Clark sets a big target at The Players Championship
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLA. » Scottie Scheffler had his 25th consecutive round under par Friday in The Players Championship, and this was hard work. He felt pain in his neck that required treatment on the course, and he struggled to swing and to stay within range of Wyndham Clark.
Feeling fit or not, that turned out to be the goal for everyone.
Clark was playing in the group behind, oblivious to Scheffler’s injury or anything else. He ran off four straight birdies on the front nine and finished with a 7-under 65, one shot short of the 36-hole record at the TPC Sawgrass.
He had a four-shot lead over Xander Schauffele (69) and Nick Taylor (68), who played in the afternoon and had to cope with warm, breezy conditions on greens that remained surprisingly soft on the Stadium Course.
Scheffler was simply happy to be done. He felt something wrong on his fourth full swing of the day, a shot that went left on the par-5 11th that kept him from a good look at birdie. He got treatment before his tee shots on three straight holes and managed a 3-under 69.
“I felt a little something in my neck, and then I tried to hit my tee shot on 12, and that’s when I could barely get the club back,” Scheffler said through a PGA Tour official.
Conferences and Notre Dame agree on 6-year CFP deal
The nine Bowl Subdivision conferences and Notre Dame reached an agreement Friday on a six-year deal to continue the College Football Playoff through the 2031 season, a significant step that establishes a revenue-sharing plan and allows the CFP to finalize a media rights agreement.
Executive Director Bill Hancock said the agreement doesn’t lock in a format for the CFP for 2026 and beyond, but it guarantees at least a 12-team field and five conferences having annual access to the playoff through 2031.
The playoff is expanding this season from four teams to 12, with the five highest-ranked conference champions — regardless of league — and seven at-large selections making up the field.
“Anything else regarding format is to be determined,” Hancock said.
The number of teams in the CFP could grow after the current contract with ESPN expires after the 2025 season, but for now there is no plan in place and no urgency to make a decision, Hancock said.
4-time Olympic cyclist positive for doping in retest from 2016
AIGLE, SWITZERLAND » Four-time Olympic cyclist Christos Volikákis tested positive for doping in retests of samples from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, the International Cycling Union said on Friday.
Volikákis won medals for Greece in track cycling at world and European championships but not the Olympics where he was selected at each edition from Beijing in 2008 through the Tokyo Games in 2021.
The UCI said Volikákis tested positive for the anabolic agent known as ligandrol in a sample taken on Aug. 16, 2016. In Rio he placed 12th in the keirin.
Volikákis has been provisionally suspended, the UCI said.
Rangers sign Swedish goalie
NEW YORK » The New York Rangers have agreed to terms with Swedish goaltender Hugo Ollas on a two-year, entry-level contract.
General manager Chris Drury announced the deal on Friday with the 21-year-old who appeared in 21 games for Merrimack College this season, posting a 2.84 goals-against average and .908 save percentage.
He played three seasons and 64 games for the Warriors, compiling a 27-27 record, 2.48 GAA, a .914 save percentage and six shutouts.