Tiger Woods was battling a combination of overflowing adrenaline and rust as he made his return to the course for Thursday's opening round of the Genesis Invitational.

Woods birdied his first hole, but struggled with some makeable putts soon after, dropping to one over by the time he reached the 15th hole.

From that point on it was like the Tiger of old, collecting a two on the par-three 16th, drilling a long birdie putt on the par-five 17th, and placing a beautiful approach on the 18th to set-up his third birdie in a row to finish.

Reflecting on his performance afterwards, Woods said he felt the pressure to sink the final birdie.

"I didn't want to be the idiot host to miss it right in front of everybody after I just went birdie-birdie," he said with a smile. "It was a great round."

Playing alongside two-time major champion Justin Thomas and renowned long-driver Rory McIlroy, Woods said he even surprised himself as he out-drove his partners on a few occasions.

"There's nothing like come game time, just the feeling of the butterflies and trying to calm all that stuff down," he said. "Even though it's cold out here, [the ball] was going even further than we expected. I had to dial all that back in.

"I was trying to calm myself down all day, trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing out here, because I haven't played."

The 15-time major champion gave some insight into his ever-changing physical condition, saying he never knows what to expect out of his damaged ankle.

"My ankle's a lot smaller than it has been," he said. "I've had so many surgeries that the ankle just keeps changing, the leg keeps changing, yes, the shoes keep changing, the socks keep changing. 

"Everything's a moving target. How much I'm on my feet, how much I'm not, how active I am, how not active, the muscles that are on, they're off. It's a moving target all the time."

While the high quality of play was a joy to behold, so was the camaraderie between the featured group, and Woods said that is something he has missed.

"The ebb and flow of needling each other, encouraging each other and telling stories," he said. "I hadn't been out here, so I've missed some of the things that have transpired on tour, which is kind of fun."

It was fun for McIlroy as well, who finished the day tied for seventh at four under, although he admitted he did not enjoy seeing Woods' drives travel past his.

"I'm going to work on the range," McIlroy said. "I don't like him hitting it by me."

Lorenzo Musetti won his opening match at the Argentina Open in comfortable fashion, defeating hometown hero Pedro Cachin 6-2 6-3 on Thursday.

World number 20 Musetti is still just 20 years old, making him the third-youngest player inside the top-40. The only younger players are 19-year-olds Carlos Alcaraz (world number two) and Holger Rune (world number nine).

The talented Italian has two ATP Tour titles to his name, but none outside of Europe, and he will hope to change that after he advanced to the quarter-finals in Buenos Aires.

Musetti will play Peru's Juan Pablo Varillas next after he prevailed 6-4 6-4 against former world number three Dominic Thiem.

Fifth seed Francisco Cerundolo did his part to set up an all-Argentine quarter-final clash after dominating Jaume Munar 6-2 6-1, but compatriot Diego Schwartzman could not hold up his end of the deal, falling 6-1 6-3 to Spain's Bernabe Zapata Miralles.

Meanwhile, world number seven Taylor Fritz made a winning start to his Delray Beach Open campaign, defeating Ecuador's Emilio Gomez 6-4 6-3.

Fritz will play France's Adrian Mannarino in the quarter-final after the 34-year-old veteran eliminated 24-year-old American J.J. Wolf 7-5 6-2.

Second seed Tommy Paul was too strong for Denis Kudla in a 6-3 6-4 triumph, and he will play Radu Albot for a place in the semi-final after the Romanian emerged the 6-4 6-4 victor against Australia's Aleksandar Vukic.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will begin life without Tom Brady next season and will look to former Seattle Seahawks quarterbacks coach Dave Canales to get the offense back on track as the team’s new offensive coordinator.

Canales was hired Thursday to replace Byron Leftwich, who was fired last month after four seasons – the last three working with the now retired Brady.

Canales has spent 13 seasons on Pete Carroll’s staff in Seattle, working with receivers and quarterbacks from 2010-2019 and serving as the passing game coordinator in 2020 and 2021.

He was the team’s quarterbacks coach again last season, helping Geno Smith to a breakout season that earned him NFL Comeback Player of the Year honours.

"Dave has done a great job in a variety of roles with Seattle the past 13 years, and he brings a passion for coaching and an energy level that players just seem to respond to," Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said in a statement. "He has played a significant part in the development and growth of many Seahawks players who have contributed to their offensive success over the past decade, and I look forward to seeing what he will do with our players on offense."

The 41-year-old Canales was among 10 candidates interviewed for the position that opened when Leftwich and five other members of Bowles' staff were fired on January 19. Three other assistants announced their retirements in a major shakeup that followed a lopsided playoff loss to Dallas in the wild card round.

While Brady ranked third in the NFL last season with 4,643 passing yards, Tampa Bay scored 198 fewer points than the previous season while averaging 18.4 points per game – down from over 30 in both 2020 and 2021.

Kyle Trask is the only quarterback the Buccaneers have on their roster under contract for next season, but he has yet to appear in a regular-season game.

Australia are set to welcome back Travis Head for the second Test against India starting Friday, while also handing a debut to left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann.

Head, currently ranked as the fourth-best Test batsman in the world, was questionably dropped for the series opener in Nagpur despite an outstanding Australian summer.

He will come back into the side to replace Matt Renshaw after disappointing with two combined runs from his two innings in Nagpur.

Head will bat at number five, slotting in behind Steve Smith and in front of Peter Handscomb.

Meanwhile, fast bowler Scott Boland was replaced by Kuhnemann, leaving captain Pat Cummins as the only quick in the Australian team.

Kuhnemann brings a different aspect to the Australian spin attack as the only left-armer, earning his Test debut after four appearances in the One Day side.

India announced only one change to their team that ran away with a comfortable victory in the series opener, with Shreyas Iyer slotting in at number five in place of Suryakumar Yadav.

Australia XI: D Warner, U Khawaja, S Smith, M Labuschagne, T Head, P Handscomb, A Carey (wk), P Cummins (c), T Murphy, N Lyon, M Kuhnemann.

India XI: KL Rahul, R Sharma (c), C Pujara, V Kohli, S Iyer, S Bharat (wk), A Patel, R Ashwin, R Jadeja, M Shami, M Siraj.

Two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo was ruled out of the Milwaukee Bucks' clash with the Chicago Bulls on Thursday in the second quarter after suffering a wrist injury.

The injury occurred as Antetokounmpo raced back and attempted to block a fast-break lay-up, crashing into the stanchion underneath the ring hands-first.

He immediately began feeling for his wrist, and after exiting the game and heading back to the locker room, the Bucks confirmed he would not return.

Antetokounmpo finished with two points, seven rebounds and three assists, and was plus nine in his nine minutes.

The 40-17 Bucks came into the game with the league's second-best record, trailing only the Boston Celtics (42-17).

Max Homa and Keith Mitchell are tied for the lead after Thursday at the Genesis Invitational, but all eyes were on Tiger Woods as he finished his opening round with three consecutive birdies.

In his first non-major PGA Tour start since October 2020, Woods displayed impressive physical capabilities, often out-driving his playing partners Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas.

The 15-time major champion birdied his first hole – to a raucous ovation – but he had three bogeys and one birdie over his next 11, reaching the 15th at one over.

He proceeded to electrify the audience with a birdie after a beautiful approach on the par-three 16th, before following it with a long-range birdie putt on the par-five 17th, and another picture-perfect approach on the last set him up for his third birdie in a row to finish at two under.

Playing partners McIlroy (four under) and Thomas (three under) both also birdied the 18th in a thrilling finale for the featured group.

Homa and Mitchell were the only players to shoot seven-under 64s during their first trip around Riviera Country Club, while the red-hot Jon Rahm is alone in third at six under.

Collin Morikawa is part of the three-man group at five under, McIlroy headlines the group at four under, and Thomas is joined by Patrick Cantlay and Rickie Fowler at three under.

There is a loaded group with Woods at two under, including Viktor Hovland, Will Zalatoris, Xander Schauffele and Im Sung-jae.

Zinedine Zidane has partnered with Formula One team Alpine as a brand ambassador for their equal opportunities programmes.

The announcement was made at the French team's 2023 car launch in London on Thursday, where their new A523 car was unveiled.

Former Juventus, Real Madrid and France midfielder Zidane, who also managed Madrid for two spells, was pictured visiting the Alpine garage at last season's Monaco Grand Prix.

"I am very happy to be here today and happy to be part of the Alpine team," Zidane said. "I had the opportunity to meet Laurent [Rossi, Alpine's CEO] with the whole team for a Grand Prix.

"We had a good exchange, and they had a project to give the opportunities to young people, to have their opportunities for all the young talent. I was interested in this project."

Two-time Olympic boxing champion Nicola Adams was also confirmed to have teamed up with Alpine.

The team's programmes include Rac(H)er, aimed at promoting equal opportunities for men and women in racing, and Alpine CEO Rossi said: "Rac(H)er is key in our continuous quest for performance, to build the future of our industry by driving real change and creating equal and fair opportunities across a range of human talents."

Alpine finished fourth in the constructors' standings in 2022, 342 points behind Mercedes in third.

Elite starting pitcher Corbin Burnes feels his relationship with the Milwaukee Brewers has been seriously damaged after his salary arbitration hearing.

Players with between three and six years of service time in the majors are eligible for salary arbitration, which is where both the individual and the team submit a salary figure to an independent arbitrator that they feel is fair.

Burnes, the 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner as the National League's best pitcher, submitted a figure of $10.75million, while the Brewers offered $10.01m.

During such a process there is a hearing, where each side presents their case, and oftentimes the scenario whereby a team tries to diminish the value of a star player does not go down well.

That was again the case this time around, with Burnes acknowledging he was disappointed to hear the team disparage his efforts after emerging as one of the best young arms in the sport.

"Obviously, it's tough to hear," he said. "It's tough to take. They're trying to do what they can to win a hearing.

"There's no denying that the relationship is definitely hurt from what [transpired] over the last couple weeks. There's really no way of getting around that.

"You kind of find out your true value. You think you work hard for seven years in the organisation, and five years with the big-league team, and you get in there and basically they value you much different than what you thought you'd contributed to the organisation.

"They won it [the arbitration]. But when it came down to winning or losing the hearing, it was more than that for me.''

He felt the Brewers crossed a line by implying he was the reason the team did not reach the playoffs in 2022, despite leading the National League with a career-high 243 strikeouts.

"That's something that probably doesn't need to be said,'' explained Burnes. "We can go about a hearing without having to do that.

"There was no attacking of character or the person who I was, but just some of the stuff that was said, that definitely didn't need to be said, is something that I think kind of disappointed everyone."

In damage control, Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold put out a statement trying to reiterate the franchise's commitment to their top starter.

"The arbitration process always presents uncomfortable situations for both the club and player involved," he said. "It is never easy to present a case against a member of the Brewers family.

"I'd like to reiterate that we view Corbin as one of the leaders of our franchise and value him as an elite talent in the game. Corbin is a major contributor to the organisation both on and off the field, and we look forward to another outstanding season from him in 2023."

Burnes will be eligible for arbitration again next offseason if the two parties do not strike a long-term extension beforehand, while a trade is now also on the table if Burnes suggests he has no intention of remaining in Milwaukee.

Massimiliano Allegri warned Juventus cannot afford "to feel sorry for ourselves" after the Bianconeri were denied a late penalty and failed to make their dominance pay against Nantes.

Juve were held to a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Europa League play-off tie on Thursday after Ludovic Blas' second-half strike cancelled out a simple Dusan Vlahovic opener.

Allegri's side dominated for large parts at Allianz Stadium and were left aggrieved after seeing a late penalty appeal turned down when Andrei Girotto appeared to handle inside the area.

The VAR sent referee Joao Pinheiro to the touchline monitor in the final minutes, but he instead awarded a free-kick for a Bremer push on the Nantes defender, much to Allegri's annoyance.

"I saw it now. Needless to say it was a hand, a penalty, it should have been a second yellow card," the Juve coach told Sky Sport Italia.

While Juve were left furious with the late decision, the Bianconeri should have sealed the play-off advantage earlier after pinning their visitors back throughout.

Allegri's side managed 64.2 per cent possession in the second half, registered double their opponents' seven shots over the full game and hit the target with six of those compared to Nantes' one.

The stalemate left it all to play for at Beaujoire Stadium on February 23 as Allegri was left to rue a missed chance.

"We could have done better with our ball speed. After 1-0 we stopped, we played too much in slow motion," the Italian added.

"It went to 1-1 and then we got back to playing, we had the chance to go 2-1 up on several occasions. We have to carry on [when on top], especially in these matches where you need to score more goals.

"It's useless to feel sorry for ourselves, we have to secure qualification in France. But now we have to think about Spezia [on Sunday]."

Allegri was also left frustrated with the nature of Blas' equaliser after Nantes raced away on a counterattack that started on the edge of their own area, with Mostafa Mohamed playing through his strike partner to equalise.

He continued: "[Angel] Di Maria could shoot, he tried to dribble, it can happen. You can't let a counterattack happen from the other end of the pitch and not make a foul.

"It happened because at that moment we were a bit out of the game."

Juventus are "not afraid" of being hit with a ban from European competition despite their Serie A points deduction.

That was the defiant message from Juve's chief football officer Francesco Calvo, who was appointed in January just days after the Bianconeri were hit with a 15-point punishment.

Those charges for the Turin side followed investigations into financial violations from past transfer dealings, with former Juve president Andrea Agnelli and ex-sporting director Fabio Paratici handed bans.

While Massimiliano Allegri's side aim to battle back on the pitch, there are suggestions a second investigation by UEFA could result in Juve being banned from playing in Europe.

But Calvo insisted Juve have no reason for concern with European football's governing body.

"We are not afraid that what's happening in Italy will have consequences in Europe," CalcioMercato quoted Calvo as saying before Juve's 1-1 draw with Nantes in the Europa League on Thursday.

"We are in constant contact with UEFA, we are not afraid, and the proceedings in Italy aren't over yet."

Allegri's men face an uphill battle to qualify for the Champions League next season, trailing fourth-placed Roma by 12 points after the punishment last month.

Matters have not been made easier by the absence of Paul Pogba, who is yet to make his second debut for Juve after re-joining from Manchester United ahead of the 2022-23 season.

The France international was first sidelined by knee surgery, with Allegri suggesting on Saturday Pogba could be three weeks away from returning after further fitness issues.

Calvo remains content to wait for the return of Pogba, who was not considered by Juve to just be a quick fix.

"He is a long-term investment. We are waiting for him and I am sure he will return soon," Calvo added. "Massimiliano Allegri is a reference point in such a difficult season.

"Our ideas are in line, also regarding the future. As a team, we've always been united."

Defending champion Felix Auger-Aliassime must overcome a dismal record against Daniil Medvedev to go any further at the Rotterdam Open after both won on Thursday to set up a heavyweight quarter-final, while Stefanos Tsitsipas crashed out.

Third seed Auger-Aliassime beat French qualifier Gregoire Barrere 6-4 6-3, while Medvedev earned a 6-2 6-2 victory against Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp.

Despite being the higher-ranked of the two at present, Canadian Auger-Aliassime has a 0-4 career record against Russian Medvedev.

Those losses include a painful defeat from two sets up in the 2022 Australian Open quarter-finals, and a US Open semi-final knockout blow in the previous season.

It is a record that is all the more surprising considering Auger-Aliassime has wins over Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Carlos Alcaraz to his name.

Auger-Aliassime sits eighth on the ATP ranking list, three places clear of former number one Medvedev, who is relishing their clash on Friday.

Medvedev said on Amazon Prime: "Felix is a top player. He won here last year and played amazing at the end of last season. I'm looking forward to a tough match, and hopefully I can be at my best.

"He's going to take his opportunities. He's going to go for it when he has the chance. So I will need to be at my best and everything has to be better."

Top seed and Australian Open runner-up Tsitsipas was beaten 6-4 6-3 by Jannik Sinner, with last week's Open Sud de France champion winning in an hour and 21 minutes to set up a quarter-final against Stan Wawrinka.

It was Sinner's first career win over a top-three opponent. The Italian held a 0-8 record against such opponents coming into this match.

Fourth seed Holger Rune is also out after retiring hurt while 6-4 4-0 down to Dutch wildcard Gijs Brouwer, who advances to play compatriot Tallon Griekspoor.

Australian Alex de Minaur advanced to the final eight with a 7-5 3-6 6-3 win over American Maxime Cressy, earning a shot at Grigor Dimitrov next.

Tim McCarver, a two-time All-Star catcher who won two World Series titles and later became a Hall of Fame broadcaster, has died at the age of 81.

The baseball Hall of Fame announced his death on Thursday, which was due to heart failure.

McCarver's playing career spanned four decades, beginning with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1959 as a 17-year-old, and ending in 1980 with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Following his retirement, he moved into the broadcast booth – working for the Cardinals, Phillies, New York Mets, New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants – and later became the top baseball analyst on American network TV, calling 23 World Series and 20 All-Star Games.

In 2012, he was bestowed with the Ford C. Frick Award by the Hall of Fame for his excellence in broadcasting.

"Tim McCarver was an All-Star, a World Series Champion, a respected team-mate, and one of the most influential voices our game has known," Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.

"As a player, Tim was a key part of great Cardinals and Phillies teams in his 21-year career. In the booth, his analysis and attention to detail brought fans closer to our game and how it is played and managed. Tim's approach enhanced the fan experience on our biggest stages and on the broadcasts of the Mets, the Yankees and the Cardinals."

Though not a particularly dangerous hitter – granted not many catchers were during the 1960s – McCarver was a skilled baserunner and was known for the work he put in with his pitching staff and was well respected by team-mates.

Selected to All-Star Games in 1966 and 1967, McCarver's best hitting season came in 1967, when he batted .295 with career highs of 14 home runs, 26 doubles and 69 RBIs and finished second in NL MVP voting behind team-mate Orlando Cepeda as the Cardinals won their second World Series title in four years.

In a 21-year career, which also included brief stints with the Montreal Expos and Boston Red Sox, McCarver hit .271 with 97 home runs and 645 RBIs.

"All of us at Major League Baseball are grateful for Tim's impact on sports broadcasting and his distinguished career in our National Pastime," Manfred added. "I extend my deepest condolences to Tim's family, friends and the generations of fans who learned about our great game from him."