Not A Traditional Win for Morgan

Gil Morgan, playing cautiously to conserve his lead in the Tradition until the final hole, eagled No. 18 to defeat Isao Aoki by six strokes Sunday at Scottsdale, Ariz. and claim his first major championship.

His five-under-par 67 in the final round helped set a tournament record at 22-under 266, and he had the best score or tied for it each day. Morgan played the last 33 rounds without a bogey and had only three in 72 holes.

Aoki, second to Jack Nicklaus in the 1995 Tradition, shot a 68 for 272 to finish two strokes ahead of John Jacobs.

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Brad Faxon, who last season set a PGA Tour record for most money won without a victory, picked up a victory with his paycheck after shooting a 16-under-par 272 in the Freeport-McDermott Classic at New Orleans.

The victory was worth $270,000 to Faxon, who missed the cut in three of his first seven tournaments this year.

Bill Glasson and Jesper Parnevik tied for second at 275. Glasson moved into contention with a third-round 66 and finished with a 67. Parnevik closed with a 66.

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Reigning U.S. Women’s titlist Annika Sorenstam parred the second playoff hole and continued her mastery of the LPGA Tour this season with a one-stroke victory over Pamela Kometani at the Longs Drugs Classic at Lincoln, Calif.

Sorenstam, who with Kometani finished regulation tied at three-under-par 285, claimed her third LPGA tournament of the season after a final-round one-over-par 73.

Motor Sports

Jeff Burton avoided all the pitfalls of the treacherous new oval at Texas Motor Speedway to make the Interstate Batteries 500 his first Winston Cup victory at Fort Worth, Texas.

The victory came in the 96th start for the 29-year-old driver, and was virtually uncontested over the last 58 laps of the 334-lap event on the 1 1/2-mile track.

Burton took the lead by passing Todd Bodine, who then spun to bring out the last of 10 caution flags. After the restart on lap 282, Burton quickly moved away from second-place Dale Jarrett, finishing 4.067-seconds ahead.

Fans endured five-hour drives and 15-mile backups as roughly 185,000 people tried to attend the race.

Scott Pruett took the lead when Paul Tracy and Alex Zanardi collided on the 42nd lap and went on to win the Australian IndyCarnival at Surfers Paradise.

The CART PPG Indy-car race was shortened from 65 laps to 57 because of the string of accidents, including one in which Christian Fittipaldi broke his leg.

John Force and Kenny Bernstein posted victories at the ninth annual Winston Invitational at Rockingham (N.C.) Dragway. The duo beat the track before rain halted action before the finals of Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle could be completed.

Force collected his third straight Funny Car victory, while’ while Bernstein earned his first trip to victory lane at the non-points event. The finals in the four remaining categories will be completed during the Fram Nationals at Atlanta next weekend.

Track

Carl Lewis’ Santa Monica Track Club team ran the men’s invitational 400-meter relay in 38.87 seconds, easily defeating a team anchored by Donovan Bailey in the Texas Relays at Austin.

Bailey, the world-record holder in the 100 meters, went head to head with Lewis, a nine-time Olympic gold medalist, in the anchor leg of the 400-meter race.

Bailey’s Austin All-Stars appeared to lead slightly when the leg started, but the duel fell apart when Bailey cramped up twice--once when he took the baton and again near the end.

Miscellany

Roosevelt Wagner, the former Michigan State football player who prompted an NCAA investigation at the university, was arrested in Ohio on suspicion of drug trafficking, two newspapers reported. Wagner, 26, was arrested Friday in Ravenna, Ohio.

The Grand National, the world’s most famous steeplechase, was reset for today, two days after it was abandoned because of bomb warnings that forced 70,000 fans to evacuate the Aintree race course at England.

Petition organizers say more than 1,800 signatures have been gathered to encourage the Green Bay Packers to give a Super Bowl ring to Ken Ruettgers, the offensive tackle who retired last November. . . . Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that the country’s athletes will compete under their own flag during the 1998 Winter Olympics despite a union treaty he signed with Russia last week. Lukashenko met with the president of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, who pledged financial support to help Belarusian athletes participate in the Olympics at Nagano, Japan. . . . Tiina Paananen fired a slap shot through the tight-checking Chinese defense to start Finland to its 3-0 victory and a fourth bronze medal at the Women’s World Ice Hockey Championship at Kitchener, Canada. Also, Sweden earned the fifth and final berth for the 1998 Olympics by defeating Russia, 3-1. . . . Paul Hewitt, a former USC assistant and an assistant at Villanova last season, will be offered the job as Siena’s head basketball coach, Athletic Director John D’Argenio said. . . . Isla Carrol from Houston defeated White Birch from Greenwich, Conn., 10-6, to win the 1997 U.S. Open Polo Championship at Wellington, Fla. . . . Fourth-seeded Lisa Arce and Holly McPeak rallied from a pair of four-point deficits to defeat fifth-seeded Karolyn Kirby and Nancy Reno, 15-12, and win the Miami Beach Open. . . . Canada stumbled again in its bid to qualify for the 1998 World Cup, playing a scoreless tie against El Salvador. . . . Carlos Valderrama scored one goal and assisted on another as the Mutiny defeated the New England Revolution, 4-0, at Tampa, Fla.