25, joining Saint Peter's, La Salle and Marist, whose last ranking was in 2011.

The Stags have already broken the school record for wins in a season and have two games left in the regular season. Fairfield has 14 true road victories which is tied with Saint Joseph's for the most in the country.

MLS All-Stars will face Liga MX's best

Major League Soccer is going back to having its All-Star Game feature the league's top players facing the best of Mexico's Liga MX.

MLS said the July 24 game at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio, will have the format used in 2021 at Los Angeles, which was won by MLS on penalty kicks, and 2022 in St. Paul, Minnesota, won by MLS 2-1.

Arsenal beat MLS 5-0 in last year's game at Washington, D.C.

Columbus also hosted the All-Stars in 2000 and 2005.

• Right back DeAndre Yedlin was traded from Inter Miami to Cincinnati for $172,799 in 2024 general allocation money.

The 30-year-old, a member of the 2014 and 2022 U.S. World Cup rosters, returned to Major League Soccer in January 2022 with a four-year contract.

Yedlin had nine assists in 65 matches and appeared in 82 games overall with Miami.

A native of Seattle, Yedlin has made 81 international appearances.