Forty-four summers ago, Tommy Nakajima of Japan was in the hunt during the third round of the 1978 British Open. On the Old Course at St. Andrews — where the tournament will be staged once again this week — Nakajima knocked his second shot onto the putting surface at No. 17, a par 4 known […]

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Tiger Woods, having returned to his sport’s most ancient ground on Tuesday, at first tried succinct bluntness. Fittingly, he soon enough reached for history. Then, at last, as the winds off the North Sea thumped and thrashed outside, he deployed sustained, searing disgust. The subject, as it so often is around […]

The conflict upending men’s professional golf spread to a new setting with the Justice Department investigating the PGA Tour for anticompetitive behavior in its dealings with the breakaway LIV Golf series, a tour spokeswoman confirmed Monday. The PGA Tour has suspended players who have defied tour regulations and participated in two recent LIV Golf events […]

Under a brilliant Brazilian sun, as he rode across a perfect peeling wave, the professional surfer Filipe Toledo thumped his chest and shouted toward the beach. Toledo, 27, who grew up around 250 miles west of this stretch of sand, had just won his second World Surf League championship tour event of the year. The […]

LONDON — It was only this spring that Greg Norman, who twice hoisted the Claret Jug as the winner of the British Open, sought a special dispensation to play in this week’s tournament at St. Andrews in Scotland. The reply was unequivocal: No. And not only was there no spot in the field for Norman, […]

Let’s try something different in this week’s newsletter: A journey through modern soccer in three (vaguely related) stories. 1. Romance Is a One-Way Street The story, as it came to be told, was the one that people wanted to hear, the version they needed to believe. It went like this: Cristiano Ronaldo, beloved alumnus of […]

WIMBLEDON, England — Winning Wimbledon for the first time barely seemed to register with Elena Rybakina. Match point secured against Ons Jabeur, Rybakina lightly clenched her left fist, wiped her mouth with her wrist band, expelled a breath and sauntered forward to the net to shake the hand of a crestfallen Jabeur, then waved to […]

The Yankees will have two-thirds of the American League’s starting outfield in this year’s All-Star Game, with Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton taking the corner spots on either side of Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels. It will be the first time the Yankees have had two starting outfielders in the All-Star Game since […]

WIMBLEDON, England — After all the debate over whether to bar Russian and Belarusian players from Wimbledon, and under pressure from the British government, the women’s singles title may be won on Saturday by a player born in Russia after all. Elena Rybakina is the 23rd-ranked player in the world, and before this week she […]

WIMBLEDON, England — Rafael Nadal, the 22-time Grand Slam champion, has pulled out of his semifinal match against Nick Kyrgios set for Friday. Nadal made the announcement Thursday in the main media conference room at the All England Club. “I believe I can’t win two matches under these circumstances,” he said. “I can’t serve.” Nadal, […]