Off the wire

GOLF

Rain causes delay

Billy Hurley III and Seamus Power of Ireland were atop the leaderboard after a day of wind, rain and a second round at the Wells Fargo Championship in Wilmington, N.C., that didn’t finish. A violent storm overnight and into Friday morning dumped nearly 2 inches of rain on Eagle Point Golf Club and forced a three-hour delay. Hurley had a 3-under 69, while Power shot 71 and joined him at 5-under 139. Jon Rahm of Spain was among those one shot back. Dustin Johnson, in his first tournament since his slip down the stairs that knocked him out of the Masters, was 2 over for the round, five shots behind. He was through 13 holes. Phil Mickelson made double bogey on his last hole for a 72 and was at 143. Ken Duke (Arkadelphia, Henderson State) was 1 over on his round through 12 holes and sits in a tie for 12th place at 3 under. Bryce Molder (Conway) was even par through 12 holes and 3 over for the tournament.

Little sister wins in Mexico

Ariya Jutanugarn won a sister showdown Friday in the Lorena Ochoa Match Play, and Lydia Ko, Michelle Wie and Cristie Kerr also advanced at Club de Golf Mexico. The third-ranked Jutanugarn edged older sister Moriya 2 up in the second round. She will face Pernilla Lindberg in the round of 16 in the event that switched from stroke to match play and moved from November to April. Ko beat Jennifer Song 1 up to guarantee staying No. 1 in the world. Wie topped Laura Gonzalez Escallon 3 and 2, and Kerr beat Jenny Shin 4 and 3. Kerr won three weeks ago in Hawaii and lost to Haru Nomura on Sunday on the sixth hole of a playoff in Texas.

Lehman opens strong

Tom Lehman shot an 8-under 64 on Friday to take the first-round lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ Insperity Invitational at The Woodlands in Texas. Kirk Triplett and 63-year-old Jay Haas were tied for second at 67. John Daly (Dardanelle, Arkansas Razorbacks) Mark Brooks, Russ Cochran and Paul Goydos were another shot back, and Schwab Cup leader Bernhard Langer was among a group of five players at 69. Coming off arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, the 58-year-old Lehman won the Tucson Conquistadores Classic in March for his 10th victory of the 50-and-over

tour. Defending champion Jesper Parnevik had a 71. Glen Day (Little Rock) shot an even-par 72.

Lee leads by stroke

Kyoung-Hoon Lee shot a 8-under-par 64 Friday to take a onestroke lead over Rafael Campos in the second round of the Web.com Corales Puntcana Resort and Club Championship at Corales Golf Club in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Lee is at 14-under 130. Andrew Landry (Arkansas Razorbacks) and Ethan Tracy (Razorbacks) are in a logjam with 14 other players at 8 under (136). Sebastian Cappelen (Razorbacks) is a shot behind that at 137. Matt Atkins (Henderson State) shot a 3-under 69 to go to 138 (6 under). Zack Fischer (Little Rock) and Austin Cook (Jonesboro, Razorbacks) missed the cut.

BASKETBALL Mitchell to stay in draft

Louisville sophomore Donovan Mitchell said on his Instagram account that he will forgo his final two years of eligibility and stay in the NBA Draft. Mitchell had announced on Instagram in March that he would “test the waters” and enter

the draft pool but did not hire an agent. The 6-foot-3 guard is expected to attend next week’s NBA Draft combine in Chicago and has been projected as a first-round selection. The Cardinals’ leading scorer last season (15.6 points per game) did not say on his Instagram post Friday if he would hire an agent. But he thanked Louisville fans “for a great two years” along with coaches and his sister Jordan before ending by saying he will give up his junior year and stay in the June 22 draft.

Parker surgery successful

The San Antonio Spurs say veteran guard Tony Parker has undergone successful surgery to repair a ruptured left quadriceps tendon. The team said Friday’s procedure was performed by Spurs physician Dr. David Schmidt and a timeline for Parker’s return will be determined later. Parker, 34, was injured Wednesday night as the Spurs evened their second-round playoff series against the Rockets at 1-1. Game 3 was Friday night in Houston. The Frenchman averaged 10.1 points in the regular season, but had raised that to 15.9 points on 53 percent shooting in eight playoff games. It will be up to Patty Mills, rookie Dejounte Murray and others to pick up the slack against James Harden, Patrick Beverley (Arkansas Razorbacks), Lou Williams and the rest of Houston’s guards.

TENNIS

Agut, Zverev advance

Top remaining seeds Roberto Bautista Agut and Alexander Zverev won on Friday and will meet in the BMW Open semifinals in Munich. No. 2 seed Agut defeated German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 6-3, and No. 3 Zverev was forced to work harder to beat fellow German Jan-Lennard Struff 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5). Struff ended Tommy Haas’ run at the clay-court tournament in the second round Wednesday. The top-seeded Gael Monfils lost to Chung Hyeon of South Korea on Thursday. Zverev, a semifinalist last year, is the last German remaining in the Munich tournament. In the other quarterfinals, Chung was playing Martin Klizan and Argentina’s Guido Pella faced compatriot Horacio Zeballos.

Qualifier upsets Strycova

Qualifier Mona Barthel rallied to upset third-seeded Barbora Strycova 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 and advance to the final of the Prague Open on Friday. Seeking her fourth WTA title, the German faces unseeded Kristyna Pliskova, who defeated Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 6-2 in the other semifinal. The big-serving Pliskova was up 5-2 in the second set but faced a break point at 30-40. The Czech served two consecutive aces — out of a total 17 — before converting her first match point to advance to her second career WTA final.

SOCCER

Messi wins FIFA appeal

Argentina captain Lionel Messi was cleared by FIFA on Friday to play in the next three World Cup qualifiers after a ban for insulting a referee’s assistant was lifted. Messi already served one match of the four-match ban that was imposed when the FIFA disciplinary committee gave its ruling hours before Argentina’s 2-0 loss in Bolivia in March. FIFA said its appeal committee considered Messi’s behavior “reproachable” for verbally abusing a linesman late in a 1-0 victory over Chile on March 23. But the panel concluded the “evidence available was not sufficient to establish to the appropriate standard” required for the disciplinary committee to impose the initial suspension.