Golf
HUMBLE, Texas – Dustin Johnson has withdrawn from the Shell Houston Open to rest from his five-day victory in Match Play.
Johnson won his third consecutive tournament Sunday when he won two matches that went the distance, a 1-up victory over Hideto Tanihara in the semifinals and a 1-up victory over Jon Rahm in a championship match that Johnson had led 5 up with 10 holes to play.
Johnson noted that he has played seven rounds in the last five days, and he thinks he should give his mind and body a break going into the Masters.
Olympics
STAMFORD, Conn. – NBC says it will broadcast all primetime programming from the Pyeongchang Olympics live across all time zones, a first for the Winter Games.
NBC President of Olympics Production and Programming Jim Bell says the move was made to enhance the “communal experience” of Olympic viewing, and says it “means social media won’t be ahead of the action.”
The network will have primetime broadcasts at 8 p.m. EST on most nights, followed by local news and then “Primetime Plus” programming with more live coverage.
Pyeongchang, South Korea, will be 12 hours ahead of the Mountain Time during the Olympics.
Skiing
CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine – Hig Roberts won the men’s giant slalom in the U.S. Alpine Championships on Tuesday at foggy Sugarloaf Mountain for his first national title.
He edged seven-time national champion Tim Jitloff by .14 seconds.
Roberts was third after the first run behind Ryan Cochran-Siegle and Jitloff. Cochran-Siegle had nearly a half-second lead after a rainy, challenging first run but he was unable to complete his next run.
Jitloff won his first national giant slalom title at Sugarloaf in 2008 and was victorious on the Narrow Gauge course in 2015. Cochran-Siegle, the son of 1972 Olympic slalom gold medalist Barbara Ann Cochran, won the super G title on Saturday for his first national title.
PRAGUE – Sarka Strachova, the 2007 slalom world champion, says she is retiring from skiing.
The 32-year-old slalom specialist announced her decision on Tuesday in Prague. She said she had “an extremely inner feeling that the right moment to say goodbye has come.”
Besides the gold in Are, Sweden, she also took silver at the 2009 world championships in Val d’Isere, France, and a couple of bronze medals in 2005 and 2015.
At the 2010 Olympics Vancouver, Strachova won bronze.
Soccer
ZURICH – Lionel Messi has been banned from Argentina’s next four World Cup qualifiers, starting with Tuesday’s game in Bolivia.
FIFA says Messi was banned for verbally abusing an assistant referee during a home qualifier against Chile on Thursday.
FIFA intervened when the incident was not initially reported by the Brazilian referee after Argentina’s 1-0 win at Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires.
It was judged a red-card offense for Messi, who scored the only goal from a first-half penalty.
Television pictures showed Messi reacting angrily late in the game when the assistant flagged him for a foul. He waved his arms and shouted profane insults at the Brazilian official.
After the game, Messi refused to shake hands with the assistant who had annoyed him.
Associated Press
