Sports briefly: Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth near lead at Bridgestone

Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth, each with British Open memories prominent, shot 3-under-par 67s Thursday at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio.

They trailed leader Thomas Pieters by two strokes.

McIlroy played with old friend Harry Diamond as his caddie after firing J.P. Fitzgerald after the British Open.

"There was a couple of clubs that I pulled that I maybe should have just thought a little bit more about," he said.

Spieth, the British Open champion, made three putts longer than 30 feet and played a shot through a 3-foot gap in tree limbs. He said he told his caddie, "Just put the bag over there and watch this."

• Michelle Wie finished with three consecutive birdies at Kingsbarns in St. Andrews, Scotland, and shot an 8-under 64 to take the lead in the Women's British Open.

• John Huh made eight birdies for 15 points in the modified Stableford system, taking the lead in the PGA Tour's Barracuda Championship.

Boxing: Former heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko announced his retirement. Klitschko, 41, went 64-5 in his career.

Men's soccer: Neymar officially became the most expensive player in soccer history, completing the transfer to Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona for $262 million that was agreed to Wednesday.

Women's soccer: Australia won the inaugural Tournament of Nations in Carson, Calif., beating Brazil 6-1. The United States later beat Japan 3-0, but the U.S. needed an Australia loss to remain in contention.

College basketball: Penn State guard Teniya Page, who averaged 19.9 points a game last season, fractured her right ankle at the USA Basketball Under-23 camp in Colorado Springs, Colo.