RAHM EXIT SHIFTS RANKINGS
The PGA Tour has notified Jon Rahm he has been suspended for signing with Saudi-funded LIV Golf, a formality that is more about the benefits to the players Rahm leaves behind.
Mackenzie Hughes and
Carl Yuan are the immediate beneficiaries of Rahm’s decision last week to sign with the rival league.
PGA Tour Commissioner
Jay Monahan in a memo to players Monday afternoon said Rahm’s suspension “due to his association with a series of unauthorized tournaments” removes his name from the FedEx Cup eligibility points list.
That means Hughes goes from No. 51 to No. 50, and now is eligible for all seven of the $20 million signature events in 2024. It also means Yuan, who was signed up for Qschool this week, moves up one spot to No. 125 and has a full PGA Tour card for next year.
More golf
Social media had been buzzing about the possibility of Tony Finau — he and Rahm are close friends — also leaving for LIV. Finau took to Instagram on Monday night to recap his year and said he was “looking forward to playing my 10th season on the PGA Tour.”
“See y’all in Maui!” he concluded, adding the hash tag “imnotleaving.”
• Louis Oosthuizen came out on top in his final-round duel with close friend and fellow South African Charl Schwartzel to win the Alfred Dunhill Championship on Monday for his first European tour title in five years.
Oosthuizen closed with a 3under 69 to win by two strokes after the final round was pushed back because of heavy rain Sunday.
Sports and courts
NBA star Ja Morant testified in court Monday that a teenager hit him in the face with a one-handed basketball pass at close range during a pickup game last year and that the Memphis Grizzlies guard punched the teen once in the face.
Morant said on the stand
that the teen bumped him in the chest, balled his fists and got into a fighting stance. The lawsuit was filed by Joshua Holloway, who was 17 when the brief fight erupted at a basketball game on a court located at the Memphis-area home of the NBA All-Star’s parents on July 26, 2022.
Soccer
Players at the Women’s World Cup were 29 percent more likely to receive online abuse than men at the 2022 tournament, said a report released Monday.
One in five players (152) at the Women’s World Cup received “targeted discriminatory, abusive or threatening messaging,” according to FIFA and global players’ association FIFPRO.
• U.S. Soccer has announced that San Diego Wave FC defender Naomi Girma is a nominee for its 2023 Player of the Year Awards, which recognize top performers across all its national teams, including the Female Player of the Year.
College soccer
Seniors Brandon Parrish and Ousmane Sylla each scored, and No. 9 Clemson held off No. 2 Notre Dame 2-1 in Louisville, Ky., to claim the program’s second men’s soccer national championship in three seasons. Clemson (153-5) won titles in 1984, 1987 and 2021.
Death
Vic Davalillo, a two-time World Series champion who spent 16 seasons in the majors and became the first Venezuelan-born player to win a Gold Glove, died Dec. 6. He was believed to be 84.
Davalillo was an All-Star in 1965, when he hit .301 with five homers, 40 RBIs and 26 stolen bases, finishing third in the AL batting race.
Local colleges
San Diego State’s women’s basketball team picked up its sixth win in its last eight games with a 69-61 victory at Seattle (1-8) on Monday. Adryana Quezada and Jada Lewis combined for 39 points for the Aztecs (7-4).