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SOUTHAMPTON, New York, June 18 : Scottie Scheffler endured a shaky start in his bid for a career Grand Slam in first-round U.S. Open action on Thursday at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, as Americans Sam Stevens and Max McGreevy shared the clubhouse lead with amateur Ryder Cowan, all carding a two-under par 68 before play was suspended due to darkness.

Scheffler, a two-time Masters winner, is making his first attempt at completing the career Grand Slam of golf’s four majors after winning last year’s PGA Championship and British Open but trailed the top of the leaderboard with a two-over par 72 after the first round.

Windy conditions with gusts up to 34 mph (54.7 kph) tested the field at the famously tricky Southampton course.

The American had one birdie against a pair of bogeys and a double bogey on the front nine, where he struggled with his putter. He put three circles on the back half of the course against two bogeys, including another misjudged putt on the par-five 16th hole.

“Any time you get conditions like this, I think the scores are going to be high,” said Scheffler. “It’s an interesting golf course. Part of the challenge so far is judging the conditions as well, judging how this course is going to play.

“I feel like this course can change pretty rapidly from day to day. I think that’s also part of the challenge of the tournament is adjusting to those conditions.”

Starting on the back nine, Stevens suffered a confidence-rattling double bogey on the par-four 10th hole before having to wait more than two hours to play the next hole, after a thick layer of early morning fog forced a long delay.

He settled in quickly with a birdie on the par-three 11th hole, playing the soft greens extraordinarily well as organisers kept them watered to help mitigate the windy conditions.

McGreevy was at even par at the turn before getting a birdie on the par-four 13th hole and draining a 21-foot putt for another birdie on the par-three 17th, while Cowan played beyond his experience with four birdies that offset a pair of bogeys.

Former champion Wyndham Clark held the top spot on the leaderboard at six-under with two holes left to play when the round was suspended.

GOLF’S TOUGHEST TEST

The U.S. Open is known as the toughest test in golf and Shinnecock Hills upheld that reputation, even as USGA Chief Championships Officer John Bodenhamer told reporters this week that measures were in place to slow down the greens in anticipation of the windy weather.

The event got underway as standstill traffic in the fashionable New York beach town held up ticketholders for the 156-player tournament, which included 12 former U.S. Open champions and 49 debutants. 

Back-to-back Masters winner Rory McIlroy started on the back nine and grinned as a gust of wind knocked his hat off at the 13th tee, appearing at ease even as a pair of bogeys offset his two early birdies.

The Northern Irishman marched up the leaderboard with an inspired performance on the par-five fifth hole, draining an 11-foot putt for eagle after another birdie on the par-four third hole. He finished one-under par.

“Look, the greens are pretty slow and quite receptive. I think they need to be at this point. It’s a challenging golf course already, and you put 30-mile-an-hour winds on top of it, it tests the best players in the world pretty well,” said McIlroy. 

Adam Scott was playing one group ahead of Scheffler’s threesome and competing in his 100th consecutive major this week, a streak that started at the 2001 British Open. The 45-year-old Australian finished at three-over par. 

Former champions Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, two of the 13 LIV Golf competitors in the field, were among the late starters, which also included PGA Championship winner Aaron Rai, and the high-profile threesome of Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama and Xander Schauffele.

When Shinnecock Hills last hosted the U.S. Open in 2018, the field scoring was 74.65, which is the highest scoring average relative to par for the tournament over the last 18 years.

The opening round of the U.S. Open will resume at 6:35 a.m. ET (1035 GMT) on Friday.

INGLEWOOD, California: Switzerland found the keys to break down a resolute Bosnia and Herzegovina defence with four late goals in a 4-1 win thanks to a brace from Johan Manzambi and further strikes from fellow substitute Ruben Vargas and captain Granit Xhaka with a penalty.

Bosnia, who had repelled all of Switzerland’s attacks until the 74th minute in the Group B clash, finally cracked and allowed 20-year-old Manzambi to net the first of his two goals just three minutes after he entered the pitch.

Moments later, a red card for Bosnia’s Tarik Muharemovic made the team’s situation desperate and the Swiss took full advantage with three more goals in the last minutes of the match, including Xhaka’s spot kick at the death.

The Swiss, who have four points and need one more from their final group game to guarantee a place in the Round of 32 as winners or runners-up, face Canada in Vancouver on Wednesday (Jun 24) when Bosnia, who have one point, meet Qatar in Seattle.

SWITZERLAND DOMINATE POSSESSION

The first half saw the Swiss dominate possession, with the Bosnians in a tight defensive shell around their 18-yard box. Switzerland’s attacks were constantly frustrated, though, with few chances at goal, while Bosnia’s counter-attacks fizzled.

In the minutes before halftime, Bosnia striker Edin Dzeko ended up in dangerous positions in front of the Swiss goal, but his side were not able to convert any chances.

After the first-half stalemate, more of the same followed, with Bosnia’s defence blunting attacks and Swiss possession providing few opportunities.

Bosnia played aggressively, picking up two yellow cards, including one for Dzeko just after the hour mark, with the 40-year-old soon substituted.

The Swiss faced a perilous situation when, just before the hydration break, a Bosnia attack provided two clear opportunities, but the danger was seen off.

SWITZERLAND SUBSTITUTE MANZAMBI BREAKS DEADLOCK

The deadlock was broken when Manzambi scored with a right-foot shot that keeper Nikola Vasilj got a glove to but merely deflected into the net after a half-hearted defensive clearance.

Switzerland played with renewed vigour while Bosnia were rattled, their resolute defence becoming ragged.

Muharemovic was then shown a red card after 80 minutes when he charged down forward Breel Embolo just outside the box as he closed in on the Bosnia goal.

A few minutes later, a swarming Swiss attack put Bosnia in a desperate situation, with Vargas firing the ball into the bottom right corner to make it 2-0.

Their situation became almost impossible after 90 minutes when Manzambi scored again, with Vargas assisting.

Early in stoppage time Bosnia’s Ermin Mahmic, who had just been brought on, scored a consolation goal with a volley from just inside the box.

Moments later Xhaka converted his penalty after Djibril Sow was fouled by Amar Memic to send the Swiss fans home beaming.

Switzerland were considered the favourites to top Group B, which also includes co-hosts Canada, but a 1-1 draw with unfancied Qatar in their opening match dented their campaign. The flurry of goals on Thursday should allay any concerns.

The stadium’s 70,000 seats were a sea of Bosnia blue with scattered islands of Swiss red, revealing a crowd heavily favouring Bosnia, with a chorus of boos greeting the appearance of the Switzerland players onto the pitch and boos and whistles whenever a Swiss player moved into an attacking position.

Holding her own against arguably the game’s best server in world No. 2 Elena Rybakina, Alex Eala fights back from the Kazakhstani’s blazing start and prevails in key moments as she claims her second win over a top-three player

Alex Eala’s young tennis career has found another signature moment.

The Filipina tennis sensation produced the biggest victory of her season so far through a 7-5, 6-4 triumph over world No. 2 Elena Rybakina in the Berlin Open round of 16 early Friday morning (Philippine time) at Steffi Graf Stadion.

The win was Eala’s fifth against a top-10 player and her second over a tournament’s second seed, following her memorable upset of Iga Świątek in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Miami Open.

It was also payback for her defeat against Rybakina in the round of 32 of the Italian Open.

After both players held serve through the opening three games of the first set, Rybakina struck first by breaking Eala in the fourth game before backing it up with a comfortable hold to open up a commanding 4-1 advantage.

However, Eala’s resilience refused to let the set slip away.

The Filipina capitalized on a pair of double faults from Rybakina to earn her first break of the match in the seventh game, then followed it up with an emphatic service hold highlighted by two aces to level the set at 4-4.

With both players holding serve over the next two games, the set remained finely poised at 5-5. That’s when the 21-year old Eala delivered the decisive blow, securing another crucial break in the 11th game before digging deep to fend off Rybakina in a gritty final service game — sealing the opening set after nearly an hour of hard-fought tennis.

After the Kazakh two-time Grand Slam champion held serve in the first game, Eala captured the next three by holding her own serve and an impressive third game break to gain an early 3-1 advantage in the second set — pushing Rybakina further back in the match.

This sole break would pivotal in the set, as the Filipina had no issues exchanging service holds to pull off the huge upset.

The difference came on the return, where Eala consistently put pressure on Rybakina’s second serve. The Filipina won 19 points off those deliveries, more than double Rybakina’s tally of nine.

Eala will look to continue her impressive run in Berlin as she faces world No. 6 Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals

VANCOUVER, June 18 : Canada’s first World Cup match on the west coast delivered a resounding 6-0 victory over Qatar that brought boundless joy to long-suffering local fans in Vancouver, who witnessed their men’s national team notch their first win at a World Cup finals. 

On an otherwise jubilant afternoon at the sold-out BC Place, the only shadow that was cast was in the form of a suspected broken leg suffered by midfielder Ismael Kone after a clumsy tackle by Qatar’s Assim Madibo, but not even that could dampen the enthusiasm of the raucous home fans. 

“It’s unbelievable, it’s historic, it’s history right here. That’s a win for Vancouver, it’s the first in Canada’s history at a World Cup, and we were here to witness it,” Canada fan Mattias Cherniak told Reuters just after the final whistle as fellow supporters whooped and beamed with joy as they headed for the exits. 

Though ice hockey reigns supreme in much of Canada, diehard fans in Vancouver need little invitation to tell you that theirs is a soccer city, and if Thursday’s game was a test of that theory, the national team and their fans passed with flying colours.

The pre-game rendition of the national anthem was loud and passionate, only eclipsed by the ear-splitting roars of the red-clad fans for the game’s first two goals in the opening half-hour from Cyle Larin and Jonathan David.

TRADITIONAL THOBES

Forming a wedge off to the left behind one of the goals, fans dressed in traditional white Qatari thobes with maroon scarves cheered their team on, but the sending-off of Homam Ahmed in the 33rd minute ended any hopes they may have had of getting a positive result.

The second-half red card for Madibo for recklessly challenging Kone made their task impossible, and with Qatar down to nine men, the rest of the game looked like a power play from an ice hockey game as the Canadians retained possession and rained shots on goal.

The run-up to the World Cup in Vancouver has been a difficult one for the sport in the city, dominated by discussions around the future of the Whitecaps, the Major League Soccer team based there, and whether or not the franchise might be set for a move to Las Vegas.

On Thursday, all that faded into the background, and the win put Canada top of Group B on goal difference ahead of Switzerland who they will meet in the final group game. Should they emerge victorious from the group, they will stay in Vancouver for the first knockout round. 

“It’s huge for the future, it’s building the culture, it’s building the money, it’s everything,” Cherniak enthused, surrounded by equally jubilant family and friends.

“It is 100 per cent going to make the game more popular here – whoeverwasn’t watching the game here at the stadium, they watched it on their TV, and they’re loving it. It’s unbelievable,” he added.

Delirious New York Knicks fans flooded the streets of Lower Manhattan on Thursday for a ticker-tape parade celebrating the newly crowned NBA champions, capping a dream season more than five decades after the team last won a title.

The stretch of Broadway known as the “Canyon of Heroes” was a sea of orange and blue, as throngs of people gathered in the pre-dawn hours — with some camping out overnight — to secure a spot behind police barricades for what Mayor Zohran Mamdani said could be the largest parade in the city’s history.

The Knicks’ dominant run through the National Basketball Association playoffs electrified this sports-mad city that had grown used to falling short year after year. The team’s 15-3 playoff record featured a number of improbable comebacks, culminating with Saturday’s 94-90 victory in Game 5 of the NBA Finals over the San Antonio Spurs to end its 53-year title drought.

Trip Kesler, a Long Island native who lives in Florida, flew to Virginia to meet her brother before they drove north for the parade. The two secured a prime spot along the parade route after waking up at 3 a.m.

“We love our team,” the 35-year-old Kesler said, wearing an orange-and-blue Knicks hat that her 64-year-old mother knitted for the occasion. Her dad told her mother every year for decades that the Knicks would win, she added.

“And we did it this year,” she said. “I was locked in since Game One of the finals. I knew who was gonna win.”

The viewing pens were already full three hours before the parade kicked off, the New York Police Department said.

Knicks players basked in the crowd’s adulation as the parade set off from the southern tip of Manhattan at 10:32 a.m. EDT for the 2/3-mile (1.1 km) route to City Hall, where the team received symbolic keys to the city from Mamdani.

At one point, NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Jalen Brunson, the Knicks captain and unofficial king of New York, walked along the street carrying the golden Larry O’Brien championship trophy as fans screamed his name and reached out to touch the hardware.

Karl-Anthony Towns, wearing a backwards Knicks hat and smoking a cigar, danced with Mamdani on one float, while backup center Mitchell Robinson rode in one of his custom trucks.

‘THIS IS OUR TEAM’

“This is our city. This is our team,” Mamdani said at City Hall, with the players’ jerseys represented by banners hanging off the building. “For 53 years, we watched; for 53 years, we waited. Now we’ve won.”

Brunson, who took the lectern to chants of “MVP!” and a standing ovation, was often doubted earlier in his career due to his lack of size and elite athleticism. But the normally understated star ended his brief remarks with a message for people with “a lot of negative stuff to say.”

“When you prove them wrong, you don’t have to say shit to them,” Brunson, who scored nearly half his team’s points in the Finals clincher, said to cheers. “They don’t deserve it.”

Singer-songwriter and native New Yorker Alicia Keys concluded the ceremony by singing a few bars of Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” before transitioning into her 2009 ode to the city, “Empire State of Mind.” Hundreds of fans were seen spontaneously singing her unofficial city anthem in the streets on Saturday following the Knicks’ victory.

Knicks stars of yesteryear also joined the party, including Walt “Clyde” Frazier, who helped lead the franchise to its two previous titles in 1970 and 1973, and Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing. So too did celebrity superfans, including movie director Spike Lee — a courtside presence at Madison Square Garden for decades — actor Timothee Chalamet, actor Ben Stiller and rapper Fat Joe.

MASSIVE POLICE PRESENCE

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who had estimated the crowd could number in the millions, ordered the deployment of 10,000 officers to the parade route, after Saturday’s victory sparked sometimes chaotic celebrations in the streets across the city’s five boroughs.

City employees celebrated the win as much as fans did. A woman in a corrections department uniform posed for a picture with a “Let’s Go Knicks” banner, while sanitation vehicles bore portraits of Knicks players. Firefighters caught a few of the Knicks T-shirts the team’s coach, Mike Brown, threw from a parade float.

The parade left Broadway sidewalks covered in deep piles of shredded paper and confetti. After the floats carrying Knicks players passed, fans began throwing it into the air, yelling, “It’s snowing! Knicks in five!”

Mamdani ordered municipal buildings illuminated in the team’s orange-and-blue colors for the parade, mirroring numerous landmarks on the city’s skyline, which were lit up in Knicks colors throughout the playoffs.

Ace left-hander Tarik Skubal has made it clear as the Detroit Tigers continue to drop games and fall further out of contention as the clock ticks down to the trade deadline: “Play better baseball or else.”

Skubal, who will make his second start Friday since having an innovative surgical procedure on May 6 to remove bone fragments from his elbow, could be in line for a precedent-setting contract as he is set to enter free agency after this season.

And if the Tigers fall further out of contention, they have the option of trading the two-time defending American League Cy Young Award winner.

“The reality is we need to play better baseball or else come the deadline, you give the front office an option to reassess where this team is,” Skubal told The Detroit News earlier this week in a story published Thursday. “And if they don’t think what we have is a World Series- or playoff-caliber team, then the whole team is going to look different. That’s just the nature of the beast.”

The Tigers (30-44) are 9½ games back of the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central and 6½ games out of the final AL wild-card spot entering Friday. The Tigers host the White Sox for a three-game series this weekend.

Major League Baseball’s trade deadline is Aug. 3.

“The future for a lot of people in this room — not just myself — the outlook could look very much different in two months and it all comes to an abrupt end,” Skubal told The Detroit News. “We still control our destiny a little bit. We still do.

“We play the team this weekend that’s winning our division. It’s another big series. You don’t want to be playing playoff baseball in June, but it feels like we’re playing playoff baseball. We don’t have very much room for error and everyone understands that. Everyone understands there has to be a sense of urgency. There has to be. Not panic. But there has to be a sense of urgency to try to win every game we play.”

The Tigers’ other pending free agents after this season include Kenley Jansen, Casey Mize, Gleyber Torres and Jack Flaherty.

“I don’t think about it a lot,” Skubal said of the trade deadline. “I try not to let that consume me because I need to worry about what I’m doing today. … But there’s also the reality part to it. Everybody, the whole room, needs to focus on winning tonight’s game, winning a series, winning the next series and just let it snowball.”

No player in MLB history has hit more home runs for a single franchise than Hank Aaron, who launched 733 for the Braves. Every team has its own home run king and, as we progress through the 2026 season, a change is on the horizon.

Currently, the Royals all-time home run leader is George Brett with 317, but catcher Salvador Perez isn’t too far behind. With 313 career home runs, he’s looking to make history this season.

Below are each team’s all-time home run leaders. Players in bold are still active on their respective teams.

Arizona Diamondbacks – Luis Gonzalez, 224

Athletics – Mark McGwire, 363

Atlanta Braves – Hank Aaron, 733

Baltimore Orioles – Cal Ripken Jr., 431

Boston Red Sox – Ted Williams, 521

Chicago Cubs – Sammy Sosa, 545

Chicago White Sox – Frank Thomas, 448

Cincinnati Reds – Johnny Bench, 389

Cleveland Guardians – Jim Thome, 337

Colorado Rockies – Todd Helton, 369

Detroit Tigers – Al Kaline, 399

Houston Astros – Jeff Bagwell, 449

Kansas City Royals – George Brett, 317

Los Angeles Angels – Mike Trout, 421

Los Angeles Dodgers – Duke Snider, 389

Miami Marlins – Giancarlo Stanton, 267

Milwaukee Brewers – Ryan Braun, 352

Minnesota Twins – Harmon Killebrew, 559

New York Mets – Pete Alonso, 264

New York Yankees – Babe Ruth, 659

Philadelphia Phillies – Mike Schmidt, 548

Pittsburgh Pirates – Willie Stargell, 475

San Diego Padres – Manny Machado, 206

San Francisco Giants – Willie Mays, 646

Seattle Mariners – Ken Griffey Jr., 417

St. Louis Cardinals – Stan Musial, 475

Tampa Bay Rays – Evan Longoria, 261

Texas Rangers – Juan González, 372

Toronto Blue Jays – Carlos Delgado, 336

Washington Nationals – Ryan Zimmerman, 284

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. left the Royals’ 14-6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night because of right knee discomfort after making a sliding play in the field.

With the bases loaded in the fourth inning, Witt went to his knees to prevent Jordan Walker’s RBI single from getting to the outfield. Witt was checked out by Royals staffers before remaining in the game for the rest of that half inning.

But he was scheduled to lead off the bottom of the fourth, and the Royals instead had Tyler Tolbert pinch hit for him. The Royals announced later that Witt’s departure was due to knee discomfort.

Before his departure, Witt had gone 2-for-2 with a solo homer in the first inning and an RBI single in the second. Witt also scored his second run of the night in the second inning.

The two-time All-Star is batting .294 with a .368 on-base percentage, 10 homers, 32 RBIs and an MLB-leading 28 steals in 76 games this season.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — NFL veteran Michael Pennel Jr. had an ongoing relationship with a young woman whose body was found on a property he owned when she went missing, an ESPN investigation found, contradicting Pennel’s claim that he did not know her.

Pennel did not respond to a message seeking comment before this story was published. After it was published Thursday afternoon, however, Pennel called a reporter to insist he had no relationship with Carli Franchesca Guzmán Roche, whose body was discovered in January 2026. He directed ESPN to an attorney in the Dominican Republic, Ariel Durán.

“I don’t understand any of this. I don’t know who you’re talking to, who’s saying this — I don’t know this woman. I wasn’t in the country (when Guzmán disappeared),” Pennel said.

Durán said Pennel had nothing to do with Guzmán’s death and that documents will exonerate him. But he also said he expects Pennel to be charged in the case because the body was found on his property, and that if he is charged, Durán might not represent him because the two are currently in a dispute over money. He did not say what he expected Pennel to be charged with.

According to interviews with people close to the victim and police records reviewed by ESPN, Pennel and Guzmán frequently spent time together when Pennel was in the Dominican Republic, where he owned a property in the resort area of Puerto Plata until 2025. Her family reported her missing on Sept. 11, 2021, but her body was not found until January 2026, when the new owner was doing excavation work.

Records also show that several people told police early in the 2021 search that Pennel had connections with Guzmán worth investigating. But investigation records show no indication that police interviewed him, despite having visited his property with several of her family members days after she was reported missing.

Pennel acknowledged he was never contacted by authorities about Guzmán’s disappearance in 2021.

During that September 2021 visit to Pennel’s neighborhood, Guzmán’s grandmother and a family attorney told ESPN, a strong odor of decay was obvious, but police told the family the smell probably was from a dead animal, and they did not expand their search to the place from where the smell was emanating — Pennel’s backyard.

Durán told ESPN on Thursday that it was Pennel’s two associates, one of whom was staying at the villa at the time of Guzmán’s disappearance, who told police they had sprayed the property for pests and that’s what probably caused the smell.

Guzmán’s body was identified last March. Dominican officials reopened the case at that point and told ESPN that Pennel is a “person of interest” in her death.

Prosecutors say they are pursuing the case as a homicide, although no cause of death has been released.

Pennel said in an April text in reference to the identification of Guzmán’s body: “This isn’t a story. I’m not legally involved. This is fake news being reported. I’d advise you to speak with my agent/lawyer … before writing a false story. Damaging my reputation.”

Pennel signed with the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 15, 2021. The police search got underway when Guzmán was officially declared missing on Sept. 13.

Police documents also showed:

• Guzmán’s grandmother was so insistent with police that Pennel’s property could contain clues to her whereabouts that they let her accompany them to his address.
• Two American friends of Pennel, identified as LeAndre Kemont Jefferson and Davis Tyree Lamonte (identified in U.S. records as Tyree Lamont Davis), were interviewed by police. Jefferson’s local address was in the same gated community as Pennel’s. Neither man could be reached for comment.
• The man identified as Lamonte told an investigator that Pennel and Guzmán were friends and Pennel had last seen her in January 2021 at the airport in Santo Domingo before they departed together in a taxi.
• ESPN determined that the mobile phone number Jefferson provided to police as his own was actually registered to Pennel.

Pennel told ESPN on Thursday that it was Davis who had a relationship with her, not him. Durán said Pennel, Davis and Jefferson were lifelong friends who grew up playing football together. Durán said Jefferson is living in the Dominican Republic but does not know where Davis currently lives. In his 2021 statement to police, Davis said he and Pennel had a falling out months earlier because of a dispute over a woman.

Records show that Jefferson was arrested for trying to smuggle two kilograms of cocaine into the United States in 2020, but in January 2026, the case was dropped at the request of then-U.S. Dept. Attorney General and current acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.

According to media reports in the Dominican Republic, Pennel had a previous encounter with Dominican law enforcement. Reports said that Pennel and two different American men, Torrey Johnson and Jabrion Burnside, were arrested for possessing a 9 mm pistol in May 2021. The two men could not be reached, and law enforcement officials would not release an arrest report, saying it was confidential under Dominican law.

Durán told ESPN that the gun belonged to one of the other men, not Pennel. A court document reviewed by ESPN shows that Pennel was never formally charged in the case.

Multiple sources told ESPN that the case has been deeply sensitive within the Dominican Republic, which relies on foreign tourists and has worked in recent years to promote an image as a safe vacationing site and shed a reputation for political and law enforcement corruption.

Sitting in her home with two ESPN reporters, Guzmán’s grandmother, Paula González, said Guzmán used to talk about Pennel, usually referring to him as “el futbolista,” or “the football player,” and that when he would come to the island, he usually sent a taxi for her to come spend time with him. González said she once saw Guzmán talking to Pennel over videoconference, and that González had seen him in person. Shown a picture of Pennel, González said, “Yes — no doubt. Strongly, no doubt” that he was the person her granddaughter was seeing.

Pennel denied ever speaking to Guzmán on a video call.

“I was never on FaceTime or [met] any of her family.” In 2021, “the grandmother [didn’t] even know my name to tell police. Because I don’t know her,” he said via text.

In September 2021, González said, Guzmán told her she was going back north to be with “her athlete friend.” She said her granddaughter called her Sunday, Sept. 5, and said she was still with Pennel. She said she was fine but that she wasn’t feeling well and would come back home Monday morning, González said. By late the next day, no one had heard from her, and the family became concerned. González said she called a friend of her granddaughter, who according to investigation records told police she wasn’t with Guzmán but believed Guzmán had been with Pennel in recent days. González said she then called police, telling whoever answered the phone that her granddaughter was missing.

“He said, ‘Look, you should come here, because this smells fishy. Here in Puerto Plata … this is a cemetery. Here is where young girls disappear,’” González said.

ESPN was able to review a document from the Dominican Investigative Court of the Judicial District of Puerto Plata known as a “certification” that states that “there is not any Criminal Lawsuit filed against MR. MICHAEL MAURICE PENNEL JR” as of May 25, 2026.

Such a letter is given after being requested by one of the parties. It means the person has not been charged as of a certain date, but does not rule out that the person could be under investigation or face future charges.

Pennel, who is currently a free agent, said he shared that document with the NFL.

Jayden Daniels and the rest of the Washington Commanders continue to dig into David Blough’s offense as we hit the NFL’s summer break.

“I’ve still got a long way to go,” Daniels said Wednesday of learning the new offense, via ESPN.

After parting ways with Kliff Kingsbury, the Commanders promoted Blough, a former backup quarterback who has moved swiftly up the coaching ranks. After spending the 2023 season on the Detroit Lions practice squad, Blough was hired as Washington’s assistant QBs coach in 2024 and held the same job to open 2025. With other clubs circling the rising assistant this offseason, coach Dan Quinn promoted Blough to play-caller, a job he’s never held.

Given Blough’s greenhorn nature, how the offense functions will be one of the most interesting storylines to track during next month’s training camp and into preseason action. The Commanders are expected to employ more motion and significantly more under-center work — an adjustment for Daniels.

The QB spent the offseason working to digest the system.

“Just learning the new offense, terminology,” Daniels said, “why we’re attacking this play, what we want to do on this play — things like that.”

For his part, Quinn believes Daniels has met the challenge of learning a new offense head-on.

“I thought he did a really good job of owning and being in command at a very quick level already,” Quinn said.

Following one of the greatest rookie seasons in NFL history, Daniels struggled to stay healthy. He threw for 1,262 yards, eight touchdowns and three interceptions and rushed for 278 yards and two scores in just seven games in 2025. The signal-caller is through talking about those issues.

“I’m done talking about last year,” Daniels said. “Last year is last year; I’m moving on to this season, and whatever happened last year, happened last year. It can’t do anything for me; I’ll just continue to get better.”

Last year is over. Daniels and the rest of the Commanders now focus on mastering a new offense that, if it lives up to the billing, could unlock a new level of the QB’s game.