I Dig Sports
The National Women's Hockey League is canceling plans to add a pair of Canadian teams for the 2019-20 season for now and making clear it is open to doing what's best for women's hockey.
Even if that means a new league.
The NWHL made clear in a post on its website Thursday titled "We'll Always Do What's Best for the Game'' that league officials would be happy to talk.
"If any individuals or groups come forward and declare they are ready to start and invest in a new league where women can receive a substantial full-time salary and medical insurance, we would be ecstatic to have a conversation about a partnership or passing the torch,'' the league wrote.
More than 200 of the world's top female players announced May 2 that they will not play professional hockey in North America at all this year in a bold attempt to establish a single, economically viable professional league. They also formed a new Professional Women's Hockey Players Association earlier this month.
The NWHL says the next season will start in October with five returning teams in the Boston Pride, Connecticut Whale, Buffalo Beauts, Metropolitan Riveters and Minnesota Whitecaps. The league says whether more teams are added for this season will remain an option for a few more weeks.
Kim Pegula and Pegula Sports gave back ownership of the Beauts to the NWHL earlier this month. The NWHL announced last week increased salaries and a 50-50 split of sponsor-related revenues and improved benefits in an agreement reached with its players' union.
Once the Canadian Women's Hockey League announced it would be ceasing operations May 1 due to financial issues, NWHL commissioner Dani Rylan told The Associated Press in April that the league's board had approved an investment plan to establish teams in Toronto and Montreal.
On Thursday, the NWHL said whether more teams will be added this season remains an "open-ended question'' for a few more weeks.
"We are exploring all options to build our league,'' according to the NWHL.
The NWHL wrote that the league had secured the investment needed to add at least two more teams.
"To expand properly, as we did in Minnesota, time, cooperation and preparation is required,'' according to the NWHL post. "We would love to have more teams in 2019-20 and will make it happen if there is a spirit of partnership from all sides. Unless there is a change of heart soon, we will revisit expansion for the 2020-21 season.''
Mickelson on USGA ahead of U.S. Open: 'They don't know how to control themselves'
DUBLIN, Ohio – It’s already been a tough week for the USGA following a scathing story in Golf Digest that criticized the association, but on Thursday following his round at the Memorial, Phil Mickelson didn’t have any interest in pulling his punches.
“I've played, what, 29 U.S. Opens. One hundred percent of time they have messed it up if it doesn't rain,” Mickelson said. “The rain is the governor. That's the only governor they have. And if they don't have a governor they don't know how to control themselves.”
Mickelson had been asked if he was confident that the USGA wouldn’t make any of the same mistakes that have marred the last few U.S. Opens when the championship returns to Pebble Beach in two weeks.
“It's just based on history. My 30 years, and 30 years before that. I think we're all pulling for a little rain,” Mickelson said.
Mickelson sparked controversy at last year’s U.S. Open when he raced after his putt on the 13th green while it was still moving during the third round and hit the ball on his way to a two-stroke penalty.
“My anger and frustration got the best of me,” Mickelson later said. “I'm embarrassed and disappointed by my actions. It was clearly not my finest moment and I'm sorry.”
Jessica Andrade, the UFC's newest champion, was carjacked at gunpoint Wednesday in Brazil, her manager Tiago Okamura confirmed to ESPN after Andrade posted about it on social media. MMA Fighting was the first to report the news.
Andrade was driving her Honda H-RV in Niteroi, Brazil, with her wife, Fernanda Gomes, in the passenger seat when men pulled out guns and stopped the vehicle. Okamura said the men took the car and the two women's phones, wallets and identification. He said Andrade and Gomes were unharmed in the robbery.
"In the end, we are just happy she and her wife are safe," Okamura said. "With this kind of situation, things can go south really quick, so good thing it all ended up with just material loss."
Early Thursday morning, Andrade posted to her Instagram a plea for help in finding the vehicle that was taken.
Andrade (20-6) defeated Rose Namajunas to win the UFC women's strawweight title at UFC 237 on May 11 in Rio de Janeiro. The Brazil native is on a four-fight winning streak. Andrade, 27, has just one loss dating back to 2015 and is ESPN's No. 4 ranked pound-for-pound women's MMA fighter in the world.
NEW YORK -- Swing coach Hank Haney has been suspended from the SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio channel after saying on his show Wednesday that a Korean would probably win the U.S. Women's Open and that he couldn't name six players on the LPGA Tour.
He then said he would go with "Lee," and that if he didn't have to mention a first name, "I'd get a bunch of them right."
Haney, who coached Tiger Woods for six of his majors from 2004 to 2010, apologized on Twitter later Wednesday.
A statement from the PGA Tour and SiriusXM said the comments were insensitive and do not represent the views of either party. The statement said Haney has been suspended "at the PGA Tour's instruction." Haney said he accepts the suspension and apologized again.
"The PGA TOUR is committed to and proud of the increasingly diverse makeup of our fan base," the statement read, "not to mention the power and accomplishments of the game's world-class, global players -- both on the PGA TOUR and LPGA, whom we are working with more closely than ever before. SiriusXM proudly covers and supports both women's and men's golf and the athletes that make them great."
SiriusXM said it is reviewing Haney's status going forward.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Drake didn't have to open his mouth to start trolling the Golden State Warriors ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday.
The rapper and Toronto Raptors mega-fan strolled into Scotiabank Arena wearing Dell Curry's No. 30 Raptors jersey.
Curry, the father of Warriors superstar guard Stephen Curry, finished his career playing for Toronto for three seasons from 1999 to 2002.
Steph Curry was in middle school at the time, and he lived in Toronto for about 18 months while his father played in the city.
Cauley (67) in the hunt at Muirfield one year after car accident
DUBLIN, Ohio – Bud Cauley doesn’t remember a big chunk of his last trip to central Ohio.
It was at last year’s Memorial Tournament that Cauley went from the tee sheet to a hospital room, suffering six broken ribs and a punctured lung in a car accident just around the corner from Muirfield Village Golf Club. Hours after missing the cut, the vehicle he was riding in veered off the road, hit a tree and flipped into a bank. He didn’t pick up a club for more than three months, and he didn’t play another PGA Tour event until October.
But one year after what he described as “the scariest night of my life,” Cauley is not only back in the field at the Memorial – he’s in the mix for his first Tour win after an opening-round 67 left him two shots behind leader Ryan Moore.
“I was obviously thinking about it the couple of weeks leading up to coming here,” Cauley said. “With what happened last year, obviously it’s something else I think about, too. But I was really fortunate with what happened last year to be able to come out and still play golf and do what I love to do.”
Cauley has four top-25s in 17 starts this season, highlighted by a T-10 finish in Las Vegas in November. But he’s in position to improve on that after a bogey-free opener at Muirfield Village, one in which he missed only one fairway and finished fourth in strokes gained: tee-to-green.
Cauley needed four of his six broken ribs “plated,” a procedure that lengthened his recovery and delayed his return to the game. But when he first picked up a club again at The Bear’s Club in Jupiter, tournament host Jack Nicklaus happened to be there for the start of his comeback.
“He saw the first, like, little thin wedge I hit afterwards,” Cauley recalled.
Friend and former Alabama teammate Justin Thomas visited Cauley in the hospital during last year’s tournament, and he described the night of the accident as “one of the hardest” he’s ever had.
“There were a lot of things that run through your head when something like that happens to one of your best and closest friends,” Thomas said. “I think going into the hospital and seeing him Saturday after I played just, it helped me a lot because I was just able to see him and see that he was OK.”
While he watched a video of the accident aftermath a few weeks after the crash, Cauley explained that he has no plans to return to the scene anytime soon despite its proximity to the course.
“I haven’t had any bad thoughts or anything as far as what happened last year,” Cauley said. “But I don’t think I’m going to go drive by it to test it. I don’t feel like testing myself that much.”
Cauley’s relative good fortune in recovering from his injuries is not lost on him, as he shared that the passenger sitting next to him in the car still undergoes physical therapy twice a week. But this week he’s focused on making new, positive memories in the Columbus area, eager to leave a serious accident and painful recovery in the rear-view mirror.
“It was nice to have a good score,” Cauley said. “Obviously playing well, and making the cut here is probably better for my health.”
Mickelson (70), playing with two drivers, off to good start at Memorial
DUBLIN, Ohio – Phil Mickelson is no stranger to outside-the-box thinking and on Thursday at the Memorial he added to that legacy.
Mickelson teed off at Muirfield Village for his opening round with two drivers in his bag, one he said would be used to hit “cute little cuts” and another to “hit bombs.”
“I don't see many golf courses the rest of the year where there's an advantage of flying it 325 [yards],” said Mickelson, who opened with a 2-under 70. “Here there are six of those occasions, four of them the wind will come into play. And I wanted to try to do well here but wanted to get practice in with the other (shorter) one.”
Mickelson removed his 3-wood from his bag to make room for the longer driver which he said has a shaft that is 1 ¼ inch longer than his regular driver and allows him to increase his swing speed by 4 mph.
At the 2006 Masters, Mickelson also used two drivers, and during the 2008 U.S. Open he opted not to carry a driver in his bag.
“That was a mistake, obviously,” Mickelson said of the ’08 U.S. Open. “What a great idea that was. I'm going to play with a 3-wood. And then I missed the fairways with the 3-wood. That was ridiculous. That didn't work out.”
His two-driver experiment appears to be a one-off and he said he doesn’t have any plans to use the longer driver in two weeks at the U.S. Open, where he will be looking to complete the career Grand Slam.
“I don't see it happening. I don't see me using it the rest of the year, to be honest,” he said.
Kuchar 'certainly satisfied' with par after lobbying for embedded drive
DUBLIN, Ohio – For 10 minutes, Matt Kuchar pled his case. He reviewed video of his drive landing in the 17th fairway, he reviewed the rule, he even asked for a second opinion, but the ruling remained unchanged.
Play it as it lies.
Kuchar’s drive had bounced into the fairway and rolled forward into an old pitch mark. Under the Rules of Golf, Kuchar would have been allowed to remove his ball from the pitch mark if it had been made by his shot, but not if it rolled into a preexisting pitch mark.
“When I actually saw the video of it, maybe there's potential here that it broke new ground, and I called over the rules official,” said Kuchar following his opening 73 at the Memorial. “Not sure exactly of the embedded-ball rule, as far as if a ball breaks new ground and in someone else's pitch mark, is that a new embedded ball.”
Following the lengthy discussion with the rules officials, Kuchar hit a 7-iron over the green but chipped to 9 feet and converted the par attempt.
“I'm certainly satisfied with making a [par] there. I like to think things work out the way they're supposed to,” he said. “Making 4 there is all I can ask for.”
This is the second time this year that Kuchar has been involved in an awkward ruling. At the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in March he won a hole when his opponent Sergio Garcia picked up his golf ball believing Kuchar had conceded the hole.
ANDERSON, Ind. — Kody Swanson joined an exclusive list of drivers May 25 at Anderson Speedway by scoring his third victory in the Pay Less Little 500 presented by UAW for non-winged sprint cars.
In dominating the high-banked, quarter-mile paved bullring, Swanson became the seventh driver in the 71-year history of the crown-jewel event with a hat trick or more of victories to his name.
Eric Gordon is the all-time Little 500 victory leader with nine, while Bob Frey won the race five times and Tom Cherry scored four victories. Swanson, Jeff Bloom, Jim Childers and Darl Harrison have each won the Little 500 three times.
While Swanson’s first two Little 500 victories in 2016 and ’18 were impressive, his win this year in the 71st running of the event was easily his most dominant performance yet.
Swanson started from the pole and led 344 of 500 laps en route to victory, the most laps led by a race winner since Florida’s Dave Scarborough led 347 laps and won for owner Charles Ledford in 1986.
It put a thrilling cap on a trying week for the California native, who was in contention to win the Hoosier Hundred and the Carb Night Classic with the USAC Silver Crown Series before various misfortunes squelched those opportunities.
“Going into Saturday, it had been a tough couple of nights and we’d been looking for a win that we hadn’t found yet, so we were pretty determined going into the Little 500 to make it count … because it was our last race for the weekend,” Swanson told SPEED SPORT. “Needless to say, it all came together pretty well for us. I’m glad it did, because the Little 500 is a historic race that always means a lot to win.
“I wouldn’t say that we necessarily had a chip on our shoulder, but after two Silver Crown races that didn’t fall our way, we weren’t short on motivation,” he added. “You have to put yourself in a position to win at Anderson, and both Shane (Hollingsworth) and I did that by staying up front, just like we did a year ago when I won and he finished third. This time, things just seemed to work out again for us.”
Swanson’s fast start in qualifying was a harbinger of the domination to come, as he jumped out from the pole and led the first 186 laps before making his first of two mandatory pit stops.
“I was fortunate to start from the pole and felt really good about our chances in that first stint,” Swanson recalled. “We had a little trouble on one pit stop and lost one more lap than we wanted to, but the guys stayed calm. Where we could have cross-threaded a nut on an axle that would have ended our night, they made sure to get it on right and give a chance to continue fighting for it.
“That was the point where Shane kind of controlled things, through the middle portion of the race, but once we were able to recover, we had a really fast car,” Swanson added. “We drove back through the field, caught cautions at the right times and put ourselves in position to be there when it counted.”
OSWEGO, N.Y. – Oswego Speedway officials have elected to implement double file restarts for heat and feature action in the Pathfinder Bank SBS and 350 Supermodified divisions.
Under this new format, double file restarts will be used in every event for both divisions, however the last two laps in the preliminary races and the last five laps in the main events will see single file restarts.
The leader will pick the inside or outside lane when the race director instructs the cars to double up on the one way radio. The front row will then proceed to the line in turn four side by side and receive the green flag.
If the front row does not stay together under this double file restart format, officials will go yellow and then switch over to single file on the next restart. If any competitor is determined to be at fault for two double file restart violations, he will be sent to the rear of the field.
Oswego Speedway’s 69th season continues on Saturday, June 8 when Burke’s Do It Best Home Centers and Bosco‘s presents Twin 35 features for the Novelis Supermodifieds, a 30-lap main event for the Pathfinder Bank SBS and the addition of a 30-lap special for the Sunoco New York Super Stock Series. The 350 Supers return on June 15.
Phone: (800) 737. 6040
Fax: (800) 825 5558
Website: 
Email: 
