Tiger Woods followed his first victory in 28 months with some of the worst tee shots of his career, struggling to a level-par 72 after the opening round of the 76th Masters on Thursday.

Snap-hooking drives into the pine trees at Augusta National with alarming regularity, Woods stunningly salvaged pars on the first two holes only to suffer a bogey-bogey finish to plunge off the leaderboard.

The Orlando Magic's day went from uncomfortable to ugly as a tense moment between coach Stan Van Gundy and star Dwight Howard was followed by a 96-80 loss to the New York Knicks.

Van Gundy told reporters at the team's morning shoot-around that Howard had asked team management to sack him -- an allegation Howard has denied.

Luol Deng scored a season-high 26 points Thursday to lead Chicago to a 93-86 NBA victory over Boston as the Bulls bounced back from their first two-game skid of the season.

Deng, who is expected to lead Britain's basketball squad at this year's London Olympics, added six rebounds, three assists and four steals.

The head of the Saudi Olympic Committee has ruled out sending women athletes from the ultra-conservative kingdom to the London Olympics this summer, local dailies reported on Thursday.

Prince Nawaf bin Faisal said, however, that Saudi women taking part on their own are free to do so and the kingdom's Olympic authority would "only help in ensuring that their participation does not violate the Islamic sharia law."

AC Milan's Brazilian striker Pato will be out of action for the rest of the season, club doctor Jean-Pierre Meerssman revealed on Thursday.

The 22-year-old has suffered 14 injuries in the past two years, principally thigh muscle problems, but also to his ankles and groin, restricting him to just 11 league games this season, in which he has scored once.

Mohammed al-Akkari has joined the elite century club after scoring 113 points in a local league game.

The guard led Mouttahed to a 173-141 victory over Bejjeh in a Division A league game on Tuesday.

LeBron James scored 34 points with 10 assists and seven rebounds as the Miami Heat held off Oklahoma City 98-93 in a game billed as a possible preview of the NBA finals.

The Heat on Wednesday stretched their NBA home winning streak to 17 games, somewhat making up for a blowout defeat two weeks ago in Oklahoma city.

Nine-time champions Real Madrid eased into the Champions League semifinals on Wednesday, beating APOEL Nicosia 5-2 in their quarterfinal second-leg clash and by 8-2 on aggregate.

A double from Cristiano Ronaldo, along with goals from Kaka, Angel Di Maria, and Jose Maria Callejon ensured the Spanish giants will meet Bayern Munich - who beat French side Marseille 2-0 on Tuesday and 4-0 on aggregate - in the final four.

Three years after bitterly disputing their Champions League exit, Chelsea's players finally have their chance to avenge that semifinal loss to Barcelona.

The specter of "unfinished business" against the four-time European champions was raised by Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard immediately after the London club eliminated Benfica in the quarterfinals with a 2-1 victory on Wednesday.

Arab youth and sports ministers on Wednesday announced their boycott of sports apparel manufacturer Adidas over the company's sponsorship of last month's Jerusalem marathon.

"All companies that have sponsored the marathon of Jerusalem, including Adidas, will be boycotted," said Saudi Prince Nawaf bin Faisal, chairman of the Arab youth and sports council of ministers, after a meeting in Jeddah.