TIGER Woods will hope familiarity helps him recapture his form at Augusta National this week as the 15-time major winner aims to repeat the magic of his stunning Masters win last year.

FORTY-EIGHT NBA players tested positive for COVID-19, the league said on Wednesday, as players returned to their team’s home markets for the start of the 2020-21 season on Dec. 22.

OVERNIGHT leader Hinako Shibuno of Japan put in her shakiest round yet at the US Women’s Open on Saturday, but still managed to maintain a one stroke lead heading into the final round of the major championship.

AUSTIN Rivers hit a 3-pointer that gave the New York Knicks the lead for good late in the fourth quarter Saturday night and added the clinching layup with 35.3 seconds remaining as the Knicks surprised the host Indiana Pacers, 106-102.

Head coach Doc Rivers was most certainly being disingenuous when he called attention to the National Basketball Association’s decision to push through with the Sixers’ homestand against the Nuggets yesterday. “I don’t think we should [play], but it’s not for me to express that,” he argued. He just did, of course, with his convenient sidestep enabling him to steer clear of possible sanction from the Commissioner’s Office for speaking his mind on a development that, for all his protestation, followed standing health and safety protocols.

Depending on perspective, Doug Pederson’s firing by the Eagles was either shocking or but a logical offshoot of a lost season. Around this time three years ago, he stood on top of the National Football League; he was hailed as a progressive head coach who bested the vaunted Patriots, featuring all-time-great bench tactician Bill Belichick, in the Super Bowl. Now, he’s a declared has-been who supposedly performed so badly as to tarnish the franchise’s singular accomplishment. To his critics, he didn’t simply run his charges down to the ground in the league’s worst division; he did so in a manner that embarrassed all and sundry.

SPORTS trailblazers Billie Jean King, Megan Rapinoe and Lewis Hamilton were among those hailing the inauguration of US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday, saying they hoped the new administration can foster a more inclusive society.

CRISTIANO Ronaldo was hailed as the most prolific professional goalscorer in the history of the game on Wednesday after notching his 760th senior goal to help Juventus beat Napoli 2-0 in the Italian Supercup.

THEY may be representing the Philippines in the reality television show The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition and out to make the country proud, but Lara Pearl Alvarez and Louie Sangalang are strongly pushing for their respective causes to emerge as the winner.

LOS ANGELES -- American Chris Stroud won the PGA Tour’s Barracuda Championship on Sunday, beating Richy Werenski and Greg Owen in a three-man playoff. Stroud...

The Pistons needed every single one of Blake Griffin’s career-high 50 points to upend the gritty Sixers in what was easily the best match on the National Basketball Association schedule yesterday. They did it on overtime, too, and absent Andre Drummond, their other All-Star, late in the match following an ejection on a second technical foul. And they were right to celebrate as if they won much more than just their third game of the young season; considering how they prevailed in the face of pressure, it’s clear that the free-wheeling style of play under new bench tactician Dwane Casey maximizes their athletic potential strengths.

LOS ANGELES -- LaMarcus Aldridge posted a double-double and paced the host San Antonio Spurs to a 96-89 victory over the Houston Rockets on Saturday in the first meeting this season between the Southwest Division rivals.