AUGUSTA, Ga. — Former Masters champion Gary Player said he sympathizes with Tiger Woods‘ ongoing pain from multiple injuries but says the 15-time major champion needs to hire a driver and stop operating vehicles while medicated.

Player, speaking to reporters Thursday after hitting a ceremonial tee shot before the opening round of the 90th Masters, said Woods needs to hire a chauffeur following his DUI arrest in Florida on March 27.

“Do I blame him for taking medicine? Hell, no,” Player said. “He has sleep deprivation. Do I blame him for taking something to help him sleep? No. But I don’t think he should drive a car. When you’re taking that medicine, it’s dangerous when you’re driving a car, same as it’s dangerous when you look at your cellphone in the car.”

Woods, 50, was formally charged Wednesday with misdemeanor DUI and refusing to take a chemical or physical test of his breath or urine, according to court records. Woods is also facing a ticket for distracted driving, a moving violation, after he told police that he was looking at his phone before he clipped the back of a trailer and had his SUV flip on its side.

The five-time Masters champion announced March 31 that he was stepping away from competitive golf and his administrative roles with the PGA Tour to seek “comprehensive inpatient treatment.”

A judge approved Woods’ request to seek treatment outside the U.S. due to privacy concerns. It’s believed that Woods is at a facility in Switzerland after his plane landed there.

“My heart goes out for him,” Player said. “There’s nothing worse than living in pain every day of your life. You can’t think of anything worse. I just hope he can get it all sorted out because he’s such an asset to golf and has done so much for the game.”

Said six-time Masters champion Jack Nicklaus: “Just whatever you need to help you and get back, because I think golf needs him, and we’d love to have him back.”

On Tuesday, prosecutors indicated that they plan to issue a subpoena seeking copies of Woods’ prescription medication records on file at Lewis Pharmacy in Palm Beach, Florida.

A Martin County Sheriff’s affidavit said deputies found two pain pills in Woods’ pants pocket and that the golfer showed signs of impairment following the crash.

The Big Ten Conference amassed nearly $70 million from NCAA distributions that will be paid for team appearances and performances in the 2026 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

That is by far the most among conferences, largely because the Big Ten swept the national championships — Michigan won the men’s and UCLA the women’s — and had Illinois‘ men’s team advance to the Final Four.

The NCAA, which has multibillion-dollar broadcast deals for the two tournaments, since 1991 has rewarded conferences for their number of tournament bids and how far those teams advance in the men’s tournament. A similar system for the women’s tournament began in 2025.

For this year’s tournaments, nine men’s teams and 12 women’s teams from the Big Ten combined to make at least $69.4 million, with $63 million coming from the men’s side.

The Southeastern Conference, which had 10 teams in each tournament, totaled at least $56.2 million ($50.4 million for men, $5.8 million for women). Other distributions will total at least $42.9 million for the Big 12, $34.2 million for the Atlantic Coast Conference and $22.2 million for the Big East.

The NCAA sends payments directly to the conferences, which distribute the money among their teams according to their policies. Payments for the 2026 tournament will begin in April 2027.

Teams in each tournament earn what’s known as a “unit” for making the field of 68 and an additional unit for each round in which it appears. The national champion is awarded an extra unit. The value of a unit increases each year. A portion of revenue from the tournaments’ broadcast agreements are directed to distribution payments — 24% for the men and 41% for the women.

The estimated value of a unit for the 2026 men’s tournament will be about $350,000, an NCAA spokeswoman said, and that amount will be paid annually for six years. A single unit earned in 2026 would have a total value of at least $2.1 million over those six years and probably more because Division I distribution funds — including the basketball funds — are scheduled to increase each year, typically by 2.9%.

For the women’s tournament, full funding for units earned will be achieved in 2027. Payments for each unit earned will be made for three years rather than six. The unit value was $75,000 for 2026 and will decrease to about $63,000 next year as part of the NCAA’s formula for getting the fund fully up and running. Using $63,000 as an estimate for the 2028 value, a single unit earned in 2026 would be worth at least $201,000 by the time it is paid off over three years.

The Big Ten’s nine teams in the men’s tournament appeared in 29 games. Michigan earned $14.7 million for the conference by playing in six games and receiving a seventh unit for winning the championship. Illinois earned five units for making the Final Four ($10.5 million) and Iowa and Purdue four apiece for reaching the Elite Eight ($8.4 million each).

The Big Ten landed 12 teams in the women’s tournament, and they combined to play in 31 games. UCLA earned just over $1.4 million by playing in six games and receiving an extra unit for winning the championship. Michigan‘s four games earned $804,000 and Minnesota‘s three earned $603,000.

The championships in men’s and women’s basketball continued what has been a banner 2025-26 for the Big Ten. Indiana won the conference’s third straight College Football Playoff, and other national championships have been won in men’s wrestling (Penn State), women’s ice hockey (Wisconsin), men’s water polo (UCLA), men’s soccer (Washington) and field hockey (Northwestern).

Super Bowl champion LeSean McCoy took to the defense of New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and New York Times/The Athletic NFL reporter Dianna Russini.

Photos originally published by the New York Post’s Page Six showed the coach and journalist holding hands, hugging and sitting in a pool in bathing suits at a resort bungalow in Sedona, Arizona. While a lot of people have been highly critical of Vrabel and Russini, McCoy took no issue with it.

“I like Mike, I love Mike. I mind my business. They work together,” McCoy told TMZ Sports.

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“Everybody makes something big out of everything. He’s a big-time coach, he’s a big-time player. He was just in the Super Bowl, they got something to talk about. That’s what happened.”

“I ain’t see nothing wrong with it.”

Both Vrabel and Russini are married, and both denied any wrongdoing. Vrabel married his wife, Jen, in 1999, and they have two sons together. The 50-year-old coach said the interaction was completely innocent.

“These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable,” Vrabel told the New York Post. “This doesn’t deserve any further response.”

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New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel watches during the first half of the AFC Championship NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Russini, who married her husband Kevin Goldschmidt in 2020 and they have two sons together, said the photos misrepresented what actually occurred.

“The photos don’t represent the group of six people who were hanging out during the day. Like most journalists in the NFL, reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other venues,” Russini told the New York Post.

Vrabel took the Patriots to the Super Bowl in his first season as the Patriots head coach and won NFL Coach of the Year for the second time in his career.

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Dianna Russini attends the 2026 Fanatics Super Bowl Party at Pier 48 in San Francisco, California, on Feb. 7, 2026. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)

Russini, 43, joined the The Athletic in 2023, leaving ESPN after over eight years.

McCoy played 12 seasons in the NFL. He spent six with the Philadelphia Eagles, four seasons with the Buffalo Bills, one with the Kansas City Chiefs, and one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The 37-year-old won a Super Bowl with the Chiefs in 2019 and the Buccaneers in 2020. In 170 games, McCoy ran for 11,102 yards with 73 touchdowns, while catching 518 passes for 3,898 yards and 16 touchdowns.

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