After 17 bogey-free holes on Friday, Steve Stricker found himself leading the Waste Management Phoenix Open outright as he stood in the middle of TPC Scottsdale’s ninth fairway, about 160 yards from the hole.

“Tried to hit just a little 8-iron on the last hole,” he said. “I was in between clubs and hit it awful.”

Stricker bogeyed the hole to shoot 5-under 66, yet he still found himself tied for the lead. Yes, the 53-year-old Stricker, who is a five-time winner on the PGA Tour Champions and later this year will captain the U.S. Ryder Cup team, is at 11 under along with Keegan Bradley.

“I haven't been in this position for quite some time out here,” Stricker said after Friday’s round. “This is why we're here, to play at this stage, at this level. So, it felt good to get in there and to start the way I did today.”

In the same week golf’s governing bodies made another official announcement about what they deem concerning distance gains at the sport’s top levels, Stricker co-paced the field halfway through Day 2, doing so while averaging just 294 yards off the tee. He canned a 13-footer for birdie on his second hole, the par-4 11^th, to get things going and later added his fourth birdie of the day by getting up and down at the short par-4 17^th. His closing bogey was only his second through 36 holes.

“I played really solidly to start the day and I got under par on that opening stretch, which is a good stretch when it's so cold in the morning, and I hit some quality shots,” Stricker said. “That gave me some confidence going forward.”

Stricker is making his fifth PGA Tour start of the season, a number that includes last fall’s U.S. Open, which he qualified for by winning the 2019 U.S. Senior Open. This week will mark his third made cut, though his best finish so far is a T-17 last fall at Mayakoba.

He didn’t tee it up in the PGA Tour Champions opener last month in Hawaii, but since joining the senior circuit in 2017 Stricker owns 22 top-10s in 26 starts.

“I've always said that each tour helps,” Stricker said. “I've played both tours the last three years, and each tour helps the other Tour. When I play out here and I go to the Champions Tour event, the courses are a little bit shorter, the pins are a little bit more generous, so playing out here helps me when I go there. And then when I go there and get in contention or win an event, I feel that that gives me confidence and motivation to come back out here and play.”

Billy Horschel was on No. 17 Friday when he looked at the leaderboard and saw Stricker's name.

"I was like, man, he turned back the clock this week a little bit," Horschel said. "He's still a great player. He's still a great putter, great iron player. Obviously he doesn't hit it as far as he used to 10 years ago, so when you look at this course, distance does matter a little bit, but you've still got to hit your irons. It's a great mid-iron to wedge course, and he's always done that really well.

"I mean, he's 53. He's still got a lot of game. He still competes really well. It's not shocking to see."

Stricker’s last victory came at Kapalua in 2012. Should he end the drought and win Tour event No. 13 on Sunday, it would mark a new Tour record for oldest winner, supplanting Sam Snead, who won his Tour-record 82^nd title at the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open at 52 years, 10 months and 8 days old.

“I mean, I know it's a long shot,” Stricker said. “I've got to play my very best, just like anybody else does out here. But you know, I've been there. I've won a few times out on this Tour and I know what it takes, although it's been a while. It would be fun to see how I handle it if I do get that opportunity.”

FC Cincinnati has signed striker Brenner from Sao Paulo, the Brazilian club announced.

Sources told ESPN that the deal is worth around $13 million plus an additional $2m if incentives are met. If the final payout is $15m that would tie the previous record signing in MLS, when Ezequiel Barco moved from Argentina's Independiente to Atlanta in 2018 for $15m.

- Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. only)
- ESPN+ viewer's guide: Bundesliga, Serie A, MLS, FA Cup and more

Sao Paulo said on its website that the fee was a record negotiation for a player moving from South America to North America and added the club would retain 20% of the players' rights in the deal.

The Cincinnati Post and the Queen City Press were the first to report the details of Brenner's transfer to FCC.

Brenner, 21, would likely be classified as a Young Designated Player, meaning his cap hit will be substantially lower than it would be for a regular Designated Player, though MLS has yet to formalize the roster rules for the 2021 season.

Brenner scored 22 goals in 44 matches for Sao Paulo this season and his performances had alerted the attention of clubs across Europe, with Ajax among those keen on the forward.

The Eredivisie club instead landed Sebastien Haller from English Premier League club West Ham -- though that was not without its difficulties, as the Dutch club made an administration error and left Haller off its roster for the Europa League by mistake. That FC Cincy has managed to land Brenner amid competition from Europe's major soccer clubs is something of a coup for sporting director Gerard Nijkamp and manager Jaap Stam.

Brenner's move to MLS, which could generate upwards of R$80m ($14.86m) for Sao Paulo, comes at a good time considering their financial limitations under new coach Julio Casares. Preseason training in Major League Soccer is scheduled for Feb. 22, with the league's opening matches slated for April 3.

ESPN Brasil's Gustavo Faldon contributed to this report.

Ronald Koeman described the Copa del Rey as the shortest route to a trophy for a team that, he admitted, "isn't in a position to win much," and yet by a little before 11 o'clock on Wednesday night, even that looked like a very, very long way away. They had kept going, but everywhere they turned they found the road blocked, no way through. The ball bounced off the post, off the bar and off Aaron Escandell, shots coming from everywhere and going every which way but in as time, and another title, slipped away.

"It seemed like we were going to lose..." the Barcelona manager said afterward.

"... but no."

- Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. only)
- ESPN+ viewer's guide: Bundesliga, Serie A, MLS, FA Cup and more

There were two minutes to go in their quarterfinal and Barcelona were losing 2-0 against Granada. They had racked up 30 shots, but the only ones that landed were the ones they aimed at their own foot. It was over.

And then, suddenly, it wasn't.

Lionel Messi's long, deep ball dropped into the area on the left, Antoine Griezmann dived forward and, somehow, diverted it into the net. Next Messi hit the post and then, in added time, it happened again. The same pass from Messi, the same movement from Griezmann, the same position, the same outcome. This time, he headed it back across the 6-yard box for Jordi Alba to score the equaliser.

From two down with two minutes left, it was 2-2 and heading to extra time -- although only because Granada's Luis Suarez shot wide on 93 minutes and 40 seconds. There, Barcelona went 3-2 up, Granada made it 3-3, and then Barcelona scored two more. Final score, Granada 3, Barcelona 5 (after extra time). By the end, they were as exhausted as they were elated. The players embraced, albeit not as tightly as they had after the second goal, when the players had piled up in the corner.

They had deserved it, too. The shock, really, was not that Barcelona had won it, but that they won it the way they did. That they had to win it the way they did. Barcelona had taken 18 corners, Granada none. They had played more than 1,000 passes, Granada less than 300. They had 79% of possession. The shot count read 7-36. Barcelona had 20 on target, Granada just four. Three of those went in.

Messi alone had a direct hand in 20 shots on goal, either taking them or providing the pass for others to do so. Alba scored twice, offering more evidence of the Alba Conundrum: a problem sometimes, yet still so, so far ahead of anyone else on the left and entirely irreplaceable. Frenkie de Jong is everywhere. Pedri is silk. And Griezmann, as one paper put it, "came dressed as Superman," which is considerably better than some of the things he's come dressed as in the past.

It's not the first time this month, either. At Huesca, left out of the team, Griezmann lingered alone in one corner of the ground while the rest warmed up, standing there looking forlorn alongside an exit sign -- a photo metaphor so blunt, a subtle message so unsubtle, that you could be forgiven for wondering if he had even done it deliberately. A month on, that look has gone, replaced with a huge smile, a sense of purpose and validity.

"With the confidence of the manager and my teammates, everything is easier," he says. With a position it is, too: At last, Griezmann seems to be making the left-side role his own, out of the way but not too far out, no longer an obstacle for Messi, but an accomplice. Against Granada, Messi played 15 passes his way, including the two that rescued them. With six goals and five assists this month, Griezmann might well be the best player in Spain in January.

If not him, then maybe Messi is. Of course. Or maybe De Jong -- that's four goals and two assists from him over the past month. Meanwhile at the back, Ronald Araujo has, in Gerard Pique's words, shown signs of being Barcelona's centre-back "for the next 10 or 15 years."

All around them, players seem to be falling into place. Partly by planning, partly by trial and error, partly by obstinacy and opportunism (a much-underrated quality in a footballer), partly by changing plans (a much-underrated quality in a manager), yes, but it's happening. Sergio Busquets has found his feet and slowly seems to see something resembling a structure around him. Ousmane Dembele is finding a role, his teammates won over. Pedri is special. De Jong has license to roam in midfield, yet is also increasingly trusted to use that freedom well.

It's not perfect, no -- far from it -- but it fits. It is starting to look like it makes sense; it feels more or less rational, about right. The wide spaces are closing, a structure emerging in their place. Koeman says they're not in a position to win much, and he's right, not least because they're so far behind (especially in La Liga). But could they actually be... quite good? And with everything that's happened -- everything that's still happening -- that alone is something.

Since the turn of the year, Barcelona have lost only once -- in extra-time in the Spanish Super Cup final against Athletic Bilbao. They had beaten Real Sociedad in the semifinal. They have won five in a row in the league. They have won three in a row in the Copa del Rey. This is not yet reason to declare a full revival and recovery, of course -- still less a revolution. At the back they still look mostly dreadful, apart from Araujo. In La Liga, they have beaten Athletic twice, Elche, Granada and Huesca. Teams they should beat. Huesca was only 1-0. Elche was 2-0, the second goal coming in the final minute. Against Athletic, Griezmann got the winner 15 minutes from the end.

That Super Cup win over Real Sociedad was on penalties.

In the Cup, they needed extra-time against Segunda B Cornella. Against Second Division Rayo Vallecano, they had to come from a goal down to win 2-1. And on Wednesday night, they needed another comeback, and more extra-time, to get past Granada.

Yet maybe that's a good thing. It wasn't that they won -- again -- or even that victory confirmed an upward trend; it was how they won. "Bestial!" Sport called it. "Heroic," El Mundo Deportivo said; this was a "mad and epic" Barcelona. It wasn't that they played well, which they mostly did, it was that they played, that they rebelled. Soon after Granada's second goal, it had seemed over and it seemed like Barcelona knew that. The introduction of Ricard Puig with 15 minutes to go, though, seemed to be part of (and maybe the spark for) a collective reawakening, accelerating everything. It was chaotic, everyone everywhere, but they were fighting for their life, not just giving up. And they were in it together.

It wasn't so much the quality that mattered -- although there was plenty of that, and there always has been -- as the character, which there hasn't always been. "The thing you have to highlight is the mentality," Koeman said. He talked about great physical and mental work. Martin Braithwaite and Marc-Andre ter Stegen both tweeted about the spirit of the side.

That spirit alone doesn't see them through, but it helps. And it self-perpetuates too. Had Barcelona swum and swum only to die on the shore, as the Spanish phrase has it, it might have destroyed them. Fatalism might have flooded in. But, like Brody and Hooper, they made it. They had survived, stronger now, forever bound by that. And that matters, confirming and cementing something already in construction, an emerging relationship reinforced. Fraternity forged in the fight, brothers in arms.

OK, that may be too strong. But there's something in it, something to buy into and hold onto, even if it is only a storyline as a lifeline. As the former Barcelona striker Bojan Krkic put it: "Winning like this is an injection of morale and optimism, basic sustenance for a dressing room that today is more united than ever because in a moment of great adversity they came together, recovered and confirmed the growth you could already sense, and at this key stage of the season."

Pieces had been falling into place, but maybe this was the one that still had to fall and they badly needed. Emotional emulsion. Maybe it could only drop like this, maybe it could only come as they stood on the edge together. It might be a leap, sure, wishful thinking maybe, overplayed perhaps, but this felt like the start of something, a shift.

On Wednesday night, Barcelona turned around a 2-0 deficit to win 5-3, living to fight another day. They found a path into the semifinal of the Copa del Rey (where they'll meet Sevilla on Wednesday at 2:55 p.m. ET, stream live on ESPN+), the shortest route to a trophy shortening, but what matters more is that they might just have found something even more significant: a team.

Pep Guardiola has hit back at Jurgen Klopp's claim that Manchester City had a "two-week break" because of a COVID-19 outbreak at the club by saying the Liverpool boss "knows it's not true."

Ahead of their meeting at Anfield, Klopp suggested City's good run of form has been helped by "a two-week break for COVID reasons."

- Stream FC Daily on ESPN+

In reality, City had eight days between games when their fixture with Everton was postponed in December, and Guardiola said he plans to address the comments with Klopp when they go head-to-head on Sunday.

"He made a mistake, it was two months off, or three months off? No, [it was] four. Four months off," Guardiola told a news conference on Friday.

"That's why we are in top form right now. Jurgen has to see the calendar again.

"We had COVID, we have one week and we played with 14 players at Stamford Bridge, but maybe I'm wrong and it was not two weeks, it was three or four weeks. Tomorrow when I see Jurgen I'll say to him: 'How many weeks or days were we off?'

"I will tell him tomorrow. He knows it's not true. Come on! Nobody in the Premier League has had two weeks off."

Guardiola and Klopp know each other well from their time together in the Bundesliga and the City manager admitted he was "surprised" at the dig from his counterpart.

"I'm not irritated, I didn't expect it, not from him," Guardiola said.

"I'm surprised. I thought Jurgen was not that type of manager, like other ones who are usually doing it. I didn't expect that comment. But maybe it was a misunderstanding from him. If he sees the calendar again he will realise it was not two weeks, it was two months."

City head to Liverpool looking for their first win at Anfield since 2003.

Guardiola's team have won their past 13 games in all competitions and sit three points clear at the top of the Premier League table with a game in hand.

Meanwhile, injury-hit Liverpool have won just three of their past 10 games, but Guardiola was quick to point out that Klopp's team had enjoyed a summer break totaling 48 days while his players were forced to return after a 37-day break following their commitments in last season's Champions League.

"Of course [he] forgot it," Guardiola said. "We didn't forget it, but they did of course.

"When it's happened, it's happened. When you have a lot of COVID cases in the beginning and injuries, when we had COVID before the Everton game, we said: 'It is what it is.' We had 14 players and we go there [to Chelsea]."

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Demarcus Robinson was activated off the NFL's reserve/COVID-19 list on Friday and will be available to play in Super Bowl LV, while Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver Antonio Brown is officially listed as questionable for Sunday's game.

Robinson practiced with the Chiefs on Friday for the first time since being placed on the list for being a close contact of someone who had tested positive. He had to test negative for five straight days before coming off the list and returning to practice.

He was third on the team with 45 receptions for 466 yards and three touchdowns this season. His return would be particularly important to the Chiefs if Sammy Watkins, who is listed as questionable on the final injury report with a calf injury, doesn't play Sunday.

The Chiefs also listed tackle Eric Fisher (Achilles) and linebacker Willie Gay (knee/ankle) as out for the game.

Brown, meanwhile, was a full participant in Thursday and Friday practices for the Buccaneers, showing no ill effects of an increased workload, according to Friday's practice pool report.

He suffered a knee injury in the wild-card win over the New Orleans Saints and did not travel to Green Bay for the NFC Championship game.

Bucs tight end Cam Brate is also listed as questionable on the final injury report. He suffered a strained back muscle Thursday and missed Friday's practice. He is expected to play Sunday, barring any unforeseen developments, a source told ESPN.

Safety Jordan Whitehead, who has been battling a shoulder injury that took him out of the NFC Championship game, shed his non-contact jersey Friday. Rookie safety Antoine Winfield Jr., who didn't play vs. Green Bay because of an ankle injury, was a full participant in Friday's walk-through. Both players had been limited all week, and do not carry an injury designation for Sunday.

The Milwaukee Brewers have reshaped the right side of their infield after officially adding Gold Glove second baseman Kolten Wong on Friday.

To make room for Wong, who agreed to an $18 million, two-year contract earlier this week, the Brewers will shift Keston Hiura from second base to first base.

"It took me a little bit to kind of get my head around the whole thing,'' Wong said about leaving St. Louis but staying in the NL Central with Milwaukee. "Obviously being a Cardinal for as long as I've been, there's a lot of memories, there's a lot of good things I created there. But also seeing from across (the field) how the Brewers play, how they go about their business and the type of team this is, it just fits my mold really well. It's a grinding team, a team that just goes out there and competes every single day.''

Wong has earned Gold Glove honors each of the last two seasons, and Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns said he was "in our opinion, the best defensive second baseman in all of baseball.''

The 30-year-old owns a career .261 batting average with a .333 on-base percentage. Wong batted .265 with a .350 on-base percentage, one homer and 16 RBIs in 53 games last season.

He has traditionally hit well in Milwaukee. Wong's career statistics at American Family Field, formerly known as Miller Park, include a .308 batting average, .373 on-base percentage and .482 slugging percentage in 57 games.

"That was kind of a big reason for me coming to Milwaukee,'' Wong said. "I just knew that that was a field where I really saw the ball well at. I felt comfortable playing there. I have a lot of confidence playing in that field.''

Wong said he was somewhat surprised the Brewers showed interest in him because they already had the 24-year-old Hiura, who batted just .212 and had an NL-leading 85 last season but hit .303 and posted a .938 OPS as a rookie in 2019.

But the Brewers believe Hiura can thrive at first base. Brewers manager Craig Counsell had discussed the possibility of giving Hiura some playing time at first base late last season, though it never actually happened.

"We believe he can do this,'' Stearns said of Hiura. "He's going to have exceptional range for a first baseman. And look, there are finer points of the position that will take time to adjust. We understand that there are going to be mistakes. That's OK. But Keston is going to grow through it, and ultimately we're very confident that he's going to be able to figure it out.''

Stearns believes the Brewers will upgrade their overall defense by shifting Hiura to first base and putting Wong at second while having 2019 Gold Glove-winning center fielder Lorenzo Cain for a full season.

Cain opted out after playing just five games last season.

"I know a lot of attention has been understandably placed on the offensive side of the ball, but one constant around some of the better teams in baseball is really solid, consistent defense,'' Stearns said. "When we've had our most successful seasons here, we've had very good defensive teams and that's something that is a focus of ours. It's something we think we can and should accomplish, and this move allows us to move in that direction.''

Milwaukee might not be done adding to its infield, as the Brewers don't have a clear-cut starting third baseman. Newly acquired utilityman Daniel Robertson has 81 games of major-league experience at that position. Luis Urias has played 31 games at third, though he has more experience at second base and shortstop.

"If this is our team, we do think we can fill that position," Stearns said. "We have guys who can take it and run with it. We are also exploring external acquisitions. I don't know whether we'll get anything over the finish line there, but we are exploring it.''

In a sport that rarely produces dynasties, the Los Angeles Dodgers are world-beaters. They are among Major League Baseball's smartest teams, but also among the richest. Aggressive yet pragmatic. Decorated with star talent, but fortified by considerable depth. Their moves over this past half-decade have rarely been motivated by necessity, but more so by improving on the margins, or embracing opportunities, or, when the moment strikes, gluttony. This offseason has evolved into a perfect snapshot.

While the eager, hard-charging, division rival San Diego Padres and their hyper-competitive general manager, A.J. Preller, worked to bolster an ascending roster, acquiring a number of high-end starting pitchers, the Dodgers -- arguably still better in the present, and more sustainable in the long term -- waited on an opportunity they seemed content with missing. When it actually came to them on Friday afternoon, by way of outdueling the New York Mets for Trevor Bauer, the best free-agent starter by a wide margin, they let it be known:

There's us, and then there's everybody else.

Trevor Bauer, the 2020 National League Cy Young Award winner, has agreed to join the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the California native announcing his move in a YouTube video Friday.

Bauer and the Dodgers are in agreement on a three-year, $102 million deal that has opt-outs after Years 1 and 2, sources told ESPN's Jeff Passan. Bauer is set to make $40 million in 2021 and $45 million in 2022, sources said.

Bauer, who has a notable online presence, appeared to tease his destination earlier Friday by offering a giveaway for a signed Dodgers hat on his website -- though he also had several brief references to the New York Mets, believed to be the other finalist, on the site as well.

Sources told Passan that the Mets offered a higher overall value than the Dodgers, but Los Angeles' offer will make him the highest-paid player in each of the next two seasons.

According to Spotrac's MLB team payroll tracker, Bauer's $40 million salary for the 2021 season is higher than the projected 26-man payroll of the Pittsburgh Pirates ($30 million), Baltimore Orioles ($34.2 million) and Cleveland Indians ($36.5 million).

Bauer, a 30-year-old right-hander, was the first reigning Cy Young Award winner to enter free agency since Greg Maddux in 1992.

A first-time free agent who played last season for the Cincinnati Reds on a $17 million deal that was prorated to $6.4 million, Bauer was one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball in 2020, going 5-4 with a 1.73 ERA, a 0.79 WHIP, 100 strikeouts and 17 walks during the pandemic-shortened season. Opposing batters hit .159 against him, which led all major league pitchers. In addition to WHIP and ERA, Bauer led the NL in ERA+, which adjusts for his hitter-friendly home ballpark, and hits allowed per nine innings (5.055) in 2020.

He rejected a one-year, $18.9 million qualifying offer from the Reds, who will get a compensatory draft pick, approximately No. 60, with him signing with a new team. The Dodgers will forfeit their second-highest pick in the July amateur draft and $500,000 of international signing bonus allocation.

Bauer joins a Dodgers rotation that was one of the best in the majors in 2020 and now has three former Cy Young winners in Bauer, Clayton Kershaw and David Price. Last season, the Dodgers ranked first in WHIP and second in ERA, opponent's batting average and opponent's OPS.

The Dodgers' odds improved slightly following Bauer's announcement. Already the World Series favorite, the Dodgers are now listed at +400 (up from +450) to win the title at Caesars Sportsbook by William Hill, while their NL pennant odds moved from +220 to +200 and their NL West odds went from -200 to -220.

Bauer's arsenal includes a variety of pitches, and he found great success with his cut fastball while throwing an NL-high two shutouts last season. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Bauer set up batters to knock them out on the outer half of the plate, leading the NL with 63 strikeouts while holding hitters to a .145 batting average in that location.

Off the mound, Bauer has voiced opinions and criticism on everything from commissioner Rob Manfred to MLB-MLBPA negotiations to insinuating that Houston Astros pitchers were applying substances to baseballs to increase spin rate. In 2018, Bauer was fined for throwing a baseball from the mound over the center-field fence before being removed from a game. In 2016, he was scratched from Game 2 of the American League Championship Series after he sliced the tip of his finger while doing maintenance on his drone.

The Reds acquired Bauer in a trade with the Cleveland Indians at the deadline in July 2019. He made 10 starts after the deal that year, going 2-5 with a 6.39 ERA for the Reds.

In nine seasons since he broke into the majors with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2012, Bauer is 75-64 with 1,279 strikeouts and a 3.90 ERA. His only All-Star selection came in 2018.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.