GOLF
U.S. leads Presidents Cup
Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson won the only match that reached the 18th hole Thursday, the final touch on another dominant day for the Americans in the Presidents Cup at Incheon, South Korea. The rest of the foursomes matches weren't much of a contest as the Americans built a 4-1 lead after the opening session. The Americans are going for their sixth consecutive victory, and after one day at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea there was a familiar feel to the event. The South African duo of Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace won the only match for the International side, taking advantage of a few poor shots by Matt Kuchar to seize control on the back nine for a 3-and-2 victory over Kuchar and Patrick Reed. This was another strong display by the U.S. team, which never trailed in the other four matches and has lost only one time in the Presidents Cup since it began in 1994. Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker got their first full point in the shortest match of a short day. They ran off three consecutive birdies early and had three more on the back nine to win 5 and 4 over Anirban Lahiri of India and Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand. Jordan Spieth, the No. 1 player in the world, and Dustin Johnson proved as formidable as advertised in a 4-and-3 victory over New Zealand's Danny Lee and Marc Leishman of Australia. Perhaps the most pivotal match was the first one. Bubba Watson and J.B. Holmes, two of the longest hitters in golf, never trailed after a birdie on the second hole, although it was tight on the back nine against Australia's Adam Scott and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama.
• Alison Lee shot a 6-under 65 Thursday for a share of the first-round lead with China's Xi Yu Lin at the LPGA Malaysia. Lee, 20, birdied five of the first eight holes at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club and added birdies on Nos. 12 and 14. Lee bogeyed the par-3 17th and -- after rain and lightning delayed play more than three hours -- got up-and-down for par on the par-4 18th. Lin three-putted the 18th for her only bogey. Michelle Wie was a stroke back along with defending champion Shanshan Feng, Yani Tseng and Chella Choi. Finally over hip and ankle injuries, Wie had eight birdies and three bogeys. Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks) had a birdie and two bogeys for a 1-over 72.
• England's Matthew Fitzpatrick birdied the final two holes for a 7-under 64 and a one-stroke lead Thursday in the British Masters. Fitzpatrick, 21, had 1 eagle, 6 birdies and 1 bogey on Woburn's Marquess Course. He won the 2013 U.S Amateur. Scotland's Marc Warren, England's Lee Slattery, Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen and Sweden's Robert Karlsson were tied for second. Ian Poulter, hosting the tournament at his home course, had a 68.
BASKETBALL
Fisher-Barnes tiff investigated
The NBA is investigating the incident between Grizzlies forward Matt Barnes and Knicks coach and former teammate Derek Fisher (Little Rock Parkview, UALR), a situation Barnes said is "personal matter" involving someone who was a good friend at one point. "Life happens, and being a professional athlete, you have to be able to maneuver and separate your personal life from your professional life," Barnes said Thursday after the Grizzlies' morning shoot-around, noting the league's investigation of the incident in California. "And I'm here to play basketball, so there won't be any distractions." A person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the incident occurred last Saturday while Fisher was attending a gathering at the home of Barnes' estranged wife, Gloria Govan. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no details were publicly released about the incident. Fisher and Barnes were teammates with the Los Angeles Lakers from 2010-12. The Grizzlies wrapped training camp in Santa Barbara earlier last Saturday. At Knicks' practice Thursday in Greenburgh, N.Y., Fisher wouldn't comment when asked if he might press charges. "It's still something I can't comment on until the situation or the process plays completely out," Fisher said. "If I decide to or have the opportunity to address it later, I guess I will. At this point, that's probably not the right thing to do."
MOTOR SPORTS
Restart zone marked on track
Charlotte Motor Speedway has painted lines on the race track to mark where the restart zone will begin and end Saturday night. The zone is typically marked by NASCAR with the lines on the outside wall that aren't seen by fans. Charlotte has painted the marks to make the zone clear in what's been an ongoing issue. Drivers have complained for the past several months about shenanigans in the restart zone that NASCAR was not policing. Three races ago NASCAR assigned an official to monitor the restart zone at track level, and it is now using in-race reviews to decide if a driver broke the rules. Brad Keselowski was flagged for jumping the restart at Dover two weeks ago. He's so far the only driver to be penalized.
SOCCER
Blatter among 3 suspended by FIFA
Three of world soccer’s most powerful figures, including Sepp Blatter, the longtime president of FIFA, were suspended Thursday amid an investigation by Swiss authorities into suspected corruption.
In addition to Blatter, Michel Platini, a FIFA vice president and the head of European soccer’s governing body, and Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s secretary-general who was already on disciplinary leave, were “provisionally banned” from the sport. The suspensions took effect immediately.
“The grounds for these decisions are the investigations that are being carried out by the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee,” FIFA said in a statement.
A fourth executive, former FIFA vice president Chung Mong-joon, was barred from the sport for six years and fined 100,000 Swiss francs, or about $103,000, on Thursday. Chung, a South Korean billionaire whose family heads the Hyundai conglomerate, had, like Platini, been a candidate to replace Blatter. But he has been found guilty of infringing FIFA’s ethics code in connection with the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, FIFA said.
Platini, who had been seen as the favorite to replace Blatter, filed his paperwork to officially become a candidate earlier Thursday but it is unclear whether he will be permitted to run.
The sanctions for all four men were imposed by FIFA’s independent Ethics Committee. Richard Cullen and Lorenz Erni, lawyers for Blatter, released a statement shortly after the punishments were announced criticizing the process by which the ethics committee reached its decision and promising to contest it.
The suspensions leave FIFA, as well as UEFA, which runs soccer in Europe, in disarray. David Gill and Wolfgang Niersbach, two members of FIFA’s powerful executive committee, called for an emergency meeting as soon as possible. All 54 member nations of UEFA are also expected to have their own hasty summit meeting as soon as next week.
FIFA will be run by an interim president, Issa Hayatou, the Cameroonian leader of African soccer’s governing body and the most senior FIFA vice president.
Sports on 10/09/2015