Off the wire

GOLF Johnson wins

Zach Johnson started the new year the same way he ended the last one. Johnson pulled away with three consecutive birdies on the back nine at Kapalua and closed with a 7-under 66 to win the Tournament of Champions on Monday in Kapalua, Hawaii. He didn’t need any heroics, like holing out from a drop zone when he beat Tiger Woods in the World Challenge last month. This was mainly about chipping and putting, and Johnson is among the best. He won by one shot over Jordan Spieth, who birdied the last two holes for a 69. It was Johnson’s third victory in his last six starts. This was his 11th career victory on the PGA Tour. Since his rookie year in 2004, only Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh have won more.

FOOTBALL Smith to play

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith said he’ll play Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC divisional playoffs. What he can’t predict is how his sprained left knee will feel during the game. Smith said Monday “it’s not about can I go. It’s about how confident do I feel when I am going. I will play Sunday. But it’s about how much I don’t worry about the knee - and that’s when the confidence increases.” Smith, 34, said the knee “felt good” after doing some cutting during a light practice Monday. He’s expected to test it out more thoroughly Wednesday. Smith, Carolina’s all-time leading in touchdowns, sprained his posterior cruciate ligament in Carolina’s Week 16 victory over New Orleans and sat out the regular season finale against Atlanta.

New England’s defense suffered another big blow Monday when the Patriots’ placed linebacker Brandon Spikes on injured reserve because of a knee injury five days before their playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts. Spikes, the Patriots’ second-leading tackler, is their fourth key defender to be sidelined for the season. The other three all went on injured reserve before the midpoint. Tackle Vince Wilfork played the first four games, tackle Tommy Kelly the first five and linebacker Jerod Mayo the first six. Wilfork has made five Pro Bowls and Mayo was chosen for two. Spikes has been playing with a knee injury for much of the season. He started but made just one tackle in the last regular-season game, a 34-20 victory over the Buffalo Bills. The Patriots host the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday. Dane Fletcher is likely to replace Spikes at middle linebacker between Dont’a Hightower and rookie Jamie Collins, a first-round draft pick. The Patriots have two other linebackers - Chris White, a special-teamer who has no defensive tackles in 16 games, and Steve Beauharnais, who has played just two games. Spikes is a strong run defender and had 134 tackles this season, three behind Hightower. The Patriots drafted Spikes in the second round in 2010 out of Florida.

Cincinnati offensive coordinator Jay Gruden and Vanderbilt Coach James Franklin are among the latest candidates for the Washington Redskins coaching job. Gruden said Monday that the Redskins were among several teams, including the Minnesota Vikings and Tennessee Titans, to request permission from the Bengals for an interview. Franklin is expected to interview with the Redskins this week. The team’s interest in him was confirmed by John Wooten of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, a group that encourages the hiring of minorities in the NFL. Others expected to draw interest from the Redskins include San Diego offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt, San Francisco offensive coordinator Greg Roman and Cincinnati defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer. The Redskins were scheduled to host New York Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell on Monday, making him the fifth known candidate to interview for the job.

The Indianapolis Colts signed former Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch six days before playing his ex-team in the divisional round. Branch, 5-9, 195 pounds, caught 518 passes for 6,644 yards and 39 touchdowns over a career spent mostly with the New England Patriots. Branch also has 64 receptions for 948 yards and 4 touchdowns in 17 postseason games. He won two Super Bowls and was MVP during the Pats’ third title run.

Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Mike Sherman was fired Monday, the first change by the team since missing the playoffs because of a late-season collapse. Coach Joe Philbin defended Sherman the day after the season, but owner Stephen Ross was expected to demand some sort of shakeup following the dismal finish. Sherman joined the Dolphins when Philbin was hired two years ago, and the two have been close for more than 30 years. But Sherman’s unit ranked 27th this season in the NFL in yards, allowed a franchise-record 58 sacks and scored once in its final 24 possessions. The Dolphins (8-8) would have made the playoffs if they had won one of their final two games against the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets. Instead, they were beaten by a combined score of 39-7.

Clemson’s record-setting wide receiver Sammy Watkins said he’s headed to the NFL. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound junior from Fort Myers, Fla., confirmed reports that he’s leaving school, saying Monday that he is entering May’s NFL draft. He finished his career as the most outstanding player of the Orange Bowl. He caught 16 passes for 227 yards and 2 touchdowns in No. 12 Clemson’s 40-35 victory over seventh-ranked Ohio State. Watkins is considered the top receiver prospect available and a top-15 selection in the NFL draft. Watkins leaves as the school’s all-time leader with 240 receptions, 3,391 receiving yards and 15 games with 100 or more yards. His 27 career touchdowns tied the Clemson mark of former teammate DeAndre Hopkins, who left after his junior season last year and became a first-round draft pick of the Houston Texans.

Quarterback Blake Bortles and running back Storm Johnson are heading to the NFL after leading to Central Florida to the most successful campaign in program history. In his second year as the Knights’ starter, Bortles helped UCF bounce back from a narrow early season loss to South Carolina to win end the season on a nine-game winning streak and upset victory over heavily favored Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl. Bortles finished 2013 passing for 3,581 yards and 25 touchdowns. The season followed a sophomore campaign in which he had 25 touchdowns and threw for more 3,059 yards. Johnson finished with 1,139 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2013.

UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley will return for his junior season. Hundley announced his decision Monday at a news conference on campus. He was the offensive MVP of the Bruins’ victory over Virginia Tech in the Sun Bowl last month in El Paso, Texas.

Former Kansas Coach Mark Mangino has been hired as the offensive coordinator at Iowa State. Mangino spent eight seasons as the coach at Kansas, winning national coach of the year honors in 2007 and leading the Jayhawks to a victory in the Orange Bowl, capping a 12-1 season. But Mangino was fired following the 2009 season amid accusations of treating his players poorly. Mangino was 50-48 at Kansas. He spent three seasons out of football before serving as the assistant head coach at Youngstown State last year.

Florida has hired veteran offensive line coach Mike Summers. Summers has coached offensive lines the last 12 years, working at Southern Cal in 2013. He also worked under Bobby Petrino at Arkansas in 2008-2009.

BASKETBALL Williams out

Guard Deron Williams missed the Brooklyn Nets’ game against Atlanta on Monday night because of a sprained left ankle. Coach Jason Kidd said Williams’ ankle swelled Sunday and he called trainer Tim Walsh. A magnetic resonance imaging scan was performed Monday that revealed the injury. Williams has already missed 11 games this season during two separate stints with the same injury. Kidd said he would be re-evaluated today.