President-elect Donald Trump boasted during the campaign he would need about 15 minutes to get a deal done between the PGA Tour and the Saudi investors of LIV Golf. That started with four hours on the golf course with PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan.

The Washington Post reported Monahan accepted an invitation from Trump to play golf last Friday at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The PGA Tour confirmed the outing in a statement.

The next day, Trump attended a UFC heavyweight championship in New York with Elon Musk and Yasir al-Rumayyan, the governor of Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, the financial support of the rival LIV tour that has caused the massive rift in the game.

Monahan and al-Rumayyan played golf together in the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland last month on the European tour.

The tour has not disclosed the nature of those discussions, and Monahan has not shared details even with key players to keep negotiations private.

The PGA Tour and PIF announced an agreement on June 6, 2023, for the Saudi sovereign wealth fund to become an investor in a new commercial venture by the PGA Tour. That quickly got the attention of the Justice Department, and while the agreement called for a Dec. 31 deadline, negotiations are still taking place.

boxing

Tyson-Paul fight draws record betting numbers

Jake Paul’s unanimous victory over former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson might have been disappointing from a competitive standpoint, but it drew record betting.

BetMGM said the fight between the YouTube star and the 58-year-old Tyson, who showed his age by being a sitting target, was its most-bet boxing or mixed-martial arts fight. The sportsbook took three times the number of bets and four times the money of any combat sport in BetMGM’s history.

DraftKings sports operations director Johnny Avello said the fight also was its most-bet boxing match.

Most of the wagers at BetMGM Sportsbook were on proposition bets, with the most popular being on Tyson to prevail either by knockout, decision or a first-round KO.

Though Paul was a -175 favorite, 67% of the tickets and 53% of the money at BetMGM was on Tyson.

college basketball

Men’s top 10 shuffled with losses by 3 teams

Kansas strengthened its grip on No. 1 in the AP Top 25. The rest of the top 10 turned into a jumble of teams swapping places.

The Jayhawks picked up five first-place votes in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll released on Monday, receiving 49 from a 61-person media panel. No. 2 UConn had seven first-place votes, No. 3 Gonzaga earned two and No. 4 Auburn three. Iowa State climbed two spots to round out the top five.

The shuffling started with No. 8 Alabama’s 87-78 loss to No. 6 Purdue, a game that dropped the Crimson Tide six spots and bumped the Boilermakers up seven. Losses by Duke and Arizona shook up the top 10 further.

The No. 12 Blue Devils dropped six spots from last week after their 77-72 loss to No. 9 Kentucky. The Wildcats climbed 10 spots for their first top-10 ranking this season. Arizona lost 103-88 at No. 19 Wisconsin and fell eight spots to No. 17. The Badgers are ranked for the first time this season.

Status quo at top of women’s rankings

No. 19 TCU entered The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll with its best ranking in 16 years Monday while the first 12 teams, led by No. 1 South Carolina, were unchanged.

The Horned Frogs joined the rankings after topping then-No. 13 N.C. State on Sunday. It was the team’s first ranked win since 2021 and victory over a top 15 opponent in six seasons. TCU has its best spot in the poll since the school was also 19th in 2008.

NBA

Lakers to honor Riley with statue outside arena

The Los Angeles Lakers will honor former coach Pat Riley with a statue outside their downtown arena.

The Lakers announced Monday that they have commissioned a statue to stand in Star Plaza immortalizing the coach who won four championships with the “Showtime” Lakers of the 1980s. Riley also won championship rings with the Lakers as a player and an assistant coach.

The 79-year-old Riley has been part of the Miami Heat as a coach and executive for the past three decades, but his NBA roots are planted firmly with the Lakers. He played for Los Angeles from 1970 to 1975, and he was a team broadcaster before becoming Paul Westhead’s assistant in 1979.

He took over as head coach in 1981 and led the Lakers through one of the most dynamic eras for any team in NBA history. The Lakers went 533-194 (.733) in Riley’s tenure and added 102 playoff victories over nine mostly outstanding seasons.

briefly

PWHL >> The PWHL released its nine-date schedule of neutral site games on Monday. Billed as the “Takeover Tour,” the six-team league selected six U.S. cities — Raleigh, Buffalo, Detroit, St. Louis, Denver and Seattle — and Canadian stops in Vancouver and Quebec City, with one site yet to be announced.

NHL >> NHL referee Mitch Dunning is fully communicative and can move all his extremities following a violent collision with Colorado defenseman Josh Manson in Monday night’s game at Philadelphia. The NHL said Dunning was taken to a hospital for precautionary reasons and that all neurological signs are normal.

NBA >> Former Chicago Bulls forward Bob Love, a three-time All-Star who spent 11 years in the NBA, died Monday. He was 81. The Bulls said Love died after a long battle with cancer.

Soccer >> A 5-2 aggregate win over Jamaica gave three-time defending champion United States a berth in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals. Christian Pulisic scored twice in the first half, Tim Weah got a goal in his return to the U.S. national team from a red card and the Americans beat Jamaica 4-2 on Monday night in the quarterfinal series finale.

— From news services