GOLF
Justin Thomas dressed in tartan-patterned trousers and played the part Thursday in the Scottish Open with an 8-under 62 – his lowest opening round on the PGA Tour since his 59 at the Sony Open seven years ago.
Rory McIlroy was three shots behind with a 65 that he hopes will be a big step toward moving on from his U.S. Open collapse last month.
Thomas had a one-shot lead over Sungjae Im.
Swedish star Ludvig Aberg was in a large group at 64 that included Maximilian Kieffer of Germany, Haotong Li of China, Thomas Detry of Belgium and American Justin Lower.
LPGA: Patty Tavatanakit of Thailand posted seven birdies in a 7-under 64 at the Evian Championship in Evian-Les-Bains, France, to take a share of the first-round lead with Sweden’s Ingrid Lindblad and Gemma Dryburgh of Scotland.
American Lauren Coughlin – who tied for third at the Chevron Championship for her best finish at a major, was tied for second with 2014 Evian champion Hyo Joo Kim of South Korea; 2015 champion Lydia Ko of New Zealand; South Korean Hye-Jin Choi; Mexican Gaby Lopez and Japan’s Ayaka Furue.
American Nelly Korda posted an erratic 2-under 69.
PGA: Pierceson Coody shot an 11-under 61 – the lowest round in his brief PGA Tour career – to take the first-round lead in the ISCO Championship at Nicholasville, Kentucky.
Rico Hoey of the Philippines and Hayden Springer were tied for second at 64 in the tournament co-sanctioned by the European tour.
BASKETBALL
NBA: The NBA Cup semifinals and championship game will be played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The semifinals of the second annual in-season tournament will be on Dec. 14, and the final is on Dec. 17.
The tournament starts Nov. 12, with teams split into groups of five within their own conference.
CYCLING
TOUR DE FRANCE: Primoz Roglic lost more than two minutes to his rival contenders after crashing near the finish of a 126-mile route from Aurillac to Villeneuve-sur-Lot in southwestern France, where the new king of sprints, Biniam Girmay, got his third stage win.
Roglic hit the tarmac with some 12 kilometers left after a rider in front of him lost control of his bike. He got back on his bike but struggled at the back and crossed 2 minutes, 27 seconds after the winner.
Girmay, who became the first Black rider to ever win a Tour stage this month, edged Wout van Aert and Arnaud Demare to extend his lead at the top of the rankings for the best sprinter’s green jersey.
Tadej Pogacar maintained a lead of 1:06 over Remco Evenepoel in the overall standings.
COLLEGES
MEN’S BASKETBALL: Indianapolis will host championships for all three NCAA divisions and the NIT in 2026, and the governing body’s tweaked its process for evaluating teams for next year’s tournament.
The home of the NCAA was chosen in 2018 to host the men’s Division I Final Four from April 4-6, 2026, at Lucas Oil Stadium. Finals for Divisions II and III have been scheduled for March 29 at nearby Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the home court for the Indiana Pacers. The NIT will hold its semifinals on April 2, at Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse.
It will mark the second time one city has held all three men’s championships. Atlanta did it in 2013. Indianapolis and Dallas hosted all three women’s championships in 2016 and 2023, respectively.
HOCKEY
NHL: The St. Louis Blues signed veteran defenseman Ryan Suter, 39, to a one-year contract.
Suter had two goals and 15 assists in 82 regular-season games for Dallas this past season. He will make a base salary of $775,000.
AUTO RACING
FORMULA ONE: Miami and Austin, Texas, will keep their sprint races next year, and Belgium gets a sprint instead of Austria.
The number of sprint races on the 24-event F1 calendar will stay at six for the third year running.
The other three sprints for 2025 will be in Brazil, China and Qatar.
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