Woods' partnership with Nike comes to end
Tiger Woods has gone from “Hello, world,” to saying goodbye to Nike.
Woods ended months of speculation by making it official that the partnership between golf's biggest star and the powerful Swoosh brand is ending after 27 years, a move that raises questions about the future of both in the sport.
Woods in a social media post thanked Nike cofounder Phil Knight for his “passion and vision” that brought them together when he turned pro.
“Over 27 years ago, I was fortunate to start a partnership with one of the most iconic brands in the world,” Woods wrote. “The days since have been filled with so many amazing moments and memories, if I started naming them, I could go on forever.”
Mark Steinberg, his agent at Excel Sports, confirmed the end of the deal that began in 1996 when Woods turned pro after winning his third straight U.S. Amateur.
“I guess, hello world, huh?” a 20-year-old Woods said at the Greater Milwaukee Open.
Nike launched a “Hello, World” campaign two days later, and Woods lived up to the hype. Within eight months, he already had four wins, including the watershed Masters victory that made him the first golfer of Black heritage to win a major.
“It was time for the next chapter,” Steinberg told The
Associated Press. “Amazing run. Great partnership.”
Moss, Fitzgerald lead hall of fame class
Randy Moss (Marshall) and Larry Fitzgerald (Pittsburgh) were among 19 players and three coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame class announced Monday.
Warrick Dunn of Florida State, Toby Gerhart of Stanford, Julius Peppers of North Carolina and Danny Woodhead of Chadron State also were elected to the Atlanta-based hall by the National Football Foundation.
Coaches elected were Frank Solich of Nebraska and Ohio, Mark Dantonio of Cincinnati and Michigan State and Danny Hale of Division II West Chester and Bloomsburg.
The rest of the 2024 class includes cornerback Paul Cameron of UCLA, Justin Blackmon of Oklahoma State, Tim Couch of Kentucky, Armanti Edwards of Appalachian State, Deon Figures of Colorado, Dan Hampton of Arkansas, Steve Hutchinson of Michigan, Antonio Langham of Alabama, Paul Posluszny of Penn State, Dewey Selmon of Oklahoma, Alex Smith of Utah, Kevin Smith of Texas A&M and Chris Ward of Ohio State.
The class will be inducted during the NFF's awards dinner in Las Vegas in December.
• The College Football Playoff delayed reducing the number of spots reserved for conference champions from six to five in the upcoming 12-team format, though the change is expected to be in place next season.
CFP Board of Managers chairman Mark Keenum, the president of Mississippi State, said the Pac-12 representative, Washington State president Kirk Schulz, requested the delay. Keenum said he expected the board to circle back on the issue in a few weeks.
“I'd be shocked if we weren't a 5-7 playoff for this coming football season,” Keenum said.
For now, the playoff format for the next two years has spots reserved for six conference champions and six at-large selections. The expected change to five spots for champions and seven at-large spots was prompted by a wave of conference realignment and the state of the Pac-12, which will lose 10 of its 12 members to other Power Five leagues this summer.
Oregon State and Washington State plan to keep the Pac-12 running as a two-team conference next year as they try to rebuild the league. The Beavers and Cougars have a scheduling agreement with the Mountain West in place for next season.
UCLA women remain No. 2, USC is No. 9
South Carolina remained No. 1 in The Associated
Press Top 25 women's poll. The New Year began with seven undefeated teams, but only South Carolina, No. 2 UCLA and No. 4 Baylor remain. The Gamecocks (14-0) received 34 of the 35 first-place ballots after beating Florida and Mississippi State last week.
UCLA (14-0) garnered the other No. 1 vote and was second in the Top 25 once again. Caitlin Clark and Iowa moved up to third after previously unbeaten N.C. State lost in the last second to Virginia Tech. USC (12-1) is at No. 9 heading into this weekend's rematch with UCLA.
• USC's JuJu Watkins has tied a record with her eighth selection as Pac-12 freshman of the week in the first nine weeks of the season. Watkins led the Trojans (12-1, 2-1 Pac-12) in a home sweep of the Oregon schools last week. She scored 28 points and had a careerhigh five blocks against Oregon State and 17 points and a career high-tying six assists against Oregon. The only week Watkins didn't win freshman honors the Trojans were off.
• Houston, the nation's remaining unbeaten men's team at 14-0 jumped over Kansas up to No. 2 behind Purdue in the latest AP men's top 25. Arizona (123) is No. 9 as the only Pac-12 team in the top 25.
• Illinois star Terrence Shannon Jr. filed a temporary restraining order against the university in an effort to be reinstated after being suspended indefinitely following a rape charge stemming from an alleged incident that happened when the football team played at Kansas in September. Attorneys filed the order in the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court in Champaign, saying the university rushed to judgment and did not follow its protocols.
Eubanks injured in exit from tuneup tourney
Chris Eubanks struggled with a muscle injury before being ousted from the ATP Auckland (New Zealand) Classic in the first round.
Fifth-seeded Eubanks needed court-side treatment for a glute muscle injury and lost 7-6 (5), 6-2 to Botic van der Zandschulp.
It is not yet clear whether the injury will impact Eubank's Australian Open campaign which begins Sunday in Melbourne.
• Former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova and Beatriz Haddad Maia lost their first-round matches at the Adelaide (Australia) International.
German soccer icon Beckenbauer dies
Franz Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup both as player and coach and became one of Germany's most beloved personalities, has died. He was 78.