Lohr’s 64 Ties Two Others for Lead at Las Vegas

Bob Lohr shot an eight-under-par 64 and moved into a three-way tie with Jeff Woodland and Gil Morgan for the first-round lead Wednesday in the five-day Las Vegas Invitational.

Lohr, who lost at San Antonio in a playoff Sunday, birdied six holes in a row at the TPC at Summerlin, one of three desert courses used for the 90-hole event.

The format calls for the pros to play one round on each of the three courses with a different three-man amateur team, with the field cut for the final two rounds at the TPC.

Wrestling

Jeff Blatnick said he was once offered steroids by one of his coaches. He turned them down, then went on to win a 1984 Olympic gold medal in wrestling against a Swedish athlete who later tested positive for a steroid, Blatnick said at the Health Fraud Advisory Council’s conference at Albany, N.Y.

Blatnick, who battled Hodgkin’s disease, said that while he was at Springfield College, a coach gave him steroids and a three-inch stack of literature touting their benefits. Blatnick threw them away.

“I said, ‘I don’t think I need these.’ After I got rid of them other guys came up to me wanting to know if they could have them,” Blatnick said.

Tennis

Olivier Delaitre upset Boris Becker, 7-6 (9-7), 6-7 (7-4), 6-4, in first round of the Lyon Open. Pete Sampras defeated Tomas Carbonell, 7-5, 6-3.

Brad Gilbert saved three match points and went on to beat Grant Doyle, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), in the opening round of the first sanctioned men’s tournament in China, the Salem Open in Beijing.

Jana Novotna scored a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Claudia Porwik to reach the quarterfinals of a women’s indoor tournament at Brighton, England.

Sailing

Winstone, the yacht skippered by Dennis Conner, sailed into the South Atlantic resort of Punta del Este, Uruguay, the sixth vessel to complete the first leg of the Whitbread Round the World race.

Merit Cup, skippered by Switzerland’s Pierre Fehlman, was the first of the day to make port, the third overall. Grant Dalton’s New Zealand Endeavor was the first to arrive, on Tuesday.

Miscellany

Angel third baseman Eduardo Perez, 24, had arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow. The exploratory surgery, performed by Lewis Yocum of the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic, was performed to look for possible muscle damage. Yocum found only inflammation inside the elbow. With an extensive rehabilitation program this winter, Perez will be ready for spring training, the Angels said.

The United States national soccer team will play Jamaica at Cal State Fullerton at 6 p.m. Nov. 7, the Cayman Islands at 3 p.m. on Nov. 14 at Trabuco Hills High in Mission Viejo and El Salvador at 2 p.m. on Dec. 5 at the Coliseum.

The Tour de France will swing through England next year for the first time since 1974, using the soon-to-be-completed tunnel under the English Channel to get there.

The final day, July 24, the racers will start in Euro Disneyland and then head to Paris for the traditional closing loops along the Champs Elysees.

Last hockey season’s top college scorer said he was surprised to get the maximum suspension, 14 games, from the NCAA for a mistake the University of Maine made in interpreting his eligibility. Maine’s athletic director said the university might appeal the NCAA ruling on Cal Ingraham’s eligibility.

The company planning to build a $200-million arena for the Philadelphia 76ers and the Flyers said the basketball team has rejected a final proposal to participate in the venture, virtually killing it.

Gov. Mario Cuomo, seeking to keep the New York Yankees from following the Jets and Giants to New Jersey, has developed a $150-million plan to keep the team in the Bronx. The New York Times reported in its Thursday editions that the plan will be presented in a few days to Yankee owner George Steinbrenner.

Names in the News

Pernell Whitaker’s protest of a judge’s scoring in his controversial draw with Julio Cesar Chavez in San Antonio last month was withdrawn.

Prosecutors in Ft. Worth dropped a credit-card abuse charge against former NBA center Chris Washburn, 27, who had been jailed since his August arrest at a Dallas residence. He was accused of using a friend’s credit card without permission to pay for about a week of room charges.

A Seattle judge said charges stemming from a car chase will be dropped against Washington wide receiver Jason Shelley if he pays a fine and stays out of trouble.