COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Starting USC Safety Sidelined for Season

Starting Southern California free safety Josh Pinkard tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during the third-ranked Trojans’ 50–14 opening victory over Arkansas and won’t play again this season.

Pinkard, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound junior from Oxnard, Calif., said he heard his right knee “crack” while covering a punt against the Razorbacks last Saturday night. An MRI yesterday revealed the torn ligament.

Freshmen Antwine Perez and Garrett Green were listed behind Pinkard on the USC depth chart entering the Arkansas game. Other possible replacements are freshman Taylor Mays, listed as the second-string strong safety, and senior Dallas Sartz, who shares a starting linebacker spot with Brian Cushing.

Pinkard has the option of applying for a medical redshirt for this season. He started the second half of last season at cornerback, but entered this year as the starting free safety.

GOLF

Woods Wins PGA Player of the Year

Along with his fifth straight victory, Tiger Woods captured another prize at the Deutsche Bank Championship. His seventh victory of the year was enough for him to mathematically clinch PGA Player of the Year.

Woods now has won the PGA of America’s award eight times in his 10 full years on the PGA Tour.The only two times he did not win the points-based award was in 1998 when Mark O’Meara won two majors, and in 2004 when Vijay Singh won nine times.

Players receive 30 points for winning a major, 20 points for The Players Championship and 10 points for every other PGA Tour victory, with a 50-point bonus for winning two majors. As many as 20 points are awarded on a sliding scale for the scoring average and money list.

Woods also has a commanding lead in competition for the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average at 68.30. Jim Furyk is second at 69.06.

SOCCER

Materazzi insulted Zidane’s Sister During World Cup Match

Italy’s Marco Materazzi said he insulted Zinedine Zidane’s sister, revealing nearly two months after the World Cup final what provoked the French star to head-butt him in the chest.

In yesterday’s interview with the Gazzetta dello Sport, Materazzi disclosed that after he held his opponent’s shirt, Zidane said: “If you want, I’ll give you the jersey later.”

“I responded that I preferred his sister, it’s true,” Materazzi said. “It wasn’t something nice, true. But luckily there have been dozens of players who have confirmed that a lot worse things are said on the field.”

BASEBALL

Griffey Out Indefinitely With Toe Injury

The slight limp gave it away.

Ken Griffey Jr. walked slowly and carefully yesterday, a day after he dislocated a toe on his right foot while trying to make a catch. He was out of the Cincinnati Reds’ lineup, and had no guess about when he might be back.

Asked if this injury could linger, Griffey said, “It shouldn’t.”

“Right now, we’re just waiting for the swelling to go down,” he said. “That’s it.”

It’s the first time that the 36-year-old outfielder has dislocated a toe. He jammed his cleats into the padded outfield wall as he reached for Barry Bonds’ two-run homer in the eighth inning Monday night.

Griffey couldn’t reach the homer, which tied the game and set up San Francisco’s 5–4 comeback win. And he lost his footing as well, twisting the toe next to his big toe. “I went up and at first, I didn’t get a good grip,” he said. “All of a sudden I started to slide down and I got caught and that’s when I felt it.” He limped off the field, and a doctor popped the toe back into place. Griffey had been on a tear heading into that trip, hitting safely in 15 consecutive games.

— Associated Press