Norman’s 63 Leads Players Championship

Greg Norman took advantage of a soft, vulnerable course for a nine-under-par 63 that led an assault on par Thursday in the first round of the Players Championship at the TPC course in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

The course, once criticized by players as being too difficult, turned docile in the ideal conditions.

Even though Norman birdied five consecutive holes and tied the course record set in 1992 by Fred Couples, he held only a two-shot lead over Tom Kite, Lee Janzen, Jeff Maggert and Colin Montgomerie.

Jurisprudence

Six Hartford Whalers must complete 20 hours of community service during the off-season for getting into a fight at a nightclub owned by Buffalo Bill quarterback Jim Kelly. Arrested were Pat Verbeek, Geoffrey Sanderson, Marc Potvin, Chris Pronger, Mark Janssen and Todd Harkins, along with assistant coach Kevin McCarthy. The players, in town to play the Sabres tonight, pleaded guilty to trespassing. McCarthy also was charged with trespassing and faces a court hearing.

Guard Vernon Maxwell of the Houston Rockets was fined $1,500 in Houston after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of illegally carrying a gun in his car.

The Los Angeles Municipal Court issued a bench warrant for the arrest of UCLA defensive back Tommy Bennett for failing to appear at his arraignment. Bennett was to have answered seven charges that included false financial statements, perjury, possession of forged materials and grand theft, university police said.

The referee of a fight Ray Mercer is accused of trying to fix testified in New York Supreme Court that he heard a lot of talking but he never heard the $100,000 bribe offer Mercer allegedly made. Wayne Kelly said he thought it was odd Mercer was accused because it was Jesse Ferguson he reprimanded during last year’s bout.

Hockey

The NHL Board of Governors voted to adopt a weighted drawing for determining the first pick in the annual entry draft beginning in 1995. This year’s first two picks will be made by the Florida Panthers and Mighty Ducks.

Skiing

Tommy Moe, spurred by finishing ninth in the downhill a day earlier, won the men’s super-giant slalom in 1 minute 5.74 seconds, well ahead of Roman Torn of Canada, at the U.S. Alpine Ski Championships in Winter Park, Colo. Shannon Nobis won the women’s super-G in 1:11.23, 0.02 seconds ahead of Picabo Street.

Miscellany

Stanford’s 200-yard relay team of Bill Schell, Brian Retterer, Tyler Mayfield and Joe Hudepohl set U.S. records twice at the NCAA men’s swimming championships at Minnesota. Retterer also set an American record in the 100 backstroke on the first leg of the 400 medley. Arizona’s Chad Carvin also broke the American record twice in the 500-yard freestyle. . . . Allegations of an effort to conceal NCAA violations at the University of Maine surfaced again as Anne R. McCoy, the school’s associate director of athletics, charged Mike Ploszek, the athletic director, with planning to hide eligibility problems.