Playoff Loss Eliminates U.S. in Dunhill Cup

Peter Jacobsen and Ben Crenshaw both shot five-under 67s to give the Americans a 2-0 lead over Sweden, but Lee Janzen lost in a playoff and the United States was eliminated from title contention in the Dunhill Cup at St. Andrews, Scotland Friday.

“We needed a 3-0 whitewash and didn’t get it,” Jacobsen said. “We have to go out tomorrow and play our match [against Canada] and we certainly want to win, even if we can’t get through to the semifinals now. It takes a lot of polish off it.”

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The U.S. Golf Association and NBC Sports have reached an agreement to extend the network’s coverage of USGA championship events through 1999. This was the first year of NBC Sports’ association with the USGA, a three-year agreement which also provided for two more years at the USGA’s option.

In 1996, NBC Sports will increase its coverage of the U.S. Open Championship to four days, with two hours of live first- and second-round action Thursday and Friday. Additionally, beginning in 1996, NBC will provide live coverage of the U.S. Amateur Championship.

Tennis

Top-seeded Michael Chang defeated Australian Michael Tebbutt to reach the semifinals of the Salem Open in Beijing. The other semifinalists are second-seed Renzo Furlan, who defeated fellow Italian Gianluca Pozzi; South African David Nainkin, who defeated India’s Leander Paes; and Japan’s Shuzo Matsuoka, who beat Scott Draper of Australia.

In the other quarterfinal matches, third-seeded Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria defeated No. 6 Helena Sukova of the Czech Republic 1-6, 6-1, 6-3; Kristie Boogert of the Netherlands defeated Mariaan de Swardt of South Africa 6-1, 1-6, 6-4; and No. 7 Amanda Coetzer of South Africa defeated Miriam Oremans of the Netherlands 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Auto Racing

David Coulthard won the pole position for the Pacific Grand Prix in Aida, Japan, with Michael Schumacher third followed by Williams Renault teammate Damon Hill.

Schumacher, the defending Formula One champion just a fourth-place finish away from his second consecutive title, was only 0.235 seconds behind his archrival Hill.

“Pole position is always good, but it is not really necessary to have [the pole] to win races,” Schumacher said. “I need three more points to do the championship. I don’t have anything to prove, really, so I can be quite relaxed, and that’s how I see the last three races.”

Coulthard, the winner last month of the Portuguese Grand Prix in September, marked the day’s best lap of 1 minute, 14.182 seconds, averaging 111.416 mph on the 2.301-mile circuit. Hill came in at 1:14.289.