Golf
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – As if battling a rain-soaked course and gusting winds weren’t difficult enough, playing partners Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler also had to dodge a golf ball with an earplug attached to it at the Wells Fargo Championship.
A spectator threw the object just as Fowler was preparing to tee off on the sixth hole at Quail Hollow Club on Thursday.
Fowler says the ball flew by his left side. He didn’t know what it was until it stopped rolling.
The fan was escorted from the course by police.
MLB
CHICAGO – Commissioner Rob Manfred says a decision is imminent on whether games between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Miami Marlins will be played in Puerto Rico this month.
Manfred said Thursday the announcement on whether a two-game series will be moved because of concerns about the Zika virus will be made Friday or Monday “at the latest.”
The teams are scheduled to play May 30-31 in San Juan to celebrate Roberto Clemente Day. But with players on both sides expressing concern, the games might be moved to Miami.
NBA
INDIANAPOLIS – Frank Vogel will not return as Indiana Pacers coach next season.
Pacers President Larry Bird said Thursday that the team will not renew Vogel’s contract for next season.
Vogel was 250-181 in five and a half seasons with the Pacers. He led the team to the playoffs five times and led Indiana to the Eastern Conference finals in 2012-13 and 2013-14.
NFL
RENTON, Wash. – Beast Mode is officially in retirement mode.
The Seattle Seahawks have placed running back Marshawn Lynch on the NFL’s reserved/retired list, making official what was implied in February when Lynch indicated he was ready to end his football career.
It was a procedural step, but one that needed to be taken to make Lynch’s intended retirement official.
NHL
Bob Hartley watched bosses come ago three times as coach of the Calgary Flames. He will need one more general manager to believe in him to stay in the NHL.
Fired Tuesday by the Flames, Hartley is itching to get back at it and he’s not alone. The Anaheim Ducks’ last two coaches, Bruce Boudreau and Randy Carlyle, are also in the mix for current vacancies.
The Flames, Ducks, Minnesota Wild and Ottawa Senators all have openings.
Anaheim is perhaps in the middle of its Stanley Cup window after winning four consecutive Pacific Division titles. Minnesota has also made the playoffs four years in a row and is looking for more as GM Chuck Fletcher fired coach Mike Yeo in February. The Flames missed the playoffs after a surprise postseason run a year ago.
Soccer
CHICAGO – World Cup champions Brandi Chastain and Shannon MacMillan, and MLS Commissioner Don Garber have been elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
Chastain, who scored the winning goal in the 1999 World Cup final shootout against China, was selected on the player ballot. MacMillan, her teammate on that squad, was voted in on the veteran ballot. Garber was chosen on the builder ballot.
Associated Press
