McIlroy, Dustin Johnson and Mickelson lose early in Match Play
AUSTIN, TEXAS » Rory McIlroy put together another flawless back nine, running off five straight birdies. This time, it wasn’t enough. Former U.S. Amateur champion Peter Uihlein built a 5-up lead against McIlroy and held off his late charge with enough key shots of his own in a 2-and-1 victory, one of several surprises Wednesday in the opening session of the Dell Technologies Match Play.
Defending champion Dustin Johnson hit two shots out-of-bounds on the same hole, another tee shot in the hazard and couldn’t make the putts that he couldn’t afford to miss on the back nine. He wound up losing on the 17th hole to Bernd Wiesberger.
Justin Thomas also got a scare, mainly because his opponent had to putt with a sand wedge over the last 12 holes.
McIlroy was coming off a victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational just three days ago, when he birdied five of his last six holes to win by three shots.
“I made him earn it at least,” McIlroy said. “I just came away a little fat. I didn’t really necessarily play badly. He didn’t make a bogey all day, so it was hard to sort of claw my way back.”
McIlroy, along with Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Tommy Fleetwood, now have to do some serious clawing to win their groups. All of them lost the opening match in their four-man groups and will need some help to advance to the weekend.
Serena loses in 1st round
KEY BISCAYNE, FLA. » The match ended with Serena Williams grinning at the net. She saved her worst shot for last, and after a rare first-round defeat she had to laugh.
Still rusty in her return from pregnancy, Williams was unable to overcome a tough opening draw at the Miami Open and lost Wednesday to Naomi Osaka, 6-3, 6-2.
On the final point, Williams thundered forward to attack an easy shot at eye level, whacked the ball six feet past the baseline and responded with a sheepish smile.
Not that motherhood has mellowed Williams. She left without talking to the media.
The 20-year-old Osaka, who earned her first career title Sunday at Indian Wells, said she was nervous at the start playing her idol for the first time. Osaka said her goal was to avoid Williams winning 6-0, 6-0.
“She’s the main reason I started playing tennis,” Osaka said. “I just wanted her after the match to know who I am.”
NBC lands Indy 500
CHARLOTTE, N.C. » The Indianapolis 500, an American staple on ABC for 53 years, will have a new television home next season.
In fact, the entire IndyCar package is moving to NBC in 2019 in what could turn out to be an exceptional deal for the series because of promised increased exposure across multiple platforms.
That’s secondary, though, to another network ending ABC’s stranglehold on the “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”
The Indy 500 on ABC is the secondlongest partnership in television and sports events behind only the Masters, which has been on CBS since 1956. It’s a jewel ABC did not particularly want to give up, and IndyCar wasn’t unhappy with the network’s production of its most important asset.
But IndyCar badly wanted its races on one network and made that clear in negotiations with both ABC and NBC. The networks have been sharing the series for several years, with ABC owning the Indy 500 and the broadcast rights. NBC got the leftovers and was allowed to air IndyCar only on cable.
Italy’s Kostner leads Olympic champ Zagitova
ASSAGO, ITALY » Italy’s home favorite Carolina Kostner skated a perfectly executed and evocative program to take a surprise lead over Olympic champion Alina Zagitova of Russia in the short program Wednesday at the world figure skating championships.
A former world champion coming off a fifth-place finish at the Pyeongchang Olympics just a month ago, the 31-yearold Kostner’s performance demonstrated both technical prowess and maturity in balletic moves that held the crowd. She was rewarded bonus points for her jumps, pushing her technical score uncharacteristically above her presentation marks for a personal best of 80.27.
Girl reportedly choked by parent in soccer match fight
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. » A New Mexico youth soccer league is investigating a teen soccer game where racial tensions erupted into a chaotic brawl in which a parent is accused of physically assaulting one of the female players.
The Duke City Soccer League confirmed it’s looking into reports that a man choked and groped a 15-year-old player during a match Saturday at a suburban soccer complex.
Ana Garcia, the coach of Alameda 99, a team made up of mostly Hispanic teens, said the melee began after her players were taunted during a close game with Rio Galaxy, one of the Albuquerque area’s elite soccer clubs.
“All throughout the game, the parents were calling the players things like ‘dirty Mexicans,’ and other stuff I can’t even repeat,” Garcia said.