Sports briefs 9/6/05

Auto racing

• Michael Schumacher's five-year reign as Formula One's champion is over.

Schumacher's 10th-place finish in Sunday's Italian Grand Prix mathematically eliminated him from the championship race. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso's second-place finish set up the possibility that the 24-year-old Spaniard could clinch this season's title at the Belgian GP next Sunday.

Baseball

* Rafael Palmeiro has been sent home to Texas, where he likely willponder the possibility of returning next year while rehabilitating knee and ankle injuries that have further ruined what was once a rewarding season.

"Everything just kind of crumbled, unexpectedly really," the Baltimore Orioles first baseman said Sunday. "I never expected that anything would happen to me, not at this stage of my career anyway."

Palmeiro's season unraveled soon after he collected his 3,000 career hit on July 15. He received a 10-day suspension on Aug. 1 for testing positive for steroids, and upon his return was booed by fans in Baltimore and on the road.

He is 2-for-26 with one RBI since coming back, and has been bothered the past two weeks by injuries to his left ankle and right knee. The Orioles still expect him to play this month, but decided Sunday that it would be best for him to recover at home.

College

* Missouri quarterback Brad Smith, Nebraska linebacker Bo Ruud and Colorado kicker Mason Crosby were the season's first recipients of the Big 12 player of the week awards announced Monday.

Smith was named top offensive player for piling up 412 yards of total offense while putting the Tigers off to a 37-0 lead en route to a 44-17 victory over Arkansas State. He threw for 317 yards and a school record-tying four touchdowns, plus ran for a team-high 95 yards.

The performance also made him the third QB in NCAA Division I history to reach 6,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards for his career.

Golf

* The Solheim Cup plans to sell 3,000 additional tickets for Sunday's final day as a fund-raiser for Hurricane Katrina.

Tickets have been sold out since February, but organizers said Monday the extra fans can be spread out during the 12 one-on-one matches in the U.S. vs. Europe women's competition at the Crooked Stick course in suburban Indianapolis.

The $40 tickets will be sold at the course's front gate on Sunday, with all proceeds -- a possible $120,000 -- going directly to the U.S. Golf Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund.