COLLEGES

Former football coach Les Miles’ lawsuit against Louisiana State University and the NCAA over a decision to vacate 37 of his teams’ victories from 2012 to 2015 has been moved from federal court to state court.

Miles initially sued in June in U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge. He alleged that LSU never gave Miles a chance to be heard before altering the coach’s career record significantly enough to disqualify him from consideration for the

National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame. The foundation is also a defendant in the lawsuit.

No reason was given for Miles’ decision to dismiss the federal suit and sue in state court in Baton Rouge. Miles’ lawyer declined to comment.

• Pittsburgh running back Rodney Hammond will be available on Saturday when the unbeaten Panthers open Atlantic Coast Conference play against North Carolina.

Hammond was declared ineligible for the season on the eve of Pitt’s opener against Kent State on Aug. 31. The school declined to provide a reason, though it stipulated at the time that Hammond remained a member of the team and was cleared to practice.

Coach Pat Narduzzi said that Hammond, the team’s leading rusher in 2023, will be ready to go for the Panthers (4-0) when they face the Tar Heels (3-2, 0-1).

VOLLEYBALL: The Utah State women’s volleyball team has become the fourth program to cancel a game against San Jose State for reasons that have not been specified.

The Aggies announced Wednesday the decision to forfeit their Oct. 23 Mountain West Conference game. Boise State already forfeited its game on Sept. 28 against the unbeaten Spartans (9-0, 2-0 Mountain West) and Wyoming followed suit this week, announcing the game slated for Saturday was now a 3-0 forfeit win for San Jose State.

BASKETBALL

NBA: New Orleans Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III has been diagnosed with a right hamstring strain that will sideline him from basketball activities for at least three weeks.

The injury occurred during the second practice of Pelicans training camp in Nashville on Wednesday. Murphy’s recovery timeline makes it unlikely that he’ll play in New Orleans’ regular season opener against Chicago on Oct. 23.

GOLF

EUROPEAN TOUR: Darren Fichardt shot an 11-under 61 at Kingsbarns to lead the multi-course Dunhill Links Championship in St. Andrews, Scotland, after a low-scoring first round notable for the presence of the two most powerful men in golf who are seeking to reach a deal to heal the fractured sport.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the financial backer of Saudi-funded LIV Golf, played in the same group on Day 1 of a tournament which pairs a professional with an amateur for three rounds at storied Scottish courses St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.

More important than the scores of Monahan and Al-Rumayyan was maybe their actions, and they were seen sharing some laughs and an embrace during their round at Carnoustie. Monahan was paired with Billy Horschel while Al-Rumayyan played with Dean Burmester, one of 14 LIV players in the field.

OBIT: Susie Maxwell Berning, the three-time U.S. Women’s Open winner who was a pioneer as a mother while competing on the LPGA Tour, died Wednesday after a two-year battle with lung cancer. She was 83.

The LPGA said Berning, inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2022, died at her home in Palm Springs.

Inducted into the World Gold Hall of Fame in a class that featured Tiger Woods, Berning won the U.S. Women’s Open in 1968, 1972 and 1973 and the then-major Western Open in 1965. She had 11 career LPGA Tour titles and was the 1964 rookie if the year.