In Brief

GOLF

Garcia barely qualifies for spot
in U.S. Open; Singh won't play

Sergio Garcia changed his mind about U.S. Open qualifying, and it paid off Monday when he earned a spot at Congressional by surviving a seven-man playoff.

Vijay Singh also changed his mind and didn't show up in Columbus, Ohio, for the 36-hole qualifier. Now he's likely to miss a major championship for the first time in 17 years.

Garcia, who has fallen to No. 75 in the world, said only last month that he wouldn't go through qualifying. But he shot rounds of 68-67 at Tunica National in Memphis, Tenn., then got one of the four spots in a playoff to extend his streak in the majors to 47 straight.

Singh's streak of 67 consecutive majors -- dating to the 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont -- ended with his no-show. According to the PGA Tour's website, he is no longer part of the field at the St. Jude Classic, and there is no other way for him to get into the U.S. Open.

On a day of 11 qualifiers across the country, Arnold Palmer's grandson, Sam Saunders, earned his first trip to the U.S. Open, which starts June 16 at Congressional.

Also: Colin Montgomerie could miss the British Open for the first time in 22 years after finishing last in a qualifying event. Montgomerie shot 6-over 145 at the 36-hole event in London to finish 18 shots behind winner Graeme Storm.

colleges

New Mountain West slogan proclaims, 'This is our time'

The Mountain West Conference is focusing less on the mountain and more on the West. It's no longer proclaiming itself to be above the rest.

The conference unveiled a new logo and slogan as it prepares to lose Utah and Brigham Young and add high-profile Boise State to its lineup of schools for 2011.

In 2012, the Mountain West will lose Texas Christian and gain Hawaii in football only, and UNR and Fresno State in all sports.

The new logo is a block MW in purple and gray that has a 3-D look to it, and doesn't include the word "conference."

The new slogan is, "This is our time." The old one was "Above the rest," which had as much to do with the altitude of several of its schools as anything else.

The logo -- which looks the same right-side up or upside down -- even has a nickname: "The Rock," because it supposedly invokes comparisons to the Rock of Gibraltar.

Also: Krista Donnenwirth hit two of Arizona State's four homers and drove in four runs, and the Sun Devils routed Florida 14-4 in the opener of the best-of-3 Women's College World Series finals in Oklahoma City.

miscellaneous

Unapologetic Childress fined $150,000 for assaulting Busch

Richard Childress was fined $150,000 for assaulting Kyle Busch, the latest incident in an ongoing feud between NASCAR's most polarizing driver and Childress' race teams.

NASCAR also placed Childress on probation through the end of the year, finding the team owner solely at fault for Saturday's incident at Kansas Speedway.

The 65-year-old grandfather apparently approached Busch after the Trucks race, placed him in a headlock and punched him several times.

Childress, who dodged a suspension from NASCAR, was upset that Busch had bumped into Joey Coulter on the cool-down lap after the race. He said in a statement that he accepts the penalty, but he did not apologize for his actions.

Also: Serena Williams is returning to the WTA tour after nearly a year off because of various health issues. Williams will begin her comeback at a grass-court tournament in Eastbourne, England next week. She then will defend her title at Wimbledon, which begins June 20.

A few days after her 2010 Wimbledon victory, Williams cut her foot on glass at a restaurant. She wound up having two operations because of that and later was treated for a blood clot in her lung.

NFL owners asked a federal court in Minnesota to dismiss the players' antitrust lawsuit against the league.

The filing was largely a procedural matter, coming on the same day the league's response to the players' amended complaint was due.

U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson scheduled a hearing on the motion for Sept. 12, four days after the scheduled start of the NFL regular season, a factor that could put more pressure on the owners and players to get a deal done outside of the courtroom.

Marv Albert is returning to the NFL, whenever the lockout ends. The longtime play-by-play announcer is joining the NFL team at CBS.

Fox made its pitch for the next set of U.S. Olympic television rights, saying it wants to bid on a four-games package through 2020 in the high-stakes battle worth billions of dollars with incumbent NBC and ESPN.

NBC and ESPN/ABC will make their case today to the International Olympic Committee.