IN BRIEF

GOLF

Woods says he won't swing club until 2009

Tiger Woods said he isn't going to be physically able to swing a club until 2009, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

Woods, who underwent reconstructive left knee surgery after winning the U.S. Open in June, wrote on his Web site that he has begun riding a stationary bicycle to start his rehabilitation, but that he won't try to get back to practicing and swing a club any time soon.

"As far as swinging a club, that's not going to happen until next year," Woods wrote in a blog on tigerwoods.com. "I just don't have a choice."

Also: Luke Donald had surgery on his left wrist and will miss the remainder of the season, officially ending any hopes of playing on Europe's Ryder Cup team.

Donald was forced to miss the final two majors of the year. The 30-year-old from England has played on the last two Ryder Cup teams and has a 5-1-1 record.

BASEBALL

51s can't hold off Rainiers in PCL loss

The 51s blew a three-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning, losing 7-6 to the Tacoma Rainiers in a Pacific Coast League game in Tacoma, Wash.

Xavier Paul's solo homer gave Las Vegas (64-60) a 6-3 lead in the top of the ninth, but reliever Dwayne Pollok couldn't make it stand up in the bottom of the inning.

Pollok gave up a run on three straight singles and a walk before inducing a forceout at home. But a fielding error by second baseman Blake Dewitt allowed two more runs to score to tie the game.

Greg Miller then relieved Pollok with the bases loaded and walked Oswaldo Navarro, bringing Shawn Garrett in with the winning run for Tacoma (65-58).

MISCELLANEOUS

Islanders turn to AHL, hire Gordon as coach

The New York Islanders hired Scott Gordon, the American Hockey League coach of the year with the Providence Bruins, to replace dismissed coach Ted Nolan.

Gordon emerged as the choice of general manager Garth Snow after an extensive search following Nolan's departure July 14.

Also: Brett Hull and longtime New York Rangers Brian Leetch and Mike Richter will lead the 2008 class of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.

The four-member group includes Cammi Granato, the all-time scoring leader for the U.S. women's hockey team with 343 points in 205 games.

Mike Skinner will take over Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 00 Toyota in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, replacing rookie Michael McDowell for the next three races.

Two Nebraska wrestlers, including one who won an NCAA championship in 2007, have been dismissed from the team after posing naked for videos and photographs on an Internet pornography site.

Paul Donahoe, a national champion in 2007, and Kenny Jordan were let go three days after a blog posted images of them taken from Fratmentv.com, a Web site featuring naked or partially clothed male athletes.

Suspended boxer Joey Gilbert of Reno agreed to pay a $10,000 fine for a positive steroid test as part of a settlement with the Nevada Athletic Commission that will allow him to return to the ring as soon as Sept. 22.

Gilbert agreed to the fine and a one-year suspension retroactive to his last fight nearly a year ago. In exchange, the panel dropped all but one charge related to a banned substance found in his system -- a metabolite from an anabolic steroid.

The WNBA's Detroit Shock acquired six-time All-Star Taj McWilliams-Franklin from the Washington Mystics for forwards Tasha Humphrey and Shay Murphy and a 2009 second-round draft pick.

The UNLV women's soccer team, the four-time defending Mountain West Conference champion, was picked to finish second in the conference's preseason poll, with Brigham Young favored to win the title.