Tolles Remains Hot, Fires a 65 to Share Lead

As much as golf allows, Tommy Tolles has figured the game out. He has finished no worse than fifth in his last four PGA tournaments, and “everybody keeps asking what I’m doing right,” he said.

Actually, “it’s what I’m not doing wrong.”

He wasn’t missing putts Thursday, particularly on the final 12 holes, seven of which he birdied en route to a seven-under-par 65 and a share of the first-round lead in the Houston Open with Mike Springer.

“It was just one of those days when everything fell into place,” said Tolles, a second-year tour player who has earned $471,422, good for seventh on the money list. “When the ball starts rolling in, sometimes you can’t help but make it.”

Tolles collected birdies in pairs, sinking a 30-footer on No. 7 and a 20-footer on No. 8. Then came birdies on Nos. 10 and 11 and 15 and 16 before he rolled in a 17-footer for birdie on No. 18.

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Val Skinner shot what she called a “ho-hum” 67 for the first-round lead over three players in the LPGA’s Sprint Titleholders Championship at Daytona Beach, Fla. Her bogey-free round gave her a one-stroke lead over Japanese rookie Mayumi Hirase, Dawn Coe-Jones and Jane Geddes.

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Stanford sophomore Tiger Woods of Cypress has been named Pacific 10 Conference player of the year and Arizona State’s Randy Lein coach of the year. Woods was named to the All-Pac-10 first team, along with USC’s Brian Hull, Stanford’s Joel Kribel, Oregon State’s Birk Nelson, Arizona’s Ted Purdy and Arizona State’s Joey Snyder.

Jurisprudence

Hackensack, N.J., Superior Court Judge Amos Saunders turned down a request by World Boxing Assn. heavyweight champion Bruce Seldon to be allowed to fight Mike Tyson, keeping alive Lennox Lewis’ prospects of fighting Tyson for the World Boxing Council title.

Saunders refused to lift an injunction that prohibits Tyson from fighting until a lawsuit filed by Lewis is settled.

Lewis claims he was wrongly passed over to fight for the WBC title when Tyson was allowed to challenge Frank Bruno, whom Tyson beat in March.

The judge has indicated he would allow Tyson to fight Lewis, who is training for a May 10 bout with Ray Mercer.

“It’s a shame that the ‘baddest man on the planet’ has turned into a track star,” Lewis said. “I would love to take this out of the courtroom and into the ring, but it is quite clear that Mike Tyson is deathly afraid of Lennox Lewis.”

Reserve fullback Pulou Malepeai, 22, of Oregon was sentenced to 20 days in jail for assaulting and harassing a group of men near campus last October.

Football

University of Minnesota running back Rafael Cooper was kicked off the team after being mentioned in a police report on a burglary at a campus dormitory.

Mike Dienhart, the university’s athletic director, said Cooper had previous disciplinary problems, and those incidents were contributing factors in the decision.

Cooper was not charged with a crime.

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The Atlanta Falcons acquired offensive lineman Matt Willig, a 27-year-old former USC player, from the New York Jets in exchange for a draft choice.

Miscellany

The team of Nancy Reno and Karolyn Kirby is seeded No. 1 in the $50,000 Hermosa Beach Open today through Sunday near the pier.

The 42-team event is the only Southern California tournament before the July Atlanta Olympics, where beach volleyball will make its debut as a medal sport.

Tennis

Second-seeded Boris Becker, still looking for the first clay-court title of his career, outlasted Jordi Burillo, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, to reach the quarterfinals of the BMW Open in Munich, Germany.

Defending champion Bohdan Ulihrach defeated Francisco Montana, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, in the second round of the Skoda Czech Open in Prague. . . . Second-seeded Conchita Martinez eased into the quarterfinals of the Rexona Cup by routing Katarzyna Nowak, 6-0, 6-0, on clay in Hamburg, Germany. . . . Top-seeded Iva Majoli, the local favorite, was upset by Gloria Pizzichini, ranked No. 150, 6-1, 2-6, 6-3, in the Croatian Open in Bol.

Names in the News

Former Ohio State basketball coach Fred Taylor remained in critical condition in intensive care in Columbus after surgery for a brain aneurysm. . . . Charlie Coles was promoted from assistant to head basketball coach at Miami of Ohio. . . . Chelsea’s Glenn Hoddle, 38, signed a reported four-year deal worth more than $1.5 million to coach England’s soccer team through the 1998 World Cup and into the European Championships in 2000. . . . Donnie Duncan resigned as athletic director at Oklahoma to become director of football operations for the new Big 12 Conference. . . . Olympic decathlete Rafer Johnson will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 11th annual Cedars-Sinai Sports Spectacular on June 23 at the Century Plaza Hotel.