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The Chicago Cubs will have to wait another day to try to end their seven-game losing streak.Their game Friday against the New York Mets, scheduled for 1:20 p.m., was postponed because of inclement weather and has been rescheduled for 7:05 p.m. Saturday as part of a split doubleheader.AdvertisementSeparate tickets are required for each game. Gates for the make-up game will open about 60 minutes before first pitch.Right-hander Marcus Stroman, originally slated to take the mound Friday, will start Game 1 Saturday against the Mets, followed by left-hander Drew Smyly for Game 2.AdvertisementThe Cubs (34-55) are trying to build a little momentum with three games remaining before the All-Star break. But the offense isn’t cashing in on enough opportunities while the pitching staff has struggled to deliver consistency.Entering Friday, the Cubs lead the National League and rank second in the majors with 953 plate appearances with runners in scoring position. However, the Cubs have hit .221 in such situations, the second-lowest mark in the big leagues behind the Pittsburgh Pirates (.205).The Cubs went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position during Thursday’s 8-0 loss to the Mets and, notably, that lone hit failed to score a run.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Jim Thorpe has been reinstated as the sole winner of the 1912 Olympic pentathlon and decathlon in Stockholm — nearly 110 years after being stripped of those gold medals for violations of strict amateurism rules of the time.The International Olympic Committee announced the change Friday on the 110th anniversary of Thorpe winning the decathlon and later being proclaimed by King Gustav V of Sweden as “the greatest athlete in the world.”AdvertisementThorpe, a Native American, returned to a ticker-tape parade in New York, but months later it was discovered he had been paid to play minor-league baseball over two summers, an infringement of the Olympic amateurism rules. He was stripped of his gold medals in what was described as the first major international sports scandal.Thorpe to some remains the greatest all-around athlete ever. He was voted as the Associated Press’ Athlete of the Half Century in a poll in 1950.AdvertisementIn 1982 — 29 years after Thorpe’s death — the IOC gave duplicate gold medals to his family but his Olympic records were not reinstated, nor was his status as the sole gold medalist of the two events.Two years ago, a Bright Path Strong petition advocated declaring Thorpe the outright winner of the pentathlon and decathlon in 1912. The IOC had listed him as a co-champion in the official record book.“We welcome the fact that, thanks to the great engagement of Bright Path Strong, a solution could be found,” IOC President Thomas Bach said. “This is a most exceptional and unique situation, which has been addressed by an extraordinary gesture of fair play from the National Olympic Committees concerned.”Thorpe’s Native American name, Wa-Tho-Huk, means “Bright Path.” The organization with the help of IOC member Anita DeFrantz had contacted the Swedish Olympic Committee and the family of Hugo Wieslander, who had been elevated to decathlon gold medalist in 1913.“They confirmed that Wieslander himself had never accepted the Olympic gold medal allocated to him, and had always been of the opinion that Jim Thorpe was the sole legitimate Olympic gold medallist,” the IOC said, adding that the Swedish Olympic Committee agreed.“The same declaration was received from the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports, whose athlete, Ferdinand Bie, was named as the gold medalist when Thorpe was stripped of the pentathlon title,” the IOC said.Bie will be listed as the silver medalist in the pentathlon, and Wieslander with silver in the decathlon.World Athletics, the governing body of track and field, has also agreed to amend its records, the IOC said.AdvertisementThorpe tripled the score of his nearest competitor in the pentathlon and had 688 more points than the second-place finisher in the decathlon.During the closing ceremony, King Gustav V told Thorpe: “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.”

LOS ANGELES — Rookie Rebekah Gardner came off the bench to score 18 points and grab 10 rebounds to lift the Chicago Sky to an 80-68 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday night.Gardner hit 8 of 11 shots, had four offensive boards and four assists to help Chicago improve to a WNBA-best 18-6. Fellow reserve Azurá Stevens scored 14, hitting 6 of 7 shots with two 3-pointers. Candace Parker had 11 rebounds but missed all 11 of her shots and didn’t score.AdvertisementNneka Ogwumike had 16 points and eight rebounds for Los Angeles (10-14), while younger sister Chiney Ogwumike added 14 points and 13 boards. Katie Lou Samuelson and Brittney Sykes both scored 12.The Sky trailed 17-16 after one quarter before outscoring the Sparks 52-31 over the next two.AdvertisementChicago has won three straight and eight of its last nine, while Los Angeles has lost three straight.

There is no singular reason for Ian Happ’s transformation into an All-Star.The work he put in over the last year culminated in him being named an All-Star for the first time, a reward for bouncing back from a first half that was so poor in 2021 that it raised significant questions about Happ’s future in Chicago.AdvertisementHapp debuted two years after the Cubs made him the No. 9 pick in the 2015 draft, leading to a lot of his learning coming at the big-league level surrounded by players who won a World Series together. Happ has weathered the ups and downs over the last six years, including being optioned to Triple-A Iowa at the start of the 2019 season, to turn himself into an All-Star.When breaking down Happ’s 2022 offensive turnaround, three areas stand out.AdvertisementCubs left fielder Ian Happ rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the first inning against the Orioles on Tuesday at Wrigley Field. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)Happ’s struggles against left-handers were so pronounced last season that the switch-hitter essentially was neutralized as a viable lefty-only bat.Happ produced a .213/.301/.352 slash line and 30.4% strikeout rate in 125 plate appearances from the right side in 2021. Those struggles, though, didn’t prompt him to reconsider whether he should solely focus on hitting left-handed because it wasn’t going to help him get more at-bats.“Being a left-on-left guy in this league wasn’t going to help that,” Happ told the Tribune. “The guys that have done that successfully are usually guys who are either in a position where they’re defense first and they are going to be in there no matter what or they’re on a team that tells them, like, hey, no matter what you’re going to get at-bats.“I had a strong belief in myself right-handed, but flipping that around wasn’t going to change what was happening.”Happ knew he could be a good right-handed hitter, recalling success he experienced in his 2017 rookie season. But “outside things dictated whether I was going to play or not on the right side.”“You put pressure on yourself to perform so that you’re in there, and that doesn’t work,” Happ said. “That’s not how you go out and perform at the big-league level.”[ [Don’t miss] Column: It’s a big weekend between Cubs catcher Willson Contreras’ potential swan song and the underperforming White Sox ][ Chicago’s U.S. attorney sues Cubs, alleging disability law violations in Wrigley Field renovations ]In 80 plate appearances as a right-handed hitter against lefties this season, Happ is hitting .347 with a .413 on-base percentage, .528 slugging percentage and .940 OPS. That production exceeds even his current left-handed numbers.Happ credits the time and effort he put into his right-handed swing dating to the final two months last year, when he became a regular in the lineup regardless of pitching matchups. He took on a more relaxed attitude, knowing he could let go and get back to the basics without worrying about how it might affect his playing time. Happ described the adjustments to his right-handed swing and finding extended success with it as “one of the things I’m most proud of and the maturation of where I am now.”AdvertisementHitting coach Greg Brown attributes Happ’s right-handed production to improving how he gathers his body the same way as he does when batting from the left side. Brown thought Happ’s left side had a better feel in putting him in the right swing process to go from his loading position to gathering and then separating. It has become a focal point of Happ’s work with his right-handed swing.“His work is very deliberate that way, and so to his credit, he took a nugget and then ran with it and has built consistency in his swing,” Brown told the Tribune. “And that’s really what this whole thing is about day in and day out.“He’s really been the staple of our offense as far as consistency on both sides of the plate. He’s given us good at-bat after good at-bat, so I’m really proud of him.”Cubs left fielder Ian Happ singles in the first inning against the Reds on June 30 at Wrigley Field. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)Good things happen when players make contact. Coming off his highest K% since 2018, Happ needed to change something.Barrel accuracy and strike-zone discipline have played a big part in Happ’s reduced strikeout rate. His K% sits 8.3% lower than last season and at 20.9% represents the best mark of his career. Fewer whiffs against fastballs helps too, lowering it nearly 5% from 2021 and nearly 9% from 2020. Pitchers have not been able to use it as a putaway pitch as they had in the past.“When you’re hunting and you’re on the right pitches, you end the at-bat,” Brown explained. “So when we’re chasing or when we’re not really focused on a specific area, we ended up extending at-bats, like just missing pitches. He’s done a really good job of putting balls in play and putting balls in play hard.Advertisement“We’ve seen that he had knowledge of the strike zone and now he’s done a much better job at covering the high pitch.”Happ believes his improved strikeout rate stems from a combination of factors: attitude, experience, better understanding of how pitchers are attacking him and visual training. Happ reached out to Tommy La Stella in the offseason to discuss his former teammate’s visual-training regimen. Happ used one while playing at the University of Cincinnati, which had a vision-training program.“It was always something that I thought about but never found or knew the right person,” Happ said. “That’s something that I feel like has definitely contributed.”The vision training features a combination of drills involving tracking balls and hand-eye coordination. Happ utilized an offseason program that carried into the season.“I’ve always felt like it’s an underappreciated underworked part of the game,” Happ said. “There’s times in my career that I felt mechanically I’m right on but something’s letting me down. So to address that and think that, hey, I can get a little bit better visually, I’ll be able to make contact or square up some of those balls that I was just missing.”Cubs center fielder Ian Happ celebrates with a teammate after hitting a home run during the eighth inning against the Pirates game on April 24 at Wrigley Field. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)Chicago Tribune SportsWeekdaysA daily sports newsletter delivered to your inbox for your morning commute.Slumps and 0-fers can grind down any player. Learning how to work through them is imperative to major-league success and consistency.AdvertisementBrown lauded Happ’s “tremendous” mental game and ability to focus.“He’s somebody that takes a lot of pride in preparation and does a ton of deliberate work of how he’s going to be attacked and how he wants to attack (the pitcher),” Brown said.Happ says his mental focus has developed over the years, but the root of it can be traced to his childhood. Former Reds three-time All-Star Sean Casey was a mentor to Happ and spoke often of the mental side of the game and its importance in getting through a 162-game season.“It’s one thing to be locked on your at-bats and what you’re doing, and the other part of it is the in-between and how you deal with the 0-for-4s and 0-for-5s, a couple bad at-bats and coming back and putting it all together,” Happ said. “That’s been a huge emphasis of mine in the last 12 months and something that playing every day has definitely helped with, but it’s been a process.”Maintaining self-confidence and believing mini-slumps aren’t permanent or going to derail a season are part of the process. Players rely on different methods to work through those moments. Some journal, others such as Happ talk through it. He says it has been very important to his mindset.“I set up a separate system to be able to do that, to have those conversations to talk through your feelings,” Happ said. “That stuff is real, and you have to deal with it every single day and you have to be open about it and talk through it.”ExpandAutoplayImage 1 of 21Cubs catcher Willson Contreras walks off the field after striking out during the first inning against the Mets on Thursday at Wrigley Field. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

PHOENIX — Deandre Ayton finally has his new deal from the Phoenix Suns, who simply weren’t willing to let him get away for nothing.A person with knowledge of the situation said the Suns quickly decided to match a $133 million, 4-year offer sheet that Ayton agreed to Thursday with the Indiana Pacers. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Suns had not publicly announced the decision.AdvertisementThe Athletic first reported Phoenix matching the offer. ESPN first reported that Ayton had agreed with the Pacers.The move means the Suns — at least for now — keep their nucleus of Ayton and the All-Star backcourt of Devin Booker and Chris Paul. The trio pushed Phoenix to the NBA Finals in 2021 and a franchise-record 64 wins during the most recent regular season.AdvertisementThe No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft, Ayton was eligible to get an extension from Phoenix last summer.That didn’t happen, and he became a restricted free agent this summer — meaning Phoenix had the chance to match any offers. Once Indiana made its move, the Suns countered quickly.Phoenix has been linked to interest in acquiring Brooklyn star Kevin Durant during the offseason, but Ayton can’t be used as trade bait because of the new deal.The Suns’ move is a blow to the Pacers, who were hoping to add Ayton as a pivotal piece in a promising young core that includes 22-year-old point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who was acquired in a February trade with Sacramento.Ayton — who turns 24 later this month — had a shaky start to his career but became a critical component in the Suns’ run to the Finals. He’s part of the 2018 draft class that includes Dallas’ Luka Doncic and Atlanta’s Trae Young.The athletic 6-foot-11 Ayton is powerful in the low post and has developed a strong mid-range game. He averaged 17.2 points and 10.2 rebounds per game last season while shooting 63.4% from the field and 36.8% on 3-pointers.Much of the criticism about Ayton has been about his maturity. He was suspended 25 games without pay by the NBA in 2019 for violating the league’s Anti-Drug Program by testing positive for a diuretic. He also was benched for part of Game 7 of the team’s second-round loss to Dallas this year after appearing to exchange words with coach Monty Williams.Still, he is generally popular with his teammates. Booker and Paul often praised Ayton, who did a lot of the little things to help the team win.AdvertisementEven without Ayton, Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard may not be done wheeling-and-dealing. Indiana has three potential first-round picks in next year’s draft and enough players and assets to help other teams looking for a salary-cap dump.The Pacers announced Thursday that they waived four players — Duane Washington Jr., Nik Stauskas, Malik Fitts, and Juwan Morgan. They were part of Indiana’s trade that sent guard Malcolm Brogdon to Boston, clearing enough cap space to make the pursuit of Ayton or other players realistic.

MINNEAPOLIS — The Chicago White Sox have looked for a breakthrough moment all season.Luis Robert might have provided one with two outs in the fourth inning Thursday at Target Field.AdvertisementRobert crushed a Sonny Gray slider, hitting it 452 feet for a grand slam.It was a big hit in the first game of a big four-game series before the All-Star break. Robert’s slam helped propel the Sox to a 12-2 victory in front of 26,907.Advertisement“He does it all,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said.White Sox center fielder Luis Robert celebrates after hitting a grand slam in the fourth inning against the Twins on Thursday at Target Field. (David Berding / TNS)Robert had three hits and five RBIs while starter Johnny Cueto allowed one run on seven hits in six innings as the Sox gained ground on the division-leading Twins, whom they trail by four games. The Sox remain a half-game behind the second-place Cleveland Guardians.“Coming into that stretch of these last (few) series, we knew that every game would be important because we’re facing division rivals,” Robert said through an interpreter. “Our mindset has been to try to win every single game and try to play our best.”The Sox led 2-1 in the fourth and loaded the bases with one out on singles by Josh Harrison and Seby Zavala and a walk by Tim Anderson. Harrison’s hit was a liner back to the mound that hit Gray near his right shoulder.Yoán Moncada hit a grounder to first, and Luis Arraez threw to the plate to force the second out.Robert made sure the Sox didn’t come up empty, launching his 12th homer of the season on the third pitch of the at-bat. It had an exit velocity of 111.2 mph. Robert said he was looking fastball but “I’m able to make the adjustment.”Robert drove in his fifth run with a singe during a two-run sixth. Andrew Vaughn homered leading off the seventh. Seby Zavala hit a three-run homer against position player Nick Gordon in the ninth.As good as Robert was at the plate, Cueto was equally impressive on the mound.AdvertisementHe worked out of numerous jams throughout his outing, improving to 4-4 while lowering his ERA to 2.80.“I think it was good,” Cueto said through an interpreter. “Sometimes you don’t feel very good, (Thursday) was OK. The offense supported me, and I was able to go six innings.”The Twins loaded the bases with two outs in the first, but Alex Kirilloff grounded out to Harrison at second. Cueto allowed a run in the second, and the Twins had runners on the corners with no outs. Arraez flied out to left fielder AJ Pollock, who threw home and got Gio Urshela at the plate.“When I saw that throw and the out at home plate, it motivated me,” Cueto said. “I said, now it’s my turn. That was the moment that gave me the energy.”La Russa called it a “game-changing play.”Cueto then struck out Carlos Correa.AdvertisementWhite Sox starting pitcher Johnny Cueto delivers against the Twins in the first inning on Thursday at Target Field in Minneapolis. (David Berding / Getty Images)Byron Buxton tripled leading off the third. Cueto kept him there, getting a popout to Anderson at short, a strikeout and a groundout to Anderson.The Sox led 6-1 in the fifth, but the Twins had two on with two outs. Jorge Polanco hit a high fly to right, which Gavin Sheets caught close to the warning track.“Johnny’s a bulldog and he’s always wanting the next inning,” the catcher Zavala said. “He always wants the ball.”Cueto returned for the sixth and struck out the side. He exited after 118 pitches.“After the fifth he said ‘I’ve got more,’ ” La Russa said. “I said one guy gets on base, you’re out. Nobody got on base.”La Russa said if it wasn’t Cueto’s last start before the All-Star break, he would not have gone out for the sixth.Advertisement“I was feeling good at that point,” Cueto said.Even with the game decided, there was a little drama at the end. After Gilberto Celestino hit a tapper that Zavala fielded and tagged him for the final out, the benches briefly cleared.“I think we all wanted to high-five each other after the game,” Zavala joked. “End of the game, the dugouts came out. Just wanted to see how everyone was doing.”The win was just the type of overall performance the Sox needed.“Celebrate until midnight and then we’ve got the second game of the series,” La Russa said. “(The Twins are) in good shape. We have to accumulate wins.”

MINNEAPOLIS — Oscar Colás was in shock when he learned he would be representing the Chicago White Sox at the All-Star Futures Game.“I was like ‘What?’ I honestly couldn’t believe it,” Colás said through an interpreter Wednesday afternoon during a Zoom interview. “It was a nice moment.”AdvertisementThe outfielder will participate in the event, which highlights some of the top prospects in baseball, Saturday at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Major League Baseball — in conjunction with MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and the 30 major-league teams — selected the players.“It means a lot,” Colás said. “It’s a big step for my career. Just being (recently) promoted from (Class A) Winston-Salem to (Double-A) Birmingham, it’s a good opportunity.”AdvertisementColás has had success in his first season in the organization.The Sox and Colás came to terms on a $2.7 million deal announced in January during the international signing period. He was ranked the No. 5 international prospect for 2021 and is the No. 2 prospect in the Sox organization, according to MLB.com.White Sox outfield prospect Oscar Colás follows through on a swing during a minor-league intrasquad scrimmage during spring training on March 10, 2022, in Phoenix. (Ross D. Franklin / AP)The 23-year old from Cuba summed up his first few months by saying he was “surprised because all the results have been very good. I wasn’t expecting them to be as good as fast as it has been because I knew this was a process. But I’m definitely happy with the results and the adjustments I’ve made, and I plan to keep moving forward and get the results and development I’m hoping for.”Colás slashed .311/.369/.475 with seven home runs and 42 RBIs in 59 games with Winston-Salem. He was promoted to Birmingham on Tuesday and went 4-for-9 with two doubles in his first two games.His previous experience included playing in the Serie Nacional, Cuba’s top league, from 2016-20; the Japan Western League from 2017-19; and the Japan Pacific League in 2019.“The biggest adjustment for me is how I was able to feel comfortable with a little bit of mechanics,” Colás said. “I used to have a leg kick when I was swinging and then by the end of spring training, we made adjustments just to not do that and just keep my foot on the ground, just to be able to reduce the strikeouts and have more contact with the ball.“And it was a fairly easy adjustment, and the results were there right away. I was surprised because I was doing that since I was in Cuba and in Japan. I got good results but now not doing that I see I have better results and I’m able to see the ball better and that’s a surprise because I never thought that would be something I would feel comfortable with.”Asked why the transition from Cuba has been smooth, he said adjusting overall “hasn’t been that easy, especially off the field. But on the field, the key has been just being myself. I’m the kind of guy that I don’t try to be anybody else. I just try to be myself and do what I know that I can do on the field.Advertisement“I have a lot of confidence in myself. I know what I can do. I don’t try to do more than what I can do. … It’s just trusting myself and believing in the things I can do.”[ As Chicago White Sox eye another opportunity vs. Minnesota Twins, Tony La Russa talks accountability — starting with himself ][ Column: It’s a big weekend between Cubs catcher Willson Contreras’ potential swan song and the underperforming White Sox ]That has put him in position to go to Los Angeles for the Futures Game. He’s looking forward to sharing as much of experience as he can with his family.“(I’ll) probably just to go there and call my family in Cuba and show them everything about the All-Star Game and everything around the festivities there,” Colás said. “When I was in Cuba, I wasn’t really thinking about it. I never thought about being an All-Star and being in an All-Star Game or anything like that because we didn’t have that information.“Now that I’m going to be there and I’m going to be surrounded by some of the best players and prospects in the league, it’s something that, wow, I want to share with my family. … Hopefully just share that moment with them. It won’t be in person but I’m going to do all that I can just to show them how that is.”White Sox left fielder Eloy Jiménez, right, is helped off the field by center fielder Luis Robert after suffering a right injury while making a catch in the sixth inning of a 2-1 win against the Guardians on Wednesday in Cleveland. (David Dermer/AP)Sox left fielder Eloy Jiménez was not in the starting lineup Thursday for the series opener against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field after leaving Wednesday’s road game against the Cleveland Guardians with tightness in his right leg.But manager Tony La Russa said, “The scan went reasonable.”AdvertisementJiménez hobbled after making a running catch in left-center for the final out of the sixth inning at Progressive Field. La Russa didn’t rule out Jiménez playing at some point this weekend.“See what it feels like in the next couple days, be careful with him,” La Russa said. “And (there is a) chance he might play this weekend. The scan didn’t show anything drastic happening.”Jiménez was on the injured list from April 24 to July 6 after suffering a torn hamstring tendon behind his right knee running to first against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. His rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte hit a brief pause for what the team called “normal leg soreness.”“He actually felt something like this during his rehab in Charlotte,” La Russa said. “Rested a little bit and came back OK. That’s what we’re counting on.”

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — The Old Course never was faster. The pace of play never was slower.The celebrated start Thursday of the 150th British Open gave way to Cameron Young making his debut with an 8-under 64 for a two-shot lead over Rory McIlroy, and Tiger Woods making what could be his last competitive appearance at St. Andrews a short one.AdvertisementHis score would indicate as much. Woods began his round by hitting out of a divot into the Swilcan Burn for a double bogey. He ended it by taking three putts through the Valley of Sin for a par and a 78, his second-worst score in his Open career.Woods will try to avoid leaving early from St. Andrews for the second straight time.AdvertisementTiger Woods reacts after missing a putt on the 13th green during the first round of the British Open on Thursday in St. Andrews, Scotland. Woods shot a 6-over 78. (Gerald Herbert/AP)“Looks like I’m going to have to shoot 66 tomorrow to have a chance,” Woods said. “Guys did it today. And that’s my responsibility tomorrow is to go ahead and do it — need to do it.”Young and McIlroy didn’t have to contend with as much wind in the morning, though St. Andrews has seen far stronger gusts over its centuries of golf. Throw in the humps and mounds and difficult pin positions, and the Old Course held its own.“It’s the fiddliest Open that I’ve played. It’s the only way I can really describe it,” McIlroy said. “OK, the 18th at Carnoustie was like a runway, that fairway. But around the greens here and just all the slopes and undulations and everything, I think as the tournament progresses, you’re going to get some funny bounces and it’s going to test your patience at times.”Nothing tested the patience like the constant waiting. By late afternoon, the rounds were taking just over six hours. They waited on the tee and in the fairway, and it didn’t help with so many players looking for the best angles to tight pins and playing to the left into other fairways.“It’s the way the golf course is set up. It’s how firm it is,” U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick said after his 72. “The way the golf course is designed … to get better angles and better lines, you’ve got to hit across all the fairways. There’s nothing you can do unfortunately about it. It’s just sad more than anything. It’s just ridiculous.”Good scores were available, and 54 players broke par, 26 of them with rounds in the 60s.Young was a surprise leader only because it’s his first time competing on an Open links. He has had one of the better rookie seasons on the PGA Tour, and the 25-year-old New Yorker is not the least bit daunted by the stage. Just two months ago, he contended into the final hour of the PGA Championship until finishing one shot out of a playoff.Young played smartly and took advantage of the birdie chances. He reached 7 under through 12 holes with the wind helping on the inward nine. He missed two good chances, finished with a birdie and most importantly kept bogeys off his card.Advertisement“I don’t think that I played a perfect round of golf,” Young said. “I scored really well. And I think we thought our way around the way you have to out there.”Cameron Young hits off the No. 3 tee during the first round of the British Open on Thursday in St. Andrews, Scotland. Young leads by two strokes heading in to Round 2. (Alastair Grant/AP)Young figures he knows only a fraction of the secrets to Old Course — no one ever really figures it all out with so many conditions on the ground and in the air — and there was one occasion on the par-5 fifth when he looked at his note in the yardage book: “Hard left is better than right.” He went left and made birdie.“We did stuff like that a few times today,” Young said.Players Championship winner Cameron Smith and English qualifier Robert Dinwiddie each had a 67. Dinwiddie had the best score of the afternoon, when the wind was at its strongest. The large group at 66 included Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, Dustin Johnson and even Barclay Brown, the English amateur who plays at Stanford.Xander Schauffele, coming off his second straight win last week, was in the group a 69.Scheffler tried to explain just how fast the links were playing by suggesting the ball was rolling faster on the fairways than on the greens. Than he realized that actually was the case. It gets that way at St. Andrews when the ground is crispy and the Open comes to the gray, old town.Advertisement“They are? I’m glad I’m not losing my mind,” Scheffler said.McIlroy looked free as ever at St. Andrews, his first time back for the Open since 2010. His game is in good shape and he piled up five birdies through 12 holes, with only one careless play that led to his lone bogey on the 13th.Rory McIlroy plays off the 18th tee during the first round of the British Open on Thursday on the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland. McIlroy shot a 6-under 66 and is in second place, two strokes behind Cameron Young. (Peter Morrison/AP)“Fantastic start. Just what you hope will happen when you’re starting off your week,” McIlroy said. “I did everything that you’re supposed to do around St Andrews.”Then again, good starts are nothing new this year. He led the PGA Championship after 18 holes and was one shot behind after the first round of the U.S. Open. Both times, he couldn’t hold it together until he had fallen too far behind to catch up.“I need to go out tomorrow and back up what I just did today,” he said.Defending champion Collin Morikawa struggled with his putting and had a 72. Morikawa knew how long of a day he was in for when there was a group on the fifth tee, and the group ahead was just starting to walk toward the fairway.Advertisement“Xander and I talked about it. We’re watching more golf than we ever have,” said Morikawa, referring to how both rarely watch on TV. “You stay in the fairway and you’re watching two other groups play golf.”It was hard to watch Woods at times. He was was 6 over through seven holes, missing more putts than usual and missing left off the tee. His tee shot on No. 7 was so far left that it wound up in a bunker in the 12th fairway, leading to another double bogey.There were consecutive birdies around the turn, but little else to celebrate.Woods had pointed to this week even as his shattered right leg from a February 2021 car crash kept him from playing. The Open probably won’t return to St. Andrews for another five years, and the 46-year-old Woods can’t help but wonder if he’ll be playing at a high level by then.“This was always on the calendar to hopefully be well enough to play it. And I am,” he said. “And just didn’t do a very good job of it.”

ExpandAutoplayImage 1 of 13Forward Dominic James practices during Chicago Blackhawks prospect development camp at Fifth Third Arena, July 14, 2022. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras’s audition for the New York Mets begins Thursday night at Wrigley Field, just as the White Sox arrive at a fork in the road in Minneapolis.This final weekend before the All-Star break figures to be a most interesting one for the Cubs and Sox, two teams that have tried the patience of their most patient fans.AdvertisementThe Sox have failed to live up to the high expectations that greeted the 2022 season, slogging around the .500 mark in the first half while manager Tony La Russa takes a beating on the postgame show. The Cubs haven’t even met the extremely low expectations most fans had for them in April, and are likely to trade the popular Contreras to the highest bidder, possibly even to the hated Mets.As the break nears, Chicago has witnessed some of the worst baseball it has seen in years. Entering Thursday, the Cubs and Sox had a combined .400 winning percentage (35-54) at home, seemingly saving their worst for the paying customers at Wrigley and Guaranteed Rate Field.AdvertisementLa Russa has done the unimaginable in his second year on the job: He has dominated the conversation on sports-talk radio, even on WSCR-AM 670, the Cubs’ flagship station. Not since former Bears quarterback Jay Cutler has any local sports figure created as much heated discussion on the airwaves.Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa (22) stands in the dugout before the start of a game against the Baltimore Orioles at Guaranteed Rate Field, June 23, 2022. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)It hasn’t translated at the box office, where the Cubs are still outdrawing the Sox by an average of about 8,400 fans per game. But it’s a lot more fascinating than the Rick Renteria era. The “Fire Tony” chants have been frequent enough on the South Side to jolt White Sox management, though not enough to consider making a change from the 77-year-old manager and BFF of Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.La Russa invites criticism and says he’s harder on himself than anyone else could be.“If you’re preaching accountability for the players, you better start with yourself,” he told reporters Wednesday. “I think our record should be better, so I should manage better.”Many Sox fans concur, particularly when it comes to La Russa’s decisions to call for intentional walks to hitters already behind in the count. If you didn’t know better, you’d think he was trolling his critics, which include Ozzie Guillén, the former manager and star of the postgame show. Guillén called La Russa “Renteria with credentials,” a shot at both Renteria and La Russa. He later apologized for the Renteria shot.The Sox have Johnny Cueto, Michael Kopech and Dylan Cease on the mound this weekend for the showdown with the Minnesota Twins, with struggling right-hander Lance Lynn scheduled for Saturday. Winning three of four would end the half on a positive note and leave them within spitting distance of first. Otherwise it could be time to focus on the wild-card race.Meanwhile, beer cup snakes have received more attention on the North Side than the games on the field. Even Baltimore Orioles fans were able to take over Wrigley this week, thanks to the availability of tickets on the secondary market from disgruntled season-ticket holders. They loudly chanted “Let’s go O’s” during wins Tuesday and Wednesday as bleacherites stacked their cups and ignored them.In contrast to the “tough love” approach by NBC Sports Chicago to La Russa and the Sox, the Cubs are treated more kindly by their station, Marquee Sports Network, despite being on pace for a 99-loss season. AdvertisementAfter their sixth-straight loss Wednesday, analyst Rick Sutcliffe concluded on the postgame show that Contreras needs to be traded for the Cubs’ sake, and for Contreras himself so he can try to win another ring.Even as Contreras continually says he wants to remain with the only organization he has played for, the narrative he must go has been amplified on the network co-owned by the Cubs owners, the Ricketts family. Go figure.Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras (40) walks through the dugout during the second inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Wrigley Field, July 12, 2022. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)NBC Sports Chicago’s postgame shows remind you of a college radio station taken over by student radicals, while Marquee Sports Network’s postgames are closer to a state-run newscast spouting the government line. “It’s different here” is more than just a marketing slogan.So Contreras probably is as good as gone, though he doesn’t actually have to audition for the Mets. They know what he can do for them or any contending team that needs a top-hitting catcher/DH. But if Contreras wants to endear himself to New Yorkers, just in case he’s Queens-bound, this would be a fine time to do so. Mets fans are likely to take over the ballpark in bigger numbers than Orioles fans, and they’re louder by nature.Cubs manager David Ross said his players understand “it’s part of our business” when a team decides to unload valuable pieces for future assets. The Cubs, he explained, are only trying to speed up the timeline for winning.“We know we have All-Star caliber players that are really good,” he said. “Sometimes that timeline doesn’t match up where you get to keep those guys.”AdvertisementContreras’ days of playing for the Cubs at Wrigley seemingly are numbered, and like Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Báez last July, he could spend some time this weekend looking around at his soon-to-be old home. After the break, the Cubs have only two home games remaining before the Aug. 2 trade deadline.The long goodbye has officially begun.By now everyone should be familiar with the drill.