In Brief

UNLV's Derek Ernst won two matches Friday to reach the final of the U.S. Amateur Public Links in Bandon, Ore.

Ernst, a senior this fall for Rebels coach Dwaine Knight, will play qualifying medalist Corbin Mills in today's 36-hole championship.

Ernst, a Clovis, Calif., player who won the 2010 and 2011 Mountain West Conference titles for UNLV, routed Oregon's Daniel Miernicki 6 and 4 in the quarterfinals, then beat former Mississippi standout Jonathan Randolph 3 and 2 in the semifinals.

Mills, a 21-year-old Clemson player from Easley, S.C., beat Oregon's Andrew Vijarro 4 and 3 in the quarterfinals, then topped Georgia's Harris English 5 and 3 in the semifinals.

Also: With five birdies in his final six holes, K.J. Choi shot a 6-under-par 64 to match the lowest score in the two years the AT&T National has been played at Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pa.

Choi's round gave him a two-shot lead over former UNLV All-American Chris Riley, Charlie Wi, Justin Leonard and Bo Van Pelt.

Already having a big year with his win at The Players Championship, Choi was at 7-under 133 going into the weekend.

John Cook and John Huston shot 9-under 63s to match the course record and share the first-round lead in the Montreal Championship, the Champions Tour's lone Canadian event.

Cook, a two-time winner this year, and Huston, coming off his first victory on the 50-and-over tour, each had 10 birdies and a bogey on the Fontainebleau Golf Club course in Blainville, Quebec. They matched the course mark set last year by D.A. Weibring in the inaugural tournament.

James Morrison of England shot a 5-under 66 to take a one-shot lead after the second round of the French Open in Saint-Quentin-En-Yvelines.

Richard Green of Australia had a 68 to stand in second place behind Morrison's total of 10-under 132.

COLLEGE ATHLETICS

Utah celebrates its new
BCS status with Pac-12

The Utah Utes are BCS busters no more.

A celebration at the state capitol in Salt Lake City marked Utah's transition from the Mountain West Conference to the Pac-12, one of the six Bowl Championship Series conferences. Nearly 2,000 people gathered to listen to Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott and a host of other dignitaries.

Scott said Utah, which was the first non-BCS school to play in a BCS bowl game, brings a healthy combination of academic and athletic success to make the school a perfect fit in the league.

"They're very competitive across the board right away," Scott said. "They've certainly demonstrated that in football. They've got a pretty impressive record in terms of BCS games and their success in bowls."

Other schools joining new conferences Friday: Nebraska moved from the Big 12 to the Big Ten, and Boise State moved from the Western Athletic Conference to the Mountain West.

Also: Former UNLV basketball coach Lon Kruger will have 20 hours of private plane usage and bonuses of up to $175,000 under terms of his new contract as Oklahoma's coach.

Kruger's seven-year, $16.6 million deal includes a bonus structure that will pay him $25,000 for reaching the NCAA Tournament and up to $175,000 for leading the Sooners to the national championship.

In essence, Kruger will make an additional $25,000 bonus for each NCAA Tournament game Oklahoma wins. He would get $50,000 for getting the team to the second round, $75,000 for the third round and so on.

Notre Dame will pay a $42,000 fine for six safety violations, make an undisclosed contribution to a memorial for a student videographer who died at football practice and start a campaign on the hazards of scissor lifts as part of a settlement with the state of Indiana.

Notre Dame had originally been fined $77,500, and the most serious charge against it was that it knowingly put its employees in an unsafe situation and failed to heed National Weather Service warnings on a day when wind speeds reached 53 mph.

The settlement reduces the charge from a knowing violation to a serious violation.

PRO HOCKEY

Jagr, shunned by Pens,
signs deal with Flyers

The NHL's free-agency period began, and the biggest name to find a new home was 39-year-old Jaromir Jagr, who landed a deal with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Jagr is returning to the NHL from Russia's Kontinental Hockey League after a three-season stint.

All signs pointed to Jagr going back to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the team he broke in with and helped win the Stanley Cup twice during his early years with Mario Lemieux. But the Penguins pulled their reported $2 million off the table, and Detroit subsequently announced that it also was out of the running.

Soon after, the Flyers announced they came to terms with the big forward on a one-year, $3.3 million contract. Jagr has 646 goals and 1,599 points in 18 NHL seasons.

Former Dallas Stars center Brad Richards is considered the cream of a small elite crop of players on the open market. Dozens of other players reached deals in the first few hours of the shopping season.

Teams had plenty of money to spend, working under a new salary cap ceiling of $64.3 million -- a $4.9 million increase over last season.

By Friday night, the highly coveted Richards still hadn't cashed in and picked a new team to join. He was wooed all day long while sitting in his agent's office in Mississauga, Ontario, welcoming some teams who made in-person pitches.

The New York Rangers and Toronto were considered the favorites to eventually land him.

MISCELLANEOUS

Lakers' Bryant gets help
for arthritic right knee

Kobe Bryant underwent a procedure in Germany to try to strengthen his arthritic right knee, according to a report.

Citing four unidentified sources familiar with the situation, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Lakers superstar had a procedure about a month ago that is a derivation of platelet-rich plasma therapy. The Times said PRP procedures are less invasive than many surgeries involving the knee.

Bryant, who turns 33 next month, has been bothered by an arthritic joint in his right knee. He has undergone three other knee procedures since 2003, including surgery last July to remove unspecified loose bodies.

Also: Nike re-signed Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick to an endorsement deal, nearly four years after dropping him amid his legal troubles.

Nike, which signed Vick as a rookie in 2001, terminated his contract in August 2007 after he filed a plea agreement admitting his involvement in a dogfighting ring. Vick spent 21 months in prison.

Terms were not released.

"Michael acknowledges his past mistakes," Nike said in a statement. "We do not condone those actions, but we support the positive changes he has made to better himself off the field."

Centennial High School football player Trajan Pili said he has made an oral commitment to Brigham Young.

Pili, who will be a junior defensive end and tight end for the Bulldogs next season, was recruited by BYU as an outside linebacker. He plans to sign a national letter of intent with the Cougars in February 2013.

"They rarely give verbal offers to sophomores, so I was excited," said Pili, who made 48 tackles as a sophomore. "It feels like all the hard work since I was young has paid off."

Bishop Gorman baseball standout Joey Gallo was named to the USA Baseball 18U National Team. Gallo, who will be a senior infielder and pitcher at Gorman next season, was the Las Vegas Review-Journal's state player of the year as a junior after he batted .471 with 25 home runs and 78 RBIs.