Talor Gooch shot his second straight round of 5-under-par 67 to join Peter Uihlein and Belgium’s Thomas Detry atop the leaderboard after the second round of LIV Golf Riyadh on Thursday in Saudi Arabia.

The trio is at 10-under 134 halfway through the event. Uihlein and LIV newcomer Detry were the first-round co-leaders but each shot a 69 on the second day.

Gooch rolled in four of his six birdies on the front nine and limited himself to a single bogey at Riyadh Golf Club.

“My intention is to play as good as I can,” Gooch said. “But I think if you were to tell me you would give me 67 every round and I don’t have to play, I would take it and just watch how the cards fall.”

Gooch is the new captain of Smash GC after the departure of Brooks Koepka to return the PGA Tour. Smash combined to score 20 under par on Thursday to move to 30 under for the event, a three-shot lead over Joaquin Niemann’s Torque GC.

Jason Kokrak turned in the round of the day, an 8-under 64, to bolster Smash’s total. That also put Kokrak at 9 under for the tournament, one off the pace and tied with Jon Rahm of Spain, Sebastian Munoz of Colombia and Elvis Smylie of Australia.

“Talor has been a great captain so far. Leads by example,” Kokrak said. “… I think the four of us are going to have a lot of fun this year.”

Uihlein, who picked up three of his birdies during a five-hole stretch at Nos. 13-17, has his sights set on the individual leaderboard as the top 10 finishers will collect Official World Golf Ranking points for the first time.

“Individual is the only thing I’ve got going for me,” said Uihlein, whose RangeGoats are in 11th place in the team competition. “… Now that we get world ranking points, you can jump up in the OWGR and try and get in the majors. That’s definitely the goal.

“Yeah, it would be awesome, right? There’s some unbelievable players out here, and to say you’ve won and beat them definitely would be pretty special.”

Detry is in a prime position to win his LIV Golf debut, a year to the week when he won on the PGA Tour for the first time at the 2025 WM Phoenix Open.

“I like to make statements, and especially my first sort of job, first week for me out here. There’s loads of different things,” Detry explained. “Again, I didn’t really know what to expect, how I was going to react to it, and I put a lot of hard work the last couple of weeks with my coach at home, and I feel like it’s all paying off, too.”

–Field Level Media

Following a day of waiting to see if their superstar would be heading out the door, the Milwaukee Bucks will have Giannis Antetokounmpo still on the roster when they host the Indiana Pacers on Friday night.

It was reported well before the deadline that the Bucks would be keeping Antetokounmpo through the trade deadline and begin to make other trades.

That speculation did not amount to much despite rumors of additions to the team. Milwaukee did make one transaction, sending guard Cole Anthony and wing Amir Coffey to Phoenix in a three-team deal including Chicago that sends forwards Ousmane Dieng and Nigel Hayes-Davis to the Bucks.

Indiana, meanwhile, who comes in tied for last place in the Eastern Conference with superstar Tyrese Haliburton out for the year, acquired center Ivica Zubac and forward Kobe Brown from the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson and three draft picks.

Zubac, under contract for two more seasons beyond this one, effectively becomes the replacement for former Pacer and current Buck Myles Turner, who left Indiana for Milwaukee in free agency last July.

This will be Turner’s third time playing his former team, and the first in which he will not face boos from the Pacers crowd. He hasn’t quite had the impact in Milwaukee as he did in Indiana, averaging 13 points and 5.6 rebounds on 43.9% shooting from the floor on the season.

However, his play has improved with Antetokounmpo off the floor with his calf strain, and he’s averaging 18 points and seven boards in the last five games, including 31-point and 14-rebound performances.

Milwaukee will continue to play without Antetokounmpo, though it did get Kevin Porter Jr. (oblique) back from injury in its 141-137 overtime win over the visiting New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday as he scored 18 points with nine assists, six boards and five steals.

“(Porter) was fantastic, having him and Ryan (Rollins) on the floor gave us two playmakers and I thought it showed how good that it for us,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said.

Bobby Portis (hip) missed Wednesday’s game and is listed as day-to-day while Gary Harris (hamstring) is still listed as out.

Indiana meanwhile, coming in off two straight losses to Houston and Utah at home, also is dealing with injuries.

Obi Toppin (foot) remains out and Micah Potter (hip) is still ailing. The quartet of Pascal Siakam, Aaron Nesmith, Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell all were out due to rest in Indiana’s 131-122 home loss to Utah on Tuesday.

“We did score 122 points which is saying something, but we gave up too many,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said in the postgame press conference. “Our guys did play better. This is amazing experience, they’re going to learn a lot from this.”

Milwaukee has won three in a row over the team that has become their fiercest rival. The first matchup of this season was one of the better moments for Milwaukee on the season as Antetokounmpo hit a game-winning jump shot at the final buzzer on Nov. 3.

Should Milwaukee win its third in a row this season over Indiana, it would also notably mark the first time it has won three consecutive games this season.

–Field Level Media

MILAN — The Olympic torch arrived in front of Milan’s giant gothic cathedral on Thursday amid cheers and protests in the city on the eve of the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina Winter Games.

Nicoletta Manni, a leading ballet dancer at the nearby La Scala theater, carried the flame on to a platform in the shadow of the cathedral where it was used to light a brazier.

Most of those packing the Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square) in light rain and along the route had cheered the torch’s passage and snapped photos with their smartphones. The torch was brought into the square through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele arcade.

A small group of demonstrators flew Palestinian flags on the edge of the square in solidarity with the citizens of Gaza. There were also pro-Palestinian protests near the city’s university earlier in the evening.

Israel has a group of 10 athletes competing at the Games.

On Thursday morning, environmental group Greenpeace staged a protest in front of the cathedral, protesting the role of Italian oil major Eni ENI.MI as a sponsor of these Games.

An installation depicted the Olympic rings dripping black oil, a visual denunciation of companies it accuses of contributing to global warming and threatening winter sports dependent on cold conditions.

“Kick polluters out of the Games,” read one of the banners.

In a statement, Eni said it “shares the importance of addressing climate change” and would continue investing in the energy transition as part of its plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

The flame began its journey across Italy in December after being lit in Rome and has traveled through all 110 Italian provinces. It called in on Games co-host Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Dolomites last month.

The Games are due to open officially on Friday evening, with an opening ceremony at Milan’s San Siro soccer stadium, twinned with a celebration in Cortina.

Italian Olympic ski champions Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni will have the honor of lighting the cauldrons for the Games on Friday, Gazzetta dello Sport reported on Wednesday.

–Reuters, special to Field Level Media