In brief: Bramlett makes history in PGA

Golf: Joseph Bramlett has earned a historic PGA Tour card by passing through the final stage of qualifying school to become only the second golfer of black heritage on tour. The other is Tiger Woods.

Bramlett shot a 4-under 68 on the Crooked Cat Course at Orange County National in Winter Garden, Fla., on Monday to sneak inside the cutoff for a tour card next year. He finished at 11 under at the grueling, six-round final stage of qualifying school to tie for 16th.

The top 25 earned PGA Tour cards for 2011. The next 50 received cards on the Nationwide Tour.

Woods wrote on Twitter: “Congrats to Joe Bramlett for making it through Q School” and “Can’t wait to play with him next season.”

Associated Press

Idaho punter All-WAC

College football: Bobby Cowan, Idaho’s sophomore punter who led the league and ranks 13th nationally, was the only Vandal named first-team All-Western Athletic Conference.

Cowan averaged 45.14 yards per punt, the second highest in UI history. His two-year average of 44.23 is a school record.

Four Vandals are on the second team – safety Shiloh Keo, defensive end Aaron Lavarias, tight end Daniel Hardy and receiver Eric Greenwood.

WCC honors Vandersloot

Women’s basketball: For the ninth time in her career, Gonzaga senior Courtney Vandersloot has been named the West Coast Conference player of the week.

Vandersloot averaged 30.0 points, 7.5 assists and 3.5 steals while shooting 56.8 percent from the floor as the Bulldogs won twice. Oh, yes, and she made all 13 of her free throw attempts, too.

Her week included a career-high 33 points vs. Eastern Washington.

Broncos fire coach McDaniels

NFL: The Denver Broncos have fired coach Josh McDaniels, whose nearly two-year stint was marred by the Spygate II videotape scandal, a series of personnel blunders and the franchise’s worst skid in four decades.

Running backs coach Eric Studesville will serve as interim coach for the final month, succeeding McDaniels, 34, whose hiring by team owner Pat Bowlen in January 2009 is now viewed as a monumental mistake.

Associated Press