The Sportsletter - Open Morning & Caity Dimes

BY JEFF YODER

JULY 18, 2024 | SUBSCRIBE | WEB VIEW

Good Morning 👋

The 152nd Open Championship is underway in Scotland, but it’s still the middle of Round 1. Our Open Tracker is live (see below).

Yesterday featured a few historic moments for young athletes. Caitlin Clark slayed another WNBA rookie record (19 assists!), and 14-year-old Cavan Sullivan made his MLS debut for the Philadelphia Union. He’s officially the youngest pro athlete in the history of American team sports. The kid looks special.

🏅 Olympics Countdown: 7 Days

Know a sports fan who can’t wait for the Olympics? Share The Sportsletter so they can follow all the best moments, highlights and stories from Paris. We’re launching our Olympics Tracker next week, and it’s sure to be epic.

Letter Rip!

GOLF

The Open Tracker ⛳️ (In Progress)

Photo: Stuart Franklin / R&A / Getty Images

Round 1 of The 152nd Open Championship is Currently Underway in Scotland

There are few scenes in sports more breathtaking than a historic golf major on the coast of Scotland, but that time difference can be a nuisance for fans Stateside. The first groups of The Open Championship teed off before 2:00 am ET this morning. Several featured groups are still in action. We’ll keep today’s Open Tracker short and sweet with Round 1 up for grabs.

⛳️ The Open Championship Tracker

POLL RESULTS 📊

Yesterday's Question of the Day asked: Who do you think will win the Claret Jug? It’s Scottie Scheffler against the field this weekend at Royal Troon. We knew he wouldn’t win the majority vote, but 30 percent? That’s a lot of Scottie believers.

Scottie Scheffler — 29.8%

The Field (157 Other Players) — 70.2%

WNBA

19 Assists? More CC History

Photo: Cooper Neill / Getty Images

Caitlin Clark Breaks WNBA Single-Game Record With 19 Assists in Fever Loss to Wings (101-93)

Make room for Caitlin Clark in the WNBA record books. She’s going to rewrite them. The Indiana Fever rookie notched 24 points and a WNBA single-game record 19 assists in a close loss to the Wings last night in Dallas (101-93). The previous record was set by Chicago’s Courtney Vandersloot (18) back in 2020. Clark’s record-breaking dish led to a 3-pointer by Kelsey Mitchell that tied the game with 2:22 left (93-93), but Dallas ended the game on an 8-0 run.

CC's Record Rewrite: Clark is only the second rookie in WNBA history to go over 200 assists in a season, joining Ticha Penicheiro (225) in 1998. Barring injury, she’ll own that rookie mark by season’s end, and she’s on pace for the overall WNBA assists record (316). Caity Buckets might have a go at the rookie points record, too. That mark was set by Seimone Augusts in 2006 (744 points), but it's more of a long shot.

Fever Future: The Fever may have lost on Wednesday, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a Fever fan who isn’t psyched for the future. Indiana (11-15) is a moonshot better than they were at this time a season ago. They’re already within two wins of matching last year’s total (13), and their young star duo of Clark (24-19-6) and Aliyah Boston (28 points, 8 rebounds) are starting to flourish.

Watch: Caitlin Clark Breaks WNBA Record With 19 Assists

WNBA Highlights

Wings def. Fever (101-93)

Lynx def. Dream (86-79)

OLYMPICS

Team USA Looks 'Golden' Now

Photo: Christopher Pike / Getty Images

Steph Curry & 🇺🇸 Team USA Rout 🇷🇸 Serbia (105-79) With 1st 'Gold Medal' Impression

A lot can change as a team starts to gel. A splashy Steph Curry can turn the tide, too. Team USA sent a loud message to the Olympic field with yesterday’s exhibition rout of Serbia (105-79) in Abu Dhabi. Curry had 24 points on six 3s in the first resounding victory for the U.S. — now 3-0 in pre-Olympic tune-ups. Bam Adebayo (17 points) also drilled three 3s while Anthony Edwards (16 points) and LeBron James (11 points) chipped in. Anthony Davis added six blocks. This Serbia team boasted three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic (16 points), and they’ll be Team USA’s first opponent in Group C next weekend. With Kevin Durant still nursing a calf injury, the U.S. might only get better.

The Starters: What We Know

Three players have started each of the three exhibition games — Steph Curry, LeBron James, and Joel Embiid — and they look securely planted as the pillars of the starting group. The other guard/wing positions have shifted between Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards, Jayson Tatum, and Jrue Holiday.

Exhibition Schedule: Team USA has two more exhibitions scheduled over the next four days. They’ll face South Sudan (Sat. 3:00 pm ET) and Germany (Mon. 3:00 pm ET) before next weekend’s Olympic tip-off (July 28).

Watch: 🇺🇸 Team USA Routs 🇷🇸 Serbia (105-79)

ESPN: Team USA Improves to 3-0 in Exhibitions With Impressive Win Over Serbia

HIGHLIGHTS 🎥

🚴 Tour de France

Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz Wins Stage 17 Climb

Tadej Pogacar Fortifies Overall Lead

⚽️ MLS

14-Year-Old Cavan Sullivan Makes MLS Debut

Philadelphia Union Midfielder Makes History as Youngest Player in American Professional Team Sports

Full MLS Scoreboard

STORYLINES

🏅 Meet Team USA

With the 2024 Paris Games approaching, Olympic qualifying is now complete and nearly 600 athletes have earned their spots on the U.S. Olympic team. In alphabetical order, from Archery to Wrestling, here’s the full athlete list. (NBC Olympics)

🏀 NBA Summer League Takeaways

Reed Sheppard’s across-the-board production, Stephon Castle’s outsize impact, and the most interesting things we saw during the first weekend in Las Vegas… Here are five takeaways from the 2024 NBA Summer League so far. (The Ringer)

🏁 NASCAR Power Rankings

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend for the return of the Brickyard 400, the first time Cup drivers will have raced on the famed 2.5-mile oval since 2019. Let’s rank the drivers. (FOX Sports)

NEWS 📰

⚽️ 14-Year-Old Cavan Sullivan Makes MLS Debut for Philadelphia Union, Youngest Pro Player in US Team Sports (USA Today)

💰 Jonathan Tamayo Wins $10 Million World Series of Poker Main Event (ESPN)

⚽️ NWSL Team Angel City FC Officially Announce Disney CEO Bob Iger & Willow Bay as New Owners (Yahoo! Sports)

🏈 Bill Belichick ‘Fully Invested’ in Return to Coaching in 2025 (B/R)

🏀 Connecticut Sun Acquire Marina Mabrey From Chicago Sky in 3-Player Trade (SI)

🏈 Franchise Tag Clause Held Up Bears’ Contract With QB Caleb Williams, But Deal Now Done (CBS Sports)

🏈 Alabama Players Paying ‘No Mind’ to Nick Saban’s SEC Title Picks (ESPN)