Sports in brief

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Auburn's quarterback eligible

Auburn quarterback Cam Newton is eligible to play in the SEC title game, even though the NCAA says his father broke rules by shopping his son to another school. The NCAA released its finding in a statement yesterday. The college sports governing body had concluded on Monday that a violation of Newton's amateur status had occurred. Auburn declared Newton ineligible on Tuesday and requested his eligibility be reinstated. The Heisman Trophy front-runner now has been cleared to compete without conditions.

"Based on the information available to the reinstatement staff at this time, we do not have sufficient evidence that Cam Newton or anyone from Auburn was aware of this activity, which led to his reinstatement," Kevin Lennon, NCAA vice president for academic and membership affairs, said in a news release.

GOLF

Trangendered players OKdLPGA players have voted to allow transgender players to compete on tour in response to a lawsuit filed by a California woman who had her sex changed five years ago. The players voted to remove the "female at birth" requirement from the tour's constitution at a year-end meeting at the LPGA Tour Championship, commissioner Michael Whan said. Lana Lawless, a former police officer who had a sex change operation five years ago, filed the federal lawsuit in San Francisco in October claiming the "female at birth" requirement violated California's civil rights law. The 57-year-old Lawless was seeking to prevent the LPGA from conducting tournaments in the state until it changed its policy.

NFL

Suicide after debtsDenver Broncos wide receiver Kenny McKinley had a gambling problem and was thousands of dollars in debt when he committed suicide on Sept. 21, friends and family told authorities during a probe into his death. McKinley committed suicide with a gun he had purchased before from teammate Jabar Gaffney, who told investigators McKinley wanted the weapon for his own protection, according to an investigative report by the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department that was obtained by The Associated Press.- AP