TennisMichael Stich stepped out of the shadow...

Tennis

Michael Stich stepped out of the shadow of his more charismatic compatriot, Boris Becker, to lead Germany to a 4-1 victory over Australia in the Davis Cup final at Dusseldorf, Germany, on Sunday.

Two weeks after winning the season-ending ATP world championship to rise to No. 2 in the world, Stich beat Richard Fromberg, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2, to clinch victory for Germany with an insurmountable 3-1 lead.

Germany has won the Davis Cup three times in the last six years.

Marc Goellner completed the victory when he defeated Jason Stoltenberg, 6-1, 6-7 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3).

Afterward, 60-year-old Neale Fraser, Australia’s Davis Cup captain for the past 23 years, said he will retire from the post.

Golf

Nick Price shot a seven-under-par 65 and set two tournament records while winning golf’s richest prize at the Million Dollar Challenge in Sun City, South Africa.

Price finished at 24-under 264, 12 shots ahead of Mark McNulty.

Price set a tournament record by eight shots, beating the 272 set by Germany’s Bernhard Langer in 1991.

Curtis Strange ended a four-year victory drought by winning the Greg Norman Classic at Sydney, Australia. Strange shot a 70 and finished with an 18-under-par 274, two better than Australian rookie John Wade at The Lakes course.

Isao Aoki made a three-foot birdie on the ninth and final hole to eliminate Dave Stockton and win the $400,000 Senior PGA Shootout at Fisher Island, Fla.

Mike Springer and Melissa McNamara shot a five-under-par 66 to win the J.C. Penney Mixed-Team Classic at Tarpon Springs, Fla. . . . Bob Burns of Granada Hills shot a five-under 67 to take a one-shot lead into today’s final round of the PGA Qualifying School tournament at La Quinta.

College Athletics

Athletic directors from several Southwest Conference and Big Eight schools are discussing a new conference with membership conditions that could exclude up to four SWC schools, the Houston Chronicle reported.

The Chronicle, citing unidentified sources, said the new league would include Brigham Young of the Western Athletic Conference; Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State of the Big Eight and Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M;, Texas Tech, Rice, Houston, Southern Methodist and Texas Christian of the SWC.

But the Chronicle reported that guidelines for the new league might be so expensive that four SWC schools--Houston, Rice, Southern Methodist and Texas Christian--would be excluded.

Jim Livengood, athletic director at Washington State since 1987, reportedly has been chosen to replace Cedric Dempsey as Arizona’s athletic director. . . . Michael Carter rushed for two touchdowns and passed for two more in leading Hawaii (6-6) to a 56-17 victory over Tulane (3-9) in the season finale for both teams a Honolulu.

Miscellany

Dan Jansen finished in 35.96 seconds to win the 500-meter speedskating event at Hamar, Norway. Bonnie Blair won the women’s 1,000 Sunday in 1:19.97. . . . Alexandre Fadeev won the men’s title as Russia swept the U.S. Open Professional figure skating championships at Worcester, Mass. . . . Alberto Tomba of Italy beat Thomas Stangassinger of Austria by 12 hundredths of a second to win a World Cup slalom at Stoneham, Quebec. . . . Italy’s Deborah Compagnoni overtook World Cup leader Anita Wachter of Austria and won a women’s World Cup giant slalom race at Tignes, France.

Allison Wagner of the United States set a world record of 2:07.79 in the 200-meter individual medley, but Chinese swimmers set world records in the 200-meter backstroke (2:06.09) and 400-meter medley relay (3:57.73) on the last day of the World Short Course Championship at Palma de Mallorca, Spain. China won 10 gold medals in 16 events.