Horschel tied with Bramlett for lead at Honda Classic

Billy Horschel has never won a PGA Tour event in his home state of Florida. His quest to change that is off to a fine start.

Horschel shot a 5-under 65 on Thursday, tying him with Joseph Bramlett for the first-round lead in the Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens. Bramlett had a bogeyfree round; Horschel, who who played his college golf at Florida, had six birdies and one bogey.

The 65 was Horschel’s best score in 33 rounds as a pro at PGA National. He’d shot 66 on two previous occasions.

Bramlett, who has never won on the PGA Tour, scrambled nicely when he had to. He missed six of 14 fairways and hit 13 of 18 greens.

Pierceson Coody — a sponsor exemption playing his first PGA Tour event as a professional — finished the first round at 4 under, alongside Justin Suh. Coody has two wins in 15 starts on the Korn Ferry Tour since turning pro in June.

Suh missed a 10-foot birdie putt on his last hole — No. 9 — that would have tied him for the lead.

• Jennifer Kupcho of the United States fired a bogey-free 7-under 65 to share the lead alongside four other golfers after the opening round of the LPGA Thailand in Pattaya.

Kupcho’s round was highlighted by a birdiebirdie finish and an eagle on the par-5 10th hole on the Pattaya Old Course at Siam Country Club.

With her in the lead were 2014 champion Anna Nordquist of Sweden, sixtime USLPGA Tour winner Nasa Hataoko of Japan, local hope and tour rookie Jaravee Boonchant, and last year’s runner-up, Lin Xiyu of China.

Joseph returning to Broncos as DC

A person with knowledge of the hiring tells The Associated Press that Sean Payton is bringing back exbroncos head coach Vance Joseph to Denver to serve as his defensive coordinator.

Two other former NFL head coaches — Rex Ryan and Matt Patricia — also interviewed for the job in recent days.

Joseph coached the Broncos from 2017-18, compiling an 11-21 record before being replaced by Vic Fangio. He spent the past four seasons as the Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator.

Payton was hired as head coach last month after spending a year in the Fox broadcast studio following his departure from the New Orleans Saints.

• New Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon has asked Drew Petzing to lead an offense that will eventually be built around franchise quarterback Kyler Murray. The problem is Murray is recovering from tearing the ACL in his right knee and probably won’t be available for at least the first few weeks next season.

This is the first offensive coordinator job for the 35-year-old Petzing, who spent the past three seasons with the Cleveland Browns and was the quarterbacks coach last season.

Petzing has a wide variety of experience on the offensive side of the ball, also coaching tight ends with the Browns and receivers for the Vikings. Gannon and Petzing worked together in Minnesota.

Rangers' degrom back on the bump

Jacob degrom threw his first bullpen session in spring training camp for the Texas Rangers on Thursday.

The two-time NL Cy

Young Award winner threw 20-25 pitches off the mound. That came eight days after the team’s first official workout, when the newly acquired right-hander was held out because of tightness in his left side.

Degrom had thrown off flat ground and done long toss since then. He had also thrown about six bullpen sessions before even getting to Arizona.

Texas signed degrom to a $185 million, five-year contract during the offseason. The 34-year-old degrom spent the first nine years of his big league career with the Mets, but injuries limited him to 156 1/3 innings in 26 starts over the past two seasons.

After missing the final three months of the 2021 season with right forearm tightness and a sprained elbow, degrom was shut down late in spring training last year because of a stress reaction in his right scapula. He didn’t pitch in the big leagues last season until August.

• Infielder Donovan Solano finalized a $2 million, one-year contract with the Minnesota Twins, who added another productive and versatile player to an already deep bench.

Solano hit .284 with 16 doubles and four home runs last season in 80 games for Cincinnati, playing mostly first base. He spent three years with San Francisco prior to that, winning a Silver Slugger award for National League second basemen in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season when he batted .326 with a career-best .828 OPS in 54 games.

The 35-year-old, a native of Colombia, made his major league debut with Miami in 2012. He’s a .278 hitter with 27 home runs in 686 games.

Gauff, Swiatek will meet in Dubai semis

Coco Gauff set up a semifinals match against top-ranked Iga Swiatek at the Dubai Championships by beating Madison Keys 6-2, 7-5.

Swiatek, who reached the last four in a walkover after Karolina Pliskova withdrew because of an illness, is 5-0 against Gauff and beat the 18-year-old American in last year’s French Open final. Gauff is yet to win a set against the threetime Grand Slam champion.

The fifth-seeded Gauff relied on her steady serve and capitalized on Keys’ mistakes in their all-american quarterfinal match. Keys committed 51 unforced errors.

Barbora Krejcikova upset second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 0-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1. Sabalenka, the Australian Open champion, was on a 13-match winning streak and led 3-1 in the second set before Krejcikova’s comeback. It was Sabalenka’s first loss this season.

Krejcikova, the 2021 French Open champion, will face Jessica Pegula of the United States in the semifinals. Pegula, who is ranked No. 3, advanced by a walkover after Karolina Muchova withdrew because of an abdominal injury.

• Andy Murray reached the semifinals of the Qatar Open by beating French qualifier Alexandre Muller 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

The 35-year-old Murray will next face Jiri Lehecka after the Czech player upset top-seeded Andrey Rublev 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

Murray, a three-time Grand Slam champion who has had two hip operations, seeks his third title in Doha. He’s currently ranked 70th.

Second-seeded Felix Auger-aliassime faces Daniil Medvedev in the other semifinal. The 22-year-old Canadian reached the last four by beating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-4, 7-6 (5). Medvedev beat Christopher O’connell of Australia 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.