Just you and Shooter McGavin’s doctor

The GIST: First and foremost, we mourn the four lives lost in Monday’s tragic Manhattan shooting. According to NYC mayor Eric Adams, the now-deceased gunman was targeting the NFL headquarters on Park Avenue in the attack, claiming to suffer from a degenerative brain disease referred to as CTE.

• Given the disease’s prevalence in the news today and beyond, we’re explaining what CTE is, why it’s a big problem in contact sports like football, and how it comes back to Monday’s attack.

🧠 What is CTE?: CTE stands for chronic traumatic encephalopathy and is caused by repeated hits to the head. Symptoms of CTE include memory loss, depression, and impulsive behavior, but the condition can only be diagnosed in a posthumous autopsy.

🏈 How is CTE connected to football?: It’s no secret that football is a physical sport, but CTE only became a mainstream concern within the last decade. It took until 2016 for the NFL to acknowledge the link between football and CTE, and since then, the league has spent billions settling claims from retired players and exploring ways to limit future brain injuries.

• The Boston University CTE Center has found CTE in 91.7% of former NFL players who have posthumously donated their brains since the study began in 2008, including former Pittsburgh Steeler Terry Long, whom the gunman referred to in a note.

❓ Did the gunman play in the NFL?: No, he did not, but the 27-year-old shooter did play high school football in California. The NYC Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed that they are assessing his brain in the autopsy, though it will take months to determine if he did, in fact, suffer from CTE.

• Furthermore, brain injury experts like Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Daniel H. Daneshvar warn against correlating violent behavior with CTE, clarifying that “the majority of people with CTE never engage” in such acts.

The GIST: Time flies when you’re hitting fairways — just ask the LPGA’s best, who are preparing to tee off at the fifth and final major of the season tomorrow. Here’s everything you need to know about the AIG Women’s Open. *golf claps*

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 The women’s sports history: For the first time ever, the Women’s Open heads to Wales, marking the largest women’s sporting event held in the country to date.

• As if you needed another reason to tune in tomorrow, every single hole at the Royal Porthcawl Golf Club has a picturesque view of the Bristol Channel. Smashed ceilings, stunning scenery, and top-tier golf? Yes, please.

🏆 The shockingly fierce field: Will the LPGA finally have a repeat winner this season? Reigning champ and world No. 3 Lydia Ko sure hopes so. She last bagged a Tour win in March and is back to defend her Open title, with hopes of becoming 2025’s first two-time champ.

• Yes, you read that right: A different player has won each of this season’s 20 events, and last year’s winningest golfer, world No. 1 Nelly Korda, isn’t one of them...yet.

• Both Shooter McGavin’s doctor Korda and Ko are among the favorites to hoist the trophy on Sunday (and cut the biggest piece of the $9.5M pie), but this field is star-studded, from all four 2025 major winners to the UK’s own Lottie Woad. Prepare for a parity par-tee.

⚾ MLB: Toronto Blue Jays vs. Baltimore Orioles — Today at 12:35 p.m. ET — Sportsnet

• The Jays may be the best team in baseball, but it’s the lowly Orioles who are flying in this battle of the birds, opening up a 3-0 series lead over their divisional foes. Cross-clubhouse trades aside, the AL East’s bookends have plenty to play for in the series finale.

🏀 WNBA: NY Liberty vs. Minnesota Lynx — Tonight at 8 p.m. ET — SN360

• Both the Libs and the Lynx come into this 2024 Finals rematch shooting for redemption: Minny just saw their 14-game home win streak quashed, while NY recently suffered two uncharacteristic losses.

🏊 World Aquatics Championship: Women’s 200m butterfly final — Tomorrow at 7:02 a.m. ET — CBC

• Eighteen-year-old phenom Summer McIntosh aims to tie Michael Phelps’ legendary record by winning five individual Worlds events in Singapore — and she’s already clinched the 400m freestyle and 200m individual medley. Two down, three to go.