Woods absence notable at Grand Slam of Golf

The major champions usually meet on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean for the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, and that much remains true.

It’s everything else about this two-day exhibition in Tucker’s Town, Bermuda, that seems to have changed.

Tiger Woods, the first FedEx Cup champion, decided to take his holiday away from the golf course, and that might be the biggest change of all. The Grand Slam gets under way today with three major champions and one major alternate after Woods, the PGA champion, decided to skip this event for the first time that he has been eligible.

That left a four-man field at the Mid-Ocean Club of U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera, Masters champion Zach Johnson, British Open champion Padraig Harrington and Jim Furyk, the former major champion who led a points-based alternate list.

Baseball

Documents received

Baseball investigator George Mitchell has received an extensive paper trail documenting performance-enhancing drugs sent to players by former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski, a person familiar with the probe said.

Among the documents Mitchell and his staff have obtained are invoices detailing the substances sent to players, the unidentified person said.

•Bill Stoneman is expected to step down after seven years as the Los Angeles Angels’ general manager.

•Joel Pineiro agreed to a $13 million, two-year contract with St. Louis.

Miscellany

WADA unveils new rules

The World Anti-Doping Agency, which released the final draft of its latest World Anti-Doping Code, proposes increasing the ban from two years to four if there are “aggravating circumstances.” The code still must be approved next month at a meeting in Madrid, Spain.

Under the new rules, the use of substances whose performance- enhancing effects remain in the body for more than two years would qualify as an aggravating circumstance.

•Jamaican police have not ruled out a violent crime in the death of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer.

That will be the subject of a coroner’s inquest scheduled to begin today.

•Serena Williams has qualified for next month’s season-ending WTA Championships in Madrid.

Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Ana Ivanovic also qualified.

•Lorena Ochoa and Tennessee softball pitcher Monica Abbott were selected Sportswomen of the Year by the Women’s Sports Foundation. They were honored Monday night in New York along with figure skater Michelle Kwan and the Rutgers women’s basketball team at the 28th annual Salute to Women in Sports dinner.

•Slew o’Gold, a champion 3-year-old colt who went on to sire 28 stakes winners, has died at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky. He was 27.

Slew o’Gold, part of the first crop from 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, was euthanized Sunday due to the infirmities of old age.

•The Southeastern Conference fined Kentucky $50,000 for failing to prevent fans from rushing the football field after the Wildcats’ triple-overtime victory over top-ranked LSU in Lexington, Ky.