Sports in Brief: Tiger Woods' return on schedule
Tiger Woods has started to hit balls with short irons and says he is able to stabilize his rebuilt left knee.
Tiger Woods
has started to hit balls with short irons and says he is able to stabilize his rebuilt left knee.
The 14-time major champion says he is on schedule to play the Masters.
Woods had reconstructive surgery a week after winning a playoff for the U.S. Open title in June. His news conference in Thousand Oaks, Calif., yesterday was his first since that victory.
Six months after surgery to repair a ruptured ligament - his third operation in six years - Woods said he was excited: "Everything has been right on schedule. I couldn't have asked for anything more."
Colleges
Oklahoma lost a key player for the second straight day when it was announced that reserve defensive tackle
DeMarcus Granger
had undergone back surgery and will not play in the BCS title game against Florida.
Coach
Bob Stoops
made the announcement a day after saying that starting running back
DeMarco Murray
would miss the Jan. 8 title game with a hamstring injury.
Illinois linebacker
Martez Wilson
left the hospital in Urbana where he had surgery for two stab wounds.
A university spokesman said Wilson was aiding former teammate
D'Angelo McCray
during a confrontation in a bar. No one has been arrested.
Greg Miller,
a senior defensive end for Villanova, was named to the second team on the Associated Press Football Championship Subdivision all-America team.
Charles Graves,
a junior defensive back for Delaware, also was named to the second team.
Andrew Sampson,
Penn's sophomore kicker, made the third team.
The Temple football team received oral commitments from defensive tackle
Kadeem Custis
of Neumann-Goretti; running back
Bernard Pierce
of Glen Mills; defensive back
Kwame Johnson
of Valley Forge Military Academy; defensive back
Deonte Parker
of Feather River Community College in California; linebacker
Marcus Green
of Scotch Plains-Fanwood (N.J.); and defensive end
Aaron Hush
of Piscataway (N.J.).
Olympics
CBS Corp. and Time Warner Inc. executives have discussed joining forces to bid on rights to televise the Olympics in 2014 and 2016.
NBC, Fox and ABC-ESPN also have said they expect to bid on the U.S. rights to the Games.
The International Olympics Committee has said it is prepared to postpone its bid selection until after the host city is named next October for the 2016 Summer Games.
NBC has telecast every Summer Olympics since 1988.
Soccer
Heather O'Reilly
scored off a rebound in the 34th minute, helping the United States beat China, 1-0, in an exhibition soccer game at Ford Field in Detroit.
The victory gave the U.S. women a record of 33-1-2 for 2008.
Elsewhere: Sam Allardyce
was named manager of Blackburn Rovers in the English Premier League, replacing the fired
Paul Ince
.
Horse racing
Standout trotter
Deweycheatumnhowe
and award-winning trainer and co-owner
Ray Schnittker
were unhurt when their pickup and trailer flipped on an icy road near Jersey Shore in north-central Pennsylvania.
Hockey
Pittsburgh Penguins goalie
Marc-Andre Fleury
will start tonight in Atlanta, the first time he has played since injuring his groin Nov. 15.