LPGA commissioner Craig Kessler apologized Tuesday for how the season-opening Tournament of Champions was cut short over the weekend in Orlando.

Amid frigid temperatures at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club, the LPGA allowed the event’s pro-am to continue on Sunday. The fourth and final round of the pro tournament was delayed, and eight players ultimately teed it up before the round was canceled.

The event was shortened to 54 holes, and Nelly Korda, who led after three rounds, was declared the winner.

In addition to confusion over play on Sunday, Kessler also heard questions about why the fourth round wasn’t postponed until the following day. The next tour event, the Honda LPGA Thailand, doesn’t begin until Feb. 19.

Kessler addressed a memo to the player, writing in part, “I made the decision to limit the event to 54 holes, worried that our athletes might be injured given the way record overnight low temperatures hardened the course. While the decision was a tough one and ran counter to prior statements we shared, I made a judgement call. With the benefit of hindsight, there were clearly other ways we should have managed the situation.

“I recognize this decision, and others we made in real time, were confusing and disappointing to our fans. And our communication around the decision wasn’t clear or timely enough. Your frustration is valid — I own that, and I’m sorry.”

He added plans for similar scenarios in future tournaments:

“Establishing clearer principles for play decisions in challenging situations, including strengthening weekly contingency planning.

“Communicating faster, more clearly, and with better real-time information.”

Runner-up Amy Yang of South Korea, who finished three strokes back of Korda, said on Sunday, “I wish I played final round, you know, give myself a little chance. But it was playing very cold out there. I got here early warming up for 10:00 a.m. resume, and the greens weren’t playable … so, yeah, I could understand that we couldn’t compete for the fourth round.”

–Field Level Media

Arizona State and Utah are showing an ability to score but struggling to stop opponents from getting baskets.

Due to those struggles both teams find themselves residing near the bottom of the Big 12 heading into Wednesday’s contest in Salt Lake City, when Arizona State attempts to avoid a third straight loss and Utah hopes to stop its own three-game slide.

Arizona State (11-11, 2-7 Big 12) has allowed at least 80 points in six conference games so far and its 80.1 points allowed are 14th in the conference.

The Sun Devils are coming off Saturday’s 87-74 home loss to top-ranked Arizona when they faded after an evenly-played opening half. Arizona State was outscored 49-36 in the final 20 minutes and shot 41.5%, marking its third-worst showing in conference play.

“We just weren’t able to stand up to the challenge on the interior, whether that meant stopping their drive or getting a big defensive rebound when we needed to,” Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said.

Arizona State is led by Maurice Odum’s 17.1 points, and he scored 15 on Saturday. Odum had a 33-point showing in a 14-point win over Cincinnati on Jan. 24 but is 11-of-29 from the floor in his past two games.

Utah (9-12, 1-7) is averaging 79.5 points but allowing a league-worst 81.5. The Utes have five double-digit conference losses, including an 81-69 setback at Oklahoma State on Saturday which prompted coach Alex Jensen to criticize the selfishness of his team.

“Too many guys are in their own world,” Jensen said. “Too many guys start the game thinking about just scoring. We didn’t pass, and then, obviously, that hurts our defense. But there’s also other ways to be selfish: guys not talking, guys not being ready to shoot, like that. That’s a way to be selfish, as well, but we need to do a better job.”

The Utes allowed 48.5% shooting, the seventh time they allowed at least 48.5% in conference games.

Utah is hoping to get another productive showing from Terrence Brown, whose 22.1 points per game are third in the Big 12.

Brown scored 20 points on Saturday and is 38-for-69 (55.1%) over his past four games.

–Field Level Media

Seth Jarvis scored two goals, Sebastian Aho supplied a goal and two assists and Jordan Staal scored the tiebreaking goal with 5:07 remaining as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Ottawa Senators 4-3 on Tuesday night in Raleigh, N.C.

Brandon Bussi made 22 saves, including strong work down the stretch, to boost his record to 22-3-1 as a rookie. The Hurricanes, whose points streak increased to a season-best nine games (7-0-2), saw a two-goal lead vanish. However, they recovered on Staal’s 14th goal of the season when the Senators were slow to respond on a line change.

Stephen Halliday, Tim Stutzle and Jake Sanderson, who also had an assist, scored for the Senators, who fell short of notching their first five-game winning streak of the season. Nick Cozens provided two assists. James Reimer, a former Carolina goalie (2019-21), made 14 saves in defeat.

The Hurricanes, competing in their final home game prior to the Olympic break, managed only two shots on goal in the third period.

Jarvis scored twice in a span of 3 minute, 2 seconds in the second period as the Hurricanes built a 3-1 lead.

But 40 seconds after his second goal, Stutzle posted a power-play goal. Then Sanderson pulled the Senators even on a power-play goal 4:57 into the third period.

It marked the third time in a six-day span that the Hurricanes didn’t protect a multiple-goal lead, but they’ve recovered to win two of those.

Halliday tipped in a Jordan Spence shot for the game’s first goal 2:46 into the game.

Jarvis boosted his goals total to 25. Aho has a three-game goals streak and he became Carolina’s third player to reach the 20-goal mark this season. Staal, the captain, has surpassed his goal total of last season.

–Field Level Media