Kim wins US Women’s Open debut with record-tying rally
HOUSTON » The Bermuda grass of south Texas was unlike anything A Lim Kim had ever seen. The U.S. Women’s Open, with its reputation as the toughest test, was a major she had never played.
What didn’t change in a frigid final round at Champions Golf Club was how to keep score. And when the 25-year-old from South Korea saw she was trailing and running out of holes, she started attacking flags.
Kim birdied her final three holes and tied the record for the largest comeback in a U.S. Women’s Open, rallying from five shots behind with the a 4-under 67 to win the biggest event in women’s golf.
She won by one shot over Jin Young Ko, the top-ranked player in women’s golf, and Amy Olson, who played her heart out while coping with the grief of her father-inlaw’s unexpected death Saturday night in South Dakota.
Baseball
INDIANS OWNER SAYS NAME
WON’T CHANGE IN 2021 » The Cleveland Indians are changing their name — they just don’t know to what or when.
Expressing that “it’s time,” owner Paul Dolan said that after months of internal discussions and meetings with groups, including Native Americans who have sought to have the team stop using a moniker many deem racist, the American League franchise is dropping the name it has been known by since 1915.
Dolan said the team will continue to be called Indians until a new name is chosen. That “multi-stage” process is in its early stages and the team will play — and be branded — as the Indians at least through next season.
College football
WASHINGTON PULLS OUT
OF PAC-12 TITLE GAME, REPLACED BY DUCKS » Washington has pulled out of the Pac-12 football championship game due to COVID-19 issues in the Huskies program, and Oregon will now play No. 13 USC for the conference title on Friday instead.
Washington (3-1) announced it is withdrawing from the championship game after determining the Huskies did not have at least 53 scholarship players available and did not meet the minimum number of scholarship athletes at specific positions.
Women’s college basketball
TOURNAMENT TO PLAYED AT
ONE SITE, EYES ON TEXAS » The NCAA announced Monday that San Antonio is the likely host site for the 64team women’s NCAA tournament next March. The move was made to help mitigate the risks of COVID-19 and matches that of the men’s tournament, which the NCAA said last month will also be played in a single area — most likely Indianapolis.
San Antonio was already
the site of the 2021 Final Four. The NCAA has now begun talks with the city on hosting the whole thing and the organization hopes to have plans finalized by the end of January at the latest. It is likely that the NCAA could play games as far away as Austin because of the need for hotels as well as practice and game venues for 64 teams.
Men’s college basketball
GONZAGA, BAYLOR, IOWA REMAIN
ATOP AP TOP 25; DUKE TUMBLES » Gonzaga and Baylor headlined an unchanged top tier of The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll, even as both have been sidelined by recent coronavirus issues.
The top five teams remained in place in Monday’s latest Top 25, with Mark Few’s Bulldogs receiving 54 of 62 first-place votes to remain firmly in place at No. 1.
The second- ranked Bears had seven first-place votes to remain 1-2 with Gonzaga in each of the season’s four polls so far.
Yet the Zags haven’t played since beating West Virginia on Dec. 2 due to COVID-19 protocols, with five straight games canceled or postponed.
FLORIDA’S JOHNSON
SIMPLE
‘FOLLOWING
COMMANDS’
AFTER COLLAPSE » Florida forward Keyontae Johnson was “following simple commands” after being transferred from Tallahassee Memorial to UF Health in Gainesville, the school said.
Officials added that Johnson is undergoing further tests and remains in critical but stable condition two days after he collapsed on the court during a game at Florida State. Johnson was moved to Gainesville with his mother by his side via helicopter.
NBA
HARDEN STILL WANTS OUT OF HOUSTON » The Rockets tried to convince James Harden to stay by importing John Wall from the Washington Wizards. Unfortunately for the Rockets, the maneuver doesn’t seem to have worked.
Harden, the three-time defending NBA scoring leader and a former league MVP, has continued to ask for a trade out of Houston, according to ESPN.
NFL
RAVENS PICK UP EXCITING WIN OVER BROWNS » Lamar Jackson left the game with cramps but returned to convert a late fourth down and help the Baltimore Ravens escape with a wild 4742 victory on Monday.
Jackson re- entered the game at the two- minute warning with the Ravens facing fourth down. Jackson found Marquise Brown for a 44- yard touchdown to put the Ravens ahead 42-35.
Cleveland marched down the field and tied it at 42- 42 on a touchdown by Kareem Hunt. Jackson led the Ravens down the field and Justin Tucker hit a 55-yard field goal with 2 seconds left to win the game.