Mickelson goes wire-to-wire in Champions debut
Phil Mickelson chose to make his PGA Tour Champions debut at Ozarks National this week so he could avoid a two-week break right in the middle of his preparations for the U.S. Open at Winged Foot.
If he was going to show up, Mickelson thought, he might as well win at the Charles Schwab Series at Ozarks National in Ridgedale, Missouri.
He closed with a 5-under 66 on Wednesday to reach 22 under, leaving him four shots clear of Tim Petrovic. The wire-to-wire victory made Mickelson the 20th player to win on the 50-and-over-tour in his debut, not to mention gave him some muchneeded confidence after a missed cut at The Northern Trust knocked him from the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
“I really enjoyed playing here, enjoyed seeing the guys again, and they were so accommodating and fun, and it was just fun for me to compete,” said Mickelson, who plans to take 10 days off before heading to the Safeway Open at Napa’s Silverado Resort for what he hopes is his final U.S. Open prep.
Mickelson’s game sure looked sharp as he heads toward the U.S. Open. He began the final round with a birdie on the first hole. He added another at the fourth before driving the par-4 fifth and rolling in a 25-footer for an eagle.
Mickelson added three straight birdies, making the turn to reach 23 under and putting the 54-hole scoring record on the PGA Tour Champions in danger. David Frost shot 25 under at the 2010 3M Championship. But after stringing together a few pars, a three-putt bogey on the 14th ended that thought.
NBA
PACERS FIRE MCMILLAN FOLLOWING SWEEP >> The Indiana Pacers fired coach Nate McMillan less than three weeks after announcing he would keep the job for two more years. Team officials made the announcement 48 hours after the Pacers suffered their second straight firstround sweep.
McMillan went 183-136 in four seasons with the Pacers, going to the playoffs each season. But Indiana never reached the second round and endured the first three four-game sweeps in the franchise’s NBA history.
Phil Mickelson rolls in his Champions Tour debut, shooting 22-under par to win Wednesday by four shots.
His playoff record with the team was just 3-16.
Soccer
MESSI POTENTIAL DEAL WITH MAN
CHESTER CITY INCLUDES FUTURE MOVE TO MLS >> Lionel Messi’s potential move to Manchester City could eventually bring the international superstar to New York City FC, ESPN reported.
A long-term contract is reportedly in the works between the 33-year-old Argentinian forward and Man City, which, like NYCFC, is owned by the City Football Group. The deal includes a clause for Messi’s move to the MLS club after three seasons in the Premier League, per the report.
Manchester City emerged as a favorite to sign the six-time Ballon d’Or winner after he told Barcelona on Tuesday that he wants to leave the club this summer.
College football
N.C. STATE AT VIRGINIA TECH PUSHED BACK AFTER COVID-19 CASES >> North Carolina State’s season-opener at Virginia Tech was postponed from Sept. 12 to Sept. 26 because of a cluster of COVID-19 cases among Wolfpack athletes.
The Atlantic Coast Conference and the two schools announced the delay two days after N.C. State paused athletic activities. The school didn’t specify which programs were impacted by the cluster of 27 positive cases at the time and noted that not all those cases involved athletes.
Tennis
THIRD SURGERY DERAILS FORMER U.S. OPEN CHAMP DEL POTRO >> Juan Martin del Potro had surgery on his right knee, the third operation for the 2009 U.S. Open champion since getting injured two years ago. He originally fractured his right kneecap at the Shanghai Masters in October 2018. After he returned from surgery, he slipped during a match at the Queen’s Club grass-court tournament in June 2019 and needed another procedure. DJOKOVIC CRUISES INTO SEMIS WHERE BAUTISTA AGUT AWAITS >> Novak Djokovic cruised past Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-1 to reach a record-equaling eighth Western & Southern Open semifinal where he will face Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut.
Djokovic took advantage of a series of errors by Struff to grab control of the match and closed out the 62-minute encounter with a love service break to extend his unbeaten run to 24 matches.
With the win, Djokovic tied Jimmy Connors, Stefan Edberg, Roger Federer and Bill Talbert’s semifinal totals at the ATP Masters 1000 event.
Earlier, Bautista Agut produced a stunning comeback to defeat third seed Daniil Medvedev 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 and reach his first semifinal in the event, which is being played at Flushing Meadows, New York instead of Cincinnati due to COVID-19.
On the women’s side, fourthseeded Naomi Osaka beat No. 12 Anett Kontaveit 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, then announced later she has pulled out of the semifinals to protest racial injustice.
Osaka, who has a Japanese mother and Haitian father, said in a social media post: “Before I am an athlete, I am a Black woman.”.
WNBA
GAMES POSTPONED >> All three WNBA games scheduled for Wednesday were postponed because players opted not to participate in the games.
The first contest Wednesday evening between the Washington Mystics and the Atlanta Dream was canceled because the Mystics decided they didn’t want to play. The boycott follows the lead of players in the NBA, who chose not to play in any of the three scheduled playoff games.