Names in the game for Sept. 28, 2005

Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2005 | 9:49 a.m.

Michelle Wie

Hawaiian golf star Michelle Wie will play in a top-tier men's event in November on the Japanese tour.

Wie turns 16 next month when she is expected to turn pro. Wie, of Korean heritage, has never played in Japan but has many fans there.

She will compete in the Nov. 24-27 Casio World Open, one of the richest events on Japan's men's tour. She will be the second woman to play in a JGTO tour event and the first since Sweden's Sophie Gustafson at the 2003 Casio World Open.

Wie has competed against men five times, three of those on the PGA tour, but has not made a cut.

Diego Maradona

There's a new weight-loss trend in South America thanks to Argentine soccer hero Diego Maradona.

Impressed by the way weight-reduction surgery in Colombia transformed Maradona, overweight Colombians are flocking to doctors for the same procedure -- and want the government to pay for it.

Maradona weighed 266 pounds before he had the surgery in March. Since losing the weight, he's been jetting around the world, showing off his new body.

At least 14 Colombians have filed lawsuits to have government-provided health insurance pay for the surgery. The cases are known as "Maradona lawsuits."

Utah State football team

Utah State football players will wear helmet stickers as a memorial to eight students and an instructor who died in a van crash while returning Monday from a field trip.

The blue stickers with a yellow block "A" will be placed on the back of the Aggies' helmets. The victims were students in school's College of Agriculture.

The van was eastbound Monday on Interstate 84 when it blew a tire and rolled, ejecting all 11 men on board. Two other students were critically injured. -- Sun wire services