Digest: Lee leads Women’s British Open
Golf: Mirim Lee followed her opening 10-under-par 62 with a 71 on Friday in the Women’s British Open, leaving her a stroke ahead entering the weekend at tree-lined Woburn Golf Club in Woburn, England.
A day after matching the tournament record and falling a stroke short of the major championship mark, the 25-year-old South Korean player had three birdies and two bogeys to reach 11-under 133.
Lee had two front-nine birdies, bogeyed the par-4 13th, birdied the par-5 15th and bogeyed the par-3 17th.
Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn and China’s Shanshan Feng were tied for second. Jutanugarn had a 69, and Feng shot 68.
Irving, Cousins push U.S. past Venezuela
Olympics: Kyrie Irving scored 13 points, DeMarcus Cousins powered a dominant performance in the paint, and the United States pulled away from Venezuela for an 80-45 exhibition victory in Chicago.
The United States shot 42.4 percent from the field and committed 13 turnovers in by far its worst offensive performance of its five-city tour in preparation for next week’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics. But the Americans held Venezuela to 24 percent shooting and grabbed a 54-29 rebounding advantage.
U.S. women overwhelm Canada: Diana Taurasi scored 14 points and Elena Delle Donne added 12 to help the U.S. women’s basketball team beat Canada 83-43 in an exhibition game in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Coach Geno Auriemma started five UConn alums much to the delight of the Connecticut fans who turned out in force to send off the Americans to the Rio Olympics next week.
Russian weightlifters banned from Rio: The International Weightlifting Federation banned the Russian federation and all its weight- lifters from the Rio Olympics.
The IWF said the multiple cases of doping by Russian weightlifters have “seriously damaged” the integrity of the sport. The eight Russian Olympic spots have been offered to other countries.
Texas A&M suspends football assistants
Miscellany: Texas A&M suspended two assistant football coaches for two weeks for what they described as a “failed attempt at humor” this week at a football clinic for women.
Offensive line coach Jim Turner and special teams coordinator Jeff Banks were suspended after the assistant coaches’ presentation which included slides with tips for blocking that include double entendre and what could be construed as sexual references.
No charges in probe of Schilling company: An investigation into former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s failed video game company, 38 Studios, resulted in no criminal violations.
The former ballplayer’s company relocated to Rhode Island from Massachusetts in 2010 in exchange for a $75 million state loan guarantee. It later went bankrupt, leaving taxpayers on the hook.