Off the wire

GOLF

Woods voted player of year

Tiger Woods has been voted PGA Tour player of the year for the 11th time. The Tour announced the results of player voting Friday morning. It doesn’t release the percentage of votes or who finished second. Woods was on the Jack Nicklaus Award ballot with British Open champion Phil Mickelson, Masters champion Adam Scott, FedEx Cup champion Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar. Jordan Spieth won rookie of the year after starting the season with no status and finishing 10th on the PGA Tour money list. Woods won five times this year - no one else won more than twice. It’s the third time he has won the award without having won a major. Since the award began in 1990, no one else has won it more than twice.

Chesson Hadley and Andrew Svoboda did well enough Friday to think about a return to Sawgrass next May. Hadley had six birdies in his round of 4-under 66 on the Valley Course at the TPC Sawgrass to take a two-shot lead over Joe Durant going into the weekend at the Web.com Tour Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Svoboda had a 67 and was among those three shots behind. The leader of the special money list from the four tournaments that determine PGA Tour cards for the 2013-14 season is exempt into The Players Championship on the more famous Stadium Course with the richest purse in golf. Durant had a 67 to boost his hopes of earning one of 25 tour cards available Sunday from the four-tournament money list. Durant, a past champion on the PGA Tour, turns 50 next year and will move to the Champions Tour. Scott Gardiner (Farmington) had four birdies and two bogeys for a 2-under 68 and a two-round total of 135, placing him in a four-way tie for fifth place. Tag Ridings (Arkansas Razorbacks) had five birdies and three bogeys for a 2-under 68 (139) and is tied for 35th. Glen Day (Little Rock) had three birdies and three bogeys for an even par round of 70 (140), just making the cut and is tied for 55th.

Peter Uihlein came 3 inches away from shooting the first 59 on the European Tour on Friday when his eagle putt on the last hole came up just wide at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. The American tapped in for birdie for a 12-under 60, equaling the course record at Kingsbarns but falling just short of getting his name in the record book. He was still two shots behind clubhouse leader Tom Lewis, who shot a 7-under 65 on St. Andrews for a 15-under total of 129. The players alternate between St. Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie over the first three days. Lewis birdied three of his closing five holes to break clear of a crowded leaderboard. Joost Luiten of the Netherlands was a shot back after finishing his round with four consecutive birdies for a 63 on Kingsbarns. Ken Duke (Arkadelphia, Henderson State) had an even-par round of 72 and a 3-under total of 141 at St. Andrews. He plays today on the Carnoustie course, the most difficult of the three courses.

Bernhard Langer birdied his first four holes and finished with a 9-under 63 to open a four-stroke lead in the Champions Tour’s First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, Calif. The German star, a two-time winner this year on the 50-andover tour, had nine birdies in his bogey-free round at Del Monte Country Club. He had a 6-under 30 on the back nine - his opening nine. Defending champion Kirk Triplett, Tom Lehman, Andrew Magee, Mark McNulty and Doug Garwood were tied for second at 67. They also all played at Del Monte. Fred Couples shot 68 at Del Monte. The final round Sunday will be played at Pebble Beach.

MOTOR SPORTS Sochi to host F1 race

The Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi is set to host its first Formula One grand prix next year after motorsport’s governing body published a provisional calendar including a record 22 races. The calendar will not be finalized until December, but it’s expected Sochi will hold the race on Oct. 5. New Jersey and Mexico - which last hosted a race in 1992 - have been included as provisional venues. If approved, New Jersey would be on June 1 and Mexico the penultimate race on Nov. 16. The previous record number of races is 20, with 19 this year, and teams have expressed reluctance about the demands so many races would entail. The calendar was released Friday by the FIA following a World Motorsport Council meeting in Croatia. The Australian GP in Melbourne will start the season on March 16, followed by the Malaysian GP on March 30 and the Bahrain GP on April 6. Listed after the Chinese GP, the Korean GP on April 27 is the third race marked as provisional, meaning it is subject to contract and track approval by the FIA. There is growing interest in F1 of returning to Mexico with two Mexican drivers - Sergio Perez (McLaren) and newcomer Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber) - racing in F1. The race is scheduled to be sandwiched between the United States GP in Austin, Texas, on Nov. 9 and Brazilian GP on Nov. 30.

Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan will not return to KV Racing next season and is finalizing a deal to join Chip Ganassi Racing, The Associated Press has learned. Two people familiar with Kanaan’s plan said Friday that the Brazilian is nearing a signed contract with Ganassi. They spoke on condition of anonymity because Ganassi has not announced the move. The 38-yearold Kanaan will join a lineup that includes Charlie Kimball and Indy 500 winners Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon. Franchitti and Dixon have combined to win six IndyCar titles, and Kanaan won it in 2004. Kanaan repeatedly said he wanted to keep his core team at KV Racing together but expressed frustration with the economic hardships in IndyCar. KV Racing had presented him with a deal in which he did not have to bring any sponsorship money to the team - Kanaan has had to bring money with him in the past and has long felt as a veteran that he should not have to - but he rejected the offer.

TENNIS

Kvitova advances to final

Petra Kvitova rallied to defeat Venus Williams 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2) on Friday and advance to the final of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. The seventh-seeded Kvitova dominated the tiebreak, jumping out to a 6-0 lead. Williams won the next two points before the Czech player capitalized on her third match point. Williams had been bidding for her first title since winning in Luxembourg last October. “I was probably a little tired,” said Williams, who endured a three-hour, three-setter on Thursday.

Cubans can sign with foreign teams

HAVANA - Cuba announced Friday that athletes from all sports will soon be able to sign contracts with foreign leagues, a break with a decades-old policy that held pro sports to be anathema to socialist ideals.

It’s a step toward the day when the road from Havana to Yankee Stadium might mean simply hopping on a plane rather than attempting a perilous sea crossing or sneaking out of a hotel at midnight in a strange land.

But American baseball fans shouldn’t throw their Dodgers or Rockies caps in the air in celebration just yet. The Cold War-era embargo against Cuba means it may not happen anytime soon.

If it does come to pass, it could increase - astronomically, in some cases - the amount of money Cuban baseball players can earn.

Athletes’ wages are not made public in Cuba but are believed to be somewhere around the $20 a month that most other state employees earn - a tiny fraction of the millions many U.S. big leaguers make.

“It’s the dream of many athletes to test themselves in other leagues - the big leagues, if at some point my country would allow it,” said Yasmani Tomas, who is one of Cuba’s top talents,batting .345 last season with the powerhouse Havana Industriales.

Under the new policy, athletes will be eligible to play abroad as long as they fulfill their commitments at home, the Communist Party newspaper Granma reported. For baseball players, that means being available for international competitions as well as Cuba’s November-to-April league.

President Raul Castro’s government clearly hopes the move will stem defections by athletes who are lured abroad by the possibility of lucrative contracts, a practice that saps talent from Cuba’s teams.

“I think this could help stop the desertions a little bit,” said Yulieski Gourriel, a talented 29-year-old third baseman who batted .314 last year for Sancti Spiritus.

A number of his countrymen, however, are interested.

Cuban defectors now in the majors include Yasiel Puig, who signed a seven-year, $42 million contract with the Dodgers and had a sensational rookie season, helping Los Angeles win its division. Aroldis Chapman, the hard-throwing reliever, is making just over $5 million a year with the Cincinnati Reds.