LPGA cancels China tournament
The LPGA said it has canceled the Blue Bay LPGA event scheduled for the first week of March on Hainan Island in China, citing health concerns and travel restrictions due to the coronavirus outbreak.
In a statement Thursday, the LPGA said because of the health crisis in China, the event scheduled March 5-8 will not be held this year. China has reported more than 7,700 cases of the virus and 170 deaths. The industrial hub of Wuhan and other Chinese cities are on lockdown.
The LPGA said canceling the tournament was a difficult decision and that the health and safety of the players, fans and everyone working on the event is its highest priority.
The LPGA said it is looking forward to returning to Blue Bay in 2021 and for many years to come.
Wyndham Clark shot a career-best 10-under 61 to take the first-round lead in the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Playing in the second-tolast group off the 10th tee, Clark had eight birdies in a 10-hole stretch putted out for par on the ninth hole just after sunset at TPC Scottsdale.
Clark was a stroke off the course record of 60 set by Grant Waite in 1996 and matched by Mark Calcavecchia in 2001 and Phil Mickelson in 2005 and 2013.
Graeme McDowell and Gavin Green shared the lead at the Saudi International by shooting six-under 64 in the first round. Mickelson, McDowell’s playing partner, shot a bizarre 66 in which he had only five pars while making nine birdies, three bogeys and a doublebogey at the par-four second hole . ...
Stephen Ames shot a nine-under 63 to take a fourstroke lead over a Hall of Fame quartet in the Morocco Champions, the first PGA Tour Champions event in Africa.
Attorneys suing the Roman Catholic Church allege that hundreds of confidential New Orleans Saints emails show the team’s involvement in public relations work on the area’s sexual abuse crisis went much further than the team has stated .
New court papers filed this week by lawyers for about two dozen men making sexual abuse claims against the Archdiocese of New Orleans accused the Saints of issuing misleading statements in saying their work for the archdiocese involved only “messaging” and handling media inquiries as part of the 2018 release of the clergy names. Instead, they wrote, “The Saints appear to have had a hand in determining which names should or should not have been included on the pedophile list.”
Jaren Jackson Jr. and Marko Guduric of the Memphis Grizzlies and New York Knicks guard Elfrid Payton were suspended one game by the NBA for their roles in an altercation between the teams. New York’s Marcus Morris also was fined $35,000 not only for his role on the court but for his comments afterward, when he said Grizzlies forward Jae Crowder played with “female tendencies.”
Veteran tight end Greg Olsen and the Carolina Panthers mutually agreed to part ways, the team announced.
Tomas Hertl will miss the rest of the season for the San Jose Sharks with torn anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee, the team said.
Pablo Sandoval agreed to a minor league contact with the San Francisco Giants and would get a $2 million to rejoin his former team, a one-year deal if added to the 40-man roster . ... Free agent pitcher David Phelps and the Milwaukee Brewers finalized a one-year contract that guarantees $1.5 million . ... The Seattle Mariners added a veteran arm to their bullpen, agreeing to a $1.6 million, one-year contract with Yoshihisa Hirano.
Major League Baseball’s involvement sponsoring the sale of tickets for Roger Waters’ tour has been criticized by the leadership of the Jewish advocacy organization B’nai B’rith International, which wrote a letter to baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred that stated Waters is an “avowed anti-Semite.”
The Ducks named Aaron Teats as president of business operations and Gina Galasso as executive vice president and chief human resources officer.
Lou Ramirez, the athletic director at Lake Balboa Birmingham for 44 years and a diehard USC supporter, died. He was 93.