U.S./World Sports category, Page 335

RICHMOND, Va. — Martin Truex Jr. held off Clint Bowyer in a long duel and then Joey Logano for four laps to win the NASCAR Cup Series race Saturday night at Richmond Raceway. Truex gave Joe Gibbs Racing its sixth victory in nine races this season and won for the...

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The final round of the Masters will be played Sunday morning — with the leaders teeing off more than five hours earlier than normal — because of storms forecast for the evening, Augusta National Golf Club officials announced during play Saturday. Players normally compete on the weekend...

Bailey Bonnett returned to the Alle-Kiski Valley for a brief stay shortly after the NCAA Division I women’s swimming championships, and it gave her a chance to reflect on her accomplishments over the past season. The Highlands graduate, a sophomore at Kentucky, earned her second first-team All-American honor March 23...

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Francesco Molinari blocked out the buzz from Tiger Woods charging up the leaderboard Saturday at the Masters and produced solid golf that looks spectacular only on the scorecard. Molinari played bogey-free for the second straight round at Augusta National and took advantage of the rain-softened course for...

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Valentino Dixon’s introduction to golf came when the warden dropped by his 6-by-10 cell at Attica Correctional Facility in New York with a photo of the iconic 12th hole at Augusta National and a simple request. Could Dixon draw the hole with his colored pencils? The warden...

Students in Akron whose public school system labeled as the city’s worst-performing pupils have turned things around in big way after enrolling in LeBron James’ school. I Promise’s inaugural class of third- and fourth-graders is closing the achievement gap, according to the New York Times. “These kids are doing an...

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods made the largest logjam in Masters history look even bigger by making Augusta National sound as loud as ever. Even on a Friday in the rain. Golf’s best worked their way to the top of the leaderboard at a Masters pregnant with possibilities. The first...

RICHMOND, Va. — Denny Hamlin would love to think he has an advantage when it comes to racing at Richmond Raceway. The Joe Gibbs Racing star has won three times on the 0.75-mile, D-shaped oval and has been coming to the track for much of his life, even long before...

The Golden State Warriors are set to begin their quest for a third straight NBA title, and this time it’s up to someone else to try to stop them. With LeBron James gone to the West and this year gone entirely from the postseason, the Eastern Conference headquarters for the...

AUGUSTA, Ga. — No need to wait until Sunday for the Masters to come to life. Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson delivered enough excitement over the final two hours Thursday for quite an opening act at Augusta National. Koepka, a winner in two of the last three majors,...

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Justin Harding of South Africa spent most of his Masters debut Thursday atop the leaderboard, and that’s not an unusual position for him over the past year. No one else at Augusta National can claim five victories and three runner-up finishes since the last Masters. Then again,...

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. The Los Angeles Lakers already had plenty of problems to fix during the summer after their sixth straight losing season. Replacing the person in charge of fixing those problems is suddenly at the top of the list. Magic Johnson’s shocking resignation as the 16-time NBA champions’ president...

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods is a winner again, making him even more appealing at the Masters. “I’ve worked my way back into one of the players that can win events,” he said. Rory McIlroy is the betting favorite — perhaps even the sentimental favorite. Facing a fifth chance at...

DURHAM, N.C. — RJ Barrett is leaving Duke after one season to enter the NBA draft. Barrett announced his decision Wednesday in a video posted on social media . He said playing at Duke is a dream but added that “it’s also a dream of mine to play in the...

Wednesday’s Sided.co “Breakfast With Benz” podcast looks at golf. It’s our annual Masters preview with my former broadcast partner in Salt Lake, Brian Taylor. He is covering his 20th Masters this year. Round 1 is Thursday. The Par 3 tournament is today. We talk about that and how some of...

MINNEAPOLIS — Virginia pulled off one of the great redemption stories in NCAA Tournament history, winning its first national title a year after losing to a No. 16 seed in the first round. The bad news: it’s seven months until the next season. The confetti is still being swept up...

LOS ANGELES — Magic Johnson abruptly quit as the Los Angeles Lakers’ president of basketball operations Tuesday night, citing his desire to return to the simpler life he enjoyed as a wealthy businessman and beloved former player before taking charge of this franchise just over two years ago. Johnson didn’t...

AUGUSTA, Ga. — As the man in the green jacket recounted the incredulous events of the past week, Corey Conners cocked his head to one side and smiled ever so slightly. Almost as if he couldn’t believe it, either. A little over a week ago, Conners snatched the last spot...

MINNEAPOLIS — Dick Bennett has a difficult time watching his son, Tony, coach Virginia. He rarely attends games. “I’m not a model of decorum or poise,” said Dick Bennett, the former longtime high school and college basketball coach. “But I needed to be here.” The Cavaliers didn’t make it easy...

CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers have changed dramatically and so has their downtown home. Quickens Loans Arena is no more. The team will no longer play at “The Q,” but inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, which is undergoing a $185 million renovation funded by the city and team. The Cavaliers, who have...

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Marilynn Smith, one of the 13 founders of the LPGA Tour whose 21 victories, two majors and endless support of her tour led to her induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame, died Tuesday. She was 89. She died in Goodyear, Arizona, surrounded by family...

MINNEAPOLIS — It was an easy question to ask, even if the answer was tough to absorb. “Why?” It dogged Virginia for a year and three weeks — following the Cavaliers through sweat-soaked practices, hostile arenas up and down the East Coast, on talk radio and pundit-driven TV, and in...

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Virginia Tech has hired former Wofford men’s basketball coach Mike Young to replace Buzz Williams. The school announced the decision Sunday night, just four days after Williams left to take the same job at Texas A&M. Young, a native of Radford, Va., about 10 miles from the...