Sports Digest: Olympic champ Nelly Korda shares lead at Women’s British Open

Nelly Korda acknowledges the gang after placing to finish her first spherical on the 18th inexperienced throughout Girls’s British Open in Carnoustie, Scotland on Thursday. Scott Heppell/Related Press

Two weeks after profitable a gold medal on the Tokyo Olympics, top-ranked Nelly Korda started her bid for a second main title by taking pictures 5-under 67 within the first spherical to share the clubhouse lead on the Girls’s British Open on Thursday in Carnoustie, Scotland.

Korda rolled in a 5-foot putt at No. 18 for her eighth birdie of a spherical that additionally contained three bogeys in overcast, chilly however largely wind-free situations over the hyperlinks at Carnoustie. She was tied for the lead with Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom, who drove right into a bunker on the final and missed a 10-footer for par.

The 23-year-old Korda is the brand new star of ladies’s golf, having climbed to No. 1 by profitable the PGA Championship in June and following that up by profitable the Olympic golf event in Tokyo this month. The American has 4 wins in 14 occasions in 2021 and mentioned she has a “goal on my again” in Scotland for the final of the 5 majors.

“You type of try to be on this place, so it feels good,” she mentioned.

Korda, who wore cumbersome, oven-style mitts between pictures at instances through the morning, rebounded from her second bogey of the day, at No. 12, by making a downhill putt for birdie on the subsequent and picked up one other shot on the par-5 14th after reaching the inexperienced in two. She completed birdie-birdie by hitting her method shut at No. 18 with an 8-iron from the middle of the green.

PGA: Patrick Reed withdrew from The Northern Belief on Thursday with an ankle harm, lacking the primary of two occasions remaining earlier than the top of Ryder Cup qualifying. The PGA Tour didn’t obtain particulars on the character of the harm.

Reed is No. 22 within the FedEx Cup and already assured of being within the discipline subsequent week outdoors Baltimore. However with the factors tripled in worth for the postseason, reaching the Tour Championship turns into a little bit harder.

Of extra fast concern is the Ryder Cup. The highest six mechanically qualify after the BMW Championship subsequent week. Reed is No. 9 within the U.S. standings. Six extra gamers will probably be captain’s picks after the Tour Championship.

CYCLING

SPANISH VUELTA: Magnus Cort Nielsen gained the sixth stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Thursday after holding off a hard-charging Primoz Roglic, who took again the pink chief’s shirt along with his second-place end.

Cort Nielsen was a part of an early five-man breakaway on the principally flat 158.3-kilometer (98.3-mile) experience alongside Spain’s jap coast. The Danish rider had simply sufficient left to cross the end line forward of Roglic on the high of a brief however steep ascent close to the Cullera Citadel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. It was the fourth stage win on the Spanish Grand Tour for Cort Nielsen, who additionally has a stage win on the Tour de France.

Roglic, the two-time defending Vuelta champion, reclaimed the race lead that he had held for the primary two phases. Kenny Ellisonde misplaced the lead he held for someday after he struggled all through the ultimate stretches of the stage.

AUTO RACING

INDYCAR: IndyCar will return subsequent season to Iowa Speedway, a brief oval observe beloved by followers and drivers that had fallen off the schedule after 14 years.

The observe in Newton will host a doubleheader subsequent July in a deal brokered between IndyCar Collection proprietor Roger Penske, group proprietor Bobby Rahal and grocery chain Hy-Vee, which relies in Iowa. The corporate has been slowly growing its presence in IndyCar as an occasional sponsor for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

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