Local schools mulling options despite FHSAA’s green light
Five days after the Florida High School Athletic Association’s Board of Directors voted to start the fall season on Sept. 4 despite the coronavirus pandemic, the Broward and Palm Beach school districts are still weighing their options.
Shawn Cerra, the Broward County Athletic Association’s Director of Athletics and Student Activities, said the BCAA will likely announce their next move by the end of this week. Miami-Dade has not made an announcement on the start of fall sports. Palm Beach County School District Athletics Manager Valerie Miyares said in a statement that the district was still mulling its options.
“The District is actively discussing options on how to best proceed after last Friday’s decision was made by the FHSAA Board of Directors,” Miyares said. “We are currently in Phase One, so at this time, athletics and extracurricular activities are on hold and the situation will continue to be monitored on a weekly basis.
“The District is working
NORTON, Mass. — West Palm Beach native Brooks Koepka ended a forgettable season Wednesday when he withdrew from The Northern Trust with what he described as nagging hip and knee injuries.
Koepka, a Cardinal
Newman graduate, was No. 97 in the FedEx Cup standings. He would have needed a good week at the TPC Boston to reach the top 70 and advance in the PGA Tour’s postseason.
“My body’s nowhere near 100%,” Koepka said last week when he missed the
cut at the Wyndham Championship, his sixth straight tournament in a late bid to revive his season.
Koepka began the year ranked No. 1 in the world and has dropped to No. 7, the product of injury and not having won in more than a year. He had a stem cell procedure during his short offseason last September. In his second start back, he injured his left knee in South Korea when he slipped on a wet slab of concrete and missed three months.
Then, he lost three months when golf shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And when he did play, it was not up to his standards.
His best chance was at the World Golf Championship
in Tennessee, when he hit into the water on the last hole to lose any chance of catching Justin Thomas. The following week at the PGA Championship in San Francisco, he started the final round two shots behind in a bid to become the first player in 64 years to win the same major three straight times.
Even there, he required treatment on his hip during the second round when it locked up on him. On the final day, he faded to a 74 and tied for 29th.
The tour’s season ends in three weeks. The major season is ongoing in this reconfigured golf calendar because of the pandemic. Koepka will have a month off before going for a third U.S. Open title Sept. 17-20 at Winged Foot in New York.
“Brooks is one of the biggest names in the game. We’ve all seen his physical struggles since last year,”
Rory McIlroy said upon hearing the news. “It’s maybe never a good time, but it’s a better time than any other time to get it right. You know, take a few weeks off, try to get himself ready for the U.S. Open, and then the Masters coming up, as well.
“I think it’s smart on his part to do that and hopefully comes back healthy and comes back ready to play.”
The schedule he kept didn’t help with the injuries. Koepka played the last six weeks, dating to the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village, as he tried to move up in the FedEx Cup standings and get to the finale at East Lake in Atlanta.
Players who withdraw during the FedEx Cup playoffs are not replaced. Vaughn Taylor withdrew earlier, leaving 123 players in the field at the TPC Boston.