In brief: Brittany Lincicome fires 68, leads LPGA Championship
GOLF: Brittany Lincicome opened a three-stroke lead Friday in the wind-swept LPGA Championship, the tour’s fourth major championship of the season.
The long-hitting Lincicome followed her opening 67 with a 68 to reach 9 under at Monroe Golf Club in Pittsford, New York. She won the 2009 Kraft Nabisco for her lone major title and has five LPGA Tour victories.
Lexi Thompson, tied for the first-round lead with Meena Lee, dropped into a tie for second with defending champion Inbee Park of South Korea. Thompson had a 72, and Park shot 66.
Lydia Ko, 17, of New Zealand had a 69 to join Lee, from South Korea, and Jane Park at 5 under.
• Slocum, Langley tied at top of Wyndham leaderboard: Heath Slocum and Scott Langley each shot 5-under 65 for the second straight day to share the lead in the Wyndham Championship.
Brian Stuard, Nick Watney, Martin Laird and Andrew Svoboda were a stroke back at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Spokane native Alex Prugh shot an even-par 70 and failed to make the cut with a 3-over 143 total. The cut line was at 138.
• Cook, Browne share Champions lead: John Cook birdied the final two holes for a 7-under 65 and a share of the first-round lead with Olin Browne in the Champions Tour’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.
The 56-year-old Cook had eight birdies and a bogey on the En-Joie course in Endicott, New York. He won the last of his nine titles on the 50-and-over tour last year in the season-opening event in Hawaii.
Browne, 55, birdied five of the last seven holes in a bogey-free round.
• Pepperdine’s Wedel advances to semis: Pepperdine junior Frederick Wedel scored a 4 and 3 victory over Nathan Smith of Pittsburgh, at 36 the oldest player left in the field, to reach the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur Championship.
Wedel won two of the first three holes against Smith, a four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion. Wedel went up by four holes after birdies on Nos. 12 and 13 and closed the quarterfinal at Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Georgia, with a par on No. 16.
Team USA: No Africa trip after outbreak
Basketball: The U.S. men’s national team has canceled a trip to Senegal after the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
The Americans were scheduled to interrupt their World Cup of Basketball preparations to travel to the African continent for the first time, conducting a joint clinic on Aug. 27 with the Senegal national team. They planned to attend a reception hosted by the Senegalese government.
But USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said the Americans had no choice but to call off the trip because of the risk involved with Senegal’s location near countries where the outbreak has been deadly.
More than 1,000 people have died in West Africa in the last six months after the outbreak quickly spread to major cities in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
• U.S. advances to U17 final: Malik Newman led the two-time defending champion United States to the FIBA Under-17 World Championship final, scoring 15 points in an 89-68 victory over Serbia in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Diamond Stone of Milwaukee added 12 points, and Harry Giles of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, had 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The United States, 22-0 in the history of the tournament that also was played in 2010 and 2012, will face Australia in a rematch of the 2012 title game.
Newman is from Jackson, Mississippi.
• Warriors’ Livingston out 6-8 weeks: Golden State Warriors guard Shaun Livingston is expected to be out six to eight weeks after having arthroscopic surgery on the big toe of his right foot.
The Warriors said that Livingston’s toe will be in a splint for the first three weeks of his recovery.
Golden State signed Livingston to a three-year contract worth about $16 million in July.
Notre Dame launches academic probe
MISCELLANY: Notre Dame says it is investigating “suspected academic dishonesty” involving several students, including four members of the football team who are being held out of practice.
The school released a statement saying it has notified the NCAA. Because of potential violations, the four players can’t compete until the conclusion of the investigation and the university honor code process.
The Fighting Irish open the season against Rice on Aug. 30.
The four football players were not named by the school, but various media reports identified them as cornerback KeiVarae Russell, wide receiver DaVaris Daniels, defensive end Ishaq Williams and reserve linebacker Kendall Moore.
• U.S. marshals capture fugitive fighter: Fugitive mixed martial arts fighter War Machine has been arrested in California, a week after police say he brutally assaulted his ex-girlfriend in Las Vegas.
U.S. marshals announced that they captured the 32-year-old, whose birth name is Jon Koppenhaver, in Simi Valley. He was booked into jail while he awaits extradition to Nevada. Officers say he is the primary suspect in a dispute that left his ex-girlfriend and her friend with serious injuries.