GOLF

Woods ranked 12th in the world, falling from top 10 for the first time in 14 years

Tiger Woods fell to 12th in the world rankings, dropping out of the top 10 for the first time in 14 years.

Woods is out with left knee and Achilles injuries. He has not won a tournament since the Australian Masters 18 months ago. He dropped four places in the new rankings published Monday.

Lee Westwood of England remains at No. 1, with Charl Schwartzel of South Africa taking Woods’ place in the top 10.

Second-ranked Luke Donald missed his chance to overtake compatriot Westwood and become No. 1 after losing in the final of the World Match Play Championship to Ian Poulter on Sunday.

The last time Woods was ranked outside the top 10 was April 1997, before he won the Masters for the first of his 14 majors.

AUTO RACING

NASCAR: Former Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen will make his Nationwide Series debut on Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina.

Raikkonen is listed on the entry release as driver for the No. 87 Toyota for NEMCO Motorsports. The car is owned by Joe Nemechek, but he made a deal with Kyle Busch to let Raikkonen drive Saturday.

Raikkonen made his NASCAR debut Friday night with a 15th-place finish in the Trucks Series race. He drove for Kyle Busch Motorsports.

FOOTBALL

NFL: A federal magistrate in Minneapolis rejected the NFL’s request for more time to file a response in the pending antitrust lawsuit filed by its locked-out players.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeanne Graham ruled that the NFL must answer by June 6. The league had asked for a July 6 deadline to answer a lawsuit filed by current players but since amended to included complaints from retirees led by former Hall of Famer Carl Eller.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments June 3 on the legality of the lockout.

SOCCER

U.S. MEN: Midfielder Freddy Adu, 21, has made the U.S. squad for next month’s Gold Cup as well as a June 4 friendly against World Cup champion Spain, the first time in two years he’s been selected. Adu has struggled to fulfill the potential he showed when he joined D.C. United at age 14, being left off the World Cup squad last year.

COLLEGES

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: University of Maine Coach Richard Barron named Jhasmin Player assistant coach.

Player was a four-year member and two-time captain at Baylor. Since graduating from Baylor, Player has played professionally in Portugal and Spain.

 

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