Every’s 65 leads at Bay Hill
Matt Every, the No. 309 player in the world whose only two PGA Tour victories in 237 starts were back-to-back at Bay Hill, fired a 7-under 65 Thursday for a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando.
Rory McIlroy, the No. 1 player in the world who hasn’t finished out of the top 10 in any tournament since September, shot a 6-under 66.
Scottie Scheffler boosted his bid for a Masters invitation with a bogey-free 67 and joined Talor Gooch two shots behind. Scheffler, the player of the year on the Korn Ferry Tour, is No. 51 in the world and needs to get in the top 50 after the Match Play at the end of the month.
Another Masters hopeful, Christian Bezuidenhout, was in the group at 68 along with Keith Mitchell and Graeme McDowell.
Madison’s Steve Stricker opened with a 72. Bay Hill was plenty tough even before the wind arrived because of the thick rough framing fairways and greens that became firmer and faster under a warm Florida sun.
Only 18 players from the 120-man field broke 70.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Arella Guirantes scored 11 of Rutgers’ 14 thirdquarter points and finished with 27 as the fifthseeded Scarlet Knights beat No. 12 Wisconsin, 6355, on Thursday in the second round of the Big Ten Conference women’s tournament.
Rutgers (22-8) trailed for most of the third quarter, but Guirantes kept them in it before taking over with seven points during a 12-0 run to open the fourth quarter for a nine-point lead.
Wisconsin (12-19) was led by Imani Lewis with 19 points and 10 rebounds for her 18th double-double of the season.
Northern Kentucky 78, UW-Milwaukee women 58: Ally Niece poured in 27 points as the host Norse routed the Panthers in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League tournament.
Jamie Reit and Sydney Staver had 14 points apiece for the Panthers (15-16).
NBA
The NBA fined Boston guard Marcus Smart $35,000 for his treatment of referees – a punishment the league said reflected his history of misconduct on the court.
The league cited Smart for confronting and verbally abusing the game officials at the end of the Celtics’ 129-120 overtime loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.
Smart was called for a foul with 0.2 seconds left in regulation and the Celtics leading by three. Caris LeVert made all three free throws and Smart fouled out of the game on an offensive foul early in overtime.
TRACK AND FIELD
Olympic steeplechase champion Ruth Jebet was banned four years for doping.
The Kenya-born Jebet, who competes for Bahrain, tested positive for the stamina-boosting drug EPO in a sample she gave in December 2017. She won the Olympic gold medal in 2016 and was the world record holder at the time she tested positive.
The verdict follows a lengthy legal battle that was partially delayed because Bahrain’s track federation stopped funding Jebet’s defense.
BASEBALL
The Chicago White Sox have agreed to a five-year contract with Yoán Moncada, locking up another one of their promising young hitters.
The White Sox acquired the 24-year-old Moncada in the December 2016 trade that sent Chris Sale to the Boston Red Sox. Long regarded as one of baseball’s top prospects, Moncada broke out last season when he set career highs with a .315 batting average, 25 homers and 79 RBI.
Moncada would have been eligible for salary arbitration after this season and for free agency after the 2023 season.