GOLF
Amy Olson turned her day around with a hole-in-one on the seventh hole and kept right on going until she had a 4-under 67 and a one-shot lead Thursday in the U.S. Women’s Open in Houston.
Olson, a prolific winner in college who is still winless in seven years on the LPGA Tour, was among only 11 players who broke 70 on the Cypress Creek and Jackrabbit courses. For the first time, two courses are being used for the opening rounds of the premier event in women’s golf because of limited daylight.
Moriya Jutanugarn kept bogeys off her card on the Jackrabbit course for a 68, leaving her tied for second place with Hinako Shibuno (Cypress Creek) and A Lim Kim (Jackrabbit).
EUROPEAN TOUR: French golfer Victor Perez shot 5-under 67 to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the season-ending World Tour Championship in Dubai, with Tommy Fleetwood making the best start of the leading contenders for the Race to Dubai title.
Fleetwood, who is No. 2 in the standings behind Patrick Reed, rolled in a birdie on the last hole for a 69. Reed also birdied No. 18 after an approach to 4 feet and had a bogey-free 70.
Matt Fitzpatrick, Robert MacIntyre and Erik van Rooyen were tied for second place.
AUTO RACING
FORMULA ONE: World champion Lewis Hamilton has recovered from the coronavirus and will race at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend, the Mercedes team said.
The seven-time champion tested positive for COVID-19 the day after winning the Bahrain GP on Nov. 29 and missed last weekend’s Sakhir GP in Bahrain as he self-isolated for 10 days.
SOCCER
ROSSI DIES: Paolo Rossi, who led Italy to the 1982 World Cup title and later worked as a soccer commentator in his home country, has died. He was 64.
State-run RAI, where Rossi worked after his playing career, said he died of an incurable illness. RAI and other media cited an Instagram post by Rossi’s wife, Federica Cappelletti.
Rossi had a remarkable career comeback, leading Italy to the World Cup title after returning from a suspension following a betting scandal in 1980.
He scored six goals at the tournament in Spain, including a hat trick in a 3-2 win over Brazil and the opening goal in a 3-1 win over West Germany in the final. He was also voted FIFA player of the year in 1982.
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP: A Women’s Nations League will be launched next year in North and Central America and the Caribbean that will serve as qualifying for the 2023 World Cup, and the United States and Canada will have byes until the event’s first championship round in July 2022.
TRACK AND FIELD
INDOOR WORLDS CANCELED: The track and field indoor world championships in China have been postponed for the second straight year.
World Athletics said the city of Nanjing, the intended host of the 2020 meeting, now also cannot host the next edition in March.
Nanjing is about 330 miles from Wuhan, where the coronavirus emerged one year ago. The city has agreed to host the indoor worlds in 2023, World Athletics said.
Belgrade in Serbia is the scheduled 2022 host.
FIGURE SKATING
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: The European figure skating championships were canceled Thursday for the first time in more than 70 years because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The International Skating Union said it could not hold the competition, scheduled for Jan. 25-31 in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, “in view of the worsening worldwide COVID-19 pandemic situation and the consequent increasing risks for organizers and participants.”
The European championships have taken place every year since 1947, when they resumed following World War II. The ISU said it is exploring backup plans in case the world championships can’t be held in Sweden in March 2021 as planned. One option could be to combine it with the World Team Trophy in Japan in April, the ISU said. The 2021 world championships will determine the number of entries for each country at the Olympics.
This year’s worlds were set for Montreal in March but were canceled as the pandemic took hold and countries imposed quarantine requirements on international arrivals.
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