The 123rd U.S. Open begins Thursday at Los Angeles Country Club in California. Here's a look at the pre-championship interview schedule for the men's third major of the season, per the USGA (all times ET):

Monday, June 13

• 4 p.m. - Matt Fitzpatrick
   
• 6 p.m. - Olin Browne, Jr.
   
• 6:30 p.m. - Berry Henson
   
• TBD - Cameron Smith

Tuesday, June 14

• Noon - Rory McIlroy
   
• 12:30 p.m. - Collin Morikawa
   
• 1 p.m. - Jon Rahm
   
• 1:30 p.m. - Brooks Koepka
   
• 5:30 p.m. - Patrick Cantlay
   
• 6 p.m. - Max Homa
   
• 6:30 p.m. - Scottie Scheffler

Wednesday, June 15

• 12:30 p.m. - Johnny Miller, 2023 Bob Jones Award winner
   
• 2 p.m. - USGA press conference

Erling Haaland has said he is feeling "pressure" to deliver the Champions League trophy for Manchester City.

The Norway striker will line up against Inter Milan in Istanbul on Saturday as Pep Guardiola's side look to complete the treble.

- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

But Haaland is acutely aware that City won both the Premier League title and the FA Cup before he arrived from Borussia Dortmund last summer and said his job is to win the Champions League for the first time in the club's history.

"Of course I feel pressure," Haaland said. "I would lie if I said I didn't. You say it yourself and it's true, they won the Premier League without me, they won every trophy without me. So I'm here to try to do a thing that the club has never done before and I'll do my best.

"The Premier League, they won it two times in a row before I came here. So they know how to win the Premier League. The only thing they miss now is the Champions League, you can think and read between the words, and the lines, I have been coming here for a reason."

The 22-year-old is the top scorer in the Champions League this season with 12 goals. He's had a record-breaking first season in England, although the goals have dried up recently with just one in his last seven games. Haaland, though, is choosing to look at it differently.

"You can think of it as one goal in seven games or 52 goals in 52 games and eight assists, I think," he said.

"You can think of it in both ways. I'm not stressed. I feel really good. I didn't expect to score this many goals but, again, I could have scored more. I've been missing a lot of chances, so I could have scored more. That's the truth."

Despite scoring 36 goals in the Premier League and more than 50 in all competitions, Haaland has, at times, been criticised for having too few touches during games and failing to get involved in City's build-up play.

The 22-year-old says he tries to block it out -- including the questions which followed a missed chance in his first City game against Liverpool in July.

"I think often it's a good thing when people start criticising you," said Haaland. "I scored every single game and then people started criticising me. That's what happened, basically. When people criticise you it's normally a good thing it's just about trying to smile a bit and enjoy life."

"The Community Shield, I missed a couple of big chances. It can happen, it will happen again. What can you do? Nothing. We have to focus on the next thing, the next game and that's what I did. I scored two goals in the next game, so it was still not a bad start.

"There is one game left we have to perform at our best in. We have been doing it now for so many games in a row. It's about keeping going."

Meanwhile, Inter boss Filippo Inzaghi told his Friday news conference that his side have a special plan to stop Haaland in Saturday's final.

"Clearly we know how strong City is and how strong a player Haaland is," he said. "We will have a special eye for him, but he is an attacking player and we have set up something.

"It will be the whole of Inter, but it is not just Haaland, but we have to concentrate on the whole of Manchester City."

ESPN's Mark Ogden also contributed to this report.

The chasm in financial forces between Saturday's Champions League finalists is shown clearly by the status of their Argentine strikers, Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez.

Less than six months ago, Alvarez was one of the break-out stars of Argentina's World Cup win. He became first choice during the course of the campaign in Qatar. His youthful legs did a lot of the hard running for Lionel Messi and he contributed four goals to the cause -- the only Argentine player other than Messi to score more than once. Lautaro, meanwhile, lost his place in the starting lineup, seemed to suffer a breakdown in form, had to content himself with a bit-part role off the bench and was not able to get onto the scoresheet. Come the end of the tournament, then, there was no doubt about the respective places in Argentina's pecking order.

- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

But at club level it is a very different story.

True, this is the first season at Manchester City for Alvarez, and he has certainly not disappointed. His total of 17 goals in all competitions is a more than reasonable return, especially as his opportunities are limited. For his club, Alvarez is the bit-part player; Erling Haaland is king of the front line and everything has to fit around the Norwegian goal machine. When City are at full strength, Alvarez has to make do with a place on the bench, where he sits in very good company alongside outstanding players such as Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez and the ghost of the 2022-23 season, England's Euro 2020 first-choice central midfielder, Kalvin Phillips.

Internazionale have nothing like the same astonishing strength in depth, but they pose a threat. They can rotate their big striker, with the veteran former Manchester City centre-forward Edin Dzeko starting and then giving way to Romelu Lukaku. But alongside them there is no doubt about it -- he may have lost the World Cup battle to Alvarez but, at Inter, Lautaro is the main man. The 25-year-old responded to the experience of Qatar by helping himself to 20 goals this season, and City will underestimate him at their peril.

Lautaro will look to take advantage of flicks and knock downs from Dzeko and Lukaku and will prowl around them with the predatory menace of a hammerhead shark. After five seasons in Italy he has scored more than 100 goals for the club. It is almost inevitable that he will have to get by on scraps in Istanbul on Saturday. City will surely enjoy the bulk of possession, leaving Inter to take the direct route whenever they can. Lautaro may go a while without seeing the ball and chances on goal may be scarce. But if and when they come, his teammates have total confidence in him. And he has enough in himself to deal with the pressures of the big occasion.

His World Cup made for fascinating viewing. In the first half of the opening game against Saudi Arabia he helped himself to a couple of efficiently taken goals, both ruled out for the narrowest of offsides. Thereafter, with Argentina under surprise scoreboard pressure, his touch seemed to desert him, and then things only got worse. He was clearly struggling for form, going through one of those phases when the target looks tiny and the goalkeeper looms large. In subsequent games, Argentina would bring him off the bench and try to get him a goal, and the harder he tried the worse his finishing became.

And then came that penalty shootout against Netherlands. Argentina had the game in the bag, only to be foiled by an outrageously cunning last-gasp equaliser. Might the same thing happen in the shootout? The South Americans were two up and seemingly on the verge of triumph. But then Enzo Fernandez shot wide. Netherlands scored, the nerves were jangling and the pressure was right back on. Some went weak at the knees when they saw Lautaro stride forward to take the next penalty. Nothing, absolutely nothing, had gone right for him in the tournament until that point. Was he now going to confirm his status as the villain of the piece?

Merely having the guts to step up at a time like that was an act of valour. Blasting his kick home as if he never held the slightest doubt was almost superhuman. And it helps explain why Lautaro scores so many goals: because he has the mental strength to accept the responsibility, and the chance that he might miss.

Manchester City are the form horse. They have the style and the swagger, and the silverware already this season to back it up. They have a squad with sufficient quality to leave Alvarez on the bench. But to achieve the dream and lift the Champions League trophy they will need to keep a close eye on Lautaro.

Pep Guardiola has never been able to escape the accusation that he owes his two Champions League titles as Barcelona coach to Lionel Messi, so the Manchester City manager might need to prepare for the same assessment of Erling Haaland if he ends a 12-year wait to win his third on Saturday against Inter Milan.

- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

It's a harsh appraisal of Guardiola to suggest that his success in the Champions League has relied heavily on his team boasting the world's best player at the time. But, equally, since leaving Barcelona in 2012, the 52-year-old has been unable win to the competition despite three seasons with Bayern Munich and six attempts, prior to this season, with City. He is now one game away from winning the Champions League at the seventh time of asking with City, but this time around, he has Haaland taking the Messi role as the one player who has proven to be unstoppable this season, with 52 goals in 52 games.

Messi was the X-factor in Guardiola's great Barcelona teams -- the Argentina forward was similarly central to Luis Enrique's team when they achieved a treble in 2015 -- and Haaland is the same for City now. The Norway international was signed for €60 million from Borussia Dortmund last summer as the missing ingredient in City's Champions League quest -- a reality the player admitted this week.

"This is why they bought me of course, to get this [Champions League]," Haaland told the BBC. "We don't have to hide that."

Guardiola's two Champions League-winning teams at Barcelona and this season's treble-chasing City side are about more than just one superstar player, but recent Champions League history also shows that, to win it, you need a forward who scores against all opponents in the biggest of games. When Barcelona won the Champions League in 2008-09, Messi scored nine goals in the competition and registered five assists -- 14 goal involvements. Two years later, when Barca were crowned European champions again, he scored 12 goals and registered three assists -- one better than in 2009.

This season, Haaland has already scored 12 Champions League goals for City, with one assist, and his goals alone have taken Guardiola's team to a new level. In each of Guardiola's six previous seasons as City manager, no player has come close to breaking the 10-goal barrier in the Champions League.

Winger Riyad Mahrez registered the highest return for Guardiola's side with seven goals in last season's competition. A year earlier, Ferran Torres was City's top scorer with four goals, while Raheem Sterling (six goals, 2019-20), Sergio Aguero (six in 2018-19), Gabriel Jesus (four in 2017-18) and Aguero again (five in 2016-17) emerged as top scorers with relatively low totals in Guardiola's other seasons with City.

When Manchester United won their third Champions League title in 2007-08, Cristiano Ronaldo top scored for Sir Alex Ferguson's side with eight goals and one assist, but it has become rare for a team to be successful in the competition without a striker as prolific as Messi or Haaland. Liverpool proved to be an exception in 2018-19 when they won their sixth Champions League with Mohamed Salah scoring just five goals and registering two assists, although Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane weighed in with four goals each.

In 2013-14, Cristiano Ronaldo scored 17 goals, with four assists, on the way to helping Real Madrid win the competition, while Messi scored 10 and produced five assists a year later as Barca won their third Champions League in six years. With Madrid then dominating the competition by winning three consecutive Champions Leagues under Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo was their clutch forward in each season. In 2015-16, he scored 16 goals with four assists. A year later, he scored 12 with five assists, and then in 2017-18, the Portugal forward scored 15 and created three assists. Even without Ronaldo, Madrid still had a player to regularly score goals when it mattered to win their 14th European Cup last season with Karim Benzema scoring 15 goals and creating two assists.

City's repeated failure prior to this season has been in part due to their inability to pull clear of opponents by taking advantage of half-chances to score in tight games. They often suffered exits by one-goal margins or on the old away goals rule after ties finished level on aggregate.

Haaland has been their game-changer, both in terms of volume and importance of his goals, scoring in both legs of the 4-1 aggregate quarterfinal win against Bayern Munich. He didn't score over two games against Madrid in the semis, but his mere presence on the pitch ensured more space for his attacking teammates to score in an emphatic 5-1 aggregate win.

City and Guardiola knew what they were getting when they signed Haaland. He now has 35 goals in 29 Champions League appearances at the age of 22, and official UEFA statistics show that, with 18 first-half goals and 17 in the second half, he is dangerous throughout the 90 minutes. He is the fastest player to 20 goals in Champions League history (14 games) and also to 30 goals (25 games.)

Only Sebastien Haller (six games) scored 10 goals in the competition quicker than Haaland, who took seven games to reach that mark. Ruud van Nistelrooy's record of 40 goals in 45 games looks certain to be the next one to fall to Haaland, while he could become the youngest, too, if he manages it before Kylian Mbappe's mark of 23 years and 317 days.

Just as Messi's peerless talent provided rocket fuel for Guardiola's Barcelona, Haaland's is having the same impact on Guardiola's City. But that's why City signed him. He is simply doing what he was expected to do -- score the goals to win the Champions League.

Sue Barker says women's tennis needs more big rivalries to grow interest in the sport after further scheduling controversy at the French Open.

American player Jessica Pegula has called the situation "disappointing".

Former French Open winner Barker, 67, said it was a "tricky situation" for tournament director Amelie Mauresmo.

The night-session match is promoted as the highlight of the day, with only Aryna Sabalenka's fourth-round contest last Sunday against Sloane Stephens scheduled at night in this year's tournament.

Only one of the 10 night matches last year involved female players.

Former world number one Mauresmo argued the men's matches had more "appeal" and it was hard to find enough stars or compelling match-ups in the women's draw.

World number one Iga Swiatek found those comments "a little bit disappointing and surprising" and Mauresmo later apologised.

Saturday's final sees Poland's Swiatek defend her title against Czech outsider Karolina Muchova, ranked 43rd in the world.

"It's a slight dilemma for a tournament director with the men's game being best of five sets and the women's being best of three," former BBC presenter Barker told BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour.

"If you do schedule a match for the night session and it only lasts an hour, because some of the women's matches only last an hour, then the public isn't going to like it.

"It's a very difficult, tricky situation for Amelie [Mauresmo] to be in. And sadly, now with Serena [Williams] having gone, there aren't the big names in the women's game at the moment. They've got to build up.

"What we really need is a few really good players to be in the slam finals for a few years and build up that rivalry that we've seen with Roger [Federer] and Rafael [Nadal] and Novak [Djokovic] and Andy [Murray].

"People don't really know who those players are. Elena Rybakina, who won last year at Wimbledon, I don't think you would know her if she walked down the street.

"We need to have more established players in the same fame as Maria Sharapova and Serena and Venus Williams."

Unlike the Australian Open and US Open, which schedule two night-session matches every day, the French Open has just one.

In March, Women's Tennis Association (WTA) chief executive Steve Simon told BBC Sport having women's matches at night sessions at all tournaments is "very, very critical" in the fight for equal prize money all year round.

"I'm thrilled that now Wimbledon on centre court has three matches and they have two men's, one women's and then on another day they have two women's, one men's," added Barker, whose French Open title in 1976 was her only Grand Slam success.

"I sort of have sympathy for Amelie, I understand it. But at the end of the day we want equality across all the tournaments. That's what we've been fighting for and that's what we really need.

"But also the players have to provide it."

Wales have been dealt another World Cup blow by Cory Hill's withdrawal from coach Warren Gatland's training squad.

But the second row confirmed he has pulled out to take up a club contract.

He said: "I'm gutted to be leaving the squad, but an opportunity has come up and I need to take it for my family."

Hill becomes the fourth player to withdraw from Gatland's World Cup preliminary squad following the international retirements of Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric and Rhys Webb.

A Six Nations winner in 2019 and 2021, Hill insisted he has not retired from Test rugby and still harbours Wales ambitions, though will not travel to France later this year.

He said in a statement released by the WRU: "Wishing the boys all the best at the World Cup and I hope to be back in a Wales jersey in the future."

Hill won 32 caps for Wales but became ineligible when he moved to Japan to join Yokohama Canon Eagles in 2021 as he was short of the 60-cap requirement for players based overseas.

However, that limit has been lowered to 25 and Hill sparked interest among all four Welsh regions when he left Japan last month with an apparent desire to return to Wales and resurrect his international career.

That has now been derailed by a lucrative offer from elsewhere, with the signing club yet to be named.

It also means Gatland has now lost two of the original seven locks named in his preliminary squad, the other being Alun Wyn Jones.

Hill's former Cardiff team-mate, prop Rhys Carre, was also released from the squad for failing to reach performance targets.

The Columbus Blue Jackets are continuing to aggressively remodel their defense, acquiring Damon Severson from the New Jersey Devils in a sign-and-trade that gives the defenseman a new eight-year, $50 million contract, the teams announced Friday.

Severson, 28, signed the contract worth $6.25 million annually with the Devils, who then traded him to the Blue Jackets for a third-round pick (No. 80 overall) in this month's draft. New Jersey was the only team that could offer Severson, who was a pending free agent, an eight-year contract.

He was expected to be one of the more sought-after free agent defensemen this summer. But much like when the Los Angeles Kings inked Vladislav Gavrikov to a two-year deal earlier in the week, another big name is now off the market.

Severson was drafted 60th overall in 2012 and was the longest-serving Devils player, having played all nine years of his NHL career with New Jersey. He has 263 points in 647 games. Last season, he played 81 games and tallied 33 points in 19:57 per game -- the first time his average ice time dipped under 20 minutes in the past five seasons.

"Damon is a versatile defenseman who has great vision, moves the puck extremely well, has good size and can play heavy minutes at both ends of the ice," Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said in a statement. "We are excited to have him join the Blue Jackets as he will be a very important part of our blueline for many years to come."

Now under contract through the 2030-31 season, Severson joins a revamped Blue Jackets defense corps. Columbus acquired Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov on Tuesday in a three-team trade, and they join star blueliner Zach Werenski, who was limited to 13 games due to injury last season, and promising rookie David Jiricek, who was drafted sixth overall in 2022.

The team is expected to name Mike Babcock as its next head coach by next month after firing Brad Larsen in April following a 62-85-16 record over two seasons.

The pick the Devils acquired is well-traveled: It was originally owned by Calgary, who traded it to Seattle in March 2022; the Kraken then traded it to the Blue Jackets in a deal that sent forward Oliver Bjorkstrand to Seattle in July.

Al Ahli are willing to offer Riyad Mahrez a contract worth €100 million plus bonuses to leave Manchester City, a source close to negotiations has told ESPN.

A delegation including the Saudi Arabia club president Waleed Muaath has been in London this week discussing the possibility of deals with several players including Mahrez.

- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

The Algeria forward has two years remaining on his existing agreement with City but sources have suggested he has become frustrated with a lack of playing time under Pep Guardiola this season.

Mahrez made 22 Premier League starts in the 2022-23 campaign but has been on the bench for much of his side's Champions League knockout matches. His last European start came against RB Leipzig on Feb. 22.

Al Ahli are therefore hopeful of pulling off a transfer coup and convincing Mahrez to move to the Middle East. Karim Benzema signed for Al Ittihad on Monday, joining Cristiano Ronaldo in the Saudi Pro League while N'Golo Kante is set to become another high-profile addition to the league.

The source involved said Al Ahli have indicated they would offer Mahrez €50m+ bonuses per season on a two-year contract with the option of a third year.

Mahrez is thought to be open to moving to Saudi Arabia but it is unclear at this stage whether City would allow the player to leave and if so, the fee they would command. The situation is likely to be addressed after Saturday's Champions League final against Inter Milan.

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- This city straddling Europe and Asia (you can literally drive across the bridge from one continent to the other) is a fitting venue for a UEFA Champions League final. It's the European Cup, yes, but the finalists are two Asian-owned teams (Manchester City majority owned by Abu Dhabi; Internazionale by Chinese investors) with a global appeal and this city, founded nearly three millennia ago, is used to being both a nexus and melting pot. When you exist in the place where people, religions and creeds collide and ferment, change is a constant ... which might be why Istanbul has changed its name three times.

Even today, it's a crossroads. Look out over the Bosphorus Strait and you might see ships carrying Ukrainian grain escorted by Turkish warships. If you had Marvel superhero eyesight you could stand on the banks and see Ukraine and Russia in the distance. Turn West, and it's the European Union; South, and it's Egypt and the African continent; East, and it's Syria, then Iraq and Iran and then, the Gulf.

- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

It's no surprise that the national carrier, Turkish Airlines, boasts that it flies to more destinations than anyone else. Other than Australia and the Americas, nothing seems particularly far away.

Maybe that's why so many foreign players have made a home here. Newly crowned champions Galatasaray, whose red and yellow pennants festoon many of the city's streets, count Juan Mata, Mauro Icardi, Dries Mertens and Bafetimbi Gomis in their ranks. Rivals Fenerbache have Michy Batshuayi, Enner Valencia and Joshua King. Besiktas, whose imposing stadium overlooks the Bosphorus, as well as the Dolmabahce Palace, from which the Sultan ruled over the Ottoman Empire, boast Nathan Redmond, Dele Alli and Vincent Aboubakar, the man who lost his job at Al Nassr when Cristiano Ronaldo rocked up.

Football-wise it's also the city of last hurrahs. Inter should enjoy a fair amount of neutral support at the Ataturk Stadium on Saturday night and they have no shortage of old-timers and guys looking for a second chance: ex-Premier League veterans like Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Edin Dzeko and Matteo Darmian; Premier League strugglers like striker Romelu Lukaku (on loan from Chelsea); two-time cancer-beater, turned unwanted free agent, turned defensive stalwart, Francesco Acerbi; and goalkeeper Andre Onana, who served a nine-month doping ban after inadvertently taking his wife's medication.

Plus, neutrals generally love an underdog. And Man City are very much favourites. They stand 90 minutes away from hitting the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League trifecta (or, treble, as they call it in England), a feat achieved by only seven clubs in the history of the game.

Inter finished third in Italy's Serie A, a whopping 18 points off Napoli at the top of the table (though they did win the Italian Cup.) City have won five of the last six Premier League titles; Inter have won one league title in the past 13 years.

City's coach, Pep Guardiola, has won 11 league titles and two Champions Leagues and is widely regarded as one of the greatest tactical innovators and man managers in recent history. As a player, he was the midfield general of Johan Cruyff's legendary Barcelona "Dream Team" of the 1990s. Inter's coach, Simone Inzaghi, has won zero league titles and zero Champions Leagues and many thought he was going to be fired in March. As a player, he was overshadowed by his more extroverted and intense (but less-gifted) brother, Pippo. (To this day, the understated Simone has to remind folks "not to mistake my politeness for stupidity.")

Both teams have tall centre-forwards. City's is the 22-year-old goal-machine Erling Haaland, who has scored 52 in 52 games this season. Inter's is 37-year-old Edin Dzeko, an aging free agent signing who went three-and-a-half months without scoring and played for City for five years from 2011-2016.

City are owned by members of the Abu Dhabi royal family, who have spent lavishly since their takeover in 2008. So lavishly that UEFA punished them for breaching Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules in 2014 and actually banned them for two years for false accounting in 2020 (a ban that was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which found that some charges were not proven and others were outside the statute of limitations). They now face similar charges, this time from the Premier League, but continue to maintain their innocence (and, in fact, say they "welcome" the chance to clear their name.)

Inter are owned by the once-mighty Suning Corporation who, in 2021, had to sell nearly a quarter of their shares to the Chinese government after running into liquidity problems. Before that, they too had been found in breach of FFP and between that sanction and Suning's liquidity issues they've been run on a relative shoestring budget since then, with the owners issuing bonds to cover debts.

City are undefeated in the Champions League, having dispatched RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the knockout phase. Inter, who lost twice in the group stage, had a distinctly more downhill run to the final, getting past FC Porto (though, in their own Inter way, they nearly threw it away), Benfica and crosstown rivals AC Milan.

I could go on, but you get the point.

It's very much a case of the nouveau riche (though, after 15 years, you wonder if City will lose the "nouveau" bit and just be "riche") against the fallen giants. Inter, lest we forget, have been European champions three times and won a treble of their own in 2010. So bruised are Inter that the black and blue of their shirts feels especially appropriate.

In the buildup to the final, Inter laid relatively low, chucking out the usual platitudes about "belief" and that anything can happen in a one-off game. They know they're playing with house money. Nobody expected them to be here.

City, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy putting even more pressure upon themselves with Guardiola saying that "something would be missing" if the club, for all their domestic success, failed to win the Champions League. Having stumbled in their only other Champions League final appearance -- two years ago against Chelsea -- it was a curious thing to hear, however honest it may have been. But then, he seems to revel in the pressure.

And yet, it's football. None of the above will matter once they cross the line on to the pitch. FFP, paychecks, transfer fees, European pedigree, reputations ... all of that will disappear when referee Szymon Marciniak blows his whistle. It will be 11 vs. 11 and the men on the pitch will have to prove it all over again.

The script is yet to be written. And while the Ataturk is unlikely to witness the unthinkable drama of 2005 and Liverpool's comeback from 3-0 down against Milan, the truth is we can't say for sure. It will be in the hands of the players, the coaches and the match officials. And the Gods of Football, of course. They'll have their say too.