🏌️‍♂️ A shot at history | Sports Daily Newsletter

The Summer of Philly continues this week, with the arrival of UFC 330 and a women’s lacrosse championship at Subaru Park. While both of those events feature exclusively professional competitors, there’s another major sporting event underway on the Main Line this week that features amateur athletes ages 15 to 63 taking on one of its sports most historic venues: the U.S. Amateur Championship at Merion Golf Club.

The second big men’s golf event in the area this year, after May’s PGA Championship at Aronimink, starts its second stage today, following Tuesday’s cut that trimmed field from 312 to its final 64 players. The remaining golfers will now square off head-to-head in a bracket-style, single-elimination, matchplay tournament that will be capped off by a 36-hole final on Sunday. And after the first two days, everything is coming up Philly.

Among those making the cut at Merion, which will also host the 2030 men’s U.S. Open, is Norristown native Joshua Ryan. Not only did the 22-year-old former Liberty University golfer advance, but he finished the stroke-play portion of the tournament at 8-under par, two strokes better than the rest of the field. Merion member Drue Nicholas, a former Drexel golfer, finished at 3-over, one stroke over the cut.

“The first hole, I chunked a 3-wood and it went like 280 [yards]. The hands were shaking. We were pretty excited,” Ryan said. “I wasn’t super nervous, just more excitement. Everyone kind of started buzzing right away.

“That was fun.”

If Ryan makes it all the way through and hoists the Havemeyer Trophy on Sunday, he’ll not only get a gold medal and his name etched onto the wall at the USGA Museum — alongside greats like Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Bobby Jones, who capped off his 1930 grand slam by winning the Amateur at Merion — but he’ll also earn invites to three of next year’s four majors, including the Masters.

— Matt Mullin, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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Following their series against the Cardinals — which included an X-2-0 loss Tuesday night — the Phillies will make the trip from St. Louis to Dyersville, Iowa, the setting of the classic baseball film Field of Dreams, where they’ll take on the Minnesota Twins.

One of the film’s characters is Moonlight Graham, a longtime minor-league player who played one inning in the majors as a defensive substitute in 1905 but never had a chance to hit. The Phillies have their own version of Graham in Mickey Harrington.

As for the current Phillies, Bryce Harper admitted Tuesday that his knee — which he “banged up” against the Detroit Tigers just before the All-Star break — has started to bother him again since his move back to right field.

Next: Zack Wheeler and Phillies face the Cardinals in their series finale at 2:15 p.m. (NBCSP)

Despite a down year in 2025, Jalen Carter signed a massive contract extension this offseason, one that made him the highest-paid defensive tackle in the NFL. By the time he reported to camp, the Eagles found out they’d be getting less of Carter — 10 pounds less, to be exact.

That’s because Carter made a bet with defensive coordinator Vic Fangio over his weight. And according to the fourth-year lineman, he won by cutting out items including what he described as “big daddy meals” and Minute Maid blue raspberry juice. Winning the bet was more important even than a shiny new contract to Carter, who said this offseason his “biggest focus was putting a smile on Coach Vic’s face.” It’s already paying dividends on the field.

On the other side of the ball, another Jalen — quarterback Jalen Hurts — is working on developing his rapport with new receivers Dontayvion Wicks, Hollywood Brown, and Elijah Moore, and continuing to work with Darius Cooper, the 2025 undrafted free agent out of Tarleton State, as the team’s top receivers, DeVonta Smith and Makai Lemon, deal with hamstring injuries.

And as always, Jeff McLane has your practice recap from yesterday’s training camp session in South Philly.

Next: The Eagles visit the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday (7 p.m., NBC10) for their preseason opener.

The NBA will release its full schedule on Thursday afternoon, but the league is throwing out a few quick previews throughout the week. That started on Tuesday, when it shared the slate for its marquee games, including opening week and Christmas Day.

It’s no surprise that the new-look Sixers factored heavily in both after adding LeBron James and Jaylen Brown this offseason. They will open the season against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden in a game that’s already breaking ticket-price records. Two of the Sixers’ big games — their home opener and Christmas Day — will come against a pair of James’ former teams.

We’ll know more as the week progresses. The NBA Cup schedule will be released Wednesday and the full schedule will be here before we know it. Don’t look now, but here come the Sixers.

The Union almost certainly won’t advance out of the group stage in this year’s Leagues Cup — they’d need a blowout win over Santos Laguna on Thursday night and so many other results to go their way that it’s not worth mentioning them all here. But that doesn’t mean the tournament has been a bust for the team from Chester … especially for its young American players who dream of representing their country on the game’s biggest stage.

Which Union players have gained the most from these two games? Cavan Sullivan tops the list. He was a force in both, and he knew exactly what he was getting into.

Next: The Union host Mexican side Santos Laguna on Thursday at Subaru Park (7 p.m., Apple TV) for their third and final Leagues Cup group-stage game.

The Birds open their preseason schedule this weekend in Baltimore, where we’ll get our first look at Sean Mannion’s offense. It remains to be seen whether Jalen Hurts or other starters take the field, but earlier this week a former Pro Bowl Eagles quarterback made a cameo at camp and had the above to say about Hurts, adding that he thinks the current QB will thrive in the new system. Check your answer here.

We asked: Do you think the Phillies should keep Turner at shortstop?

Absolutely not. Trea is great offensively but he also had a four error game (that benefited from hometown scorekeeping to reduce the number of recorded errors) a few weeks ago. … If you don’t think he should play outfield, he should be playing first base instead of Alec Bohm, who is barely a MLB player at this point. — Anthony P.

Hell, I don’t want to keep Turner at all. Needs to be traded for a player to be named later. — Bill M.

With all of the infield shuffling, and the late date, Turner is our best option at shortstop for the balance of the season. I do not yet trust him in the outfield and he clearly will not be playing second base. — Bob C.

I’m OK with keeping Turner at shortstop for the remainder of the season. However, if the Phillies are fortunate enough to sign Arraez for next season, I think they need to reshuffle the fielding positions again by bringing Harper back to first base, move Stott to shortstop, and Turner to one of the corner outfield positions. — Jim V.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Lauren Jones, Owen Hewitt, Matt Breen, Lochlahn March, Conor Smith, Mia Messina, Rob Tornoe, Olivia Reiner, Ryan Novozinsky, Jeff McLane, DeAntae Prince, and Jonathan Tannenwald.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Thanks for reading the newsletter. We will be back in your inboxes on Thursday. — Matt