Ignited by Woods’ Words, Funk Fires First-Round 63

Fred Funk was already feeling slighted. Tiger Woods didn’t help matters much.

Funk was having breakfast when Woods inadvertently gave the tour’s hottest golfer the inspiration he needed to shoot a 63 Wednesday, leaving him a stroke behind Keith Fergus after the first round of the Las Vegas Invitational.

Funk, upset over comments by Woods in the morning newspaper that he had a chance to win the B.C. Open that Funk won two weeks ago, put himself in position to contend for the third consecutive week in the 90-hole tournament.

He credited the comments by Woods with firing him up for an eight-birdie, no-bogey round on the same course where Woods shot a 70 hours earlier.

“I took offense to it,” Funk said. “He failed to mention he was six shots back on the last day. No one was going to catch me that day, not even Tiger Woods.”

Funk had a six-stroke lead when rain suspended play in the final round in the B.C. Open and the tournament was shortened to 54 holes. Funk beat Pete Jordan, with whom he was tied for the third-round lead, in a one-hole playoff and Woods finished in a tie for third.

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John Miller and Randal Lewis each won two matches to advance to the final of the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at Hartford Golf Club in West Hartford, Conn.

Tennis

Greg Rusedski of Britain and Russian Andre Olhovskiy reached the quarterfinals of the Singapore Open.

Meanwhile, officials said world No. 2-ranked player Michael Chang was almost knocked down by a speeding car in front of his hotel Monday. Chang had stepped off the curb while waiting for his transport to the stadium when the car swerved by him.

He was unhurt, and on Tuesday won his first-round match, beating Dennis van Scheppingen of the Netherlands, 6-0, 6-3.

“His agent said it was a close call, but everything was OK,” an ATP Tour official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press.

Rusedski ousted South African Grant Stafford, 7-6, 6-4, and Olhovskiy beat Patrik Fredriksson of Sweden, 7-5, 6-2, in second-round matches of the $414,500 tournament.

Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek survived a first set tie-breaker to defeat Italian qualifier Nicola Bruno, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.

Playing in his first tournament since walking off the court in the Davis Cup in Brazil, top-seeded Thomas Muster was beaten in the first round of the Lyon Grand Prix by American Chris Woodruff, 6-3, 6-3, at Lyon, France.

Second-seeded Felix Mantilla of Spain advanced to the third round of the Marbella Open, while three highly seeded Spaniards were victims of second-round upsets at Marbella, Spain. Mantilla defeated Jordi Burilla of Spain, 7-5, 6-3.

Third-seeded Alberto Berasategui dropped a match to countryman Fernando Vicente, 6-7 (7-5), 6-2, 7-6. Marc Kevin Goellner of Germany defeated sixth-seeded Francisco Clavet, 6-1, 6-4. Seventh-seeded Javier Sanchez of Spain lost to Christian Rudd of Norway, 6-4, 6-1.

Miscellany

Bobby Labonte, attempting to give car owner Joe Gibbs his first victory of 1996, captured the pole for the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

Labonte guided a Chevrolet Monte Carlo to a fast lap of 184.068 m.p.h. to easily outpace defending Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon for the top starting position in Sunday’s race.

The Milwaukee Brewers received outfielder Pat Listach from the New York Yankees, completing a trade that Yankees are protesting. Milwaukee won’t exercise the option on Listach’s contract, making him a free agent.

The 29-year-old Listach was originally sent by Milwaukee to New York with left-hander Graeme Lloyd for pitcher Bob Wickman and outfielder Gerald Williams, but upon arriving in New York, Listach was diagnosed with a broken foot and put on the disabled list. The Brewers sent right-hander Ricky Bones and a player to be named later to complete the trade.

Sacramento Kings’ All-Star guard Mitch Richmond is unhappy with his current contract, which will pay him $3.5 million for this season, and the Kings said they’re unsure whether Richmond will report when training camp opens Friday. . . . A jury in Riverhead, N.Y., began deliberating in the trial of a pool mechanic charged in the gas poisoning death of tennis star Vitas Gerulaitis. Bartholomew Torpey and his employer East End Pools and Courts Inc. were accused of improperly installing a pipe in a Southampton, Long Island, cottage where Gerulaitis was a guest and died Sept. 18, 1994, at 40. . . . The University of Idaho named Oval Jaynes as its new athletic director. . . . Edwin (Banjo) Matthews, NASCAR’s most prolific chassis builder in the 1970s and 1980s, died. He was 64.