Seattle native Couples added to hall of fame
GOLF: Fred Couples, a former Masters champion and one of the most popular figures in the game, was elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame on Wednesday.
Couples described himself as a good player, but not a great player, though he’s turned in some amazing performances.
Among his 15 wins on the PGA Tour are the 1992 Masters and two at The Players Championship, including an eagle-birdie-par finish in 1996. He played in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup five times each, and next year will be captain of the Presidents Cup for the third time. He was No. 1 in the world for four months in 1992.
“There are other people in the Hall of Fame that are maybe good players. But good is a good thing,” Couples said from Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. “I’ve been good at it for a long time, and I hope to continue to play a few more years.”
Couples is a Seattle native and a 1977 graduate of O’Dea High School. He played golf at the University of Houston and was a teammate and roommate of CBS television broadcaster Jim Nantz.
He was elected on the PGA Tour ballot with a record-low 51 percent. The minimum for election is 65 percent, although there is a clause that when no one gets the minimum, the leading vote-getter is elected provided he has at least 50 percent of the vote.
Vijay Singh was elected in 2005 with 56 percent.
Still to be announced are the results from the International ballot, along with who is selected from the Veteran’s category and Lifetime Achievement to round out the 2013 class. The induction will be May 6 – the Monday of The Players Championship – at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Fla.
Couples jokingly referred to the election as a popularity contest, although it did raise questions.
Davis Love III, who has won 20 times on the PGA Tour, including the 1997 PGA Championship and The Players Championship twice, received 38 percent of the vote. He tied for second in the voting with Ken Venturi, the 1964 U.S. Open champion who won 14 times and was the longtime analyst for CBS Sports.
Mark O’Meara won 16 times on the PGA Tour and two majors, both in 1998 when he became the oldest player to win two majors in one year. He was fourth in the voting with 36 percent of the vote.
Coach Rick Curl banned for life
SWIMMING: USA Swimming banned coach Rick Curl for life for an improper relationship with a teenage swimmer in the 1980s, another ugly chapter in a sexual abuse scandal that rocked one of America’s most successful Olympic sports.
Curl, who ran one of the nation’s largest swim clubs near Washington, D.C., and coached 1996 and 2000 Olympic gold medalist Tom Dolan, was scheduled for a hearing before the National Board of Review. But he informed the governing body he was waiving his right to challenge the case.
Curl voluntarily gave up his membership and will be added to USA Swimming’s list of banned individuals, which is published on the organization Web site.
The coach was accused of starting a relationship with a 13-year-old female swimmer in the 1980s.
That swimmer, Kelley Davis Currin, said she was pleased with the ruling but hopes it is only the beginning of truly meaningful change throughout the sport.
“Obviously I feel really good about it,” she told The Associated Press in an interview. “But, in a way, I feel like this should have been done so long ago. This is really just the first step in the process. Unfortunately, I don’t think things are going to get better. I think more discoveries are going be made. This is just the first layer of the onion.”
Currin received a $150,000 settlement from Curl not to go to law enforcement with details of the illicit four-year relationship, a decision she still regrets.
BCS might add bowl to playoff rotation
FOOTBALL: The BCS executive director says conference commissioners have discussed the possibility of adding another game to be part of the semifinal rotation for the new college football playoff.
Bill Hancock says nothing was decided during meetings the last two days near Chicago.
The postseason plan approved by university presidents in June called for the national semifinals to rotate among six bowl sites. The years those sites do not host semifinals, they would be marquee bowl games, involving other highly ranked teams.
Hancock says commissioners talked about whether there would be enough access to those marquee games for conferences that do not have contractual ties to high-profile bowls, such as the Pac-12 and Big Ten’s partnership with the Rose Bowl.
Martin edges Phinney for time trial title
Cycling: Tony Martin defended his time trial world title at the Road Cycling World Championships in Valkenburg, Netherlands, edging American rider Taylor Phinney into second place.
Martin completed the winding, hilly 28.4-mile course in 58 minutes, 38.76 seconds at an average speed of just under 30 mph. Phinney finished 5.37 seconds behind and Vasil Kiryienka of Belarus was third.
League calls off September schedule
NHL: The NHL canceled its entire September preseason game schedule, the first on-ice casualty of the four-day lockout.
The league is wiping out all games through Sept. 30, a move it deems “necessary because of the absence of a collective bargaining agreement” with the players’ association.
The NHL also said the 2012 Kraft Hockeyville preseason game, scheduled for Oct. 3 in Belleville, Ontario, has been postponed until 2013, bringing the total to 60 games called off.
The regular season is scheduled to begin on Oct. 11.
Record turnout for NCAA sports
College athletics: A record number of student-athletes were participating in NCAA sports during the last school year.
Officials at the governing body released a report that showed 453,347 athletes competed in sports that were eligible for NCAA championships.
Male athletes account for 57 percent of all participants, compared to 43 percent women. The gap between male and female athletes has held relatively steady for the last decade. The primary reason for the discrepancy is the 69,600 football players.