Everyone went into a tailspin on a tough day of wind and cold at the PGA Championship. Mito Pereira managed to steady himself. The 27-year-old from Chile made birdies on three of his last six holes for a 69 at Southern Hills. That gives him a three-shot lead over Matt Fitzpatrick and Will Zalatoris going into the final round. Pereira is a PGA Tour rookie, and no rookie has won a major since Keegan Bradley at the 2011 PGA. The final round won't be featuring Tiger Woods in his red shirt. Woods shot 79 and withdrew.

Chicago White Sox star Tim Anderson accused Yankees slugger Josh Donaldson of making a racist remark by calling him Jackie Robinson during their game Saturday. Major League Baseball is looking into the incident. Anderson is Black and said Donaldson said “What's up, Jackie?" Robinson broke the MLB color barrier in 1947 and every team in the big leagues has retired his No. 42 to honor the impact he had on the game and beyond. Donaldson is white and said he did use Robinson's name but didn't mean for it to be disrespectful. The Yankees beat the White Sox 7-5.

Cup regular Tyler Reddick led the final 31 laps of the NASCAR Xfinity race at Texas to give second-year team Big Machine Racing its first victory. It also ended a three-race streak in which three different JR Motorsports took the checkered flag. Reddick finished 1.8 seconds ahead of William Byron, who was driving for JR Motorsports. It was Byron's first Xfinity race since being the series champion for that team at 19 years old in 2017. Big Machine Racing is owned by music mogul and seasoned racer Scott Borchetta. Reddick took the lead on lap 137 when he got past Austin Hill and Brandon Jones just before the race's 11th and final caution.

Tiger Woods battled to make the cut in the PGA Championship in a compelling display of grit. And then he must have wondered if it was worth it. He appeared to be in great pain from his battered right leg. He hit two balls in the water. He made five straight bogeys at one point. And his third round at Southern Hills ended when he made a 5-foot putt to break 80. The 79 for Woods is his highest in PGA Championship history and the third-highest in all majors. Woods says he simply couldn't get anything going.

The rain held off long enough for a full round of Indianapolis 500 qualifying on a soupy day that saw blistering speeds. Some of the fastest speeds in race history were recorded as Rinus VeeKay put his Chevrolet atop the scoring pylon with a four-lap average speed of 233.655 mph. It bumped fellow Chevy driver Pato O’Ward to second at 233.037. Arie Luyendyk set the four-lap qualifying record in 1996 at 236.986. VeeKay’s average was third fastest of all ime, and O'Ward's was firth. Earlier in the day, Ed Carpenter, Scott Dixon and Jimmie Johnson turned some of the fastest single laps in history.

Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks are headed home down 2-0 in the playoffs again. This time they'll have to rally against title-tested Stephen Curry and Golden State. Dallas won four out of five games against Phoenix to advance to the Western Conference finals. The Mavericks couldn't hold a 19-point lead against the Warriors in Game 2. They see defense as the key in Game 3 in Dallas on Sunday night.

Will Zalatoris is leading the PGA Championship with great shots and a good draw. The notorious Oklahoma wind died in the afternoon at Southern Hills. Zalatoris took advantage with five birdies for a 65 and a one-shot lead over Mito Pereira of Chile. The conditions became so friendly that Bubba Watson shot a 63 to tie the PGA Championship record. Justin Thomas caught the brunt of the wind for a 67. He's three shots behind and now the playing field is level for the final two rounds. The weekend includes Tiger Woods. He rallied for a 69 to make the cut.

Three-time runner-up Brad Keselowski is in a different spot going into this weekend's NASCAR All-Star race. The former Cup champion is in his first season as owner-driver in the series. He was the runner-up in last year's All-Star race at Texas, where he has led more laps than anyone that has never won on the 1 1/2-mile track. But he's 31st in points in his first season as part of RFK racing. Reigning series champion Kyle Larson has won his last two All-Star race starts. Texas is hosting the race for the second year in a row.

John Daly produced yet another wild ride around a PGA Championship. The 56-year-old two-time major champion, whose booming drives propelled him to win the PGA in 1991, drove the hills and swales of Southern Hills in a golf cart the PGA allows him to use because of osteoarthritis in his right knee. First off the tee in the cool of morning, he quickly birdied the first hole and nostalgia was in the air. At least until a flurry of late bogeys hit and Daly ended the round in frustration.

Rory McIlroy has the early lead in the PGA Championship with a 65. Tiger Woods was alongside him at Southern Hills and shot a 74. They played two different games. McIlroy is blasting away with drivers and taking advantage of his length. Woods was picking his spots and not helped by less-than-stellar iron play. He also says his leg is feeling a lot more sore than it did early on at the Masters. McIlroy has a one-shot lead over Will Zalatoris and Tom Hoge among the early starters. Masters champion Scottie Scheffler is among those playing in the afternoon.

Tiger Woods cooled off after a hot start at the PGA Championship, then struggled on his ailing leg down the stretch while shooting 4-over 74 in the opening round. It was his worst opening round at the PGA Championship since shooting 75 in 2015, when he missed the cut. Making the grind seem worse was the fact that Rory McIlroy, who was playing in the same group as Woods and Jordan Spieth, shot 5-under 65 for the early lead at Southern Hills.

The U.S. Soccer Federation has reached milestone agreements to pay its men’s and women’s teams equally. That makes the American national governing body the first in the sport to promise both sexes completely matching compensation. The federation has announced separate collective bargaining agreements through 2028 with the unions for both national teams. The move ends years of often acrimonious negotiations. One of the main sticking points was World Cup prize money. The unions agreed to pool FIFA’s payments for the men’s World Cup this year and next year’s Women’s World Cup. It will also pool the 2026 and 2027 tournaments.

Things have been working out just fine so far in this postseason for Jimmy Butler and the top-seeded Miami Heat. They'll look to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals when they play host to the second-seeded Boston Celtics on Thursday night. It won’t be easy to win two straight. The Celtics are 3-0 after losses in these playoffs. They've won those bounceback games by an average of 14.7 points and got two of those victories on the road.

Southern Hills has undergone an extensive restoration effort ahead of this week's PGA Championship, helping to return the venerable Tulsa layout into what its designer Perry Maxwell had in mind. The greens were restored, bunkers reshaped and moved, trees eliminated and fairways widened. The result is a course that looks very little like the one where Tiger Woods triumphed in 2009 and more like the one where Tommy Bolt won the 1958 U.S. Open.

Jimmie Johnson felt at home making his way around Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the opening day of preparations for the Indianapolis 500. The seven-time NASCAR champion will make his Indy 500 debut on May 29 and is considered a legitimate contender. Johnson won at Indy four times driving a stock car. He topped the speed chart in the morning practice session and was inside the top 10 all afternoon, too. Now he's settling in for two weeks of work before the big race.

Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike's absence from the Preakness has reignited the debate over whether the spacing of the three Triple Crown races should be changed. The current schedule of two weeks from the Derby to Preakness and then three weeks to the Belmont has been in place since 1969, except for 2020 when the pandemic disrupted the order. Proponents of change argue it's better for horses to get more rest and that the Preakness would become a better race. Those in favor of the status quo point to the sport's tradition and say it should be difficult to win the Triple Crown.

Tiger Woods says he cares about majors and legacies. He made that point at the PGA Championship while delivering a sharp rebuke of Phil Mickelson. Mickelson is not defending his PGA title at Southern Hills. He hasn't played competitively in three months since his explosive comments exposed his support of a Saudi-funded rival golf league. Woods says he supports the PGA Tour and that Mickelson has a different view on how golf should be run. They were unusually blunt words from Woods. Amid chatter about Mickelson and the Saudi league, Woods says he is stronger than when he returned at the Masters following a car crash more than a year earlier.

The Golden State Warriors are back in the Western Conference finals for the sixth time in eight years. They will face an unexpected opponent. Luka Doncic and the Mavericks ousted Phoenix, which had the NBA’s best record, with a Game 7 rout in the Western Conference semifinals. The Mavericks haven’t made it this far since winning their lone NBA title in 2011. The conference finals were once just a stopping point for the Warriors, who played in five straight NBA Finals from 2015-19. Game 1 of the series is Wednesday night in San Francisco.

Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka and Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra have enormous respect for each other and a bond that stems from their shared history in the sport. Both grew up in Portland and played in the West Coast Conference before getting into coaching. The two men will face off against each other starting Tuesday for the Eastern Conference's berth in the NBA Finals. Spoelstra says the matchup makes sense because the teams were the best and most consistent in the East during the regular season. Spoelstra is in his 14th season coaching the Heat, while Udoka is a first-year head coach in Boston.

Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin founded 23XI Racing with a vision that extended far beyond the race track. They wanted to expand diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in auto racing. All of which is a whole lot easier to accomplish after days like Sunday. Kurt Busch won a thriller at Kansas Speedway in the No. 45 car decked out in Jordan Brand-themed graphics. It gave the team a second Cup Series triumph. Bubba Wallace won last year at Talladega.

Kurt Busch pinched his way past Kyle Larson for the lead with eight laps to go, then drove his gaudy Jordan Brand-styled car away from the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion to win Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway. It was the second win for the up-and-coming 23XI Racing team owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, who followed the two leaders and Kyle Busch across in fourth place. Bubba Wallace won the team’s first race last year at Talladega. The race was marked by tire problems that hampered the hopes of many contenders, including Chase Elliott and William Byron.

Grant Williams scored a career-high 27 points and hit seven 3-pointers, Jayson Tatum added 23 and the Boston Celtics set a Game 7 record with 22 3-pointers to eliminate the NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks 109-81 on Sunday in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Boston will face top-seeded Miami beginning Tuesday in a rematch of the 2020 East finals. The Heat beat the Celtics in six games in that series at Walt Disney World. The Celtics trailed early but outscored the Bucks 61- 38 in the second half to cruise to the victory. Boston used a whopping 54-point advantage from behind the arc to improve to 25-9 in decisive seventh games. 

Steve Kerr is out of the NBA health and safety protocols and preparing to coach the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference finals after missing the last three games of the semifinal round against Memphis with COVID-19. Kerr said his symptoms were mild with a cough and congestion but his biggest concern was not to get anyone around him sick. He departed less than two hours before tipoff of Game 4 last Monday against the Grizzlies after arriving at Chase Center and testing positive. 

The Memphis Grizzlies are willing to spend whatever necessary to keep their core together. That includes signing All-Star guard Ja Morant to a contract extension this offseason. Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman made that very clear Sunday. Memphis finished a season with its highest playoff seeding at No. 2 in the Western Conference. The Grizzlies were eliminated in six games by the Golden State Warriors in the semifinals. Kleiman says the Grizzlies are not going to have any issues paying anyone they want to pay. Morant missed the final three games of the semifinals. He says he wants to stay in Memphis.

Novak Djokovic raised his first trophy of the year at the Italian Open and showed that he’s back in top form exactly a week before the French Open starts. The top-ranked Djokovic beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-0, 7-6 (5) for his sixth Rome title after missing a large portion of the season because he wasn’t vaccinated against the coronavirus. Djokovic hadn’t won a tournament since raising the Paris Masters trophy in November. Iga Swiatek defended the women’s title by overwhelming Ons Jabeur 6-2, 6-2 to extend her winning streak to 28 matches. 

Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta has proven critical to the team's chances as they advance in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Raanta was pressed into No. 1 duties to start the playoffs with Frederik Andersen dealing with a lower-body injury. The 33-year-old had never started a playoff game before this series. But he allowed two goals in 70 shots in his first two playoff wins against the Bruins. He closed the series with 27 saves in a 3-2 win in Game 7. The Hurricanes will next face the Pittsburgh-New York Rangers winner in the second round.

This is just what Novak Djokovic needed a week before the French Open. The top-ranked Serb beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-3 at the Italian Open to reach his biggest final of the year. Djokovic will attempt to extend his five-match winning streak over Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday’s final. Tsitsipas reached his first Rome final by rallying past Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Top-ranked Iga Swiatek routed Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 6-1 for her 27th straight win and will face another player on a hot streak in the women's final. Ons Jabeur beat Daria Kasatkina 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 for her 11th consecutive victory.

The NBA’s long regular season can be tedious, but make no mistake, it matters. Just ask the Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns, two teams who have home court advantage in Game 7 of their respective second-round NBA playoff series on Sunday. The Celtics host the Milwaukee Bucks a few hours before the Suns host the Dallas Mavericks. The Celtics and Bucks have alternated wins throughout the first six games of their series. The Mavs and Suns have each won all three of their home games in their series, including many by a wide margin.

The playoff resurgence of Al Horford has helped the Boston Celtics regain home-court advantage in their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Milwaukee Bucks. The series is tied at two games apiece. The Celtics look to take their first lead of the series as it shifts back to Boston. Meanwhile, Grizzlies star Ja Morant is out for Game 5 with a bone bruise in his right knee. It comes as the Warriors have a 3-1 lead in the series after a fourth-quarter rally in its Game 4 win. Golden State is on the verge of returning to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2019.

Chris Paul was livid. Kyle Lowry was limping. The NBA playoffs are getting tougher for the No. 1 seeds and issues with their point guards are part of the reason why. Phoenix and Miami find themselves in big-time fights now. Both took 2-0 leads in their respective conference semifinal series and then went 0-2 on the road this past weekend. Game 5s await on Tuesday night. Dallas is visiting Phoenix and Philadelphia is visiting Miami. The winners will be one victory away from the conference finals.