GOLF
HERO WORLD CHALLENGE: Sepp Straka, a late addition when Tiger Woods couldn’t play because of a foot injury, managed six birdies at rain-soaked Albany for a 3-under 69 that gave him a share of the lead at the Hero World Challenge in Nassau, Bahamas with defending champion Viktor Hovland, Tom Kim and Collin Morikawa.
Hovland was the only player to reach 4 under at any point before a bogey on the 16th. He is trying to join Woods as the only players to win this holiday event back-to-back.
Hovland is staying with Morikawa again. A year ago, Morikawa had a five-shot lead and needed a win to reach No. 1 in the world when he shot 76 in the final round and Hovland rallied with a 66 to win.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN: Local professional David Micheluzzi shot a course-record equaling 7-under 63 Thursday to take the first-round lead at the Australian Open where the men’s and women’s championships are being played concurrently for the first time.
Micheluzzi rode a hot putter to roll in eight birdies to match the course records of fellow Australians Geoff Ogilvy (2011) and Ryan Ruffels (2014) at Victoria Golf Club.
Another Australian, Grace Kim, led the women’s field with a 7-under 66 at nearby Kingston Heath that is also being used for the first two rounds of the championships where men and women play in alternate threesomes at the two courses.
HIGH SCHOOLS
GIRLS’ HOCKEY: Marina Bassett scored a pair of goals to lead Cape Elizabeth/Waynflete/South Portland (2-0) to a 4-3 win over Winslow/Gardiner/Cony/Lawrence/Messalonskee/Maranacook/Erskine/Mt. Blue (1-1) at Troubh Ice Arena in Portland.
Clio Cook-Sharp and Becca Good also scored for Cape. The Black Tigers got two goals from Katie Berard and one from Leah Michaud.
• Lucy Johnson netted four goals – three assisted by Micaela Talbot – as Cheverus/Old Orchard Beach/Kennebunk/Windham (2-0) cruised to a 5-1 win over Brunswick (0-1) at Troubh Ice Arena.
Johnson also assisted on a goal by Talbot.
Lauren Labbe scored Brunswick’s goal in the second period.
AUTO RACING
NASCAR: Ty Gibbs on Thursday declined to discuss the death of his father, which occurred just hours after the young NASCAR driver clinched the Xfinity Series championship last month.
Gibbs was asked about his grandfather, Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs, telling the employees at Joe Gibbs Racing they all had to move forward, even as they mourn the sudden death of 49-year-old Coy Gibbs.
Coy Gibbs died in his sleep just hours after his 20-year-old son won the Xfinity Series title on Nov. 5 at Phoenix Raceway.
“For right now, I’m not going to touch on any other subject at all, so I’m just going to stick with all the racing questions and I will go from there,” Ty Gibbs said before NASCAR’s annual awards ceremony.
• Goodyear will remain the exclusive tire for NASCAR’s top three national series under a new multi-year deal announced on Thursday.
NASCAR has partnered with Goodyear since 1954 on tires that can stand up to the demands of racing conditions.
SOCCER
U.S. HALL OF FAME: Jill Ellis was voted into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame after coaching the American women to World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019.
The 56-year-old British-born coach was picked on 20 of 24 ballots in the builder voting that included only coach candidates for the 2023 class.
Clive Charles, a former U.S. under-23 and under-20 coach, national team assistant and University of Portland men’s and women’s coach, was second with 12 votes and didn’t make the hall in totals announced Wednesday. Former U.S. men, LA Galaxy and San Jose coach Lothar Osiander was third with three votes, and former LA Galaxy, San Jose and Chicago coach Frank Yallop was last with none.
NWSL: The owner of the Portland (Oregon) Thorns announced Thursday he is putting the club up for sale, the latest fallout from an investigation into misconduct in the National Women’s Soccer League. Merritt Paulson’s decision comes nearly two months after a pair of team executives were dismissed for their roles in systemic abuse and misconduct within the NWSL.
Paulson had relinquished his decision-making role with the team in October. But calls had persisted for him to sell the Thorns.
“The past year has been a challenging one for our club and our players. I regret the role our organization played in the failures identified by the investigations. Despite these challenges, the Portland Thorns have a bright future ahead and a lot left to accomplish,” Paulson said.
CYCLING
TOUR de FRANCE: The 2024 Tour de France will end on the French Riviera instead of the French capital because of the Olympic Games.
The finish of cycling’s marquee race leaves Paris for the first time since 1905. Tour organizers said on Thursday the last stage of its 111th race will take place in the Mediterranean resort of Nice on July 21. Five days later, Paris opens the Olympics.
FIGURE SKATING
U.S. HALL OF FAME: Olympic ice dancers Maia and Alex Shibutani along with Paul E. George, who served as the director of the U.S. Olympic Committee, were elected to the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame on Thursday.
The trio will be inducted Jan. 28 during the U.S. figure skating championships in San Jose, California.
The Shibutani siblings were two-time Olympians who won a pair of bronze medals at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games before stepping away from the sport in their prime. They also were three-time world medalists, earned medals at each of their 14 national championships and were two-time senior U.S. champions.
George was the Chef de Mission of the U.S. delegation to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. The longtime member of the Skating Club of Boston, George also was director of the U.S. Figure Skating Association in the late 1980s and early ’90s and later served as president and trustee of the U.S. Figure Skating Foundation.
TENNIS
UTS RETURNING: A tennis league founded by coach Patrick Mouratoglou that played exhibition matches when the pro tours were shut down during the coronavirus pandemic plans to return in 2023 with four events.
The Ultimate Tennis Showdown, or UTS, announced Thursday that it will hold matches in July, September, November and December in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The specific sites and players will be revealed later.
The league uses different rules — including four 8-minute quarters — and increased access like mid-match interviews with players, in what it calls a bid to “attract a larger and younger tennis fanbase.”
UTS made its debut without spectators in France in June 2020, when WTA and ATP tournaments were on hiatus because of COVID-19.
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