Tiger Woods pleads guilty to reckless driving, avoids jail
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLA. » Tiger Woods pleaded guilty Friday to reckless driving in a deal that will keep him out of jail as long as he stays out of trouble, resolving charges from an arrest last spring in which he was found passed out in his Mercedes with prescription drugs and marijuana in his system.
Woods spoke only briefly during a hearing at a Palm Beach County courthouse, answering questions from a judge about his plea agreement. Prosecutors dropped a driving under the influence charge for the superstar golfer, and the judge warned him to behave.
Woods, 41, nodded. He did not make any statement during the hearing or outside the courthouse.
Woods will enter a diversion program and spend a year on probation and pay a $250 fine and court costs. He has already met some of the program’s other requirements, completing 50 hours of community service at the Tiger Woods Foundation, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg said.
Johnson takes 1-shot lead over Koepka in HSBC Champions
SHANGHAI » Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, close friends who live down the street from each other in Florida, are in the final group going into the weekend at the HSBC Champions. They are separated by one shot, so it might feel like one of their money matches when they play together at home.
There’s just one problem with that.
“We don’t really play much golf,” Johnson said after his 9-under 63 for a one-shot lead Friday at Sheshan International. “We go to the gym and we hang out, but we don’t go to the golf course together. We played last Saturday, and that was the first time we played in ... I couldn’t tell you how long. All year, probably.”
They won both their matches as partners at the Presidents Cup, and Koepka says they saw each other for 14 out of their 21 days at home.
Federer into Swiss Indoors semis; Del Potro to play Cilic
BASEL, SWITZERLAND » Roger Federer was tested before beating 28th-ranked Adrian Mannarino 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the Swiss Indoors quarterfinals on Friday.
The top-seeded Swiss saved two break points when trailing 3-2 in the decisive set, including with a backhand half-volley winner from the baseline.
Federer never gave the French left-hander another chance and clinched his first match point on Mannarino’s serve with another in a series of backhand winners.
A finalist in his last 10 appearances at his hometown event in Basel, Federer will play either David Goffin of Belgium or Jack Sock of the United States in the semifinals on Saturday.
Marin Cilic and Juan Martin del Potro, both former U.S. Open winners, will face each other in the other semifinal after also being pushed to three-set wins.