Antelope Valley Press

Ryder extends Farmers lead to 3, Rahm gets hot on windy day

SAN DIEGO — Sam Ryder extended his lead to three shots in the Farmers Insurance Open with a 4-under 68 in challenging wind in the second round Thursday on Torrey Pines’ South Course while Jon Rahm had an eagle and three straight birdies late in his 5-under 67 on the easier North Course to get under the cut line.

Ryder survived both the Santa Ana wind and the tougher South Course with just one bogey to reach 12-under 132 and take a three-stroke lead over Brendan Steele, who shot a 70 on the South Course. Tano Goya was two more shots back after a 67 on the North Course.

The Santa Ana wind blowing out of the desert and down the mountains raked the

course most of the day, with gusts up to 30 mph. It sent leaves, branches and even a tumbleweed onto greens, and cardboard trash cans tumbling down hillsides.

Ryder, a 33-year-old who has never won on the PGA Tour, opened some distance after sharing the first-round lead with Aaron Rai and Brent Grant. Grant was in a group of six at 6 under.

Will Zalatoris, ranked No. 7 in the world, missed the cut after shooting 5-over 77 on the South Course.

The final two rounds will be on the South Course.

Claudio Reyna moved out of Austin sporting director role

AUSTIN, Texas — Claudio Reyna was moved out of his leadership role as sporting director of Austin FC on Thursday, the latest job change that followed the Reyna family’s spat with U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter.

The 49-year-old Reyna was shifted to a title of technical adviser. The former U.S captain had led the Major League Soccer team since 2019 and through its first two seasons on the field in 2021 and 2022.

Austin head coach Josh Wolff will be the club’s chief soccer officer on an interim basis, the team said. Director of player personnel Sean Rubio will be interim sporting director.

Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Soccer Federation said sporting director Earnie Stewart was resigning to take a job with PSV Eindhoven and general manager Brian McBride also was quitting.

Berhalter, whose contract expired Dec. 31, is under investigation by a USSF law firm for a domestic violence incident in 1991, and Anthony Hudson took over as interim coach. The USSF said it expected Hudson to remain in the role until late summer.

Austin club officials declined further comment on Reyna’s job change and whether it was related to the family dispute.

“We’re grateful for Claudio’s contributions to both our club and our community,” Austin majority owner and chief executive officer Anthony Precourt said in a statement. “Claudio has been committed to the cause of building a club that inspires Austin, and he will remain in a position to contribute to our organization.”

Reyna said he’s looking forward to “a less all-consuming work pace that still permits me to assist ongoing club development.”

Brazilian pair win Australian Open mixed doubles title

MELBOURNE, Australia — The Brazilian pair of Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos beat India’s Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna 7-6 (2), 6-2 on Friday

to win the Australian Open mixed doubles title in Mirza’s last match at a Grand Slam tournament before she retires.

Mirza, who has won six Grand Slam doubles championships — three in mixed, including the 2009 Australian Open — will retire next month after a tournament in Dubai.

The Brazilian pair took a 3-0 lead in the tiebreaker and Mirza and Bopanna fought back to 3-2, but that was to be the last points the Indian duo took. They missed two overheads in a row, including Mirza’s shot into the net on set point.

Stefani and Matos broke Mirza’s serve in the fourth game of the second set to go up 3-1, with the break point coming after a lengthy exchange between the teams.

Stefani and Matos are undefeated as a team, having won all seven matches together at the United Cup and at Melbourne Park.

Athletics trade LHP Cole Irvin to Orioles for minor leaguer

BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles acquired left-hander Cole Irvin from the Oakland Athletics on Thursday along with minor league right-hander Kyle Virbitsky for minor league infielder Darell Hernaiz.

Oakland had already dealt catcher Sean Murphy to the Braves this offseason after last year’s trade-heavy winter sending away several stars: Matt Olson to Atlanta, Matt Chapman to Toronto and Chris Bassitt to the Mets.

The 28-year-old Irvin went 9-13 with a career-best 3.98 ERA over 30 starts for the last-place A’s, who lost 102 games in manager Mark Kotsay’s first season.

Hernaiz is a shortstop prospect who reached Double-A last season.

The Orioles have been pretty quiet this offseason, but they’ve tried to add some starting pitching to a roster that includes catcher Adley Rutschman and top infield prospect Gunnar Henderson. Baltimore improved from 52 wins to 83 last year, and the Orioles also made themselves a much more palatable destination for pitchers after moving back the wall in left field at Camden Yards.

Baltimore finished 17th in the major leagues in ERA in 2022 after ranking dead last the previous year. The Orioles signed right-hander Kyle Gibson to a one-year deal earlier this offseason. They also have two of the game’s top pitching prospects in Grayson Rodriguez and DL Hall.

Cowboys move on from 6 McCarthy assistants on expiring deals

FRISCO, Texas— The Dallas Cowboys are not renewing the contracts of six members of coach Mike McCarthy’s staff, including senior assistants Rob Davis and George Edwards.

The club announced the moves Thursday, four days after a 19-12 loss to

San Francisco that extended Dallas’ losing streak in the divisional round to seven games, the longest since the 1970 merger.

The other assistants on expiring contracts who won’t return are offensive line coach and former Miami head coach Joe Philbin, running backs coach Skip Peete, assistant defensive line coach Leon Lett and quality control analyst Kyle Valero.

McCarthy was scheduled to address reporters for the final time this season later Thursday.

The Cowboys, who finished 13-6, could also end up losing defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. Both have been interviewing for head coaching jobs.

Davis, the assistant head coach, had the longest relationship with McCarthy. He served as McCarthy’s director of player engagement in Green Bay from 2008-17. Davis was the long snapper for the Packers when McCarthy was hired as coach in 2006.

Edwards was a senior defensive assistant who took a leading role with the linebackers and was praised on Twitter by two-time All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons.

Edwards joined the Cowboys when McCarthy was hired in 2020, as did Philbin and Peete. It was Peete’s second stint as Dallas’ running backs coach.

Lett, a two-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman who played on all three Super Bowl-winning Dallas teams in the 1990s, just finished his 12th season on the staff. Valero had been with the Cowboys since 2014.

Carolina Panthers hire Frank Reich as new head coach

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina Panthers have agreed to terms with Frank Reich to become their new head coach on Thursday.

The 61-year-old Reich joins the Panthers after spending the past four-plus seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, where he went 40-33-1 as head coach before being fired on Nov. 7 after a 3-5-1 start. The Colts went to the playoffs twice as a wild-card team under Reich, going 1-2 in the postseason.

For Reich, the hire represents a return to Carolina where he spent one season as the team’s quarterback and started the franchise’s inaugural game in 1995.

Reich inherits a team that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2017 — and hasn’t won a postseason game since winning the NFC championship in 2015 with league MVP Cam Newton at quarterback.

The Panthers have been searching for stability at quarterback ever since Newton began struggling with injuries shortly after the team’s 24-10 loss to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50. The Panthers cut Baker Mayfield earlier this offseason and Sam Darnold is an unrestricted free agent, so Reich will have a key say in the future of the team’s quarterback situation.

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2023-01-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-01-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://avpress.pressreader.com/article/281930252115037

Alberta Newspaper Group