GOLF
The PGA Tour informed players on Wednesday that Tiger Woods was the winner of the new $40 million “Player Impact Program” that rewards those who generate the most positive interest in golf measured by five metrics.
Woods won the $8 million prize over Phil Mickelson, who claimed on Twitter in December that he was the winner. The tour had said the program would be measured through the end of the year. Woods captivated golf in December when he returned from a shattered right leg in a February car accident to play the PNC Championship with his son, Charlie. They finished second.
Mickelson took to Twitter in December to “thank all the crazies (and real supporters) for helping him win the PIP.” He ended his message with words that didn’t age well: “P.S. I’ll try and find another hot controversial topic soon??”
Mickelson’s public image has been badly damaged in recent weeks for revealing in an interview with Alan Shipnuck, who is writing an unauthorized biography on him, that he was willing to support a Saudi-funded rival golf league as leverage – while acknowledging the human rights atrocities in Saudi Arabia – to get changes he wants on the PGA Tour.
In another interview, he accused the tour of “obnoxious greed.” Mickelson is taking time away from the game and has not played since the Saudi International a month ago.
Mickelson finished second in the Player Impact Program and earned $6 million. He was followed by Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas, who each earned $3.5 million.
SOCCER
MANAGER QUITS: Former Norwich Manager Daniel Farke quit his job as coach of Russian club FC Krasnodar a week after the invasion of Ukraine started.
Krasnodar said the club and Farke “reached a deal to end the contract by mutual agreement” and that the German’s three assistant coaches would leave with him. Farke had been in the job for only seven weeks after signing in January and had yet to oversee a game.
MLS: The Houston Dynamo signed Mexican national team captain Hector Herrera to a designated player contract that will run through at least the 2024 season.
Herrera, a midfielder, is currently playing for Atletico Madrid in La Liga and will join the Dynamo this summer upon completion of the Spanish season. His contract with the Dynamo includes an option for the 2025 season.
BASKETBALL
WNBA: The New York Liberty were fined a WNBA-record $500,000 for chartering flights to away games during the second half of the season last year and for other league rules violations, according to a person familiar with the fine who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because no official announcement of the fine had been made.
Liberty owners Joe and Clara Tsai, who have been very vocal about trying to find better travel accommodations for WNBA teams, paid for the charters as well as for a trip to Napa Valley over Labor Day weekend. That trip was a benefit that vastly exceeded the allowable compensation to players.
The league typically doesn’t allow teams to charter because it could create a competitive advantage for teams who can afford to pay for them. Sports Illustrated was the first to report the story. The fine was levied last fall.
Traveling commercially, which is in the league’s collective bargaining agreement, has been an issue in recent years. Players have drawn attention to travel problems that have led to games being canceled and even forfeited. The WNBA has occasionally stepped in to pay for charters over multiple time zones in the postseason.
TENNIS
MONTERREY OPEN: Elina Svitolina put on the yellow and blue colors of Ukraine and beat Anastasia Potapova of Russia 6-2, 6-1 on Tuesday in the opening round of the Monterrey Open, deciding she could do more for her country by playing than boycotting the match.
Top-seeded Svitolina earlier said she wouldn’t play against Potapova in Mexico or against any Russian or Belarusian opponents until the International Tennis Federation and the men’s and women’s tennis tours barred competitors from those countries using any national symbols, flags or anthems.
The tennis governing bodies issued a statement Tuesday confirming that Russian and Belarusian players will still be allowed to compete at the top level, but without national flags.
“Today it was a very special match for me,” the 27-year-old Svitolina said. “I’m in a very sad mood, but I’m happy that I´m playing tennis here. I was focused. I was on a mission for my country. From the beginning, it was important to be ready for anything that comes my way.”
Svitolina is a two-time Grand Slam semifinalist with 16 career tour-level singles titles who has been ranked as high as No. 3 and is currently No. 15.
“All the prize money that I´m going to earn is going to be for the Ukrainian army,” said Svitolina, who won this tournament in 2020. The Monterrey Open has $31,000 in prize money for the champion.
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