Sports briefs
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Tiger Woods’ son shoots 86 in pre-qualifier for PGA Tour event
HOBE SOUND, Fla. | The PGA Tour will have to wait for the 15-year-old son of Tiger Woods. In a pre-qualifier Thursday, Charlie Woods took a 12 on one hole and shot 86.
Woods didn’t make a birdie at Lost Lake Golf Club, one of four pre-qualifier sites for the Cognizant Classic. About two dozen players combined from the four sites would move on to Monday’s qualifier, from which four players earn a spot in the PGA Tour event.
Charlie Woods, who turned 15 earlier this month, has played the 36-hole PNC Championship with his father the last four years in a scramble format.
Woods played with Olin Browne Jr., who qualified for the U.S. Open last summer in Los Angeles. The son of three-time PGA Tour winner Olin Browne shot 72.
Woods ran into trouble early with a pair of bogeys and a double bogey on the par-5 fifth hole. But it was on the seventh, with water down the right side and water behind the green, where the teen’s hopes ended for good. He made a 12.
Woods made the turn in 47 and had two bogeys and a double bogey on the back for an 86. The leading score when he finished was a 65. Scores are not updated until a player finishes.
The pre-qualifier comes with a $250 entry fee for players with no tour status.
Tiger Woods was 16 and already had won the first of three straight U.S. Junior Amateur titles when he received a sponsor exemption to play his first PGA Tour event in the Nissan Open at Riviera. He had rounds of 72-75 to miss the cut.
Soccer star Dani Alves found guilty of rape, sentenced to prison
BARCELONA, Spain | Dani Alves, one of the most successful soccer players of his generation, was found guilty of raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub and sentenced to four years and six months in prison on Thursday.
The former Brazil and Barcelona right back was convicted in Spain under a new sexual liberty law that emphasizes the lack of consent of the victim as key to determining sex crimes.
A three-judge panel at the Barcelona Provincial Court convicted the 40-year-old Alves of sexual assault for the incident on Dec. 31, 2022.
The court ordered Alves to pay $162,000 in compensation to the victim, banned him from approaching the victim’s home or place of work, and from communicating with her by any means for nine years.
“I still believe in the innocence of Mr. Alves,” Inés Guardiola, Alves’ lawyer, said. “I need to study the ruling, but I can tell you that of course we will appeal.”
Guardiola said Alves was “calm and collected” when he heard the verdict in court.
“We are satisfied,” David Sáenz, a member of the victim’s legal team, said, “because this verdict recognizes what we have always known, that the victim told the truth and that she has suffered.”
The victim’s lawyer, Ester García, said on Wednesday she and her client would not be present for the verdict.
The victim said Alves raped her in the bathroom of a Barcelona nightclub on the morning of Dec. 31, 2022. The court considered it proven that the victim did not consent to sex and there was evidence, in addition to the defendant’s testimony, that she was raped.
Alves denied during the three-day trial this month that he raped the woman, testifying to the court “I am not that kind of man.”
State prosecutors had sought a nine-year prison sentence for Alves while the lawyers representing his accuser wanted 12 years. His defense asked for his acquittal, or if found guilty a one-year sentence plus 50,000 euros compensation for the victim.
The sentence of four years and six months is near the lowest sentence for a rape conviction, which when the rape took place was penalized by four to 12 years under Spanish law. That has since been modified to six to 12 years. The court in its sentence said it considered favorably for Alves that he had “before the trial paid the court 150,000 euros to be given to the victim without any conditions attached.”
Sáenz said his legal team did not agree with the application of the extenuating circumstance, saying the money did not compensate the harm done to their client. During the trial, medical experts testified she was suffering from post-traumatic stress.
“Clearly (it does not compensate), but that is what the court decided,” Sáenz said. “We have to examine the sentence to see if its contents are adequate for his acts.”
The state prosecutor’s office said it will study the verdict and consider whether to appeal.
Spain Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz said she hoped the verdict “serves as an exemplary measure for all the sexist behaviors that women suffer in all areas of our lives.”
The Alves case was the first high-profile sex crime since Spain overhauled its legislation in 2022 to make consent central to defining a sex crime in response to an upswell of protests after a gang-rape case during the San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona in 2016.
The legislation popularly known as the “only yes means yes” law defines consent as an explicit expression of a person’s will, making it clear that silence or passivity do not equal consent. The law, however, initially led to reduced sentences for hundreds of sex offenders because it set up lower minimum sentences, like the one applied to Alves, before being reformed.
Irene Montero, the former equality minister who championed the “only yes means yes” law, welcomed the ruling.
“The sentence against Dani Alves clearly establishes that he committed sexual assault because the victim did not consent. It is the result of the feminist fight for the right to sexual freedom and for putting consent at the center,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Guardiola based her defense during the trial on video from the nightclub security cameras that she said showed how the woman danced “with sexualized movements” that “showed her interest” in Alves before the alleged assault.
García, the victim’s lawyer, said at the close of the trial that the new law made it irrelevant how her client may have behaved with Alves beforehand.
“I don’t care (how she was dancing), when she said ‘No’, that meant ‘No.’ That is why the law was changed,” García said. “The debate is no longer whether the victim put up resistance.”
Alves has been in jail since being detained on Jan. 20, 2023. His requests for bail were denied because the court considered him a flight risk. Brazil does not extradite its own citizens when they are sentenced in other countries.
The victim told state prosecutors she danced with Alves and willingly entered the nightclub bathroom, but that later when she wanted to leave he would not let her. She said he slapped her, insulted her and forced her to have sexual relations against her will.
A police officer who testified during the trial said the victim had to overcome her fears that “nobody would believe her” before she formally accused Alves. Another officer said the woman told him “I don’t want money, I want justice.”
Alves modified his defense during the investigative phase while in custody, first denying any sexual contact with her before admitting to sexual relations that he said were consensual. He said he had been trying to save his marriage by not admitting to the encounter initially.
During the trial, his defense focused on trying to show that Alves was drunk when he met the woman. The court, however, did not consider that an extenuating circumstance in its ruling.
His conviction shatters Alves’ legacy as one of soccer’s most successful players.
Alves won dozens of titles with elite clubs including Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain. He also helped Brazil win two Copa Americas and an Olympic gold medal at age 38. He played at his third World Cup, the only major title he hasn’t won, in 2022. He played for Barcelona from 2008-16, helping to win three Champions Leagues and six Spanish leagues, and briefly rejoined the club in 2022. He still has a residence near the city.
He was with Mexican club Pumas when he was arrested. Pumas terminated his contract immediately.
Three days after his arrest, Alves was transferred by officials for safety reasons to the Brians 2 prison about 45 minutes northwest of Barcelona. He has been there ever since.
Texas regents
approve Sarkisian contract extension
AUSTIN, Texas | Steve Sarkisian is college football’s latest $10 million man.
The University of Texas System Board of Regents on Thursday approved a raise and contract extension for the Longhorns coach that boosts his guaranteed salary to $10.3 million this year and signs him through 2030.
The four-year extension makes Sarkisian one of the highest paid coaches in the country after Texas won the Big 12 last season and earned its first appearance in the College Football Playoff.
The contract includes $100,000 annual raises that will push Sarkisian’s guaranteed salary to $10.9 million by 2030. He also gets a one-time $300,000 bonus payment and 20 hours of personal use every year on the school’s private plane.
Sarkisian also is eligible to earn more than $1.5 million in bonuses if the Longhorns win a national championship.
His original contract called for him to get paid $5.8 million in 2024. According to the regents’ agenda, the raises are a 78% overall increase in Sarkisian’s guaranteed compensation.
The contract approval was expected. The extension was announced in January and the board published financial details in their meeting agenda last week.
Texas finished 12-2 and ranked No. 3 last season after a 37-31 loss to Washington in a national semifinal that came down to the final play. The Longhorns won the Big 12 in their final season in the league. Texas moves into the Southeastern Conference next season.
Sarkisian, 49, is 25-14 in his three seasons at Texas.
Texas regents also approved contract extensions for tight ends coach Jeff Banks, offensive coordinator Kyle Flood and defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski.
Argentina to play exhibitions against El Salvador and Nigeria
BUENOS AIRES | Argentina scheduled exhibitions against El Salvador and Nigeria in the United States next month as part of Copa America preparations, replacing a China tour canceled after Lionel Messi didn’t play at Inter Miami’s preseason game in Hong Kong.
Argentina will play El Salvador on March 22 at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Field and Nigeria four days later at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Argentina Football Association said Thursday.
Messi, Argentina’s captain, is likely to be with the World Cup champions and miss Miami’s Major League Soccer match at the New York Red Bulls on March 23.
World Cup champion Argentina had been scheduled to play Nigeria at Hangzhou and Ivory Coast at Beijing during a tour of China from March 18-26.
Messi said before Miami’s friendly against a local all-star team in Hong Kong on Feb. 4 that he was suffering from a groin injury, and his absence sparked spectator anger. He played three days later in Tokyo in an exhibition against Vissel Kobe.
Argentina, the defending world and South American champion, opens the Copa América against Canada or Trinidad and Tobago on June 20 at Atlanta, then plays Chile five days later at East Rutherford, New Jersey, and Peru on June 29 at Miami Gardens, Florida.
SEC fines LSU
$100,000 for fans storming the court
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. | The Southeastern Conference has fined LSU $100,000 in connection to fans running onto the court after the Tigers’ victory over No. 17 Kentucky, the league announced Thursday.
Tyrell Ward’s basket as time expired gave LSU a 75-74 win on Wednesday night and prompted the court-storming.
Safety risks associated with court-storming have received more attention this season after Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark collided with a fan while exiting the court at Ohio State after the Buckeyes beat the Hawkeyes.
LSU was fined under the SEC’s revised access to competition area policy. The policy states access to playing surfaces are limited to athletes, coaches, officials, support personnel and properly credentialed or authorized individuals at all times.
“For the safety of participants and spectators alike, at no time before, during or after a contest may spectators enter the competition area,” the policy says.
Fines are $100,000 for a first offense, $250,000 for a second offense and $500,000 for a third and subsequent offenses.
For conference games, fines are paid to the opposing institution. For non-conference games, fines are deposited into the SEC Post-Graduate Scholarship Fund.
—From AP reports
