NBA DRAFT
League draft of players begins tonight
NEW YORK (AP) β The National Basketball Association draft of players is being conducted this evening in New York at Barclays Center, the playing home of the Nets. Minnesota holds the No. 1 pick and the Timberwolves haven’t made their intentions known. It is believed that Kentucky center Karl-Anthony Towns will be the first pick but many favor Duke big man Jahlil Okafor. The Lakers choose second, followed by the 76ers, Knicks and Magic.
Kentucky could have seven players drafted. That would break the record the Wildcats set in 2012, when they had six players chosen. Kentucky also owns the record for first-round selections, when John Wall led five players in 2010.
MLB-SCHEDULE
Busy afternoon of play
UNDATED (AP) β The majority of today’s games in baseball are being played this afternoon, eight compared to just three this evening. In Washington the Nationals, who now top the National League East by 3 Β½ games, complete a three-game series against the Braves. The Nationals, who have won their last five games, can take a five-game lead over the third-place Braves with a win.
The second-place Mets, who have dropped seven in a row, are in Milwaukee this afternoon for the final game of a three-game set.
The remaining day games feature the Tigers at home to the White Sox, the Orioles at Boston, Texas entertaining the Athletics, the Dodgers in Chicago facing the Cubs, Arizona at Colorado and the Giants hosting the Padres.
In that Arizona-Colorado contest the pitching matchup has De La Rosa facing De La Rosa, as in right-hander Rubby (ROO’-bee) De La Rosa for the Diamondbacks against lefty Jorge De La Rosa for the Rockies. They are not related.
The evening portion of play has St. Louis, the winningest club in baseball with 47 wins against 24 defeats, playing the Marlins in Miami. The American League East-leading Yankees are in Houston against the AL West-leading Astros in the first of four games and the Reds are in Pittsburgh.
U.S. SENIOR OPEN
Montgomerie looks to repeat
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) β One week after the USGA’s U.S. Open was held outside Seattle, the USGA’s Senior Open is being contested this weekend in Sacramento, California. The winner a year ago was Colin (KAH’-lihn) Montgomerie at Oak Tree in Oklahoma. The victory was his second major of the year. The Scot also won the Senior PGA last year and successfully defended that title last month. He finished 64th in last week’s U.S. Open.
This is the fourth of the Champions Tour’s five majors. In the last event contested, the Senior Players Championship, the winner was Germany’s Bernhard Langer (LAHN’-gur).
PGA-TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP
No Spieth
CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) β Recently crowned U.S. Open champion Jordan Spieth (speeth) is not in Cromwell, Connecticut, for this week’s PGA Travelers Championship. The field does include defending champion Kevin Streelman, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed and Ernie Els, among others.
Davis Love III is skipping the U.S. Senior Open to play in the event. He has made only four senior starts since turning 50 in April 2014.
