Kuchar recovers from slow start to lead at Riviera
Matt Kuchar made a mess of the easiest hole at Riviera. He couldn’t find the fairway and felt he was on the defensive all afternoon Friday in the Genesis Invitational.
He was good enough with the short irons that Kuchar still managed a 2-under 69 and built a two-shot lead over Rory McIlroy and two others going into the weekend at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.
“It definitely wasn’t my best stuff,” Kuchar said. “Two under was an awfully good score for the way I drove it.”
Tiger Woods happily would have taken a score like that. Instead, he made his bid for a first victory at Riviera and a record 83rd title on the PGA Tour a lot tougher. Two swings with a wedge wound up costing Woods three shots, and his 73 left him nine shots behind.
McIlroy, in his return to No. 1 in the world, handled the par 5s and kept mistakes to a minimum in his round of 67, which puts him in the final group today with Kuchar and Harold Varner III, who had a 68 in the morning.
Kuchar was at 9-under 135. He began with a bogey on the par-5 opening hole, one of only two players in the 121-man field to not make par or better.
Wyndham Clark had a 68 and joined McIlroy and Varner in the group two shots behind.
Adam Scott returned from a two-month break with a 7-under 64 that left him three shots behind. SEVEN-TIME MAJOR WINNER
INBEE PARK TIED FOR LEAD
IN AUSTRALIA >> Seven-time major winner Inbee Park moved into contention for her 20th LPGA Tour win by taking a share of the second-round lead at the Women’s Australian Open. Park’s 4-under 69 left her with a two-round total of 10-under 136 at Royal Adelaide, level with England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff (70), who led after the first round.
American Jillian Hollis (69), was in third place, one stroke behind. EUROPEAN-ASIAN TOUR
GOLF EVENTS POSTPONED DUE TO VIRUS >> Two men’s golf tournaments co-sanctioned by the European and Asian tours in Malaysia and China were postponed because of the deadly new virus from China.
The tournaments are the Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur on April 1619 and the China Open in Shenzhen on April 23-26.
Soccer
UEFA BANS MAN CITY FROM
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FOR 2 SEASONS >> UEFA has banned Manchester City from the Champions League for two seasons for “serious breaches” of financial regulations.
The Abu Dhabi-owned English Premier League champion has also been fined 30 million euros ($33 million) in an investigation that was sparked by leaks showing City overstated sponsorship revenue. The punishment prevents City from playing in any European competition, including the Europa League, until the 2022-23 season.
“The adjudicatory chamber, having considered all the evidence, has found that Manchester City Football
Club committed serious breaches of the UEFA Club Licensing and financial fair play regulations by overstating its sponsorship revenue in its accounts and in the break-even information submitted to UEFA between 2012 and 2016,” UEFA said in a statement.
City said it would appeal against the sanctions, criticizing a “flawed” process.
City has never disputed the authenticity of the information contained in internal emails that were published by German media outlet Der Spiegel in October 2018 and shows alleged schemes by the club to allegedly cover up the true source of income in a bid to comply with FFP.
Motorsports
PENSKE INCREASES INDY
500 PURSE AS PART OF 2020 CHANGES >> Roger Penske has upped the ante for this year’s Indianapolis 500. The purse will increase roughly $2 million to a record $15 million. The winner of the May 24 race will receive at least an additional $100,000. And drivers trying to bump their way into the final three spots of the traditional 33-car starting field may get more than one attempt.
It’s all part of a package of changes announced Friday, 100 days before IndyCar’s marquee race.
Gymnastics
EX-MICHIGAN STATE COACH
CONVICTED IN CASE TIED TO NASSAR >> A jury on Friday convicted a former Michigan State University gymnastics coach of lying to police when she denied that two teen athletes told her of sexual abuse by sports doctor Larry Nassar in 1997, nearly 20 years before he was charged.
Kathie Klages, 65, was found guilty of a felony and a misdemeanor in a Lansing courthouse where Nassar was sentenced more than two years ago. Klages faces up to four years in prison at her April 15 sentencing.
She is the second person other than Nassar to be found guilty of charges related to his serial molestation of young women and girls under the guise of medical treatment.
WNBA
GRINER, MERCURY AGREE
TO MULTIYEAR CONTRACT >> Two-time WNBA scoring champion Brittney Griner signed a multiyear contract that will keep her with the Phoenix Mercury, the team announced. Length of the deal wasn’t announced, but The Arizona Republic reported she will earn the league supermax salary of $215,000.
Griner, a 6-foot-9 center, has a career average of 17.3 points per game in 212 games (all starts). She also averages 7.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game.