Thursday Sports In Brief

GOLF

NORTON, Mass. (AP) - Harris English made the difficult look easy Thursday in The Northern Trust, just like he has done all year to even reach this position in the PGA Tour’s postseason.

Facing the tough stretch on the back nine of the TPC Boston to start his round, English hit 5-iron on the 11th and 12th holes, both of them to about 8 feet for birdies. He followed with two long birdie putts to run his streak to four, and finished at 7-under 64.

English shared the lead with Kevin Streelman, Cameron Davis of Australia and Russell Henley.

Tiger Woods opened with a 68 with five birdies over his last 10 holes.

Of the top 11 players who were separated by one shot after the first round, five of them began the week outside the top 70, with Bubba Watson on the bubble at No. 66.

NBA

NEW YORK (AP) - The NBA draft lottery was delayed three months. The Minnesota Timberwolves are certainly feeling like the wait was worthwhile.

The Timberwolves won the lottery, giving them the No. 1 pick. The lottery was conducted virtually because of the pandemic, with NBA officials doing the actual draw in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Golden State holds the No. 2 pick, Charlotte got the No. 3 pick and Chicago will pick fourth.

The Timberwolves were 19-45 this season, marking the 14th time in 15 years that they failed to make the playoffs and finished with a losing record. And a month ago, Glen Taylor - who has owned the franchise since 1994 - said he “will entertain” offers for the Timberwolves WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx.

BASEBALL

MIAMI (AP) - The New York Mets received two positive tests for COVID-19 in their organization, Major League Baseball said, prompting the postponement of two games.

The finale of the Mets’ four-game series at Miami was called off an hour before it was scheduled to start Thursday night. Friday’s game between the Mets and New York Yankees at Citi Field was also postponed to allow for additional testing and contact tracing to be conducted, MLB said.

The Marlins were still scheduled to travel to Washington for a series against the Nationals beginning Friday. The Marlins had a coronavirus outbreak last month that forced them to suspend their season for eight days.

MLB has postponed 34 games this season because of positive tests.

NFL

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Thom Brennaman will not be calling NFL games on Fox after using an anti-gay slur on air during a Cincinnati Reds broadcast.

Fox Sports issued a statement that said “we are moving forward with our NFL schedule which will not include him.” Fox also said Brennaman’s remarks were “abhorrent, unacceptable, and not representative of the values of Fox Sports.”

Brennaman had been a part of Fox’s NFL announcer lineup since it started televising the league in 1994. He was part of the No. 3 announcer team last season and was paired with analyst Chris Spielman and reporter Shannon Spake. He had also called Major League Baseball games for the network from 1996 to 2014.

The Reds announced late Wednesday that the 56-year old broadcaster was suspended. The team also issued an apology for the “horrific, homophobic remark.” The Reds closed their statement by saying they would be addressing their broadcasting team for the remainder of the season and possibly beyond in the coming days.

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) - Washington Football coach Ron Rivera has a form of skin cancer, which the team called “very treatable and curable” because it was discovered at an early stage.

A team spokesman confirmed Rivera was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma. The team said Rivera detected it in a lymph node from a self-care check and that the prognosis is good for him to make a full recovery.

Rivera, 58, is expected to continue coaching for now after consulting with doctors and oncology specialists.

HOCKEY

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Denis Gurianov scored four goals, including a hat trick in the second period while also assisting on the go-ahead score, as the Dallas Stars rallied from a quick three-goal deficit for a 7-3 win over the Calgary Flames to wrap up the first-round playoff series in six games.

Gurianov had two goals in the first 3:25 of the second period to tie the game at 3, before his helper on Radek Faksa’s power play goal about 2 1/2 minutes later pushed the Stars ahead to stay. It was 6-3 after Gurianov’s next goal capped their five-goal second period, and he scored on a rebound midway through the third period.

Miro Heiskanen added a goal and three assists for the Stars, while Joe Pavelski had a goal and two assists.

Stars goalie Anton Khudobin stopped the last 34 shots he faced after giving up three goals in Calgary’s first seven shots in the first 6:34 of the game.

The Stars, the third seed in the Western Conference, will play Colorado in the second round.

TORONTO (AP) - Anthony Beauvillier scored twice, Semyon Varlamov shut out the team that drafted him and the New York Islanders knocked the Washington Capitals out of the playoffs in the first round with a 4-0 win in Game 5.

The Islanders will move on to face either the Tampa Bay Lightning or Boston Bruins in the second round. Coach Barry Trotz has now advanced in the postseason two years in a row since the Capitals opted to let him leave rather than giving him a raise after he led them to the Stanley Cup.

Washington has bowed out in the first round in each of the past two playoffs under replacement Todd Reirden, who was Trotz’s top assistant.

Empty-netters by Nick Leddy and and Josh Bailey sealed it for New York. Varlamov finished with 21 saves.