Nicklaus (67) in Second, and Loving It

Jack Nicklaus, showing he might indeed be ready for next week’s British Open, shot a five-under-par 67 in Friday’s second round and trailed Larry Gilbert by a stroke in the Senior Players Championship at Dearborn, Mich.

Nicklaus got off to a rocky start, making bogey on the first two holes. But he bounced back with birdies on Nos. 3 and 6.

“This is probably the best position I’ve ever been in here,” said Nicklaus, who won the championship in 1990. “But I wasn’t so sure when I started out.”

Gilbert shot 68 for 135 and Nicklaus was at 136. John Jacobs shot a 66 and is at 137.

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Preparing to defend his British Open title, Tom Lehman shot a four-under 67 to take a two-stroke lead after three rounds of the Gulfstream World Invitational at Loch Lomond, Scotland.

Sweden’s Pierre Fulke, who had made only two cuts in 11 tournaments this season, shot a 66 for 200 and 1996 U.S. Open champion Steve Jones was third at 202 after a 68 that included only one bogey, at the 18th. This year’s U.S. Open champion, Ernie Els, was fourth at 204 after a 65.

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In a bid for his first PGA Tour victory in 14 years, Keith Fergus shot a six-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead over Ed Dougherty and Robert Gamez after two rounds in the Quad City Classic at Coal Valley, Ill.

Auto Racing

Finland’s Mika Hakkinen clocked the fastest lap time when practice began for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, England. Hakkinen drove his McLaren-Mercedes around the course in 1 minute 22.935 seconds. Second to Hakkinen was the Williams-Renault duo, Jacques Villeneuve and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Villeneuve went around in 1:23.266, Frentzen in 1:23.327.

Ken Schrader, who hasn’t won a Winston Cup race in six years, won his first pole in two years when he led the qualifiers for Sunday’s Jiffy Lube 300 with a record 129.423-mph lap at Loudon, N.H.

Italy’s Alex Zanardi recorded the fastest time for the Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland with a lap of 132.031 mph. Zanardi, who has two poles this season and eight in an Indy-car career that began only last year, will try to hold the top spot today in the final round of time trials.

Pro Football

Glenn Montgomery, a reserve defensive tackle for the Seattle Seahawks, has been found to have Lou Gehrig’s disease, a fatal neuromuscular ailment.

Those afflicted have a life expectancy of between two and five years.

“The Seahawks organization, coaches and players will do everything in our power to encourage and help him through this illness,” Seattle Coach Dennis Erickson said.

Montgomery, 29, was a draft-day acquisition of the Seahawks in 1996 after seven years with the Houston Oilers. His illness was discovered during checkups after shoulder surgery last December.

The Buffalo Bills began training camp without all-pro defensive end Bruce Smith, who rejected the team’s final offer worth $22 million over five years last week.

Wide receiver Ray Crittenden, who played with New England last season, agreed to a one-year contract with the San Diego Chargers.

Tennis

Wayne Ferreira of South Africa won a marathon tiebreaker in the second set and outlasted Marc Rosset of Switzerland, 7-5, 7-6 (12-10), to advance to the semifinals of the Swiss Open at Gstaad. He will be joined by Alex Corretja, Juan Albert Viloca and Felix Mantilla.

Fourth-seeded Magnus Norman of Sweden defeated Jeff Tarango, 6-2, 6-3, and reached the semifinals of the Swedish Open at Bastad.

Jurisprudence

California prosecutors have decided not to pursue a weapons charge against World Boxing Organization junior-bantamweight champion Johnny Tapia.

“Obviously, we’re ecstatic,” said Tapia’s attorney, Jerry Walz. “We felt this was the correct outcome all along. Now that this is cleared up, we’re done with it.”

Tapia, who is scheduled to fight Danny Romero in Las Vegas on Friday, was arrested on a charge of being a felon in possession of a weapon May 15 in Big Bear.

Pro Hockey

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced that John Pickett has regained ownership of the New York Islanders after John Spano failed in his commitment to buy the team. Bettman also said that he hopes a new owner can be found who would keep the team on Long Island.

The Edmonton Oilers re-signed left wing Andrei Kovalenko to a multiyear contract. . . . The Boston Bruins re-signed defenseman Dean Chynoweth. In 10 seasons, Chynoweth, 28, has four goals, 18 assists and 667 penalty minutes.

Yachting

Roy Disney’s Pyewacket remained on a record-breaking course in the Transpacific Yacht Race.

The 70-foot boat from the Los Angeles Yacht Club was 517 miles from the Diamond Head finish line in Hawaii.

Its estimated arrival is tonight at about 9 PDT, which would beat the record set Thursday by Bob Lane’s 56-foot Medicine Man, which started the 2,225-mile race three days earlier and finished in eight days, six hours and 31 minutes. This was about 4 1/2 hours better than the record time set by Merlin 20 years ago.

However, if brisk winds that have kept the boats on record paces should die, Pyewacket could have to concede the fastest elapsed time for a monohull to Medicine Man.

“All we gotta do is pray that the breeze holds,” said Disney, vice chairman of the Walt Disney Co.

Miscellany

The Board of Regents gave its approval to let Florida State sue USC for hiring away the Seminoles’ women’s basketball coach, Chris Gobrecht.

Florida State, whose president, Sandy D’Alemberte, is a former president of the American Bar Assn., claims USC officials knew that Gobrecht had honored only one year of a five-year deal that included a buyout provision.

Florida State filed suit Thursday against Gobrecht, seeking $380,000 plus damages. The $380,000 amounts to the four remaining years of salary that Gobrecht was to have received.

The Philadelphia 76ers have signed their two first-round picks acquired in a trade with the New Jersey Nets, Tim Thomas and Anthony Parker, to three-year contracts. The Philadelphia Daily News reported that Thomas, the No. 7 selection, will make $5,569,200 and Parker, the 21st pick, $2,601,480.