Freeman Holds Lead in Canadian Open

Robin Freeman, winless in four seasons on the PGA Tour, shot a second consecutive 68 and took a one-stroke lead Friday at the halfway point of the $1.3 million Canadian Open at Oakville, Canada.

Jay Don Blake was a shot back despite an opening-round 74. He expected to miss the cut and even told a travel agent to make reservations for him to leave town, only to respond with a career-best nine-under 63.

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Val Skinner, barely finishing before play was suspended by thunderstorms, shot a five-under-par 67 to take the lead among golfers who completed the first round of the LPGA Ping-Cellular One Championship at Portland. Because of a 2-hour 38-minute rain delay, 30 golfers were still on the course when play was halted because of darkness.

Hockey

The Kings are planning to retire Dave Taylor’s uniform No. 18 in a pregame ceremony Dec. 15 at the Forum.

Taylor, who spent his entire 17-year career with the Kings, retired after last season.

There will be a limit of 400 tickets sold for the Kings’ intrasquad game today at 1:30 p.m. at Iceoplex in North Hills. Tickets are $5 each and the proceeds go to area youth hockey programs.

Finnish star Teemu Selanne scored four goals to help the Winnipeg Jets beat Tappara of Tampere, 8-2, in the exhibition opener at Helsinki, Finland.

Jurisprudence

A Hamilton County, Ohio grand jury will consider a felony charge against Cincinnati Red outfielder Deion Sanders within two weeks, a prosecutor said. The charge stems from a confrontation with an off-duty officer at Riverfront Stadium last month, when the officer said he was injured as Sanders ignored an order not to drive his motor scooter through a restricted gate.

Cleveland Indian outfielder Manny Ramirez was arrested in New York on drunken driving charges. Ramirez’s blood-alcohol level was .07, Manhattan District Atty. Wayne Brison said.

In New York, .10 and above is considered intoxicated, while .05 to .09 is impaired.

Baseball

Andy MacPhail will leave his job as general manager of the Twins to become chief executive officer and president of the Chicago Cubs after Minnesota owner Carl Pohlad gave permission for MacPhail to get out of the last two years of his contract.

The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes wrapped up the California League Southern Division championship with a 7-4 victory over the Riverside Pilots. The Quakes will open a best-of-five series with Northern Division champion Modesto on Monday at Modesto. Modesto’s 96-40 record is the best in professional baseball.

Yachting

Most of the world’s best small keelboat sailors will be in Southern California the next week to compete in two class world championship regattas: the inveterate Stars at San Diego and the latter-day Etchells at Newport Beach.

Both are monohulls with ballasted keels. The Stars, Olympic-class boats 22 feet 8 inches in length overall, are sailed by two people. Conditions permitting, they will have one race at noon daily from Sunday through Friday. The Etchells will race daily at noon from today through next Friday, with Tuesday designated a lay day.

Volleyball

The U.S. men’s volleyball team, coming off a 15-6, 15-5, 15-6 victory over Poland on Friday night in San Diego, plays the Polish team again tonight at 7 at Pepperdine’s Firestone Fieldhouse.

The U.S. team includes Bob Ctvrtlik and Tom Sorensen, formerly of Pepperdine, Bryan Ivie, formerly of USC, and Jeff Nygaard, currently at UCLA.

Miscellany

Jean Alesi won the provisional pole position for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix in Monza , Italy. . . . Ted Musgrave earned the top spot for tonight’s Miller Genuine Draft 400 in Richmond, Va.

Greg LeMond, 33, the only American to win the Tour de France, said that he is unlikely to compete again. “The door is still open,” LeMond said at an industry trade show in Anaheim. “But it’s closing fast behind me.”

Dennis Hall became the first American medalist at the World Greco-Roman Wrestling Championships since 1991 when he defeated Mikael Lindgren of Finland, 4-0, in the bronze-medal match in Tampere, Finland.

Merlene Ottey of Jamaica easily beat Russian rival Irina Privalova in the women’s 200 meters at the World Cup track at London, finishing in 22.23 seconds. Olympic champion Khalid Skah of Morocco cruised to victory in the 10,000 meters in 27:38.74, and C.J. Hunter of the United States won the shot put at 65-4 1/4.