Vacation Over, Norman Shares Memorial Lead

Greg Norman returned from a six-week break from competition with a six-under-par 66 Thursday and shared the lead with Mark O’Meara in the rain-delayed and incomplete first round of the Memorial golf tournament in Dublin, Ohio.

Norman had not played since dropping out of the Heritage Classic in April because of back spasms.

He birdied four holes in a row, starting on No. 10, added a two-putt birdie on the par-five 15th hole and took his share of the lead with a 31 on the back.

Ben Crenshaw, Mike Sullivan and Jim Gallagher, who played as a threesome, were all at 67.

Fifty-five of the starting field of 113 were left on the rain-soaked course when play was called for the day.

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Dale Eggeling, who has won only once since joining the LPGA tour in 1976, tied a tournament record with a nine-under-par 63 and took a two-shot lead over Helen Alfredsson in the opening round of the Oldsmobile Classic in East Lansing, Mich.

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U.S. Amateur champion Tiger Woods shot an even-par 72 in the rain-delayed second round as defending Division I champion Stanford took a two-stroke lead over top-ranked Oklahoma State, 581-583, in the NCAA golf championship. Sharing the individual lead at 138 were Oklahoma State’s Chris Tidland and Auburn’s Chip Spratlin.

Basketball

After years as an NBA assistant, Brendan Malone will be named the first coach of the expansion Toronto Raptors, according to the Toronto Sun. . . . Paul Silas, an assistant with the New Jersey Nets the last three years, was hired as an assistant to Coach Paul Westphal of the Phoenix Suns. . . . Guard Kevin Pritchard, who has played in Europe, the CBA and for the Miami Heat, became the first player to sign with the NBA expansion Vancouver Grizzlies. . . . Long Beach State will play Miami of Ohio, and Nevada Las Vegas will play Ball State in a basketball doubleheader on Dec. 16 in Las Vegas in an attempt to attract more visitors to the Las Vegas Bowl football game, played Dec. 14.

Football

The Raiders signed their third-round draft choice, running back Joe Aska of Central Oklahoma. . . . Wide receiver Robert Brooks signed a three-year, $3.9-million contract with the Green Bay Packers. . . . The St. Louis Rams signed running back Leonard Russell and tight end Marv Cook, two unrestricted free agents. . . . The Jacksonville Jaguars have signed all 10 of their 1995 draft picks, including first-round selections Tony Boselli, a tackle at USC, and running back James Stewart of Tennessee and fourth-round quarterback Rob Johnson of USC.

Auto Racing

Dick King, president of the U.S. Auto Club, said that Indianapolis 500 pace car driver Don Bailey did nothing wrong while controlling traffic during the race. Drivers had complained that the pace car was too slow, and winner Jacques Villeneuve was penalized two laps for passing the pace car under a caution-flag condition. Scott Goodyear crossed the finish line first, but was dropped to 14th in the final order for a similar infraction.

Olympics

After advertising in a newspaper and on radio stations that he could, Charlie Smith, a Georgia legislator, has ordered $12,000 worth of Olympic tickets for constituents through a program that allows him and hundreds of other politicians special access to tickets for the Atlanta Games. Smith said he made no profit as the middleman and his constituents had to pay for the tickets up front.

Miscellany

Hank Steinbrecher, executive director of the U.S. Soccer Federation, said he would consider only foreigners to replace fired Bora Milutinovic as coach of the national team. Carlos Queiroz, a coach in Portugal’s first division, turned down the job. Another candidate is Carlos Alberto Parreira of Brazil, although he is committed to coaching in Spain into 1996. Steve Sampson will remain interim coach of the U.S. national team through the America Cup tournament in July. . . . The Southeastern Conference voted to allow each of its 12 schools to admit four men and four women athletes a year as partial qualifiers under academic standards contained in NCAA rules for the 1996-97 academic year. . . . Tufts won the Intercollegiate Yacht Racing Assn. of North America team championship for the third consecutive year, at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach. Sixteen schools will compete in the national dinghy championships at Alamitos Bay today through Sunday.

Names in the News

Frankie Fredericks of Namibia soundly beat Linford Christie of England in a 200-meter race of world champions, being timed in 20.41 seconds in a rain-plagued track meet in St. Denis, France. . . . Center Michal Pivonka of the Washington Capitals was suspended for the first three games of next season and fined $1,000 by the NHL for a high-sticking incident in Game 7 of the playoff game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. . . . Tim Mara, a former co-owner of the New York Giants who sold his share of the team after a long family feud with his uncle, died of cancer in Jupiter, Fla., at 59. . . . The New York Times reported that the International Boxing Federation will order George Foreman to defend his heavyweight boxing title against Axel Schulz, who lost a controversial majority decision to Foreman on April 12.