In brief: Azinger switches Ryder Cup format
Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger is switching the format with hopes of giving his American team an edge, going back to alternate shot in the opening matches for the first time since 1999.
“I felt like the Americans had an edge in alternate shot,” Azinger said Wednesday at the FBR Open in Scottsdale, Ariz. “And I think it’s partly responsible for why Europe has gotten off to a pretty hot start.”
The Ryder Cup will be played Sept. 19-21 at Valhalla in Louisville, Ky., and the home captain gets to decide the order.
Alternate shot, or foursomes, had been used in the first sessions every year since 1981 until European captain Seve Ballesteros opened with better ball (fourballs) in 1997 at Valderrama. U.S. captain Ben Crenshaw switched back to alternate shot in 1999 at Brookline, but the last three Ryder Cup matches have started with better ball.
Europe has won the last three Ryder Cup matches, and five of the last six. The Americans have not led after the first of five sessions since 1991 at Kiawah Island.
NCAA
Settlement near
The NCAA plans to ease restrictions on educational expenses for current student-athletes while setting aside $10 million to reimburse former athletes as part of a tentative class-action lawsuit settlement.
The agreement, which a judge must approve and both sides review before becoming final, stems from a federal antitrust lawsuit filed in February 2006 by two former football players and a former basketball player from California.
In addition, the NCAA has agreed to let Division I schools provide year-round health insurance for athletes and accident insurance to cover the costs of injuries sustained on the playing field.
The plaintiffs argued NCAA limits on scholarships, which cover tuition, books, housing and meals, are an unlawful restraint of trade because of the billions of dollars generated from TV, radio, licensing and other agreements through major college football and basketball.
Miscellany
KSU suspends forward
Kansas State men’s basketball coach Frank Martin announced that junior forward Andre Gilbert has been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules.
The suspension came as the Wildcats were preparing to take on No. 2 Kansas. Kansas State upset the Jayhawks 84-75.
Gilbert, a starter, averaged 5.2 points and 2.8 rebounds in 17 games.
“James Easter Heathman, the teenager who raced to a field near his family’s central Kansas farm to find the plane crash that killed Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne, has died. He was 90.
Heathman died Tuesday at an Emporia, Kan., hospital, where he had been for about a week after contracting pneumonia, said his son, Tom.
His father had taken people to the crash site near the Heathman farm for about 20 years. He said his father gave the free tours because he wanted to honor Rockne, who at 43 was at the height of his career at the time of the March 1931 crash.