A pair of dramatic finishes has made for a three-way tie at the top Thursday in the U.S. Open, where friendly conditions are helping players go low.

Xander Schauffele made an eagle on the 18th hole to move into a tie with Rickie Fowler for the early lead, while Louis Oosthuizen plopped one in from the bunker on his final hole a few minutes later to join them at 5-under 66.

Fowler went low in the first round of the U.S. Open for the second time in three years. He had a chance to tie the lowest Open score at Pebble Beach -- a 65 by Tiger Woods in 2000 -- but his 8-footer on the final hole just slid by the cup.

Fowler shot a 65 and led after the first round in 2017, finishing in a tie for fifth at Erin Hills.

On a day when the wind was light and Pebble Beach was gettable, there were plenty of scores in the 60s as players took advantage of the soft greens and pristine conditions.

Fowler, Oosthuizen and Schauffele held a one-shot lead over Scott Piercy, while Rory McIlroy led a group of three players at 68. McIlroy bogeyed his first hole, then didn't make a bogey the rest of the way.

Tiger Woods is a pairing with Justin Rose and Jordan Spieth in the second wave of players set to tee off in the afternoon.

Memphis Grizzlies center Jonas Valanciunas is declining the $17.6M player option on his 2019-20 contract, clearing the way to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, league sources told ESPN.

Valanciunas' primary intention will be to negotiate a new longer-term deal with the Grizzlies, league sources said. In the post Marc Gasol-era, Valanciunas remains the franchise's focus to continue as its starting center.

Memphis VP of Basketball Operations Zach Kleiman and Valanciunas' agent, Leon Rose of CAA, are expected to work aggressively on finding the pathway to a new deal, sources said.

Valanciunas, 27, had the most productive stretch of his career with the Grizzlies after getting traded from Toronto in February -- averaging 19.9 points and 10.7 rebounds in 19 games.

Valanciunas, who'll be starting his eighth NBA season, has averaged 11.8 points and 8.4 rebounds a game in his career.

Duke star Zion Williamson is suing to enforce his termination of an agreement he signed with a Florida marketing company, maintaining their deal was unlawful under North Carolina law, his attorneys told ESPN.

Williamson is set to become the No. 1 overall pick to the New Orleans Pelicans in next week's NBA draft.

According to the suit filed in federal court in North Carolina on Thursday, Williamson signed a marketing deal with Gina Ford and Prime Sports on April 20, five days after he had declared his intention to enter the NBA draft.

That agreement included a clause that it could not be terminated for five years. Williamson's family told Ford and Prime Sports on May 31 that it was ending the agreement. The agency responded by saying that if Williamson terminated the deal, they would sue for damages in excess of $100 million.

Williamson has since signed with CAA Sports for his contractual and marketing representation.

According to the suit, the agreement was unlawful under North Carolina's Uniform Athlete Agents Act because Prime Sports is not certified by the National Basketball Players Association or a registered athlete agent in North Carolina or Florida. Additionally, the agreement failed to contain, as required under the UAAA, a conspicuous notice in boldface type in capital letters informing the athlete that by signing the agreement he was losing his eligibility to compete as a student-athlete.

Jeffrey S. Klein, an attorney for Williamson, told ESPN in a statement: "Prime Sports Marketing's actions towards Mr. Williamson blatantly violated the North Carolina statute specifically designed to protect student athletes. Mr. Williamson properly exercised his rights under the law to void his business dealings with Prime Sports Marketing. Prime Sports Marketing's continued threats against Mr. Williamson made necessary the filing of this lawsuit."

The suit asks the court to declare the agreement void and bar Prime Sports from acting on Williamson's behalf.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers have placed shortstop Corey Seager on the injured list with what an MRI revealed to be between a Grade 1 and a Grade 2 strain of his left hamstring.

Seager injured his hamstring while trying to score from second base in Tuesday's ninth inning. The initial fear from Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was that the strain was "2-plus," but tests revealed something a little milder.

The 25-year-old might still spend about a month rehabbing the injury, but his timeline will depend on his day-to-day progress.

Seager spent most of the 2018 season recovering from Tommy John surgery and also underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his hip. He got off to a slow start this season, but was batting .425/.465/.675 in June before succumbing to another injury.

Chris Taylor, who had been platooning in left field with Joc Pederson, will probably take the bulk of Seager's at-bats at shortstop, especially against right-handers.

To fill Seager's spot on the active roster, the Dodgers activated infielder Matt Beaty on Thursday, right before a four-game series against the visiting Chicago Cubs.

The Tampa Bay Rays have been one of the best stories of baseball's first half, entering Thursday with a 41-26 record that's among the best in the majors.

It's the type of performance that typically warrants multiple All-Star Game selections.

But when the initial All-Star voting results were released Monday, only one Rays player -- outfielder Austin Meadows -- was among the top three at his respective position.

"We won't get credit, man," Rays outfielder Tommy Pham told The Athletic in a story published Wednesday. "It's always unfair. Big market vs. small market. It's never going to be fair."

Pham pointed to his own case, as well as teammate Avisail Garcia. Both are hitting around .300 this season, but were behind the Yankees' Brett Gardner (.230) and Red Sox's Jackie Bradley (.199) when the initial voting totals were announced Monday.

"That tells you it right there," Pham told The Athletic.

Specifically, Pham said, it's about the amount of exposure the big-market teams like New York and Boston get compared to the small-market ones like Tampa Bay.

"It's never going to be fair," Pham told The Athletic. "It has to change because when you go into arbitration, that's a big thing that's talked about with accomplishments. Baseball has to be better to fix it. We're not getting any help either from ESPN. We haven't had an ESPN game all year. That's a way for fans to see us by putting us on one of those big-time games. But we continually never get put on, so all they see is the same players. The Cubs, Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox -- the same teams are always on there.

"When you look at it, all right, we're in a small market, we're never on ESPN. We don't have a ton of national TV games. We're at a disadvantage."

Major League Baseball has changed the voting format ahead of this year's game, to be held July 9 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

A new format to elect starters was put into place starting with the "primary" vote that includes a representative from each team at every position, including designated hitter in the American League. The players with the three highest vote totals at each position will be announced June 21 on MLB Network.

The secondary phase, called "The Starters Election," will begin at noon ET five days later and last for 28 hours. The results, which will be reset from the primary, will choose catchers, four infield positions and three outfielders for each league and be announced on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET on June 27.

The remainder of the 23 players for American League and 24 for the National League, including all pitchers, will be selected by player vote as well as by AL manager Alex Cora of the Red Sox and NL manager Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The full rosters will be announced June 30 at 5:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Britain's Harriet Dart lost to Australian world number 47 Ajla Tomljanovic in the last 16 of the Nature Valley Open in Nottingham.

Dart, ranked 159th in the world, lost 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 6-2 in her second grass-court match of the season.

The 22-year-old was broken twice in the opening set but won the tie-break before losing the second and third.

She failed to convert four break points, including two at 2-2 in the deciding set.

On Wednesday British number three Heather Watson lost 6-4 6-3 to Greece's Maria Sakkari, ranked 82 places higher, in the first round in rainy conditions.

Compatriot Katie Swan also lost to American Bernarda Pera 7-6 (7-5) 6-1.

Two-time French Open quarter-finalist Alexander Zverev suffered a shock defeat in the second round of the Stuttgart Open to compatriot and world number 170 Dustin Brown.

German Zverev lost 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 in the first grass court tournament of the season ahead of Wimbledon.

The world number five, who is yet to win a title on grass, led 5-2 in the second but was taken to a tie-break.

He missed three break points at 3-3 in the decider before Brown broke late.

Brown, 34, who famously knocked out Rafael Nadal in the second round of Wimbledon in 2015, saved 13 of 14 break points as he claimed only his fifth win over a top-10 ranked player.

Elsewhere, Greek top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas lost 6-4 3-6 6-4 to Chilean world number 60 Nicolas Jarry in the first round in 's-Hertogenbosch.

The world number six was playing in his first grass-court match since a dramatic fourth-round French Open exit against Swiss Stan Wawrinka in Paris.

Belgian fifth seed David Goffin comfortably beat Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-3 7-5 in just over an hour and a half in the Netherlands.

Worcester boss Alan Solomons has signed a new deal, committing himself to the Premiership club until the end of the 2021-22 season.

The 68-year-old South African's contract was due to expire at the end of the 2019-20 campaign, but he has been given a two-year extension.

It comes the day after co-owner Jed McCrory quit, leaving Colin Goldring and Jason Whittingham in charge.

"Jason Whittingham and I think Alan has done a great job," said Goldring.

"Alan's contract extension ensures continuity and stability.

"We both support his vision and plan to achieve a sustainable top-flight team with the Three Pears Warriors Academy at its core, supported by top-class talented and experienced players."

Solomons joined Warriors in October 2017, initially as assistant to then boss Gary Gold, before being appointed director of rugby when Gold left two months later.

"I am honoured to be afforded the privilege of being part of Warriors' continuing journey," said former Edinburgh coach Solomons, who was also formerly USA Eagles director of rugby and also coached Northampton Saints and the Barbarians.

Warriors finished 10th in the Premiership last season, winning a campaign-best nine out of their 22 games.

They also reached the European Challenge Cup quarter-finals and the last four of the inaugural Premiership Rugby Cup.