Rookie shoots 61 at Buick
Brandt Snedeker, a 26-year-old rookie on the PGA Tour, flirted with golf's magic number of 59 yesterday in the Buick Invitational until the birdies dried up on the easy North Course at Torrey Pines in San Diego, then settled for a 61 to tie the course record and take a two-shot lead.
Brandt Snedeker,
a 26-year-old rookie on the PGA Tour, flirted with golf's magic number of 59 yesterday in the Buick Invitational until the birdies dried up on the easy North Course at Torrey Pines in San Diego, then settled for a 61 to tie the course record and take a two-shot lead.
"The whole front nine was a blur," Snedeker said.
But he generated the biggest buzz at the Buick, where two-time defending champion Tiger Woods opened with a 66 and was reduced to a supporting role.
Figure Skating
* Kimmie Meissner took a big step toward her first national title, winning the short program in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, Wash. Bebe Liang was second and Emily Hughes third. In the men's short program, Evan Lysacek edged Johnny Weir. The free skate is tomorrow.
* Brian Joubert, of France, won his second title at the European Figure Skating Championships in Warsaw, Poland.
Philly File
* Philadelphia University's men's soccer program, which had been competing at the Division I level, is dropping down to Division II. The Rams will compete in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference beginning in the fall of 2008, the same conference as the school's other 14 sports.
* Mark Evans has been named client services manager and Steve Shultz the director of operations for the Philadelphia Soul.
* Raul Frank stopped champion Terrence Cauthen, of Trenton, N.J., in the ninth round of their USBA junior middleweight title fight in New York, but the result was under protest. After referee Ricky Gonzalez counted out Cauthen, the champion's promoter, Joe DeGuardia, claimed Frank used a head-butt rather than a hard right to end the fight. State athletic commissioner Ron Scott Stevens will hold a hearing Wednesday.
Sport Stops
* Greek sprinters Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou will stand trial Monday on perjury charges relating to their alleged motorcycle accident and missed doping tests before the 2004 Olympics. Judicial officials in Greece said the duo would be tried along with coach Christos Tzekos, who is charged with importing illegal substances.
* Greece's top athletics official, Vassilis Sevastis, has been suspended for 2 1/2 years for his involvement in an alleged cover-up of a doping-related incident involving former Greek high jumper Lambros Papakostas.
* Sonny Vaccaro, who ran the Reebok-sponsored ABCD basketball camp for elite high school players for 15 years at Fairleigh Dickinson, announced earlier this week he was stepping down from his position with the shoe company and would not host the camp.
* Czech ski jumper Jan Mazoch, who crashed last week at a World Cup event in southern Poland, was breathing on his own after being brought out of a coma. *