PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Tiger Woods isn’t playing his hometown event again this year.

Rory McIlroy lives in South Florida, and he’s passing on the Honda Classic, too.

The 49^th edition of the event will feature No. 3 Brooks Koepka as the only player among the top 10 in the Official World Ranking, but Honda Classic executive director Ken Kennerly is promising fireworks nonetheless.

The skies above PGA National will light up with rockets amid concerts after play on Friday and Saturday, with Kennerly believing the stars that do show up are more than capable of putting on as spectacular a finish as they did a year ago.

Keith Mitchell won last year making a clutch birdie at the last to beat Koepka and Rickie Fowler by a shot.

“We always get a good field,” Kennerly said. “Can it be better? Of course, it can always be better, but we continue to hear and feel the enthusiasm for the Honda Classic from our community. We’re going to keep doing what we’ve been doing. We just need another great finish, which we have a long history of getting.”

Kennerly rebuilt the Honda Classic into an elite event, but the revamped schedule put in place last year, with more big events loaded at the front of the PGA Tour calendar, continues to squeeze some star power from the tournament.

Honda falls in the middle of a strong five-event run, with the Genesis Invitational and WGC-Mexico Championship preceding it, and with the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship following it.

“We are always having discussions with the powers that be about what opportunities there might be for us,” Kennerly said. “I also recognize we are part of a great organization with the PGA Tour, and regardless of where we fall in the schedule, we are going to continue to have a successful Honda Classic product.”

Joining Koepka as main attractions are world No. 12 Tommy Fleetwood, No. 13 Justin Rose, No. 17 Gary Woodland, No. 18 Louis Oosthuizen, No. 19 Shane Lowery and No. 25 Fowler.

A year ago, just six of the top 25 showed up, the weakest showing since Kennerly moved the event to PGA National in 2007. At the height of Honda’s resurgence in 2014, it featured four of the top five players in the world, seven of the top 10.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Cristie Kerr was asked in a media scrum Wednesday if she was looking forward to her transition to television with her duties this week as an on-course reporter for  Golf Channel’s telecast of the Honda Classic.

Transition?

“I’m not done yet,” Kerr said of her LPGA career. “I just finished sixth last week in Australia.”

Yeah, Kerr is 42 now, but make no mistake, the 20-time LPGA winner is looking to pad her totals in a bid to play her way into the LPGA Hall of Fame. She’s also interested in developing some of the promising TV skills she has shown in previous Golf Channel appearances. She did some guest analyst studio work during the PGA Tour’s Sony Open last year and some on-course and some analyst work in the booth during the telecast of the LPGA's CME Group Tour Championship at the end of last season.

With three LPGA Asian events canceled because of coronavirus, and the LPGA off for a month, Kerr is taking advantage of an opportunity.

What should we expect?

“I think I'm going to have a blast this week, because I know I can't play,” she said. “When I was doing CME last year, it was a great experience. I was there, but part of my heart hurt that I wasn’t playing. But I did a great job, and I learned a lot. Being here, knowing I can't play in the tournament, it's going to be a lot more fun for me, I think.”

Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior said "everyone knows" Manchester City forward Gabriel Jesus fouled Sergio Ramos in scoring the crucial equaliser in City's 2-1 Champions League win at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.

The visitors were trailing 1-0 to Isco's second-half goal in the round-of-16 first-leg match when Jesus beat Madrid captain Ramos in the air to head Kevin De Bruyne's cross past Thibaut Courtois.

"Jesus commits the foul, and everyone knows it was a foul," Vinicius said, speaking in the mixed zone after the game. "They always take decisions against us. I didn't need to see it again in the dressing room. It was a foul. Every game it's the same."

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane also admitted to speaking with referee Daniele Orsato of Italy about the incident.

"He said there wasn't anything, he hadn't seen anything, there was no push," Zidane said in his post-match news conference. "It's the referee's decision and that's all. What annoys me is what we did, playing well and then 10 minutes at the end changed the game. The mistakes we made, it hurts, we don't deserve it, but that's football. That moment was key."

Gabriel Jesus himself said the referee made the right decision in allowing the goal to stand.

"Football is a contact sport," he told Movistar. "I didn't push him, I barely put my hands on him. It's not a foul."

The Brazilian forward was praised for his performance in an unfamiliar left-wing role by coach Pep Guardiola, who was meeting counterpart Zidane in a competitive game for the first time.

"There isn't another striker in the world to bring that intensity," Guardiola said. "He makes incredible runs in behind. When he's on the wing making a diagonal run, he's so fast and so good. We decided to play without a proper striker because of the way they defend. We made the pitch wide."

Guardiola sounded a note of caution with the second leg to come in Manchester.

"It's still not over," he said. "If there's one team in the world that can overcome it, it's [Real Madrid] with their experience and their history. Hopefully we can give a good performance and go through."

INDIANAPOLIS -- Aaron Rodgers was one of the 14 dissenters among the 32 NFL player representatives Tuesday, when they narrowly voted to send the new collective bargaining agreement to the full NFL Players Association membership, and he made it clear that he was voting not only on his own behalf but also based on concerns among the players who elected the Green Bay Packers' quarterback as the team's union representative

Less than 24 hours after the 17-14-1 vote, Rodgers explained his thinking by posting it to Twitter on Wednesday.

Perhaps most telling was his opening line, in which he said his "decision to vote 'No' is based off conversations I have had with the men in my locker room that I'm tasked to represent."

Ultimately, the full union of approximately 2,000 players -- if all choose to vote -- will decide whether to approve the new CBA, which could go into effect this year.

One of Rodgers' most prominent teammates, All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari, thanked Rodgers after he posted his explanation.

??Thank you?? #Knowyourworth #strengthinnumbers https://t.co/QYQmdFsob3

— David Bakhtiari (@DavidBakhtiari) February 26, 2020

According to ESPN's Brooke Pryor, Rodgers was "a force" in Tuesday's meeting. Also, some players thought there was more negotiating to be done when it came to the offseason program, and those players were disappointed when told there would be no more discussion of that matter.

At issue for Rodgers and his constituents, he wrote, was the added 17th regular-season game, along with an extra playoff game for every No. 2 seed. Rodgers noted that had that been the case for the 2019 season, the Packers would have played on wild-card weekend rather than having a bye.

Rodgers wrote "16 games to me, was never something to be negotiated. The owners made it clear that the 17th game is about paying for the 'added' benefits, and had nothing to do with the positive feedback received about any extra risks involved with the added regular season game."

He continued: "There were also many issues raised about the workplace, the workload and the offseason program. Some have been addressed, while others have not."

Shortly after Rodgers' post, 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman explained his "no" vote.

Health and Wellness of our men is always the most important aspect. There is no price you can put on that and that is why I Voted No. I respect the Men that have been part of this discussion and stood up for their locker rooms. https://t.co/mL0Yj3E6d9

— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) February 26, 2020

"Health and Wellness of our men is always the most important aspect," Sherman wrote on Twitter. "There is no price you can put on that and that is why I Voted No. I respect the Men that have been part of this discussion and stood up for their locker rooms."

The current CBA expires after the 2021 season.

CLEVELAND -- Philadelphia 76ers All-Star center Joel Embiid left Wednesday night's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first quarter and was ruled out with a left shoulder sprain.

Embiid appeared to collide with Cavaliers center Ante Zizic while being fouled late in the first quarter. The 7-footer held his shoulder when he went to the foul line and was in obvious pain as he missed two free throws.

Embiid was removed at the next time stoppage and walked to the locker room. He briefly returned to the bench in the second quarter but then went back to the locker room.

Embiid, who scored a career-high 49 points Monday against Atlanta, is averaging 23.8 points and 12 rebounds.

Philadelphia is also playing without All-Star guard Ben Simmons, who missed his second straight game because of a nerve impingement in his lower back.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

TOKYO -- Japan's professional baseball league says it will play its 72 remaining preseason games in empty stadiums because of the threat of the spreading coronavirus.

The regular season is to open March 20.

The virus that originated in China is disrupting all of the country's sports schedules and has raised concerns about the Tokyo Olympics. The Games are to open July 24, followed by the Paralympics on Aug. 25.

Representatives of the baseball league's 12 teams made the move at a special meeting Wednesday.

"This was a bitter decision to make," Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted commissioner Atsushi Saito as saying. "Because we can't determine the situation, I won't say anything right now about [opening day]. If possible, we all want to go ahead on March 20."

Japan's top soccer league, the J-League, also halted all play until March 15.

Five deaths in Japan have been attributed to the virus outbreak. China has reported more than 2,700 deaths, and China is the host nation for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Houston's Alex Bregman was hit on the back by a breaking ball from St. Louis reliever Ramon Santos on Wednesday, making him the seventh Astros player plunked in five spring training games.

"It was a splitter," Bregman said. "It just got away from him."

Some opposing players have called for retaliation against the Astros following Major League Baseball's finding that Houston broke rules against electronic sign stealing en route to its 2017 World Series title and again in 2018.

Dustin Garneau was hit Sunday against Washington, and Jose Altuve was grazed Monday against Detroit, when Osvaldo Duarte and Alex De Goti also were hit. Aledmys Diaz and Jake Meyers were hit Tuesday against Miami.

Santos' 1-0 pitch in the fifth inning struck Bregman on the left shoulder blade. The two-time All-Star trotted to first, then was replaced by a pinch runner.

"I think I got hit, like, 10 times last year or something like that," Bregman said. "One of them got me good last year, but that one was just a split-finger."

Bregman hit his first homer of spring training Wednesday, a tying solo shot in the third on an 0-2 pitch from Angel Rondon. Houston hit four homers in a 7-5 loss to the Cardinals in a split-squad game for both sides.

Houston pitching coach Brent Strom was ejected by plate umpire Mike Estabrook in the fifth inning for arguing balls and strikes.

"I could tell it was brewing," Houston manager Dusty Baker said. "Some of those pitches were kind of close for a spring training game. He called a good game, but it was tight, a tight zone."

Britain's Kyle Edmund and Heather Watson recorded straight-set victories to reach the quarter finals at the Mexican Open, but Katie Boulter was beaten by China's Zhu Lin.

Edmund, 25, defeated Canadian fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4 6-4 to set up a meeting with France's Ugo Humbert or American Taylor Fritz.

Watson, 27, overcame Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko 7-6 (7-2) 6-2.

Meanwhile, Boulter fell to a 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 defeat by sixth seed Zhu.

After losing a disappointing first-set tie-break, 23-year-old Boulter responded well as she cemented an early break of serve in the second to establish a 3-1 lead.

But Zhu fought back to grab her second break point opportunity and draw level at 4-4 before seeing out the match with another break.

British number two Watson, ranked 69 in the world, saved two set points at 5-4 down before dominating a tie-break at the end of a topsy-turvy opening set where each player held serve just twice.

Watson made significantly fewer mistakes in the second set, racing into a 3-0 lead and eventually sealing victory with her first match point on Zhu's serve.

She will now face the winner of the all-American second-round match between Caroline Dolehide and Christina McHale for a place in the semi-finals.

British men's number two Edmund produced an impressive display to beat talented 19-year-old Auger-Aliassime.

Edmund, ranked 44th in the world, broke the Canadian world number 19's serve early in both sets and held on to his advantage relatively untroubled to continue his recent run of form.

A farewell tour - with the chance to perform one final time in Paris, London and New York - would not have been the Maria Sharapova way.

No longer competitive, and with a shoulder not fit for purpose, she would have hated making up the numbers at a benefit gig.

And so the end came in a well crafted essay published in Vogue and Vanity Fair - which very much is the Sharapova way.

The Russian leaves as one of only 10 women to have won each of the sport's four Grand Slam titles, and as a former world number one who made a huge impact on both sport and the celebrity world.

Some of those achievements have been tarnished by the positive test she returned for meldonium. Even if her physical problems were escalating, she was just not the same player after her return.

Her road to winning Wimbledon at the age of 17 in 2004 had many twists and turns. Conceived 40 miles from Chernobyl in the aftermath of the nuclear disaster, Sharapova was born in Siberia after her grandmother persuaded her parents it would be safer to leave.

The family then moved on to the Black Sea resort of Sochi, before heading to Florida when Sharapova was just six to try to carve out a professional tennis career. Mum stayed in Russia, and the family was not reunited for the best part of two years.

Sharapova had signed with Nike and IMG by the age of 11, and was a Wimbledon champion just six years later. She won three of her Grand Slams by the age of 21, and even though two French Open titles were to follow - arguably her greatest achievement on a surface on which she once said she felt like a "cow on ice" - her shoulder was becoming an increasing hindrance.

And then came the positive test for meldonium - a heart disease drug - at the 2016 Australian Open. In the evidence she presented at her tribunal, Sharapova said the drug was prescribed in 2005 by a doctor in Moscow to treat a mineral metabolism disorder, which had left her prone to colds and tonsil infections.

It had been legal to take meldonium until 1 January that year. Sharapova argued the initial two-year ban imposed was "unfairly harsh" as it was purely an administrative error. She appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), and her time in exile was reduced to 15 months.

Sharapova's use of meldonium was cloaked in secrecy. Only her father and her agent knew she was taking it until she informed the Russian team doctor the year before her positive test. And although Sharapova tended to declare the use of other medicine and vitamins on her doping control forms, mentions of meldonium were strangely absent.

The original tribunal concluded her use of meldonium "on match days, and when undertaking intensive training, is only consistent with an intention to boost her energy levels". Cas saw it differently - concluding it would be wrong to call her an "intentional doper".

Either way, a significant PR operation was launched to salvage her reputation. Blame was cast elsewhere; interviews carefully stage-managed. Humility was almost totally lacking, and Sharapova leaves the sport with many questions still unanswered.

She will not miss her peers, and they will not miss her. There were some notable exceptions, but the sparse number of social media tributes that greeted her retirement was striking.

Only Sharapova will know if that rankles even someone who wrote in an autobiography that she has "no interest in making friends on my battlefield".

You had to admire her bloody mindedness, and her extreme desire to win. And, at times, it was hard not to enjoy her undiplomatic language and withering responses.

When quizzed about her high-pitched grunting being a distraction to other players, she once replied: "No-one important enough has told me to change."

And when told Agnieszka Radwanska had expressed her displeasure (shortly after exiting the Australian Open), Sharapova replied with a cutting: "Isn't she already back in Poland?"

The 32-year-old says she is now ready to compete on a different type of terrain.

Sponsors flocked to her for the majority of her career, with business magazine Forbes estimating she was the highest earning female athlete 11 years in a row.

You sense she has a shrewd business brain, although her "premium candy" line Sugarpova - perhaps a dubious product for an athlete to promote - may need a serious rebrand if it is ever to prosper in a more health-conscious world.

Sharapova may be going quietly into retirement, but it certainly will not be the last we hear of her.

MODOC, S.C. – Since the start of the inaugural Drydene Xtreme DIRTcar Series season back in November, it’s been quite a ride for Ross Bailes.

Bailes, of Clover, S.C., currently sits second in the overall points standings with one win and three top-10 finishes. That lone victory came in the tour’s second visit to Cherokee Speedway in January, behind the wheel of his new Rocket XR1 Chassis.

This Saturday, he’ll bring it to the series finale at Modoc Raceway, seeking a shot at the championship position Chris Madden is protecting without losing his current spot in points and bringing home at least a $10,000 points fund check.

Looking back on his Drydene Xtreme DIRTcar Series run, Bailes reflected a bit on his career goals of racing a Dirt Late Model at the national level and the opportunity the Series has given drivers like himself to shine when some other parts of the country are covered in snow.

“All of the [spotlight] is on this regional tour because that’s the only thing running,” Bailes said. “So, it’s good for the guys that can run well to get their name out there.”

Most drivers at the national level typically rely on the gap between November and February to rebuild equipment and recuperate. With a handful of races scheduled on the Xtreme tour in that time, regional drivers like Bailes have the opportunity to do that and win some money to get them rolling into next season.

“With the money [the series] is putting up, it’s kinda hard not to [run it],” Bailes said. “It also helps us rebuild our stuff over the winter. I’ve got a good shot at finishing second [in points], so if we can do that and get $10,000, that’ll help offset the cost of running the car in the winter.”

Fortunately, the weather has been mostly cooperative on race day and the forecast for Saturday is excellent.

“Luckily, with this deal, the weather hasn’t really been that bad,” he said. “If it’s real cold, then it’s not a very good time, but if the weather’s not too bad, I want to go racing as much as I can.”

After competing in the Can-Am World Finals with the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series in early November, Bailes had no immediate plans to follow the entire tour. But after a great runner-up finish in the Series-opening Blue Gray 100 at Cherokee, his interest was sparked. Since then, he’s been pleased with his performance.

“It’s been good,” Bailes said. “We [originally] weren’t planning to run [the entire series], but I drove Johnny’s [Pursley] car at Gaffney that first race and ran second, so I figured I might as well.”

In the weeks following the Blue Gray, Bailes purchased a brand-new Rocket and brought it out for the first time at Lavonia Speedway, where he picked up a top-ten. The following race, he won at Cherokee.

“We got that new Rocket together, and I think if we would have had time to test it before we went and ran, we’d be more in contention with Madden,” Bailes said. “Our first race out in it, we ran sixth, and then we won the next one in it. So, it hasn’t been bad.”

While Bailes is protecting his position and payday, he has only a two-point lead over Zack Mitchell, a three-point advantage over Kyle Strickler and five-point edge on Trent Ivey.

The series finale on Saturday at Modoc is scheduled for 40 laps and pays $7,000-to-win. The pits and grandstands open at 1 p.m. with hot laps at 4 p.m. and racing at 5 p.m.