Doherty competitors fight through wind in stroke-play qualifier
AUTO RACING: Danica Patrick confirmed she is dating Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, who split from actress Olivia Munn in 2017 after three years of dating. In November, Patrick ended a five-year relationship with fellow NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
BASEBALL: The Giants acquired 2013 NL MVP Andrew McCutchen from the Pirates for RHP Kyle Crick, minor-league OF Bryan Reynolds and $500,000 in international signing bonus allocation. The Giants also will receive cash to cover part of McCutchen’s $14.75 million salary . ... RH reliever Addison Reed and the Twins finalized a two-year, $16.75 million contract. ... The Nationals and OF Howie Kendrick agreed to a two-year, $7 million contract . ... Justin Morneau, the 2006 AL MVP and Twins 1B whose career was derailed by concussion symptoms, is retiring after 1,603 hits and 247 HRs in 14 seasons . ... The Blue Jays will extend the protective netting at Rogers Centre to the outfield end of each dugout this season and increase the height of netting behind home plate by approximately 10 feet to 28 feet.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Georgia junior LB Roquan Smith is entering the NFL draft. Smith won the Butkus Award as the nation’s top LB . ... Clemson DT Christian Wilkins is returning for his senior season . ... Michigan hired Sherrone Moore to coach tight ends. ... QB Quinten Dormady is leaving Tennessee after a junior year in which he lost his starting job and suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.
GYMNASTICS: Simone Biles said she is among the athletes sexually abused by a now-imprisoned former USA Gymnastics doctor. Biles, who won four gold medals and five overall at the 2016 Olympics, said via Twitter she is one of “many survivors” that were abused by Larry Nassar.
NFL: The Titans fired coach Mike Mularkey after he revived a team with the league’s worst record over a two-season span and led them to their first playoff victory in 14 years. The Titans announced the move two days after a 35-14 loss to the Patriots in the AFC divisional round. Controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said in a statement they discussed extending his contract over the last week but couldn’t come to an agreement . ... The coaching staffs of the Steelers and Saints were selected to lead teams in the coach Pro Bowl on Jan. 28 . ... Seahawks CB Jeremy Lane was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence.
OLYMPICS: North and South Korea want to field a joint women’s hockey team at the Pyeongchang Games, and they have relayed their position to the International Olympic Committee, officials in Seoul said . ... Justin Olsen, Nick Cunningham and Codie Bascue will be the drivers on the U.S. men’s bobsled team . ... Katie Uhlaender, Matt Antoine, John Daly and Kendall Wesenberg are the four nominees for the U.S. skeleton team . ... Jamaica is sending a women’s bobsled team to the Olympics for the first time.
SOCCER: Manchester City ended its interest in signing Arsenal F Alexis Sanchez because of the high transfer fee and related costs . ... Stoke hired Paul Lambert as coach.
Strong winds and challenging greens tested the golfers who played in Monday’s 18-hole stroke-play qualifier for the 86th Ione D. Jones/Doherty Women’s Amateur Championship in Fort Lauderdale.
Every player, though, gets to play today in the first round of match play at Coral Ridge Country Club. The first players tee off at 8 a.m. in a Senior Third Flight match.
“We were a couple of beauty queens out there today,” joked former Florida Women’s Amateur of the Year Tara Joy-Connelly of North Palm Beach, who played with 2012 Doherty champion Meghan Stasi of Oakland Park.
The good friends, who often compete together in team events, both shot 10-over-par 83s on the 6,251-yard layout.
“It was windy, tough conditions, and we weren’t getting any roll on the ball in the fairway, so the course played very long,” said Stasi, who was eight over on the front nine, in part, she said, because she mis-clubbed and short-sided herself several times.
“It was just a practice round for me because we’re being seeded. Match play’s [today] and I’m excited for match play.”
Connelly is seeded 10th and Stasi 11th in the 13-player Amateur division. Defending champion Alexa Pano is the top seed and didn’t have to qualify, but she played to get a feel for her game and the classic Robert Trent Jones course.
“I got to work on some stuff,” said Pano, 13, of Lake Worth. “I learned the speed of the greens. They break a lot more than I’m used to.”
Pano has a bye for today’s match play, as does No. 2 seed Haeley Wotnosky of Wake Forest, N.C., who led the Amateur division with a 76 that included four birdies. Third-seeded Georgia Oboh of Riviera Beach got the other bye with a 77.
No. 4 seed Marie Arnoux of Miami also shot 77 and she will play 13th-seeded Karen Ford of Oak Brook, Ill., starting at 11:28 a.m.
Arnoux played with 14-year-old Makenna Rodriguez of Delray Beach, who is competing in the Doherty for the first time. A ninthgrader at American Heritage School in Delray, where she plays on the golf team, Rodriguez shot an 82 and is seeded ninth.
“My strengths are my approach shots and my putting,” said Rodriguez, whose round was highlighted by a birdie on the 145-yard, par-3 12th hole after she hit a hybrid to eight inches. “I love hitting my hybrids.”
Sylvie Van Molle lives in France and also is playing in the Doherty for the first time. One of 48 golfers 50-and-over, she was the Senior division medalist with a 75 that included three birdies.
Van Molle is the No. 2 seed in the Senior division, behind defending champ Lisa Schlesinger of Fort Myers, who, like Pano, played Monday to get a feel for the greens.
Terrill Samuel of Toronto, who lost in the finals to Schlesinger last year, is seeded third after a 76.