By Simon Evans

(Reuters) – New Orleans Saints’ Super Bowl winning head coach Sean Payton has been suspended for a year without pay by the National Football League (NFL) after an investigation into ‘bounty’ schemes which rewarded players for hurting opponents.

Former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was also suspended, indefinitely, while the team was fined $500,000 and will forfeit their selections in the second round of the 2012 and 2013 NFL drafts.

“Let me be clear. There is no place in the NFL for deliberately seeking to injure another player, let alone offering a reward for doing so,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement on Wednesday.

Saints general manager Mickey Loomis was suspended without pay for the first eight games of the upcoming regular season while assistant head coach Joe Vitt was suspended for six games.

The league said they had yet to decide on punishments for players involved in the scheme.

“Beyond the clear and continuing violations of league rules, and lying to investigators, the bounty program is squarely contrary to the league’s most important initiatives – enhancing player health and safety and protecting the integrity of the game,” Goodell said.

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – Arnold Palmer has expressed his disappointment at the world’s top players, particularly Rory McIlroy, who opted not to compete in his annual tournament, starting at Bay Hill on Thursday.

While Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will headline the $6 million invitational, the top six ranked players in the world, including world number one Luke Donald and number two McIlroy, are all absent from the penultimate PGA Tour event before next month’s Masters.

“I’m disappointed that they are not here, no question about it,” Palmer told reporters on Wednesday.

“I’m certainly not happy that those fellas chose not to come this year. We are doing everything we can to entice them to come and play.”

Palmer, a seven time major winner, said he was especially disappointed that McIlroy, the reigning U.S. Open champion and a crowd favorite in America, did not enter, taking a gentle jibe at the way he told him.

“I had a letter from Rory seeking my consultation and (he) told me he wasn’t coming. And of course that made me feel great,” Palmer said with a wry smile.

“And if you believe that, I’ll talk to you outside afterwards.”

KEY BISCAYNE, Florida (Reuters) – Alisa Kleybanova says she will bring a whole new approach to her tennis career when she returns to tournament action on Tuesday after a ten month battle with cancer.

The Russian was in the top 20 and tipped to rise higher in the game before she was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkins lymphoma after the Italian Open last May.

After undergoing chemotherapy in Italy, the 22-year-old is now ready to restart her career as a wild card at the Sony Ericsson, where she faces Sweden’s Johanna Larsson in the first round.

“I don’t want to think about rankings, I just want to be on the court and feel good. I just want to be myself,” she told reporters.

“I have a huge motivation to just live at 100 percent, every day of my life.”

Kleybanova, who has won twice on the WTA tour, said she had been suffering excessive fatigue and flu-like symptoms for some time before medical tests produced the shocking news.

“Something was going on because I kept getting sick but then I always got over it and I was playing tournaments and feeling pretty good,” she said.

KEY BISCAYNE, Florida, March 19 (Reuters) – Alisa Kleybanova says she will bring a whole new approach to her tennis career when she returns to tournament action on Tuesday after a ten month battle with cancer.

The Russian was in the top 20 and tipped to rise higher in the game before she was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkins lymphoma after the Italian Open last May.

After undergoing chemotherapy in Italy, the 22-year-old is now ready to restart her career as a wild card at the Sony Ericsson, where she faces Sweden’s Johanna Larsson in the first round.

“I don’t want to think about rankings, I just want to be on the court and feel good. I just want to be myself,” she told reporters.

“I have a huge motivation to just live at 100 percent, every day of my life.”

Kleybanova, who has won twice on the WTA tour, said she had been suffering excessive fatigue and flu-like symptoms for some time before medical tests produced the shocking news.

“Something was going on because I kept getting sick but then I always got over it and I was playing tournaments and feeling pretty good,” she said.

By Simon Evans

(Reuters) – England’s Justin Rose clinched the biggest win of his career in Sunday’s WGC-Cadillac Championship then promptly set his sights on landing his first major.

Rose shot a two-under-par 70 to beat American Bubba Watson by a stroke and hold off a late surge from world number one Rory McIlroy to claim his first victory in the elite WGC series.

It was Rose’s fourth win on the PGA Tour, following victories in the Memorial Tournament and the AT&T National in 2010 and last year’s BMW Championship, and crowned an impressive start to the year for the 31-year-old.

It also suggested the South-African born, Orlando resident, who also has five wins on the European Tour, could be a real contender at the Masters next month.

“If you look at the tournaments I’ve won and now a World Golf Championship, the progression is really, really nice. The only thing that really is the next level up is a major,” Rose said.

“But that’s not to say that I’m at that stage in my career where I am only focusing on the majors. I think there is a lot more for me to do in the game to get to that point. But no doubt, I feel my game is getting ready for that.”

DORAL, Florida (Reuters) – England’s Justin Rose won the WGC-Cadillac Championship on Sunday by one stroke from American Bubba Watson after former world number one Tiger Woods set off alarm bells by withdrawing mid-round with injury.

The composed Rose shot a final round 70 to finish at 16-under-par while Watson, who had led by three at the start of the day, ended at 15-under after closing with a 74.

“These moments are incredible and they are few and far between as a golfer,” said Rose.

“There has been a lot of work going on with my game and days like this, where it just all shows up, makes it all worthwhile.”

Watson missed an eight-foot birdie putt on the last hole that would have forced a playoff but the left-handed American ultimately paid the price for four bogeys on the front nine.

Rose, who had played smart and tidy golf all week, offered a glimmer of hope to his rival when he bogeyed the 18th after driving into the rough then launching his approach over the back of the green.

The victory was the first in a WGC event for Rose and could move him into the top ten when the next edition of the world rankings are released.

DORAL, Florida (Reuters) – England’s Justin Rose won the WGC-Cadillac Championship on Sunday by one stroke from American Bubba Watson after former world number one Tiger Woods set off alarm bells by withdrawing mid-round with injury.

The composed Rose shot a final round 70 to finish at 16-under-par while Watson, who had led by three at the start of the day, ended at 15-under after closing with a 74.

“These moments are incredible and they are few and far between as a golfer,” said Rose.

“There has been a lot of work going on with my game and days like this, where it just all shows up, makes it all worthwhile.”

Watson missed an eight-foot birdie putt on the last hole that would have forced a playoff but the left-handed American ultimately paid the price for four bogeys on the front nine.

Rose, who had played smart and tidy golf all week, offered a glimmer of hope to his rival when he bogeyed the 18th after driving into the rough then launching his approach over the back of the green.

The victory was the first in a WGC event for Rose and could move him into the top ten when the next edition of the world rankings are released.

DORAL, Florida, March 11 (Reuters) – England’s Justin Rose won the WGC-Cadillac Championship on Sunday by one stroke from American Bubba Watson after former world number one Tiger Woods withdrew mid-round with injury.

The composed Rose shot a final round 70 to finish at 16-under-par while Watson, who had led by three at the start of the day, ended at 15-under after closing with a 74.

Watson missed an eight-foot birdie putt on the last hole that would have forced a playoff but the left-handed American ultimately paid the price for four bogeys on the front nine.

Rose, who had played smart and tidy golf all week, offered a glimmer of hope to his rival when he bogeyed the 18th after driving into the rough then launching his approach over the back of the green.

Watson had driven into the trees on the 18th but, knowing he needed a birdie, produced a magnificent shot to eight feet to give himself a chance of extending the contest only to miss the putt.

World number one Rory McIlroy had put himself into the frame with a sparkling 67 but needed a birdie on the 18th to really put the pressure on Rose but the Northern Irishman’s bogey left him two shots back at the end in third place.

There was drama midway through the round when Woods, clearly in discomfort, withdrew on the 12th hole with an Achilles tendon injury and setting off alarms about his fitness for next month’s Masters.

DORAL, Florida (Reuters) – Tiger Woods withdrew from the WGC-Cadillac Championship on Sunday with a leg injury, raising serious doubts about his fitness for next month’s Masters at Augusta National.

The former world number one had been limping during his final round when he abruptly called it quits and left the course after completing 11 holes.

He was three-over-par for the day and seemingly out of contention to win the tournament.

Woods, who had changed shoes midway through the round, was escorted from the Blue Monster course on a buggy and taken to the carpark.

He immediately got into his vehicle, a black Mercedes, and promptly drove off, taking the wheel himself.

The 14-times major champion suffered a left-knee injury last season which caused him to withdraw from the Players Championship in May.

Before he drove away, the 36-year-old Woods told a PGA official: “It’s my leg, my left leg.”

DORAL, Florida, March 11 (Reuters) – England’s Paul Casey made a hole-in-one at the WGC-Cadillac Championship on Sunday just moments after promising to split any reward for the ace with his caddy.

But caddy Craig Connelly’s joy was short-lived when officials stepped in to tell the pair there was no prize for a hole-in-one on the par-three 15th hole.

The confusion arose because a shiny, new Cadillac was positioned at the back of the tee box, suggesting the vehicle was the reward for an ace.

“We shook on the tee. I said ‘If I hole it I’ll split the prize with you, whether it’s a car, cash prize, we’ll split the prize,’” said Casey.

“We shook on it, he handed me the eight iron, I knocked it in the hole, and Craig went bananas.”

Connelly hugged Casey and then danced around in celebration, raising his arms as if celebrating a goal.

He also enjoyed seeing his boss’s instant discomfort.