Off the wire

FILE - Houston Texans wide receiver Brandin Cooks looks on before an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders on Oct. 23, 2022, in Las Vegas. The Dallas Cowboys acquired receiver Cooks in a trade with the Houston Texans on Sunday, March 19, 2023, adding a speedy veteran to play alongside CeeDee Lamb. (AP Photo/David Becker, File)
FILE - Houston Texans wide receiver Brandin Cooks looks on before an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders on Oct. 23, 2022, in Las Vegas. The Dallas Cowboys acquired receiver Cooks in a trade with the Houston Texans on Sunday, March 19, 2023, adding a speedy veteran to play alongside CeeDee Lamb. (AP Photo/David Becker, File)

FOOTBALL

Cowboys add WR Cooks

The Dallas Cowboys acquired receiver Brandin Cooks in a trade with the Houston Texans on Sunday, adding a speedy veteran to play alongside CeeDee Lamb. Houston gets a fifth-round pick this year and a 2024 sixth-rounder in a deal reminiscent of a year ago when Dallas sent No. 1 receiver Amari Cooper to Cleveland for two late-round picks. The difference in the trades is the Texans will pay $6 million of Cooks' $18 million salary. The Browns absorbed the entire $20 million owed to Cooper. It's the fifth time Cooks has been traded, including a swap the day after he was taken 20th overall by Arizona in 2014. New Orleans acquired him for the 27th overall pick and a third-rounder that year. Cooks later went to New England, the Los Angeles Rams and the Texans in trades. The 29-year-old Cooks has six 1,000-yard seasons in nine years, with career highs of 1,204 yards with the Rams in 2018 and nine touchdowns with the Saints in 2015. He has 8,616 yards and 49 TDs.

Panthers, Thielen reach deal

The Carolina Panthers added yet another experienced veteran to their offense on Sunday night, agreeing to terms with free agent wide receiver Adam Thielen from the Minnesota Vikings. The 32-year-old Thielen was released earlier this offseason after spending the past nine seasons with the Vikings, where he caught 534 passes for 6,682 yards and 55 touchdowns in 135 games. Thielen caught 70 passes last season for 716 yards and 6 touchdowns while paired with All-Pro wide receiver Justin Jefferson.

BASEBALL

Rockies sign OF Profar

The Colorado Rockies have agreed to a $7.75 million, one-year contract with free agent outfielder Jurickson Profar, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Sunday. Profar can earn an additional $1 million in performance bonuses, getting the full amount for 400 plate appearances, the person said. The former Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics and San Diego Padres outfielder batted .231 (3 for 13) with a home run and RBI for the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic this spring training. He hit .243 with 15 home runs and 58 RBI for San Diego last season and opted out of what would have been the final season of a $21 million, three-year contract with the Padres.

GOLF

Els scores comeback victory

Ernie Els kept making birdies no matter how he gripped the putter Sunday, and it carried him to a 6-under 65 to win the Hoag Classic in Newport Beach, Calif., and deny Bernhard Langer a chance at setting the career victory mark on the PGA Tour Champions. Els started the final round five shots behind Langer when the big South African rolled in three consecutive birdie putts to get in the mix, and he closed it out with a 65-yard bunker shot to 12 feet and a birdie on the 18th hole about the time Langer began to falter. Langer has 45 career wins on the PGA Tour Champions, tied for the most with Hale Irwin. The 65-year-old German began the final round with a one-shot lead and picked up an early birdie. He was still tied for the lead when he made two bogeys on the back nine, and failed to make birdie on the par 5s. Langer finished with a 2-over 73 and tied for seventh, three shots behind. He is in the field next week in Rancho Mirage, Calif., where he gets another shot at the record.

Lee wins in a playoff

Danny Lee birdied his final two holes for a 2-under 69 and then won LIV Golf Tucson on the second hole of a four-man playoff on Sunday by making a 25-foot birdie putt from off the 18th green for his first win in nearly eight years. It was the second playoff in LIV Golf since the Saudi-funded series began last year. Dustin Johnson won the playoff outside Boston last year. Lee finished at 9-under 275 and got into the playoff with Carlos Ortiz (65), Brendan Steele (70) and Louis Oosthuizen (70). Oosthuizen bogeyed the par-5 17th to fall one behind, only to birdie the 18th to join the playoff.

MOTOR SPORTS

Perez tops Red Bull charge

Sergio Perez won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and Max Verstappen drove from 15th to second to give Red Bull a 1-2 finish Sunday in what is shaping up to be a runaway season for the reigning Formula One champions. And there have only been two races so far. But it's been two Red Bull wins, two 1-2 finishes, and an air of desperation from everyone else on the grid. Fernando Alonso finished third for the second consecutive race for what would have been his 100th career podium. But he was later handed a 10-second penalty for incorrectly serving an early penalty and that dropped him to fourth. Verstappen won a record 15 races last season and a second consecutive F1 title, and Perez added another two victories as the 17 total wins in 23 races easily gave Red Bull the constructors title.

HOCKEY

Wisconsin takes women's title

Kirsten Simms scored a goal and Cami Kronish had 31 saves to help Wisconsin beat top-seeded and defending NCAA champion Ohio State 1-0 Sunday, earning the Badgers their record seventh national title. Simms, who hid behind Ohio State's Lauren Bernard in front of the net, flicked a wrister into the goal to give Wisconsin the lead at 13:28 of the first period. Wisconsin (29-10-2), which lost five consecutive games at one point in January, has won three of the last four national championships. The Badgers have appeared in an NCAA-leading 14 of the last 17 Frozen Fours. Kronish, who had 37 saves in the Badgers' 3-2 overtime win over No. 2 seed Minnesota in the semifinals, was named the Frozen Four's most outstanding player.

TENNIS

Rybakina defeats Sabalenka

Elena Rybakina defeated Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (11), 6-4 on Sunday to win the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., and hand the world's second-ranked player just her second loss this year. Rybakina carried the momentum from her straight-set semifinal upset of top-ranked Iga Swiatek into the final and beat Sabalenka for the first time in five career meetings. For the first time in their budding rivalry, the match didn't go three sets. Sabalenka went the distance to beat Rybakina in the Australian Open final in January. In that match, Sabalenka fired 17 aces and rallied from a set down to win her first Grand Slam title. This time, Rybakina had seven aces and Sabalenka committed 10 double faults. Rybakina improved her match record to 16-4 this year; Sabalenka fell to 17-2. Carlos Alcaraz defeated Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-2 to win the BNP Paribas Open title and regain the world's No. 1 men's ranking. The 19-year-old Spaniard will move from second to first in the ATP Tour rankings today, displacing Novak Djokovic.

SKIING

Shiffrin earns 21st GS victory

Mikaela Shiffrin won her 21st career giant slalom at the World Cup Finals Sunday as the American standout ended the season with yet another record. The victory moved Shiffrin past Vreni Schneider, a week after matching the Swiss skier's mark of 20 World Cup GS victories. The American has won seven of the last eight events and took the GS world title last month. The overall record, between men and women, is held by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark, who won 46 giant slaloms in the 1970s and 80s. Shiffrin extended the all-time record for most career wins to 88. Shiffrin also set a personal best of 2,206 World Cup points from 31 starts this season, two points more than her tally from 2018-19, when she competed in 26 races.

  photo  FILE - Houston Texans wide receiver Brandin Cooks (13) makes a catch as Denver Broncos cornerback Ronald Darby defends during the second half of an NFL football game on Sept. 18, 2022, in Denver. The Dallas Cowboys acquired receiver Cooks in a trade with the Houston Texans on Sunday, March 19, 2023, adding a speedy veteran to play alongside CeeDee Lamb. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
 
 

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