GOLF

Brendan Steele finished with four consecutive birdies and shot a 6-under 64 on Thursday to take the first-round lead at the PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship at Inzai City, Japan.

“Everybody says if you birdie 18, dinner tastes better,” Steele said. “But four in a row is definitely, really nice and feels good.”

It was a happy return to the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, where Steele was the runner-up a year ago in the same tournament behind winner Hideki Matsuyama.

The Zozo Championship is the only PGA Tour event in Japan and has a purse of $11 million. There are no COVID-19 crowd-limit restrictions in place this year.

It was a big day for other Americans as well.

Adam Schenk was a shot back after a 65 on a rainy day on the course on the outskirts of Tokyo. Sam Ryder, Matthew NeSmith, and Keegan Bradley were two back.

Three more Americans were three behind: Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele, and Maverick McNealy.

Defending champion Matsuyama, who won by five strokes a year ago, got off to a slow start before a home crowd with a 71.

EUROPEAN TOUR: Min Woo Lee shot a 5-under 66 at Valderrama to sit in a five-way tie for the lead at the Andalucia Masters on Thursday in Sotogrande, Spain.

The Australian had five birdies, an eagle and two bogeys in his opening round, finishing tied with Pep Angles, David Horsey, Jazz Janewattananond and Soren Kjeldsen.

BASKETBALL

NBA: Cheryl Flores and Dannica Mosher have been promoted to the level of full-time staff officials, the NBA said Thursday. The NBA now has eight women at the full-time referee level, the most the league has ever had at one time.

Flores and Mosher earned promotions from the G League level, as did another pair of new hires — Matt Kallio, who becomes the NBA’s first international full-time official, and Robert Hussey.

• Vernon Carey Jr. of the Washington Wizards has entered the NBA’s concussion protocol following what the team said was a minor traffic accident.

Wizards Coach Wes Unseld Jr. said Carey started having symptoms after practice Wednesday. Unseld said he didn’t have details about the accident, but he thought it happened on Carey’s way home from the team’s open practice Tuesday night.

COLLEGES

FIELD HOCKEY: Sage Drinkwater raised her season goal total to 15 with her second hat trick, leading Southern Maine (10-5) to a 7-0 win over UMaine-Farmington in Gorham.

Emma Samson added two goals, and Samantha Ellis and Chloe Arsenault also scored.

WOMEN’S SOCCER: Abby Kraemer tied the game in the 64th minute as the University of Maine secured a 1-1 draw against UMass-Lowell at Orono.

Emily Nelson scored on a feed from Chaima Khammar for the River Hawks (6-5-3, 3-1-1 America East).

Kira Kutzinski had 10 saves for Maine (7-3-3, 3-0-3) , while Taylor Burgess had six for the River Hawks.

FOOTBALL: Wisconsin offensive tackle Logan Brown has been dismissed from the team because of an “internal incident,” interim coach Jim Leonhard said.

Brown, a former five-star recruit, had tweeted late Wednesday night that he was entering the transfer portal.

“The reality of what happened is there was an internal incident here within the program and Logan Brown was dismissed from the program,” Leonhard said. “It was not a choice. He was dismissed from our program.”

Leonhard, who took over for the fired Paul Chryst on Oct. 2, didn’t detail the incident that led to Brown’s exit.

SOCCER

CHELSEA: Emma Hayes is taking time away from coaching Chelsea’s women’s team “for the foreseeable future” as she recovers after undergoing an emergency hysterectomy.

In a statement, Hayes said she had the operation this month as she battles endometriosis.

“I’m now in recovery,” Hayes said, “and will need time and patience to return to full health.”

Hayes has coached Chelsea since 2012, leading the team to five Women’s Super League titles – including in each of the last three seasons.

Assistant coach Denise Reddy will oversee first-team duties in Hayes’ absence.

FIFA: The FBI has been back at FIFA this week, working with soccer’s governing body to protect the World Cup in Qatar from potential crime including match-fixing.

Federal investigators from the United States joined a panel meeting in Zurich that included Interpol and betting monitoring experts to oversee “timely handling of integrity matters” at the tournament that starts on Nov. 20, FIFA said.

ARGENTINA: Marcelo Gallardo is leaving his job as coach of River Plate after eight years and 14 titles.

The Argentinian coach said he will not be extending his contract when it expires in December.

VENEZUELA: A FIFA disciplinary judge and a former president of Venezuela’s soccer federation were found guilty by the world soccer body of financial corruption.

Former federation president Laureano Gonzalez was banned for five years for mismanagement of its money including a “fictitious invoicing scheme,” FIFA said in announcing the verdicts of its ethics committee. Gonzalez was ordered to pay a fine of more than $410,000.

Carlos Teran was a member of FIFA’s disciplinary committee when he approved and accepted “undue pecuniary advantages in the form of additional monthly payments,” FIFA said.

Teran was banned from soccer for two years and fined 10,000 Swiss francs ($10,000).

The offenses were linked to both men serving on an emergency management panel – known by the FIFA term “normalization committee” – that was running the federation.

Three more emergency panel members were found guilty of charges including conflicts of interest and taking monthly payments and fined $10,000. One-year FIFA bans for Bernardo Anor Guillamon, Luis Eduardo Fernandez and Gilberto Velazco Ramirez were each suspended for two-year probation periods.