Curry, Manning to take on Mickelson, Barkley in golf match
It’s official.
Phil Mickelson will team up with Charles Barkley to face Stephen Curry and Peyton Manning in an exhibition golf match next month highlighting diversity, equality and inclusion.
“The Match: Champions for Change” will take place Nov. 27 at Stone Canyon Golf Club in Oro Valley, Arizona.
The event announced Monday will benefit historically Black colleges and universities, with additional initiatives spotlighting diversity. This is the third event as part of The Match franchise but the first not featuring Tiger Woods. Mickelson beat Woods in a playoff in the first event in 2018 in Las Vegas while the team of Manning and Woods defeated Mickelson and Tom Brady earlier this year in South Florida.
TNT will televise the event — which will be a modified alternateshot match- play format — with Bleacher Report providing additional coverage. Stone Canyon Golf Club is owned by Mickelson Golf Properties.
“I’m excited to return for the third edition of Capital One’s The Match and get out on the course with these three legendary athletes,” Mickelson said in a statement. “While we may need a handicap for Chuck, I’m looking forward to playing with Peyton and Stephen and to help raise money for another important cause.
“It’s also going to give fans and viewers an up- close look at Stone Canyon Golf Club, a place that I’m extremely proud of and excited to show how special it is.”
Motorsports
KYLE LARSON REINSTATED TO COMPETE IN NASCAR >> Kyle Larson can return to NASCAR competition next season following a long suspension for using a racial slur while playing a video game.
He was suspended in April for after he used the n-word while playing an online racing game in which viewers could follow along. He was dropped by his sponsors and fired by Chip Ganassi Racing.
Larson, who is half- Japanese, spent the last six months immersed in diversity programs that helped him gain an understanding of racial injustice. He did not apply for reinstatement until last week and the clearance came Monday.
“The work I’ve done over the last six months has had a major impact on me. I will make the most of this opportunity and look forward to the future,” Larson said.
Larson has spent significant time with retired soccer star Tony Sanneh, whose foundation works on youth development and empowerment in the Minneapolis area. Larson also met with former Olympian Jackie JoynerKersee and visited her foundation in East St. Louis, and also spoke with Max Siegel, the CEO of USA Track & Field who also runs a NASCAR-sanctioned team that is part of the stock car series’ diversity program.
Larson continued work he’d already been doing with the Urban Youth Racing School in Philadelphia. The nonprofit helps minorities advance in motorsports and Jysir Fisher, one of its students, had celebrated with Larson in victory lane following a win in Delaware last October. He put the work in unpublicized in an effort to prove his motives were sincere.
“NASCAR continues to prioritize diversity and inclusion across our sport. Kyle Larson has fulfilled the requirements set by NASCAR and has taken several voluntary measures to better educate himself so that he can use his platform to help bridge the divide in our country,” NASCAR said in a statement.
NHL
AVALANCHE AGREE TO 1-YEAR DEAL WITH FORWARD TYSON JOST >> The Colorado Avalanche agreed to a one-year deal with restricted free agent Tyson Jost. The 22-year- old forward scored eight goals and had 15 assists in 67 games for the Avalanche in 2019-20. He was a first-round selection by Colorado in 2016.
In another move Monday, the Avalanche signed goaltender Hunter Miska to a two-year extension. The 25-year-old Miska played in 26 games for the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League. He went 16- 6-3 with a 2.48 goals-against average.
Soccer
LOWER EXPECTATIONS FOR BARCELONA >> Despite managing to hang onto Lionel Messi, Barcelona begins its Champions League season with reduced expectations after one of its worst seasons in years.
The Catalan club appears to lack its confidence from previous seasons following an embarrassing elimination to Bayern Munich and a troubled offseason in which it nearly lost its talisman.
“Knowing what happened recently, we are not the top favorite,” coach Ronald Koeman said on Monday ahead of the team’s debut in this season’s competition against Hun
garian club Ferencváros. “But we are a team that can go far.”
Tennis KONTAVEIT SAVES TWOMATCH POINTS >>
Eighth- seeded Anett Kontaveit saved two match points to beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 4- 6, 6-2, 7- 6 (6) in the first round of the Ostrava Open in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Alexandrova wasted three service games to serve out the match. Leading 6- 4 in the tiebreaker, Alexandrova failed to convert two match points, but Kontaveit converted her first one with a forehand volley.
College basketball
RICHMOND’S SHEROD TO MISS SEASON >> Richmond guard and captain Nick Sherod will miss the coming season after tearing the ACL in his right knee in practice, coach Chris Mooney said.
Olympic sports
FRENCH FIGURE SKATING GRAND PRIX CANCELED >> A second event in the Grand Prix of Figure Skating — the Internationaux de France in Grenoble — has been canceled.
After the French government last week enacted a curfew in the area because of the pandemic, the French federation decided on Monday the event from Nov. 13-15 was no longer viable.
Skate Canada scheduled next week in Ottawa has also been canceled, and the Grand Prix Final in Beijing postponed. The remaining Grand Prix events -- Skate America in Las Vegas this weekend, plus China, Russia and Japan -- have been restricted to domestic- only figure skaters.
Cycling
CYCLING CHAMP ALAPHILIPPE UNDERGOES SURGERY >> World champion Julian Alaphilippe underwent successful surgery on his right hand following his season- ending crash at the Tour of Flanders one-day classic race.
The Frenchman broke two bones in the hand after hitting a motorbike about 35 kilometers from the finish on Sunday.