- Associated Press - Wednesday, August 15, 2018

GOLF

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - Brandt Snedeker shot an 11-under 59 at the Wyndham Championship, falling one shot shy of matching the PGA Tour record.

He made a 20-foot putt on his final hole to become the 10th player in tour history to break 60. Jim Furyk set the record with a 58 in the final round of the Travelers Championship in 2016.

Snedeker began his round at par-70 Sedgefield Country Club with a bogey at No. 10, and he took off from there. He played the front nine in 27, including an eagle 2 on the par-4 sixth hole when he holed out from 176 yards.

This is the third consecutive year the PGA Tour has had a sub-60 round. Snedeker is the first to shoot 59 since Adam Hadwin in the third round of the 2017 Careerbuilder Challenge.

Snedeker, the 2012 FedEx Cup champion, won Wyndham in 2007. He broke Si Woo Kim’s 2-year-old Wyndham record of 60 and had the best opening round in Wyndham history. Arjun Atwal had a 61 in 2010.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Lizette Salas matched the Brickyard Crossing record with a 10-under 62 in the Indy Women in Tech Championship, birdieing the final three holes for a two-stroke lead over fast-starting Angel Yin and Japan’s Nasa Hataoka.

Yin birdied eight of the first nine holes in her morning round for a front-nine 8-under 28 - one short of the LPGA Tour’s nine-hole record. It matched the third-lowest nine-hole score in relation to par in tour history.

Salas matched the course record set by Mike McCullough in the PGA Tour Champions’ 1999 Comfort Classic.

GOTHENBURG, Sweden (AP) - Clement Sordet opened with four straight birdies to shoot 8-under 62 and take the first-round lead of the Nordea Masters. The Frenchman, who shot his lowest European Tour round, has a two-stroke lead over Scott Jamieson of Scotland and Lee Slattery of England.

BASEBALL

NEW YORK (AP) - Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Urena was suspended six games and fined an undisclosed amount for intentionally hitting Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Atlanta Braves with a pitch.

Major League Baseball announced the penalties a day after Urena hit Acuna on the left arm with his first pitch in Atlanta. The 20-year-old Acuna had homered in five straight games, including four homers in three games against Miami - three of them leading off.

Urena is 3-12 with a 4.74 ERA in 24 starts. Unless appealed, his suspension is scheduled to begin Friday at Washington.

Also, Braves first base coach Eric Young was suspended one game and fined.

Acuna was back in the lineup for the Braves against Colorado.

NEW YORK (AP) - Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig was suspended for two games and fined an undisclosed amount for fighting and inciting a bench-clearing scuffle against San Francisco.

Major League Baseball announced the sanctions two days after Puig took a swing at Giants catcher Nick Hundley in the seventh inning. Hundley also was fined.

Barring an appeal, Puig is scheduled to begin his suspension Friday at Seattle.

TENNIS

MASON, Ohio (AP) - Novak Djokovic’s quest for his first Western & Southern Open title ran into a different obstacle, with batches of rain forcing his match against defending champion Grigor Dimitrov to be suspended overnight.

Roger Federer’s match against Leonardo Mayer was postponed until Friday as well, along with several others pushed back by day-long rain that made a mess of the brackets.

Djokovic came to Cincinnati hoping to build on the momentum of his Wimbledon title and get in shape for a deep run in the U.S. Open. He also dearly wants to win the only ATP Masters 1000 title that has eluded him - nobody has won all nine.

He and Dimitrov split the first two sets and then headed inside for a long rain delay. Djokovic broke Dimitrov to go up 2-1 in the third set, and more rain prompted play to be called off for the night. They’ll resume in the morning.

In the women’s bracket, Madison Keys used her forehand to beat Angelique Kerber - one of her toughest matchups - and advance to the quarterfinals in-between the storms.

NEW YORK (AP) - The Davis Cup is getting a radical makeover in hopes of reviving an event that has lost some luster.

Beginning next year, the top team event in men’s tennis will be decided with a season-ending, 18-team tournament at a neutral site.

The International Tennis Federation believes this format will be more attractive to elite players who often pass on competing for their countries because of a crowded schedule.

Teams will play one week in February to advance to the championship in November, replacing the current Davis Cup format that is played over four weekends throughout the year. Players will compete for what the ITF says rivals Grand Slam prize money.

The $3 billion, 25-year agreement was approved at the organization’s conference in Orlando, Florida.

AUTO RACING

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) - Kasey Kahne announced he will retire from full-time racing in NASCAR and plans to focus on the sprint car team he owns.

Kahne said in a Twitter post that he is at ease with the decision after 15 years racing in NASCAR. Kahne, from Enumclaw, Washington, made it to NASCAR via sprint car racing and his Kasey Kahne Racing team competes in the World of Outlaws series.

The former Hendrick Motorsports driver has 18 victories, including a playoff-clinching win last season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That win came amid speculation that Hendrick would part ways with Kahne following six seasons, and Hendrick made it official two weeks later.

Kahne signed with Leavine Family Racing for 2018. He has one top-five finish in 23 starts for Leavine, and said the team offered him a ride for next year but Kahne did not want to commit to NASCAR. The Cup schedule is 38 weekends.

Kahne’s announcement came one day after 43-year-old Elliott Sadler said he will walk away from NASCAR after 21 seasons.

GYMNASTICS

BOSTON (AP) - Sam Mikulak is back in his usual spot at the U.S. men’s gymnastics championships. He’s not so sure that’s a good thing.

The four-time champion overcame a pair of miscues on high bar and pommel horse to post an all-around score of 85.150 during the opening round, more than a point clear of Akash Modi (84.1) and comfortably ahead of Allan Bower, Donothan Bailey, Alec Yoder and defending champion Yul Moldauer.

SOCCER

A regular-season Spanish league game is coming to the United States, possibly as early as this season, with Real Madrid or Barcelona potentially involved but unlikely to be playing each other.

The league said it is planning to play a match across the Atlantic as part of a new 15-year partnership with sports and entertainment group Relevent to promote soccer in North America, a move that could boost La Liga’s image abroad but which also sparked criticism from Spain’s players’ association.

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