Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - New Zealand golfer Danny Lee is just one shot off the lead after the first round of the second major of the year - the PGA Championship.

Lee carded a six under 64 at Bethpage Black in New York, mixing eight birdies with two bogeys.

It's Lee's lowest round at a major and best round this season.

He's one shot behind defending champion, American Brooks Koepka, who shot a course record-equalling 63.

In third is England's Tommy Fleetwood at three under.

Masters champion Tiger Woods is in a tie for 55th at two over.

New Zealand number one, Ryan Fox, had a horror first round, shooting eight over to be just three shots off last.

Moody returns home from South Africa.

The Crusaders front row stocks continues to be tested with Joe Moody returning home with a knee injury.

George Bower will start at loosehead against the Stormers at Newlands on Sunday morning.

Moody suffered a cut to his knee, which required stitches, playing against the Bulls last weekend.

He joins fellow props Owen Franks and Tim Perry on the sidelines.

Meanwhile, Ethan Blackadder starts on the blindside, with Jordan Taufua shifting to the bench.

The Crusaders' backline remains unchanged.

Venus into Rome quarters

New Zealand's Michael Venus has quickly discovered his best form returning to clay court tennis after six weeks sidelined with an ankle injury.

The world number 16 and his South South African partner Raven Klaasen have cruised into the doubles quarter finals at the Rome Masters.

They've turned in an impressive performance to beat Dutchman Matwe Middelkoop and Frenchman Giles Simon 6-4, 6-2 in just 57 minutes.

The raced through the first set in just 29 minutes dropping just 3 points on serve.

Venus won the French Open doubles title in 2017.

Meanwhile Artem Sitak and his American partner Austin Krajicek have been beaten 6-3 6-2 in 1 hour 4 minutes by the 3rd seeded Colombians Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal.

Luke may get to play for Warriors

Issac Luke may get a reprieve after Warriors starting hooker Nathaniel Roache was ruled out of tonight's NRL match against Penrith.

Roache hasn't recovered from a back injury sustained late in last week's win over St George Illawarra and he didn't board the flight to Sydney yesterday.

It means coach Stephen Kearney may revert to Luke in the starting hooker role even though the veteran Kiwis international has been off the pace this season and was dropped last week.

Coincidence or otherwise, Luke's six starts this season have all been in games the Warriors have lost, while he's sat out their three wins.

Kearney may hand the hooking duties to utility Karl Lawton, who impressed off the bench against the Dragons in just his second appearance of the season.

Forwards Tohu Harris (knee) and Jazz Tevaga (foot) both passed fitness tests and are set to play.

-AAP

Hughes named Fed Cup captain

Tennis New Zealand has appointed Sacha Hughes (nee Jones) to the role of Fed Cup captain ahead of the Asia Oceania zone Group Two tournament in Kuala Lumpur next month.

The 28 year old former player replaces Neil Carter who resigned earlier this year.

Hughes reached a career high of 150 in the WTA rankings as a player having finished her career representing Australia.

Storm lucky to win

It was far from magic, but Melbourne still managed to conjure up a 24-22 win over Wests Tigers in a pulsating round-opening NRL match in Melbourne.

Storm centre Will Chambers scored in the 77th minute to give the home side the victory after they appeared headed for their third consecutive loss to the Tigers.

Storm coach Craig Bellamy admitted his team were "lucky" to escape with win.

"We kept ourselves in there which was the encouraging part for us," he said.

The Storm stay top of the standings while the Tigers are eighth.

Putting a dampener on Melbourne's win was a serious knee injury to Queensland Origin hopeful Christian Welch.

The prop limped off at halftime with a suspected ACL injury in the same knee that saw him miss the Storm's 2017 premiership-winning campaign.

-AAP

Hawks beat Giants

Hawke's Bay has beaten the Nelson Giants 103-83 in their National Basketball League game in nelson.

It is the Giants third straight loss.

Edward Singler hit a game high 27 points for the Hawks who move up to third on the table.

Kyrgios thrown out

Nick Kyrgios was defaulted from his second round Italian Open clash against Norway's Casper Ruud after the hot-headed Australian hurled a chair on to the court.

World number 36 Kyrgios was given a code violation for 'unsportsmanlike conduct' after being broken early in the third set. Having already been handed a code violation earlier in the match, the latest outburst meant the umpire also handed him a game penalty.

This prompted an angry Kyrgios to slam his racket into the ground, kick a water bottle before he tossed a chair towards the centre of the court.

The frustrated 24-year-old shook hands with his opponent and the umpire before he strode off the court, effectively defaulting himself from the contest.

Ruud was leading 6-3 6-7(5) 2-1 when Kyrgios was disqualified and will face Juan Martin del Potro in the third round.

Meanwhile former world number one Roger Federer marked his return to the Italian Open for the first time since 2016 with a 6-4 6-3 second round win over Joao Sousa as top seed Novak Djokovic and holder Rafael Nadal also reached the last 16.

-Reuters

41-year-old to play World Cup

Brazil's 41-year-old midfielder Formiga is set to become the first player, male or female, to participate at seven World Cups after she was named in their squad for the women's tournament in France.

The Paris St Germain midfielder currently shares the record of participating in six World Cups with Homare Sawa, who led Japan's women to their World Cup triumph in 2011.

In the men's tournament, three players have played at five World Cups -- Mexico's Rafael Marquez and Antonio Carbajal and Germany's Lothar Matthaeus.

If Formiga plays in France she will also become the oldest to appear in a women's World Cup.

Formiga is joined in the Brazil squad by several other well-known faces, including Marta, the six-times World Player of the year.

Brazil sit 10th in the world rankings, their lowest position since the ranking system began.

-Reuters

Italian leads Giro

Italian Fausto Masnada won the sixth stage of the Giro d'Italia as Primoz Roglic lost the overall leader's pink jersey to UAE Team Emirates rider Valerio Conti.

Masnada emerged as the strongest rider in a large breakaway, making his decisive attack on Coppa Casarinelle about 20 kilometres from the finish line.

Masnada was soon joined by compatriot Conti and they both rode into the finishing straight of the 238km stage to cap off a fine day for the home nation as Conti became the first Italian to wear the pink jersey since Vincenzo Nibali in 2016.

It was Masnada's first Grand Tour stage win and Italy's first victory of this year's Giro.

-Reuters

United will meet forecast

English football club Manchester United said it would meet its financial forecasts for 2018-19 despite what it called a "turbulent season" that ended with only a sixth place finish in the Premier League.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the three months to the end of March fell to 80 million dollars, down from 89 million a year earlier.

That reflected in part the impact of wage costs of 166 million dollars, an increase of 19 million dollars from a year ago, mainly due to investment in a playing squad which includes French World Cup winner Paul Pogba and Chilean Alexis Sanchez.

Calls to rebuild the squad have grown louder after the 20-time English champions missed out on a berth in next season's lucrative UEFA Champions League competition.

The club continues to expect revenue of around 1.2 billion dollars for the year to the end of June.

-Reuters