WASHINGTON (AP) — What started as an innocuous conversation during a public event has evolved into a golf partnership between NBA star Stephen Curry and Howard University.

The two-time NBA MVP announced Monday that he is helping Howard re-establish a golf program. Curry is providing a donation that will allow one of the country’s most prominent historically black universities to launch Division I women’s and men’s teams for the 2020-21 academic year.

The 31-year-old Curry, who has won three NBA championships with the Golden State Warriors, has long been known as a passionate golfer. But the idea of partnering with Howard didn’t start until January, when Curry went to the campus for a screening of the documentary “Emanuel.”

After watching the film — which chronicles the 2015 shooting of nine black worshippers at a church in South Carolina — Curry was approached by Howard student Otis Ferguson. The senior explained to Curry how he had been unsuccessfully trying to start up an official university golf team. Howard previously fielded a Division II golf team but that was discontinued.

At a Monday news conference, Curry singled out Ferguson for applause and recalled their chance meeting.

“We connected on golf,” he said. “Accountability, competition, discipline — all those different ideals we learned through the game of golf.”

The exact amount of Curry’s donation has not been disclosed, but the university announced it would be a six-year partnership. Sports apparel company Under Armour, which sponsors Curry and is based in nearby Baltimore, will provide the uniforms and golf club manufacturer Callaway will supply the equipment.

“I’m going to be following every part of the journey as we go into next year when the team takes the course for the first time,” Curry said. “This is going to go way beyond the game of golf, way beyond Howard. This is huge.”

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More AP golf: https://apnews.com/apf-Golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

(AP) – The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press preseason college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, 2018 records, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and 2018 final ranking:

Record Pts Prv
1. Clemson (52) 15-0 1540 1
2. Alabama (10) 14-1 1496 2
3. Georgia 11-3 1403 7
4. Oklahoma 12-2 1331 4
5. Ohio St. 13-1 1261 3
6. LSU 10-3 1199 6
7. Michigan 10-3 1164 14
8. Florida 10-3 1054 7
9. Notre Dame 12-1 1044 5
10. Texas 10-4 1005 9
11. Oregon 9-4 860 –
12. Texas A&M 9-4 852 16
13. Washington 10-4 786 13
14. Utah 9-5 772 –
15. Penn St. 9-4 651 17
16. Auburn 8-5 578 –
17. UCF 12-1 410 11
18. Michigan St. 7-6 377 –
19. Wisconsin 8-5 370 –
20. Iowa 9-4 330 25
21. Iowa St. 8-5 302 –
22. Syracuse 10-3 209 15
23. Washington St. 11-2 200 10
24. Nebraska 4-8 154 –
25. Stanford 9-4 141 –

Others receiving votes: Missouri 117, Army 94, Mississippi St. 87, Miami 70, Northwestern 63, TCU 57, Virginia 44, Boise St. 38, Cincinnati 16, South Carolina 15, Virginia Tech 12, Fresno St. 8, Utah St. 8, Minnesota 7, Memphis 6, Appalachian St. 5, UAB 3, West Virginia 3, Oklahoma St. 3,Arizona St. 3, Arizona 1, Southern Cal 1.

By Steve Carpenter – Hutchinson CC Sports Information

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The Hutchinson Community College football team received its highest NJCAA preseason ranking of the Rion Rhoades era on Monday.

The Blue Dragons start the new season as the No. 5 team in the NJCAA Preseason Football Rankings. Hutchinson opens the 2019 season on Thursday night at Ellsworth Community College.

The previous preseason high for a Blue Dragon team under Rhoades – who is 89-48 in his first 12 seasons at Hutchinson – was No. 6. That happened in 2011, 2013 and 2015. This is the fifth Top 10 preseason ranking under Rhoades. Hutch was ranked No. 10 to start the 2012 season.

Overall under Rhoades, the No. 5 ranking is the ninth preseason ranking in his first 12 seasons with the Blue Dragons. This is the first preseason ranking since starting No. 16 in 2016.

Last season, the Blue Dragons were in the receiving votes list to open the season and climbed as high as No. 4 late in the season.

Hutchinson enters the new season coming off a 9-3 campaign that finished with a 35-6 victory over Navarro College in the 2018 Salt City Bowl. The Dragons closed last season at No. 8 in the final NJCAA rankings. Eight starters (3 offense, 4 defense, 1 special teams) and 26 total players (13 offense, 12 defense, 1 special teams) return from that team.

The Blue Dragons are the preseason pick to win the Jayhawk Conference this season. They are also ranked No. 8 on the Gridironrr.com preseason rankings and No. 19 in the JC Gridwire Dirty 30 (that list includes California schools).

Hutchinson will have a tremendously tough schedule this season. The Blue Dragons have three opponents ranked in the Top 10, five in the Top 20 and seven foes either ranked or receiving votes.

Defending national champion East Mississippi is the preseason No. 1 pick in the 2019 rankings.

Iowa Western (Hutch is at IWCC on September 7) is No. 2. Garden City (Hutch is at GCCC on November 2), followed by Jones and the Blue Dragons.

Butler, which comes to Gowans Stadium on September 28, is No. 10. Iowa Central (Hutch goes there on November 9) is No. 14. Highland (the Dragons are at Highland on October 5) is No. 16. Coffeyville and Independence are both receiving votes. Hutch plays host to Independence on August 31 to open the home season and plays host to Coffeyville on October 12.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Listen to updates from Kansas City Chiefs Training Camp in St. Joseph, Mo. with the “Voice of the Chiefs” Mitch Holthus. The reports originally air weeknights at 5:25 p.m. on KWBW Radio 1450 am/98.5 fm.  Brought to you locally by Egbert Liquor.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – Dragon Fans! Get Ready! The fall sports calendar is full and everything gets to cranking up this week for Blue Dragon Athletics.  Attached is the Weekly Press Conference that will be held each week usually on Monday of each week excluding holidays.

Today’s conference featured HutchCC Volleyball, HutchCC Soccer, HutchCC Cross Country and HutchCC Football.  Several athletes were included along with their respective head coaches.

MEDINAH, Ill. (AP) — Phil Mickelson had a wild Sunday, and that was before he showed up for the BMW Championship.

Mickelson said on Twitter that lightning struck the hotel where he was staying, leading to an evacuation. One problem: He was staying on the top floor, his clubs were in his room and his tee time at Medinah was approaching.

“Kind of a funny deal,” Mickelson said after ending his season with a 71 to fail to reach the Tour Championship. “The building got struck by lightning right above me and blew out a brick chimney and caught fire a little bit. There were 10 fire trucks. I got in my car and left and couldn’t get back. The roads were closed and the hotel was closed.”

Mickelson didn’t sound as though he were overly concerned, saying it would have meant heading home to San Diego that much sooner.

“But things cleared up pretty quickly,” he said. “I was able to get back in and get my stuff.”

Mickelson eventually got to the course in time to change shoes in the parking lot, but not after a tweet saying that his clubs served as a fire retardant. He headed to the range to warm up, pausing only to answer the phone when his wife called to check on him.He told her at one point, “I tweeted it.”

By the end of the day, Mickelson said everything worked out fine “except for my score.”

After winning at Pebble Beach in February, Mickelson had only one finish inside the top 20 the rest of the year, a tie for 18th at the Masters. His eight missed cuts were the most for him since 1995.

He also failed to qualify for the Presidents Cup team and could be left off a U.S. team for the first time since 1993. U.S. captain Tiger Woods makes his four wild-card picks on Nov. 5. Mickelson has only two tournaments on his schedule before then.

“If I play well I might try to add a couple in Asia to try to warrant a pick,” Mickelson said. “If I’m not playing well, I probably won’t.”

He also wasn’t ready to comment on whether he would talk to Woods about being an assistant, saying he was mentally and physically tired and needed time to decompress.

“I’ve had a rough four, five months, probably the worse four, five months stretch of my career,” he said. “I’m looking forward to having a couple months off and kind of regrouping and come back fresh.”

Monday Morning Sports with KWBW’s Rob Dreher.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The fall sports campaign at Hutchinson Community College gets underway in full steam this week beginning tonight with HutchCC football head coach Rion Rhoades’ Dragon Talk with Rob Dreher on KWBW Radio (1450 AM/98.5 FM) at 6 p.m. Thursday, Coach Sammy Lane’s soccer team opens its season at home versus Trinidad State at the Salthawk Sports Complex at 6 p.m.

Football season opens up on the road in Iowa Falls, Iowa, as the Blue Dragons take on the Ellsworth Panthers Thursday night. Kick off is at 7 p.m. with the Papa John’s Pizza Countdown To Kickoff setting it up at 6:30 p.m. on Country 102.9 and KWBW.

Volleyball opens up on the road with Patrick Hall’s Blue Dragon spikers playing in the NMMI Classic in Roswell, New Mexico. Competition will be tough with Hutchinson matching up with Pima, Colorado, at 4 p.m. The Dragons play New Mexico Military Institute at 8 p.m. on Friday. Saturday, Hutchinson faces South Mountain at 11 a.m. and wraps up the classic with Odessa College at 3 p.m.

Wrapping up the busy week will be HutchCC Soccer with another home game at the Salthawk Activity Sports Complex versus Indian Hills Community College at 2 p.m. Satuday.

More information on all these activities will be available on www.bluedragonsports.com.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer, Tommy Edman added a solo shot among his three hits and the St. Louis Cardinals held off the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 to split their four-game series. Jack Flaherty’s scoreless streak was snapped at 23 innings, but he allowed only one run in five frames as St. Louis stayed in first place in the NL Central, just ahead of the Chicago Cubs.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Pete Alonso hit his 40th home run to break the National League rookie record, capping a late outburst by the New York Mets in their 11-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Michael Conforto hit a long homer in the first inning and drove in four runs. Amed Rosario put the Mets ahead 6-4 with a two-run single in the seventh.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Former NFL running back Cedric Benson, one of the most prolific rushers in NCAA and University of Texas history, died in a motorcycle accident in Texas. He was 36. His attorney says Austin law enforcement told him Benson was killed in the wreck Saturday night. Benson played at Texas from 2001-2004 and his 5,540 yards ranks second at the school and ninth in NCAA history. He was a key player in the Longhorns’ resurgence under coach Mack Brown. He later played for the Bears, Bengals and Packers.

UNDATED (AP) — College football has become a national enterprise, with big media deals increasing exposure and a postseason system designed to crown a true national champion. At its foundation, however, college football is still very much a regional sport. Recruiting pipelines in the South are pumping out players. That is a simple explanation for why 13 of the last 14 national champions have come from the South.

National Headlines

UNDATED (AP) _ The Minnesota Twins have maintained their 2 ½-game lead over Cleveland atop the AL Central by completing a four-game sweep of the Rangers in Texas. Jorge Polanco lined a bases-loaded triple in the eighth inning to break a 3-3 tie in the Twins’ 6-3 victory. Mike Freeman supplied a three-run homer among his three extra-base hits as the Indians doubled up the Yankees, 8-4 to gain a split of their four-game series.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) _ Zack Greinke earned his 200th career victory and the Houston Astros avoided a four-game sweep by knocking off the Athletics, 4-1 in Oakland. Greinke is 13-4 this season after limiting Oakland to a run and four hits over seven innings. Alex Bregman crushed a go-ahead, three-run homer among his four hits as Houston increased its lead in the AL West to 7 ½ games over the A’s.

UNDATED (AP) _ The Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals remain deadlocked atop the NL Central after winning on Sunday. Jose Quintana struck out seven and held Pittsburgh to five hits over seven shutout innings of the Cubs’ 7-1 win over the Pirates at Williamsport, Pa. Paul Goldschmidt smacked a two-run homer and Tommy Edman was 3-for-5 with a solo shot and two runs scored in the Cardinals’ 5-4 victory at Cincinnati.

UNDATED (AP) _ Juan Soto and Brian Dozier each provided two of the Nationals’ team record-tying eight home runs in a 16-8 thrashing of the Brewers. Erick Fedde won his third consecutive start, allowing four runs on ten hits over five innings as the Nationals stayed 5 ½ games behind the NL East-leading Braves. Rafael Ortega launched a go-ahead grand slam in the sixth inning to send Atlanta past the Dodgers, 5-3.

UNDATED (AP) _ The New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers are two games out of an NL wild-card berth. In addition to the Brewers’ 16-8 loss at Washington, Pete Alonso belted his NL rookie-record 40th home run as the Mets earned an 11-5 victory in the rubber match of their series at Kansas City. Austin Hedges was 4-for-4 with a tiebreaking, solo homer in the seventh inning to carry the Padres to a 3-2 victory at Philadelphia.

Sunday Scores

INTERLEAGUE
Final N-Y Mets 11 Kansas City 5
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Seattle 7 Toronto 0
Final Tampa Bay 5 Detroit 4
Final Boston 13 Baltimore 7
Final Cleveland 8 N-Y Yankees 4
Final Minnesota 6 Texas 3
Final Houston 4 Oakland 1
Final L-A Angels 9 Chi White Sox 2

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final St. Louis 5 Cincinnati 4
Final San Diego 3 Philadelphia 2
Final Atlanta 5 L-A Dodgers 3
Final Washington 16 Milwaukee 8
Final Colorado 7 Miami 6 (10 Innings)
Final Arizona 6 San Francisco 1
Final Chi Cubs 7 Pittsburgh 1

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PRESEASON
Final New Orleans 19 L.A. Chargers 17
Final Minnesota 25 Seattle 19