Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - Lydia Ko is just a shot off the clubhouse lead at the first golf major of the year.

The former world number one has birdied the final hole of her opening round to card a two-under 70 at the ANA Inspiration in California.

Ko's playing partner Lexi Thompson is one of the three leaders at three-under par.

Lydia Ko won the ANA Inspiration in 2016 - her second and most recent major title triumph.

Meanwhile, fellow Kiwi Danny Lee has opened the PGA Tour's Texas Open with a four-under 68.

He's also just one shot off the clubhouse lead.

Schoolgirl added to Mystics squad

The Northern Mystics have added Auckland schoolgirl Grace Nweke to their full-time playing squad for the remainder of the ANZ netball Premiership.

The Avondale College student and 1.93m tall goal shoot will turn her full focus to the Mystics having previously split her netball workload between the BEKO Netball League, where she was part of the Northern Marvels, and the ANZ Premiership.

Nweke, who was born in New Zealand and is of Nigerian descent, has grabbed the spotlight with her shooting accuracy, temperament and athletic ability on court.

The talented former high jumper only turned 17 in February and still has a full year left at secondary school.

Nweke is likely to replace Australian shooter Kristina Brice, who has only played three quarters for the struggling Mystics this season.

Kane Williamson has sat out another Indian Premier League game.

The Black Caps captain hasn't featured in Hyderabad's latest match against Delhi as he continues to nurse the rare injury sustained in the second test against Bangladesh last month.

Williamson has only featured in one of Hyderabad's first four IPL matches.

His absence hasn't been too keenly felt though as the Sunrisers have posted their third win to move to the top of the table.

Hyderabad's beaten Delhi by five wickets, chasing down the 130 required for victory with one and a half overs to spare.

Encouraging signs for Auckland polevaulter Eliza McCartney.

The Olympic bronze medalist has been bothered by a hamstring injury in recent weeks which forced her to miss the recent National Championships.

However she posted on a social media yesterday that she is now running freely.

"Today I put spikes on and could run pain free faster than I've been able to all year," she said on Instagram.

"Each day the little wins get me closer to vaulting again. Can. Not. Wait.

McCartney isn't competing in next week's Vertical Pursuit at Sky City in Auckland.

Maloney continues to lead

Andy Maloney continues to lead the Finn fleet at the Princess Sofia sailing regatta in Spain.

Training partner Josh Junior is third.

The women's 49er crew of Alex Maloney and Molly Meech are second, while the Nacra 17 crew of Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders are sixth.

Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Wilcox are third in the men's 470.

Olympic 49er champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have had their best day scoring a first and a third to improve to fifth overall, while the other New Zealanders in the class Logan Dunning

Beck and Oscar Gunn have dropped to 13th.

Big win for Roosters

The Sydney Roosters have beaten the Brisbane Broncos 36-4 in their NRL game in Sydney.

Cooper Cronk made a stunning return from a hamstring injury to lay on three first-half tries but the superstar halfback failed to finish the match.

Cronk, who was the victim of a late shot that resulted in Broncos lock Tevita Pangai being placed on report, combined with in form five-eighth Luke Keary to steer the Roosters to the emphatic win before coming from the field in the 52nd minute.

The Roosters are second on the table with three wins from four games, while the Broncos have just one win from their four games.

The Warriors play the Gold Coast Titans in Auckland tonight.

St Albans only unbeaten team

St Albans of Christchurch is the only unbeaten team after three rounds of the National Club Cricket Championship in Auckland.

St Albans beat defending champions Napier Technical Old Boys by 27 runs.

Napier player-coach Jesse Ryder made his first appearance at the crease scoring 45.

Dunedin's Green Island suffered their first loss of the tournament as former champions Eastern Suburbs of Wellington chalked up a much-needed first win to keep them in with a chance of making Sunday's Final.

Easts claimed a 10 run win.

Auckland representatives Parnell also got a much-needed first win on the board beating Tauranga's Greerton by 132 runs.

Dakar Rally to leave South America

The Dakar Rally will leave South America to start a new era in the Middle East in 2020 after signing a five-year deal with Saudi Arabia.

Dakar organiser ASO has run the world's most famous rally raid in South America since 2009, a move brought about by terrorist threats in Mauritania that forced the cancellation of the 2008 event - the last in Africa.

ASO declined to comment when contacted by Motorsport.com but an announcement is expected in the coming weeks.

This year's Dakar was the first to run entirely within one country - Peru - after South American neighbours Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia failed to find agreement with ASO.

While one more South American edition was understood to be an option, continued economic uncertainty forced negotiations in the Middle East and South Africa.

-Reuters

Southgate gets gong

England football manager Gareth Southgate has received the OBE award at Buckingham Palace after steering the national team to the World Cup semi-finals in Russia last year.

48 year old Southgate, dressed in his trademark waistcoat, was presented the award for services to football by Prince Charles after he was included in Queen Elizabeth's 2019 New Year's honours list.

Last month, team captain Harry Kane received the MBE award. He was top scorer with six goals in Russia but the team was knocked out after a 2-1 loss to Croatia in the semi-finals.

Southgate's OBE came as England climbed one place to fourth in FIFA's latest world rankings after Euro 2020 qualifying victories over the Czech Republic and Montenegro.

-Reuters

Big profit for Spurs

The day after they officialy opened their new 62,000-seater stadium, the English football club Tottenham Hotspur announced they had made a world-record profit of $218 million after tax last year.

With income rising sharply as a result of player sales, hosting home matches at Wembley and a Champions League run, Tottenham's profit surpassed the 205 million dollars reported by Liverpool earlier this year.

Tottenham became the first Premier League club not to make any signings in the summer transfer window last year and also failed to add to their squad in January.

The club was supposed to move into their new stadium, the cost of which has risen to one billion pounds, at the start of the current season but a series of delays meant home matches had to be played at Wembley.

While it was a frustrating wait, the extra capacity at Wembley allowed Tottenham to sell around 340,000 extra tickets, according to chairman Daniel Levy.

-Reuters

Former Sri Lankan cricketer charged

Former Sri Lanka international Dilhara Lokuhettige has been charged with three counts of breaching the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption code.

The charges against the bowling all-rounder include being party to an effort to fix the result or progress of an international match, and directly soliciting, inducing, enticing or encouraging a player to do the same.

Lokuhettige, who played nine one-dayers and two Twenty20 internationals for Sri Lanka, has been charged for similar offences relating to a 10-over league in the United Arab Emirates last year.

Sri Lanka Cricket has been thrown into turmoil as the ICC continues to investigate corruption allegations in the island nation.

In January, the ICC granted Sri Lankan cricketers a 15-day amnesty to report previously undisclosed information relating to corruption in the sport.

It was followed by former captain and chairman of selectors Sanath Jayasuriya being handed a two-year ban for refusing to cooperate with any investigation conducted by its anti-corruption unit.

-Reuters

Men and women golfers compete together

Men and women are competing against each other in a professional golf tournament for the first time at the Jordan Mixed Open.

Forty professionals and one amateur player each from the Challenge Tour, the over-50s Tour and the Ladies European Tour are in the field at the Ayla Golf Club in Aqaba, competing for a prize fund of almost $600,000.

England's Meghan MacLaren, a Ladies European Tour winner, and former Ryder Cup player Barry Lane are among players in the field which also includes a Scottish husband and wife, Kylie and Scott Henry.

Although the average men's Challenge Tour player can drive the ball 50 yards further than their Ladies European Tour counterparts, they will compete on a level playing field.

Challenge Tour players will play from tees making up a 7,152-yard course, the seniors will cover 6,601 yards and the women 6,139 yards.

-Reuters