Dennis, Clements (64) Share Colonial Lead

Clark Dennis, who has missed the cut in 10 of his last 16 tournaments, shot a 64 on the course that was his childhood playground and took a share of the first-round lead in the Colonial National Invitation golf tournament Thursday at Ft. Worth.

“It’s good to be home,” Dennis said after the six-under-par round on a rain-softened course gave him a tie with Lennie Clements, who has never won in 15 years on the PGA Tour.

“It’s vulnerable, about as vulnerable as Colonial is ever going to be,” Clements said.

Billy Andrade shot a 65, and the group at 66 included Fuzzy Zoeller, Payne Stewart, Curtis Strange, Mike Hulbert, Jeff Maggert, D.A. Weibring and Craig Parry.

Two-time Colonial winner Ben Crenshaw shot a 75.

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Loretta Alderete matched the best round of her career with a five-under 67 to share the first-round lead with Pat Bradley in the $500,000 Corning Classic in New York.

Alderete, who is not exempt and has played in only one LPGA event this year, had one bogey while taking a tournament lead for the first time since turning pro in 1985.

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Vibeke Stensrud of San Jose State shot her second consecutive three-under 69 to take the individual lead by one stroke over Kristel Mourgue d’Algue, whose 67 led Arizona State to the team lead after 36 holes of the NCAA women’s championship at Wilmington, N.C.

Tennis

Stefan Edberg defeated MaliVai Washington, 6-4, 6-4, as Sweden swept the United States, 3-0, to end America’s hopes of reaching the World Team Cup final at Duesseldorf, Germany.

Magnus Larsson defeated Todd Martin, 7-5, 7-5, and Edberg and Jonas Bjorkman teamed to beat Jared Palmer and Richey Reneberg, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Swimming

With 15-year-old Brooke Bennett nipping at her heels, Placentia’s Janet Evans reaffirmed her status as the world’s fastest 800-meter freestyle swimmer in the Alamo Challenge at Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Evans, 23, the only American woman to win four Olympic swimming gold medals, maintained a body-length lead throughout the race to finish in a 8 minutes 31.90 seconds. Bennett was timed in 8:32.99, and both shattered the meet record of 8:37.77 set by Evans in 1992.

Rugby

South Africans put aside business, politics and past bitterness to embrace their team, which defeated Australia, 27-18, in the opening match of the 1995 Rugby World Cup at Cape Town.

The rugby union tournament is the largest sporting event ever held in South Africa and marks the World Cup debut of the Springboks, who were barred from the first two competitions in 1987 and 1991 because of apartheid.

Miscellany

Duncan Ferguson was sentenced to three months in jail in Scotland for butting Raith Rover defender John McStay during a Scottish Premier Division soccer game in April 1994.

Ferguson, with the Glasgow Rangers at the time, is believed to be the first player in Great Britain to be sentenced for an incident involving another player on the field during a game.

Officials seeking a new executive director for the U.S. Olympic Committee interviewed five candidates in Chicago. The committee met with Dick Schultz, former NCAA executive director; Mike Jacki, former executive director of U.S. Skiing and USA Gymnastics; Terdema Ussery, former commissioner of the Continental Basketball Assn. and now an executive with Nike; Merrily Dean Baker, former athletic director at Michigan State, and Kenneth Burnley, school superintendent in Colorado Springs, Colo. LeRoy T. Walker, the USOC’s president, is expected to present one to three names to the USOC’s executive committee on July 22 in Denver.

A New York Yankee uniform worn by Babe Ruth and valued by its owner at $50,000 was stolen this week from a rental car in New York City.

Names in the News

Jean Alesi, driving a Ferrari, won the provisional pole position for Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix with an 88.904-m.p.h. average over the 2.068-mile circuit through the streets of Monte Carlo. . . . The Kings signed Swedish elite league center Daniel Rydmark to a two-year contract. . . . Former NBA player Jeff Ruland lost a lawsuit in which he contended that his career was shortened because a Boston Celtic ballboy accidentally pushed a ball cart into his leg while he was playing for the Philadelphia 76ers. . . . Former Brigham Young basketball star Kresimir Cosic died in Baltimore of cancer at 46. . . . Michigan State named Merritt Norvell, who played on Wisconsin’s 1963 Rose Bowl team, its athletic director. . . . Dan Fortmann, a Pro Football Hall of Fame member and longtime team physician of the Rams, died at 79. . . . Charles Barkley of the Phoenix Suns had surgery on torn cartilage in his left knee and is expected to complete his rehabilitation in six weeks.