BASEBALL
Lee’s option declined
Making moves geared to next season with a week left in this season, the Philadelphia Phillies have decided to decline their 2016 option for left-hander Cliff Lee (Benton, Arkansas Razorbacks) and are shutting down rookie right-hander Aaron Nola. Interim general manager Scott Proefrock announced those moves before Philadelphia’s 12-5 victory over Washington on Sunday. Lee, 37, did not pitch at all this season because of an elbow injury but is a link to some of Philadelphia’s playoff teams of the recent past. Nola, 22, is considered a building block for the Phillies as they try to move on from this year’s worst-in-the-majors showing. This was the final guaranteed season of Lee’s $120 million, five-year contract. The deal included a $27.5 million team option for 2016; instead, the Phillies owe the 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner a $12.5 million buyout. As for Nola, Proefrock said the Phillies talked to him on Sunday morning, before the team’s game at Washington. Nola threw a combined 187 innings in the majors and minors this season after throwing about 172 last year. Nola, the No. 7 overall pick in the 2014 amateur draft out of LSU, threw five scoreless innings in Philadelphia’s 2-1, 12-inning loss to Washington on Saturday. He ends 2015 with a 6-2 record and a 3.59 ERA in 13 starts in the majors, with 68 strikeouts and 19 walks in 77 2/3 innings.
Larry Lucchino will become president and chief executive officer emeritus of the Boston Red Sox when he steps down next month. Lucchino, 70, announced in August he was giving up his jobs after the season, and Boston said chief operating officer Sam Kennedy will take over as president Oct. 16. Lucchino’s new titles were announced Sunday before Boston’s final home game this season. The team honored him with a video tribute of highlights from his tenure that included World Series victories, Jimmy Fund telethons and concerts in Fenway Park. It was played to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” He joined owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner on the mound, where he was presented a Red Sox jersey with the No. 16 and Lucchino on the back. He will be inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame next year. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch to David Ortiz, who walked out and lifted him over shoulder. Lucchino became team president in February 2002 when John Henry’s ownership group bought the team. Under his term as team president, the Red Sox won World Series titles in 2004, 2007 and 2013. Boston said Lucchino will continue to participate in the team’s strategic direction and Major League Baseball issues.
Auburn has fired baseball coach Sunny Golloway after two seasons. Athletic Director Jay Jacobs announced the move on Sunday. He said Golloway was fired “with cause” but didn’t elaborate. His contract had extended through June 30, 2018. Former major league player and current Auburn assistant coach Greg Norton will be in charge of baseball operations until Golloway’s replacement is hired. Golloway led Auburn to NCAA postseason play for the first time in five years last season. He spent eight seasons at Oklahoma, were he led the Sooners to the 2010 College World Series. Jacobs said his “commitment will always be to provide the best student-athlete experience in the nation, and we will not accept anything less.”
GOLF
Loupe earns card
Andrew Loupe won the Web.com Tour Finals’ Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in Columbus, Ohio, to earn a PGA Tour card. Loupe, 26, closed with a 1-under par 70 for a two-stroke victory. The former LSU player finished at 5-under 279 on Ohio State’s difficult Scarlet Course. Loupe earned $180,000 to jump from 30th to third on the series money list with $190,642 with one event left. He finished 198th in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings to drop into the four-event series for the top 75 players from the Web.com Tour money list, Nos. 126-200 in the FedEx Cup standings and non-members who earned enough money to have placed in the top 200 had they been eligible to receive points. The top 25 players on Web.com Tour regular-season money list earned PGA Tour cards. They are competing against each other for tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting in their totals. The other players are fighting for another 25 cards based on series earnings. Third-round leader Roberto Castro, Tom Hoge and Bronson Burgoon tied for second. Castro finished with a 75, Hoge had a 69, and Burgoon shot 70. They also secured PGA Tour cards, earning $74,667 each.
Esteban Toledo of Mexico held off Tom Watson by a stroke at Pebble Beach in the Champions Tour’s First Tee Open. Toledo, 52, shot a 3-under par 69, rebounding from a bogey on the par-3 17th with a par on the par-5 18th for a 9-under 206 total. He also won twice on the 50-and-over tour in 2013. Watson, 66, was trying to break Mike Fetchick’s record as the oldest winner in tour history. Fetchick won the 1985 Hilton Head Seniors Invitational on his 63rd birthday. Watson finished with a 67. The Hall of Famer moved into a tie for the lead at 9 under on the par-4 16th with his seventh birdie of the round, but bogeyed the 17th after hitting his tee shot into a bunker and missing a 10-foot par putt. He parred the 18th. After opening with a 75 at Poppy Hills, Watson had a 65 on Saturday at Pebble Beach. He won the 1982 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and took the PGA Tour’s Bing Crosby event at the course in 1977 and 1978.
Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee won the European Open for his seventh European Tour title, closing with a 4-under 67 for a one-stroke victory in Bad Griesbach, Germany. Jaidee, 45, finished at 17-under 267 on Bad Griesbach’s Franz Beckenbauer Course. England’s Graeme Storm was second after a 67.
CYCLING
Armstrong settles suit
With a payment and an apology, Lance Armstrong has settled a decade-long dispute with a promotions company that sought repayment of more than $10 million in bonuses it paid the former cyclist during a career that was later exposed to be fueled by performance-enhancing drugs. Dallas-based SCA Promotions first pursued evidence of doping against Armstrong in 2005. Although the company paid Armstrong in 2006, the testimony in its lawsuit and arbitration case helped lay the foundation for later doping charges that ultimately got Armstrong banned from the sport and stripped of his record seven Tour de France victories. SCA demanded repayment in 2013 after Armstrong publicly admitted using steroids and other doping methods. Armstrong did not reveal how much he paid SCA. Company officials confirmed the settlement in a statement, but declined to reveal details or comment further. Armstrong still faces a federal whistleblower lawsuit in which the federal government is seeking repayment of more than $30 million the U.S. Postal Service paid to sponsor his teams from 1998-2004. Penalties in that case could reach the $100 million range. The federal case was initially filed by former Armstrong teammate Floyd Landis in 2010. The government joined the case in 2013. Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France victory because of doping, is scheduled to be deposed on Monday. The case is not set for trial until 2016.
Peter Sagan of Slovakia won the world championship Sunday in Richmond, Va., holding off Michael Matthews of Australia and Ramunas Navardauskus of Lithuania. Sagan took over first place with about a mile left in the elite men’s race, powering down Broad Street and away from his rivals. It was the first world championship for Slovakia.
BASKETBALL
Lynx to WNBA Finals
Maya Moore stole Noelle Quinn’s pass with three seconds left, was fouled and made a free throw with 1.5 seconds to go to give Minnesota a 72-71 victory over the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday, sending the Lynx to the WNBA Finals with a two-game sweep in the Western Conference series. Moore had career playoff-high 40 points to help Minnesota reach the title series for the fourth time in five seasons. Minnesota, the 2011 and 2013 champion, will face New York or Indiana in the best-of-five WNBA Finals. Candice Dupree led the defending champion Mercury with 16 points. In the Eastern Conference finals, Tamika Catchings scored 16 of her 25 points in the second half to help Indiana beat New York 70-64 to force a deciding third game in the series. New York’s Tina Charles had 25 points and 10 rebounds. Game 3 is Tuesday night in New York.