Joe Gibbs Racing has filed a lawsuit against former competition director and crew chief Chris Gabehart, alleging that Gabehart attempted to “steal JGR’s most sensitive information” and take it to Spire Motorsports to be the team’s chief motorsports officer.
According to the suit, Gabehart had information from Joe Gibbs Racing like “comprehensive post-race audit and analyses of team and driver performance for the 2025 season,” “complete payroll details, including job titles, contract length, annual compensation, incentive compensation, and compensation plans for prior years,” sponsor revenue and the team’s pit crew analytics from the 2024 season on his personal phone and Google Photos account.
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Additionally, the team says Gabehart had a “Spire” folder on his work computer with proprietary JGR information about how the team operates and how it creates setups. JGR is asking for $8 million in damages along with attorney fees.
Gabehart was the team’s Cup Series competition director in 2025 after serving as Denny Hamlin’s crew chief for the previous six seasons. Hamlin won 22 races with Gabehart atop the pit box and made NASCAR’s title race in three of those six seasons. Before working with Hamlin in the Cup Series, Gabehart crew chiefed in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for the team.
Per the suit, the team parted ways with Gabehart after he asked for more control over the team’s racing decisions. When JGR said no, the parties began working on a separation agreement. After Gabehart left, the team did a routine analysis of his computer and found the folder marked with Spire’s name. The team says Gabehart saved the information on Nov. 7, the day after his meeting with team owner Joe Gibbs.
Spire has been a Cup Series team since the 2019 season and expanded to three cars in 2024. It is fielding cars for Michael McDowell, Carson Hocevar and Daniel Suarez in 2026.
MILAN — As she skated around the Assago Ice Skating Arena rink, moments before the most important routine of her life, Alysa Liu caught sight of her teammate Amber Glenn near the kiss-and-cry couch. Glenn, devastated after Tuesday night’s program, had skated a spectacular routine of her own nearly two hours before. As Liu drew close, she gave Glenn a congratulatory thumbs-up.
“What are you doing?” an exasperated Glenn replied. “Go skate!”
There are no record books to measure such things, but it’s entirely possible that no Olympian has ever smiled as much as Liu did on Thursday night, executing a brilliant, virtually flawless free skate that vaulted her from third place into first. She smiled when she stepped onto the ice, she smiled when she spotted Glenn, she smiled through her lutzes and loops and salchows, she smiled when she pointed her left finger to the sky to close out her routine. And she smiled — and giggled a triumphant laugh — when she skated right up to the rinkside camera and bellowed, “That’s what I’m f***ing talking about!”
That is the entire breadth of the Alysa Liu experience — giddiness, confidence, joy, serenity — and gold-medal-winning talent. At an Olympics where so many others have crumbled under the pressure, she literally laughed in pressure’s face.
“She’s not like us,” her coach Phillip DiGuglielmo said, beaming in the afterglow of her victory. “The rest of us here would be like, ‘Oh my God, I’m nervous. I can’t do this. I have a million voices in my head.’ She has one voice in her head and it says, ‘I got this.’”
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“The feelings I felt out there were calm, happy, confident,” she said after coming off the ice, drawing out pauses between each word. “Of course I had fun. But I’ve been having fun all the time.”
Alysa Liu won a second gold medal Thursday at the Milan Cortina Olympics and celebrated like only she can.
(REUTERS / REUTERS)
Her story remains a remarkable one: a champion at the intermediate, junior and national levels from 2016-20, she made the 2022 Olympic team … and then decided she was done with skating. Completely, thoroughly, slam-the-door done. She enrolled in classes at UCLA, she spent time with friends, she traveled the world … all parts of a normal life denied to competitive figure skaters.
Somewhere along the line, though, she decided to come back to skating, decided that this was the way she could best express her abundance of ideas, in fields far from the ice. Get her started talking about music or fashion or choreography, and she’s likely to spiral off in giddy delight about her latest inspiration or creation.
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“I think I have a beautiful life story, and I feel really lucky,” Liu said. “I’m glad that a lot of people are now watching me so I can show them everything I’ve come up with in my brain.”
Liu rediscovered a love of skating, and skating loved her back. In short order, she rose from retirement to world champion to, now, Olympic gold medalist — the first American woman to win an individual gold medal since 2002.
“I 100 percent believe that if she had not stepped away, she would not be here right now,” DiGuglielmo said. “Giving her that break — not just stepping away, she shut the door — her body got healthier, her mind …. was sparked, all those things that make you into the person you are.”
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What’s most remarkable about Liu is this: for an Olympian, she’s remarkably unfazed by the Olympics themselves. She visualizes something larger, something beyond the Olympic stage, which is truly an achievement given that she’s still 20.
“I don’t need this,” she said, holding up her gold medal. “What I needed was the stage. And I got that. So I was all good, no matter what happened. If I fell on every jump,” she said smiling, “I would still be wearing this dress.”
Someday, a few more Winter Olympics down the line, we might look back on Alysa Liu’s 2026 performance as the start of a revitalization of interest in the sport of figure skating, the way Dorothy Hamill inspired thousands of young skaters after her 1976 gold. And even if not, we’ll still have this one true memory of one perfect night on the ice.
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“When you enjoy doing something, you can excel at it,” DiGuglielmo said. “She can really show that you can do what you love, do it really well, and win the Olympics.”
Her medal around her neck, her skates swapped for sneakers, Liu paused for a thought. “I felt so connected with the audience,” she said, and then laughed. “Oh! I want to be out there again!”
MILAN — With the Americans having pulled their goalie and in desperation mode — just two minutes from losing the gold medal to arch-rival Canada — Hilary Knight came to the rescue.
Knight redirected a Laila Edwards rocket from the point past Canadian goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens, sending red-white-and-blue-clad fans in Santa Giulia Arena into a full-throated roar and giving the U.S. women’s hockey team new life.
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The clutch goal from the U.S.’ veteran leader took on additional meaning minutes later when the Americans followed it with an overtime game-winner. Megan Keller scored just over four minutes into overtime to give the U.S. an imperfect but resilient 2-1 victory in Thursday’s gold-medal match at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Taylor Heise set up Keller’s game-winner when she caught the Canadians in an ill-timed line change and sent a length-of-the-ice pass to Keller. The American juked Canadian defender Claire Thompson, created space for herself in front of the net and lashed the puck through the legs of Desbiens.
“Everything happens so fast,” Desbiens said. “On the shots you never quite know where it goes and it squeaked in. I’ll see that one for a long time.”
Megan Keller celebrates after scoring the game-winning goal to give the United States the gold medal over Canada.
(REUTERS / REUTERS)
For nearly two weeks, Knight had been stuck on 14 career Olympic goals, leaving her tied for the American record held by Natalie Darwitz and Katie King. Now the 36-year-old has the record to herself and a gold medal in what is expected to be the final Olympic game of her illustrious career.
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“There was no way we were losing this game,” Knight said after the game. “That’s all. Simple as that. We had some awesome heavy hitters on the ice.
“I knew we were going to get possession, so I just had to find a place in front of the net.”
A come-from-behind victory over their bitter rivals bolsters this talented American roster’s case as the best women’s hockey team their country has ever produced. The U.S. had flattened everything in its path before the gold-medal match, outscoring its first six opponents 31-1 and not giving up a goal for 16 consecutive periods.
The only goal the U.S. surrendered before Thursday was a flukey one in its opening game of group play. Czechia’s Barbora Juříčková emerged from the penalty box at the exact same moment the U.S. coughed up possession of the puck, leading to a breakaway goal.
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“I’ve been on a lot of teams throughout my career, but there’s something special about this one,” American forward Kendall Coyne Schofield said. “I think it’s ultimately how enjoyable it is to be in that locker room and how everyone is willing to do whatever it takes for this team, no matter what the role is.”
For decades, the hierarchy at the top of women’s hockey has been Canada, the U.S. and then everyone else. One of the North American powers has captured gold at every Olympics to feature women’s hockey and every world championships. With few exceptions, the rest of the world has essentially battled it out for third place.
Canada entered Thursday having won five of seven Olympic golds, but the U.S. has enjoyed the upper hand in the rivalry recently. First, the Americans edged the Canadians in overtime in the gold-medal match at last year’s world championships. Then they convincingly swept four Rivalry Series matchups earlier this winter. Then, in the final game of group play in Milan, they inflicted the worst beatdown on the Canadians in their brilliant Olympic history.
The lingering question coming out of that 5-0 U.S. blowout was how much the score was a product of the absence of Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin. Was the gap between the best two teams in the world really that wide? Or might the Canadians have been more competitive if they had the superstar who scored the game-winning goal in three previous Olympic gold-medal matches?
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Maybe it was the return of Poulin. Maybe it was Canadian pride and urgency. Whatever the reason, the opening period of Thursday’s gold-medal match looked nothing like the one-sided previous matchup.
Hungrier and more aggressive from the start, Canada outshot the U.S. 8-6 and put the favored Americans on their heels. Though the period ended scoreless, the message to the U.S. was clear: This was not going to be another walkover.
The Canadians broke through short-handed less than a minute into the second period thanks in part to a favorable bounce. Renata Fast’s attempt to clear the puck up the boards took a peculiar bounce off the glass and caromed right to Laura Stacey, fueling a 2-on-1 breakaway with only Keller back.
Stacey waited for Keller to commit, then delivered a pinpoint pass. That set up a beautiful finish from Kristin O’Neill for a 1-0 Canada lead.
It would hold up for all but two minutes, until Knight struck.
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Overtime in Olympic hockey is played 3-on-3, providing more wide-open ice. The Americans caught Canada on a line shift, allowing Keller to slip in from her defensive position, slip the puck past Thompson, then Desbiens and into Olympic history.
The gold is the Americans.
Here’s how the match unfolded in real time:
Live coverage is over37 updates
Chris Cwik
Here’s the goal that won Team USA the gold medal.
Chris Cwik
With 15:53 minutes to go in overtime, Megan Keller made a play. Keller got the puck deep in Canada’s territory, juked a defender and managed to sneak the puck past Ann-Renee Desbiens for the game-winning score.
With that goal, Team USA picked up the 2-1 overtime win, taking the gold medal. It was a truly dominant performance from the U.S. throughout the Games, but Canada played them well Thursday, making it a tense one the whole way through.
Chris Cwik
Team USA and Canada are now in overtime. It will be a 20-minute period of 3-on-3 hockey. And the next goal will win the game.
It’s been a fantastic gold-medal game so far, as both teams have played excellent hockey thus far. The Americans have been aggressive on offense, but Canada has done everything in its power to get in front of shots. That could be less of an issue in overtime, but the U.S. still need to convert with their shots.
Chris Cwik
Hilary Knight is Captain America. And Captain America always comes through.
Knight’s goal with 2:04 tied things up, and now Team USA will try and win the gold-medal game in overtime.
Here’s how Knight’s record-setting goal — which made her the all-time leader in Olympics scoring — looked in the moment.
Chris Cwik
Canada and Team USA have engaged in a tense, back-and-forth contest in the gold-medal game. So it’s only fitting that the game be decided in overtime.
After Hilary Knight’s late scored tied the contest 1-1, neither team managed to score at the end of regulation.
That will send the game into overtime, where the next goal will result in a team winning a gold medal.
Chris Cwik
With her late score against Canada, Hilary Knight made history. After scoring with 2:04 to play, Knight became the all-time leader in USA women’s Olympic scoring with 15 career goals.
Chris Cwik
The Americans made a bold move with over two minutes to play. Despite plenty of time left, the Americans pulled their goalie in favor of an extra attacker.
And it worked! Team USA scored with 2:04 left on the clock Hilary Knight deflected a shot into the net to tie the game at 1-1.
Chris Cwik
The U.S. did not allow a score on Canada’s power play and are now at full strength the rest of the way.
Team USA still trails by a goal and needs a score to tie things up. They now have just under four minutes remaining to get that goal.
Chris Cwik
With 6:23 left to go, the U.S. picked up an unfortunate penalty. Britta Curl will sit for two minutes due to a boarding penalty, leaving Team USA shorthanded when they need a score.
The penalty will take the clock down to 4:27. If the U.S. can’t score during Canada’s power play, they’ll have fewer than five minutes at full strength to get the job done.
Chris Cwik
Time is running out for Team USA in the gold-medal game. The Americans haven’t broken through on offense yet, and trail 1-0 to Canada with roughly 10 minutes to play.
It’s been a tight game, one in which the U.S. has had a few strong chances to score. But Canada’s defense has held throughout. If that can continue for 10 more minutes, Canada will walk away with the gold medal.
Chris Cwik
With 20 minutes to go, Team USA needs some magic. After a close-knit game, the Americans trail against Team Canada 1-0 in the third period.
Team USA has had chances throughout, but haven’t been able to convert. They’ll need to find a way against Canada goalkeeper Ann-Renee Desbiens, who has been fantastic thus far.
Chris Cwik
Heading into the third period, Canada holds a narrow 1-0 lead over the U.S. in the gold-medal game.
It’s been a tight one so far, as both teams have almost the same amount of shots after two periods. Canada sits just ahead, though, leading the way 21-20.
The U.S. had its moments in the second, but can’t break through Canada’s defense. They’ll need to find a way to get on the board in the third period if they want to take home the gold.
Chris Cwik
The Americans are relentlessly attacking the net, but can’t get a puck past Ann-Renee Desbiens.
The U.S. has spent a majority of the second period in Canada’s territory, but haven’t been able to convert with a goal. With roughly six minutes to go, the United States leads 16-12 in shots. That’s a significant improvement over the first period, where Canada outshot the U.S. 8-6.
Chris Cwik
Team USA has had a few chances to score early in the second period, but Canada’s goalkeeper Ann-Renee Desbiens has come up with some big stops.
Team USA had at least two excellent offensive looks, but Desbiens pulled off saves both times. Team USA is threatening more in the second period, but have yet to break through. And trail 1-0 with a little over 11 minutes left in the period.
Chris Cwik
Canada came into the second period looking to survive. With Ella Shelton in the penalty box, Canada would have to play a woman down to start the period.
But that didn’t matter. Kristin O’Neill managed to break through, scoring a shorthanded goal to give Canada the 1-0 lead early in the second period.
Canada managed to kill the penalty too, making it an even playing field now.
Chris Cwik
The U.S. may have their best chance to get ahead early in the second period. The team will have a power play for 1:46 to begin the period following Ella Shelton’s hooking penalty at the end of the first period.
The score is 0-0 heading into the second period. It marks the first time all tournament the U.S. has not scored in the first period.
Sean Leahy
The first period comes to an end in the gold medal game with neither team finding the back of the net. Canada leads the U.S. 8-6 in shots on goal.
The U.S. will have a power play for the first 1:46 of the second period.
Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics – Ice Hockey – Women’s Gold Medal Game – United States vs Canada – Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, Milan, Italy – February 19, 2026. Julia Gosling and Brianne Jenner of Canada in action with Aerin Frankel, Hayley Scamurra and Lee Stecklein of United States REUTERS/Mike Segar
(REUTERS / REUTERS)
Sean Leahy
Ella Shelton heads to the penalty box after hooking Britta Curl with 14 seconds to play in the opening period.
Sean Leahy
Another Canada power play ends without a goal. The U.S. had the best scoring chance during that man advantage with Hayley Scamurra getting a partial breakaway, but Renata Fast, who turned the puck over in the offensive zone, was able to knock the puck away.
Sean Leahy
Joy Dunne will sit for two minutes after tripping Canada’s Erin Ambrose.
When her total score landed — 226.79, good enough for first place with two skaters left to go — she leaped off the kiss-and-cry couch, made a heart with her hands, and mouthed “I love y’all!” to the crowd.
Only two Japanese skaters remained between Liu and gold. Kaori Sakamoto followed with a solid, but less-than-perfect routine that was not enough to surpass Liu. Then came Ami Nakai, whose short skate was more than two points higher than Liu’s. A clean routine and the gold would be hers. It wasn’t; she had a minor hiccup midway through.
A tense moment awaited as the judges tallied their scores. And when they did, Liu was on top — edging Sakamoto by 1.89 points. Nakai, just 17, took the bronze.
Alysa Liu of United States reacts after performing in the Free Skating. (REUTERS/Claudia Greco)
(REUTERS / REUTERS)
American Amber Glenn rallied from a disappointing short program to finish fifth, while Isabeau Levito finished 12th.
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Liu, 20, earned the first individual Olympic medal for an American woman since Sasha Cohen’s silver in 2006 — the first gold medal winner since Sarah Hughes in 2002. And she did so with a smile, marking a triumph and return to glory for American women’s skating.
“The feelings I felt out there were calm, happy, confident,” she said after coming off the ice, drawing out pauses between each word. “Of course I had fun. But I’ve been having fun all the time.”
Liu’s story is as quirky as it is remarkable. The U.S. national champion in 2019 and 2020 and a 2022 Olympian, Liu decided after the Beijing Olympics that she’d simply had enough of skating. She retired, pursuing the kind of life an Olympic figure skater simply can’t have: college, hanging out with friends, traveling. She even journeyed all the way to Mount Everest Base Camp with a friend, a long way from the rink.
But something nagged at her to return, and two years ago, she decided to give skating another opportunity. She succeeded beyond all expectation, skating well enough to win the world championships last year.
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“She’s not like us,” her coach Phillip DiGuglielmo said after her victory. “The rest of us here would be like, ‘Oh my God, I’m nervous. I can’t do this. I have a million voices in my head.’ She has one voice in her head and it says, ‘I got this.’”
Along with Glenn and Levito, Liu has formed the “Blade Angels,” the talented Team USA trio that’s captured the hearts of skating fans and the promotional eye of NBC. Skating observers predicted that they could engineer a medal sweep in Milan; while that didn’t happen, the Blade Angels have (mostly) enjoyed their time in Milan.
Earlier in the night, Glenn skated a redemptive program, making up for her struggles two nights earlier. Thirteenth after the short program, Glenn rallied to miss the podium by just 4.25 points.
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“Going from 13th to the podium is unheard of, so I wasn’t exactly expecting it,” Glenn said. “And even if I had been completely perfect today, it still wouldn’t have been enough.”
A few skaters later, Levito suffered a fall during her routine and ended with a score of 202.80, ending her medal hopes.
“I do my best when I think less when it comes to skating. The majority of it is mental,” Levito said afterward, her voice soft, a gentle smile on her face. “I kind of just went on autopilot (after the fall) because in training I just go, go, go a lot of repetitions. I do my best when I’m thinking less.”
The stage, ultimately, was set for Liu. A month ago, at U.S. Nationals, she posted a 147.80 in her free skate. Thursday, she needed to be better than that to win gold. She was, scoring 150.20 — nearly three points better than everyone else.
And now she’s joined the elite club of just seven other American women figure skaters to win gold at the Olympics.
The United States had a banner day at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Thursday. The U.S. women’s hockey team won its third-ever gold medal. Alysa Liu dazzled on ice to deliver Team USA a drought-ending gold in figure skating women’s singles. Speedskating icon Jordan Stolz added some more hardware, too.
Here are five of the top stories from Day 13 of the Winter Games:
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Megan Keller scores in overtime to give Team USA the gold
The gold-medal game went into overtime, and that’s when Megan Keller made the play of her career. Keller received a pass deep in Canada territory, juked her defender and just barely snuck the puck by Canada’s goaltender, Ann-Renee Desbiens, to give Team USA a 2-1 walk-off win.
Alysa Liu is golden, and Amber Glenn’s free-skate redemption slingshotted her to a fifth-place finish
The “Blade Angels” put on a show Thursday during the free-skate portion of figure skating women’s singles. Liu headlined that act with an awe-inspiring performance to Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park.” After registering the third-best short-program score on Tuesday, her 150.2-point free skate thrust the 20-year-old, two-time Olympian into first place and clinched the U.S.’ first medal in the women’s individual event in 20 years.
Although 18-year-old Isabeau Levito fell on a triple flip to start her free skate, she regained focus and the grace that got her to that moment, ultimately finishing 12th in the event.
Jordan Stolz takes silver in men’s 1,500 meters
The 21-year-old Stolz was seeking his third speedskating gold medal of the Olympics but fell short in the 1,500, finishing 0.77 behind China’s Ning Zhongyan, who set the Olympic record with a time of 1:41.98. Stolz came away with a silver, missing out on his chance to become the first athlete in 46 years to complete speedskating’s sprint treble at an Olympics.
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Stolz won earlier in these Games with gold-medal performances in the 500 meters and 1,000 meters. He has one final chance at a third gold, as he’s set to take part in Saturday’s mass start event.
U.S. women’s curling advances to semifinals on clutch shot
U.S. women’s curling nearly faltered against Switzerland with a trip to the semifinals on the line. Switzerland took three points in the 10th end, tying things up and sending the game to an extra end.
With Switzerland clogging up the house, Team USA’s Tabitha Peterson guided a clutch hammer just past those stones. She managed to put just enough force on the stone, allowing it to settle in the house just itches closer to the button than Switzerland’s stones.
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It was a walk-off victory for Team USA, which will play in the medal round at the Olympics for the first time since 2002.
Spain wins gold medal in Winter Games for first time in 54 years … in ski mountaineering
Spain went more than half a century without winning a gold medal in the Winter Games. It ended the dry spell on Thursday in an event that’s new to the Olympics: ski mountaineering.
Oriol Cardona Coll won gold in the men’s sprint. Ana Alonso Rodriguez, also representing Spain, earned bronze in the women’s sprint.
Megan Keller is a defenseman. But she looked like a forward late in Thursday’s gold-medal game against Team Canada. Not only did the former Boston College standout assist Hilary Knight’s goal that forced overtime, but she also lit the lamp in OT with a move that dropped jaws.
Keller had the puck on a string, as she deftly directed it past the front skate of Canada defenseman Claire Thompson before tracking it down and scoring a game-winner that’s now part of U.S. hockey lore.
One more thing
Maybe maturing is leaving a sibling rivalry in the past. In an act of self-awareness and humor, Kate Gray’s brothers proudly revealed the back of their sweatshirts on Thursday after Gray advanced to the women’s freeski halfpipe final.
Gray was greeted by the words “My sister is more athletic than me” in all caps on their backs.
he Milwaukee Brewers are signing manager Pat Murphy to a three-year contract, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports. The deal is a new contract, not an extension, because it reworks the final year on Murphy’s previous agreement, according to Rosenthal.
Murphy’s contract was set to expire after the 2026 season, but he is now signed through 2028, with a club option for 2029. The agreement will include $8.95 million of new money and make Murphy one of the highest paid managers in Major League Baseball, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports.
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Murphy, 67, earned National League Manager of the Year honors the past two seasons, in which the Brewers won 93 and 97 games and two NL Central titles. He’s the only manager besides Bobby Cox (2004-05 with the Atlanta Braves) to win Manager of the Year in consecutive seasons.
Milwaukee’s 97-65 record last season was the best in MLB, despite the team being 6.5 games out of first place on May 25. But a second-half surge (41-25) boosted the Brewers to another division title. Milwaukee went on to lose to the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.
With Murphy’s contract up after after the coming season, Brewers team owner Mark Attanasio was asked earlier this week about a new deal for the manager. He evaded the issue, saying “we don’t talk about contracts,” but apparently the team and manager had a new agreement in the works.
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Murphy also avoided the topic of a new contract when asked about it before spring training.
Prior to being named manager, Murphy was Craig Counsell’s bench coach in Milwaukee for eight seasons. He was promoted when Counsell left to become the manager of the Chicago Cubs. The Brewers defeated the Cubs in the NLDS last season.
In his two seasons as Brewers manager, Murphy has compiled a 190-134 record. He recorded a 42-54 record as interim manager for the San Diego Padres in 2015, when he took over after Bud Black was fired.
LOS ANGELES — The first three holes Thursday looked miserable for Rory McIlroy.
But roughly eight hours after he first teed off, McIlroy didn’t hesitate.
“The rain,” McIlroy said instantly when asked which part of the round he preferred. The second stretch, though completely dry, was surprisingly much more difficult.
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Whether it was the uncharacteristic rain that battered players in the morning and sent the event into a three-hour delay, or the 20-plus mph wind gusts that whipped through Riviera Country Club, McIlroy appeared to handle both with very little issue.
He posted a 5-under 66 to open the Genesis Invitational, which gave him a share of the lead as he hit the clubhouse. Aaron Rai eventually passed him with a birdie late Thursday right before play was suspended for the day due to darkness.
“I’ve started to just really enjoy this style of golf,” McIlroy said. “If you had asked me 10 years ago, I didn’t enjoy these conditions, but it’s been a shift in a mindset and maybe just a continuation of trying to build upon the skill set that I have. Then, when it does get to conditions like this, I’m a lot more prepared.
“I wouldn’t say I enjoy them, but I can certainly handle them better.”
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McIlroy birdied twice in his first three holes before the rain delay hit, and then he birdied his first one out of the break, seemingly unbothered by the hours-long gap in his round. He easily saved his par plenty of times when things could have fallen apart on him, like when he had to chip from the putting surface at No. 6, and he spun it back close enough for an easy par.
McIlroy nearly went bogey-free Thursday. He slipped at the par-3 16th when he pulled his tee shot well left and short of the green. That was perhaps the one time all day when he looked frustrated as he slammed the top of his iron onto the small, white toy Genesis car serving as the tee marker twice on his way off the box.
But McIlroy birdied the short par-5 17th right afterward to make up for it to get back into a share of the lead before walking off the course for good.
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Rai, who has won once on Tour in his career, got to 6-under for the day and made back-to-back birdies before play ended through 16 holes. He’ll have two holes to complete Friday before starting the second round. Jacob Bridgeman, in his first round at the Genesis Invitational, joined McIlroy at 5-under.
Scottie Scheffler, uncharacteristically, struggled. The top-ranked golfer in the world made two bogeys and a double to make the turn at 4-over, and he bogeyed the 10th before his round was called. His 5-over mark put him in a tie for last on the leaderboard.
The rough conditions Thursday appear to be a one-day issue. The rain will be gone the rest of the weekend, according to forecasts, and the wind will die down significantly, if not altogether.
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“This course is going to play very different I think the next three days … just score-ability with the wind being down,” said Collin Morikawa, who carded a 3-under playing alongside McIlroy. “So we’ll see some low scores over the next 54 holes.”
While that should open the door for the rest of the field — including Scheffler, who always seems to find a way to make a charge in time for the final round no matter what happens to him Thursday — McIlroy has the early advantage in his second Tour stop of the season.
Freddie Freeman is not taking his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers one season at a time.
The 2020 National League MVP and nine-time All-Star has longevity in mind when looking at the rest of his Dodgers career. Freeman has two years remaining on the six-year, $162 million contract he signed with L.A. in 2022, but he said Thursday that he envisions wearing Dodger Blue beyond that.
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The 2024 World Series MVP also sees himself in the lineup for every game the Dodgers play this season.
“I’m going to prepare to play 162 games,” Freeman told reporters on Thursday, including MLB.com’s Sonja Chen. “Then when that day comes or the night comes where they say, ‘We’re going to give you tomorrow off,’ I will fight that battle and most likely lose. But I want to play every game.”
Freeman, 36, has played 147 games in each of the past two seasons. He has played in at least 157 games in eight of his 16 MLB seasons, including his first two with the Dodgers. And he has appeared in all 162 games twice in his career: the 2014 and 2018 seasons with the Atlanta Braves.
Playing two years beyond his current contract could create some nice, round numbers for Freeman’s career. Going through 2029 would give him 20 seasons in the major leagues. He would be 40 years old. And an extra two seasons could also give Freeman the opportunity to reach 3,000 career hits.
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He enters the 2026 season with 2,431 hits. Sitting 569 hits short of 3,000, he would need to average 142 hits the next four years to reach the milestone. The veteran first baseman surpassed that total in 11 of his seasons and topped 190 hits three times. He led the NL with 191 hits in 2018 and MLB with 199 hits in 2022. (Amazingly, his career-high 211 hits in 2023 finished second to NL MVP Ronald Acuña’s 217.)
Is Freeman planting the seeds for an eventual contract extension?
“Four is just a number that’s floated,” Freeman said, via The Athletic. “Is it less? Is it more? I don’t know. … I do love this game. I love playing it. But for me, if I can do four [more years], that’ll be 20 years. I think that’s enough.”
It’s possible that the Dodgers could have difficulty finding a position for Freeman by 2028.
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If he can’t play first base, designated hitter isn’t an option with four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani manning that spot through 2033. Freeman might face competition at first base if one of the organization’s top prospects, Josue De Paula, has to move from the outfield (he finished 2025 in Double-A). Currently, many scouting reports believe that’s in De Paula’s future because he’s not a good runner.
Yet if Freeman continues to hit above .300, which he has averaged in his Dodgers career (.310/.391/.516 slash line), the team will likely find a way to keep him in the lineup.
“I love being here. I’m from Southern California. I’ve had a great time with fans,” Freeman said. “I’m not worried about another contract, not going to bring it up, not going to talk about it. I have two years left.
“I’m just an employee. I just do my job, and if they want me back, they want me back,” he added. “But I think [Dodgers president of baseball operations] Andrew [Friedman] and everyone knows that I love being here. So whatever happens, happens.”
For the third time this season, the Pistons blew out the Knicks. On Thursday night, Detroit rolled to a 126-111 win at Madison Square Garden, sweeping their series for the 2025-26 regular season. The Pistons won by an average of 28 points in their three meetings.
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Cade Cunningham scored a game-high 42 points with 13 assists and 8 rebounds, becoming the first visiting player to score 40+ points and dish out 10+ assists in MSG since LeBron James did so in 2009.
Paul Reed, starting in place of suspended All-Star Jalen Duren, added 18 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks. Tobias Harris scored 11 points with 10 rebounds and 5 assists. With the win, the Pistons boosted their record to 41-13, best in the NBA.
In addition to Duren, the Pistons were also without Isaiah Stewart, serving a seven-game suspension for his part in the brawl with the Charlotte Hornets on Feb. 11.
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Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff disputed the notion that his team got extra motivated to beat the Knicks this season.
“It’s just playing good basketball,” Bickerstaff said, via The Athletic. “This isn’t an ‘Us vs. Knicks’ thing. Our guys have done a great job all year approaching each game the same way.”
Outside shooting was a major issue for the Knicks on Thursday, hitting just 23% of their 3-point attempts (8-of-35). But they actually improved their second-half 3-point shooting after going 1-for-16 (6%) in the first half. Jalen Brunson opened the game by hitting a 3. However, the Knicks missed their next 15 3-point attempts and Detroit took a 58-48 lead into halftime.
New York came into Thursday’s game with the third-best 3-point shooting percentage in the NBA at 37.8% Only the Denver Nuggets (39.5%) and Milwaukee Bucks (39.2%) were better.
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The Knicks closed the Pistons’ lead to 62-60 with nine minutes remaining in the third quarter, behind 10 points from Karl-Anthony Towns. But Detroit’s Duncan Robinson answered with a 3-pointer and New York couldn’t get any closer than a four-point margin for the rest of the frame.
“Nobody wants to lose, and everyone is disappointed,” said Knicks coach Mike Brown. “It’s not a fun feeling, but it’s not the end of the world.”
Brunson led the Knicks with 33 points, in addition to 6 rebounds and 8 assists. Towns tallied 21 points and 11 boards, while Landry Shamet added 15 points off the bench. The defeat dropped New York to 35-21, tying them with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third spot in the East.
The first major event of the NFL offseason arrives next week as the football world zeroes in on the 2026 NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis.
Many of the league’s top executives and decision-makers will head to Lucas Oil Stadium to see hundreds of NFL Draft prospects participate in workouts, medical evaluations and interviews from Feb. 23-March 2.
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This is where all 32 teams can start to finalize their list of desired selections for April’s draft.
Why the combine matters, and what are the on-field drills
Scouting NFL Draft prospects is a year-round process, and the combine can be an important piece of that puzzle.
In recent years, many top prospects have opted out of the majority of on-field workouts at the event in favor of showcasing their skills at private workouts or college pro days. But the combine remains a centralized hub for teams to get face-to-face time with prospects for the first time. And the on-field workouts still matter for lower-level players and prospects who have a chance to put their name into the sphere of public opinion, Yahoo Sports draft expert Charles McDonald wrote. Of those workouts that matter, McDonald highlighted:
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The 3-cone drill for wideouts and defensive linemen
The broad jump for defenders, running backs and linemen
The shuttle (20 yards) for offensive linemen and defensive backs
The 40-yard dash gets the most attention, particularly among running backs and wideouts. Kansas City’s Xavier Worthy holds the record for the fastest time at 4.21 seconds, which he ran in 2024. Candidates who can impress with their speed this year are: RB Demond Claiborne (Wake Forest), WRs Chris Hilton Jr. (LSU) and Barion Brown (LSU), and CB Andre Fuller (Toledo).
The 10-yard split (the first 10 yards of the 40-yard dash) is gaining popularity in measuring football skills as it better measures immediate explosion or “first step quickness.” Last year’s top three performers were Nick Emmanwori (1.49 seconds), Matthew Golden (1.49) and Darien Porter (1.49).
The other drills at the combine are the bench press and vertical jump.
Who’s participating at the combine?
Here is the full list of all 319 invitees. The big names include Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza, Miami edge Rueben Bain Jr., Ohio State WR Carnell Tate, Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love and more.
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“Participating” is used liberally here, as, again, many of the top names invited to Indy might compete in the events on a limited basis. It’s already been reported that Mendoza won’t throw at the combine.
Key players to watch
This class has a lot more good than great in it, and it also has a real lack of consensus among talent evaluators at just about every position, wrote NFL draft analyst Nate Tice. Tice compiled a list of important prospects to keep an eye on. In that group are:
Georgia OT Monroe Freeling
Washington RB Jonah Coleman
Auburn Edge Keldric Faulk
How to watch 2026 NFL combine
Combine coverage, including all on-field workouts and 40-yard dashes, will be broadcast on NFL Network. You can also stream on the NFL+ app.
