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There will be a Boston-New York rivalry in TGL, the tech-infused golf league being fronted by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy that is scheduled to begin play in January.

New York Mets owner Steven A. Cohen is the latest sports figure to purchase a team in the league, TMRW Sports announced Thursday. TGL said the team will represent New York and will be managed by his family office, Cohen Private Ventures.

“We’re excited to partner with TMRW Sports and represent New York as a founding TGL team,” Cohen said in a statement. “As golf continues to grow in popularity, there’s a demand for enhanced access to the sport and the world’s top players. TGL’s primetime schedule will offer an up-close, fast-paced, and innovative take on the sport that will appeal to traditional golf and new fans alike. We’re excited to be a part of TGL and build a team that makes New York proud.”

Cohen becomes the fourth team owner in TGL, joining Fenway Sports Group (Boston); Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank (Atlanta); and a group led by entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian, tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams and NBA player Giannis Antetokounmpo (Los Angeles).

Fenway Sports Group Holdings owns the Boston Red Sox, the Premier League’s Liverpool F.C., the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins and the Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing team in NASCAR.

“We think New York sports fans are the greatest in the world, and I’m sure Boston thinks that theirs are too,” said Andrew B. Cohen, the chief investment officer and co-founder of Cohen Private Ventures.

TGL CEO Mike McCarley told ESPN that the league will announce two additional team owners in the coming weeks.

“These original six teams, we’re focused on large North American markets with existing fan bases, existing team ownership groups in place,” McCarley said. “There’s some natural rooting interests, some natural rivalries that exist in other sports and between the fans. So I think the ability to be able to tap into those elements that already exist from other sports is appealing.”

Steve Cohen is the CEO and chairman of Point72, a global asset management firm. He purchased about 97% of the Mets in September 2020 and is CEO and chairman of the team.

“You put something like this together and New York is obviously at the top of the list,” McCarley said. “We made a lot of calls to a lot of different ownership groups and started talking through with our existing ownership groups of who would make the most sense in which markets. And obviously, Steve continued to rise to the top. What they’ve done with the Mets in a very short period of time, and just operating that in a first-class, professional manner has got a lot of people’s attention, and frankly, that spoke volumes to us.”

Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Rickie Fowler, Max Homa, Collin Morikawa and Matt Fitzpatrick are among a dozen PGA Tour players who have committed to play in the league, which will feature teams of three players competing on a golf simulator and a separate short-game area in an arena in Palm Beach, Florida.

The matches will be televised in prime time on Monday nights. TGL is partnering with the PGA Tour, and the league’s schedule will include 15 head-to-head matches in the regular season with semifinals and a final in the postseason.

“We believe TGL is innovative, combining data, technology, a competitive team in a prime-time format,” said Andrew B. Cohen. “We think it’s going to appeal to a wide audience of golf fans, existing fans, new fans, probably some younger fans, given where golf is being played indoors and simulators and outdoors.

“I think that the fact that you’ve got the top athletes in the sport coming together to participate and support the league is unusual, and I think it speaks to the most exciting elements of the format. And then, I’d say lastly, you’ve got six teams with very prominent, strong ownership groups.”

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Walker back in Phils’ rotation after Abel demoted

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Walker back in Phils' rotation after Abel demoted

PHILADELPHIA — Mick Abel couldn’t sustain his sublime major league debut and is headed to the minors.

Taijuan Walker is back in Philadelphia’s rotation. And anticipation that prized prospect Andrew Painter could be headed to the Phillies will stretch past the All-Star break.

Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suárez and Cristopher Sánchez are about the only sure things this year in Philadelphia’s rotation.

The Phillies demoted Abel, the rookie right-hander who has struggled since he struck out nine in his major league debut, to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The Phillies also recalled reliever Seth Johnson from Lehigh Valley ahead of Friday’s loss to Cincinnati.

The 23-year-old Abel made six starts for the Phillies and went 2-2 with 5.04 ERA with 21 strikeouts and nine walks.

“Mick needed to go down and breathe a little bit,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Just get a little reset. It’s not uncommon.”

A 6-foot-5 right-hander selected 15th overall by the Phillies in the 2020 amateur draft, Abel dazzled against Pittsburgh in May when his nine strikeouts tied a Phillies high for a debut, set by Curt Simmons against the New York Giants on Sept. 28, 1947.

Abel hasn’t pitched beyond the fifth inning in any of his last four starts and was rocked for five runs in 1⅔ innings Wednesday against San Diego.

Abel was 3-12 with a 6.46 ERA last year for Lehigh Valley, walking 78 in 108⅔ innings. He improved to 5-2 with a 2.53 ERA in eight minor league starts this year, walking 19 in 46⅓ innings.

“This guy’s had a really good year,” Thomson said. “His poise, his composure is outstanding. He’s really grown. We just need to get back to that. Just attack the zone and get through adversity.”

The Phillies will give Walker another start in Abel’s place against San Francisco. Walker has bounced between the rotation and the bullpen over the past two seasons. He has made eight starts with 11 relief appearances this season and is 3-5 with one save and a 3.64 ERA.

Thomson had said he wanted to give Walker an extended look in the bullpen. Abel’s struggles instead forced Walker — in the third year of a four-year, $72-million contract — back to the rotation. For now.

“He always considers himself a starter and ultimately wants to start,” Thomson said. “He’ll do anything for the ballclub, because he’s that type of guy, but I think he’s generally happy he’s going to go back into a normal routine, normal for him, anyway.”

Wheeler, Suárez and Sánchez have been lights-out in the rotation this year and helped lead the Phillies into first place in the NL East. Jesús Luzardo was a pleasant early season surprise but has struggled over the past two months and gave up six runs in two-plus innings in Friday’s 9-6 loss to the Reds.

“I still have all the confidence in the world in Luzardo,” Thomson said. “Everybody’s going to have bad outings here and there. I think we’re still fine.”

Thomson said he had not made a final decision on who will be the fifth starter after the All-Star break. Painter has two more scheduled starts in Triple-A before the MLB All-Star break and could earn a spot in the rotation. The 22-year-old will not pitch in the All-Star Futures Game as part of the plan to keep him on a hopeful path to the rotation.

Painter hurt an elbow during spring training in 2023 and had Tommy John surgery later that year. He was the 13th overall pick in the 2021 amateur draft and signed for a $3.9 million bonus.

Because of the All-Star break and a quirk in the schedule that has them off on all five Thursdays in July, the Phillies won’t even need a fifth starter after next week until July 22.

Aaron Nola could be back by August as he works his way back from a rib injury. Nola will spend the All-Star break rehabbing in Florida and needs one or two minor league starts before he can rejoin the rotation.

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Cubs’ Taillon (calf) to miss more than month

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Cubs' Taillon (calf) to miss more than month

CHICAGO — Chicago Cubs righty Jameson Taillon was placed on the injured list on Friday with a right calf strain, the team announced before its game against the St. Louis Cardinals. He’s expected to miss “more than a month,” according to manager Craig Counsell.

Taillon, 33, injured his calf on his last wind sprint after a bullpen session on Thursday.

“He’s going to miss a pretty significant amount of time,” Counsell said.

Taillon was 7-6 with a 4.44 ERA in 17 starts for the Cubs this season who just got lefty Shota Imanaga back from a hamstring injury. Now they’ll have to navigate at least the rest of this month without one of their other key starters.

“There’s a little room for us to be flexible right now,” Counsell said citing the upcoming All-Star break. “We’ll use that to our advantage and we’ll go from there.”

The team recalled left-hander Jordan Wicks to take Taillon’s spot on the roster, though he won’t go directly into the rotation. Instead, the Cubs will throw a bullpen game on Saturday against the Cardinals and “go from there,” according to Counsell.

Wicks, 25, went 1-3 with one save, a 4.06 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 12 appearances (11 starts) with Triple-A Iowa this season. In his past five starts dating to May 18, he posted a 1.65 ERA with 20 strikeouts, compared to just three walks, a 0.86 WHIP and a .186 opponent batting average.

The team might also consider a bigger role for righty Chris Flexen who has been fantastic for them out of the bullpen. Flexen, 31, has a 0.62 ERA in 16 games, including a four inning stint late last month.

“He’s a candidate to be stretched out for sure,” Counsell said. “He’s prepared to do a little bit more.”

Cubs brass have already stated they are looking for starting pitching before the trade deadline later this month. Counsell was asked if Taillon’s injury increases that need. He didn’t take the bait.

“The trade deadline isn’t until July 31,” he said. “I’m focused on the next week or 10 games before the All-Star break.”

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Guardians OF Thomas reinjures foot, exits game

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Guardians OF Thomas reinjures foot, exits game

CLEVELAND — Guardians outfielder Lane Thomas left during the sixth inning of Friday night’s game against the Detroit Tigers due to mild plantar fascia symptoms with his right foot.

Thomas missed 11 games in late May and early June because of plantar fasciitis in his right foot. He is batting .160 this season and .197 (13-for-66) since coming off the injured list on June 9. He does have four homers in his past 10 games.

“We think he’s good. The plantar fasciitis flared up a little bit again and I just didn’t like the way he looked running around the outfield. So rather than take a chance, I got him out of there,” manager Stephen Vogt said after the 2-1 loss to the Tigers.

Thomas also missed five weeks due to a right wrist bone bruise after getting hit by a pitch during the April 8 home opener against the Chicago White Sox.

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