GOLF
Justin Rose showed there's more than two players capable of winning a Masters green jacket. With all the attention on Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy he matched his personal best at Augusta National Thursday with a 65. That gives Rose a three-shot lead over Scheffler, Ludvig Aberg and Corey Conners. McIlroy took two double bogeys in the closing stretch and was seven shots behind. Rose now has led the opening round five times. That's a Masters record. But he doesn't have a green jacket to show for it. Scheffler says he was happy with a bogey-free start.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler opened with a bogey-free 68 on Thursday to put himself in the mix at the Masters. The world's top-ranked player made two long birdie putts and a couple of nice sand saves to finish at 4 under on a warm, sunny day that produced some low scores at Augusta National. Scheffler is trying to become the youngest player since Jack Nicklaus in 1966 to win three green jackets. He is winless heading into the week for the first time since 2021. Part of that may have to do with the late start he got on the year after cutting himself on a wine glass while making ravioli in December.
Fred Couples shot a 1-under 71 in the opening round of the Masters on Thursday, the 65-year-old former champion proving to himself as much as anyone else that he still belongs. Couples had doubts after last year, when his back was bothering him and rounds of 80 and 76 caused him to miss the cut. His first round was highlighted by a chip-in for birdie at the first and a hole-out from 191 yards for eagle at the 14th. Couples became the second-oldest player to shoot a subpar round at the Masters behind Tom Watson, who was a month older when he shot 71 in 2015.
U.S. Amateur champion Jose Luis Ballester took a different kind of relief at the Masters. The 21-year-old from Spain had to use the restroom in the worst way on the par-5 13th hole at Augusta National. He wound up turning his back to the grandstand and going in Rae’s Creek. Ballester figured he would be discreet. And then the gallery began to clap for him when it was over. Ballester says it was probably the loudest cheer for him all day. The Arizona State senior opened with a 76. His big mistake? He didn't notice restrooms by the tee box.
MLB
Pinch-runner David Hamilton scampered home when the drawn-in Toronto infield couldn’t handle Trevor Story’s nubber to second base and the Boston Red Sox beat the Blue Jays 4-3 in 10 innings to avoid a four-game sweep. Boston rallied from a 2-1 deficit in the eighth and trailed again after George Springer’s sacrifice fly in the 10th. The Red Sox loaded the bases on Rafael Devers’ single and two hit batsmen. With one out and the infield in, Story hit the ball off the end of the bat to second baseman Andrés Giménez, who was unable to field it cleanly and throw home.
Marcell Ozuna hit a two-run homer in the 11th inning and the Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 early Friday in a game that ended at 12:53 a.m. after a rain delay of 2 hours, 45 minutes in the sixth inning. After the Phillies took a 2-1 lead in the top of the 11th, Austin Riley tied it by doubling home Ozzie Albies before Ozuna lifted his second home run of the season to left field in a near empty Truist Park. Kyle Schwarber hit his sixth home run in 12 games in the third inning on a 98 mph fastball from Spencer Schwellenbach. José Suarez (1-0) got the win despite walking three in the 11th. Joe Ross (1-1) took the loss.
Jo Adell became the third player in Angels history to homer twice in the same inning, Mike Trout and Taylor Ward also homered twice and Los Angeles routed the Tampa Bay Rays 11-1. Adell led off the fifth against Zack Littell with first first homer this season for a 3-1 lead and capped an eight-run fifth inning with a three-run drive against Mason Englert. Adell matched a career high with four RBIs. Trout hit a two-run homer in the fifth against Littell and added a solo homer in the ninth off Hunter Bigge for his fifth home run this season and the 27th multihomer game of his big-league career.
Steven Kwan had a homer and three singles and drove in four runs to help Cleveland complete a three-game sweep and hand the Chicago White Sox their eighth straight loss with a 6-1 victory. Kwan singled leading off the first and scored on Kyle Manzardo’s fourth home run of the season for a 2-1 lead, and the Guardians never trailed again. The White Sox are winless in April. Winning pitcher Gavin Williams allowed one run on three hits and two walks in five innings. Jonathan Cannon allowed six runs on seven hits and three walks while taking the loss.
Bobby Witt Jr. hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the seventh inning and the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 3-2 on Thursday. The Royals trailed by a run before rallying for two in the seventh against reliever Cole Sands. With one out, Freddy Fermin walked ahead of singles by Drew Waters and Jonathan India, tying the game at 2 before Witt drove a deep fly to center for the lead. Daniel Lynch IV struck out two of three batters faced and Carlos Estévez earned his fourth save.
Brenton Doyle tied his career high with five RBIs, hitting a leadoff homer in the first inning, a run-scoring single in the seventh and a bases-clearing double in the eighth to lead the Colorado Rockies over the Milwaukee Brewers 7-2. Zac Veen doubled for his first career RBI as the Rockies avoided a three-game sweep and improved to 3-9. Doyle also had five RBIs against Boston last July 24. Isaac Collins tied the score 2-2 in the eighth when he hit into a run-scoring double play against winner Scott Alexander.
The Mets and Yankees were both off last night. The Mets will be in West Sacramento for a 10:05 night game against the Athletics, while the Yankees are home against the Giants at 7:05 tonight.
Emaarion Boyd became the first minor league player in at least 20 years to steal six bases in a game without getting a hit when he pulled off the feat for High-A Beloit against Cedar Rapids. Boyd reached on a fielder’s choice, walk and hit by pitch. He stole second and third base each time. Boyd was an 11th-round pick by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2022 Major League Baseball amateur draft. He was part of a December trade that sent him to the Miami Marlins. The 21-year-old has 98 steals in 203 minor league games.
NBA
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 28 points and 11 rebounds as the Milwaukee Bucks extended their winning streak to six games with a 136-111 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. Kevin Porter Jr. had 20 points and seven assists, Kyle Kuzma and Gary Trent Jr. each scored 17 points, Bobby Portis added 14 and Ryan Rollins finished with 12 for the Bucks. Lester Quinones scored 21 points and Jamal Cain and Keion Brooks Jr. each had 20 as the Pelicans dropped their fifth straight game. Antonio Reeves scored 16 while Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Karlo Matkovic contributed 15 points and 10 rebounds apiece.
Zaccharie Risacher scored a season-high 38 points as the Atlanta Hawks routed the Brooklyn Nets 133-109 on Thursday night. The No. 1 pick in the draft shot 15 for 20 from the field, including 6 for 11 from 3-point range. Trae Young added 24 points and 12 assists for the Hawks, while Dyson Daniels had 10 points, nine assists, nine rebounds and three steals to raise his NBA-leading total to 226. Jalen Wilson finished with 20 points for the Nets.
Tyrese Haliburton scored eight of his 23 points during a key scoring run in the fourth quarter and Aaron Nesmith added 22 points to help the Indiana Pacers rally past the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers 114-112. Indiana won its sixth straight and secured a top-four seed and the home-court advantage in a playoff series for the first time since 2014. Haliburton also had 10 assists, eight rebounds and three blocks. Cleveland sat four of its five starters and had a chance to force overtime with a midrange jumper from Jaylon Tyson at the buzzer. Ty Jerome finished with 24 points and six assists despite being held out of the fourth quarter. Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson was ejected late in the third quarter after drawing two technical fouls.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 28 points and 11 rebounds as the Milwaukee Bucks extended their winning streak to six games with a 136-111 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. Kevin Porter Jr. had 20 points and seven assists, Kyle Kuzma and Gary Trent Jr. each scored 17 points, Bobby Portis added 14 and Ryan Rollins finished with 12 for the Bucks. Lester Quinones scored 21 points and Jamal Cain and Keion Brooks Jr. each had 20 as the Pelicans dropped their fifth straight game. Antonio Reeves scored 16 while Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Karlo Matkovic contributed 15 points and 10 rebounds apiece.
Anthony Edwards scored 44 points, including 18 during Minnesota’s franchise-record, 52-point third quarter, and the Timberwolves beat the Memphis Grizzlies 141-125 on Thursday night in a game between teams fighting to avoid the play-in tournament. Julius Randle added 31 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolves, who broke open the game with the highest-scoring quarter in the NBA this season. Edwards was 5 for 5 in the third and Randle scored 14 points when Minnesota made 18 of 21 shots (85.7%). Ja Morant led Memphis with 36 points.
NHL
Artemi Panarin and Brett Berard each scored twice and the New York Rangers trounced the New York Islanders 9-2 on Thursday night for their third straight victory. Mika Zibanejad, Will Cuylle, Vincent Trocheck, Juuso Parssinen and Alexis Lafreniere each had a goal and an assist, Adam Fox had three assists and J.T. Miller and Sam Carrick each added two assists. Igor Shesterkin made 44 saves. Marcus Hogberg made 21 saves before being replaced by Tristan Lennox, who made his NHL debut after Berard gave the Rangers a 6-1 lead at 7:54 of the third period. Lennox played 4:43 and made one save before Islanders coach Patrick Roy reinserted Hogberg following Berard’s second goal at 12:37.
Boone Jenner scored the go-ahead goal on the power play 6:42 into the third period, helping the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 3-2 comeback victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Zachary Aston-Reese and James van Riemsdyk also scored for the Blue Jackets, who trailed 2-0 and ended the surging Sabres’ five-game winning streak. With the game tied at 2, Jenner put a wrist shot past James Reimer to put Columbus up for the first time off assists from Sean Monahan and Kirill Marchenko. Jet Greaves stopped 39 shots for Columbus. Rasmus Dahlin and John-Jason Peterka each had goals for the Sabres.
Chicago 5 Boston 2
Nick Foligno scored a pair of goals, Arvid Soderblom made 31 saves and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins 5-2. Ryan Donato, Tyler Bertuzzi and Kevin Korchinski all scored in a span of 1:33 early in the third period for the Blackhawks, who scored four goals in third period to pull away. Foligno’s second goal was an empty-netter. David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie had a goal and an assist each for the Bruins and Jeremy Swayman made 16 saves. Boston has lost 13 of its last 15 games and is in last place in the Eastern Conference.
For the first time in his NHL career, Brad Marchand has scored a goal for someone other than the Boston Bruins. Marchand scored his first goal since joining the Florida Panthers, a second-period tally in the second period on Thursday night that gave his new club a 3-1 lead over the Detroit Red Wings. Marchand was playing in his eighth game for Florida, after the team pulled off a stunning move at the trade deadline and acquired him from the Bruins — who have been a postseason rival of the Panthers in recent years.
Winnipeg 4 Dallas 0
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 24 shots for his NHL-leading eighth shutout and the Winnipeg Jets moved closer to the top seed in the Western Conference with a 4-0 win over the Dallas Stars. Kyle Connor scored twice in the third period Thursday night to get to 40 goals for the Jets. Winnipeg needs only one more point over its final three games to be the No. 1 seed in the West for the first time. Second-place Dallas is 0-2-2 in its last four games after being shut out for the first time this season. Nino Niederreiter and Morgan Barron also scored.
SO Washington 5 Carolina 4
Tom Wilson scored his career-best 33rd goal of the season and the Washington Capitals wrapped up the top spot in the Eastern Conference by beating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 in a shootout. Pierre-Luc Dubois scored the shootout winner after the Capitals rallied from a 2-0 deficit, then blew a 4-2 lead with Carolina’s Jordan Martinook and Seth Jarvis scoring in the third period to tie it. The Hurricanes lost their fourth in a row.
Vancouver 4 Colorado 1
Kiefer Sherwood and Dakota Joshua had a goal and an assist, Kevin Lankinen stopped 31 shots and the Vancouver Canucks beat Colorado 4-1 as the Avalanche gave their leading scorer Nathan MacKinnon the game off to rest and heal for the postseason. Jake DeBrusk also scored for the Canucks, who’ve been eliminated from postseason contention. Nils Hoglander added an empty-netter. Devon Toews scored for the Avalanche in their final home game of the regular season. Colorado will enter the postseason as the Central Division’s No. 3 seed and open the first round on the road. Mackenzie Blackwood made 26 saves.
Filip Forsberg beat Karel Vejmelka with a backhander for the lone shootout goal in the Nashville Predators’ 4-3 victory over the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday night. Forsberg, Nick Blankenburg and Ryan O’Reilly scored in regulation, and Juuse Saros made 39 saves and turned aside all three Utah attempts in the tiebreaker. Nick Bjugstad, Josh Doan and Dylan Guenther scored for Utah — eliminated from playoff contention Wednesday night — in its home finale in its first season in Salt Lake City. Vejmelka stopped 28 shots. Utah failed to score on an overtime power play after Fedor Svechkov was sent off for hooking Mikhail Sergachev midway through the extra period.
Ivan Barbashev and William Karlsson scored for the Golden Knights and Vegas took a step toward clinching the Pacific Division with a 2-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken. The Golden Knights would have secured the division, but Los Angeles remained alive with a 6-1 win over Anaheim. Vegas has a six-point lead with three games remaining; the Kings have four games left. A regulation victory by the Golden Knights or loss by the Kings in regulation over that span gives Vegas the division and home-ice advantage through at least the first two rounds of the playoffs. Adin Hill made 24 saves.
Kevin Fiala scored two of Los Angeles’ three power-play goals, and captain Anze Kopitar and Quinton Byfield had a goal and an assist apiece in the Kings’ 6-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. Captain Anze Kopitar, Alex Laferriere and Jordan Spence also scored for the playoff-bound Kings, who have won five of six after dominating the final Freeway Faceoff of the season. Cutter Gauthier scored his fifth goal in three games for the Ducks, who are wrapping up their seventh consecutive non-playoff season. That's the longest drought in either Southern California team’s history.
SOCCER
Mohamed Salah’s trophy-laden spell with Liverpool is set to extend to a decade after the prolific Egypt forward signed a new contract with the Premier League leader after months of uncertainty over his future. The 32-year-old Salah was one of three key senior players with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk who was due to be out of contract at the end of this season. He is the first to extend his stay having already established himself as a club great with 243 goals in 394 appearances. That places him third in the list of Liverpool’s all-time top scorers. Liverpool manager Arne Slot says Salah signed a two-year deal.
COLLEGE HOCKEY
Owen Michaels scored his second goal 26 seconds into the second overtime and Western Michigan beat defending champion Denver 3-2 on Thursday night to advance to its first Frozen Four title game. Western Michigan will face Boston University — a 3-1 winner over Penn State in the second semifinal — in the championship game Saturday night. Brian Kramer also scored and freshman Hampton Slukynsky stopped 20 shots for a veteran-laden Western Michigan team making its Frozen Four debut in its 10th NCAA tournament appearance. The Broncos (33-7-1) set a season record for victories, extended their winning streak to nine and won after blowing a 2-0 third-period lead. Jared Wright, with the tying goal with 2:39 left in regulation, and Aidan Thompson scored for Denver (31-12-1).
Jack Hughes and Cole Eiserman scored second-period goals and Boston University beat Penn State 3-1 on Thursday night to advance to its first Frozen Four final in 10 years. Freshman Mikhail Yegorov stopped 32 shots and Jack Harvey scored an empty-netter with a minute left for BU (24-12-2), which lost in the semifinals in each of the past two years. The Terriers are five-time champions, who lost to Providence in the 2015 and are seeking their first title since beating Miami (Ohio) in 2009. Boston University will face Frozen Four first-timers, top-seeded Western Michigan on Saturday night. The Broncos advanced with a 3-2 2OT win over defending champion Denver in the first semifinal. Nicholas DeGraves scored 2:15 into the third for Penn State (22-14-4).
FORMULA ONE
After a setback at the Japanese Grand Prix, McLaren is hoping to get back on top of Formula 1 in Bahrain this week. Max Verstappen gave his title defense a big boost with his win in Japan last week but almost everything had to go right for him and Red Bull. Oscar Piastri thinks the desert heat could make it a “friendly” track for McLaren but his teammate Lando Norris is predicting a “trickier weekend than the last few.” McLaren has never won the Bahrain Grand Prix.
BOXING
Facing Diego Lopes wasn’t Alexander Volkanovski’s first choice. He hoped to get another shot at Ilia Topuria and avenge his loss from more than a year ago at UFC 298. But Topuria moved up to the lightweight division. That left the featherweight class vacant. In stepped Lopes to take on Volkanovski in UFC 314 on Saturday night in Miami. Volkanovski is competing in his 10th consecutive title fight. Lopes gets his first title shot after winning his five previous bouts.
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