Jaeger on top at PGA event
Chattanooga’s Stephan Jaeger had a stellar opening round Thursday at the PGA Tour’s Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, shooting a 6-under-par 66 for a one-stroke lead over Joel Dahmen and Andrew Yun at the event in the Dominican Republic. Seven players were tied for fourth at 68. Jaeger had just one bogey in the round, offsetting that with five birdies plus a hole-inone on the par-3 No. 2, his 11th hole of the day. A 31-year-old native of Germany who starred for Baylor School and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Jaeger is currently competing on the Korn Ferry Tour, where his five career wins rank in the top 10, but has been working his way back toward the PGA Tour, where he played from 2017 to 2019. Luke List, another former Baylor School standout, opened with a 73 and was tied for 72nd.
› Harris English, who played at Baylor School and the University of Georgia, fell to 1-1 in group competition at the Dell Technologies Match Play with a 2-and-1 loss Thursday to South Africa’s Erik Van Rooyen, who is seeded 62nd. English, the No. 19 seed, opened Wednesday with a 1-up win against 47th-seeded Brendon Todd. Group play wraps up Friday in this World Golf Championship at Austin Country Club in Texas, with the 16 winners of the four-man pods advancing to knockout competition this weekend. Among those who are 2-0 is reigning champion Kevin Kisner, who has won eight straight matches at the event and on Thursday beat second-seeded Justin Thomas in 17 holes. Kisner, seeded 34th, next has to play No. 22 Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa.
OLYMPICS
› TOKYO — The torch relay for the postponed Tokyo Olympics began its 121day journey across Japan on Thursday and is headed toward the opening ceremony in Tokyo on July 23. The relay began in northeastern Fukushima prefecture, the area that was devastated by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and the meltdown of three nuclear reactors; some 18,000 died in the tragedy. The first runner with the torch was soccer player Azusa Iwashimizu, a key member of Japan’s team that won the Women’s World Cup in 2011. The ceremony was closed to the public because of the fear of spreading COVID-19 but was streamed live. Fans have been told to maintain social distance along the roadside as the torch passes and to refrain from loud cheering. Organizers have said they will stop or reroute the relay if crowding becomes a problem during the four-month parade.