FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • THUrsday, JUNE 17, 2021
COLLEGE
SPORTS
Oregon NIL bill
back to House floor
The proposed legisla-
tion to permit college ath-
letes in Oregon to be com-
pensated for their name,
image and likeness start-
ing on July 1 is inching to-
wards becoming law.
Senate Bill 5, which
passed in the state Sen-
ate earlier this month, is
headed back to the House
floor with a do-pass rec-
ommendation following
a 7-0 vote in favor after a
work session in the House
Rules committee on
Wednesday.
“ I just want to call out
the testimony from Mr.
(Jaydon) Grant, the (Ore-
gon State) student-ath-
lete, (Tuesday),” House
Majority Leader Barbara
Smith Warner (D-Portland)
said. “Admire his advocacy
and his willingness to en-
gage in this work. I think
this is an important thing
for us to do.”
If the House passes the
bill — it passed 23-6 with
one excused in the Sen-
ate — SB 5 will need to be
signed by Gov. Kate Brown
to go into effect immedi-
ately, with Oregon college
athletes able to earn NIL
compensation beginning
July 1, the same day sim-
ilar laws are to go into
effect in six other states:
Alabama, Florida, Georgia,
Mississippi, New Mexico
and Texas.
University of Oregon
president Michael Schill,
Oregon State University
interim president Becky
Johnson and Portland
State president Stephen
Percy, issued a joint let-
ter to the House Rules
committee in support of
the bill.
Meanwhile, efforts
continue from federal law-
makers to craft a national
NIL bill with the goal of
passing it before July 1,
with numerous different
proposals being circulated.
The U.S. Senate Com-
merce Committee will
hold a hearing on “NCAA
Student Athletes and NIL
Rights” Thursday morn-
ing, its second hearing in
as many weeks related to
the issue.
bendbulletin.com/sports
WEST COAST LEAGUE BASEBALL
Looking for
more wins
Bend Elks are starting to swing
the bat well, but victories have
been hard to come by in the WCL
BY BRIAN RATHBONE • The Bulletin
W
ith the recent roster turnover on the
Bend Elks, the bats showed signs of life
— especially at the top of the order.
Sam Linscott, Bryce Boettcher and Chase
Engelhard, all new additions to the Elks
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
lineup, were key in the squad’s best game at
Bend Elks’ Sam Linscott gets a hit during Tuesday night’s 9-8 loss to Ridgefield at Vince Genna Stadium in Bend.
the plate through the first seven games of
“I thought they swung the bat well, I really did,”
said Elks coach Kyle Nobach. “I thought they really
competed at the plate.”
While Boettcher and Engelhard both made their
Elks debut on Tuesday at Vince Genna Stadium,
Linscott has been off to a hot start at the plate in his
four games since joining the team.
“The kid can really swing it,” Nobach said.
A Lewis-Clark State College outfielder, Linscott has
three multi-hit games and has scored six runs since
joining the squad last week. He credits his hot start to
West Coast League play. The 1-2-3 hitters
collected six of the team’s 10 hits, scored five
of the eight runs and drove in six runs in
the Elks’ 9-8 loss to the Ridgefield Raptors
Tuesday night at Vince Genna Stadium.
TRACK & FIELD
Hornets’ Ball
rookie of the year
CHARLOTTE, N.C. —
LaMelo Ball thought
he would become NBA
Rookie of the Year long
before he joined the
league.
That belief became a
reality Wednesday night as
Ball’s versatility as a passer,
scorer and rebounder
earned the Charlotte Hor-
nets point guard the honor
despite missing 21 games
with a fractured wrist.
Ball was the runaway
winner, receiving 84 of the
99 first-place votes to beat
out finalists Anthony Ed-
wards from the Minnesota
Timberwolves and Tyrese
Haliburton from the Sac-
ramento Kings. Edwards
received the other 15 first-
place votes.
“Way before the league
when I was playing bas-
ketball and they were
talking about the NBA
stuff, that is when I knew
when I’m a rookie that is
one of the accomplish-
ments I can get,” Ball said.
Ball led all rookies with
averages of 6.1 assists and
1.6 steals per game and
was third with 15.7 points
and 5.9 rebounds.
He made an immediate
impact with the Hornets,
becoming the youngest
player in the NBA history
to have a triple-double
with 22 points, 12 re-
bounds and 11 assists in
just his 10th career game.
— Associated Press
See Elks / A6
GOLF
A return to Torrey and prime time
for U.S. Open on the West Coast
BY DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
— The Oregonian
NBA
working with assistant coach Tyler Graham.
“He made a small adjustment in my setup, and
it is helping me see the ball a little further,” Linscott
said. “He shortened up my stance; I was striding too
far. It has been working. Everything is clicking right
now — I’m trying not to think about it too much.”
While the offense strung together its best run
output over the past two games — 15, compared to
eight combined in the five games prior — an old
baseball adage has rang true for the Elks.
Charlie Neibergall/AP file
English Gardner runs in a women’s 200-meter dash preliminary heat at
the U.S. Championships in 2019, in Des Moines, Iowa. Gardner is one of
33 current or former members of the Oregon track and field program
entered in the Olympic trials.
Dozens of Ducks competing
at the U.S. Olympic Trials
BY CHRIS HANSEN
The (Eugene) Register-Guard
The most decorated wom-
en’s sprinter in Oregon history
has no plans to purchase food
inside the stadium this week
during the U.S. Olympic Track
& Field Trials at Hayward
Field.
English Gardner is hoping
her ID alone will get her any-
thing she needs, just one of the
perks of having a concession
stand named after you in the
new stadium.
“Hopefully that will get me
a free meal,” joked Gardner
about stopping by English’s
Garden this coming week.
“This is my first time at the
new stadium so I’m super ex-
cited.”
Gardner won’t be the only
Duck competing in front of a
friendly and familiar crowd at
the Olympic Trials, which be-
gin Friday and run through
June 27.
There are 33 current or
former members of the Ore-
gon track and field program
entered in 39 events, includ-
ing five who competed in the
2016 Rio Olympics and three
who brought home gold med-
als — Matthew Centrowitz
(1,500 meters), Phyllis Francis
(4x400) and Gardner (4x100).
“It’s more than just a second
home, it’s a home away from
home,” Gardner said. “I’m ex-
cited to warm up the track a lit-
tle bit and put on a great show
for all the great fans that always
come out and support us. I’m
super excited for it.”
Gardner, a five-time NCAA
champion, two-time World
Athletics outdoor silver med-
alist, and winner of the Olym-
pic Trials 100 in 2016, is one
of three former Ducks in the
women’s 100 this week, joining
Jenna Prandini and Hannah
Cunliffe.
At 29, this will be Gardner’s
third Olympic Trials and with-
out a doubt, it also will be her
most challenging.
Gardner said Tuesday after-
noon she was diagnosed with
COVID-19 in April, and she
just recently has gotten back on
the track. She ran a season-best
11.13-second 100 last weekend.
“I had the opportunity of
training and building a great
foundation for this upcoming
year and then in the middle
of my training I was down for
about a month,” she said. “I
just recently started to compete
again and run again. … This is
the first week where I kind of
feel like a normal person.”
See Track / A7
SAN DIEGO — The USGA
is starting to escape that rep-
utation of an East Coast bias
for the U.S. Open.
The return to Torrey Pines
for the 121st U.S. Open means
another prime-time show
along the Eastern seaboard,
and that’s happening with
greater frequency for the U.S.
Open.
It wasn’t until the 48th edi-
tion of this national champi-
onship that it ventured farther
west than Colorado, with Ben
Hogan winning at Riviera in
Los Angeles in 1948. That was
the start of eight U.S. Opens
in California over a span of
50 years.
The next 25 years include
just as many U.S. Opens on
the West Coast, which in-
cludes Los Angeles Country
Club in 2023.
One appeal is being able
to go prime time, with the
weekend finish anticipated for
6 p.m. Pacific on Saturday and
5 p.m. on Sunday.
“It’s always good to have a
West Coast site leading into
the next TV negotiations
or coming out of it,” former
USGA executive director Da-
vid Fay said.
The start of a 12-year agree-
ment with Fox (since returned
to NBC) was 2015 at Cham-
bers Bay south of Seattle. The
next TV contract would start
in 2027 at Pebble Beach.
And then there’s the
weather.
“I’ve been looking at the
forecast,” Jordan Spieth said
before he even arrived at Tor-
rey Pines. “Cooler nights, 75
degrees in the day and no
rain. They can do whatever
they want.”
As comfortable as it
sounds, that’s not necessarily
comfortable for the players.
All indications from three
days of practice is the USGA
has the South course right
where it wants it, with little
chance of something unex-
Jae C. Hong/AP
Rory McIlroy plays his shot from the second tee during a practice
round of the U.S. Open Golf Championship on Wednesday at Torrey
Pines Golf Course in San Diego.
pected causing the wrong
kind of havoc.
Missing the fairways is
enough of a problem. Of
greater concern might be
missing the green. Wilco
Nienaber, the big basher from
South Africa, found that
out behind the fifth green
Wednesday. All he could do
was chop at it to get it up in
the air and move it forward,
and then watch it roll some 25
feet by the hole.
Sure, it’s tough. That’s what
players have come to expect
from the U.S. Open. And that
works anywhere in the coun-
try, East and West, or some-
where in between.
“It’s fairways and greens,”
Rory McIlroy said. “It’s a
proper U.S. Open test.”
McIlroy arrived later than
usual for the U.S. Open,
mainly because he played the
Farmers Insurance Open at
Torrey Pines in January. It’s
not the same — not even close
— though he has a familiar-
ity of where the ball should be
going, where not to miss.
His hope is not to be too
slow out of the gates. McIlroy
has gone seven years since he
last won a major in the 2014
PGA Championship, a stretch
too long for that amount of
talent.
In his last three majors, two
of them the Masters, he has
started 75-76-75.
“Probably just putting a
little too much pressure on
myself, playing too carefully,
being a little tentative,” McIl-
roy said. “I think that sort of
sums it up.”
McIlroy at least has won
recently, at Quail Hollow.
Dustin Johnson hasn’t won
in four months. He felt the
pieces start coming together
last week in South Carolina,
right up until a triple bogey
on the 16th hole Sunday that
dropped him out of the top
10.
“If I can drive it well, I feel
like I’m going to have a really
good week,” Johnson said.
The course, as always, fig-
ures to take the stage even
from the silly feud between
Bryson DeChambeau and
Brooks Koepka.
Mike Davis, the retiring
CEO of the USGA, walked
the course over the weekend
and was reminded of how
tough it played in 2008. Tiger
Woods and Rocco Mediate
finished at 1-under 283, with
Woods beating him in 19
holes of a playoff.
See Golf / A6