Johnson, Kirk open with 63s
Zach Johnson and Chris Kirk kept clean cards on a gorgeous day and each shot seven-under 63 to share the lead after the first round of the Sony Open in Honolulu. Jordan Spieth wasn’t as fortunate. Spieth hit four trees with four shots on the parfour eighth hole — his 17th of the round — an episode that began with his tee shot caroming off a trunk and into a ditch. He wound up with a quadruple-bogey eight, marring his eight-birdie round for only a 69.
Defending champion Justin Thomas opened with a 67, but he was all smiles on the 17th hole. Thomas, an Alabama alum, won a bet that required Georgia graduate Kevin Kisner to wear a Crimson Tide jersey from the tee box to the green.
Defending champion Roger Federer has been drawn in the same half of the Australian Open as sixtime winner Novak Djokovic, who is returning from an elbow injury and is seeded 14th.
Federer is seeded No. 2 behind Rafael Nadal as he bids for a 20th Grand Slam singles title.
Simona Halep of Romania is seeded No. 1 among the women. Venus Williams, who lost to younger sister Serena in last year’s final, is seeded fifth. Her sister opted not to defend her title four month after giving birth to her first child.
Reliever Blake Parker avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $1.8 million, one-year contract with the Angels . ... Reliever Zach McAllister and the Cleveland Indians agreed to a $2.45 million, one-year contract, a raise from the $1,825,000 he earned last season . ... Outfielder Jake Marisnick avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $1.9 million, one-year contract with the Houston Astros.
Louisiana State coach Ed Orgeron promoted tight ends coach Steve Ensminger to offensive coordinator, replacing Matt Canada . ... Oklahoma State fired defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer.
The U.S. Army has filed a challenge opposing the application of the NHL’s newest franchise to register the trademark “Vegas Golden Knights.”
In a claim filed Wednesday with the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in suburban Washington, the Army claims it will be damaged if the trademark is registered and says it has acquired exclusive rights to it that predate any rights claimed by the NHL team.
The Army said it has used the Golden Knights nickname since the late 1960s for its parachute team, public relations and recruiting, and claims it owns “common law rights” for the color schemes that combine black and gold and yellow and white.
Dallas billionaire Tom Dundon has taken over as majority owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes.
Former Kings goaltender Ben Scrivens, who has been playing in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, was among the 25 players nominated to play for Canada’s men’s Olympic hockey team at the Pyeongchang Winter Games.
Since the NHL refused to release its players to represent their homelands in the tournament, participating teams have had to find players who have not been playing in the NHL. Like the U.S., which released its roster Jan. 1, Canada has drawn heavily on players who are playing for KHL teams.
USA Hockey announced the final two members of its roster for next month’s Olympic hockey tournament: goaltenders David Leggio , 33, of Williamsville, N.Y., and Brandon Maxwell, 26, of Winter Park, Fla. Both played for the U.S. recently in the Deutschland Cup tournament.
The first goalie named, when the roster was initially released, was Ryan Zapolski, who is playing for the Jokerit team in the KHL.
Utah athletic director Chris Hill apologized for a tirade directed at a Pac-12 official after Sunday’s basketball game against No. 11 Arizona State.
Coach Larry Krystkowiak stopped mid-sentence during his postgame news conference as a man could be heard shouting and swearing from another room.
The man turned out to be Hill, and he was yelling at Pac-12 coordinator of men’s basketball officiating Bobby Dibler.
Arizona State won the game 80-77.
Lionel Messi scored twice in the space of three minutes to help Barcelona to a 5-0 victory over Celta Vigo as the titleholders advanced to the Copa del Rey quarterfinals. Messi, who also created Barcelona’s third goal for Jordi Alba, set his team on its way to a 6-1 aggregate victory with his 21st and 22nd goals in all competitions this season.