For the second consecutive year Tiger Woods will skip what essentially is his hometown event next week when the PGA Tour travels to South Florida for the Honda Classic.

Woods, who lives in Jupiter Island about 15 miles from PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, said following last week’s Genesis Invitational that he would take some time off before he started training again, presumably in time to play the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, where he’s won eight times.

Woods skipped the Honda Classic last year, citing the new schedule and the relocation of The Players back to March. He also withdrew from last year's API because of a neck strain.

If Woods follows a similar schedule this year, he would have just two more starts, Players and WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, before the year’s first major at Augusta National, where he is the defending champion. If he returns to Arnie's Place and keeps the same pre-Masters schedule, that would mean three events in four weeks with one week off before Augusta.

Next week’s event at PGA National will include world No. 2 Brooks Koepka, as well as Rickie Fowler and Gary Woodland.

MEXICO CITY – Midway through the opening round at the WGC-Mexico Championship, it appeared that this was not going to be Erik van Rooyen’s week.

The South African was 3 over through nine holes when his replacement caddie, his trainer who stepped in when his normal caddie was too sick to work, offered some encouragement.

“He said, 'Just see your line and chip it in.' He's a gamer, I guess,” said van Rooyen, who chipped in for eagle at the par-4 first hole to set the stage for a back-nine 31 and a 1-under 70.

The momentum continued on Friday at Club de Golf Chapultepec with back-to-back birdies to start his day and a bogey-free 62 to tie the course record and move into second place, just a shot behind Bryson DeChambeau.

His solid play is particularly well-timed, with van Rooyen celebrating his 30th birthday on Friday.

“The first thing I told my wife this morning, man, I feel really old. But I guess I'm still quite young, and what a way to kick off the 30th and shoot 9 under,” he smiled. “A little bit of a gift to myself.”

Van Rooyen is also vying for a spot in next month’s Players Championship. He’s currently 52nd in the world ranking and needs to crack the top 50 by March 4.

MEXICO CITY – Momentum was squarely on Justin Thomas’ side following four consecutive birdies just before the turn on Day 2 at the WGC-Mexico Championship.

But what happened next mildly surprised the fourth-ranked player in the world.

With a 5-wood, Thomas’ 316-yard tee shot at the par-4 first landed 34 feet from the hole, and he charged his eagle attempt into the cup prompting a “wow” response.

Although Thomas’ momentum stalled following the eagle, he finished with a 66 and was tied for third place when he walked off the course, just two shots off the lead.

“I wasn't surprised. I knew it was going to go 6-8 feet past because it kind of all slopes away,” he said. “I hit a good putt, I just hit it harder than the speed I had envisioned in my head, but that happens sometimes.”

The round continued Thomas’ stellar play at Club de Golf Chapultepec, where he’s finished tied for fifth (2017), second (’18 when he lost a playoff) and ninth (’19). In total, he’s 45 under par at the event, with 10 of 14 rounds in the 60s.

“I feel like my wedges are a strength of my game, and it's a lot of wedges. I mean, you have a wedge on pretty much every hole except for a couple holes,” he said. “I feel like I'm driving it well enough where I can be aggressive off the tee and try and take advantage.”

MEXICO CITY – The WGC-Mexico Championship features the world’s best players so it should be no surprise when any particular player finds himself in contention. Tyrrell Hatton might be the exception.

The World Golf Championship is Hatton’s first start anywhere in the world since the European Tour’s finale in November. He’s been sidelined since then following off-season surgery on his right wrist.

Considering his nearly three months of inactivity it’s understandable if Hatton’s rounds of 69-68 were very much a pleasant surprise.

“[The wrist] is a lot better than it was. It's still not 100 percent,” said Hatton, who is tied for seventh place at 5 under par, six off the lead.

Hatton said he still feels a “twinge” in his wrist while he’s warming up but is pain-free on the golf course.

“Obviously the back end of last year, every club was uncomfortable, so I'm kind of glad that's behind me," he said, "and hopefully I can move forward and the wrist gets back to 100 percent."

Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho said he believes finishing in the top four with this Tottenham team will be a greater achievement than finishing as runner-up with Manchester United in the 2017-18 season.

Mourinho had previously said that the season with United was the greatest of his career because "people don't know what is going on behind the scenes."

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However, he has faced a crisis with his forwards this season with both Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min facing extended periods on the sidelines with injury.

When asked at a news conference on Friday if top four success would top his 2018 achievement, Mourinho replied: "In these circumstances? Yes.

"Son and Harry score the majority of goals that Tottenham score. This season was so negatively special that we are going to be without them both at the same time and for a lot of matches so yes [it will be a great achievement].

"Not just for me. Not my achievement. Collectively for the team. For the boys, if we manage in fourth without Harry and Son will be something incredible. It will be an incredible achievement for the boys so we have to give everything we have."

Mourinho returns to Stamford Bridge on Saturday to face Frank Lampard's Chelsea but the former Blues manager has played down the occasion.

"Not special. One more game," Mourinho said. "As I told my previous club, I belong 200% to the club.

"The only difference would be at the end of the game I could walk from the stadium to my house.

"But even that I would not take advantage of because I will come back here for my players."

India 165 (Rahane 46, Jamieson 4-39, Southee 4-49) v New Zealand

In bright sunshine on the second morning, Ajinkya Rahane and India had a strange half session of Test cricket. Rahane first ran Rishabh Pant out, then got out caught at the wicket when leaving the ball, and India lost five wickets for the addition of just 43 runs. After Kyle Jamieson's excellent debut on the first day, it was the veteran Tim Southee causing most of the damage on the second morning, that too running into the wind.

In the fourth over of the day, Rahane looked for a typical quick single after hitting to point. It should have been Pant's call, but Rahane kept on running, which meant the lesser batsmen of the two had to risk his wicket by running as well. Unfortunately for Pant, Ajaz Patel's shy from point hit the only stump visible just about hard enough to nudge the bail off. The next ball was a perfect outswinger from Southee, hitting that same stump to send R Ashwin back. This was a repeat of the Prithvi Shaw dismissal; neither of these batsmen likes a big front-foot movement.

Rahane had been superb in defence on the first day, but now he had to open up a little since he had the tail for company. A top edge off Trent Boult fell just short of fine leg before Southee went wide on the crease to create confusion. Rahane knew he had to cover for the scrambled-seam inswinger too, which meant he was late in withdrawing the bat as he left an outswinger alone. It was enough for the ball to kiss the inside edge and dismiss Rahane four short of a fifty.

Mohammed Shami went on to frustrate Southee for a bit, but in the end the last two were split by Jamieson and Southee.

LAS VEGAS -- Hoping to avoid a repeat of the pushing and shoving that took place between heavyweight world titleholder Deontay Wilder and lineal champion Tyson Fury at their final pre-fight news conference on Wednesday, the Nevada State Athletic Commission mandated that the big men would not be permitted to face off for the traditional photo following their weigh-in on Friday.

So even though the fighters were kept apart by about 10 feet on a long stage, the rollicking crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena cheered, sang and partied in anticipation of perhaps the biggest heavyweight championship fight since Lennox Lewis retained the title in his long-awaited showdown against Mike Tyson in 2002.

Fury and Wilder made separate walks through the floor of the arena to music to the wild cheers of their fans before hitting the scale ahead of the heavily anticipated rematch, also inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena, on Saturday (ESPN-Fox PPV, 9 p.m. ET).

Fury weighed in first and was a solid 273 pounds, the third heaviest of his career. He weighed 276 for his return from a 31-month layoff against Sefer Seferi in June 2018 and was 274 for a 2014 bout against Joey Abell.

Wilder was the heaviest of his career, a ripped 231 pounds. He had been as heavy as 229 for two previous fights, his first title defense against Eric Molina in 2015 and for a 2012 win over Damon McCreary.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Lakers' game against the LA Clippers that was postponed following the helicopter crash that took the lives of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others has been rescheduled for April 9 at Staples Center, the league announced Friday.

The game, which originally was scheduled for Jan. 28, will tip off at 10:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on TNT.

The league had to change three games on its master schedule in order to accommodate Lakers-Clippers. As a result, the Lakers will play three consecutive home games from April 7-9.

The last time a team played three days in a row was in March 2018, when the New Orleans Pelicans did so after their game against the Indiana Pacers in February 2018 had to be rescheduled because of a leak in the roof of the Smoothie King Center.

The NBA moved Warriors-Lakers, previously scheduled for April 9, to April 7. It also moved Bulls-Lakers, previously scheduled for April 7, to April 8.

The Clippers and Bulls, previously scheduled to play on April 8, will instead play a rare game on the same night as the NCAA men's basketball championship game on April 6. Typically the NBA does not hold games on the same night at the NCAA men's championship game.

By moving their game against Chicago from the originally scheduled date of April 8 to April 6, the Clippers will shift their back-to-back set to a home and away with the Bulls home game coming before a game at Utah on April 7. After a day off, the Clippers face the Lakers on April 9 to play three games in four nights.

ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this report.

Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns has a fractured left wrist and will be out for at least the next two weeks, the team announced Friday.

Towns missed Minnesota's final game before the All-Star break after an MRI revealed a wrist injury. He will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

Towns is averaging a career-best 26.5 points and 10.8 rebounds per game this season.

The injury means the Wolves will have to wait to see how the team looks with Towns playing alongside newly acquired point guard D'Angelo Russell.

Towns, who had been an iron man in his first three seasons, missed 15 games earlier this season with a sprained left knee.

After leaving Memphis in December in the aftermath of an eligibility battle with the NCAA, potential No. 1 overall NBA draft pick James Wiseman described the saga as "heartbreaking" and said his NCAA punishment was "unfair."

In his first interview since leaving school to turn professional, Wiseman told ESPN that he cried every night in his dormitory room during the turbulent episode with the NCAA, ultimately leaving school amid a 12-game suspension for rules violations that Wiseman insists he hadn't been aware occurred.

"I was really in the middle of a hurricane," Wiseman told ESPN in an interview that aired Friday. "That's like the worst place you could possibly be. Just having the mental agony and the suffering, crying every night because I just wanted to get on the court so much."

The NCAA punished Wiseman because his family accepted $11,500 in moving expenses in 2017 from Penny Hardaway -- who was then the coach of Memphis East High School. While Hardaway didn't accept a job at the University of Memphis and recruit Wiseman to campus until 2018, the NCAA deemed Hardaway a university booster at the time of the financial support. Hardaway had donated $1 million in 2008 to the university, where he had starred in the 1990s.

Despite the NCAA warning Memphis that it could face penalties that included forfeitures by playing an ineligible player after Wiseman had been eligible for the opening game, Wiseman and his attorneys won a temporary restraining order, which led to him playing two more games to start the Tigers' season.

Wiseman eventually dropped the restraining order, and Memphis applied for reinstatement to the NCAA. On Nov. 20, Wiseman accepted a 12-game suspension that included repayment of the $11,500.

A month later, Wiseman announced that he would leave the team and school and turn his attention to preparing for the June NBA draft. Wiseman signed with Excel Sports for his professional representation and remains a strong possibility to become the No. 1 overall pick.

"I wanted to have a great collegiate career," Wiseman told ESPN. "I wanted to win a national championship. But throughout the course of the first two games, everything started to go down in terms of my mental [well-being]. I was getting depressed. It was dehumanizing for me.

"I felt it was unfair because they notified and alerted me at the last minute. Coach Penny told me about it. I was really down and shocked. When I got suspended for 12 games and had to pay back the money, that was kind of surreal. I didn't really have any knowledge of [the violation] or all the ramifications behind it."

Asked why he had his lawyers drop the temporary restraining order that allowed him on the court despite the NCAA's warnings, Wiseman said, "I didn't want it to get worse in terms of it coming back on the institution, on the University of Memphis."

Wiseman cited an inability to pay back the $11,500 and the threat of potential injury as reasons for ending his college career prematurely.

"It was a bit surreal because I couldn't use a GoFundMe page that [ESPN's] Jay Williams put out for me, obviously," Wiseman told ESPN. "I couldn't use any outside sources. I had to get [the money] on my own, and that was pretty impossible because I didn't have the money. I was just a regular college student."

As for deciding against returning following the suspension, Wiseman said: "You could also say injury risk. I just cared about my longevity and my future. I had to make a decision on my own, and my family supported me."

Wiseman expressed disappointment over never getting the chance to pursue a national championship with his Memphis teammates.

After playing in the season opener against South Carolina State, Wiseman had to spend several hours in a Memphis courtroom pursuing a temporary restraining order so he could play in the Tigers' second game against Illinois-Chicago. He arrived at the arena only minutes prior to the opening tip of the nationally televised game.

"I didn't think that I was going to be in the courtroom that long," Wiseman told ESPN. "So Coach Penny came in, trying to prep me up for the game, but mentally, I was just out of it. It really took a lot out of me. I got to the arena at like 6:30, or 6:45, and the game was at 7. ... It reminded me of the AAU days when you'd come to a game 10 minutes early."

Wiseman would play in one more game, against Oregon, before dropping the restraining order and eventually seeing his college career come to an end.

He said he spoke with an NCAA official during the investigation by phone in a university administration office. Asked what the NCAA discussed with him, Wiseman told ESPN that they asked, "Did you take the money? Is Penny Hardaway actually a booster? Just stuff I had no knowledge of, especially when that $11,500 came out. I didn't have any knowledge of that. Questions that were ... false assumptions that really didn't make sense at all."

Wiseman said his relationship with Hardaway and his former Tigers teammates hasn't suffered because of the scandal and departure.

"It didn't change at all," Wiseman told ESPN. "We have a great relationship. We go way back. ... I didn't want to leave my teammates. I wanted to stay at the University of Memphis. [But] the mental depressing coming from [all] of it, having to deal with the media every day, it was a lot of mess for no reason.

"But I really wanted to stay at the University of Memphis. I really love those guys. I really love my coaches. But I had to make a decision on my own."

Wiseman has set up base in Miami and is working out twice a day in preparation for the June 25 draft. One historic player who shares a similar height, wingspan and left-handed shot has caught Wiseman's attention as he prepares for the pros, he said: Hall of Fame San Antonio Spurs center David Robinson.

"I'm trying to gain some weight and keep my body healthy," Wiseman said. "I study a lot of film. Anthony Davis. Dirk Nowitzki. Karl-Anthony Towns. A lot of players who can shoot the ball at my height. I'm working on my shooting mechanics, trying to get my shot right."

As for the race to emerge as the No. 1 overall pick, Wiseman likes his chances.

"I truly expect that," he said. "I trust in myself, in terms of my game and my skill level. I've just to keep working, keep grinding every day."