Funk Shoots a 69, Moves Into Tie for Lead

Fred Funk and Steve Stricker, two players trying to get into the $3-million Tour Championship, are tied at 11-under 205 after three rounds of the Buick Challenge at Pine Mountain, Ga.

Funk shot a 69 Saturday to tie Stricker, who led by two strokes after the second round but shot even-par 72 on the Mountain View Golf Course at Callaway Gardens.

“When fields are bunched like they are here, you know someone’s going to get hot and shoot a low number on Sunday,” Funk said. “Starting out today, I sure didn’t think 11 under would be leading after the round.”

Five players, John Morse, Loren Roberts, Larry Nelson, Kirk Triplett and Jeff Sluman are one stroke back.

Senior PGA Tour money leader Dave Stockton and three-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin were tied for the lead after two rounds of the Vantage Championship at Clemmons, N.C.

Stockton had a six-under-par 66 for a 10-under 134 total that was matched by Irwin, who started the day alone at the top after an opening-round 66. They were two strokes ahead of Mike Hill, who shot a second-round 69, and three ahead of Gary Player, Lee Trevino and Jim Albus.

Gail Graham shot a three-under-par 69 for a one-stroke lead over Hiromi Kobayashi and Tammie Green in the inaugural LPGA Fieldcrest Cannon Classic at Cornelius, N.C.

Graham was at 12-under 204 heading into today’s final round. Green birdied three of the last five holes in her round of 67; Kobayashi shot a 69.

Hockey

After winning a contract arbitration with Stanley Cup most valuable player Claude Lemieux, the New Jersey Devils announced that they will trade the disgruntled forward “in the best interests of the team.”

Meanwhile, the Devils signed goaltender Martin Brodeur to a reported $5.3-million, three-year contract.

Lemieux, 30, had played a major role in helping the Devils win the NHL championship by scoring 13 postseason goals. But he also angered General Manager Lou Lamoriello in recent months by challenging a contract he signed in the off-season and then failing to report to training camp because of the dispute.

Guy Carbonneau, a three-time selection as the NHL’s top defensive forward, was left unprotected by the St. Louis Blues as teams submitted lists for Monday’s waiver draft.

The 35-year-old center, who has scored 226 goals in his 14-year career, is scheduled to earn $900,000 this season, making a move less likely.

Defenseman Mike Ramsey was made available by Detroit and left wing Gilbert Dionne, the brother of Hall of Famer Marcel Dionne of the Kings, was left unprotected by Philadelphia.

Officials of the International Ice Hockey Federation, meeting in Budapest, Hungary, have delayed formal approval of NHL participation in the 1998 Olympics while they study details of the plan. But the delay is not expected to disrupt the Olympics agreement that was approved by the NHL Board of Governors on Friday.

Right winger Donald Audette, who led the Buffalo Sabres with 24 goals last season, will be sidelined for three to four weeks after knee surgery.

Basketball

Center Hakeem Olajuwon probably will miss the first week of the Houston Rockets’ training camp, which opens next Friday, because of the sore back that kept him from playing in a one-on-one duel with Shaquille O’Neal.

“I don’t think I can think about opening camp right now,” Olajuwon told a Houston radio station. “I think it will take a couple of weeks at least.”

Olajuwon was slated to face O’Neal in a $1-million duel broadcast on pay-per-view Saturday night in Atlantic City, N.J. But the event was canceled Friday because of Olajuwon’s back problem.

Miscellany

Rebecca Twigg, the first American to win a world title in the women’s 3,000-meter pursuit, reclaimed her world record in winning that event at the World Cycling Championships in Bogota, Colombia. Twigg, a silver medalist at the 1984 Olympics and the world champion in the 3,000 pursuit in 1982, 1984, 1985 and 1987, won the gold medal in 3 minutes 36.081 seconds. She bettered the day-old record of 3:36.122 set by Marion Clignet of France in a qualifying race Friday. Clignet’s mark had broken Twigg’s record, set in 1993.

Isaac Viciosa of Spain won the Fifth Avenue Mile in a hand-timed 3 minutes 47.8 seconds. Viciosa out-kicked Kenya’s Stephen Kipkorir, the runner-up at 3:48.2, and Italy’s Gennaro DiNapoli, third at 3:50.7, in the 19-man field. Sinead Delahunty of Ireland took the women’s elite race in 4:25.2. Paula Radcliffe of England finished second at 4:25.8 and Blodine Bitzner-Ducret of France was third at 4:26.9.

Fifth-seeded Jim Courier advanced to the final of the $1-million Swiss Open along with Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands, who made it when top-seeded Boris Becker pulled out with a back injury. Courier defeated Britain’s Greg Rusedski 6-4, 6-4.

Mecke, the 2-1 favorite, won the $750,000, Grade I Isle of Capri Casino Super Derby at Bossier City, La. by 1 1/2-lengths.

Trained by Emanuel Tortora and ridden by Jerry Bailey, Mecke covered the 1 1/4 miles in 2:00 1/5, tying Gate Dancer’s time in the 1984 Super Derby.

The NCAA will not penalize the Ohio State women’s basketball team for what David Berst, the NCAA’s assistant executive director, ruled was a “secondary” violation in the recruitment of Helen Darling.