PGA TOUR GRABS A SHARE OF EURO TOUR
The PGA Tour has acquired a minority stake in the European Tour’s media production company as part of an alliance announced Friday, a big first step toward developing a more unified golf schedule around the world.
The deal effectively makes the two leading tours more partners than rivals. The tours said in a statement the alliance would allow them to collaborate on commercial opportunities and global media rights in certain territories.
“The PGA Tour moves from a competitor to a partner,” Keith Pelley, chief executive for the European Tour, said on a conference call.
While seen as a pivotal first step, any notion of a world tour — which golf executives have contemplated for more than a decade — remains some years away. The immediate goal is to figure out a schedule that keeps the tours from competing against each other and strengthening events on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond.
Pelley offered few details on scheduling, access to tours or even negotiating media rights.
As part of the agreement, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan will join the European Tour board as a non-executive member who would have a vote.
“They have a monetary investment in our business,” he said of the PGA Tour.
Pelley said the board’s approval of the partnership was unanimous.
The announcement is likely to put an end to the Premier Golf League, which a year ago was courting the world’s best players for a team-based circuit and funded in part by Saudi money. Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka rejected the idea right before the pandemic.
More golf
Adrian Meronk is in line to make history after opening a three-shot lead after two rounds of the Alfred Dunhill Championship in Malelane, South Africa. Meronk became the first Polish player to lead a European Tour event and is seeking his country’s first title on the tour after a second-round 66 moved him to 13 under par and put him in a great position at Leopard Creek.
NBA
The NBA released a condensed 49-game preseason schedule, with teams playing between two and four games starting on Dec. 11. Preseason contests will continue through Dec. 19. Teams begin training camps next week. The league plans to reveal the first half of the 72game regular season schedule — that meaning games to be played between Dec. 22 and March 4 — in the coming days. Games for the season’s second half, scheduled as between March 11 and May 16, will be revealed around the midpoint of the season.
The defending NBA champion Lakers will play on the first night of the preseason, technically a home game against the Clippers. The Lakers play the Clippers twice in the preseason, then two games at Phoenix and new guard Chris Paul as well.
• The Golden State Warriors signed top draft pick James Wiseman, the team’s No. 2 overall selection out of Memphis. Golden State also signed rookie guard Nico Mannion to a twoway contract, the team announced. He was selected 48th out of Arizona.
Local colleges
The San Diego State women’s basketball team (1-1) used an 11-0 fourth quarter run to earn a 60-54 victory over Lamar (0-2) in Las Vegas. Sophia Ramos had a game-high 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Aztecs.
Soccer
Callum Wilson and Joelinton scored late as Newcastle beat Crystal Palace 2-0 in the English Premier League.
• Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen played an eight-goal thriller as Wolfsburg won their Bundesliga game 5-3.
• With Belgium still at No. 1, FIFA released its final rankings list for 2020 and set the seedings for the European portion of the World Cup qualifying draw. Defending World Cup champion France is in second place, with Brazil third and England fourth. European champion Portugal rounds out the top five, with Spain in sixth. At No. 9, Mexico is the highest-ranked team from the CONCACAF region, while the United States stayed at No. 22.
Also
Alexis Pinturault edged Henrik Kristoffersen in a floodlit men’s World Cup parallel event at Lech-Zuers, Austria, for his 30th career win.
• Kaori Sakamoto added another jump to her repertoire and came away with the lead after the short program at the NHK Trophy in Osaka, Japan, the final event of the figure skating Grand Prix series. The 2018 Four Continents champion from Japan opened her routine with a double axel and added a triple lutz and a triple flip-triple toeloop combination for 75.60 points.