Beck Finds Touch as a Co-Leader

Golfers Chip Beck and Tom Kite found things they’ve been in search of lately--confidence and spots on the leader board.

Beck, a North Carolina native seeking a turnaround in his home state, shot a five-under-par 67 for a share of the first-round lead Thursday in the Greater Greensboro Classic. Kite, the career earnings leader whose recent paydays have been meager, is among four golfers at 68.

Joining Beck at 67 was Guy Boros, who has missed the cut seven times in 12 outings. Billy Andrade, who played college golf at nearby Wake Forest, Joe Ozaki and Jay Don Blake were at 68 with Kite.

Defending champion Jim Gallagher Jr., bidding to become the first repeat winner since Sam Snead in 1956, shot a 73.

Tennis

Andre Agassi made a quick exit before a jeering crowd and an out-of-shape Boris Becker made a more expected departure, both joining the growing list of ousted seeds in the Monte Carlo Open at Monaco.

Alberto Costa of Spain routed second-seeded Agassi in the third round, 6-2, 6-1. Becker was ousted by Marcelo Rios of Chile, 6-4, 6-3. Top-seeded Thomas Muster advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) victory over Spanish teenager Carlos Moya in running his clay-court winning streak to 32 matches.

Martin Damm of the Czech Republic ousted second-seeded Greg Rusedski of Britain, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, in the quarterfinals of the Korea Open in Seoul.

The world’s second- and third-ranked women, Spaniards Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Conchita Martinez, agreed to open their country’s defense of the Fed Cup against South Africa this weekend in Madrid after settling a pay dispute. They had sought $80,000.

John Lloyd and Tim Wilkison advanced to the quarterfinals with victories Wednesday night in the Coopers & Lybrand Champions tennis tournament at the Riviera Country Club. Lloyd of Pacific Palisades defeated Guillermo Vilas of Argentina, 6-1, 6-4, and Wilkison of Charlotte downed Mansour Bahrami of France, 6-4, 6-3.

Pro Football

The Pittsburgh Steelers took another step to ensure that they will have a running back to replace fullback John L. Williams, and possibly Bam Morris, by re-signing free-agent fullback Steve Avery. Avery, 29, was a reserve running back and special teams member last season.

Duane Bickett, a free agent and former Pro Bowl linebacker with the Seattle Seahawks, agreed to contract terms with the Carolina Panthers.

Mike Pringle, a running back-kick returner who was the Canadian Football League’s most valuable player last season for the Grey Cup champion Baltimore Stallions, signed a one-year contract with the Denver Broncos.

Star quarterback Dan Marino’s new three-year contract includes a no-trade clause and a signing bonus of $5.8 million, according to the Tampa Tribune. The deal will pay Marino $17.9 million through 1998, the newspaper reported.

Jurisprudence

Texas Tech quarterback Zebbie Lethridge is suing a police officer who accused him of shoplifting and the department store where the theft was alleged to have occurred for unspecified damages in Lubbock, Texas.

A municipal court jury acquitted Lethridge, 21, of the theft charge last month. He had been accused of stealing a $13.50 pair of gold-colored hoop earrings last May.

Bowling

John O’Dell of Stockton, Calif., will become executive director of the California State Bowling Assn. on May 1, after being approved by the board of directors.

The 1996 California state bowling tournament will begin today and continue for 18 weekends through August. Singles competition, featuring 11,286 entries, and doubles, featuring 5,643 sets of players, will be held at Sunset Bowl in San Diego. Team competition will be held in National City.

Miscellany

World champion Johnny Tapia will replace injured Gabriel Ruelas, who has a broken ring finger, in the main event of a boxing card Tuesday in San Antonio. Tapia (34-0-2), the WBO 115-pound champion from Albuquerque, will fight Ramon Gonzalez (11-4-1) of Juarez, Mexico, in a 10-round bout.

Defending Olympic gold medalists Mark Reynolds of San Diego and Hal Haenel of Los Angeles moved into second place, one point off the lead in the Star class of the U.S. Olympic yachting trials off Savannah, Ga. They trail John Kostecki of San Diego and Tom Olsen of East Dennis, Mass., after the ninth and 10th races of the 16-race series to determine the U.S. team for the Summer Olympics.

A bill that would make it tougher for professional sports teams to jump from city to city was approved by the House Judiciary Committee in Washington. It would give the NFL, NHL and the NBA antitrust exemptions to block franchise moves.

Kip Janvrin’s chase finally ended when he scored 8.198 points to break Bruce Jenner’s record in the Drake Relays decathlon in Des Moines. Jenner scored 8,250 points, but the decathlon tables since have been revised and his performance would translate into 8,163 points now.

About 240,000 new Olympic tickets are going on the market, including seats for prime events such as boxing, basketball and track and field that previously were listed as sold out. The tickets will go on sale Saturday at 6 a.m. PDT by telephone, (404) 523-8435, and through the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games site on the Internet.

Russia remained the only team without a loss in the World Ice Hockey Championships, beating the United States in Vienna, 3-1. Roman Oksyuta of the Mighty Ducks scored an empty-net goal for the Russians.

Funeral services for gambler-announcer Jimmy “the Greek” Snyder were attended by about 100 in Steubenville, Ohio. Snyder, 76, died Sunday of heart failure.

Services for Garland Rose, former Riverside Press-Enterprise sports editor, will be held today at 9 a.m. at the Church of Christ, 6160 Riverside Ave., Riverside. Rose, 73, died Tuesday of heart failure.