Healthier Woods to play in Hero World Challenge
Tiger Woods announced on social media Saturday he will be playing in the Hero World Challenge, which starts Nov. 30 at Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas.
It will be Woods' first time competing since he withdrew before the third round at the Masters after battling the wind and cold while playing on his injured right leg. Woods said last week that his right ankle is painfree after being fused in a surgery in April following the Masters.
His TGR company announced his decision to take a sponsor exemption. The 20-man field is for the top 50 in the world ranking, though the tournament host — Woods — is exempt.
Woods will be playing the Hero World Challenge for the first time since 2019. The holiday event was canceled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and then he badly damaged his right leg in a February 2021 car crash outside of Los Angeles.
NHL
LUCIC ON LEAVE >> The Boston Bruins said Milan Lucic is taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team after he was involved in an undisclosed incident Friday. The Bruins did not provide any details other than to say the organization is aware of the situation and “takes these matters very seriously.”
WCVB in Boston reported that Lucic was arrested by Boston Police early Saturday morning following the incident, however Boston Police said it could neither confirm nor deny arresting Lucic.
Lucic, 35, is a veteran of over 1,300 NHL games with Boston, Los Angeles, Edmonton and Calgary. He won the Stanley Cup with Boston in 2011 and signed a one-year free agent contract with the team last summer. SENATORS TOP WILD >> Josh Norris, a Sharks first-round draft pick in 2017, scored the only goal in a shootout as the Ottawa Senators beat the Minnesota Wild 2-1 at the NHL's Global Series in Stockholm. Norris, traded to Ottawa in 2018, wristed the puck past Filip Gustavsson to win the second game in Stockholm and extend Ottawa's winning streak to three.
Tennis
DJOKOVIC CRUISES >> Top-ranked Novak Djokovic will be bidding for a record-breaking seventh ATP Finals title when he takes on home favorite Jannik Sinner in today's final in Italy.
Djokovic beat Carlos Alcaraz 6-3, 6-2 in a semifinal match between the top two ranked players on Saturday, after Sinner had earlier dispatched Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-1.
Djokovic, 36, is currently tied with Roger Federer on six titles at the season-ending tournament for the year's top eight players.
College soccer
STANFORD ADVANCES >> Third-ranked Stanford is one win away from advancing to the NCAA Division I quarterfinals after its 3-0 second-round win over No. 16 South Carolina on Friday. Andrea Kitahata scored twice and Maya Doms added her third career playoff goal as the host Cardinal (17-0-4) advanced to play No. 18 Mississippi State today at 1 p.m.
Kitahata, a Hillsborough native, also scored in the first-round victory over Pepperdine. She also added an assist in the win. Stanford goalie Ryan Campbell played all 90 minutes and did not have a save as she registered her ninth shutout of the year.
The Stanford-Mississippi State winner will play either Nebraska or UC Irvine in the quarterfinals next Friday or Saturday.
College basketball
SPARTANS WIN >> The San Jose State men's basketball team hit a school record 16 3-pointers in a 77-53 win over Norfolk State in the consolation bracket of the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Trey Anderson had 16 points and 10 rebounds for San Jose State (3-2).
BRONCOS ROLL >> Tess Heal and Olivia Pollerd scored 21 and 20 points, respectively, as the Santa Clara women's team blew out host Oregon 8950. The Broncos (4-1) took a 31-12 lead after the first quarter and won their third straight game.