Report: A’s make offer on potential Vegas ballpark site

The Oakland Athletics have reportedly put in an offer for an area of land in the Las Vegas Valley that could potentially be used for a new ballpark, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Friday.

According to the ReviewJournal, team president Dave Kaval didn’t specify where the land was located but noted that trying to secure a site means things are getting more serious for a Southern Nevada stadium.

“We’re kind of moving from a phase of research/ data gathering to action around a final site,” Kaval told the Review-Journal on Friday afternoon. “That’s really important because the site selection is a really critical path to keep the process moving forward to where we could have a holistically blessed project.”

The A’s got the green light from Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred back in May to begin exploring Las Vegas as a potential relocation market.

Team officials have made multiple trips to Vegas to view prospective sites Kaval said A’s brass would be back in the Las Vegas Valley in December and would be back every two to three weeks thereafter.

With things progressing more quickly than team officials had expected, Kaval said the final site could be publicly announced at the beginning of 2022.

The A’s will need to present MLB officials with a relocation plan once the final site is chosen and they work with area business leaders and officials on a possible financing plan.

Golf

MORIKAWA AIMING TO WIN RACE TO DUBAI TITLE >> Collin Morikawa got a big stroke of fortune at the DP World Tour Championship.

Rory McIlroy felt he got no luck at all.

The drama in the second round of the European Tour’s season-ending event was reserved for the final hour at Jumeirah Golf Estates — and the tournament’s two headline players were at the center of it.

Cal’s Morikawa, looking to become the first American to win the Race to Dubai title, pushed his tee shot at the par-3 17th hole and shouted, “Get in the bunker.” The ball, instead, bounced on a downslope in the rough and headed toward water, only for it to hit a hazard post and stay dry.

An up-and-down for par followed by a final-hole birdie saw the British Open champion shoot a second straight 4-under 68, leaving him three shots off the lead and in a strong position to finish the season as European No. 1.

McIlroy, the first-round leader after an opening 65, reached the 18th tee with a one-stroke advantage despite hitting only five of 13 fairways to that point. He drove left into a bunker and his third shot kicked left short of the green and dribbled into the water.

A double-bogey 7 completed a round of 70 which saw him fall out of the lead, held jointly by Shane Lowry (65), John Catlin (65) and Sam Horsfield (66) on 10 under par.

McIlroy will play with Morikawa in the third round as he goes in search of back-to-back wins following victory at the CJ Cup on the U.S. PGA Tour last month.

GOOCH TAMES WIND TO TAKE LEAD AT RSM CLASSIC >> Talor Gooch fired a 5-under 65 to take a one-shot lead at 13-under 129 after two rounds of the RSM Classic at a windy Sea Island Golf Club in Sea Island, Ga.

Playing the par-70 Seaside Course, Gooch’s round included a 66-foot eagle putt at the par-5 seventh hole as he moved to 4 under on the day. He had two birdies and a bogey on the back nine to take the outright lead after 36 holes for the first time in his career.

John Huh and first-round leader Sebastian Munoz of Colombia were tied for second at 12 under, while Taylor Moore and Mackenzie Hughes of Canada were tied for fourth at 11 under. BOUTIER HOLDS FOURSHOT

LEAD AT TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP >> Celine Boutier carded a 7-under 65 and

holds a four-shot lead after two rounds of the seasonending CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla.

Boutier had eight birdies and one bogey during her stellar round. She has a four-shot lead over Gaby Lopez of Mexico, Minjee Lee of Australia and Mina Harigae of the United States.

Lee and Lopez each had five birdies and one bogey while shooting 68s, while Harigae made four birdies and one bogey for a 69.

World No. 1 Nelly Korda shot a 3-under 69 and is at 9-under 135 in a tie for fifth. The others are South Korea’s Eun-Hee Ji (68) and Jeongeun Lee6 (71) and England’s Georgia Hall (68).

Tennis

RUUD DOWNS RUBLEV TO BAG LAST-FOUR SPOT >> Casper Ruud, the eighth and final qualifier for the ATP Finals, has joined top-ranked Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Daniil Medvedev and No. 3 Alexander Zverev in the semifinals of the elite season-ending event in Turin, Italy.

Ruud, the 22-year-old Norwegian, showed off aggressive tactics in the decisive tiebreaker and served an ace on his second match point in a 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5) victory over Andrey Rublev in his final round-robin match to secure his unexpected spot in the last four.

The fifth-ranked Rublev had beaten Ruud in all four of their previous matches.

Ruud will next face Medvedev, the U.S. Open champion and the defending champion of this event.

Djokovic and Zverev will renew their budding rivalry in the other semifinal today.

Later, round-robin play concluded with Djokovic beating British alternate Cameron Norrie 6-2, 6-1 in a mostly meaningless match. Norrie replaced the injured Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is ranked No. 4.

WTA THREATENS TO PULL

TOURNAMENTS FROM CHINA OVER PENG >> Outcry over Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai’s whereabouts escalated as the Women’s Tennis Association threatened to pull tournaments out of China over her disappearance and the White House asked Beijing to prove she was safe.

Former doubles world number one Peng has not been seen or heard from publicly since she said on Chinese social media on Nov. 2 that former vicepremier Zhang Gaoli coerced her into sex and they later had an on-off consensual relationship.

Winter sports

SHCHERBAKOVA TAKES THE LEAD >> World champion Anna Shcherbakova led a Russian sweep of the women’s short program at the ISU Grand Prix in Grenoble, France. Shcherbakova, 17, compiled a score of 77.94.

Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama took a big lead in the men’s short program with a season’s best score of 100.64.

This month at the Italian Grand Prix, Shcherbakova had a disappointing short program but rallied to win gold the next day.

Russians Alena Kostornaia, 18, and Kseniia Sinitsyna, 17, placed second and third, respectively. Kostornaia had 76.44 and Sinitsyna scored 69.89.

Basketball

THOMAS TO JOIN USA BASKETBALL >> Isaiah Thomas was announced as an injury replacement for USA Basketball’s team that will open World Cup qualifying play this month in Mexico. The two-time NBA AllStar was added to the roster, along with Justin Anderson, as replacements for DaQuan Jeffries and Frank Mason III.