Graeme Mcdowell

Tiger Woods is out of the top 50 in the world golf rankings for the first time in nearly 15 years. Woods, who hasn't won in nearly two years, was assured of dropping from the top 50 when Louis Oosthuizen finished in a three-way tie for fifth in the Dunhill Links Championship on Sunday at St. Andrews, Scotland. That ends a streak of 778 consecutive weeks inside the top 50, dating to when Woods was No. 61 on Oct. 13, 1996. Woods, who has not played since missing the cut at the PGA Championship, returns to competition this week at the Frys.com Open at CordeValle in Northern California.

Brendan Haywood is coming back to the Dallas Mavericks — as the starting center. Haywood agreed Thursday to a $55-million, six-year contract, according to a person familiar with negotiations. The person spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because details were still being finalized. Dallas acquired the 7-footer from Washington as part of a blockbuster deal at the trade deadline last season. He was a big part of the Mavericks getting on a roll soon after, but down the stretch he lost playing time — and his starting job — to Erick Dampier . The Mavericks have been planning to trade or cut Dampier.

Golf has been no elixir for Tiger Woods .… His numbers still astound, but not in a good way.… For the first time in 12 years, by the way, Woods is playing in a major championship in which someone else is favored.… Step right up, Phil Mickelson .… Golf's four reigning major champions represent four continents: Asia ( Y.E. Yang ), Africa ( Louis Oosthuizen ), Europe ( Graeme McDowell ) and North America (Mickelson).… Renegade JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater's reclaiming his job seems more likely than a third consecutive October matchup between the Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Writers from around Tribune Co. discuss the Ryder Cup, which starts Friday at Medinah Country Club near Chicago. Check back throughout the day for more of their responses and join the conversation by voting in the poll and leaving a comment of your own. Jeff Shain, Orlando Sentinel Predicting Sunday's final score at Medinah might be easier than picking the winner. Let's call it 14 1/2 to 13 1/2, same as two years ago in Wales. Yes, it'll be that close. The underdog almost always plays above its rank in these matches - and with every golfer among the world's 35 best, there's no true underdog.

Roger Federer turned his high-profile, season-ending match against Rafael Nadal into little more than an exhibition. Federer gave his rival little chance to mount a challenge in the 22nd meeting between two of the greatest players of all time, winning his fifth season-ending title, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, in the ATP World Tour Finals on Sunday at London. Federer won an incredible 92% of the points played on his first serve in the final, and lost only 13 points on serve in the entire match.

Golf has been no elixir for Tiger Woods .… His numbers still astound, but not in a good way.… For the first time in 12 years, by the way, Woods is playing in a major championship in which someone else is favored.… Step right up, Phil Mickelson .… Golf's four reigning major champions represent four continents: Asia ( Y.E. Yang ), Africa ( Louis Oosthuizen ), Europe ( Graeme McDowell ) and North America (Mickelson).… Renegade JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater's reclaiming his job seems more likely than a third consecutive October matchup between the Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies.

The University of Miami's two-week coaching search has ended: Al Golden will be the Hurricanes' next football coach. Golden, 41, and Miami reached an agreement Sunday for the Temple coach to replace Randy Shannon , who was fired Nov. 27, a high-level school source with knowledge of the situation told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. According to the source, details of the contract still needed to be finalized as of early Sunday night. Another source told the Associated Press that it's believed the deal will be for at least four years and is worth up to $8 million.

Bubba Watson overpowered two-time champion Geoff Ogilvy on Friday and rolled into the quarterfinals of the Match Play Championship with a performance so dominant that he has played only 43 holes in three days in Marana, Ariz. Ogilvy had little chance against Watson, who was seven under par through 13 holes and ended up with a six-and-four win. Martin Kaymer of Germany had to rally against Hunter Mahan to reach the quarterfinals. He was two down with six holes remaining but then won two holes, pulled ahead with an eight-foot birdie on No. 16, then closed out the match when Mahan hit a poor chip on the 17th hole.

Reporting from Bethesda, Md. — The U.S. Open likes its status as the toughest of the tough. If triple bogeys outnumbered birdies here at Congressional, United States Golf Assn. officials would be thrilled. Veteran pro Jeff Overton played a practice round Tuesday, stood next to the 18th green, gazed back up its hill after he had finished, and said, "They could make this so that seven over par would win. Easy. " The course will play 7,574 yards, or 300 more than the last time they tortured the players here, in 1997.

Maybe it was appropriate that Tiger Woods' charity golf tournament, so emotionally charged when it started with the saga of Woods' personal affairs, ultimately would end up in the hands of Jim Furyk. So stoic and single-minded about his game that he couldn't remember blowing last year's Chevron World Challenge, Furyk this year shut out the noise about the problems afflicting the world's No. 1 golfer -- including Woods' withdrawal from his own tournament -- and went about the business of playing winning golf.