Up-and-Down McCarron Up by One Shot

Scott McCarron and Tommy Tolles, second-year golfers who have never won on the PGA Tour, hold the top two spots in the Freeport-McDermott Classic in New Orleans. But lurking just behind is Tom Watson, who knows his way around a winner’s ceremony, though it is a challenge to his memory.

McCarron, with only one top-10 finish in two years on the tour, had four bogeys and seven birdies in a gusting wind Saturday for a 69 and a three-day total of 12-under-par 204.

Tolles, whose best finish was third place in the Bob Hope Classic last year, used six birdies to complete the round of 66, putting him one shot back at 11 under.

Watson, who has won the New Orleans golf tournament twice but hasn’t won anywhere in nine years, is at 10 under after an even-par 72.

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Jimmy Powell and Orville Moody added a six-under-par 66 to their first-day 65 and continued to hold a one-shot lead over Simon Hobday and George Archer after two rounds of the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf team event at La Quinta’s PGA West course.

The teams of Jack Nicklaus-Gary Player and Lee Trevino-Mike Hill were four shots off the pace at 135 in the senior event.

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Former UCLA player Kristal Parker-Gregory shot a four-under-par 69 in wind that occasionally blew up to 35 mph and holds a three-shot lead over Laura Davies after the third round of the Standard Register Ping at Phoenix. Parker-Gregory, seeking the first victory of her two-year LPGA career, stands at nine-under 210.

Boxing

Arturo Gatti (25-1, 21 knockouts) stopped Wilson Rodriguez in the sixth round of a brawl at Madison Square Garden and retained the International Boxing Federation junior-lightweight title. In a 12-round junior-featherweight match, Junior Jones scored a split decision over Orlando Canizales.

Nate Miller (28-4, 24 knockouts) defended his World Boxing Assn. cruiserweight title by stopping Brian LaSpada in the ninth round at Miami, where Venezuela’s Antonio Cermeno (24-1) retained his WBA junior-featherweight title with a unanimous decision over countryman Yober Ortega.

Alberto Jimenez of Mexico retained his World Boxing Organization flyweight title with a fifth-round knockout of Miguel Martinez of Los Angeles at Las Vegas. Former WBO junior-welterweight champion Carlos Gonzalez of Mexico knocked out countryman Juan Rodriguez in the fourth round.

Skiing

Picabo Street, the star of the U.S. women’s ski team, hit a gate during an exhibition race in Carrabassett Valley, Maine, and suffered head, neck and back injuries.

Earlier in the day she had won the U.S. Alpine Championship’s super-G at Sugarloaf-USA, adding that title to her downhill championship, won Friday.

Street said that she had a headache and a bruise and that she didn’t know if she would compete in today’s slalom event.

Donna Weinbrecht won the women’s moguls title in the Freestyle World Cup, edging Tatjana Mittermayer of Germany by 20 points after 11 events. Weinbrecht, an Olympic winner from West Milford, N.J., did not compete in the closing moguls event in Meiringen-Hasliberg, Switzerland.

Miscellany

Mark Martin’s Ford edged that of Michael Waltrip by 0.175 seconds to win the Dura-Lube 200, a NASCAR Grand National event at Darlington International Raceway in South Carolina. Martin averaged 120.762 mph around the 1.366-mile track and earned $23,975.

Kenyan Paul Tergat broke away from a tight pack and won his second consecutive men’s title at the World Cross-Country Championships in Stellenbosch, South Africa, running the 7.3-mile race in 33 minutes 44 seconds.

In the women’s race, defending champion Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia lost a shoe early, enabling compatriot Gete Wami to win. She covered the 3.8 miles in 20:12.

Stanford’s Claudia Franco won the 100 freestyle and the Cardinal cruised to a fifth consecutive NCAA women’s swimming championship at Ann Arbor, Mich. USC finished fourth.

Bill Zadick (142 pounds), Joe Williams (158) and Daryl Weber (167) of Iowa won national wrestling titles and helped the Hawkeyes wrap up another NCAA championship at Minneapolis. It was Iowa’s second title in a row, its fifth in six years and the 14th for Coach Dan Gable in his 20 seasons.

Top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov beat Filip Dewulf, 6-3, 6-4, and second-seeded Magnus Gustafsson beat Lar Burgsmuller, 7-5, 7-5, to advance to the final of the St. Petersburg Open in Russia.

Benny Craig, who had had only three at-bats all season, hit a pinch-hit, two-run home run in the seventh inning to break a 7-7 tie and lead UCLA to a 12-7 victory over USC at Jackie Robinson Stadium. UCLA is 16-9, 7-3 in Pacific 10. USC is 20-6, 8-2.

The U.S. men’s national volleyball team defeated Spain, 15-11, 15-9, 15-7, at Chula Vista to sweep a four-match exhibition series.

Names in the News

Former UCLA basketball coach and player Walt Hazzard, 53, who suffered a stroke, remains in stable condition at UCLA Medical Center.