McIlroy not ready to put away clubs
NASSAU, Bahamas — Rory McIlroy has gone from tears at the Ryder Cup to some of his best golf of the year, and right now his only complaint is the calendar. “I wish it was the end of March,” the four-time major champion from Northern Ireland said Thursday after opening with a 6-under-par 66 to share the lead with Mexico’s Abraham Ancer and Daniel Berger of the United States in the 20-man Hero World Challenge. McIlroy was referring to the Masters, the only major keeping him from the career Grand Slam. There is plenty of golf to be played between now and the first full week of April, but he has been on a roll since spilling his emotions about how much the Ryder Cup means after a rough week at Whistling Straits. He won the CJ Cup in Las Vegas, was leading the DP World Tour Championship after 68 holes, and on a warm and blustery day in the Bahamas, he had six birdies and chipped in for an eagle on the par-4 14th for another good start. “I wish it was a different time of the year the way I’m playing,” McIlroy said. “But there’s no reason why I can’t pick up again in January and keep playing the way I’m playing. I’m still going to keep myself ticking over these next few weeks. I’m not going to completely shut the clubs away. … My game’s in good shape and I want to keep it there.”
Brooks Koepka, Webb Simpson and
Justin Thomas were one shot behind in the tournament hosted by Tiger Woods at Albany Golf Course. Baylor School graduate Harris English was at the bottom of the leaderboard after a 75.
FOOTBALL
› Just 13 days after Utah knocked Oregon out of contention for a College Football Playoff berth, the two teams will meet again to decide the Pac-12 champion. The winner of Friday night’s game in Las Vegas will be going to the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. Don’t expect any wholesale changes for the No. 14 Utes (9-3) just because it’s a title game against a recent opponent, coach Kyle Whittingham said. Facing the 10th-ranked Ducks (10-2), it’s more likely Utah will stick to what worked this season, especially when it comes to preparation and mechanics. “Not a lot of things have changed with either team in eight days or nine days, but really, it’s the execution, the energy and that type of stuff that’s more critical than any minor schematic adjustments that you make,” Whittingham said. The Utes are 0-2 in Pac-12 title games; a decade after joining the conference, they’ve never played in the Rose Bowl. Oregon beat Utah in the league final two years ago and is now seeking to become the first team to win three straight Pac-12 championship games. Mostly, the Ducks want to make sure very recent history doesn’t repeat itself against the Utes. “We know what we want to do. We know what the task is. We know what’s at stake. We’re ready to go,” Oregon safety Verone McKinley said. “We didn’t like how the outcome was last time. So we’re ready to go. Part two.”
› NEW YORK — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Antonio Brown and Mike Edwards have been suspended for three games by the NFL for violating the league’s COVID-19 protocols, the league announced Thursday. Brown, a wide receiver, and Edwards, a backup safety but a key contributor with a team-leading three interceptions, will start their suspensions by sitting out when the Bucs (8-3) visit the Atlanta Falcons (5-6) in an NFC South Division matchup Sunday. John Franklin III, if signed by a team, is also ineligible to play in his next three games; he most recently played for the Bucs in 2019. All three players have accepted the discipline and waived their right of appeal. The NFL Players Association, which developed the protocols along with the league, represented the three players during a review of the recent allegations that they misrepresented their vaccination status. Brown has missed the past five games with an ankle injury and also sat out the team’s Week 3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams after testing positive for COVID-19. The suspensions were issued two weeks after a Los Angeles chef told the Tampa Bay Times that Brown obtained a fake COVID-19 vaccination card shortly before the start of training camp in July.
BASKETBALL
› LUBBOCK, Texas — Que Morrison scored 20 points, and Jenna Staiti added 12 with nine rebounds as the 20th-ranked Georgia women’s basketball team beat Texas Tech 66-56 on Thursday in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. Georgia is off to a 7-0 start for the second season in a row and the third time under coach Joni Taylor. Morrison’s defensive pressure caused a turnover on Texas Tech’s final possession of the third quarter, and she sank a 3-pointer at the other end for a 46-42 lead. Morrison’s steal and fast-break layup with less than four minutes left in the fourth gave the Lady Bulldogs a 55-50 lead, and her wide open 3-pointer made it 60-52.
Sarah Ashlee Barker added 11 points for Georgia in its first true road game of the season; nonconference rival Georgia Tech (5-2) will visit Athens on Sunday.
Khadija Faye scored 15 points and
Vivian Gray added 12 for Texas Tech (6-2), which had nine turnovers during a second quarter in which it scored just seven points.
MOTORSPORTS
› NASHVILLE — Chase Elliott held on to one of his NASCAR titles Thursday night, when it was announced that fans had voted him the Cup Series’ most popular driver for the fourth consecutive year. Elliott, who turned 26 on Sunday, won his first Cup Series season championship in 2020 and was among the final four contenders for this year’s title as he sought to repeat. The Georgia driver was ultimately beaten by firstyear Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson for the championship, but at the season-ending awards ceremony at the Music City Center, the National Press Association declared Elliott winner of the fan-decided most popular honor. Elliott began his run as most popular driver in 2018, the first year of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s retirement. Earnhardt had won the most popular award every year since 2003, the season Bill Elliott — Chase’s father — asked for his name to be removed from the ballot. “Awesome Bill From Dawsonville” was voted the fan favorite a record 16 times — one more than Earnhardt wound up winning it.