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Golf Glance: The Open returns to Royal Birkdale; Critical points at stake in Puntacana

Scottie Scheffler during a practice round at Royal Birkdale on July 14, 2026.Scottie Scheffler during a practice round at Royal Birkdale on July 14, 2026.

The Open Championship returns to Royal Birkdale for the first time since 2017, while critical FedExCup points are on the line in the Dominican Republic as the regular season winds down.

PGA TOUR

THIS WEEK: The 154th Open Championship, Southport, England, July 16-19

Course: Royal Birkdale Golf Club (Par 70, 7,223 Yards)

Purse: $17.75M (Winner: $3.2M)

Defending Champion: Scottie Scheffler

FedEx Cup Leader: Scheffler

HOW TO FOLLOW

TV: Thursday-Friday: 1:30-4 a.m. (NBC Sports Network/Peacock); 4 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (USA); Saturday: 5-7 a.m. (USA), 7 a.m.-3 p.m. (NBC/Peacock); Sunday: 4-7 a.m. (USA), 7 a.m.-2 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)

Streaming: TheOpen.com/watch

X: @TheOpen

NOTES: Only four weeks remain before the start of the FedExCup Playoffs. … The Open returns to Royal Birkdale for the 11th time, and first since 2017, when it was won by Jordan Spieth. There are 41 players in this week’s field who also competed in 2017. … The field includes all players in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking and each of the top 30 in the FedExCup standings. … An American has won each of the past three Open Championships: Scheffler, Xander Schauffele (2024), Brian Harman (2023). Each of the past 12 champions won the event for the first time. … Tom Kim seeks to become the first player since Rory McIlroy in 2014 to win a major the week after winning on the PGA Tour. … Adam Scott will make his 101st consecutive start in a major, dating back to the 2001 Open Championship. … Scheffler is attempting to become the first player since Padraig Harrington in 2008 to successfully defend at The Open. … Justin Rose finished fourth at Royal Birkdale as an amateur in 1998. He has finished T3-T10-T11 at the year’s first three majors.

BEST BETS: Scheffler (+650 at DraftKings) is coming off his first missed cut in four years and hasn’t won since the AmEx but did win by four shots last year. … Rory McIlroy (+840) finished T4 at Royal Birkdale in 2017, one of eight top-10 finishes in 16 starts in the event. … Matt Fitzpatrick (+1800) finished T4 last year and already has a trio of victories in 2026. … Tommy Fleetwood (+1900) is a Southport, England native seeking to become the first English winner of The Open since Sir Nick Faldo in 1992. … Jon Rahm (+1950) finished T2 in 2023 and has two LIV Golf wins this year. However, he followed a MC at the U.S. Open with a T36 last week. … Chris Gotterup (+2900) won his third title of the year before a T11 in his defense at the Scottish Open. … 2021 champion Collin Morikawa (+3300) is coming off a solo third at the Travelers. … Wyndham Clark (+3900) has a pair of wins and has not finished worse than T13 in his past six starts.

PGA TOUR

THIS WEEK: Corales Puntacana Championship, Puntacana, Dominican Republic, July 16-19

Course: Puntacana Resort, Corales Golf Course (Par 72, 7,670 Yards)

Purse: $4M (Winner: $720,000)

Defending Champion: Garrick Higgo

HOW TO FOLLOW

TV: Thursday-Friday: 12:30-3:30 p.m. ET; Saturday: Noon-3 p.m.; Sunday: 4-6 p.m. (Golf Channel)

X: @PGATour

NOTES: This is the ninth playing of the PGA Tour’s first and only event in the Dominican Republic. It has been co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour and DP World Tour since 2022, and moved to July from April this year. … The winner will receive 300 FedExCup points and a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour if not already exempt. … Higgo won by a single shot over five runners-up last year. One of them was Joel Dahmen, who bogeyed his final three holes, including a missed one-foot putt, to finish T2 after leading after each of the first three rounds.

Last Tournament: Genesis Scottish Open (Tom Kim); ISCO Championship (Steven Fisk)

Next Tournament: 3M Open, Blaine, Minn., July 23-26

LPGA TOUR

THIS WEEK: OFF

Race to CME Globe Leader: Nelly Korda

Last Tournament: Evian Championship (Haeran Ryu)

Next Tournament: Women’s Scottish Open, North Ayrshire, Scotland, July 23-26

LIV GOLF

THIS WEEK: OFF

2026 Season Leaders: Individual: Jon Rahm; Team: 4Aces GC

Last Event: LIV Golf Andalucia (Individual: Tyrrell Hatton; Team: Legion XIII)

Next Event: LIV Golf United Kingdom, July 23-26

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS

THIS WEEK: OFF

Charles Schwab Cup leader: Stewart Cink

Last Tournament: Kaulig Companies Championship (Zach Johnson)

Next Tournament: Senior Open, Auchterarder, Scotland, July 23-26

DP WORLD TOUR

THIS WEEK: The 154th Open Championship, Southport, England, July 16-19

Race to Dubai Leader: Patrick Reed

Last Tournament: BMW International Open (David Puig)

Next Tournament: Danish Golf Championship, Funen, Denmark, Aug. 13-16

–Field Level Media

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Gold medal gymnast Suni Lee returning ahead of LA28

Jun 28, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Sunisa Lee celebrates her uneven bars routine during the U.S. Olympic Team Gymnastics Trials at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn ImagesJun 28, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Sunisa Lee celebrates her uneven bars routine during the U.S. Olympic Team Gymnastics Trials at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

United States gymnast Suni Lee announced on social media Tuesday that she is returning to the sport after not competing since the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Lee, 23, helped the United States win gold in the team competition at Paris and grabbed individual bronze medals in the all-around competition and the uneven bars.

The commitment to return to competition for the St. Paul, Minn., native comes two years before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Lee’s comment on an Instagram post read, “I’m back.”

“I know what I’m capable of. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get there,” Lee said in a short video that included highlights of her gymnastics career. “Back in the gym. We’ll see.”

The video ends with the words, “This is more than a comeback, stay tuned,” typed onto a black screen.

Lee also competed at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo where she won the all-around gold medal and helped the U.S. to a runner-up finish in the team competition. She also won a bronze in the uneven bars.

–Field Level Media

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Folarin Balogun: Red-card reversal 'controversy' distracted USMNT

July 1, 2026; Santa Clara, California, U.S.; Folarin Balogun of the U.S. celebrates scoring their first goal.  Mandatory Credit: Phil Noble-Reuters via Imagn Images July 1, 2026; Santa Clara, California, U.S.; Folarin Balogun of the U.S. celebrates scoring their first goal. Mandatory Credit: Phil Noble-Reuters via Imagn Images

United States men’s national team striker Folarin Balogun said Tuesday that his overturned suspension in the World Cup went from elation among his teammates to a sense of uneasiness that impacted the side’s final match of the tournament.

In a visit to “CBS Mornings,” Balogun described the whirlwind of emotions that started with his red card in a round of 32 match against Bosnia-Herzegovina to FIFA rescinding his mandatory one-game ban for a round of 16 match against Belgium.

Resentment for the USMNT grew after President Donald Trump admitted that he reached out to FIFA for a review of the decision. The animosity picked up even more momentum when Belgium coach Rudi Garcia said his side was prepared to defend the credibility of the sport after Balogun was ruled eligible.

Belgium dominated the second half of a 4-1 victory on July 6 at Seattle that eliminated the United States from the tournament.

The USMNT’s ineffective play against Belgium was criticized, as was star player Christian Pulisic, who struggled to spark the offense before departing with a leg injury.

“It was a difficult game against Belgium and that can kind of overshadow whether we were focused or not,” Balogun said during his studio visit. “From me, being inside the camp and inside the setup, I know we had full concentration going into the game.”

And yet the team carried the weight of what became a heavy dose of world politics.

“My initial reaction was I was happy to be back in the team, but when I kind of started to reflect, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy,” Balogun said. “And I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves. Because it is something that is so unique.

“The closer we got to the game, I tried to just focus as best as I could, but it was difficult (with) a lot of outside noise. That’s hard to avoid.”

While the United States won Group D with victories in its opening two matches and won again in the knockout round, it failed to equal its best run in the tournament. The USMNT advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup at Japan and South Korea.

–Field Level Media

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Report: Michigan AD warned coach not to travel with staffer

Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel walks on the court after 96-66 win over USC at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Friday, Jan. 2, 2026.Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel walks on the court after 96-66 win over USC at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Friday, Jan. 2, 2026.

Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel was concerned about former football coach Sherrone Moore’s improper relationship with a staff member long before the coach’s firing, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Moore was terminated in December 2025 for violating university policy by having a relationship with executive assistant Paige Shiver.

A law firm hired by Michigan to investigate the culture inside the athletic department found that the school missed a major warning sign prior to Moore’s first game as the Wolverines’ head coach in 2024, per the report.

Two days before the 2024 season opener, Manuel raised concerns about Moore’s relationship with Shiver.

“I told him I didn’t remember if we had already discussed, but that she couldn’t accompany him on trips,” Manuel wrote in a previously unreported note on Aug. 29, 2024, handwritten on Michigan letterhead.

The law firm of Jenner & Block’s findings indicated that the physical relationship between Moore and Shiver began on a January 2022 recruiting trip in Colorado, when Moore was an assistant on then-head coach Jim Harbaugh’s staff.

Allegations about a relationship between Moore and Shiver “surfaced repeatedly” beginning after Moore became the head coach in January 2024, including a hotline complaint received by Manuel and a report to school officials from Shiver’s father, per the report.

Shiver reported the relationship to the university in late 2025, leading to Moore’s dismissal.

Manuel, who was hired in 2016 and is under contract through 2030, is under fire for his handling of the scandal. ESPN reported Monday that the school’s regents are holding a meeting later this week that could lead to his ouster.

Manuel reiterated Tuesday that he remains the athletic director at Michigan.

“I think I’ve been fired by social media three times in my 10 years,” Manuel said on WTKA-AM, a local radio station. “I just move through it because, to me, it’s nonsense.”

He also defended the accomplishments under his tenure in Ann Arbor.

“I don’t need the credit (for Michigan’s success),” Manuel told The Michigan Insider, “but I’m not going to stand idly by and let people say all this happened despite Warde Manuel.”

–Field Level Media

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