Say Aloha to Tour Record as Huston Shoots 28 Under

John Huston rewrote the PGA Tour record book in giving the final Hawaiian Open a fitting send-off at Honolulu.

Huston shot a closing 66 Sunday to finish with a 28-under-par 260, breaking the 27-under mark set by Ben Hogan in 1945 and matched by Mike Souchak.

Huston needed a 62 to break the 257 Tour record for a 72-hole event, which was also set by Souchak at the Texas Open in 1955.

“It’s been a fantastic week,” Huston said. “I kept in control and gave myself a chance for birdies.”

In putting an exclamation point on the final Hawaiian Open, which will be replaced on the Tour calendar by the Sony Classic in Hawaii in 1999, Huston had to roll in a three-foot putt on the 72nd hole to claim the mark.

With a huge smile on his face, Huston raised his arms after the putt dropped.

Tom Watson shot a 66 to finish second at 21-under 267.

The $324,000 winner’s check raised Huston’s 1998 winnings to almost $445,000. In four tournaments, he has won once and finished in ties for eighth and 10th, in addition to missing one cut.

The Sony Classic in Hawaii will be in the same early year position in 1999 and will follow the Mercedes Championships, which will move from La Costa to Kapalua’s Plantation Course on the island of Maui.

*

Tony Johnstone of Zimbabwe saw his lead narrowed to three shots over Ernie Els of South Africa as rain prevented completion of the final round of the Alfred Dunhill PGA Championship at Johannesburg, South Africa.

Johnstone and Els completed eight holes of their final round and will come back today to finish the tournament that had its schedule thrown off by three days of intermittent storms.

*

Bradley Hughes of Australia shot a final-round 67 to win the Australian Masters at Melbourne by five shots over countryman Mathew Goggin.

Tennis

Mary Pierce won for the first time in her adopted country, beating Belgium’s Dominique Van Roost, 6-3, 7-5, to win the $480,000 Paris Open and shore up her shaky relationship with French fans.

“It’s great, and a big relief to have won in France,” Pierce said. “It’s my first title of 1998 and it’s a bonus that it was here. The next stage is to win Roland Garros. That’s my career dream.”

Pierce--a native of Canada, citizen of France and resident of Florida--first represented France almost eight years ago. In 1996, she was jeered off the court in Paris after a first-round defeat she blamed on injury, but Sunday she was cheered.

“I played twice today--against Mary and the crowd,” Van Roost said. “The French public is very chauvinistic.”

In a match between two of the hardest servers in tennis, top-seeded Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands regrouped late in the first set and beat Marc Rosset of Switzerland, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), to win the St. Petersburg Open in Russia.

Alex Corretja claimed his first career hard-court title by defeating fellow Spaniard Felix Mantilla, 7-6, 6-1, in the final of the Dubai Open in the United Arab Emirates.

Football

The New York Giants told Dave Brown to start looking for work Sunday, less than 24 hours after free-agent quarterback Kent Graham signed a reported three-year contract.

Brown, who never lived up to the expectations the Giants had when they drafted him in 1992 using a supplemental first-round draft pick, was not immediately available for comment.

Graham was drafted in the eighth round by Giants in 1992. He and Brown backed up Phil Simms in 1993, and Brown won the starting job in 1994.

Graham, cut by former coach Dan Reeves in 1995 so Reeves could sign personal favorite Tommy Maddox, began last season as the Arizona Cardinals’ starter. He eventually lost his job to rookie Jake Plummer.

Alan Borges, offensive coordinator at UCLA, will interview today in Pittsburgh for the Steelers’ offensive coordinator position, which opened last week when Chan Gailey became the Dallas Cowboys’ head coach.

Track

Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia set a new world-best for the indoor 2,000 meters at Birmingham, England, clocking four minutes 52.86 seconds to top the 11-year-old mark of 4:54.07 by Ireland’s Eamonn Coghlan.

The mark in the BUPA Indoor Grand Prix was the 24-year-old Gebrselassie’s 12th in his career. He also holds the world indoor 5,000-meter record of 12:59.04 set last year.