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Garcia's win moves him to No. 10 in world

VIRGINIA WATER, England, May 12 (UPI) -- Sergio Garcia's win in the Players Championship lifted him into the top 10 in the official World Golf rankings Monday.

Garcia moved from 18th on the list to No. 10 following his playoff victory over Paul Goydos at TPC Sawgrass in Florida.

The two players finished regulation at 5-under-par 283 and Garcia won with a par after Goydos drove into the water surrounding the windy No. 17 island green -- the first playoff hole.

The 28-year-old Spaniard's victory was his seventh on the PGA Tour but first since 2005.

Top-ranked Tiger Woods, sidelined since undergoing knee surgery in mid-April still leads by a wide margin over No. 2 Phil Mickelson, who tied for 21st at Sawgrass..

Ernie Els regained the No. 3 ranking, with Adam Scott and Steve Stricker completing the top five. Els and Scott switched places this week.

Next, in order, are Geoff Ogilvy, Jim Furyk, K.J. Choi, Vijay Singh and Garcia, who bumped Justin Rose out of the top 10.

Garnett leads NBA's all-defensive team

NEW YORK, May 12 (UPI) -- Boston's Kevin Garnett, the NBA's defensive player of the year, was selected to the all-defensive first team, the league said Monday.

It was Garnett's ninth appearance on the first-team all-defensive squad. He was joined by San Antonio's Tim Duncan -- an 11-time first-team all-defense selection -- and Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant, who was picked to the team for the eighth time.

Last year's defensive player of the year, Marcus Camby of Denver, and San Antonio's Bruce Bowen, rounded out the first team.

The second team all-defense was made up of Houston's Shane Battier, New Orleans' Chris Paul, Orlando's Dwight Howard, Detroit's Tayshaun Prince and Phoenix's Raja Bell.

The NBA all-defensive team is determined by a vote of the league's 30 head coaches. A coach cannot vote for a player from his own team.

Death penalty nixed in Sean Taylor slaying

MIAMI, May 12 (UPI) -- A lawyer for one of the accused killers of Washington Redskins player Sean Taylor says Florida prosecutors will not seek the death penalty in the case.

Attorney Michael Hornung said he received word from the Miami-Dade state attorney's office that the death penalty would not be on the table, the Miami Herald reported Monday.

Hornung represents Venjah Hunt, one of four suspects who go to trial in August.

Taylor, 24, who played safety for the Redskins, was shot to death during a November break-in at his Palmetto Bay, Fla.home.

There was no immediate official comment from the prosecution; however Hornung noted that the alleged triggerman in the case was 17 at the time of the shooting and therefore not eligible for the death penalty.

"It would have been a real interesting legal dilemma if the alleged shooter would be immune to the death penalty but the other participants would not have been," Hornung told the Herald.

Zvonareva, Szavay win at Italian Open

ROME, May 12 (UPI) -- Vera Zvonareva and Agnes Szavay took solid victories Monday in first-round play of the $1.34 million Italian Open tennis tournament.

Zvonareva, who won a tournament in the Czech Republic two weeks ago, extended her personal winning streak to six matches with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Ai Sugiyama. She's advanced to at least the quarterfinals in eight of her nine tournaments this year.

Zvonareva leads the WTA with 32 match wins this year.

Szavay posted an even more lopsided 6-1, 6-1 win in her match with Zi Yan.

Also winning was 17th-seeded Francesca Schiavone, who defeated Lucie Safarova 6-4, 7-5.

Tournament officials said Dinara Safina, the Italian Open runner-up two years ago, had withdrawn from the 2008 event because of a back injury. Safina beat world No. 1 Justin Henin and No. 6-ranked Serena Williams last week en route to the championship of the German Open, which she wrapped up Sunday.