KAPALUA, Hawaii — Jonathan Byrd started the new year the way he ended the old one — with a victory.
Byrd opened the PGA Tour season Sunday by winning the Tournament of Champions in a sudden- death playoff against Robert Garrigus, who missed a 3-foot par putt on the second extra hole.
Byrd won his last event of the 2010 season in Las Vegas by making a hole-in-one in a three-man playoff. Instead of more heroics at Kapalua, he had to rely on his opponent’s misfortunes.
Byrd twice had birdie putts on the par-5 18th hole for the win and missed. On the par-4 first hole in the playoff, Byrd’s 50-foot birdie narrowly missed. Garrigus ran it by 3 feet and his par putt to extend the playoff hit the right lip.
It was the fifth win of Byrd’s career, and it earned him a trip to the Masters and the U.S. Open.
Nevada caps season with bowl win
SAN FRANCISCO — Rishard Marshall caught a touchdown pass and returned a punt for another score, and No. 13 Nevada used a strong defensive effort to cap its most successful season ever at college football’s highest level by beating Boston College 20-13 in the Fight Hunger Bowl.
Colin Kaepernick threw for 192 yards and a touchdown for the Wolf Pack (13-1), who snapped a four-game bowl losing streak by tying a school record for wins in a season set when the school played in what used to be Division I-AA.
This game matched BC’s top- ranked rushing defense against Nevada’s high-powered pistol attack that was third in the nation in rushing. The Eagles (7-6) did a good job controlling the Wolf Pack on the ground, holding them to a season- low 114 yards — more than 190 below their season average.
• Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green is giving up his senior season to enter the 2011 NFL draft.
The decision Green announced Sunday had been expected because he was projected as one of the top picks in the April 28-30 draft, even after a four-game NCAA suspension at the start of his junior season for selling a bowl jersey for $1,000 to someone deemed an agent.
• A person familiar with Patrick Peterson‘s decision said LSU’s All-America cornerback will enter the NFL draft.
Cavs lose Varejao for season
CLEVELAND — Cleveland center Anderson Varejao is done for the NBA season with a torn ankle tendon that will require surgery.
Varejao got hurt while running in practice Thursday as the Cavs prepared for a five-game road trip. He was placed in a walking boot and traveled with the team. He missed Friday’s game against Golden State as team doctors waited for his injury to “calm down.” On Sunday, he underwent a second MRI in Phoenix that revealed “a complete tear of the peroneus longus in the midfoot of the right ankle and foot.”
• Los Angeles Lakers forward Matt Barnes is likely to have surgery Tuesday to repair torn cartilage in his right knee, an injury expected to sideline him for several weeks.
• Charlotte Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace is hopeful of returning Wednesday from a left ankle injury that has sidelined him for much of the past month. The Associated Press
