LIV Golf announced a major scoring change Wednesday on the eve of its season-opening tournament in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

For the first time in the circuit's history, every player's score in every round will count toward his team's total score.

Last season, the best three scores were taken in the first two rounds, with all four team members' scores counting only for the final 18 holes.

LIV Golf acknowledged several potential ramifications related to the format change, including increased volatility on the leaderboard.

"It does make volatility bigger, crazier. Nobody can hide," RangeGoats GC captain Bubba Watson said. "You're going to have to be committed on every hole, every shot."

High scores will be a killer. Previously, any golfer who had a bad day in the first two rounds could hope to be bailed out by his three teammates.

"There's no more looking at the scoreboard and thinking, 'I'm OK, my team's playing well.' That definitely changes things," Stinger GC captain Louis Oosthuizen said.

Depth is now at a premium, meaning the teams with the best No. 4 players should have a greater advantage.

"I like it. I think it benefits a team like ours," Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm said. "I think we have four really strong players that are really consistent."

The change adds more pressure to LIV Golf's six new full-time players this season, four of whom are 25 or younger. They will be asked to produce immediately instead of easing into their new environment.

If all four scores had counted during 2024, six tournaments would have had different team champions and another would have required a playoff.

LIV Golf also made changes to its substitution policy.

If a player withdraws during the playing of a round, his team may select one of the available reserve players to play the remainder of the round or tournament.

If a player withdraws between the play of two holes, the reserve will begin play on the next hole. If he withdraws while playing a hole, the reserve will put his ball in play at the same spot as the original ball and complete the hole.

If a player starts a tournament but is forced to withdraw while on the course, that player can return to compete for his team at the start of any remaining rounds. But he will only compete to contribute a team score, not in the individual competition.

At least one member of the Green Bay Packers thinks they need to add a top-level receiver to their offense.

Running back Josh Jacobs, who just finished his first season with the team, openly campaigned for such an addition during multiple media appearances Wednesday at the Super Bowl in New Orleans.

"We've got a really young group of receivers; all can be really, really, really special," Jacobs told Milwaukee radio station 97.3 The Game. "But I think, personally, we need a guy that's proven to be a No. 1 already -- somebody we know that's going to be a little more consistent."

Jacobs also made a similar recommendation to former NFL quarterback Chris Simms, who hosts a show for NBC Sports. According to Simms, Jacobs said: "We need a WR -- a real WR. Love the guys we have, but we need a proven No. 1."

The Packers have not had a 1,000-yard receiver since they traded Davante Adams to the Raiders following the 2021 season.

Adams could possibly be available via trade or if he's released by the New York Jets.

Both coach Matt LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst have been fielding questions about the need for a top-tier receiver since Jordan Love took over as the starting quarterback in 2023.

Gutekunst has drafted six receivers since the start of the 2022 season but none higher than the second round. In fact, the Packers haven't drafted a receiver in the first round since they took Javon Walker at No. 20 overall in 2002. He also drafted a pair of pass-catching tight ends high in the 2023 draft: Luke Musgrave in the second round and Tucker Kraft in the third.

In his most recent session with reporters following the season, Gutekunst was asked specifically about the need for a true No. 1 receiver.

"I think we have some of those guys, and I think we don't have just one," Gutekunst said Jan. 16. "But I think historically if you look at a lot of the teams, very rarely do teams that have one receiver that's super heavy with targets, that doesn't usually play out well for playoffs and success there."

However, Gutekunst did not rule out the possibility that he could add a receiver or two this offseason.

"If there's somebody outside of our building -- whether it's the draft, free agency -- that makes some sense for us, we'll certainly look to do that," Gutekunst said. "But we're also looking for these guys to continue to grow and hopefully grow into that space."

Slot receiver Jayden Reed has led the Packers in each of the past two seasons. He caught 55 passes for 857 yards and six touchdowns this season, although the Packers' passing game was severely limited in two games that Love missed because of an early-season knee injury. As a rookie in 2023, Reed had a team-high 64 catches for 793 yards and eight receiving touchdowns.

The Packers lost deep-threat receiver Christian Watson to a torn ACL in the regular-season finale against the Chicago Bears, leaving his status up in the air for the start of the 2025 season.

Also this season, the Packers dealt with a situation involving Romeo Doubs in which the receiver was suspended for one game after skipping multiple days of practice and meetings.

There also were major issues with drops this season. The Packers had the highest drop rate (6.3%) in the NFL and ranked second in total drops with 29, according to ESPN Research. Second-year receiver Dontayvion Wicks led the league with 10 drops; Reed tied for third with eight.

The Packers' offense ranked fifth overall in the NFL, including fifth in rushing yards per game thanks in large part to the addition of Jacobs (who rushed for 1,329 yards) in free agency last offseason. They were 12th overall in passing yards per game.

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Wednesday designed to prevent people who were assigned male at birth from participating in women's or girls' sporting events.

The order, which Trump is expected to sign at an afternoon ceremony, marks another aggressive shift by the Republican president's second administration in the way the federal government deals with transgender people and their rights.

The president put out a sweeping order on his first day in office last month that called for the federal government to define sex as only male or female and for that to be reflected on official documents such as passports and in policies such as federal prison assignments.

Trump found during the campaign that his pledge to "keep men out of women's sports" resonated beyond the usual party lines. More than half the voters surveyed by AP VoteCast said support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far.

He leaned into the rhetoric before the election, pledging to get rid of the "transgender insanity," although his campaign offered little in the way of details.

Wednesday's order -- which coincides with National Girls and Women in Sports Day -- will involve how his administration will interpret Title IX, the law best known for its role in pursuing gender equity in athletics and preventing sexual harassment on campuses.

"This executive order restores fairness, upholds Title IX's original intent, and defends the rights of female athletes who have worked their whole lives to compete at the highest levels," said U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina.

Every administration has the authority to issue its own interpretations of the landmark legislation. The past two presidential administrations -- including Trump's first -- offer a glimpse at the push-pull involved.

Betsy DeVos, the education secretary during Trump's first term, issued a Title IX policy in 2020 that narrowed the definition of sexual harassment and required colleges to investigate claims only if they're reported to certain officials.

The Biden administration rolled back that policy last April with one of its own that stipulated that the rights of LGBTQ+ students would be protected by federal law and provided new safeguards for victims of campus sexual assault. The policy stopped short of explicitly addressing transgender athletes. Still, more than a half-dozen Republican-led states immediately challenged the new rule in court.

"All Trump has to say is, 'We are going to read the regulation traditionally,'" said Doriane Lambelet Coleman, a professor at Duke Law School.

A source who spoke with NCAA officials told ESPN the association did not oppose the executive order and welcomed federal guidance. The NCAA has struggled to comply with varying state laws on this issue and threats of lawsuits.

"We do have a situation where there is no clarity on this from a legal point of view," NCAA president Charlie Baker said in an interview in January. "You have federal judges ruling on individual cases. You have 26, 27 states with one set of rules -- a bunch of other states with a whole other set of rules. I do think we would welcome some clarity somewhere on this so everyone has a general understanding about what the rules of the game are."

How this order could affect the transgender athlete population -- a number that is incredibly difficult to pin down -- is uncertain.

"This was never about trans athletics, science or 'fairness.' It has always been about oppression," said Sadie Schreiner, a transgender woman competing in track and field at Rochester Institute of Technology. "They'll attack me all the same whether I'm on or off the track, so the only way I'll stop competing is in handcuffs."

The Associated Press reported in 2021 that, in many cases, the states introducing a ban on transgender athletes could not cite instances when their participation was an issue. When Utah state legislators overrode a veto by Gov. Spencer Cox in 2022, the state had only one transgender girl playing in K-12 sports who would be affected by the ban. It did not regulate participation for transgender boys.

"This is a solution looking for a problem," Cheryl Cooky, a professor at Purdue University who studies the intersection of gender, sports, media and culture, told the AP after Trump was elected.

Yet the actual number of transgender athletes seems to be almost immaterial. Any case of a transgender female athlete competing -- or even believed to be competing -- draws outsized attention, from Lia Thomas swimming for the University of Pennsylvania to the recently completed season of the San Jose State volleyball team.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle will be out at least two more weeks.

The team said Wednesday that an MRI taken at the Mayo Clinic showed a right adductor strain, which was confirmed when Dr. Benjamin Domb of the American Hip Institute gave his second opinion. Randle will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

Randle was pulled from the second quarter of Minnesota's Jan. 30 game at Utah with a right groin strain.

The Timberwolves went on to beat the Jazz by 25 points, then lost their next two home games, each by two points. The Wizards won 105-103 on Saturday, and the Kings followed with a 116-114 win on Monday.

Minnesota (27-23) is in seventh place in the Western Conference, one game behind the Clippers for the final guaranteed postseason spot.

The Timberwolves acquired Randle on Oct. 2 in a multi-player, three-team trade. The other headliner in the deal was Karl-Anthony Towns, who went to the Knicks.

On the season, Randle is averaging 18.9 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 48 games. He is second on the team in points and rebounds.

In 11 seasons and 689 games with the Lakers (2014-18), Pelicans (2018-19), Knicks (2019-24) and Timberwolves, he has career averages of 19.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists.