Tour plans constant testing, limited access for return
Players, caddies and key personnel will be tested once a week at tournaments and have their temperatures taken every day as part of a PGA Tour plan to limit the risk of the new coronavirus when golf resumes next month in Texas.
The plan offers a glimpse into significant changes for golf's return, from the elimination of pro-ams to designated hotels to the availability of charter planes that get players and their caddies from one tournament to the next.
The first trial is scheduled for the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial in Fort Worth on June 11-14.
The key components are testing, social distancing on and off the golf course and creating what the tour referred to as a “bubble” of essential people that will be tested at tournaments.
Anyone who tests positive will have to withdraw from the tournament and self-isolate for 10 days, provided there are no further symptoms and they get two negative tests 24 hours apart.
The tour said it would give players and caddies a stipend to pay for the selfisolation.
Pro football
SOURCE: NFL EXTENDS VIRTUAL OFFSEASON WORK » The NFL has extended its virtual offseason workouts through the end of May, a person familiar with the move tells The Associated Press.
NFL teams normally would be holding Organized Team Activities (OTAs) during May, followed by June minicamps. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, such activities have been done remotely.
Coaching and training staffs have worked with the players by conducting classroom instruction and on-field activities through digital applications instead of at team facilities, which have been closed since late March. Those virtual meetings can occur for four hours per day, four days per week.
Gymnastics
NASSAR-RELATED CASE DISMISSED AGAINST EX-UNIVERSITY CHIEF » A judge dismissed criminal charges against former Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon arising from the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal.
Simon was ordered to trial last year on charges that she lied to police about her knowledge of a sexual misconduct complaint against Nassar, who was a campus doctor and now is serving decades in prison.
But Eaton County Judge John Maurer dismissed the case.
“The prosecution did not provide evidence sufficient to give a reasonable person probable cause that Dr. Simon knew during her 2018 interview that her purported knowledge in 2014 of Dr. Nassar's name and the ‘nature' and ‘substance' of the complaint against him” were relevant, the judge said.
College basketball
EX-NBA GUARD WILLIAMS TAKES OVER ALABAMA STATE PROGRAM » Former NBA point guard Mo Williams is Alabama State's new head coach.
The historically black college announced his hiring on Tuesday. Williams spent 14 seasons in the NBA, winning a championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016.
He played with Utah as a rookie and had stints with the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Charlotte Hornets. Williams also had two stops with the Cavaliers, retiring after the championship season.
Williams spent the past two seasons as an assistant for California State University at Northridge, under coach Mark Gottfried.
Pro basketball
FORMER CELTICS, CANISIUS GUARD MCCARTHY DIES » John McCarthy, who won an NBA title with 1964 Boston Celtics and helped the Canisius Golden Griffins to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances in the 1950s, has died. He was 86.
Canisius announced that McCarthy died Saturday of natural causes in the Buffalo suburbs, where he grew up and lived most of his life.
McCarthy spent six seasons in the NBA, playing guard from 1956 to '64. He closed his career by playing 28 games with the Red Auerbach-coached Celtics, who were in the midst of winning eight consecutive titles.
In 1960, while with the St. Louis Hawks, McCarthy scored 13 points and had 11 rebounds and 11 assists to become the NBA's first player to post a triple-double in his first career playoff game. Only three other players — Magic Johnson, LeBron James and Nikola Jokic, in 2019 — have since matched that feat.
Overall, he averaged 7.8 points, 3.7 assists and nearly 28 minutes of playing time in 316 career NBA games.
Motor sports
INDYCAR TO CLOSE SEASON AT RESCHEDULED ST. PETERSBURG RACE » IndyCar plans to crown its champion on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, with the original opener being rescheduled for Oct. 25 as the finale.
IndyCar was supposed to start its season March 15 on the temporary street course and teams were already in place to compete before sports shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic. IndyCar initially planned to go forward with the opener without spectators but ultimately suspended the season 48 hours before the race.
Olympics
SWITZERLAND TO GRANT FEDERAL LOANS TO SPORTS BODIES » The professional soccer and ice hockey leagues in Switzerland are in line to get federal loans totaling $360 million to help teams cope with a loss of revenue during the pandemic.
The government passed an aid package that includes teaming up with the Switzerland-based International Olympic Committee to offer repayable loans for up to 60 international sports organizations based in the country. Soccer and hockey are the most popular team sports in Switzerland and both were shut down by a federal ruling in February prohibiting mass gatherings.
The Swiss hockey league canceled its season entirely and the two top soccer divisions could restart next month in empty stadiums. The 20 clubs are set to decide on May 29.
Soccer
ITALIAN LEAGUE HOPES TO RESUME COMPETITION ON JUNE 13 » The 20 teams in Serie A agreed to resume competition on June 13 in empty stadiums.
The date is subject to approval by the Italian government, however.