Charlie Woods continued his impressive performance in the third round of the 49th Junior PGA Championships on Thursday at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Woods entered the third round after finishing the previous day with a score of 6-under 66, totaling 7-under for the tournament, which tied him for fifth place with Carson Kittsley.

After a two-hour delay to start the third round, Woods did not let the uncertain atmosphere deter his performance and finished the day with a score of 5-under, which moves him into a tie for second with a score of 12-under for the tournament.

As the 49th Junior PGA Championships move into the final round, Lunden Esterline from Andover, Kansas, currently sits atop the leaderboard with a score of 19-under. Here is the status of the leaderboard heading into the fourth round:

Charlie Woods score, results after Round 3

Charlie Woods ended the third round of the 2025 Junior PGA Championships having shot 5-under par, putting him at 12-under for the tournament, good for T2 overall.

2025 Junior PGA Championships leaderboard

Top of the leaderboard, according to the Junior PGA Championships:

1. Lunden Esterline: -19
T2:  Charlie Woods: -12
T2.  Pennson Badgett: -12
T4: Ayden Fynaut: -11
T4: Tyler Mawhinney: -11
T4:  Zenghao Hou: -11
7: Sam Carraher: -10
T8: Luke Balaskiewicz: -9
T8: Ronin Banerjee: -9
T8: William Chang: -9
T8: Max VanderMolen: -9

The Major League Baseball’s July 31 trade deadline is the final opportunity for contenders to build out their rosters for a potential championship run.

The 2025 deadline turned into a busy day for both teams looking for an immediate answer to the holes on their roster, as well as teams looking forward to building out their rosters for the future. The Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies emerged as the odds on favorites to win the championship after making moves on July 31 to help bolster their rosters.

The defending champion Dodgers added a couple of relief arms and an outfielder to their roster, while the Mets and Phillies added major pieces to compete with one another in a competitive NL East.

Here’s a look at the updated odds for the 2025 MLB World Series champion:

2025 World Series odds

Odds via BetMGM as of Thursday, July 31.

Here’s a look at the odds for the MLB teams to win the 2025 World Series. The Dodgers are still the favorites, but the Mets, Yankees and Phillies are tied for the second best odds. The Detroit Tigers round out the top five, while the Houston Astros busy day on July 31 helped their odds.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers (+250)
T-2. New York Mets (+850)
T-2. New York Yankees (+850)
T-2. Philadelphia Phillies (+850)
5. Detroit Tigers (+950)
6. Houston Astros (+1100)
7. Chicago Cubs (+1200)
8. Toronto Blue Jays (+1500)
9. San Diego Padres (+1700)
T-10. Seattle Mariners (+1800)
T-10. Milwaukee Brewers (+1800)
T-12. Boston Red Sox (+2500)
T-12. Texas Rangers (+2500)
14. Cincinnati Reds (+8000)
T-15. San Francisco Giants (+15000)
T-15. Tampa Bay Rays (+15000)
T-17. Cleveland Guardians (+20000)
T-17. Kansas City Royals (+20000)
18. Saint Louis Cardinals (+50000)
T-19. Arizona Diamondbacks (+100000)
T-19. Atlanta Braves (+100000)
T-19. Baltimore Orioles (+100000)
T-19. Miami Marlins (+100000)
T-19. Los Angeles Angels (+100000)
T-19. Minnesota Twins (+100000)
T-19. Athletics (+100000)
T-19. Pittsburgh Pirates (+100000)
T-19. Washington Nationals (+100000)
T-29. Chicago White Sox (+200000)
T-29. Colorado Rockies (+200000)

In a startling reunion brought about by injuries to their infield, the Houston Astros have agreed to bring back Carlos Correa, their 2015 Rookie Of the Year, 2017 World Series champion and three-time All-Star, the Astros announced July 31.

USA TODAY Sports reported a day before the deadline that the Astros had interest in bringing Correa back from the Minnesota Twins with the team sitting in first place in the American League West but having lost third baseman Isaac Paredes and shortstop Jeremy Peña to injuries in recent weeks.

It was Peña’s presence that prompted Houston to let Correa walk as a free agent in 2021, when he led the AL with 7.3 WAR and boosted the Astros to the ’21 World Series. Now, Correa says he will be moving to third base for the first time in his career, with Peña set to come off the injured list this weekend.

After leaving Houston, Correa twice signed with Minnesota, the second time inking a six-year, $200 million deal after failing physicals with the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets. 

Now, he’s back with the team that drafted him No. 1 overall in 2012 – and teammates with Peña, the man who replaced him and should be back shortly from a rehab assignment. 

He will come with some financial relief: The Twins are sending $33 million to the Astros to help offset the roughly $108 million left on Correa’s contract through 2028. The Twins will receive left-hander Matt Mikulski, a 26-year-old still in high Class A ball.

Carlos Correa trade details

The Astros will receive Carlos Correa and $33 million in the deal with the Twins, with Minnesota receiving 26-year-old Class A left-hander Matt Mikurski.

Carlos Correa stats

Correa was batting .267 with a .705 OPS, seven home runs and 31 RBIs in 93 games for the Twins this seaso.

Carlos Correa contract

Carlos Correa is making $37.3 million in 2025. After this season, Correa has three years and about $96.5 million remaining on the six-year, $200 million deal he signed with the Twins.

Pencils down!

The 2025 MLB trade deadline has officially come and gone. The trade deadline featured many big trades, including a busy day for San Diego Padres’ GM AJ Preller.

One of the biggest splashes of the day was the Houston Astros trading for Carlos Correa to bring him back to Houston from the Minnesota Twins. The Twins had a full-fledged fire sale and will have a new look post-trade deadline.

While many big-named players were traded, many stars will remain with their teams for the rest of the 2025 MLB season. The list starts with the top starting pitcher who was available in Sandy Alcantara of the Miami Marlins.

Here’s a look at the notable players who were rumored to be on the trade block, but will remain with their teams following the MLB trade deadline:

Sandy Alcantara and Edward Cabrera, SPs, Miami Marlins

The Marlins made one trade at the trade deadline on July 31, and neither involved one of their well-regarded starting pitchers. According to various reports, Miami had negotiations with several teams about the two right-handed pitchers; however, no teams stepped up to meet their asking price. Following a slow start in his first season back from Tommy John Surgery, Alcantara has thrown 12 shutout innings in his last two starts. The Marlins could move him this offseason.

Meanwhile, Cabrera is in the middle of a breakout season and like Alcantara, is under team control through 2027. Cabrera is 4-5 on the season with a 3.35 ERA. Since May 4, Cabrera owns a 2.39 ERA with 76 strikeouts in 75 1/3 innings of work.

Zac Gallen, SP, Arizona Diamondbacks

Despite the Diamondbacks being aggressive sellers and Gallen being in his walk year, Arizona could not find a suitable trade partner for Gallen. Instead, the Diamondbacks will hold onto the star pitcher who has had three top-10 CY Young award finishes. Gallen has a 7-12 record with a 5.60 ERA and has struggled with control this season. The Diamondbacks will offer Gallen a qualifying offer.

Luis Robert Jr., OF, Chicago White Sox

The White Sox did not end up moving the injury-prone star, despite reports they are not expected to pick up his option for the 2026 season. Robert is hitting .206 with 11 home runs and 43 RBI in the season, but plays strong defense and is elite on the basepaths. He has a $20 million club option for the 2026 and 2027 seasons.

Dylan Cease, SP, San Diego Padres

The Padres and Astros engaged in trade talks about Cease for much of the day on July 31, but when the deadline hit, neither team could come to an agreement on a trade for the right-handed pitcher. San Diego will finish the season with Cease in the rotation, despite trying to shop him for a month. He is 3-10 with a 4.79 ERA on the season with 153 strikeouts in 118 1/3 innings. 

MacKenzie Gore, SP, Washington Nationals

The Nationals did not want to move Gore unless they were blown away with an offer, and that’s what ended up transpiring as the deadline came and went. The 26-year-old has a 4-11 record, but a solid 3.80 ETA with 144 strikeouts in 117 2/3 innings of work.

Joe Ryan, SP, Minnesota Twins

The Twins traded double-digit players at the deadline after starting the day with a 51-57 record and sitting 12 games back of the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central. However, one of the players they did not move was Ryan, despite late interest from the Red Sox. Ryan, a first-time All-Star, had a 1.80 ERA in four starts in July.

The brain of Shane Tamura, the 27-year-old gunman who killed four in a mass shooting Monday at the Manhattan building housing the NFL’s offices before dying by suicide, will be tested for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), according to the city’s medical examiner’s office.

A spokesperson for New York City’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner told USA TODAY Sports it would be testing for the disease as part of a full neurological work-up of the deceased.

‘Our office has neuropathology expertise in house and will be examining the brain as part of the additional testing for the complete autopsy,’ a spokesperson wrote in an email.

The medical examiner’s tests come after Tamura asked in a three-page note, found in his wallet after the shooting, to be tested for CTE, which is a brain condition experienced by people who have suffered repeated blows to the head, often through contact sports such as football.

Tamura claimed his time playing high school football in California caused him to develop CTE. He also wrote in his note the NFL ‘knowingly concealed the dangers to our brains to maximize profits. They failed us.’

As of 2023, the Boston University CTE Center had tested 376 former NFL players for the disease. It found 345 of them (91.7%) suffered from CTE. However, an article revealing that data noted the prevalence among all NFL athletes is unknown because it can only be diagnosed after death and ‘brain bank samples are subject to selection biases.’

‘While the most tragic outcomes in individuals with CTE grab headlines, we want to remind people at risk for CTE that those experiences are in the minority,” said Dr. Ann McKee, then the director of the BU CTE Center and chief of neuropathology at VA Boston Healthcare System. ‘Your symptoms, whether or not they are related to CTE, likely can be treated, and you should seek medical care. Our clinical team has had success treating former football players with mid-life mental health and other symptoms.’

Chris Nowinski – the CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, which works closely with the Boston University CTE Center – cautioned The Washington Post that even if Tamura is diagnosed with CTE, it wouldn’t rule out other factors from having contributed to his actions. Those potential factors include mental illness, genetic disorders and drug use.

The New York Knicks and forward Mikal Bridges have agreed to a four-year, $150 million contract extension with the franchise, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

Bridges, who just finished his first season in New York, will be under contract with the Knicks through 2029.

The new deal is expected to have a player option for the 2029-30 season and a trade kicker. The monetary amount is just slightly less max extension number of $156 million.

Bridges has played and started in all 82 games over each of the past two years. He averaged 17.6 points, 3.7 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game during the 2025 season. 

Bridges was traded to the Knicks by the Brooklyn Nets in July 2024 as part of a multi-player deal. Bridges spent more than four years in Phoenix before the Nets acquired him from the Suns in February 2023.

He was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team as a member of the Suns following the 2021-22 season.

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MLB teams shedding salary − whether it be midseason at the trade deadline or choosing not to extend certain players − shouldn’t be new for MLB fans. But as Minnesota Twins fans watched a team just 5.5 games back of a wild-card berth get stripped for parts, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to simply ask: ‘why?’

The Twins, who have been in the Pohlad family since 1984, are now up for sale. And that means, by the 6 p.m. ET trade deadline on July 31, the team’s goal was to have as little money on the books as possible. The result? Jhoan Duran and Harrison Bader to the Phillies in two different deals, Carlos Correa back to the Astros in a stunner, Willi Castro off to the Cubs under the wire, Griffin Jax to the Rays, and a clubhouse left in a very different condition from where it was even 36 hours ago.

The vibes around the Twins leading up to the deadline were, to say the least, weird. There was a fake-out hug with Duran when MLB fans were on ‘hug watch,’ Castro was pulled out late in July 30’s game, and Jax was thrown out by manager Rocco Baldelli before being replaced by position player Kody Clemens on the mound.

As all of this went down, the Pohlads are continuing down the road of selling the Twins. The process has been grueling, with a reported lack of attractive bids and a balk from Justin Ishbia when the White Sox’s Jerry Reinsdorf reportedly offered a greater stake … but MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said wheels are in motion.

“I know some things that you don’t know,” Manfred said over the All-Star Weekend in Atlanta. “I can tell you with a lot of confidence that there will be a transaction there, and it will be consistent with the kind of pricing that has taken place. There will be a transaction. We just need to be patient while they rework.”

MLB team sales are uncommon, but the ‘kind of pricing that has taken place’ has been in the range of $1.7 billion. The Orioles sold to David Rubenstein’s group at a valuation of $1.725 billion and the Rays sold to Patrick Zalupski’s group for $1.7 billion. Before this recent crop, the Mets were an outlier at $2.42 billion in 2020, while valuations were much lower leading into Steve Cohen’s massive buy in New York.

Who is the Pohlad family?

The Minnesota Twins are owned by the Pohlad family, which is in its third generation of ownership.

Carl Pohlad bought the team from Calvin Griffith in 1984, with Jim Pohlad now serving as the team’s principal owner. Twin Cities Businesses named the Pohlads the People of the Year in 2022 for their commitment to the city.

In addition to Jim there are his brothers Bill and Bob. Joe Pohlad, Bob’s son, was named executive chair for the Twins in 2022.

There has been a great deal of consternation around the Pohlads’ management of the Twins. Minnesota was targeted for contraction in 2001, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote: ‘People with knowledge of (Carl) Pohlad say he believes efforts to gain a new stadium are doomed, he’s fearful of paying an ever-rising payroll simply to keep his current team together, and he’s not sure he wants the team to be a future burden to his family.’

Ultimately, a court stopped the contraction thanks in part to the lease with the Metrodome despite a 28-2 vote from MLB owners to contract the Twins alongside the Montreal Expos.

Pohlad also tried to sell the Twins to a North Carolina investor who would have moved the team in 1997, ahead of the near-contraction. “I’ve done everything I can to keep baseball here,” Pohlad said at the time, per the Minnesota Star Tribune. “Nobody seems to care whether the Twins stay or not.”

The family demanded public funding for Target Field, opened in 2010, which was built for $545 million, $360 million of which came from public funding. The Pohlads supplied the other $185 million.

After an ALDS berth in 2023, Joe Pohlad continued the family tradition, saying the Twins were ‘right-sizing,’ … which amounts to cutting payroll. When the wheels fell off what looked like a playoff push in 2024, president of baseball operations Derek Falvey downplayed spending’s effects on the roster.

“The harder part for me as I sit here today is that this stretch of baseball and us not being where we need to be was not about payroll,” Falvey said, per MLB.com. “It just wasn’t. There’s no other way to put it. This was about the team that we had, on the field, that was 15, 17 games over .500 and capable of playing baseball the way we needed to down the stretch and didn’t play it.”

Joe Pohlad also took some accountability for the team’s failures.

“Everybody owns this a little bit, and I played a role in that,” he said. “It’s been well-documented, this payroll decision, and as I kind of reflect on my role in all of this, we were at an all-time high last year, right? Fans were all-in. Players were all-in. We were headed down a great direction and I had to make a very difficult business decision.

“But that’s just the reality of my world. I have a business to run, and it comes with tough decisions, and that’s what I had to do. I wouldn’t make any other decision, because that’s the position that we were in. That’s our reality.”

Minnesota Twins trade deadline moves

The Twins were active at the deadline, prioritizing attaining controllable assets for some of their top players.

Twins trade RHP Chris Paddack and RHP Randy Dobnak to Detroit Tigers for C Enrique Jimenez
Twins trade RHP Jhoan Duran to Philadelphia Phillies for C Eduardo Tait and RHP Mick Abel
Twins trade RHP Brock Stewart to Los Angeles Dodgers for OF James Outman
Twins trade OF Harrison Bader to Philadelphia Phillies for RHP Geremy Villoria and OF Hendry Mendez
Twins trade SS Carlos Correa to Houston Astros for LHP Matt Mikurski, cash
Twins trade LHP Danny Coulombe to Texas Rangers for LHP Garrett Horn
Twins trade OF Willi Castro to Chicago Cubs for RHP Sam Armstrong and RHP Ryan Gallagher.
Twins trade RHP Griffin Jax to Tampa Bay Rays for RHP Taj Bradley.
Twins trade RHP Louis Varland and 1B Ty France to Toronto Blue Jays for OF Alan Roden and LHP Kendry Rojas.

Minnesota Twins’ debt

One of the reasons the Twins may be offloading so much salary is the reported debt around the team. Per The Athletic, the club was carrying about $425 million in debt in March, on the high end among MLB clubs. Bally Sports North going belly-up undoubtedly didn’t help matters.

A significant portion of that debt reportedly was accrued after 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Twins’ 2026 payroll

Most of the Twins’ roster will be in arbitration for the 2026 season, meaning with the departure of Correa just two players will be under contract heading into 2026: Pitcher Pablo Lopez and outfielder Byron Buxton.

Lopez’s salary will be $21.75 million, whereas Buxton sits at $15.143 million.

Even so, the Twins are currently projected at 18th in MLB per Spotrac at $81,726,190.

The Washington Commanders made a run to the NFC championship game for the first time in more than 30 years last season. However, they may be without one of their top players this year as they try to build on that success.

Top wide receiver Terry McLaurin has requested a trade out of Washington, per multiple reports. The 29-year-old is seeking an extension as he enters the final year of the three-year extension he signed prior to the 2022 season.

Washington drafted McLaurin in the third round, No. 76 overall in the 2019 NFL Draft and he’s been the team’s leading receiver every year of his career.

With rookie Jayden Daniels at quarterback in 2024, McLaurin set a career-high with 13 touchdowns and earned second-team All-Pro honors for the first time. He also made his second Pro Bowl.

McLaurin is set to count $25.5 million against the salary cap for Washington in 2025. It’s the final year of his second NFL contract.

He was present for the start of training camp but was not participating due to an ankle injury.

‘We’re just taking it day by day,’ McLaurin said after practice on July 28.

Terry McLaurin contract details

McLaurin is in the final year of his extension with the Commanders entering his age-30 season. Here’s the specifics of the contract for 2025, per OverTheCap:

Base salary: $15.5 million
Bonuses:

$5.6 million signing bonus
$2.8 million roster bonus
$850,000 bonus per game
$500,000 workout bonus
$250,000 other bonus

Guaranteed money: $2.8 million
Salary cap hit: $25.5 million

Without changing any details in the contract, the Commanders will incur a dead cap hit of $5.6 million in 2025 by trading him but save $19.9 million.

Terry McLaurin stats

McLaurin had his fifth consecutive 1,000-yard season with the Commanders in 2024. Here’s how he’s fared throughout his career:

2019 (14 games): 58 receptions, 919 yards, seven touchdowns
2020 (15 games): 87 receptions, 1,118 yards, four touchdowns
2021 (17 games): 77 receptions, 1,053 yards, five touchdowns
2022 (17 games): 77 receptions, 1,191 yards, five touchdowns
2023 (17 games): 79 receptions, 1,002 yards, four touchdowns
2024 (17 games): 82 receptions, 1,096 yards, 13 touchdowns

Commanders WR depth chart

McLaurin is the top returning player for a new-look Commanders group at wide receiver. The team made multiple additions via trade, free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft.

Terry McLaurin
Noah Brown
Deebo Samuel
Michael Gallup
Luke McCaffrey
Jaylin Lane
Chris Moore
Michael Strachan
K.J. Osborn
Jacoby Jones
Ja’Corey Brooks
Tay Martin

Former Stanford football coach Troy Taylor has filed a lawsuit against ESPN and one of its reporters over a story that led to his dismissal.

Taylor, 57, filed the lawsuit on Wednesday in the Northern District of California, citing an investigative story that ran in March by author Xuan Thai. The lawsuit alleges that Thai published “repeated defamatory statements about Taylor, knowing full well that the statements were false, for the purpose of smearing Taylor’s reputation and injuring him in his profession.”

Stanford and GM Andrew Luck announced the firing of Taylor on March 25, six days after ESPN’s report was released. Taylor had been the head coach for the Cardinal for two seasons, leading the program to a 6-18 record.

Thai’s story alleged that Taylor “bullied and belittled female athletic staffers,” citing a pair of previously undisclosed third-party investigations in 2023 and 2024 after “multiple employees filed official complaints regarding Taylor’s behavior.”

A month later, on April 16, a follow-up article from ESPN’s look into Stanford and Taylor began “in response to a single complainant who alleged gender bias and ‘a culture problem in football.” The article states that despite interviews ‘with at least 20 Stanford athletic department staffers regarding four allegations against Taylor. Three of the allegations regarding belittling and inappropriate behavior toward multiple women were deemed to have merit.”

Taylor’s lawsuit states: ‘Defendents’ false reporting about Taylor was not caused by negligence and did not result from any honest or good faith mistakes. Rather, Defendents’ intentionally twisted the facts to advance a particular narrative and made (repeated) patently false statements about Taylor for the purpose of harming his reputation and pressuring Stanford to fire him.’

Luck, the former Stanford quarterback star and No. 1 overall NFL pick, became Stanford’s GM in November. He reportedly knew Taylor’s situation before taking the position, but did not decide to fire Taylor until ESPN’s report was released ahead of spring practices.

Stanford hired Taylor on Dec. 10, 2022, following a three-year stint coaching Sacramento State at the FCS level. He led the Hornets to three playoff appearances in three seasons. Following the departure of long-time coach David Shaw following a pair of 3-9 seasons, Taylor was brought in.

In his two seasons leading the Cardinal, Taylor also went 3-9, marking the fourth straight season with the same record for the program. Stanford’s last winning record in a full season came back in 2018, when it went 9-4 and won the Sun Bowl.

Following the firing of Taylor, Luck tabbed his former Indianapolis Colts coach, Frank Reich, as the new interim head coach. Reich was hired under the condition that he would not be considered for the permanent role.

Pronunciation guides are your friend.

That’s the lesson that President Donald Trump learned on Thursday when he was faced with the challenge of pronouncing Tua Tagovailoa’s name.

It wasn’t particularly close from the commander-in-chief, who butchered the last name of the Miami Dolphins’ quarterback.

Take a look:

Trump was announcing that he has reestablished the Presidential Fitness Test, which went away at the end of the 2012-13 school year. In doing so, the president also established a council that includes professional athletes, with Tagovailoa also being involved.

“Saquon Barkley is on the council, and Tua Tagovailoa [tag-oh-vah-lee-ah], the quarterback who is … really he’s been fantastic, … when he’s not injured,’ Trump said. ‘He’s got to stay healthy,”

Trump isn’t the first – and likely won’t be the last – to struggle with the pronunciation, but to his credit, the president battled through it.

Like a classic politician, Trump quickly pivoted and turned the attention to the quarterback’s health – making it seem as though he wasn’t tripped up on the pronunciation.