Sports
Chris Gotterup ‘in position’ at another major, this time close to home
May 15, 2026; Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, USA; Chris Gotterup plays his shot on the 15th tee during the second round of the PGA Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — As Chris Gotteurp ambled around Aronimink Golf Club on Day 2 of the PGA Championship, his play gave the impression that he possessed some course knowledge.
In fact, Gotterup had never seen Aronimink before Monday. He just feels at home in this neck of the woods, flighting shots into the wind on a brisk Friday morning.
“I slept in my own bed on Sunday, so I take that as a win when I can get it,” Gotterup said. “You know, it’s nice to be back wearing a sweatshirt and being in the Northeast.”
The native of Little Silver, N.J., less than two hours east of here on the Jersey Shore, carded a 5-under-par 65 to leap up the leaderboard during the second round of the PGA Championship. As of Friday afternoon, no other player has shot better than a 67 this week.
Gotterup will take a score of 3-under 137 into the weekend, very much in the mix for a major title. The 26-year-old, who’s won four times since earning his PGA Tour card in 2024, will make the cut at a fourth consecutive major.
He took many by surprise last summer after going toe to toe with Rory McIlroy to win the Scottish Open, then contending all week at Royal Portrush and placing third at the Open Championship.
“I feel like, if I’m playing well, I can compete anywhere,” Gotterup said Friday. “That’s no different here. But I think it’s just hard to say what (the Open) did for me other than build confidence. I felt like I played some of my best golf maybe ever as a pro that week, and I came in third.
“So like it’s just one of those things where you just got to keep — I feel like you got to keep putting yourself in position, and you hope that one day it breaks through and it was your time. But as long as you can keep putting yourself there, I think that’s all you can do.”
Maybe high winds are the common denominator between the British Isles and the Philadelphia suburbs this week.
Wind gusts of around 30 mph have complicated some already diabolical pin positions laid out by the PGA of America. While Gotterup’s first three birdie putts were bombs from 26 1/2, 23 and 20 feet at Nos. 11, 17 and 3, he dialed in some tight approaches on his way to birdieing the last three holes of his round.
At the par-4 seventh, his 100-yard pitch shot stopped 2 feet from the pin despite the wind. Then came the par-3 eighth, the hardest-playing hole this week. Faced with a sand-protected front-right flag, Gotterup landed his tee shot less than 5 feet away.
“Even if it’s a generic shot, if it’s blowing 30 off the right, you’ve got to be able to craft something that is manageable to get it in the middle of the green,” Gotterup said.
“I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better since turning pro at being OK with hitting it to 30 feet being a good shot, and I think there’s a lot of that out here. So I think there’s a lot of aspects of being patient, and I feel like I’ve gotten better at that, but also just being creative and being willing to execute a shot that might, you know, you might not try and pull off in a normal week.”
Gotterup, a Rutgers grad, said his parents were in attendance Friday and his girlfriend and her family came to each of the first two rounds, along with a few buddies.
“So it’s been fun in that respect. It makes it feel a little bit more like you’re at home,” Gotterup said. “For how much we’re on the road, you don’t get to feel that that much.”
His family and friends can see firsthand how Gotterup is feeling more at home at the top of major leaderboards.
“Every tournament that I’ve won has been a challenge. So hopefully give myself a challenge come Sunday,” Gotterup said. “I’m just trying to put myself there … and if it comes through, great, and if not, I’ll learn from it.”
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media
Sports
Grayson Rodriguez to make first start for Angels vs. Dodgers
Feb 24, 2026; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Angels pitcher Grayson Rodriguez (21) reacts in the dugout with his team after being relieved in the second inning against the San Francisco Giants during a spring training game at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Allan Henry-Imagn Images Grayson Rodriguez is scheduled to make his first start for the Los Angeles Angels as they hope to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the Dodgers on Sunday in Anaheim, Calif.
The 26-year-old right-hander was considered the club’s top offseason acquisition, imported from the Baltimore Orioles at a heavy price — outfielder Taylor Ward — despite having missed the entire 2025 campaign because of an elbow injury that eventually required surgery.
Rodriguez has not pitched in a major league game since July 31, 2024.
He was deemed healthy enough to pitch for the Angels in spring training and threw 12 2/3 innings in four starts, but suffered from shoulder inflammation and was shelved indefinitely.
After two minor league rehab outings, including last Sunday for Single-A Rancho Cucamonga, Rodriguez once again has been given the green light. He is slated to be reinstated from the injured list to face the Dodgers in the Freeway Series.
“I just thank God that I’m here,” Rodriguez told reporters on Saturday before the Dodgers’ 15-2 win. “It was a tough road for sure. My wife, my family, they helped me through it.
“Rehab, there’s a lot of dark days with that. And for a little bit just kind of wondering why certain things kept happening. Finally, obviously, getting to this organization and working with this medical staff, we got our thumb on it and got after what needed to be better, and here we are.”
Rodriguez made 43 starts for the Orioles in 2023 and 2024, going 20-8 with a 4.11 ERA. He has seen the Dodgers just once, pitching the first five innings of a 6-4 home loss for the Orioles on July 17, 2023. He did not get a decision after allowing four runs.
His Angels debut will come against a team that’s won four in a row, outscoring its opponents 30-4. The Dodgers opened this series with a 6-0 win before recording a season-high 15 runs in the rematch.
Hoping for that same offensive output will be right-hander Roki Sasaki (1-3, 5.88), who has gotten a total of six runs of support this season in his three losses.
The 24-year-old has never faced the Angels in his two-year career.
Once seen as a candidate for a role in the bullpen, where he pitched effectively last postseason, Sasaki is now being counted upon to help anchor the starting rotation with Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow having gone on the injured list.
“It seems like every year we go through it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts lamented to reporters before the game Saturday about the health of his pitching staff. “What I have learned is we get through it. It doesn’t feel great when you’re in it, (but) in baseball, it happens all the time with pitching.”
The Dodgers have benefited this week from the return of shortstop Mookie Betts, who missed 33 games with a strained right oblique.
The eight-time All-Star and 2018 American League MVP has just four hits in five games since his return, but they’ve been impactful. He has homered in two of his past three starts.
– Field Level Media
Sports
Report: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander voted to repeat as NBA MVP
May 11, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) during the second half in game four of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been voted the NBA Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season, ESPN reported Sunday morning.
The official announcement of the winner is set to come at Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
Gilgeous-Alexander will become the 14th player in league history to win back-to-back MVPs. He will be the first player to win consecutive MVP awards since Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic in 2020-21 and 2021-22 and the first guard to win consecutive MVPs since Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry in 2014-15 and 2015-16.
Signed to a four-year, $273.3 million super maximum contract extension in the offseason, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.1 points, 6.6 assists and 4.3 rebounds in 68 games (all starts) this season.
Gilgeous-Alexander, 27, is averaging 25.3 points, 5.3 assists and 4.7 boards in 530 career games (521 starts) with the Los Angeles Clippers (2018-19) and Thunder.
The guard led the Thunder to their first NBA championship last year. Aiming for back-to-back titles, Oklahoma City will open play in the Western Conference final on Monday against the San Antonio Spurs.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Carolina Hurricanes Waiting Game Continues Ahead of Eastern Conference Finals
When the NHL holds its postseason tournament, it’s supposed to be a grind for whatever teams can make it to late May and June.
But there has been nothing hectic or grueling about these Stanley Cup playoffs for the Carolina Hurricanes.
They’ve hardly had anything to do.
Across a period of more than a month, they’ve played eight games. Won them all, and that’s what has caused this spring inactivity.
They’ve waited more than a week to not only learn who they’ll play – either the Buffalo Sabres or Montreal Canadiens — in the Eastern Conference finals, but when they’ll play again.
There’s progress on that front because we know a date – Thursday night. When the Hurricanes return to the ice for Game 1 in Raleigh, N.C., it will be another case of the conversation revolving around the pros and cons of rust vs. rest.
This latest layoff for the Hurricanes at least comes with a point of reference – to some degree, they’ve already gone through this once this postseason, waiting a week between the opening round and the Eastern Conference semifinals. This gap in games will cover nearly two weeks.
So coach Rod Brind’Amour has leaned on that recent experience to get through the past week.
“We always say ‘sharpening the knife,’ ” Brind’Amour said. “We’ve got to keep razor sharp on what we do well.”
Not all has gone perfect for the Hurricanes in these playoffs. The first line has been rather inactive on the scoresheet, but that ought to be considered a blessing to go 8-0 and still wait on Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov to kick it into gear.
The goaltending part has gone better than any Hurricanes fan could have hoped for. Frederik Andersen has been splendid in tending to the crease for the entirety of Carolina’s postseason run so far.
He was pretty much a part-timer during the regular season, ringing up a 16-14-5 record as rookie Brandon Bussi made waves in the nets. But Brind’Amour went with the experience angle when choosing who to send out for the first game against the Ottawa Senators.
There hasn’t been a reason to make a change, so it has been Andersen all the time.
And given the reduced rate of games for the Hurricanes, the whole part-time job aspect might be right down Andersen’s alley.
For a team in the middle of the playoffs, some of the quotes from Carolina players sound like comments that might be heard in September on the dawn of a new season.
“I’m really excited to get going again,” captain Jordan Staal said.
As the Hurricanes have waited, one thing hasn’t changed from when the horn sounded on Game 4 in Philadelphia as the Hurricanes dismissed the Flyers into offseason vacation.
Carolina still needs to win eight more games to achieve its goal. So don’t worry, the grind will come.
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Grayson Rodriguez to make first start for Angels vs. Dodgers
