Cantlay leads at Tour Championship

For the second day in a row, no one had a better score than Jon Rahm at the Tour Championship. That’s just what he needed to make up ground on Patrick Cantlay going into a weekend chase for $15 million.

Rahm birdied his last three holes Friday for a 5-under 65. Cantlay birdied his last two holes for a bogey-free 66 to keep one shot ahead.

It’s not quite a two-man race for the FedEx Cup with 36 holes still to play at East Lake, though it was shaping up as a possibility. Bryson DeChambeau was the next closest player, and his 67 lost ground Friday. He was six shots behind.

“We definitely feed off each other,” Rahm said. “And that’s probably why you see the difference in the scoreboard right now.”

Cantlay looked as though he was protecting a lead, often playing to the fat of the green. That was more a product of showing respect to an East Lake course that punishes even slight misses on the wrong side of the hole.

Olympics

PROS GOING TO BEIJING >> The NHL is set to return to the Olympics in Beijing this winter after reaching an agreement with international officials, though the league and players have the opportunity to withdraw if pandemic circumstances warrant.

The NHL, its players’ union, the International Olympic Committee and the International Ice Hockey Federation struck a deal Friday that will put the best players in the world back on sports’ biggest stage in February after they skipped the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

Tennis

ALCARAZ GETS DRAMATIC WIN >> Until now, 18-yearold Carlos Alcaraz has exhibited enough promise and precociousness to make people think he eventually could succeed Rafael Nadal as Spain’s top tennis player. At the U.S. Open, with a dramatic five-set victory over No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alcaraz showed why he’s been getting so much attention already.

With a tenacity to match his talent, and boosted by a rowdy Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd a tad tired of Tsitsipas’ penchant for taking lengthy breaks between sets, Alcaraz won, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 0-6, 7-6 (5), to become the youngest man in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows.