O’Meara Uses 23 Putts for Record-Tying 62

Mark O’Meara used only 23 putts and tied a Forest Oaks Country Club record with his 62 Saturday that also pushed him into a tie for the lead in the Greater Greensboro Classic in North Carolina.

O’Meara and Duffy Waldorf were at 11-under-par 205 for 54 holes after Waldorf finished with a bogey on the 18th hole that left him with a five-under 67. Waldorf’s highlight was his eagle on the par-four seventh hole, which playing partner Keith Fergus also eagled.

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Bob Charles and Tommy Aaron had two-under-par 70s and stand at nine-under 135, atop the field at the Las Vegas Senior Classic after two rounds.

First-round leader Jim Colbert, coming off a course-record 63, shot a 74 to drop two shots behind the leaders at the Tournament Players Club course at Summerlin.

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Caroline Pierce, who has not won in 8 1/2 years on the LPGA Tour, turned in four birdies and one bogey for a three-under-par 69 at Nashville, taking a one-stroke lead in the Sara Lee Classic.

Pierce has a 36-hole score of 140, and 19 players are within three shots.

Track and Field

In his 1996 outdoor debut, Michael Johnson recorded the fastest time in the world this year and set a meet record in winning the 400 meters at the Drake Relays at Des Moines.

Johnson coasted to victory over a talented field despite tightening slightly in the final 50 meters, finishing in 44.41 seconds. It was Johnson’s 52nd consecutive victory in a 400 final.

Sheila Hudson beat her own American record in the triple jump, leaping 47 feet 2 1/4 inches in the Penn Relays in Philadelphia. Her old mark, 46-8 1/4, was set in 1992 and matched in 1994.

Tennis

Jennifer Capriati, a surprise last-minute choice for the U.S. team in the Fed Cup, lost badly to Barbara Paulus, 6-2, 6-4, and Austria tied the Americans, 1-1, in the first round of the tournament at Salzburg. Mary Joe Fernandez beat Austria’s Judith Wiesner, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), in the first match before Capriati, making a comeback after two years off the pro tour, faltered.

Japan’s Kimiko Date upset top-ranked Steffi Graf of Germany, 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 12-10, today in Tokyo to give Japan a 2-1 lead.

Alberto Costa beat Marcelo Rios, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, to advance to a clay-court final match against Thomas Muster at the Monte Carlo Open in Monaco. Muster was a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Cedric Pioline for his 34th consecutive victory on clay. His last loss on the surface was to Costa in August.

Defending champion Andres Gomez beat John McEnroe, 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-5), in the semifinals of the Coopers & Lybrand Champions men’s over-35 tournament at Riviera Country Club and advanced to today’s 1:30 final against Jimmy Connors, who defeated Jose-Luis Clerc, 6-3, 6-4.

Second-seeded Cecil Mamiit and unseeded Adam Peterson of USC will meet for the Pacific 10 Conference men’s singles championship at 2 p.m. today in the 96th Ojai Valley tournament. Peterson defeated UCLA’s Eric Taino, 6-3, 6-2, and Mamiit defeated Stanford’s Jim Thomas, 6-3, 6-1, in the semifinals.

In women’s singles, USC’s Karolina Bakalarova and Stanford’s Julie Scott advanced to the 9:30 a.m. final. Bakalarova defeated Katy Propstra of Arizona State, 6-4, 6-0, and Scott eliminated Sandra DeSilva of Stanford, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.

Gymnastics

Blaine Wilson, a junior who had won the NCAA all-around title, scored 9.925 on the floor exercise, 9.9 on the high bar, 9.75 on the vault and 9.675 on the parallel bars to lead Ohio State to the NCAA men’s team championship at Stanford. The Buckeyes scored 232.150 points in the final round to 231.775 for California and 229.925 for defending champion Stanford.

A day after leading Alabama to the NCAA women’s championship, Kim Kelly ended her career with a perfect 10 in floor exercise. . . . Valorie Kondos, who led UCLA’s women to a second-place finish in the NCAA meet, was named coach of the year.

Olympics

About 240,000 Olympic tickets for previously sold-out events went on sale, including seats for prime events such as boxing, basketball and track and field. At least one more batch of tickets probably will go on sale before the Games begin July 19, an Olympic spokesperson said.

Tim McRae set national records in the snatch, clean and jerk and for total weight at St. Joseph, Mo., to move into second place on the American qualifying list for the Olympics.

McRae, of Daytona Beach, Fla., finished with 314 pounds in the snatch, 385 3/4 in the clean and a total 699 3/4 pounds in the 70-kilogram class, missing a chance to move ahead of super-heavyweight Mark Henry when he failed on his last clean-and-jerk attempt at 396 3/4.

The third and final throw-out of the series changed the standings dramatically in the U.S. Olympic Yachting trials in Savannah, Ga., with John Kostecki of San Diego and Tom Olsen of East Dennis, Mass., reclaiming the lead in the Star Class and Will Martin of Charleston, S.C., moving to the top in the Finn Class.

Boxing

Punishing the challenger with powerful hooks, Thailand’s Saman Sorjaturong (30-1-2) retained his World Boxing Council light-flyweight title with a seventh-round knockout of Joma Gamboa (18-1-2) of the Philippines in Bangkok. . . . Tom Johnson (43-2-1) of Evansville, Ind., knocked out Argentine Claudio Martinet (44-6-2) with the last of five solid rights in the seventh round at Antibes, France, to retain the International Boxing Federation featherweight title.

Auto Racing

Al Unser Jr. passed Sterling Marlin with three laps remaining to win the second round of the International Race of Champions at Talladega, Ala.

Only six cars were running at the end because, on lap six, with all 12 cars bunched, Marlin came up behind Dale Earnhardt, hit him and started a wreck that took out the rest of the field.

Paul Tracy’s Penske-Mercedes Indy car turned 190.737 mph, the fastest lap in history over a one-mile track, to claim the pole position for today’s Bosch Grand Prix at Nazareth, Pa. . . . Damon Hill of Britain earned his 15th pole, turning a 129.025-mph lap in his Williams-Renault in qualifying for today’s European Grand Prix in Nuerburgring, Germany.

Miscellany

Kevin Stevens of the Kings scored twice, Craig Johnson of the Kings had one goal and Joe Sacco of the Mighty Ducks scored the game-winner for the United States in a 4-3 victory over Slovakia at the World Ice Hockey Championships in Vienna.

The victory helped Canada, which has struggled in pool play, but now needs only to tie the United States today to advance to next week’s quarterfinals.

Dave D’Entremont overcame two open frames to beat Dave Arnold, 215-202, in the title match of the Tournament of Champions on the Professional Bowlers Assn. tour in Lake Zurich, Ill.

In a bid to cool a bitter fight with Japan over who will play host to the 2002 World Cup, a high-ranking South Korean official said that his country might consider co-hosting the soccer tournament.

Jurisprudence

For “well into the six figures,” Minnesota Timberwolves guard Isaiah Rider has settled a lawsuit filed by a woman he is convicted of assaulting at a sports bar in the Mall of America in March 1994.