Off the wire

GOLF Kieffer leads by 1

Maximilian Kieffer shot a 6-under 64 to lead the first round of the European Masters at Crans-Montana, Switzerland, on Thursday. The 28-year-old German, who never won on the European Tour, had seven birdies and one bogey in finishing one shot better than Andy Sullivan, Soren Kjeldsen, Julien Guerrier and Hideto Tanihara. Englishman Sullivan, a member of Europe’s losing 2016 Ryder Cup team, had a run of five birdies in six holes to reach the turn in 30. Ryder Cup vice-captain Lee Westwood shot a 2-under 68 on the 6,848-yard course in the Swiss Alps that is blanketed in snow through the winter. Two-time major winner John Daly (Dardanelle, Arkansas Razorbacks) had five birdies, two double bogeys and two triple bogeys in shooting a 7-over 77.

FOOTBALL Court revives lawsuit

A U.S. appeals court has revived a lawsuit against the NFL by former players who claim the league illegally plied them with powerful prescription painkillers to keep them on the field. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco ruled Thursday that the lawsuit is not pre-empted or superseded by labor agreements between players and teams. The NFL had argued that the players failed to exhaust the grievance procedures in those agreements. The ruling overturned a lower court decision that dismissed the lawsuit. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the league still expects the lawsuit to be thrown out. The players contend the NFL did not warn them about the long-term consequences of the drugs, which they say have left them with chronic health problems.

Cowboys, casino deal

The Dallas Cowboys said they are the first NFL team to have a sponsorship agreement with a casino. The deal with WinStar World Casino and Resort in Oklahoma was announced Thursday. League owners voted recently to allow clubs to strike such deals. Owner and General Manager Jerry Jones said he’s “excited about the future of gaming as it relates to the NFL.” In May, the Supreme Court cleared the way for states to legalize sports betting by striking down a 1992 federal law

that effectively banned sports betting in most states. Jones said the NFL’s efforts to sort out the high court’s ruling could be “months, years in the making.” He said he was excited to be “standing here that we don’t have to wait years in the making.” The league will soon have a team in Las Vegas with the Oakland Raiders set to move. WinStar is near the Texas-Oklahoma state line about 70 miles north of Cowboys headquarters in Frisco, a suburb north of Dallas.

BASKETBALL Vols coach extended

Tennessee basketball Coach Rick Barnes has received a threeyear contract extension and raise that will earn him $21 million over the next six years. Athletic Director Phillip Fulmer announced Thursday in a university release that Barnes has received an extension through the 2023-24 season. Barnes’ original contract paid him $2.25 million a year and was set to expire on April 15, 2021. Under his new deal, Barnes will make an average of $3.5 million per year. Barnes will make $3.25 million in 2018-19.

He gets a $100,000 pay increase each of the remaining years on his contract. Barnes is 57-44 in three seasons at Tennessee and owns an overall record of 661-358 in 31 seasons. Tennessee went 26-9 last season, tied Auburn for the SEC regular-season crown and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Heat, Haslem deal

A person with knowledge of the negotiations said the Miami Heat and Udonis Haslem have agreed on a one-year, $2.4 million contract. The person spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been signed. Haslem is one of the team’s captains, and he and Dwyane Wade are the only two players to appear on all three of Miami’s NBA champion teams. Haslem becomes the 19th player under contract going into training camp, one shy of the preseason maximum — and the Heat are waiting to see if Wade will take that last available spot. This will be Haslem’s 16th season with the Heat. He appeared in 14 games last season, all off the bench.

MOTOR SPORTS Injuries detailed

IndyCar driver Robert Wickens suffered nine specific injuries, including fractures to his spinal cord and neck, in his horrific crash at Pocono Raceway last month. Wickens’ family provided a comprehensive list of the injuries the driver suffered when his car launched into the fence Aug. 19 at the Pennsylvania track. Among the nine injuries are a thoracic spinal fracture, a fractured neck, tibia and fibula fractures to both legs, and a fractured right forearm. The family released the details Thursday through Schmidt Peterson Motorsports to show the severity of the injuries to Wickens and the recovery he has ahead. He is expected to be moved to a rehabilitation center soon to begin recovering from the spinal cord injury. It could be months before the severity of the injury is known. The Canadian had surgery this week at Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital to repair fractures to his legs and hands. Team owners Ric Peterson and Sam Schmidt added the No. 6 entry will be Wickens’ car “no matter the amount of time it takes for his full recovery.”

BASEBALL Wahoo out four games

The Cleveland Indians have removed the Chief Wahoo logo from the sleeve of their uniforms for a four-game series in Toronto. The decision to nix the logo was partially driven by a failed legal challenge against the team when it played in Toronto during the 2016 AL Championship Series. While Cleveland played the Blue Jays, a lawsuit was filed to have the logo and team name banned from Canadian TV. A judge dismissed the case. The Indians have said they will permanently remove the logo from their uniforms next season. The move came after decades of protests and complaints that the grinning, redfaced caricature that dates to 1947 is racist. Cleveland will host the AllStar Game next season. In recent years, the team has slowly moved away from the cartoonish image of a big-toothed American Indian with a scarlet face and a single feather in his headdress. The Indians now use a “C” as their primary logo and have removed signs depicting Chief Wahoo from their home stadium. The Indians will return to their regular uniforms when they play at Tampa Bay next week.