PGA Tour Rookie Comes Out of Storms as Co-Leader

Bill Porter, a 35-year-old PGA Tour rookie, made a birdie and par after a 2-hour 40-minute rain delay to complete a round of seven-under-par 65 Thursday for a share of the unfinished first-round lead of the BellSouth Classic in Marietta, Ga.

Jim Gallagher Jr., who won his fourth PGA Tour event two weeks ago at Greensboro, N.C., but stayed home because of flu last week, had four birdies in a row in one stretch while shooting a 65.

Ten threesomes were still on the course when play was suspended for the day because of darkness. The first round will be finished this morning.

Among those still on the course, Phil Blackmar was six under par and Tommy Armour was five under, each with the par-five 18th to play.

Tom Kite had a 66, and defending champion John Daly birdied his final five holes--he started on the back side--to post a 67, matching Davis Love III, Bob Estes, Mark Calcavecchia and Stephen Keppler.

Basketball

Saying he was “not in it for the money,” North Carolina’s 6-foot-10 center Rasheed Wallace declared himself available for the NBA draft.

With the NBA considering a rookie salary cap, Wallace joined several college undergraduates leaving school early.

“The salary cap played a part in my decision, but it wasn’t dominating,” Wallace said.

James Brown, a 6-foot-6 swingman from Compton Dominguez High, signed a letter of intent to play basketball at USC, Trojan Coach Charlie Parker announced. Brown averaged 14.7 points and 4.2 rebounds and was named All-Southern Section Division II second team.

Schea Cotton has left Mater Dei after his sophomore season and begun the application process to attend St. John Bosco, said Jack Hastert, athletic director at St. John Bosco.

Cotton, who averaged 24 points and 10 rebounds, was named section Division I-A player of the year this season. He was a first-team All-Southern Section Division I and first-team Times All-County selection in both his freshman and sophomore seasons.

Tennis

Illness forced top-seeded Mary Pierce to retire from her match in the Citizen Cup tournament at Hamburg, Germany.

Pierce, the Australian Open champion, easily beat Germany’s Petra Begerow, 6-3, in the first set, but Begerow won the second, 7-5, and was ahead, 3-0, in the third when Pierce retired.

“I felt tired, I was dizzy and feeling bad,” said Pierce, recovering from a kidney infection.

Top-seeded Andre Agassi defeated Vince Spadea, 6-4, 7-5, and Magnus Larsson overcame a rough start and a four-hour rain delay to turn back Jakob Hlasek, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, to advance to the quarterfinals of the AT&T; Challenge in Duluth, Ga.

Christian Ruud of Norway upset eighth-seeded Chuck Adams, 6-4, 6-1; Alex Corretja of Spain breezed to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Martin Sinner of Germany, and Marcelo Filippini of Uruguay beat Hendrik Dreekmann of Germany, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, in the second round of the BMW Open at Munich.

Football

The Chicago Bears terminated the contract of running back Tim Worley. In two seasons, Worley had 454 yards and three touchdowns in 119 carries.

University of Florida redshirt freshman defensive end Teako Brown was charged with aggravated battery after he allegedly struck his pregnant girlfriend, Shenika King, 19, and threw her to the floor, university police said in Gainesville, Fla.

Under a plan approved by the Hillsborough County Commission, taxpayers could foot the bill for 10,000 tickets a game based on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers having an average attendance of 55,000 a game in 1995 and ’96. The last time Tampa Bay’s average home attendance exceeded 55,000 was 1990, when it was 56,556. The Buccaneers averaged 44,221 last season.

Miscellany

Clark Sheehan rode away from renowned sprinter Djamolidin Adbujaparov to win the eighth stage of the Tour DuPont in Asheville, N.C., and Lance Armstrong kept his leader’s jersey for the fifth day. Sheehan covered the 127-mile run from Greenville, S.C., to Asheville in 5 hours 33 minutes 56 seconds. Armstrong finished sixth and remains 2:43 ahead of Motorola teammate Andrea Peron. . . . Paul Caligiuri, a member of the U.S. World Cup soccer team, has signed a contract with the L.A. Salsa for the remainder of season. . . . Jeff Nygaard, senior middle blocker at UCLA, was named the AVCA men’s national volleyball player of the year for the second consecutive season. . . . Marty Cohen, known as “Mr. Boxing” and created the Intercontinental Boxing Council to rival the major sanctioning bodies, died at 97 after a short illness. . . . Chantel Stanciel, a 139-pounder, won a unanimous decision over Hector Camacho Jr. to advance to the semifinals in the national Golden Gloves tournament at Lowell, Mass.