Digest

GOLF

Recovering Woods 'touched' by support

Tiger Woods, recovering in hospital after surgery for serious leg injuries sustained in a solo car smash, tweeted thanks Sunday for a show of support from fellow pros.

"It is hard to explain how touching today was when I turned on the TV and saw all the red shirts," the 15-time major champion said in a tweet.

"To every golfer and every fan, you are truly helping me get through this tough time."

A host of golfers at the World Golf Championships Workday Championship in Bradenton, Florida－and quite a few at the LPGA Tour event in Orlando, as well－took to the course for their final rounds wearing Woods' signature Sunday colors of red and black.

The PGA Tour tweeted a picture of the maintenance staff at its Puerto Rico Open on Sunday all turned out in red and black.

Former world No 1 Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Tony Finau at the WGC and Phil Mickelson at a PGA Tour Champions event were some of the players who turned out wearing Woods' iconic color combo.

"I guess for us it's just a gesture to let him know that we're thinking about him and we're rooting for him," McIlroy said. "Obviously things are looking a little better today than they were on Tuesday, but he's still got a ways to go."

BASEBALL

Hotel suite included in Tatis' Padres package

Fernando Tatis Jr. gets a full no-trade provision through 2028 as part of his $330 million, 14-year contract with the San Diego Padres.

After that he will have the ability to block a trade to 13 teams for the remainder of the deal.

His contract calls for a $10 million signing bonus payable within 30 days of approval of the contract by the commissioner's office and a $1 million salary this year, his last season before he would have been eligible for arbitration.

He gets $5 million in 2022,$7 million in 2023 and $11 million in 2024, the three seasons he would have been eligible for arbitration.

Tatis receives $20 million each in 2025 and 2026, the first two seasons after he would have become eligible for free agency, $25 million apiece in 2027 and 2028, and $36 million in each of the final six seasons.

He also gets a hotel suite on all road trips, and the right to purchase a premium luxury suite and four of the best available premium season tickets for all Padres' home games.

BASKETBALL

Raptors game off as virus issues worsen

The Toronto Raptors' issues with the coronavirus have worsened, prompting the NBA to call off their game scheduled for Sunday night against the Chicago Bulls.

The league said the Raptors are dealing with positive test results, without disclosing how many, and that combined with ongoing contact-tracing issues meant they would not have the league-required eight players available to play.

Toronto played Friday without head coach Nick Nurse, several other assistants and staffers and starting forward Pascal Siakam because of virus-related issues. Assistant coach Sergio Scariolo coached the team to a win over Houston and had been in line to coach again Sunday.

The Raptors-Bulls game is the 30th to be postponed so far this season because of COVID-19 testing or contact tracing.

It was the first postponement this season for the Raptors, who are playing their home games in Tampa, Florida, because of coronavirus restrictions in Canada.

SKIING

Gut-Behrami reigns at crash-marred race

Swiss skier Lara Gut-Behrami locked up the World Cup super-G title in Val di Fassa, Italy, on Sunday, finishing runner-up in a race marred by two nasty crashes.

Kajsa Vickhoff Lie of Norway and Rosina Schneeberger of Austria both broke bones in their lower legs and had to be taken off the mountain by helicopter.

Lie was thrown off the course after catching an edge and landed awkwardly in the safety nets, and Schneeberger lost her balance just before hooking a gate with her right ski and spinning off the course.

The incidents led to two half-hour-long interruptions of the penultimate super-G of the season, which was won by Federica Brignone, the defending overall champion from Italy.

Gut-Behrami, who won gold in the discipline at the world championships this month, finished 0.59 seconds behind Brignone. The result gave the Swiss skier an insurmountable lead of 202 points in the World Cup super-G standings over her only remaining challenger, teammate Corinne Suter.

Suter, who won the title last year, finished third, 0.72 behind.

SAILING

America's Cup delayed by Auckland lockdown

The America's Cup final between Team New Zealand and Italy's Luna Rossa on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour was pushed back on Sunday as a coronavirus outbreak plunged the city back into lockdown.

The first four races in the best-of-13 showdown were scheduled for next weekend but "will not occur before at least Wednesday, March 10," America's Cup Events chair Tina Symmans said.

A seven-day, level-three lockdown was ordered in Auckland from 6 am Sunday after a 21-year-old man visited a gym and other public areas having tested positive for the UK strain of the virus.

It is the 13th case of COVID-19 in the community since the latest cluster emerged two weeks ago, putting Auckland, New Zealand's largest city with a population of 1.7 million, into a three-day lockdown.

Xinhua - Agencies