SPORTS digest

Mill Creek Golf Course hosting junior series

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The Mill Creek Wick Par-3 Course, Parto’s Golf Learning Center & Valley Golf Club will be hosting the 2nd Annual Par-3 Course Junior Inter-League Series on select Saturdays in June and July. Junior golfers will compete at all three golf courses during the entire series. The nine-hole matches will feature a two-player scramble format with juniors playing three three-hole matches. Points will be awarded for each match won per three holes with a point added for the team with the most points.

The league is open to all junior golfers ages seven to 12 with each team consisting of six players participating in each match. A season finale banquet and fun day will be held at Parto’s Golf Learning Center on July 29 to close out the Junior Inter-Club program.

Team Sign-ups can be made by calling team coaches Stacie Butler at 330-740-7112, Tom Parteleno at 330-743-6718 or Ted Ossoff at 330-482-9464.

Lefty to miss U.S. Open for graduation

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Phil Mickelson says he will miss this month’s U.S. Open to attend his oldest daughter’s high school graduation.

Mickelson tells The New York Times that being at the ceremony for Amanda is something he will cherish forever.

This is the same daughter who was born the Monday after the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, the first of a record six runner-up finishes for Mickelson in the only major he never won. He carried a beeper that week and pledged to leave the tournament, even if he were leading, to be there for the birth.

Mickelson has not missed the U.S. Open since his first full season as a pro in 1993.

Murray advances in French Open

paris

Andy Murray benefited from a double-fault by Juan Martin del Potro in the opening tiebreaker and then looked more and more like the No. 1 player that he is during a 7-6 (8), 7-5, 6-0 victory at the French Open on Saturday.

The third-round match between a pair of past major champions was much tighter than the straight-set scoreline might indicate.

“Yeah, I expected a very tough match. And the first set was very, very important, I think, for the rest of the match. Whoever had won that first set had big momentum,” Murray said. “In these conditions, when it’s slow and heavy, to be coming back is difficult.”

Rahal wins IndyCar race at Belle Isle

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Graham Rahal won the first of two Detroit Grand Prix races, easily holding off Scott Dixon on Saturday.

Rahal won the pole earlier in the day and became the seventh IndyCar driver to win the first seven races of the year. He raced to his fifth career victory and fourth in two-plus years for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Rahal made a last-lap pass of James Hinchcliffe for his previous win last year, when he beat Hinchcliffe by eight-thousandths of a second in the closest finish for an IndyCar race at Texas.

Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato finished eighth.

IndyCar will conclude its only doubleheader of races Sunday on Belle Isle.

Larson wins second-straight Xfinity race

dover, del.

Kyle Larson easily won the Xfinity race at Dover for his second straight victory in NASCAR’s second-tier series.

Larson has won three times in six races this season. He is a regular in the Cup series and topped the speed chart earlier in the day in the final practice for Sunday’s race.

On Saturday, Larson won from the pole and continues to shine for team owner Chip Ganassi. He was followed at Dover International Speedway by Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez, Cole Custer and Ryan Reed. William Byron finished sixth and picked up a $100,000 sponsor bonus as the top driver in the “Dash 4 Cash” program. The 19-year-old Byron is a Liberty University freshman and is widely considered one of the top prospects in NASCAR.

Staff/Wire reports