National Sports

McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — Jordan Spieth thought the course for his hometown Byron Nelson would play more difficult after yielding more birdies in its debut than any other tournament on the PGA Tour last season.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Steve Stricker shot a 4-under 68 to maintain a two-stroke lead Friday over Scott McCarron and Padraig Harrington in the second round of the Regions Tradition, the first of five PGA Tour Champions majors.

LOS ANGELES — For goalie Mike Smith, this is what the NHL playoffs are all about. With a victory in L.A. on Thursday, Smith and the Oilers forced a Game 7 in their first-round series against the Kings.

CLIFTON, N.J. (AP) — The only only thing missing from Minjee Lee’s resume this year is a victory and the best scorer on the LPGA Tour took a big step toward that in the second round of the Cognizant Founders Cup.

ROME — It was just the type of scrambling, wear-down-the-opponent mentality and shot-making that took Novak Djokovic to within one match of a calendar-year Grand Slam in 2021.

HELSINKI — Pierre-Luc Dubois scored twice and Canada overcame an undisciplined third period in a 5-3 win over Germany on Friday at the world hockey championship.

MONTREAL — Linebacker Tyrell Richards, the first player taken in the 2022 CFL draft, was among eight selections signed Friday by the Montreal Alouettes. The six-foot-four, 218-pound Richards, of Brampton, Ont.

Phil Mickelson withdrew Friday from the PGA Championship, electing to extend his hiatus from golf following his incendiary comments about a Saudi-funded rival league he supports and the PGA Tour he accused of greed.

TORONTO — Add Toronto Arrows scrum halves to baby formula, semiconductor chips, aluminum and other things in short supply these days. On Thursday, the Major League Rugby team signed its eighth scrum half of the season.

DALLAS — Closing out an NHL playoff series to advance to the next one has a way of accelerating a player's maturation.