Villeneuve Wins Title Without Winning Race

Jacques Villeneuve closed the season with a problem-filled 11th-place finish in Sunday’s Bank of America 300 at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, Calif. But his run was good enough to wrap up the IndyCar PPG Cup championship.

Al Unser Jr.’s bid to overtake Villeneuve in the standings fell far short as the defending series champion finished sixth.

Johnny Herbert drove his Benetton Renault to victory in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Herbert’s surprising victory came after the leading Ferrari of Jean Alesi was stopped by a rear wheel break with seven laps left and world championship rivals Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill collided while battling for the top places, then spun off and retired.

Herbert, who will be released by Benetton Renault at the end of the season and is without a bid for 1996, scored his second career victory, both this season. He beat Silverstone driver Mika Hakkinen of Finland by 17.7 seconds.

Wayne Taylor won the three-hour Seitel Texas World Grand Prix at Texas World Speedway in College Station, finishing a lap and 0.219 seconds ahead of Monaco’s Michele Alboreto.

Golf

Britain and Ireland won the Walker Cup for the first time at home in 24 years, defeating the amateur team from the United States, 14-10, in a rain-drenched final program at Porthcawl, Wales. The Americans lead the series, 30-4-1.

Mark O’Meara played mistake-free golf in a stirring match with his friend Bob Lohr, winning the Canadian Open when Lohr bogeyed the first playoff hole at Oakville, Ontario. O’Meara shot a bogey-free, final-round 67 for a 14-under-par 274. Lohr, who took a three-stroke lead into the final round, had three bogeys in his round of 70, but birdied three of the final four holes to force the playoff.

Walter Morgan won his first Senior PGA Tour title, shooting a 5-under 67 for a three-stroke victory over Dave Stockton in the GTE Northwest Classic at Kenmore, Wash. Morgan finished at 13-under 203.

England’s Alison Nicholas won her second tournament of the year, closing with a 4-under 68 for a three-stroke victory over Kelly Robbins in the LPGA Ping-AT&T; Wireless Services Golf Championship at Portland, Ore. Nicholas had a 9-under 207 total.

College Football

Second-ranked Nebraska gained ground on No. 1 Florida State and Northwestern moved into the rankings for the first time since 1971 in this week’s Associated Press college football poll.

The Seminoles received 33 first-place votes and 1,514 points from a nationwide media panel, compared to 20 firsts and 1,481 points for the Cornhuskers.

Northwestern, which had the weekend off after opening with an upset of Notre Dame, was No. 25. It was the Wildcats’ first AP ranking since they were 19th in the final 1971 regular-season poll. USC is sixth and UCLA 12th.

Georgia has lost tailback Robert Edwards for six to eight weeks because of a broken bone in his left foot.

Miscellany

Mike Keenan, the St. Louis Blues’ coach and general manager, suspended goaltender Grant Fuhr indefinitely after he failed the team’s standard physical. Keenan did not specify how long Fuhr will be suspended, but the goalie will probably miss the opening of training camp. . . . Lester Piggott, the English jockey who rode winners all over the world, announced his retirement at 59. . . . South Korean boxer Lee Tong-choon, 32, injured four days earlier when he lost a Japanese national title bout, died at a Tokyo hospital, his manager said. He died of acute swelling of the brain accompanied by bleeding. . . . A stray bullet fired by police trying to control a crowd of soccer fans killed one of Nigeria’s young stars. Igenewari George died Saturday night in Ibadan, outside Lagos. . . . Mike Tyson is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday in Newark, N.J., to face civil charges that he sexually assaulted his ex-wife’s former publicist in 1988.