CANDLE TEES OFF

CROMWELL, Conn. — First-year UConn head football coach Jason Candle won over the golf fans during the Travelers Championship Pro-Am at TPC River Highlands last Wednesday.

Candle, a 1998 graduate of West Branch High School, was on the Warriors’ golf team as a freshman before turning to football.

His playing partners at the Pro-Am were ESPN broadcaster Chris Berman, Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Andre Tippett and former NFL quarterback Doug Flutie.

Berman gave Candle a nickname as he does everyone: “Jason Roman Candle in the Wind.”

HOVLAND PREVAILS

CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) — Viktor Hovland got all the validation he needed Monday that his game was on track again, and a whole lot more.

He beat Scottie Scheffler in a morning playoff at the Travelers Championship, had both parents from Norway watch him win for the first time and even did the “row” with the Norwegian soccer fans who cheered him all the way to the surprising end.

Hovland capped off a gritty rally when he made a 7-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole and won the Travelers when Scheffler missed a 4-foot birdie putt.

“Winning in the playoff against Scottie — best player in the world — that was pretty satisfying,” said Hovland, who won for the first time since the Valspar Championship in March 2025.

The surprise was Scheffler going from a big advantage — an 8-iron to 4 feet on the 18th on the first playoff hole — to missing a hard-sliding putt on the high side that made Hovland a winner.

“Maybe I hit it a little firmer than I intended to,” said Scheffler, whose putt caught the left edge and rolled out some 7 feet by the hole. “It looked like it got pretty far by the hole and I was playing it outside the hole, so I hit it down my line, just maybe the speed was a touch off.”

It was a big disappointment for Scheffler, who made Monday possible by making an 8-foot par putt on the 72nd hole in near darkness to force the playoff.

CANFIELD SWEEPS

BOARDMAN — Canfield swept Austintown in a pair of district championship games Monday night in the Little League Ohio District 2 Softball Tournament at the Fields of Dreams.

Canfield won 17-1 in the 8-10 age division and also 11-5 in the 11-12 age division.

Both Canfield teams advance to the state tournament.

MORANT TO PORTLAND

(AP) — Ja Morant is headed to Portland, after the Trail Blazers and Memphis completed a trade Monday night that sees the Grizzlies starting anew and gives the two-time All-Star a chance to revive his career.

Portland sent forwards Jerami Grant and Kris Murray to the Grizzlies as part of the deal.

It’s a big swing by the Trail Blazers and could suggest Portland — with new owner Tom Dundon, whose Carolina Hurricanes just won the Stanley Cup — might not be done making moves. Morant adds to a logjam at point guard right now for Portland, with Jrue Holiday, Damian Lillard and Scoot Henderson also on the current roster.

Morant has averaged 22.4 points for his career but has played only 79 games over the last three seasons because of injuries and suspensions — including a 25-game banishment after he was seen on a livestream holding a gun while he was in the passenger seat of a vehicle. That came not long after an eight-game suspension for flashing a gun in a Denver-area nightclub, also captured on social media.

ACTION HEATS UP

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The World Cup games are heating up this week with knockout rounds, and so is the outdoor heat.

A dangerous heat dome will engulf the central and eastern U.S. this week with heat index temperatures — which combine air temperature with humidity — soaring into the triple-digits in some areas. Conditions will bring above-average temperatures to World Cup host cities such as Boston, Philadelphia and Kansas City, Missouri, all of which have open-air stadiums.

“This week is going to be very, very hot,” said Geoff Cornish, assistant chief video meteorologist for the weather forecasting company AccuWeather. “This is going be a significant heat wave, the likes of which we don’t see in every single year.”

Concerns about extreme heat during the games taking place in the U.S., Canada and Mexico have been mounting for months. Worsening climate change, caused by burning oil, gas and coal, is fueling dangerous heat across the globe. In the U.S., heat kills more people every year than all other weather-related events, including hurricanes, flooding and tornadoes, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NO BULL

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Victor Lindelöf’s wife fell off a raging bull — a mechanical one.

Maja Nilsson Lindelöf posted an Instagram video Thursday of herself getting tossed from the bar-based bovine while Sweden was playing in Texas during the World Cup, adding: “Still a bit drunk while posting this, might delete later.”

“She sent it to me,” Sweden captain Victor Lindelöf said Monday ahead of his team’s round of 32 match against two-time champion France at the World Cup. “It was a fun video and it would be fun to try it out, as well.”

Founder of the fashion brand Lis Bonne Atelier, Maja married Victor in 2018, when he was with Manchester United. In the 59-second video, she first climbs the bull backward, alights to consult with friends before remounting. She holds on for a while before getting tossed onto her back.

Victor Lindelöf said he would be willing to try to match her feat.

“It looked difficult, but I’m up for the challenge,” he said.

WORLD CUP TRAVELER

EAST RUTHERFORD, N,J. (AP) — France coach Didier Deschamps is back with Les Bleus for their round of 32 match against Sweden at the World Cup on Tuesday after traveling to Europe for his mother’s funeral.

Deschamps learned of his mother’s death the day after France’s win over Iraq on June 22, which clinched advancement from the group stage. He missed Friday’s victory over Norway.

“I’m here. I’m good, and it’s good to be busy since Friday evening when I arrived back in the United States,” Dechamps said Monday through a translator.

France swept its group matches for the first time since 1998, joined by Argentina and Mexico as the only nations to win all three games. Seeking their third title after 1998 and 2018, Les Blues would face Germany or Paraguay in the round of 16 if they get past the Swedes.

“For me it was very difficult. And for me and for the French national team it was important that I left. They did what they had to do,” Deschamps said. “And now we’re preparing a competition within the competition.”

Assistant Guy Stéphan led the team to the 4-1 win over Norway in Deschamps’ absence.