GOLF
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Los Angeles County sheriff characterized the crash that seriously injured Tiger Woods as “purely an accident” and appeared to rule out any potential criminal charges even as authorities were still investigating.
Deputies saw no evidence the golf star was impaired by drugs or alcohol after Tuesday’s rollover wreck on a downhill stretch of road known for crashes, Sheriff Alex Villanueva said.
Woods, who checked into a clinic in 2017 for help dealing with prescription medication, was driving alone through coastal Los Angeles suburbs when his SUV struck a raised median, crossed into oncoming lanes and flipped several times. The crash caused “significant” injuries to his right leg that required surgery, according to a post on the golfer’s Twitter account.
PRO FOOTBALL
PITTSBURGH (AP) - The Pittsburgh Steelers plan on having quarterback Ben Roethlisberger back for an 18th season.
Team president Art Rooney II released a statement saying he and Roethlisberger have met to figure out a way to ease the financial pressure caused by Roethlisberger’s contract.
Roethlisberger, who turns 39 next month, carries a $41 million salary cap number for 2021 and is due a $15 million roster bonus on March 20, shortly after the new league year begins.
The Steelers went 12-4 and won the AFC North in 2020 but faded down the stretch. Pittsburgh lost five of its final six games following an 11-0 start, including a playoff loss to Cleveland in which Roethlisberger threw four interceptions.
The Steelers are facing a serious cap crunch and have already started to overhaul the coaching staff and the roster.
HOCKEY
MONTREAL (AP) - The struggling Montreal Canadiens fired head coach Claude Julien and associate coach Kirk Muller following a three-game skid.
Assistant coach Dominique Ducharme was appointed interim coach, and Alex Burrows was added to the Canadiens’ coaching staff.
Montreal has lost five of six and six of eight since a strong start. A shootout loss Tuesday night at Ottawa marked the end of the line for Julien, who returned for his second go-round as the club’s coach midway through the 2016-17 season.
PRO BASKETBALL
The NBA announced its schedule for the second half of the season.
The league released the list of games that will be played between March 10 and May 16, with Memphis and San Antonio - two of the teams that dealt with long unplanned shutdowns because of coronavirus-related issues - set to play 40 times apiece, tied for the most in the league during the 68-day sprint to the end of the regular season.
Every team is scheduled to play on the final day of the regular season, a rarity. The 15 games on May 16 will mark the first time that every NBA team plays on the same day since Nov. 25, 2016 - and the first time all have done so on the final day of the regular season since April 16, 2014.
The season reopens following the All-Star break on March 10 when Washington visits Memphis, and San Antonio goes to Dallas.
PHOENIX (AP) - Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker was selected to replace injured Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis in the NBA All-Star Game.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver choose Booker to take Davis’ spot a day after Booker was snubbed by the league’s head coaches for a reserve spot in the March 7 game in Atlanta.
HOUSTON (AP) - The Houston Rockets have released DeMarcus Cousins after just 25 games.
Cousins was waived this week after signing a $2.3 million contract with Houston in the offseason. He returned to the court this season after missing all of last season while recovering from a torn Achilles tendon.
The 30-year-old Cousins was averaging 9.6 points and 7.6 rebounds in a reserve role. The four-time All-Star has averaged 20.8 points and 10.7 rebounds during his 11-year NBA career.
SOCCER
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Megan Rapinoe scored two first-half goals and the United States won the SheBelieves Cup title with a 6-0 victory over Argentina.
The defending champion United States is undefeated in 37 games in a row overall and 53 on American soil.
Carli Lloyd, Kristie Mewis, Alex Morgan and Christen Press also scored, and the U.S. women became the first team to have three straight shutouts in the SheBelieves Cup, which is in its sixth year.
TENNIS
Billie Jean King and the other members of the Original 9 who laid the groundwork for the women’s professional tour are the first group elected together to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, joining Lleyton Hewitt and Dennis Van der Meer in the Class of 2021.
Hewitt was the only one of five nominees in the Player Category who was voted in. He won Grand Slam singles titles at the U.S. Open in 2001 and Wimbledon in 2002, reached No. 1 in the ATP rankings and helped Australia win a pair of Davis Cup championships.
BASEBALL
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) - Minnesota Twins shortstop Royce Lewis, considered the organization’s top prospect, has a torn ACL in his right knee that will sideline him for the 2021 season.
President of baseball operations Derek Falvey said Lewis was diagnosed with the injury during physical exams upon reporting to spring training. The 21-year-old Lewis, the first overall pick in the 2017 amateur draft, will have reconstructive surgery Friday in Minnesota before returning to camp to begin a rehabilitation process of nine-to-12 months.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Free agent outfielder Shin-Soo Choo agreed to a one-year contract to play for a baseball club in his native South Korea.
The 38-year-old Choo, who spent the last seven seasons with the Texas Rangers, signed a record $2.4 million deal with a Korean Baseball Organization team owned by an affiliate with the Shinsegae business group, the company said in a statement.
Earlier this week, E-Mart Inc., the biggest discount store chain in South Korea, finalized deals to take over the SK Wyverns baseball team based in Incheon, just west of Seoul. The team’s name is tentatively called Shinsegae Electros, but it could change, company officials said.
During his 16 years in the majors, Choo batted .275 with 218 home runs, 782 RBIs and 157 steals in 1,652 games. He was selected as an All-Star in 2018. Before the Rangers, he played for Seattle, Cleveland and Cincinnati.
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