NEW YORK: Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom fired a bogey-free 6-under par 63 to grab a one-stroke lead over American Megan Khang after Thursday’s opening round of the LPGA Founders Cup.

Sagstrom, last year’s Women’s British Open runner-up, began her round with four consecutive birdies and reeled off four birdies in a five-hole stretch on the back nine at Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, New Jersey.

That put her just ahead of Khang, who made eight birdies without a bogey in shooting 64, and Japan’s Nasa Hataoka, third after a bogey-free 65.

Sagstrom, ranked 35th, followed her sizzling start with a birdie at the par-4 seventh hole then began her back-nine birdie run at the par-5 12th.

Khang, ranked 41st, had runs of four birdies in six holes on both the front and back nines, starting at the par-5 second and par-5 12th.

Sagstrom won her only LPGA crown at the 2020 Gainbridge at Boca Rio while Khang seeks her first tour title.

Hataoka didn’t miss a fairway.

“My swing feels really good,” she said. “I was able to hit a lot of really good shots and put them close and that allowed me to go low.

“I feel like I’m really managing my game well right now, so just kind of carry that into tomorrow’s round as well.”

Hataoka eagled the par-5 second and added birdies at the par-4 fourth, the par-5 ninth, 12th and 14th holes and closed with a final birdie.

“From the tee to the green everything was perfect, so I was able to get the eagle,” Hataoka said.

“I was 15 of 18 for the greens, so that contributed to just carrying that momentum into having more birdies with me. I was able to stick a good one in there on the last one and walk away with birdie.”

Hataoka chases her seventh career LPGA title and second of the year after winning the Los Angeles Open three weeks ago.

Sharing fourth on 66 were Bianca Pagdanganan of the Philippines, South Korean Amy Yang and Italy’s Giulia Molinaro.

LOS ANGELES: The Golden State Warriors pulled away late to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 110-96 and reach the NBA Western Conference finals on Friday as the Boston Celtics stayed alive in the East with a 108-95 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Klay Thompson drained eight three-pointers on the way to 30 for the Warriors. Stephen Curry added six three-pointers and 29 points as Golden State completed a 4-2 victory in the best-of-seven series.

They will face either the Phoenix Suns or Dallas Mavericks, who play a deciding Game 7 in their series on Sunday.

So will the Celtics and defending NBA champions Milwaukee after Jayson Tatum’s 46 points powered Boston to a victory that knotted their series at three games apiece.

With his team facing elimination, Tatum came through. He drilled seven of the Celtics’ 17 three-pointers to help them withstand a 44-point, 20-rebound performance from Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo and knot the best-of-seven series at three games each.

“Our season was on the line,” Tatum said. “I knew that and we knew that. We had to give it all we’ve got.”

Antetokounmpo posted the first 40-point, 20-rebound game since Shaquille O’Neal in 2001, but his third 40-point outburst in four games was not enough for the reigning champs to advance.

The winner of the series will take on the Miami Heat for a place in the NBA Finals.

Tatum reeled off 11 straight Boston points in the fourth quarter to help thwart a rally by the Bucks, who closed a 13-point deficit to four on Antetokounmpo’s three-pointer early in the final period.

“Huge night by (Tatum),” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. “Other guys, as well, but (Tatum) definitely needed.”

It looked briefly as if the Bucks might author another impressive comeback victory, after erasing a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to win Game 5 on Wednesday.

But Tatum and the rest of the Celtics would not let that happen.

“He took it to another level,” Boston’s Al Horford said of Tatum. “That’s what big-time players do in moments like this. He’s a special player and he showed it tonight. He’s poised, knew when to shoot it and knew when to pass it, knew when to attack.

“We put a lot on him and he delivered.”

Jaylen Brown scored 22 points, and point guard Marcus Smart added 21 points for the Celtics.

Jrue Holiday scored 17 for Milwaukee, and Pat Connaughton with 14 was the only other Bucks player to score in double figures.

In San Francisco, it was nip and tuck through three quarters with Curry making two straight baskets to put the Warriors up 78-77 going into the fourth period.

Curry scored 11 points in the final quarter and Andrew Wiggins scored 10 of his 18 as the Warriors, down by two with 6:55 remaining, turned the tide.

Draymond Green chipped in 14 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists. Kevon Looney pulled down 22 rebounds for the Warriors, who had a chance to close out the series in the previous game and were blown out by 39 points.

They reached the conference finals for the first time since 2019, when the franchise reached a fifth straight NBA Finals but fell to Toronto in the championship series.

“I used to take it for granted,” Green said of reaching the conference finals. “I have a much deeper appreciation for it, it’s so hard.”

The Grizzlies, who eliminated the Warriors in the play-in tournament last year, were without young star Ja Morant, who suffered a bone bruise in his left knee in game four of the series.

Dillon Brooks led the Grizzlies on Friday with 30 points and Desmond Bane added 25, but Memphis could not find an answer at the end.

“This obviously stings,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said. “Such a special season with a special group, and I want them to cherish that, remember that, despite this loss.”

McKINNEY, Texas: Jordan Spieth thought the course for his hometown Byron Nelson would play more difficult after yielding more birdies in its debut than any other tournament on the PGA Tour last season.

The three-time major winner says he couldn’t have been more wrong, and is frankly surprised over how little he thinks was done the first two days to make TPC Craig Ranch a stiffer test.

Ryan Palmer, one of the Dallas-area players in the shadow of Spieth and Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, shot a 10-under 62 on Friday and was tied at 15 under with Sebastián Muñoz and 40-year-old tour rookie David Skinns.

Muñoz, a Colombian who lives in the Dallas area and went to college at North Texas, was even through 13 holes coming off his second 60 of the season — a first on the PGA Tour — before birdies on three of four holes for a 69. Skinns shot 63.

Justin Lower, another older tour rookie at 33, was alone in fourth, a shot behind the leaders after a 66.

“I mean, a 60 yesterday and a lot of 8s (under) and 7s all over the board,” said Spieth, who shot 65 and was three shots off the lead in a group that includes defending champion K.H. Lee.

“It’s just, a lot of tees are up, it was very surprising,” Spieth said. “I think they were looking at the weekend as a lot less wind and so they used more of the easier pins the first two days because I can only name one or two pins on this golf course that were not the easiest two locations that are on the greens. I’m a little surprised at how, on a not-so-difficult golf course they have also set it up a little easier for us, too.”

The Nelson was the only 2020-21 tournament with more than 2,000 birdies (2,007). There were 38 eagles in the first round Thursday, the most for a single round this season.

Charl Schwartzel had one of the Friday eagles in a round of 65 that put him at 13 under. The 2011 Masters winner drove into a greenside bunker on the 316-yard, par-4 14th and holed out from there.

The top-ranked Scheffler, who came in with four wins in six individual events capped by the Masters victory, shot a 68 and was 9 under after two rounds alongside his fellow former Texas Longhorns in Spieth and Lee.

Palmer, who finished his opening round with an eagle on the par-5 18th, started on the back nine and birdied six of the last seven holes on that side, then added four more on the front in a bogey-free round.

The 45-year-old hasn’t won an individual event since 2010 in Hawaii. Palmer lives in nearby Colleyville and is a member at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, where the tour returns in two weeks after the PGA Championship at Southern Hills.

Palmer had a two-shot lead halfway through his last Texas stop in San Antonio in early April before shooting 7 over on the weekend. He is a four-time winner, including the 2019 Zurich team event in New Orleans with Jon Rahm.

“I spent 19 years doing this, unbelievable that I’ve been here that long, and these young guys ... you got to play such great golf to beat ‘em,” Palmer said. “We’re in position again and we’ll learn from what we learned in San Antonio and try and do it here.”

Lee won the rain-plagued Craig Ranch debut at 25 under while Spieth tied for ninth, his personal best in a tournament he badly wants to win because of his remarkable pro debut at the Nelson as a 16-year-old Sunday contender in 2010.

There’s no hint of rain this time in McKinney, about 30 miles north of downtown Dallas, and the wind was brisk the first two days. Combine that with the expectation of the rough being more of a factor a year after a February deep freeze wiped it out, and Spieth figured scores would be higher.

Instead, he found himself calling out the moved-up tee box on the par-5 ninth, which played just 474 yards and an average nearly three-quarters of a stroke below par Friday. It was the easiest hole on the course.

The Tom Weiskopf-designed course also has wide fairways and large greens.

“Some familiarity to me with some of the courses I played back in South Africa,” said Schwartzel, who tied for third at 21 under last year. “I don’t feel claustrophobic off the tee. It gives me a bit of space, and once I can get it in play, iron play is not much of a problem. So just really comfortable.”

Skinns, an Englishman with no top-25 finishes in 20 PGA Tour appearances spread out over nearly a decade, had five consecutive birdies starting on the par-3 seventh in his career-best round.

Lower hasn’t finished higher than tied for 15th in an individual event. He paired with Dylan Wu to tie for 10th in the team event in New Orleans.

The ninth-ranked Spieth and No. 17 Joaquin Niemann, also at 12 under, lead the list of 10 among the world’s top 30 in the field.

No. 13 Hideki Matsuyama was 11 under, a shot better than eighth-ranked Justin Thomas, who spent the first two days in the group ahead of Spieth, his good friend and house guest for this week.

No. 11 Dustin Johnson was 7 under, and 12th-ranked Xander Schauffele rallied from 3 over for the tournament early in the second round with eight birdies over 10 holes to make the cut on the number at 5 under.

The rest of the top 30 players missed the cut: 10th-ranked Sam Burns, the runner-up to Lee at the Nelson last year; Will Zalatoris (28th), another player in his hometown event; and Kevin Kisner (30th).

CLIFTON, New Jersey: The only only thing missing from Minjee Lee’s resume this year is a victory and the best scorer on the LPGA Tour took a big step toward that in the second round of the Cognizant Founders Cup.

Lee flirted with the best round on tour this season before settling for a 9-under 63 and a three-shot lead Friday at the halfway point of the event that honors the 13 founding members of the women’s tour. The Australian had a 14-under 130 total at Upper Montclair Country Club.

“Hitting it close really helps you, just like I said before, really just frees you up,” said Lee, who has two top-five finishes in six events. “Even with the short putts, it’s just like a little more confidence boost.”

First-round leader Madelene Sagstrom, Lexi Thompson and Ally Ewing shared second after the round played under a cloudy sky with sporadic light rain less than 10 miles from New York City. Sagstrom had a 70, while Thompson and Ewing had 66s in finishing at 11 under .

Lee got to 10 under with three holes to play but bogeyed the 16th and failed to tie the tour’s low round of 62 by Yuka Saso of Japan in the Honda event in Thailand.

Lee, who entered the week with a scoring averaging of 69.167, tied for second in the HSBC Women’s World Championship in March and shared third in the Los Angeles Open last month.

“Maybe this will be the first one and it’ll kick start the rest of the year,” she said.

Sagstrom, who had a 63 on Thursday, got off to a slow start trying to go low again.

“A lot of things can happen,” Sagstrom said. “A lot of the things can happen to the golf course, the way they set it up and all that. So just giving myself a chance is all I can about myself, and my best today was 2 under, so I was really pleased.”

The 27-year-old Thompson has won 11 LPGA titles, including a major, but she has not won on tour since the ShopRite Classic in New Jersey three years ago.

She was not happy being asked about the drought.

“The talent out here is truly amazing. I mean, it’s tough to win,” she said. “All I can do is control my emotions and how much hard work I put in, and I know the amount of work that I put into it, so if it doesn’t happen, doesn’t happen. It’s not the end of my life.”

Ewing, who has missed the cut in three of seven events, said she tends to start the season slow. She had bogey and seven birdies, with four coming on her first five holes.

“It’s exciting to see that my game has been trending, and just overall I’m just looking forward to the weekend and hopefully I can keep producing the same results,” said Ewing, who has won twice on tour.

Sanna Nuutinen, a 31-year-old Finn playing her first season on the LPGA Tour, had a 68 and was alone in fifth at 135.

Carlota Ciganda, Paula Reto and Megan Khang, who was a shot behind Sagstrom after the opening round, were tied at 136.

Nasa Hataoka, who had an opening round 65, had a 73 and was in a big group at 6-under, a shot ahead of two-time defending champion and No. 1 ranked Jin Young Ko of South Korea, who had in another large group at 5-under after a second-round 70.

Anna Davis, the 16-year-old who won the recent Augusta National Women’s Amateur, made her second straight cut playing on a sponsor’s exemption. She was at 140 after two straight 70s.

Eighty players in the field of 144 made the cut at 1-under. Among those missing it were Marina Alex, the New Jersey native who won at Palos Verdes last month, Solheim Cup captain Stacy Lewis and Leona Maguire of Ireland, who won this year at the LPGA Drive On Championship.

There were plenty of reasons to be pleased with Saudi Arabia’s successful qualification campaign for the 2022 World Cup.

These include winning the group above Japan and Australia, the fact that two local strikers Saleh Al-Shehri and Firas Al-Buraikan finished in the top two places for goals scored in the third round, and the way that the team have developed since coach Herve Renard arrived in 2019.

One more reason is just how impressive Salem Al-Dawsari has been. The winger was a standout all the way along the road to Qatar. It’s not just when he pulls on his country’s famous green shirt that it happens either, the 30-year-old claimed the Best Player award as Al-Hilal won the 2021 Asian Champions League. He was also outstanding when Al-Hilal won Saudi Arabian title number 17.

Most would agree that Al-Dawsari was the best Asian player in Asia in 2021. Chinese media giant Titan Sports ranked the star fourth in their annual Best Footballer in Asia award last year, behind only European-based stars Son Heung-min of South Korea and Iran’s deadly duo Mehdi Taremi and Sardar Azmoun, who play for FC Porto and Bayer Leverkusen respectively. Had the Asian Football Confederation not canceled their annual award then it is likely that the Saudi Arabian international would have been named Asian Player of the Year.

It is not a surprise then that there is interest from Europe. It is also not a surprise that Al-Hilal don’t want to lose their star. It is natural and has been the case in much of West Asia for some time. Local talents emerge but their clubs are reluctant to let them go. Over in the eastern side of the continent in countries like South Korea, Japan and China, a big star attracting even a hint of European interest immediately gets people and the media excited. Clubs there generally are happy to let their best players head to the best leagues in the world and see it as good for the country’s and player’s development. Not only that, it can be hard to attract top young talent in the first place if they think that a possible route to Europe will be blocked.

I remember talking to UAE star Ismail Matar in 2015 after he finished training with Al-Wahda. The man who was named the most-valuable player of the 2003 U-20 World Cup had been linked to Europe for much of his career and had been told by all manner of coaches, agents and journalists that he should go, but never did. By the time we met in Abu Dhabi, such links were a thing of the past. He told me that he had wanted to try his luck but his club just wouldn’t let him go. It would have been fascinating to see what he could have done on and off the pitch in Europe.

Al-Hilal see Al-Dawsari in a similar light and just last December handed him a new four-year contract which is reported to be worth around $3.5 million (SR13 million) a year. That’s a lucrative deal anywhere in the world and it shows just how the player, who has been with the Riyadh club since 2011, is viewed. Foreign stars come and go in football but to have such a player for such a long time, and one that is in the form of his life, is hugely important. He is a talisman.

Al-Dawsari was one of several Saudi Arabian players who went to Spain back in 2018 and impressed more than most with Villarreal and actually made a league appearance against Real Madrid. Soon after he was scoring the winning goal in a World Cup game against Egypt. He has since gone from strength to strength.

That is why there are reports and rumors of interest from the same Spanish club, as well as Almeria, with apparently more in the mix. The important point is that any move gives Al-Dawsari a good chance of regular playing time. There is no point going to Villarreal, who have just appeared in the semifinal of the UEFA Champions League, and never getting a game.

Such a move may be possible for a youngster who has time on his side and would benefit from the experience and opportunity but for a 30-year-old senior international, it is not the right option. A move to Europe would be great for the player but it has to be for the right reasons to the right club and the right coach.

There is something bigger at play too. At some point Saudi Arabia will have stars in the big leagues of Europe, it is only a matter of time. That is what needs to happen because the top European leagues still represent the pinnacle of the club game and it is where the country’s best should test themselves.

At some point, there needs to be a pioneer who shows people overseas and his colleagues at home that it can be done and that pioneer could be Al-Dawsari. The sooner it happens the better. If an offer comes and it is one that provides genuine opportunity to play, and the man himself has the desire to try his luck abroad, then Al-Hilal should do the rest of football in Saudi Arabia, as well as much of West Asia, a big favor and let their star go.

NEW YORK: Phil Mickelson said on Friday he will not defend his PGA Championship title after having stepped away from the game in February amid fallout from comments he made regarding a Saudi-backed golf league.

Mickelson had kept golf fans guessing about whether he would be at Southern Hills Country Club next week but the speculation ended with the PGA of America confirming he would not be in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The 51-year-old American becomes just the third PGA champion not to defend his title after Tiger Woods in 2008 and Ben Hogan in 1949, both of whom bowed out due to injury.

“We have just been informed that Phil Mickelson has withdrawn from the PGA Championship,” the PGA of America said. “Phil is the defending champion and currently eligible to be a PGA Life Member and we would have welcomed him to participate.

“We wish Phil and Amy the very best and look forward to his return to golf.”

Mickelson became golf’s oldest major champion at last year’s PGA Championship when, less than a month shy of turning 51, he held off Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen to triumph by two shots at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course.

Last month Mickelson filed for a release from the PGA Tour to play in the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational event, to be held June 9-11 near London, and also registered for the PGA Championship and June 16-19 US Open.

The PGA Tour on Tuesday rejected requests from several players, including Mickelson, for clearance to play the LIV opener.