Bryant Takes One-Shot Lead Despite Winds

Brad Bryant shot a two-under-par 68 under difficult conditions Friday in Tulsa, Okla., and took a one-shot lead after two rounds of the $3-million Tour Championship.

Bryant, who scored his first PGA Tour victory this year after playing in more than 400 tournaments, leads first-round leader Billy Mayfair. Woody Austin, who shot a 68, is another stroke behind at 139.

There was only a slight breeze when the day began, but it picked up strength. By the time Bryant and Mayfair, the last of the 15 twosomes in the select field, reached the 11th hole, the wind had almost grounded a yellow, blimp-like balloon that was tied down.

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Dave Stockton, the Senior PGA Tour’s leading money winner, and rookie Bruce Summerhays shot six-under 65s to share the lead after the first round of Kaanapali Classic in Hawaii. . . . Japan’s Ikuyo Shiotani teamed with Aki Takamura for a 64, the day’s best score, and led the Japan LPGA to a 6 1/2-2 1/2 lead over the U.S. LPGA in the first round of the Nichirei International tournament in Ina, Japan. . . . Anders Forsbrand of Sweden shot a one-under 70 to open a two-stroke after two rounds of the Volvo Masters at Sotogrande, Spain.

Tennis

Pete Sampras defeated fellow American Jim Courier, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6), at the Eurocard Open in Essen, Germany, moving Sampras into the semifinals and a step closer to the No. 1 world ranking.

Sampras avoided the upset trend that knocked off most of the top players at the tournament. The top 11 players in the world entered the event, but only two are left, Sampras and Austrian Thomas Muster.

Sampras and Muster meet in one of today’s semifinals. Muster, the French Open champion, won a battle of clay-court specialists by beating Spain’s Sergi Bruguera, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).

Unseeded MaliVai Washington also reached the semifinals by defeating No. 9 Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, 7-5, 6-4. Washington’s opponent will be France’s Arnaud Boetsch, another unseeded player who made Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands his latest upset victim, 6-4, 6-2.

Motor Racing

Bill Elliott turned in a record-breaking lap of 130.020 m.p.h. at Phoenix International Raceway to earn the pole position for Sunday’s NASCAR Dura-Lube 500.

Ernie Irvan, continuing his comeback from near-fatal injuries in a crash 14 months ago, qualified 14th after failing to make the field last week at Rockingham.

Five days after clinching the Formula One championship, Germany’s Michael Schumacher won the provisional pole for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, posting a speed of 133.279 m.p.h.

Jurisprudence

The Lloyd’s of London manager who approved a $350,000 insurance payout to boxing promoter Don King for a canceled fight testified in King’s mail-fraud trial that he would not have endorsed the payment if he knew the money was never paid to a boxer.

Former world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis won the first round of his court battle to stop Frank Bruno from defending his World Boxing Council title against Mike Tyson. Lewis was granted an injunction that prevents the sanctioning of a Bruno-Tyson fight at least until Thursday, when a full hearing of the case is scheduled. Lawyers for Lewis say he should be the next challenger for the title because the WBC announced last year that his fight against Lionel Butler would an eliminator.

Former quarterback Art Schlichter has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to two years in prison on a felony theft charge.

Schlichter was accused of writing a series of bad checks to stores in Indiana. He had faced three counts of theft and two counts of fraud in two separate cases. All but the one Class D felony theft count were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

The former Ohio State star will also have to pay $2,850 in restitution to the stores and perform 50 hours of community service.

Craig Compton, a 12-year triple-A veteran umpire who is white, filed a reverse-discrimination complaint with the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Counsel, saying he was fired to make room for minority umpires in the major league ranks.

In February, Compton was hired by the big leagues to substitute during the umpires’ strike with the understanding he would be given a permanent position. He served as crew chief throughout spring training and for six games in the regular season before being fired.

Miscellany

Heavyweight Peter McNeeley rebounded from his loss to Tyson with a second-round knockout of 37-year-old ex-convict Mike Sam in the first night of boxing in Boston’s new FleetCenter.

Nate Cast, an 18-year-old freshman on the Northern Arizona football team, was killed in a one-car traffic accident on Interstate 40 about 65 miles east of Barstow. Cast, from Moreno Valley, was killed when his vehicle blew a rear tire, ran off the highway and rolled, the school said. One passenger also died and another was hospitalized.

The NCAA decided to delay a ruling on the eligibility of TCU running back Andre Davis, and the school said it will hold him out today against Baylor. Carrie Doyle, a spokeswoman for the NCAA, said a final decision on Davis’ eligibility should be made early next week. TCU contends that Davis unknowingly violated rules by accepting monetary benefits from a former roommate. As required by the NCAA, the school has declared Davis ineligible because of the apparent violations.

Chen Lu of China picked up where she left off in the world championships with a dominating performance in the women’s short program in Skate America International at Detroit. Irina Slutskaya of Russia was second, followed by Americans Michelle Kwan and Nicole Bobek and Surya Bonaly of France.

The British government is moving to make the possession or use of steroids without a prescription a criminal offense, with illegal users and suppliers facing up to five years jail.