Sports FYI
BY Staff and Wire reports
Saturday, January 05, 2013
1/05/13 at 3:20 AM
Golf
First-day play washed out at PGA Tour opener: The PGA Tour season now starts on Saturday.
Wind squalls that howled down the mountains above Maui were so severe Friday that the opening round of the Tournament of Champions was scrapped. Rickie Fowler and Jason Dufner, the first to tee off on the Plantation Course, only played eight holes. Six players in the 30-man field had not even teed off.
The decision to wipe out the round was great news for Scott Stallings, who already was 7-over par through four holes. As for U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson?
"It stinks for me," he said.
Simpson was 3-under when he stepped to the eighth tee, one of only two players under par. The other was Jonas Blixt, who was 1-under.
The plan was to play 36 holes Saturday, brutal news for the caddies who had to lug bags on this elevated golf course. But the forecast was for more wind.
Cross country
OSU coach honored: Oklahoma State men's cross country head coach Dave Smith was named the CaptainU Men's College Cross Country Coach of the Year, it was announced today.
Smith is coming off coaching the men's cross country team to its third national championship in four years. Thirteen members of the men's team were also named Academic All-Big 12.
Smith was also named the USTFCCCA National Men's Coach of the Year and the Big 12 Men's Coach of the Year.
Basketball
RSU falls to USAO: Rogers State fell on the road to USAO 78-71 Thursday night. RSU's five senior guards totaled 66 of the team's 71 points as the Hillcats dressed just eight players. Point guard Ken Holdman finished with 19 points while Donald Williams added 18.
RSU women win in final seconds: The Rogers State women opened Sooner Athletic Conference play with a 66-64 win over USAO Thursday night. A corner 3-pointer from Ariani Silva with 1.8 seconds left sealed the win for the Hillcats. Point guard Kelby Fritz finished with 16 points to lead RSU.
Tennis
Murray into Brisbane semis; Azarenka pulls out: Top-ranked Victoria Azarenka withdrew from her Brisbane International match against Serena Williams with an infected right big toe on Friday, citing concerns about aggravating the injury so close to the Australian Open.
Azarenka made the announcement about a half hour before she was to play the third-ranked Williams, who has an 11-1 record against Azarenka.
It came soon after Andy Murray, the Olympic men's gold medalist and U.S. Open champion, had finished off his 6-4, 7-6 (3) win over Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin in the quarterfinals.
Djokovic, Ivanovic win; Serbia in Hopman Cup final: Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic led Serbia into the Hopman Cup final, winning their singles matches Friday over Germany.
Djokovic beat Tommy Haas 6-2, 6-0, while Ivanovic lost only 15 points in defeating Tatjana Malek 6-0, 6-1.
The Serbs will face Spain in Saturday's final.
