Friday Sports in Brief

GOLF

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - The International team has the lead going into the final day of the Presidents Cup for the first time in 16 years, and it has a trio of rookies to thank for that.

Marc Leishman and unbeaten rookie Abraham Ancer staged a remarkable rally Saturday afternoon in foursomes, going from 5 down with eight holes to play to earn a most unlikely halve against Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler.

Byeong Hun An and Joaquin Niemann never led in the final match and scratched out another half-point against Matt Kuchar and Tony Finau.

That gave the Internationals a 10-8 lead going into Sunday singles, and a real chance to win the Presidents Cup for only the second time in its 25-year history.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - The caddie for Patrick Reed will not be on the bag for the final session of the Presidents Cup after shoving a spectator who he felt was encroaching too close to Reed while cursing him.

The tour announced the decision after Saturday’s dual session, which ended with the International team holding a 10-8 lead. Reed said in a statement he respected the decision and that everyone was focused on winning.

Kessler Karain, the brother-in-law of Reed, says he heard heckling for three days at Royal Melbourne and some had taken it too far and he’d had enough.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Boston College is finalizing an agreement with Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley to be the Eagles’ head coach, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Friday night.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because a deal had not yet been reached.

Yahoo! Sports first reported BC was close to a deal with Hafley.

Hafley spent seven seasons in the NFL before joining the Buckeyes this year. The 40-year-old New Jersey native also has coached in college at Rutgers and Pittsburgh.

Hafley, who coaches defensive backs, has helped turn around an Ohio State defense that struggled last year, but enters the College Football Playoff leading the nation in yards per play at 3.93.

-By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo.

MLB

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - All-Star third baseman Anthony Rendon and the Los Angeles Angels finalized a $245 million, seven-year contract on Friday, two days after the sides reached agreement at the winter meetings.

The 29-year-old Rendon led the majors with 126 RBIs, then excelled in the postseason to help the Washington Nationals win their first World Series championship.

The free-agent deal puts Rendon in an Angels lineup that includes three-time AL MVP Mike Trout and three-time NL MVP Albert Pujols, along with 2018 AL Rookie of the Year Shohei Ohtani.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The Phillies and shortstop Didi Gregorius finalized their $14 million, one-year contract Friday.

Gregorius reunites in Philadelphia with manager Joe Girardi after spending the past five seasons with the New York Yankees, including the first three playing for Girardi.

The 29-year-old Gregorius batted .238 with 16 homers and 61 RBIs this year, leaving him with a .264 average, 110 homers and 417 RBIs in eight major league seasons.

His 2019 debut was delayed until June 7 after Tommy John surgery on Oct. 17, 2018, to repair an elbow ligament torn during Game 2 of the AL Division Series at Boston.

Over the last four seasons, Gregorius ranks fourth among all major league shortstops in home runs (88), trailing only Trevor Story (123), Francisco Lindor (118) and Javier Baez (100). He is also tied for fifth in RBIs (304), eighth in slugging percentage (.467) and 10th in extra-base hits (193) in that same span.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - The Tampa Bay Rays are working to finalize a two-year contract worth about $12 million with Japanese slugger Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity Friday because the agreement had not been announced.

Tsutsugo was made available to major league teams through the posting process by Yokohama of Japan’s Central League. Major league clubs have until 19 to negotiate with Tsutsugo, who turns 28 on Nov. 26. A contract for $12 million guaranteed would require the Rays to pay a $2.4 million posting fee to Yomiuri.

A left-handed-hitting corner outfielder, Tsutsugo batted .272 this year with 29 homers and 79 RBIs. He has a .285 average with 205 homers and 613 RBIs during 10 seasons with Yokohama, including 44 homers and 110 RBIs in 2016.

-By Mark Didtler.

NFL

MIAMI (AP) - Miami Dolphins receiver DeVante Parker has signed a contract through 2023 that could be worth up to $40 million, including incentives and bonuses, his agent said.

An $8 million signing bonus is part of more than $20 million guaranteed, agent Jimmy Gould said Friday.

Parker had signed a $10 million, two-year deal in March. The fifth-year veteran and former first-round draft pick has enjoyed a breakout season with 882 yards receiving and six touchdowns, both career highs, on 55 catches.

Parker, who was plagued by injuries in his first four seasons, has played in every game this year. He and receiver Albert Wilson are questionable for Sunday’s game at the Giants because they’re in the concussion protocol, but both practiced fully Friday.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

WASHINGTON (AP) - Georgetown basketball players Galen Alexander and Myron Gardner have left the team and plan to transfer as they fight accusations of burglary and harassment.

Gardner, a freshman forward who averaged 3.1 points and 2.9 rebounds in eight games, announced his decision Friday in a statement to The Washington Post. Alexander, a junior forward who averaged 4.2 points and 2.7 rebounds in nine games, followed soon after on social media.

“My character has been defamed and that needs to be cleared up more than anything else,” Alexander posted on Twitter. “Very soon it will come to light that I am innocent and had nothing to do with the false allegations. … In light of the situation, the University has allowed me to become a target and subjected to unfair treatment, with little or no support.

Said Gardner: “After consultation with my family I have decided that it is in my best interest to enter into the transfer portal. I want to thank Coach Patrick Ewing, Coach Louis Orr, the staff and the entire Georgetown University community for their support of my success.”

Ewing confirmed the players’ decisions in a university statement.

NHL

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia Flyers forward Oskar Lindblom will miss the rest of the season after being diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a cancerous tumor that grows in the bones or in the tissue around bones.

The 23-year-old from Sweden had 11 goals and 18 points in 30 games this season. Lindblom has 30 goals in 134 career games over two-plus seasons with the Flyers. The Flyers had said earlier this week only that Lindblom would miss games because of an upper-body injury.

“The Flyers will do everything possible to support Oskar and assist him in securing the best care available,” general manager Chuck Fletcher said Friday.

SOCCER

Julie Ertz was named the U.S. Soccer women’s Player of the Year on Friday for the second time.

Ertz, a versatile midfielder who also won the award in 2017, was on the U.S. teams that won World Cup championships in 2015 and again this summer in France.

Ertz, who played a more defensive role in 2015, scored her first World Cup goal this summer during a group-stage victory over Chile. The goal came on a leaping, twisting header which she celebrated by blowing a kiss to the crowd in Paris.

“It’s been a whirlwind of a year and one that I’m extremely grateful for,” Ertz said in a statement. “My team lifted me up in so many ways and our experiences on and off the field in 2019 just encapsulate the love I have for the National Team and for wearing this crest and what it represents.”

The 27-year-old, who was named Young Player of the Year in 2012, has 95 career appearances with the senior U.S. team and started 22 matches this year, most on the team.

OLYMPICS

Criticism of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s sanctions against Russia mushroomed Friday with a rebuke from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee coming on the heels of the outraged resignation of a member of the WADA athlete committee.

The USOPC and British Paralympian Victoria Aggar each expressed their disagreement with WADA’s decision not to issue a blanket ban on the Russians in wake of evidence that government officials doctored data that was supposed to be used to prosecute cases stemming from the country’s long-running doping scandal.

Aggar, a Paralympic rower, announced her resignation from WADA’s athlete committee, saying “I simply can no longer be part of an organization that places politics over principle.”

Hours later at its quarterly meeting, the USOPC board debated the wisdom of sanctions that called for innocent athletes to be able to compete as neutrals at next year’s Olympics, even though determining who really is innocent has been made more difficult because of the data manipulation.

TENNIS

ROME (AP) - Former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone revealed on Friday she’s beaten cancer.

“They diagnosed me with a malign tumor. It was the toughest fight that I’ve ever faced,” the retired Italian player said in a video on Instagram.

“The best thing is that I was able to win this battle.

The 39-year-old Schiavone won the 2010 French Open and was a finalist at Roland Garros the following year. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 4 in 2011.

Schiavone retired in 2018 and coached former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki briefly at the start of this year.

OBITUARY

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The New Orleans Saints say former Pro Bowl linebacker Vaughan Johnson, who was a member of the club’s vaunted “Dome Patrol” linebacker corps, has died at age 57.

Johnson played in college at North Carolina State and began his pro career with the Jacksonville Bulls of the United State Football League before the Saints selected him in the first round of a USFL supplemental draft in 1986.

Johnson played in 120 regular season games with 98 starts for the Saints from 1986 to 1993, when he had 664 tackles, 12 sacks, four interceptions and five fumble recoveries.

Johnson was selected to the Pro Bowl from 1989-92 and was inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame in 2000. In the last of those season, the entire Saints starting group of Johnson, Rickey Jackson, Sam Mills and Pat Swilling became the only group of four linebackers selected to the Pro Bowl together.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - Three-time Olympic champion and world mile record-holder Peter Snell has died in Dallas. He was 80.

Snell, who is regarded as one of the greatest middle-distance runners, won the 800 meters at the 1960 Rome Olympics aged 21, and the 800-1,500 double at the 1964 Tokyo Games.

He was the first man since 1920 to win the 800 and 1,500 at the same Olympics. No male athlete has done so since.

Snell also won two Commonwealth Games gold medals in the 880 yards and mile at Perth in 1962.

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He twice held the mile world record, and held world records in the 800 meters, 880 yards, 1,000 meters, and the 4x1-mile relay.