Sports Briefs January 9, 2012

Golf

Hank Haney has written a book about the six years he spent as Tiger Woods' swing coach, a volatile time in which Woods went from winning nearly half of his tournaments to a scandal that derailed his pursuit of golf history.

Without giving away any details until "The Big Miss" goes on sale in the spring, Haney believes the book will be hard to put down.

"I get asked all the time about Tiger, what it was like to work with him," Haney said in a telephone interview. "I felt like I had a front row seat to golf history. It just kind of chronicles a little bit of what I went through, what I dealt with, how I coached and the observations I made.

"I think there's a lot of things that people are going to find interesting."

Haney began working with Woods at the Bay Hill Invitational in 2004. They parted ways a month after the 2010 Masters, where Woods made his return to golf after being exposed for multiple extramarital affairs that shattered his image and led to divorce.

Most of the people involved with Woods have signed a nondisclosure agreement. Haney said he signed no such thing - "I didn't even have a contract," he said - although he said the book was not intended to "take jabs at anyone."

Mark Steinberg, Woods' agent at Excel Sports Management, said he was aware of the book but that Woods had not seen any excerpts and would have no comment.

• Steve Stricker finished the third round at Kapalua, Hawaii, the same way he started - with a five-shot lead.

Only it wasn't that easy.

Stricker watched his lead dwindle to a single shot on the back nine before running off four straight birdies for a 4-under 69 that gave him a big lead going into the final round at the Tournament of Champions.

He was at 19-under 200, five shots clear of defending champion Jonathan Byrd (67), Martin Laird (67) and Webb Simpson, who also had a 69 while playing in the final group with Stricker.

Basketball

Jeff Jordan, the oldest son of Michael Jordan, is leaving the Central Florida basketball team for what he says are "personal reasons."

The senior guard didn't travel with the team for its 81-63 win at East Carolina Saturday night. Jordan's younger brother and Knights guard Marcus Jordan, a junior, remains with the team.

• NBA

Magic 104, Kings 97: Jason Richardson scored a season-high 22 points, Glen Davis added a season-best 20 and visiting Orlando beat Sacramento.

Trail Blazers 98, Cavaliers 78: LaMarcus Aldridge had 28 points and eight rebounds and host Portland beat Cleveland.

Suns 109, Bucks 93: Steve Nash had 17 assists and 10 points in 27 minutes as host Phoenix routed weary and short-handed Milwaukee.

Thunder 108, Spurs 96: Kevin Durant had 21 points and 10 rebounds, reserve James Harden scored 20 and host Oklahoma City beat San Antonio.

Timberwolves 93, Wizards 72: Kevin Love had 20 points and 16 rebounds, Ricky Rubio had 13 points and a career-high 14 assists, and visiting Minnesota broke a two-game losing streak by beating Washington.

Lakers 90, Grizzlies 82: Kobe Bryant scored 26 points and dished out nine assists to lead host Los Angeles past Memphis.

Red Wings 3, Blackhawks 2, OT: Pavel Datsyuk banked in a shot for the winning goal 3:08 into overtime to lead Detroit at Chicago.

Ducks 7, Blue Jackets 4: At Anaheim, Calif., Corey Perry completed his fourth NHL hat trick by scoring into an empty net in the final minute and Anaheim beat Columbus.

Senators 6, Flyers 4: Filip Kuba scored the go-ahead goal with 1:11 left and host Ottawa beat Philadelphia.

Skiing

Marcel Hirscher of Austria extended his perfect start to 2012 by winning a World Cup slalom in Adelboden, Switzerland, to pad his lead in the overall standings.

• Fabienne Suter of Switzerland won a super-G race in Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria, while Lindsey Vonn was 18th and failed to finish among the top three in this World Cup event for the first time in nearly three years.

- The Associated Press