SILVIS, Ill. — Zach Johnson is skipping three majors for the John Deere Classic, which feels like a major for the Iowa native. He made the decision pay off Thursday with an eagle-birdie finish for a 7-under 64 that left him one shot out of the lead.

Lucas Glover and Zac Blair played in the morning and each posted a 63, a good start for both as the PGA Tour heads into the final two months. Both are well outside the top 100 in the FedEx Cup.

Johnson, a 50-year-old in his first year on the PGA Tour Champions and already with two victories, never considered anything but the John Deere Classic even with the U.S. Senior Open in Ohio this week at Scioto.

He used putter from off the green for a 45-foot eagle on the par-5 17th, and capped off his round with a shot into 12 feet for a closing birdie.

Along with skipping the U.S. Senior Open this week, Johnson did not enter the British Open at Royal Birkdale, where he is exempt for 10 more years. He also is skipping the Senior British Open at Gleneagles, where he played in the 2014 Ryder Cup.

Clark voted to All-Star game

NEW YORK — Caitlin Clark was voted to start her third straight All-Star Game and will be joined by Indiana Fever teammates Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston, the WNBA announced Thursday.

It’s the second time in four years that three players from the same team were chosen to start the game, with Las Vegas doing it in 2023. Clark wasn’t able to play in last year’s game that the Fever hosted because she was injured right before the All-Star break.

Clark and Mitchell will be joined this year in the backcourt by Dallas’ Paige Bueckers and Minnesota rookie Olivia Miles. It’s the fourth consecutive year that a rookie was chosen as an All-Star starter. Bueckers played last season.

A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Jessica Shepard, Natasha Howard and Gabby Williams were selected for the frontcourt for the game that will be played in Chicago on July 25. It will be Wilson’s and Stewart’s eighth All-Star appearance while Shepard will be making her first.

Starters were chosen by a mixture of fan, player and media votes. The fan vote counted for 50% while media and player votes were 25% each. Each player’s score was calculated by averaging their weighted rank from all three areas.

Cricket comes to Los Angeles

POMONA, Calif. — The Los Angeles Knight Riders played their first home game Wednesday under the lights of their brand-new cricket field in Southern California, marking a milestone event as excitement builds for the 2028 Olympics.

Cricket, the second most-watched sport in the world, is set to be included in the Olympic Games after a 126-year hiatus. With a global following of over 2.5 billion, the Olympics are expected to draw international attention to Knight Riders Cricket Ground in Pomona, about 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

Major League Cricket, which currently holds a monthlong season with six teams, is hoping to build momentum by giving sports fans in major markets a taste of the excitement cricket can produce.

About 2,000 spectators — predominantly South Asian — filled the stands Wednesday night for the first match between the home team and the Washington Freedom. They cheered as the first ball of the match was bowled and the thwack of the strike echoed across the stadium.

The Associated Press