McIlroy powers his way to another win in Match Play
AUSTIN, TEXAS » Rory McIlroy had every reason to love the long ball Thursday. Taken to the 18th hole in the WGCDell Technologies Match Play, McIlroy unleashed the shot of the tournament. He smashed a drive on the 375-yard closing hole so magnificently that it pitched on the green and rolled out to just inside 4 feet.
That all but clinched his 2-up victory over Denny McCarthy as McIlroy led a parade of top seeds into the final round of group play at Austin Country Club.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who had to make a 12-footer on the last hole to win his first match, had seven birdies in a nine-hole stretch in the middle of his match against Alex Noren for a 5-and-4 victory.
Patrick Cantlay (4), Max Homa (5) and Xander Schauffele (6) also won their matches. Jon Rahm recovered from his opening round loss by driving the green on the par-4 fifth on his way to a 4-and-3 victory over Keith Mitchell.
Track bans transgender athletes
Track and field banned transgender athletes from international competition, while adopting new regulations that could keep Caster Semenya and other athletes with differences in sex development from competing.
In a pair of decisions expected to stoke outrage, the World Athletics Council adopted the same rules as swimming did last year in deciding to bar athletes who have transitioned from male to female and have gone through male puberty. No such athletes currently compete at the highest levels of track.
Another set of updates, for athletes with differences in sex development (DSD), could impact up to 13 current high-level runners, WA President Sebastian Coe said. They include Semenya, a two-time Olympic champion at 800 meters, who has been barred from that event since 2019.
• Track and field leaders signaled it will be nearly impossible for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in that sport at the Paris Olympics next year if the war in Ukraine continues.
The World Athletics Council kept its ban on Russian athletes in international events in place “for the foreseeable future,” a move that goes directly against the International Olympic Committee’s efforts to find a way for Russian athletes to compete as neutrals in upcoming events.
Gauff, Pegula advance in Miami
MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. » Sixth-seeded Coco Gauff opened her 2023 Miami Open with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Rebecca Marino and advanced to the third round where she will face 27thseeded Anastasia Potapova.
Gauff said she was a bit nervous playing in her hometown — she’s a native of Delray Beach,, a small city about 40 miles north of Hard Rock Stadium, where the tournament is played. Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat was among those in attendance.
“Jimmy Butler is here so I was a little bit nervous when I saw him,” Gauff said with a laugh in her post-match interview.
Gauff’s doubles teammate, world No. 3 Jessica Pegula beat Katherine Sebov 6-3, 6-1 and advanced to the third round.
Uno leads at worlds
SAITAMA, JAPAN » Defending titleholder Shoma Uno of Japan edged American teen Ilia Malinin to lead the men’s short program at the world figure skating championships on Thursday.
Uno opened with a triple flip at Saitama Super Arena and followed with a quadruple toeloop, double toeloop combination. He finished with a triple axel for a season-best 104.63 points, 4.25 ahead of Malinin.
“I was quite worried about my jumps heading into this competition,” Uno said. “But I was able to get through my program with no major mistakes and am happy with the result.”