IN BRIEF US Women’s Open pushed to December
The U.S. Women’s Open in Houston is now scheduled for two weeks before Christmas. The LPGA Tour pushed back the resumption of its schedule until the middle of June and found slots for three tournaments that have been postponed.
Commissioner Mike Whan keeps looking at the calendar at a dwindling number of dates and trying to figure out how it will fall into place, missing one key piece of information brought on by the spread of the new coronavirus.
“Not knowing when our restart button gets pushed,” Whan said Friday.
That was delayed by a month with a chain of events that began with the U.S. Women’s Open announcing it would move from June 4-7 at Champions Golf Club to Dec. 10-13, the latest a major championship has ever been played.
The last time an official LPGA Tour event was played entirely in December was the LPGA Tour Championship in 2010. And there could be more.
“Our priority remains ensuring the safety of all involved with the U.S. Women’s Open, while still providing the world’s best players the opportunity to compete this year,” USGA CEO Mike Davis said.
College basketball: Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu was awarded the Naismith Trophy for the most outstanding women’s basketball player. Ionescu shattered the NCAA career tripledouble mark with 26 and became the first player in college history to have 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists. Ionescu averaged 17.5 points, 9.1 assists and 8.6 rebounds with eight triple-doubles as a senior this season . ... Dayton F Obi Toppin won the men’s Naismith Trophy. He averaged 20.0 points and 7.5 rebounds this season as a redshirt sophomore. He led the Flyers to a 29-2 season, an Atlantic 10 Conference championship, a No. 3 ranking in the AP poll and 20 straight wins to end the season.
Horse racing: The Preakness is looking for a new date this year and has decided to cancel the infield party that is a staple of the Triple Crown race normally held on the third Saturday in May. The owners of Pimlico Race Course and the Maryland Jockey Club said in a statement that the outbreak of the coronavirus around the country has caused officials to delay the race and cancel InfieldFest 2020. The Preakness usually draws more than 100,000 fans to Pimlico.
NFL: The Bears declared the QB competition between Mitchell Trubisky and newcomer Nick Foles an open one. General manager Ryan Pace made that clear during a conference call, saying both players are “embracing” the battle that will play out whenever offseason workouts begin . ... The Chiefs and WR Sammy Watkins have agreed on a restructured one-year deal that gives the franchise muchneeded salary cap relief, a person familiar with the deal told AP. The deal will give the Chiefs about $5 million in salary cap savings ahead of the NFL draft . ... The Buccaneers re-signed free agent QB Blaine Gabbert to a one-year contract to back up Tom Brady . ... WR Travis Benjamin and OL Tom Compton have signed one-year deals with the NFC champion 49ers . ... Former Browns LB Jim Houston, who died in 2018, was diagnosed with Stage 3 chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
WNBA: The season will not start on time next month because of the coronavirus pandemic, and when it begins is unclear. The league announced it will delay the season for an indefinite period. Training camps were to open on April 26 and the regular season on May 15.