In brief: Woods, back in action, trails Furyk by a stroke

Tiger Woods went 10 weeks and four days without hitting a golf shot that mattered, and it hardly showed Thursday in the Target World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, Calif., when he struck just about everything where he was aiming.

Until he got to the final hole.

Woods pulled his approach into the hazard on the 18th hole to finish with a double bogey for a 3-under-par 69, leaving him in a pack of players one shot behind Jim Furyk in the final tournament of the year.

Furyk had not played since the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda on Oct. 17, and was pleasantly surprised how he recovered from a shaky opening tee shot. He dropped only one shot and his birdie on the final hole eventually put him atop the leaderboard.

Masters champion Zach Johnson came on well down the stretch with back-to-back birdies. He wound up with a 69. Also at 69 were Henrik Stenson and Rory Sabbatini.

Football

Foster wins Payton

Georgia Southern quarterback Jayson Foster won the Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision.

Montana defensive end Kroy Biermann won the Buck Buchanan Award as the top defensive player.

“Danny Woodhead ran for more yards than any player in the history of college football and was selected to the Associated Press Little All-America teams each season he played at Chadron State.

Woodhead ran for 7,962 yards for Division II Chadron State in Nebraska.

The 5-foot-9 running back was a first-team Little All-American for the second straight season, joining Northwest Missouri State’s Xavier Omon and Harding quarterback David Knighton on the team.

The AP Little All-America team honors players from Division II, III and the NAIA.

“Oklahoma assistant coach Kevin Sumlin will be hired as Houston’s coach, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Sumlin will replace Art Briles, who resigned Nov. 28 and took over at Baylor. Sumlin has worked at Washington State, Wyoming, Minnesota, Purdue and Texas A&M. He has been co-offensive coordinator for the Sooners for the last two seasons.

WNBA

Leslie set to return

Lisa Leslie will return to the Los Angeles Sparks in May for the start of the 2008 season after sitting out last summer to give birth to a baby girl.

Leslie, who gave birth to Lauren Jolie Lockwood on June 25, resumed playing basketball with the U.S. national team in late October.

Miscellany

Stanford advances

Stanford defeated USC 3-2 in the semifinals of the NCAA volleyball championship. California and Penn State played in the late semifinal at Sacramento, Calif.

“The Football Association approved the appointment of Fabio Capello as England’s new soccer coach, pending final contract negotiations.