Calcavecchia Admits Gaffe, Forfeits $10,817 Prize Money

Mark Calcavecchia was disqualified from the Texas Open on Monday after he pointed out that he had signed an incorrect scorecard, forfeiting his 22nd place prize money of $10,817.

Calcavecchia realized the problem when he glanced at the scores in a newspaper.

“He called in here this morning saying he’d seen the score in the paper and recognized he had a 74 while the paper said 73,” said PGA Tour director of information Dave Lancer.

“We had a scorecard faxed to us from Texas and went over it hole by hole with Mark. He signed for a four and actually had a five.”

Calcavecchia remains 27th on the PGA Tour money list after the disqualification. The top 30 qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship.

Woody Austin is 31st, $26,028 behind Calcavecchia. Tiger Woods, in 34th place, trails Calcavecchia by $46,457.

Boxing

Wilfredo Benitez, a three-time world boxing champion, was in critical condition, three days after he was found comatose in his San Juan suburban home.

Benitez, 38, who suffers from post-traumatic encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain, was taken to an area emergency room Friday after his mother found him passed out in bed in his home.

“Benitez is still unconscious and his state of health is extremely delicate,” a hospital official said.

Benitez, won the world junior welterweight crown at the age of 18, defeating defending champion Antonio Cervantes. He captured the welterweight championship in 1979 but lost it a few months later to Sugar Ray Leonard.

Tennis

Three international senior tennis tours, the Nuveen Tour in North America, the ATP Senior Tour of Champions in Europe and the Champions Tour on other continents have formed a unified circuit.

“It’s gratifying for me to be part of something that has reached this level of success,” said Jimmy Connors, who helped form the Nuveen Tour.

Sixth-seeded Brenda Schultz-McCarthy defeated Petra Begerow, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, to advance to the second round of the $926,000 European Indoors tournament. Magdalena Maleeva, beat Miriam Oremans, 6-3, 7-5, and Sabine Appelmans defeated Marianne Werdel-Witmeyer, 7-5, 6-3.

Miscellany

British Olympic bobsledder Mark Tout was banned for life after testing positive for for anabolic steroid in a random doping control.

Mark Bosnich, Aston Villa’s Australian goalkeeper, was charged with misconduct Monday by the Football Association for giving a Nazi-style salute to Tottenham fans. Bosnich also could face criminal charges into the incident during Saturday’s game at Tottenham’s White Hart Lane.

Bosnich issued a letter of apology, saying he was merely mimicking a TV character, Basil Fawlty, from “Fawlty Towers” as a “jocular acknowledgment of the crowd’s banter” toward him.