4 share Northern Trust lead; Tiger 5 back
PARAMUS, N.J. —
Tiger Woods failed to carry any momentum he had from his last tournament into the start of the FedEx Cup playoffs. Neither did Sean O’Hair.
That was good news for only one of them.
O’Hair missed the cut last week and is No. 121 in the FedEx Cup standings, meaning he has to play well at the Northern Trust or his season is over. O’Hair made one eagle, had a good look at another and shot a 5under-par 66 to join Jamie Lovemark, Vaughn Taylor and Kevin Tway atop the leader board.
Woods, playing for the first time since his runner-up finish at the PGA Championship, had a pair of birdies, a pair of bogeys, a lot of pars and a 71. He was five shots behind and in a tie for 60th.
Dustin Johnson
rimmed out a 6-iron on the par-3 sixth for one of his seven birdies to offset a triple bogey for a 67. U.S. Open and PGA champion Brooks Koepka ran off four birdies and an eagle for his 67. In other golf news:
• Ariya Jutanugarn birdied five of her last eight holes for an 8-under 64 and a share of the CP Women's Open lead at Wascana Country Club in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Nasa Hataoka and Mariajo Uribe joined Jutanugarn atop the leader board, with Canadian star Brooke Henderson and three-time champion
Lydia Ko two strokes back.
• John Daly matched the course record with an 8-under 64 for a share of the first-round lead at the Czech Masters in Vysoky Ujezd, Czech Republic. Daly, 52, was tied with European Ryder Cup hopeful Thomas Pieters of Belgium, Callum Tarren of England
and Gavin Green of Malaysia.
Serena, Venus could meet early
Serena Williams and Venus Williams could be headed toward their earliest Grand Slam meeting in 20 years, facing a potential thirdround matchup at the U.S. Open, which starts Monday.
If the sisters do play each other, the winner might face No. 1-ranked
Simona Halep in the fourth round.
That section of the women’s bracket, and a possible Roger FedererNovak
Djokovic quarterfinal showdown in the men’s, provided the most intrigue when the brackets were revealed for the last major of the year.
Serena, 36, has won six of her 23 Grand Slam titles at the U.S. Open and was given the No. 17 seed by the U.S. Tennis Association — nine places above her current ranking.
Venus, 38, who won five of her seven Grand Slam singles trophies in New York, is ranked and seeded 16th. She faces a tricky first-round match against Svetlana Kuznetsova, whose two major championships include the 2004 U.S. Open.
In the men’s field, No. 1-ranked and defending champion Rafael Nadal opens against David Ferrer in an all-Spanish rematch of their 2013 French Open final. No. 2 Federer plays Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka in the first round.
Federer lost in the quarterfinals last year and this time in that round could face No. 6 seed Djokovic, the Wimbledon champion who beat him two weeks ago.
Charges dropped against Tech RB
Prosecutors dismissed a theft charge against Texas Tech running back Da’Leon Ward.
Lubbock County District Attorney Matt Powell said there was not enough evidence to convict Ward. The sophomore from Dallas was charged with theft between $2,500 to $30,000. According to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Powell said Ward never should have been arrested and the case should not have been filed.
Before redshirting last season, Ward became the first freshman to lead the Red Raiders in rushing in 1999. He had 428 yards
rushing and three touchdowns in 2016.
In other news:
• Fifth-year senior
Vincent Testaverde was named the starting quarterback for Albany’s season opener at Pittsburgh on Sept. 1. Testaverde, son of longtime NFL quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner
Vinny Testaverde ,isa transfer from Miami. Testaverde last appeared in a college game in 2014 as a freshman at Texas Tech. He transferred to Miami, his father's alma mater, where he redshirted in 2015.
Ex-Michigan St. coach charged
A former head coach of Michigan State’s gymnastics team was charged with lying to an investigator when she denied that witnesses told her years ago about being sexually assaulted by ex-sports doctor Larry Nassar.
A charging document does not specify how many witnesses allegedly reported Nassar to Kathie Ann Klages or when they did so. But former gymnast Larissa Boyce has said she told Klages of Nassar’s abuse in 1997, when Boyce was 16 — 19 years before he was first criminally charged with sexual abuse.
Klages, who resigned in 2017 after she was suspended for defending the now-imprisoned Nassar, is the third person other than Nassar to face criminal charges related to his serial molestation of young female athletes under the guise of treatment.
If convicted of lying to a peace officer, Klages, 63, could face up to four years in prison.
Boyce had been training with the Spartans youth gymnastics team in 1997. She has said Klages dissuaded her from taking the issue further, even after another teen gymnast relayed similar allegations.
Skeeters fall to Somerset
Ramon Flores’ tworun double with two out in the bottom of the eighth inning helped Somerset take an 11-9 Atlantic League victory over Sugar Land at Bridgewater, N.J.
Anthony Giansanti, Derek Norris and Denis P hipps each had two RBIs for the Skeeters.