Some Good Guesses Give Hoch Lead by Two Shots at Houston

Scott Hoch said he “guessed right” several times in shooting an eight-under-par 64 Friday for a two-shot lead after two rounds of the Houston Open golf tournament. Hoch had six birdies and an eagle in getting to 132, 12 under, at the Tournament Players Course at the Woodlands. Willie Wood was two shots behind after a second-round 66.

*

Jim Colbert, taking advantage of near-perfect conditions in his hometown, shot a seven-under 65 for a one-stroke lead over Raymond Floyd, Jerry McGee and Bob Murphy in the Las Vegas Senior Classic.

*

Kris Tschetter followed her first-round 66 with a 67 for a 133 total and a two-shot lead over Michelle McGann and Dawn Coe-Jones in the LPGA Sprint Championship at Daytona Beach, Fla.

Tennis

Boris Becker beat Richard Krajicek, 6-2, 7-5; Goran Ivanisevic beat Gilbert Schaller, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, and the winners advanced to a semifinal matchup on clay at the Monte Carlo Open. Thomas Muster and Andrea Gaudenzi are in the other semifinal match. . . . Top-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario defeated Ann Grossman, 6-3, 7-5, in the quarterfinals of a Women’s Tennis Assn. event in Barcelona and will play Amanda Coetzer, who beat Nathalie Tauziat, 6-2, 7-5. Unseeded Katarzyna Nowak and second-seeded Iva Majoli are in the other semifinal.

Basketball

Michael Jordan told ESPN that he doesn’t care if the men accused of killing his father are executed “because my father is gone.” Larry Demery, 19, has pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree murder in the shooting of James Jordan on July 23, 1993, and agreed to testify against Daniel Green.

The nation’s top-rated prep point guard, Stephon Marbury of Brooklyn, has signed a letter of intent to play at Georgia Tech.

Auto Racing

Terry Labonte won his first pole position since 1991, driving his Chevrolet Monte Carlo at 196.532 m.p.h. in qualifying for Sunday’s Winston Select 500 at Talladega, Ala. . . . Driver-owner Ricky Rudd and crew chief Bill Ingle were fined a record $50,000 after NASCAR inspectors found an illegal hydraulic device that would alter the aerodynamics on the team’s Ford Thunderbird. . . . Formula One champion Michael Schumacher won the provisional pole position for the San Marino Grand Prix in Italy, driving his Benetton-Renault around the redesigned 3.035-mile Imola track in 1 minute 27.274 seconds, averaging 124.779 m.p.h.

Soccer

French star Eric Cantona has signed a three-year contract worth a reported $4.8 million with England’s Manchester United. . . . Argentina upset defending champion Brazil, 2-0, in Doha, Qatar, for the title in the FIFA World Youth Championship for players under 20. . . . Nigerian-born Jean Harbor signed a multiyear contract to play for Major League Soccer. . . . The Montclair Standard Falcons play the L.A. Salsa tonight at Montclair High at 7:30.

Miscellany

UCLA’s John Godina won the shotput at 67 feet 9 3/4 inches, the best throw by a collegian this year, in the Penn Relays in Philadelphia. . . . Eight-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis, 33, finished third in 10.32 seconds, behind Texas El Paso sophomore Obadele Thompson (10.19) and Oregon freshman Pat Johnson (10.26), in the 100 meters at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa. . . . Pat Neaton scored at 4:14 of the third period to salvage a 2-2 tie for the United States against Sweden in the World Hockey Championships at Stockholm. . . . Liza de Villiers, a 14-year-old South African long jumper, faces a four-year ban as the youngest track and field athlete to test positive for steroids. . . . The Pro Beach Volleyball League will hold a four-man tournament today and Sunday at Seal Beach. . . . Steve Fossett’s 60-foot trimaran Lakota from Chicago’s Columbia Yacht Club had a three-mile lead an hour after the start of the 48th Newport Beach-to-Ensenada sailing race.

Names in the News

The Miami Dolphins signed running back Brent Moss of Wisconsin, saying they believe he had overcome his crack cocaine use problem. Moss, who was given a one-year, $119,000 contract with incentive clauses, must take a urinalysis at least once a week as part of his five-year probation imposed by the NFL. . . . Purdue assistant Dallas Boychuk was announced as the new women’s basketball coach at Long Beach State. . . . Cyclist Andrea Peron of Italy rode the second stage, an 88-mile Fredericksburg-to-Richmond road race in Virginia, in 3 hours 9 minutes 45 seconds to win by 1.4 seconds and take over the lead of the Tour DuPont.