Sports
Rory McIlroy: Stars not satisfied playing with LIV Golf
Rory McIlroy of Boston Common Golf tees off against Los Angeles Golf Club at SoFi Center on January 2, 2026, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Rory McIlroy referenced what he perceived as a shifting mindset among former LIV Golf members when asked about Brooks Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour.
The PGA Tour recently reinstated Koepka through a new Returning Member Program that offers a window for select players to return. The five-time major champion will compete this week in the Farmers Insurance Open.
“I think it says more about Brooks than anything else,” McIlroy told reporters Monday night after their TGL match. “He obviously is a very competitive person and wants to compete at the highest level. I think he made the decision that he thought competing at the highest level meant coming back to the PGA Tour.
“You’ve seen others say this recently; Patrick Reed said it in Dubai last week. It seems like some of those guys are maybe starting to realize that they’re not getting everything that they wanted out of going over there, and that’s obviously a great thing for the PGA Tour.”
Reed, who is ranked No. 29 in the world, completed an impressive victory at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday. However, he admitted his LIV Golf status remains in the air with the start of the season two weeks away.
“We’re still finalizing the contract,” Reed, 35, said Sunday. “We’re not complete on that yet. It’s one of those things that I don’t like to talk business and stuff while I’m playing, and so it’s like Monday through Wednesday is the only time to really talk about it.”
McIlroy, who is ranked second in the world, also was asked about the rumored changes to the PGA Tour, including a shortening of the schedule.
“We’ve all heard the rumblings without really knowing what’s been said in those rooms and what they’re thinking of,” he said, “but obviously I think we’ve all heard starting maybe after the Super Bowl and then going through the end of August before the football season starts again. That seems very condensed to me. Seems like a lot of golf in a pretty short amount of time, depending on how many events they want to play.
“But that does open up an opportunity for the other five months of the year around the world. I’m a DP World Tour member, a very proud one, and I think that opens an opportunity for them to showcase some of their biggest events in that time of the year.”
McIlroy, 36, owns a career grand slam among his 29 PGA Tour victories.
–Field Level Media
Sports
ATP roundup: Taylor Fritz struggles to win Dallas opener
Jan 26, 2026; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Taylor Fritz of United States in action against Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in the fourth round of the menís singles at the Australian Open at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park. Mandatory Credit: Mike Frey-Imagn Images Top-seeded Taylor Fritz fought off a stiff test from U.S. countryman Marcos Giron to earn a 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (1) win in the first round of the Nexo Dallas Open on Tuesday.
Fritz posted a 21-9 edge in aces and won 81% of his first-serve points. However, he managed to break Giron’s serve in just two of his 10 opportunities.
Second-seeded Ben Shelton of the United States bested Canada’s Gabriel Diallo 6-4, 6-4, but two other seeded players fell. Great Britain’s Jack Pinnington Jones trounced fourth-seeded Flavio Cobolli of Italy 6-2, 6-2, and Croatia’s Marin Cilic edged sixth-seeded Learner Tien of the U.S. 7-5, 7-6 (4).
It was the 600th career ATP Tour win for Cilic, 37, who joined Serbia’s Novak Djokovic (1,168) as the only active players to reach that milestone. He also passed Goran Ivanisevic’s total of 599 wins to top the all-time list among Croatians.
Other winners were Aleksandar Kovacevic and Alex Michelsen of the United States and Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia.
In the last match of the night, defending champion Denis Shapovalov of Canada, the seventh seed, was set to oppose Rafael Jodar of Spain.
ABN Amro Open
Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic, a lucky loser from qualifying, took advantage of his late entry into the event at Rotterdam, Netherlands, and defeated Belgium’s Zizou Bergs 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) in the first round.
Medjedovic, who entered the draw when Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan withdrew, trailed 5-2 in the first set and fought off a set point in the next game before capturing the tiebreaker. The players exchanged service breaks in the 11th and 12th games of the second set, and Medjedovic again came through in a tiebreaker.
Top-seeded Alex de Minaur of Australia downed France’s Arthur Fils 7-6 (3), 6-2, and the Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor beat France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-4, 6-4. France’s Quentin Halys and Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff also advanced.
IEB+ Argentina Open
Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo pulled off a first-round upset in his home land, defeating fifth-seeded Daniel Altmaier of Germany 6-2, 6-2 in Buenos Aires.
Altmaier struggled with his serve, putting just 69% of his first serves in play and winning only 35% of his second serves. He also committed 30 unforced errors to Cerundolo’s nine.
Sixth-seeded Camilo Ugo Carabelli won an all-Argentine matchup against Francisco Comesana 6-4, 7-6 (3), and eighth-seeded Matteo Berrettini of Italy ousted Argentina’s Federico Coria 7-5, 7-5. Also moving on were the Czech Republic’s Tomas Barrios Vera, Argentina’s Roman Andres Burruchaga and Peru’s Ignacio Buse.
–Field Level Media
Sports
No. 4 Duke clamps down late, tops Pitt in bounce-back win
Feb 10, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers guard Barry Dunning Jr. (22) shoots against Duke Blue Devils forward Cameron Boozer (12) during the first half at Petersen Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images Isaiah Evans scored 21 points to power No. 4 Duke to a 70-54 road win at Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.
Evans went 5 of 6 from 3-point range in the bounce-back victory for the Blue Devils (22-2, 11-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). Cameron Boozer contributed his 13th double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Caleb Foster scored 14 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out five assists.
Roman Siulepa paced the Panthers (9-16, 2-10) with 19 points, and Barry Dunning Jr. scored 17. It was Pitt’s fourth consecutive loss and 10th in its last 12 games.
Pitt had a six-point lead early on, and still maintained a one-point advantage with less than three minutes remaining in the first half. Dunning scored 13 points in the opening period, while Duke struggled with its shooting from beyond the arc, hitting just 22.2% of its 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes. However, one of the 3-pointers the Blue Devils made was from Devin Harris, which capped off a 7-0 run to close the half with Duke up 35-29.
Duke turned up the tempo in the second half and went on to lead by as much as 18 points following a 14-5 run late in the game. That scoring surge began with a thunderous dunk by Boozer, then punctuated by the freshman phenom converting a 3-point play where he connected on a layup through contact and then knocked down the free throw.
Pitt made just one field goal in the final four minutes of play.
The Blue Devils dominated inside, outrebounding the Panthers 37-23 and outscoring them in the paint 36-22. After a hot shooting first half, Pitt made just 2 of 13 3-pointers in the second half while Duke knocked down 7 of 14, with four of those makes coming from Evans.
Duke played without starting center Patrick Ngongba, who was listed as questionable with a left hand injury coming into the game. Ultimately, the 6-foot-11 sophomore was sidelined while wearing a wrap on his hand on the bench.
“He’s doing better. He’s really tough, he played through it (against North Carolina on Saturday). The good news is we got the imaging and all that,” Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said on the Blue Devils’ pregame radio show. “Everything is intact and he’s okay, but there’s some stuff going on there with some soreness and we got to get him right and healthy.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Arizona State spreads scoring, pulls away from Oklahoma State
Feb 7, 2026; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Oklahoma State Cowboys center Benjamin Ahmed (23) and Arizona Wildcats forward Sidi Gueye (15) both reach to catch the ball during the second half of the game at McKale Memorial Center. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images Santiago Trouet scored a season-high 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Arizona State posted an 85-76 victory over Oklahoma State on Tuesday in Tempe, Ariz.
The Sun Devils (13-12, 4-8 Big 12) had six players finish with double-figure scoring, led by Massamba Diop with 17 points.
Maurice Odum had 13 points and seven rebounds, Noah Meeusen finished with 12 points, Andrija Grbovic had 11 points and Anthony Johnson scored 10. Trouet logged his fourth double-double of the season for Arizona State, which had lost three of its previous four games.
Oklahoma State (16-8, 4-7) was swept in its trip to No. 1 Arizona and Arizona State, affecting its status as an NCAA tournament bubble team.
Parsa Fallah and Anthony Roy each scored 16 points to lead the Cowboys. Kanye Clary finished with 11, and Vyctorious Miller had 10.
The Cowboys tied the game twice in the second half, the last time with 14:39 remaining, but could not take the lead.
Arizona State went up 60-52 lead with 10:37 left on a three-point play by Diop.
The Cowboys cut the gap to 60-57, drawing the third foul by Odum and fourth on Diop in that stretch.
Odum was whistled for his fourth foul with 6:32 left, and Jaylen Curry made both free throws to slice the Sun Devils’ lead to 66-63.
Oklahoma State also encountered foul problems with Fallah, Roy and Miller playing with four in the second half.
After a 3-pointer by Clary got the Cowboys within 69-68 with 4:37 left, Arizona State scored the next nine points to pull away. Meeusen capped the surge by making a layup and two free throws.
Arizona State outscored Oklahoma State 17-6 to build a 29-16 lead with 8:08 left in the first half.
Grbovic scored the last seven points in that run by hitting two 3-pointers, one of which resulted in a four-point play when he was fouled taking the shot.
Oklahoma State answered with a 16-3 run to tie the game at 32 with 2:34 left in the half.
The Cowboys failed to make a field goal in the last 3 1/2 minutes, missing their final three shots of the half. They trailed 39-34 at halftime.
Oklahoma State had 10 turnovers that led to 16 points for the Sun Devils at that point. The Cowboys finished with 17 turnovers, resulting in 26 points for Arizona State.
–Field Level Media
