Bay Area’s Li cleared to keep amateur status
Lucy Li, the Bay Area native who became the youngest player ever to qualify for the U. S. Women’s Open in 2014, has retained her amateur status after receiving a warning from the United States Golf Association for appearing in an Apple Watch advertising campaign.
The USGA announced on Thursday that Li, 16, breached rule 6-2, but determined that there were extenuating circumstances.
It issued her with a “onetime warning” and said she can retain her amateur status. Li, of Redwood Shores, was not paid to appear in the campaign, which appeared late last year. The ruling clears the way for Li, 16, to play in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur in April. Li is the No. 8 player in the women’s amateur ranking.
Li first made headlines in 2014 when she qualified for the U. S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst No. 2 at 11 years old.
NFL
GRUDEN ADDS FIVE ASSISTANTS » The Raiders patched up some holes on their coaching staff Thursday with the addition of five assistants, including a pair of coaches who previously worked under Jon Gruden.
Former Jets offensive coordinator John Morton, who spent eight years with the Raiders, including four during Gruden’s first tenure in Oakland, was hired as senior offensive assistant.
The 49-year- old Morton was previously on the Raiders practice squad three times as a receiver (1993, ‘94 and ‘96). Four of his 17 years coaching in the NFL were spent as the 49ers’ wide receivers coach for Jim Harbaugh from 2011-14.
Also, ex- 49ers defensive lineman Brentson Buckner was officially named the new defensive line coach, replacing Mike Trgovac, who is now a senior assistant. Buckner had seemingly already started working with the Raiders when the staff was coaching the Senior Bowl three weeks ago. O ther hires announced by the Raiders were Kirby Wilson from the Cardinals (running backs), Taver Johnson from Ohio State (assistant defensive backs) and A. J. Neibel from the Jaguars (head strength and conditioning).
Wilson was with the Cardinals last season and spent two of his 21 NFL seasons with Gruden in Tampa Bay (2002- 03). He’ll replace Jemal Singleton, who followed new Bengals offen- sive coordinator Brian Callahan from Oakland.
Gruden still has three spots on his coaching staff that he needs to fill: quarterbacks coach, defensive backs coach and assistant defensive line coach.
College basketball
CAL FALLS IN OT » Cal’s search for its first win of the conference season continues after a frustrating 7567 overtime loss to UCLA on Wednesday night.
The Bears (5-19, 0-12 Pac12) led 34-25 at halftime and the teams traded shares of the lead in the final minutes, but Cal couldn’t finish off the Bruins at Haas Pavilion.
Matt Brady scored the final seven points of regulation for Cal, including a jumper that gave the Bears a 59- 55 lead with 2:04 left and a three-pointer with 27.6 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime. The Bruins made only one field goal in overtime, but outscored Cal 11-3.
Darvis McNeill led Cal with 18 points. WIN NO. 19 FOR USF » Jordan Ratinho scored 29 points as USF (19- 6, 7- 4 WCC) rolled past Pepperdine 89-77 on Thursday.
Golf
RAIN WIPES OUT GENESIS OPEN FIRST ROUND » A weather delay at the Genesis Open prompted the PGA Tour to make the rare move of wiping out players’ scores, and the first round of action in Pacific Palisades wound up being suspended due to darkness Thursday.
The first 23 golfers completed one hole or two holes at Riviera Country Club before a rain delay began. During the seven-hour stoppage, the PGA Tour ruled that all first-round scores would be reset.
The tour hadn’t made such a decision since the third round of the 2013 Dell Technologies Championship.
“We don’t (restart a round) very often, but if I had it to do over again, we would have delayed the starting times,” PGA Tour vice president of rules and competitions Mark Russell said. “They teed off, we had their golf balls under control, but the visual never got better. The cloud cover’s so thick that you just couldn’t see.”
In the end, half of the 144-player field never got on the course, with their first round postponed until today. Among the players who did see action, Jordan Spieth and Sung Kang sit atop the leaderboard at 5 under par. Spieth played 12 holes while Kang played 14 holes.
After the first round concludes today, the tour hopes to complete as much of the second round as possible in the afternoon.
NBA
KNICKS END STREAK » The New York Knicks got 19 points from Dennis Smith Jr. and put an emphatic end to their 18-game losing streak with a 106- 91 road win over the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday. The Knicks had not tasted victory since Jan. 4 against the Lakers.
The 18-game skid was a franchise record for a single season.