Els Leads by 6 After Shooting Another 64

Ernie Els closed with four consecutive birdies Friday, giving him his second consecutive seven-under 64 and a six-shot lead at the midway point of the Johnnie Walker World Championship at Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Els broke the tournament record with a 30 on the back nine.

Tom Lehman shot a 65 and is tied for second with Nick Faldo. Another stroke back is David Gilford, who matched Els with a 64.

Baseball

The Dodgers signed reliever Rudy Seanez to a guaranteed two-year contract and reliever Al Osuna to a one-year deal. They also traded pitcher Ben VanRyn to the Cincinnati Reds for left-hander William Brunson. . . . Outfielder Dave Clark signed a $1.35-million contract that will keep him with the Pittsburgh Pirates for another two years. . . . Outfielder Mike Kingery signed a $600,000, one-year contract to stay with the Colorado Rockies.

Track and Field

Following the four-year ban on 800-meter runner Diane Modahl, the International Amateur Athletic Federation nullified the fifth-place finish of the British women’s team at the World Cup in September.

Brent Noon, University of Georgia shotputter, appealed a San Diego Superior Court judge’s decision to overturn a verdict and order a new trial in his drug-testing suit against USA Track & Field.

College Football

Nick Saban, Michigan State’s new coach, can’t begin recruiting until he officially severs ties with the Cleveland Browns, the NCAA has ruled. . . . Boise State (13-1) faces Youngstown State (13-0-1) at Huntington, W.Va., today in the NCAA Division I-AA title game.

Miscellany

An informal negotiating session involving representatives of the NHL and its players’ union is scheduled today in New York, the third such session this week. Commissioner Gary Bettman and union chief Bob Goodenow were not expected to attend.

Although union sources said the league might consider a 44-game schedule if the lockout is not settled by Christmas, a league spokesman said Bettman has not changed his stance since Monday, when he said the minimum would be a 50-game schedule and a full slate of best-of-seven playoff series.

County and state prosecutors sued three ticket agencies over a mix-up that denied about 2,000 Wisconsin fans of tickets they had purchased for the 1994 Rose Bowl.

After months of squabbling with the NFL over the nickname Colts, the owner of Baltimore’s Canadian Football League team announced its new name: the Baltimore Football Club.

The Olympics’ top anti-doping official said that drug use by athletes in China was no worse than in any other country.

Prince Alexandre de Merode, chairman of the International Olympic Committee’s medical commission, downplayed the recent spate of positive tests involving Chinese athletes as isolated cases.

Josef Strobl of Austria streaked out of a late starting position at Val D’Isere, France, to win the opening World Cup men’s downhill of the season.

The leaders of the Knight Commission sent a letter to university presidents asking them to help reject attempts to relax higher academic standards for student-athletes.

An international yachting jury ruled that a controversial Australian boat built by the Southern Cross Yacht Club is eligible to race in the 1995 America’s Cup.

Ronnie Arrow resigned as South Alabama men’s basketball coach, effective immediately. Assistant Judas Prada will coach the Jaguars, off to a 1-3 start, against Southern tonight and has been named interim head coach.