Friday Sports in Brief

Updated Aug. 8, 2020 3:54 a.m. ET

Associated Press

GOLF

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Still young, often inconsistent, forever fearless, Li Haotong is capable of just about anything on a big stage in golf. He was at his best Friday in the PGA Championship.

Three years after his 63 in the final round of the British Open, Li hit only four fairways at Harding Park and still managed a 5-under 65 that made him the first Chinese player to have the lead after any round at any major.

The 25-year-old Li capped a bogey-free round with his eighth start par and was at 8-under 132, two shots ahead of a big group that include — who else? — Brooks Koepka, the two-time defending champion.

Much farther back was Tiger Woods, who found more fairways but struggled on the greens, ranking 131st in the key putting statistic against the 156-man field. He flirted with the cut line until a birdie on the 16th kept him safe, and his 72 put him eight shots behind.

BASEBALL

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The entire three-game series between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis at Busch Stadium was postponed Friday night after two more Cardinals players and a staff member tested positive for the coronavirus.

Major League Baseball announced that the whole weekend set was off. Hours earlier, MLB said Friday night’s game had been scrapped to ensure everyone affected on the Cardinals was identified.

There have been 24 games postponed in the majors this season because of coronavirus concerns.

WASHINGTON (AP) — World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg is scheduled to make his season debut for the Washington Nationals on Sunday against the Baltimore Orioles after being sidelined by a nerve problem in his pitching hand.

Strasburg missed what would have been his first two appearances of 2020 after making all 33 starts last year and then becoming the first pitcher to finish a postseason with a 5-0 record.

“The tingling in his thumb is gone, and that’s a good sign. We watched him and he’s throwing some really good bullpens. That was the big thing for me: Nothing in his mechanics has changed. Everything’s good,” manager Dave Martinez said Friday before Washington’s series opener against visiting Baltimore.

FOOTBALL

The Washington Football Team released running back Derrius Guice on Friday after he was charged in multiple domestic violence incidents.

The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Department told The Associated Press that Guice was arrested on one count of strangulation, three counts of assault and battery and one count of destruction of property. Strangulation is a Class 6 felony in Virginia.

The team said in a statement it learned of a potential domestic violence situation Thursday, immediately notified the NFL and met with Guice to excuse him from football activities pending a review. After learning of the multiple charges against him, reviewing the case and discussing the matter, Washington said it decided to release Guice.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Colorado State is pausing all football activities after an investigation started by the president of the university into the program’s handling of COVID-19 cases uncovered allegations of racism and verbal abuse toward athletes.

Athletic director Joe Parker said he asked President Joyce McConnell to expand the investigation she announced Tuesday to include a comprehensive review of the athletic department and football program.

“Today, we learned of some extremely troubling allegations of racism and verbal abuse from CSU’s athletic administration generally and in the football program specifically,” Parke said.

Parker’s statement did not mention any particular member of the coaching staff or athletic department. Steve Addazio is in his first season as head coach of the Rams.

TENNIS

NEW YORK (AP) — Two more top-10 women -- Elina Svitolina and Kiki Bertens -- will miss the U.S. Open, joining No. 1-ranked Ash Barty in skipping the Grand Slam tennis tournament during the coronavirus pandemic.

The U.S. Tennis Association also announced Friday that Barbora Krejcikova withdrew. She is ranked 115th in singles, eighth in doubles.

The fifth-ranked Svitolina, a Ukrainian who was a semifinalist at Flushing Meadows a year ago, posted Friday on social media that she doesn’t “feel comfortable to travel to US without putting my team and myself at high risk.”

No. 7 Bertens, who is Dutch, wrote on Instagram that one of her concerns is the need to be quarantined upon returning to Europe after the U.S. Open, which runs from Aug. 31 to Sept. 13 and will not have any spectators.

CRICKET

The Women’s Cricket World Cup in February in New Zealand has been postponed for a year.

Also, the men’s Twenty20 World Cup in Australia that had been pushed from October-November this year to the same time in 2021, was delayed by another year to 2022.

India, which was to host the T20 World Cup in 2021, will stage it as planned with all 16 teams which qualified for the 2020 edition participating in India.

There will be a new qualifying process for the 2022 T20 World Cup, the International Cricket Council on Friday.

The Women’s World Cup will be played in February-March 2022.

COURTS

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — A former Los Angeles Angels employee has been charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl in connection with last year’s overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs, prosecutors in Texas announced Friday.

Eric Prescott Kay was arrested in Fort Worth, Texas, and made his first appearance Friday in federal court, according to Erin Nealy Cox, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

Kay was the Angels’ director of communications, and he served as their public relations contact on many road trips. He was placed on leave shortly after Skaggs’ death, and he never returned to the team.

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