Williamson Takes Kemper Open Lead

Jay Williamson birdied the 18th hole with a five-foot putt to finish a three-under-par 68 and take a one-shot lead over Steve Stricker and David Toms on Saturday at the Kemper Open at Potomac, Md.

Stricker shot the best round of the day, a 65 that included a 31 on the front nine.

Toms shot a 66 that included a 30-foot birdie putt at No. 9 and a 35-footer to pick up another stroke at 18. Brad Fabel, who was two shots behind, shot a bogey-free 66, with a 31 on the back nine.

John Daly used his new zero-iron to get back into contention with a 68 and was three shots behind the leader, along with Gil Morgan (70).

Daly used his new club, which has virtually no loft, to hit 270-yard tee shots to set up birdies at Nos. 6 and 16.

*

Rosie Jones had a one-under-par 71 to take a one-stroke lead over Val Skinner at the LPGA Corning Classic at Corning, N.Y.

Jones birdied the 14th and 16th holes and is at nine-under 207 after 54 holes. Skinner carded a 66.

*

Isao Aoki shot a four-under-par 68 to take a one-stroke lead over Hale Irwin in the BellSouth Senior Classic in Nashville.

Aoki started the day with a two-stroke lead and finished with a two-round total of 12-under 132.

Irwin had a 66 and was at 133, followed by John Jacobs, who had his best round as a senior at 66 for a 134 total.

*

Laura Davies won $40,000 as the first-day leader over the opening nine holes of the LPGA Skins Game in Frisco, Texas. Defending champion Dottie Pepper and 1995 LPGA Player of the Year Annika Sorenstam earned $20,000 each.

*

Masters champion Nick Faldo, Zimbabwe’s Mark McNulty and Italy’s Costantino Rocca tied for the lead after the second round of the Volvo PGA at Virginia Water, England.

Faldo had a 69 for a eight-under 136 after 36 holes.

*

Arizona freshman Maria Baena won the individual title, and then eagled the 18th hole in a sudden-death playoff with San Jose State at La Quinta to give the Wildcats their first NCAA Women’s Golf Championship.

Tennis

Despite a loss by top-ranked Pete Sampras, the United States beat Russia, 2-1, at the World Team Cup at Duesseldorf, Germany, with victories by Todd Martin and the doubles team.

Sampras, who has been bothered by back spasms, was beaten by Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 6-3, 6-2.

Martin fought off a match point to beat Andrei Chesnokov, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, in the second singles match. Then Richey Reneberg and Jonathan Stark won the decisive doubles over Chesnokov and Alexander Volkov, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

Gusting wind and rain delayed play in the final Blue Group matchup between the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, which ended, 1-1.

Czech Petr Korda defeated Richard Krajicek, 6-1, 6-1, and the Dutch doubles team of Jan Siemerink and Paul Haarhuis edged Daniel Vacek and Jiri Novak, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5.

Nicole Arendt of the United States and Manon Bollegraf of the Netherlands upset top-seeded Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), to win the World Doubles Cup title at Edinburgh, Scotland.

Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic outlasted Magdalena Maleeva, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, to win the Madrid Open.

Track and Field

Noureddine Morceli of Algeria ran the fastest 1,500 meters of the year in a meet at Villeneuve D’Ascq, France. Morceli, who holds the world record at the distance, won his race in 3:32.05, almost five seconds slower than his world record.

Marie-Jose Perec of France, the Olympic and world champion over 400 meters, dropped down to the 200 and won in 22.32 seconds, the fastest time of the year. Frankie Fredericks won the 100 meters in 9.99 seconds.

Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic shattered his world record in the javelin with a throw of 323 feet 1 inch at Jena, Germany. His previous mark was 313-10.

Fatimat Yusuf of Azusa Pacific broke her 400-meter record at the NAIA championships in Maietta, Ga., with a time of 51.44 seconds.

American sprinter Kevin Braunskill must serve the four-year suspension imposed after he tested positive for a steroid in 1994, track’s world governing body ruled.

Auto Racing

Mark Martin overcame a fuel problem to win the Red Dog 300 NASCAR Busch Grand National race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway over Dick Trickle by about 10 car-lengths.

David Empringham won for the third time in four Indy Lights races this year, taking the first superspeedway event in series history with a 0.071-second victory over Mark Hotchkis at Michigan International Speedway.

Defending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Mike Skinner won his first race of the year, beating Rich Bickle by 0.803 of a second at Tucson Raceway Park.

Miscellany

Princeton beat defending champion Syracuse, 11-9, in the NCAA Division I lacrosse semifinals at Maryland. Princeton will play Virginia, which defeated Johns Hopkins, 16-10.

Chris Humbert scored four goals to lead the undefeated U.S. water polo team to a 12-2 rout of Canada at the U.S. Open tournament in Nashville, Tenn.

Frankie Hejduk scored twice as the United States’ under-23 soccer team beat Ireland’s under-23 team, 4-1, at Decatur, Ga. in a tuneup for the Olympics.

Germany’s Henry Maske defended his International Boxing Federation light-heavyweight title for a 10th time with a 12-round decision over John Scully at Leipzig, Germany.