Golf

Match Play starts Wednesday

Tiger Woods must be mellowing with age.

There was a time when a comment from his opponent in the Match Play Championship, even tongue-in-cheek, would be an extra bit of motivation Woods didn't need. Most famous at this event was in 2006, when Stephen Ames was asked about playing Woods and said anything could happen, adding with a big smile, "Especially where he's hitting it."

Woods crushed Ames 9 and 8, the most lopsided score in tournament history.

But that was when Woods was ranked No. 1 in the world. He is the No. 19 seed this week at Dove Mountain in Marana, Ariz., and hasn't won an official PGA Tour event in more than two years.

So when Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, who faces Woods in the opening round Wednesday, said his opponent is "beatable," Woods didn't seem bothered.

"I feel exactly the same way as he does," the 36-year-old Woods said. "I feel he's beatable, too."

England's Luke Donald, the top seed in the field of 64, opens against Ernie Els of South Africa.

Kyle Stanley of Gig Harbor is seeded 49th and faces No. 16 K.J. Choi of South Korea.

College football

Junker pleads guilty to felony

John Junker, the Fiesta Bowl's former top executive, pleaded guilty to a felony charge stemming from a political-donations scandal that nearly jeopardized the bowl's role as one of the hosts of the BCS National Championship Game.

Junker entered the plea in Phoenix for his role in soliciting political contributions from Fiesta Bowl employees, a development that will likely help federal and state investigations into the scheme. He will be sentenced April 26.

A 276-page bowl-investigation report found the "apparent scheme" to reimburse at least $46,539 for employees' political contributions. It also reported lavish spending by Junker.

Auto racing

Mayfield says he is innocent

Former NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield said new criminal charges against him are "baseless" and suggested he is the target of a conspiracy involving NASCAR and law-enforcement officials.

Indictments by a North Carolina grand jury charged Mayfield with three counts of possessing property stolen from businesses and a fourth charge of obtaining property by false pretense.

Mayfield, 42, issued a statement through his attorneys saying he is innocent.

"For some reason, the district attorney's office simply ignored our offers to explain the sources of the items seized from my property and chose, instead, to indict," Mayfield said.

Mayfield was suspended from NASCAR after failing a random drug test in May 2009. He was in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., last month to argue his suit seeking reinstatement as a NASCAR driver should be heard by the courts. A lower-court judge dismissed Mayfield's suit in 2010 because he had twice — as a driver and owner — signed documents in order to race waiving his right to sue.

Soccer

Chelsea loses match in Italy

Chelsea of England lost 3-1 at Napoli of Italy in the first leg of a total-goals, home-and-home, second-round UEFA Champions League series.

Ezequiel Lavezzi scored twice for Napoli.

"We will analyze strongly what we did wrongly because a couple of things need to get better," Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas said.

Chelsea captain John Terry, who hurt his knee last month, is to have surgery Wednesday and is expected to miss at least four weeks.

Meanwhile, Pontus Wernbloom scored on the last play of stoppage time as CSKA Moscow held visiting Real Madrid of Spain to a 1-1 draw.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored in the 28th minute for Real Madrid.

Skiing

Mancuso wins World Cup event

Julia Mancuso of Squaw Valley, Calif., and Alexis Pinturault of France dominated the parallel-slalom World Cup races on a ramp in Moscow.

Mancuso beat Michaela Kirchgasser of Austria in both final runs in the lone city event on the alpine circuit this season. Overall World Cup leader Lindsey Vonn finished third. Vonn, who is from Vail, Colo., lost to Mancuso in the semifinals.

The top 16 men and women in the standings competed on a 564-foot-long ramp with 18 gates.

Pinturault edged Felix Neureuther of Germany by 0.17 seconds in the second run of the final to earn his first career World Cup title.

Elsewhere

• Basketball legend Magic Johnson, in partnership with family-oriented channel GMC TV, will lead a Comcast cable-television network called Aspire that will launch this summer. Aspire will dedicate itself to enlightening and positive programming aimed at black families.

• Wide receiver Davonte Neal of Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Ariz., signed a letter of intent with Notre Dame. He was considered the highest-rated recruit still unsigned by many analysts.

• WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko of Ukraine wants to fight Britain's Dereck Chisora again — so he can knock him out.

Klitschko beat Chisora on points in Munich, Germany, on Saturday — a victory overshadowed by the challenger's conduct outside the ring.

Chisora brawled at a postfight news conference with former WBA champion David Haye and later apologized.

"My ego, something deep inside, tells me quite clearly that I still need to give this man real punishment," Klitschko said.

• University of Minnesota-Duluth officials scolded student fans of the hockey team after receiving reports they directed offensive chants at the North Dakota Fighting Sioux during Feb. 10 and Feb. 11 games in Duluth.

The reported chants followed North Dakota's return to using the Fighting Sioux nickname.

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