ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- When Tom Kim went searching for his errant tee shot on the par-4 sixth hole in the opening round of the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club on Thursday, he was told it had crossed a creek and was somewhere in the high weeds in a hazard.

Naturally, Kim did what any golfer would do -- he went searching for his brand-new Titleist Pro VIx.

By the time he came back -- without his ball -- he was covered in mud nearly up to his waist.

"I was told my ball crossed the water," Kim told ESPN. "It was just in the mud over there, and if I was able to find it [and] I had a good enough lie I was thinking I could chip it over there."

But Kim didn't realize he'd have to wade through a mud bath to find it. He took off his shoes and socks and rolled up his pants to his knees.

"As soon as I went in, it was kind of sketch," Kim said. "But I mean it's a major championship. I'm fighting for every single stroke I have."

Ultimately, Kim ended up fighting for more than strokes in his adventure.

"And then it got dark," he said. "Once my foot got in, I was like, 'There's no looking back.' I went full in and it got my shirt and everything. There was one point where I just sunk in. I was steady for a minute. I couldn't get my foot out."

Kim, 20, called out to his caddie, Joe Skovron, for help.

"Well, if I go in and sink, both of us aren't getting out," Skovron told him.

Kim had to crawl out of the mud. By the time he was back on dry land -- again, without his golf ball -- he was covered in mud nearly from waist to toe. With TV cameras recording his every move, the South Korean jumped back into the creek to wash off his arms and legs. He removed his muddy shirt and replaced it with a jacket.

"Yeah, it couldn't get any worse," Kim said. "I was wet enough so I thought I might as well go in the water and wash myself off and that's exactly what I did."

"As soon as I went in (the mud), it was kind of sketch. But I mean it's a major championship. I'm fighting for every single stroke I have." Tom Kim

Unfortunately for Kim, he ended up carding a bogey on the sixth hole, his 15th of the day. But he should have received a gold star for effort. He recorded a par on each of his last three holes to post a 3-over 73 and was tied for 63rd when play was suspended because of darkness.

"It could have been a lot better, that's for sure," Kim said. "I hung in there, especially after what happened on that hole. I was able to kind of finish around even par and gave myself a few looks."

After his round, Kim seemed amused that his exploits were broadcast on ESPN's coverage and that the moment had gone viral on social media.

"I hope everyone at home understands it's a major championship, and I'm trying to play the best that I can and every shot matters," Kim said. "I definitely went full in, but it didn't really help and I didn't find my ball, and I went through all of that. It was a great experience."

Just as they did last year, Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat walked into TD Garden, overcame a 13-point deficit and defeated the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals to take home-court advantage.

The Celtics rebounded from that loss to win Game 2 and eventually play their way into the NBA Finals by winning the series in seven games. The Celtics face a similar task in these East finals after the Heat outscored them 46-25 in the third quarter en route to a 123-116 win.

Still, Boston has the confidence in knowing they were in this same spot last year and prevailed.

The Celtics can use a Game 2 win to springboard their own momentum in the series and attempt to get back to the Finals under first-year coach Joe Mazzulla, while the Heat have the opportunity to capture what they failed to claim in last year's Game 2 and send the series back to Miami with a commanding 2-0 lead.

Here's a breakdown of the biggest takeaways from the series so far, and what they might mean for Boston and Miami going forward:

Boston can't allow another disastrous quarter

A lot of focus will be paid to the third quarter of Game 1, when Miami outscored Boston 46-25 to turn the game and deliver the Heat a series-opening victory for a third straight time in these playoffs.

But the story of this game goes far deeper. The more important numbers: 10 assists for Marcus Smart in the first half and one in the second.

The Celtics are at their best when they are moving the ball, and specifically when Smart is the one orchestrating it. While he's not known for his offense -- he was the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year in 2021-22 -- Smart has always been an underrated facilitator. For a team that can tend to watch the ball stick on offense, that ball movement is critical.

As the game slipped away from Boston in the second half, that's precisely what happened: The offense devolved into isolation situations, Boston began turning over the ball, and Miami raced the other way for easy buckets.

"We just got really antsy," Smart said after Game 1. "First half, we were getting to our spots and we were getting the easy shots, the great shots.

"Second half, we were all clustered up on each other."

Boston went from 15 assists against five turnovers in the first half to having seven assists and 10 turnovers in the second. It's a reminder that the Celtics will have to improve their ball movement if they want to even the series.

-- Tim Bontemps

Boston goes as Tatum goes

All-NBA star Jayson Tatum has proven time and again he can take over a game. Look no further than Sunday's Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers, where his 51 points -- the most ever in a Game 7 -- propelled the Celtics to the conference finals.

Late in Wednesday's Game 1 loss to the Heat, however, that version of Tatum was missing -- he didn't even attempt a shot in the fourth quarter.

According to Second Spectrum tracking, Game 1 featured Tatum's second-fewest touches (13) and dribbles (34) in a fourth quarter this postseason.

Which raises the question: How exactly can the Celtics open the floor to help Tatum?

"You have to fight for advantages," Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said. "You got to fight to create separation. And so, being able to make the adjustment on how we play versus one defense, versus on switching defenses, is important."

Boston's clustered spacing against Miami's changing defensive schemes led to a slower second-half pace that, at times, limited Tatum, as he was called for two travels in the fourth quarter.

"Just got to slow down a little bit in those moments," Tatum said.

Much of Tatum's difficulty in scoring in the fourth quarter had to do with Heat All-Star Butler, who guarded Tatum more than any other player in the game. When Butler defended him throughout Game 1, Tatum shot just 38% from the field. Tatum was a 60% shooter when other Heat players checked him.

-- Coley Harvey

Butler has carried Miami through the playoffs

After Game 1, Heat guard Gabe Vincent was asked to describe the feeling within the Heat's locker room after an impressive comeback win.

"Not satisfied," Vincent said.

Ever since Miami snuck into the postseason, it has played with a swagger befitting the top team in the East, not the No. 8 seed in the midst of a historic tear, three games away from another Finals appearance. When asked to describe the group's confidence heading into Game 2 on Friday, Kyle Lowry was quick with his response.

"You listen to Jimmy, right?" Lowry said.

Lowry's answer speaks to exactly how players and coaches feel within the Heat organization. It's why coach Erik Spoelstra said after Game 1 that Butler's impact on the rest of the group can't be quantified.

The difference between the Heat now and the Heat just before the playoffs starts with Butler's ability to put the team on his back.

Spoelstra once again sang Butler's praises after Game 1, especially his performance late in the win.

"As one of the premier, if not the premier, two-way basketball players in this association, that's what we needed," Spoelstra said. "We needed him to make some plays defensively. We needed him to also just be ball containment defensively. ... And then down the stretch, Jimmy was able to just do everything we needed as a scorer or as a facilitator. He's willing to do both."

It's a feeling that can't be measured by just looking at Butler's elite Game 1 box score numbers of 35 points, 7 assists, 6 steals and 5 rebounds, and it remains the most defining characteristic of this particular Heat run.

The trust within the group is strong, and Butler is cementing it a little more each day.

-- Nick Friedell

History is on Boston's side in Game 2

There's a remarkable postseason trend that has continued into these playoffs: Teams that lose Game 1 at home have won Game 2, often in blowout fashion. The last team to lose both games at home to start a series was the LA Clippers in their 2021 first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks, which they came back to win in seven games.

Since then, Game 1 home losers are 16-0 in Game 2 with an average victory margin of 17.2 points. We've had a lot of opportunities to put this trend to the test this year: The eight Game 1 losses by the home team have been the most in any playoffs in NBA history.

Incredibly, three of those road wins have come from Miami, which has won Game 1 of all three series without home-court advantage. Thus far, the Heat have been unable to take a 2-0 lead in either series, losing by 16 points at the Milwaukee Bucks under a hail of 3-pointers and by six points at the New York Knicks without Butler, who missed the game because of an ankle sprain.

Those Game 2 losses haven't prevented Miami from finishing off each series, and overall the Game 1 road winners have gone on to win five of the seven instances this year. Over the long term, however, a road split isn't actually a great position for the lower seed to be in. The team with home-court advantage still wins a narrow majority of those series (51% of seven-game series since the playoffs expanded to 16 teams in 1984).

As a result, the Heat can't feel comfortable with one win in Boston.

-- Kevin Pelton

World number one Iga Swiatek is optimistic a thigh injury will not prevent her from attempting to defend her French Open title.

"We did an examination with the physio afterwards," said Swiatek.

"It shouldn't be anything serious, so I'm pretty positive that I'll be back soon."

The three-time major winner needed treatment before retiring at 2-6 7-6 (7-3) 2-2 against Kazakhstan's Rybakina.

Swiatek was in tears as she left the court for a medical timeout during the second-set tie-break and returned with strapping on her right thigh.

The Polish player won the previous two Italian Opens and was on a 14-match winning streak in Rome.

"For sure I feel tired. I think it was the right decision to stop playing because I felt pain when I was stretching, when I did harder movements," she added.

"For me, the most important thing is to play it safe and not exploit my body so much in such difficult conditions, after having to play a few matches in night sessions and after midnight.

"I'm happy right now to have few days off because since [a previous tournament in] Stuttgart I wasn't really able to recover with that tight schedule that we have on the WTA."

The French Open at Roland Garros begins on 28 May.

In a message on social media on Thursday, Swiatek wrote: "A couple of days off for sure. And booking my flight to Paris, so fingers crossed, please."

Wasps' exclusion from the Championship next season will be a blow to the league, says director of rugby of champions Jersey Reds, Harvey Biljon.

It means they will have to start at the bottom of the league system.

"I was getting quite excited about having a rugby institution like Wasps in the Championship," Biljon told BBC Radio Jersey.

"I think it would have brought a new competitor into our league and it would have been great to see them try and build to get back to where they once were.

"The fact that they're not going to be in the league makes me very sad for rugby in England as a whole because Wasps are, and have always been, one of the major clubs in English rugby," added Biljon, who spent time as a player with Wasps before moving into coaching.

The two-time European champions could end up in either the North or South division of the 10th tier Counties 4 Midlands West league.

Their expulsion from the Premiership in October came not long after Worcester were also removed from the top tier after going into administration.

London Irish have also had financial concerns in recent weeks as the impact of financial losses after the Covid-19 pandemic continues to hit top-flight sides.

Jersey will not be promoted to the Premiership - which will continue to have 11 teams next season - as their ground does not meet the league's minimum standards.

"At the moment I'm pretty frustrated around what the landscape of rugby looks like from a personal point of view," added Biljon.

"The fact that teams are not given the opportunity to grow with the game, and when there's anything positive going in the game you're not allowed to take advantage of that - and Jersey Reds is an example of that.

"We've just won the Championship, we've seen the chaos going on in the Premiership, but there's an opportunity to generate some real excitement around Jersey Reds and get some support and backing that hopefully would drive not only the game forward, but Jersey Reds as its own rugby team."

Fit-again wing James Lowe returns as Leinster make 12 changes for Saturday's Heineken Champions Cup final against La Rochelle in Dublin.

Leo Cullen's team shows two changes from the Champions Cup semi-final win over Toulouse.

Henshaw replaces Charlie Ngatai at centre with Lowe in for Jordan Larmour.

Lowe has recovered from a calf injury which kept him sidelined since his side's quarter-final win over Leicester Tigers at the start of April.

Top 14 team La Rochelle beat Leinster 24-21 in last year's dramatic final in Marseille to win their first title and deny the Irish side a record-tying fifth triumph.

La Rochelle head coach Ronan O'Gara makes two changes from the side that beat Exeter in the semi-final, with former Connacht and Ireland lock Ultan Dillane replaced by Paul Boudehent and Jonathan Danty replacing Jules Favre.

The return of Ireland's Grand Slam winners to the Leinster side also sees Hugo Keenan restored at full-back and Garry Ringrose partnering Henshaw in the centre.

With Johnny Sexton still sidelined through injury, Ross Byrne partners Jamison Gibson-Park at half-back.

The pack is unchanged from the Toulouse game with Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong in the front row and Ross Molony and captain James Ryan in the second row.

Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier and Conan complete the pack for Leinster, who last won the Champions Cup in 2018.

It could be a big day for replacement prop Cian Healy, who is set to become the first player to feature in seven Champions Cup finals.

Healy is also primed to become Leinster's most-capped player in European competition with 105 appearances, surpassing Gordon D'Arcy.

Leinster: H Keenan; J O'Brien, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J Lowe; R Byrne, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Furlong; R Molony, J Ryan (capt); C Doris, J van der Flier, J Conan.

Replacements: R Kelleher, C Healy, M Ala'alatoa, J Jenkins, R Baird, L McGrath, C Frawley, C Ngatai.

La Rochelle: B Dulin; D Leyds, UJ Seuteni, J Danty, R Rhule; A Hastoy, T Kerr-Barlow; R Wardi, P Bourgarit, U Atonio; R Sazy, W Skelton; P Boudehent, L Botia, G Alldritt (capt).

Replacements: Q Lespiaucq-Brettes, J Sclavi, G Henri Colombe, T Lavault, R Bourdeau, U Dillane, T Berjon, J Favre.

Referee: Jaco Peyper (SARU)

Now that the Western Conference finals between the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights have finally arrived (Game 1, 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN+), there is a strong chance you're going to hear a few familiar names.

If it's a conversation about the Stars? Expect to hear a lot about Jamie Benn, Miro Heiskanen, Roope Hintz, Jake Oettinger, Joe Pavelski and Jason Robertson. When the discussion shifts to the Golden Knights, players like Jack Eichel, William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault, Alex Pietrangelo, Chandler Stephenson and Shea Theodore will be hard to ignore.

An argument can also be had that Ivan Barbashev, Max Domi, Wyatt Johnston, Tyler Seguin, Reilly Smith and whoever starts in goal for the Golden Knights will get similar treatment.

But what about those under-the-radar players who could serve in key roles in which the winner gets a trip to the Stanley Cup Final and the loser starts summer vacation? Here's a look at the players for the Golden Knights and the Stars who may not be among the first names mentioned, but their contributions could prove crucial to their respective teams' success.

Dallas Stars

Evgenii Dadonov, F

Going into the trade deadline, a little more than 66% of the Stars' goals came from six players. That's what led to them trading for Domi and Dadonov. The fact Domi scored 18 goals and had 49 points in 60 games with the Chicago Blackhawks made him the focal points when compared to Dadonov, who arrived with four goals and 18 points in 50 games with the Montreal Canadiens. Dadonov had three goals and 12 assists after coming to Dallas, giving him 15 points in 23 games. In the postseason, his four goals and nine points in 13 games has given the Stars the depth they were seeking. Five of those points came in the second round, including the assist he had on Johnston's game-winning goal in Game 7.

Then there's the fact that Dadonov along with Benn and Johnston have logged the most 5-on-5 ice time of any Stars' line combination in the postseason, according to Natural Stat Trick. They've played nearly 132 minutes together, which is 45 minutes more than the Hintz-Seguin-Robertson line has seen in 5-on-5 play. A pending unrestricted free agent, Dadonov is making a strong case for the Stars to re-sign him or why another team could seek his services. Especially if he can parlay his success into the conference finals against one of his former employers.

Thomas Harley, D

Drafting and developing homegrown talent is at the heart of the Stars' success, and it's another reason Harley's performances are important. Just look at what he did in the second-round series victory against the Seattle Kraken. Harley went from scoring zero points in the first round against the Minnesota Wild to seven points in as many games versus the Kraken. His strongest performance came in Game 4 when he finished with a goal and an assist in the Stars' 6-3 win to tie the series before going back to Dallas.

His seven points are the second-most of any Stars' defenseman and just two behind Heiskanen. All of his points have come in 5-on-5 play with Harley serving as a third-pairing option. His production gives the Stars another layer and shows why they were not willing to part with him or any of their prospects ahead of the trade deadline. The internal belief within the Stars front office is they knew Harley could help them at some point in the playoffs. And so far? He's doing just that.

Esa Lindell, D

A Finnish player having success with the Stars? Who knew? Lindell might only have two points, but he's averaging more than 21 minutes per game which ranks third among Stars defensemen this postseason. He's operating in a second-pairing role alongside fellow Finn Jani Hakanpää, who could also make a case for being one of those under-the-radar players who could have an impact in the conference finals.

Several factors have led to the Stars being four wins away from the Stanley Cup Final. Their penalty kill is one of those reasons. It's the No. 3 short-handed unit in the postseason with an 83.3 success rate. Lindell leads them in short-handed ice time, with Hakanpää 20 seconds behind, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Vegas Golden Knights

Nicolas Hague and Zach Whitecloud, D

Everyone else gets a separate mention, so, why not Hague and Whitecloud? Simple. Because they've done nearly everything else together this postseason in a manner that most might have overlooked. The big one? Guess what defensive pairing has logged the most 5-on-5 ice time for the Golden Knights this postseason? Yeah, it's them. In fact, Natural Stat Trick has them 10th among all defensive pairings in 5-on-5 ice time. Pietrangelo's suspension played a part in why he and Alec Martinez don't lead the team. Although, there is another statistic that reinforces the value of their partnership. Opponents have only scored three times in 5-on-5 play when Hague and Whitecloud have played together. That's tied with Carolina Hurricanes duo Brent Burns and Jaccob Slavin for the fewest goals allowed this postseason among pairings with at least 150 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time. It's another reason Hague leads them in 5-on-5 ice time while Whitecloud is third.

Brett Howden, F

Stephenson has emerged as one of the NHL's premier No. 2 centers while Stone, when healthy, is a two-way winger who creates problems. Together, they have created one of the more versatile combinations in the league. Howden is the third member of that group, and has used these playoffs to justify his role as a top-nine winger. They played more than 67 minutes together in 5-on-5 ice time, according to Natural Stat Trick. But that also comes with the caveat Stone was limited to 43 games after having a second back surgery in less than a year. In the playoffs? Cassidy has used the Howden-Stephenson-Stone line more than any other combination, with the trio playing nearly 95 minutes together in 5-on-5 situations.

Howden has five points in 11 games, a strong return for a player who had 13 total points in 54 regular-season games. Howden was also part of the Golden Knights' penalty kill, a role he has retained with the sixth-most short-handed minutes among Golden Knights forwards this postseason.

Nicolas Roy, F

Coaches are always making adjustments in an attempt to find an edge. Cassidy is no different and it's why of the top eight combinations he's used in the playoffs, Roy has been a part of three of them. Roy, who largely played in a bottom-six role this year, was part of the 12 players who finished with more than 10 regular-season goals.

A bottom-six forward with consecutive seasons of more than 14 goals shows why the Golden Knights are among the NHL's deepest teams. When they use Roy at center, he gives them a spine down the middle that starts with Eichel, Stephenson and Karlsson before it ends with him. When they push him to the wing, he provides them with a third-line combination that also features Karlsson and Smith. Together, the three of them present the Golden Knights with a two-way line that can forecheck, force turnovers and create scoring chances in the other direction. Possessing that sort of versatility is also how Roy has worked his way into receiving minutes on the penalty kill and power play.