Newsmakers

Reunited The original “Big Three” will be together again on the first tee at Augusta National in Georgia next year. Gary Player has agreed to join Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus as an honorary starter at the Masters. They have 13 green jackets among them. They will hit only one shot in a ceremonial start to the tournament.

Pregnant Tennis star Lindsay Davenport is pregnant and will not play in the World TeamTennis Pro League this summer. Davenport, who plays for the St. Louis Aces, was placed under travel and activity restrictions by her doctor.

Filed Former North Carolina Defensive end Michael McAdoo has filed a lawsuit against the school and the NCAA, seeking reinstatement after being declared permanently ineligible for academic misconduct. McAdoo is also seeking unspecified damages from the school and the NCAA, which the lawsuit accuses of libel and “gross negligence” in ruling him ineligible based on inaccurate information. McAdoo’s lawyers argue that the school’s Honor Court found him guilty of only one infraction: Representing another’s work as his own after tutor Jennifer Wiley had formatted in-text citations and the “works cited” page for websites used to prepare his research paper. Two additional charges were dismissed. The school’s Honor Court decided to suspend him from school for the spring semester, but allow him to re-enroll in the summer and return to the football team this fall.

Awake Colombian cyclist Juan Mauricio Soler is no longer in an induced coma but faces a long recovery from a serious crash during the Tour of Switzerland. The 28-year-old rider crashed on June 16 and was left with a fractured skull, plus lung and ankle injuries. Dr. Alfredo Zuniga said doctors at the St. Gallen (Switzerland) hospital are preparing to take Soler out of intensive care, and the team is arranging to take him back to Pamplona, Spain.

Died Former Olympic cross-country champion and Finnish skiing great, Mika Myllyla, whose life unraveled after a doping ban in 2001, died outside of Helsinki. He was 41. Police declined to give details except to say no crime was involved. National broadcaster YLE said he was found dead in his apartment. Myllyla won six Olympic medals, including gold in the classic 30K race at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.