Woods torches foe at Match Play
Tiger Woods hit the ball pretty well Wednesday at the first round of the Accenture Match Play Championship, and what happened was unlike anything seen before in this tournament. Woods won every hole on the front nine – seven of them with birdies – and eliminated Stephen Ames as early as mathematically possible, 9 and 8.
“If he continues playing the way he’s playing, he should walk away with this – easily,” Ames said.
Ernie Els lost on the 18th hole to 48-year-old Bernhard Langer. Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen and Phil Mickelson also won.
Football
Wayne stays put
Indianapolis’ Reggie Wayne passed up a chance to become an unrestricted free agent and agreed to a $39 million, six-year contract. The move makes Wayne one of the NFL’s highest-paid receivers and allows the Colts to use their franchise tag on another player if they choose. Wayne’s deal includes a $13.5 million signing bonus.
• Seven-time Pro Bowl safety John Lynch signed a two-year contract extension with the Denver Broncos
• Coach Jack Del Rio signed a new deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars, keeping him with the team for three more seasons.
• Former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett pleaded not guilty to charges that he flashed a gun at two people behind a bar on New Year’s Day and took a cell phone. Prosecutors allowed Clarett to enter his plea on robbery charges with the clerk’s office, avoiding his arraignment in court scheduled for Friday.
Sports people
Sutton faces surgery
Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton, who was involved in a car accident earlier this month and took a medical leave of absence, will undergo surgery to correct chronic hip and back problems before he enters an alcohol treatment center. … Gene Bess became the first college basketball coach to win 1,000 games when Three Rivers Community College of St. Louis beat Forest Park 77-60. The 70-year-old Bess’ 1,000-258 record is unmatched at any collegiate level. Former North Carolina coach Dean Smith’s 879 career wins are the most in NCAA Division I. … The Seattle Storm signed free-agent forward Wendy Palmer-Daniel. Seattle will be the sixth WNBA team and fifth franchise for Palmer-Daniel, with previous stops at Utah, Detroit, Orlando, Connecticut and San Antonio. … Angelica Rozeanu, the Romanian-born table tennis great who won six straight world championships in the 1950s, died Tuesday at 84 in Haifa, Israel. … Boris Becker won damages of $1.4 million from a German newspaper that used his image for an advertising campaign without his permission.