Woods back at it

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods has put himself into the lineup Tuesday night for his Jupiter Links team in the TGL final, waiting until the last day to make his first appearance in the tech-infused indoor league.

Woods has been at every match as a captain and a cheerleader while recovering from a seventh back surgery last October. He has gone more than a year since competing anywhere because of a ruptured Achilles tendon in March 2025.

Jupiter Links lost the opening match Monday night in the best-of-3 final against Los Angeles and now has to win two matches at the SoFi Center.

Wood said last week after Jupiter won to reach the finals he has been trying to play the matches.

“I’ve been trying to come back. But it just hasn’t worked out that way,” he said. “I’ve had a bad run of injuries last year. I think it’s been a year and a few days since I blew out my Achilles. And so then I’ve had two back operations. So it’s been a little rough go. But the guys here, this team, we have so much fun, I really don’t want to screw up the lineup, I just want these guys to keep playing.”

Woods will be replacing Kevin Kisner, who was on the losing end of the decisive hole in singles. Jupiter had a 5-4 lead when Los Angeles threw the hammer — meaning the hole was worth two points — for the par-5 closing hole.

Sahith Theegala had the length to easily reach the green in two and set up a two-putt birdie. Kisner, who has spent most of March in the booth for NBC’s coverage of the PGA Tour, drove into the rough, laid up in the rough and hit wedge that didn’t quite reach the green. His birdie chip from 20 feet to tie the hole — and win the match — narrowly missed to the left.

Strong ratings for NCAA

The NCAA Tournament had its best first week on record, averaging 10.1 million viewers through the second round across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV.

Tournament viewership is up 7% from last year, according to Nielsen. CBS and TNT began showing all of the games in 2011 after CBS had done early rounds in regional windows from 1991 through 2010.

The first round on Thursday and Friday averaged 9.5 million viewers — a 9% increase — while the second round on Saturday and Sunday averaged 11 million. That is the most-viewed second round since 1993 and a 7% jump from last year.

Sunday’s early prime-time window, featuring St. John’s-Kansas on CBS, Iowa-Florida on TBS and Virginia-Tennessee on TNT, averaged 19.7 million, making it the most-watched window in tournament history for the first week.

Flacco comes back

CINCINNATI (AP) — Joe Flacco has agreed to terms to return to the Cincinnati Bengals, where he will serve as a backup for Joe Burrow. Flacco was dealt to the Bengals from the Cleveland Browns in October and made six starts for Cincinnati while Burrow was out with a toe injury. The 41-year-old Flacco played well despite going 1-5 as a starter with the Bengals.

Cavs get big games from Mitchell, Harden

CLEVELAND (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 42 points, James Harden added 26 and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Orlando Magic 136-131 Tuesday night to extend their winning streak to four games.

It is Mitchell’s sixth game with at least 40 points this season, tied for fourth-most in the league.

The All-Star guard also continued his mastery of the Magic. It was his third 40-point game in 23 regular-season meetings against Orlando. He is averaging 27.2 against the Magic, the sixth-highest scoring average of any player in NBA history against Orlando.

Harden, who was scoreless in the first half of Saturday’s game at New Orleans, had 22 points and three 3-pointers in the first half as the Cavaliers had a 72-68 lead at halftime. It was his most points in the first two quarters since being acquired by the Cavaliers.

Evan Mobley had 19 points for Cleveland, making all eight of his shots from the field, along with nine rebounds and six assists.

Paolo Banchero had 36 points for Orlando (38-34), which has dropped six straight and dropped into a three-way tie with Charlotte and Miami for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

Tristan da Silva had 18 points, while Desmond Bane and Jamal Cain scored 17 apiece for the Magic.

The Cavaliers (45-27) are 2 1/2 games behind the Knicks for third in the Eastern Conference.

Cleveland had a 114-103 lead with 9:19 remaining before Orlando started to slowly rally back. Wendell Carter Jr. sank a pair of free throws with 37.5 seconds remaining but Mitchell drove the lane and hit a floating 7-foot jumper with 13.7 seconds left to give the Cavaliers breathing room.

Banchero scored 16 in the first quarter as Orlando went up 39-32 after 12 minutes. He was 5 of 7 from the field in the first quarter but 5 of 12 the rest of the game.

Penguins shaky in loss

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Martin Necas scored twice, Nathan MacKinnon poured in his NHL-leading 46th goal and the Colorado Avalanche breezed past the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2 on Tuesday night.

Necas, Sam Malinski and Parker Kelly scored within a 1:55 span late in the first period to break it open as the Avalanche atoned for one-sided loss to the Penguins last week in Denver by returning the favor in Pittsburgh. Cale Makar picked up the assist on Necas’ first goal, boosting his career point total to 499. Ross Colton scored an empty-netter late.

Scott Wedgewood stopped 27 shots for the NHL-leading Avalanche, who have won the first three games of a four-game road swing that finishes up in Winnipeg on Thursday.

Egor Chinakov and Rickard Rakell scored for Pittsburgh. Kris Letang picked up the secondary assist on Chinakov’s career-high 17th goal of the season, becoming the 21st defenseman in league history to reach 800 career points.

Arturs Silovs struggled to contain Colorado early and finished with 23 saves for the Penguins, who have dropped three of four to lose a bit of ground in the crowded scramble for a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Pittsburgh played without veteran forward Evgeni Malkin, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. The 39-year-old Russian star powered the Penguins’ dominant performance in Colorado last week, scoring twice in his return from a five-game suspension.

The only fireworks this time around were provided by the Avalanche. MacKinnon set the tone early, stealing the puck from Penguins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon and then racing in alone on Silovs before flicking a shot over the goaltender’s glove to give Colorado the lead 4:57 into the first.

Chinakov tied it just over three minutes later when his one-timer from the slot pushed his goal total since being acquired by Pittsburgh to 14.

It didn’t last. The Avalanche erupted late in the period to take a three-goal lead, and the Penguins never recovered. Pittsburgh appeared to get back in it in the middle of the second period, but Justin Brazeau’s goal from his belly was overturned on a Colorado challenge after officials ruled Brazeau interfered with Wedgewood.

Up next

Avalanche: Start a home-and-home set with the Jets in Winnipeg on Thursday.

Penguins: Visit Ottawa on Thursday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL