LEAD STORY: Suber Slides to Fourth, Still Within Reach at The Open
Former Ole Miss golfer Jackson Suber shot an even-par 70 in Saturday's third round at Royal Birkdale, a score that kept him at 6-under for the championship but knocked him outside the top five heading into Sunday's final round at The Open Championship. Suber now sits four strokes behind leader Sam Burns (-10) with 18 holes left in Southport.
The round had a real high point. Suber's second birdie of the day came at the fifth hole and pushed him to 8-under, briefly giving him a share of the lead. The next 13 holes were far bumpier — four bogeys against two birdies — and his putter went cold at exactly the wrong time. A makeable par putt on 17 slid by, and a strong birdie look on 18 also failed to drop. Those two strokes could matter enormously on Sunday.
The stakes extend well past the trophy. A top-six finish would pay Suber more than half a million dollars and, just as importantly, deliver enough FedEx Cup points to move the 26-year-old Florida native inside the top 70 ahead of the playoffs opening at the St. Jude Championship in Memphis. A top-10 finish carries an automatic exemption into next year's Open Championship. For a player still building his professional footing, Sunday is genuinely a career-shaping round. Final-round coverage begins at 3 a.m. CT on USA Network before shifting to NBC at 6 a.m. CT, with pairings and tee times still to be announced.
QUICK HITS
Missouri softball closes the portal class with an arm. The Tigers landed Arizona State sophomore left-hander Mary Peyton Hodge, who officially signed Saturday. Hodge posted a 5.88 ERA across 11 appearances (two starts) as a freshman for the 45-18 Sun Devils, with her work concentrated in February before two scattered March outings. Her best showing came in relief against UC Riverside on Feb. 26 — three innings, three hits, one run, four strikeouts. The 5-foot-11 southpaw, a two-time Pitcher of the Year at Oak Grove High School in Winston-Salem and a D1 Softball D100 Freshman Watch List selection, joins a Missouri portal haul that already included Nealy Lamb, Jana Want and Tyah Charlton.
La Familia survives an Elam Ending thriller in Lexington. The Kentucky alumni squad beat The Ville 72-68 on Saturday at Memorial Coliseum to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three TBT first-round series. La Familia led by 17 late in the third quarter before The Ville tied it at 63. With the target score set at 71, Kahlil Whitney found Darryl Morsell cutting to the rim on a baseline inbounds for the winning dunk. Morsell finished with a game-high 17, one of four Cats in double figures alongside Andrew Harrison (14), Sean McNeil (12) and James Mainor-Bell (10). Chris Jones paced The Ville with 16. Game 2 is Monday at 7 p.m. ET on FS1 from Freedom Hall.
Two future LSU gymnasts hit the podium at the U.S. Classic. Reese Esponda and Tatum Drusch compete Saturday at 6 p.m. in Hartford, both already qualified for the Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championship in early August. Drusch told Inside Gymnastics she will defer her LSU enrollment by a year to train for the 2028 Olympics — and because she was born Nov. 25, 2008, she loses none of her five years of eligibility under current NCAA rules. She's the first member of that 2025 commitment wave to announce a deferral. The meet streams on Peacock and airs on NBCSN.
Mark Mitchell carried Missouri basketball. In a season review, Mitchell led the Tigers in games (33), starts (33), minutes (1,114), made field goals (204), free throws made (178), offensive and defensive rebounds, assists (119) and points (605). His 18.3 points per game marked the highest Missouri scoring average since Jabari Brown's junior year, and his 121.3 offensive rating topped Brown's 119.4 while carrying a heavier load. A 13.6% turnover rate and a 21.1% assist rate underscored how much of the offense ran through him.
Cape Cod League hits the break. D1Baseball published its list of 10 more standouts from the week on the Cape as the circuit reached its all-star break — required reading for anyone tracking summer development.
PORTAL WATCH
No new portal entries or commitments were logged in the last 12 hours beyond Missouri formalizing the Mary Peyton Hodge signing, which closes out the Tigers' softball offseason board. Hodge entered the portal June 18 and had been expected since word of a possible commitment surfaced July 1.
RECRUITING BUZZ
No new commitments to report today.
GAMES TO WATCH
No SEC games are scheduled Saturday. The two events worth setting an alarm for: the final round of The Open Championship, where Suber tees off Sunday morning with coverage starting at 3 a.m. CT on USA Network, and Game 2 of La Familia vs. The Ville on Monday at 7 p.m. ET on FS1.
