Pace Slows, but Fehr Retains Lead in Las Vegas

Rick Fehr shot a three-under-par 69 Friday at the Las Vegas Invitational golf tournament, dipping to 20 under and taking a two-shot lead over Davis Love III and Fred Funk.

The round didn’t come close to Fehr’s record-setting pace of 17-under after the first two rounds but was good enough to keep him in the lead going into the final 36 holes of the five-day tournament.

Fehr was atop a crowded leader board that featured some big names. Love was two shots back, and Fred Couples was in a group at 16 under, four back, with three others. Lee Janzen and Paul Azinger were another two strokes behind along with Tiger Woods, who shot a 68 that could have been much better. He had made the turn five under.

Woods, though, appeared to have strained a groin muscle while hitting his second shot from an awkward lie on the 15th hole and limped the rest of the way in. Tour officials said he was expected to play today.

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Caroline Pierce, the leader by three strokes, and Michelle McGann shot the only rounds in the 60s in the JAL Big Apple Classic on a bone-chilling day at Wykagyl Country Club at New Rochelle, N.Y.

Pierce was at three-under-par 139 going into today’s final round and was the only player below par for 36 holes.

Tennis

Tim Henman of Britain and Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia advanced to the semifinals of the Lyon Grand Prix at Lyon, France, along with Arnaud Boetsch and Thomas Enqvist. . . . Spaniards Felix Mantilla and Alex Corretja advanced to the semifinals of the Marbella Open at Marbella, Spain. . . . Michael Chang beat Argentina’s Javier Frana and moved into the semifinals of the Singapore Open. Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek had to quit because of a knee injury. Jonathan Stark made the semifinals when he defeated Germany’s Martin Sinner.

Helena Sukova knocked Arantxa Sanchez Vicario out of the quarterfinals of the Leipzig Open and will play Iva Majoli of Croatia in the semifinals. Majoli outlasted Lindsay Davenport in the other quarterfinal match. . . . Monica Seles has withdrawn from the European Indoor Championships in Zurich later this month after beginning a new rehabilitation program to avoid surgery on her left shoulder.

Boxing

Roy Jones Jr.’s televised pre-fight question-and-answer session lasted about six minutes, which was 30 seconds longer than it took for Jones to dispatch Bryant Brannon in The Theater at Madison Square Garden at New York.

Jones knocked Brannon down in the first round and twice in the second in defense of the International Boxing Federation super middleweight championship.

On the undercard, Ike Quartey to retained the World Boxing Assn. welterweight title on a majority decision over Oba Carr.

Julio Cesar Chavez, who fights Joey Gamache at the Pond of Anaheim on Oct. 12, will have an open workout outside the Pond today at 1 p.m.

Jurisprudence

A swimming pool mechanic and his employer were acquitted of charges related to the carbon-monoxide death of former tennis star Vitas Gerulaitis.

The mechanic, Bartholomew Torpey, 34, was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide. His employer, East End Pools and Courts Inc. of Sag Harbor, was acquitted of reckless manslaughter.

Former World Boxing Assn. heavyweight champion Tony Tubbs has been charged with possession of crack cocaine in Norwood, Ohio.

Motor Racing

Butch Leitzinger lapped Daytona International Speedway’s 3.56-mile oval-road course at 115.08 mph to win the pole for IMSA’s World Sports Car final Sunday.

Mike Skinner qualified his Chevrolet at a track-record 90.212 mph to win the pole for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Kragen 151 at Sears Point near Sonoma.