Year Continues to Go Downhill for Martin

A year that began with a federal lawsuit and nationwide debate about carts and rights ended on a sour note for golfer Casey Martin.

Martin, the first player to use a cart in a PGA Tour event, returned home to Oregon last week after failing to advance to the final stage of qualifying school.

Martin had rounds of 75-76-75-71 for a 297 on the Black Horse courses in Seaside, Calif., finishing three strokes behind the cutoff in the second stage of qualifying.

“I’m more discouraged than I thought I would be,” Martin said. “I’m as low as I’ve been in a while, as far as golf is concerned. I take heart in knowing it can come back as quick as it leaves.”

Martin is still eligible for the Nike Tour because he won the Lakeland Classic. He also can play PGA Tour events with sponsors’ exemptions.

“The main thing is, I’m going to take a little time off to recharge my batteries,” he said. “I just want to relax and bring some normalcy back to my life.”

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Hale Irwin, coming off a victory in the Senior Tour Championship, led the Senior PGA team to a win over the PGA and LPGA teams in the Wendy’s Three-Tour championship at Las Vegas.

Irwin had the day’s highest point total of 23.5 to lead the senior team consisting of him, Larry Nelson and Gil Morgan. The PGA team of Justin Leonard, Davis Love III and Fred Couples finished second, and the LPGA team of Donna Andrews, Annika Sorenstam and Se Ri Pak was third.

Tennis

Top-seeded Marcelo Rios of Chile, still in the race for the No. 1 ranking on the ATP tour, defeated Marcio Carlsson of Brazil, 6-2, 1-6, 6-2, in the first round of the Chevrolet Cup tournament at Santiago, Chile.

Rios, seeking his first title in his hometown tournament after reaching the finals the last three years, is 605 points behind top-ranked Pete Sampras in the rankings. The Santiago tournament awards 150 points to the champion.

Third-seeded Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia fired 18 aces in beating Carsten Arriens of Germany, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3), in the Kremlin Cup at Moscow.

Wayne Arthurs of Australia upset second-seeded Karol Kucera of Slovakia, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4), in the Stockholm Open at Stockholm, Sweden.

In the second round, Arthurs, a doubles specialist, will face Todd Martin, a 6-1, 6-2 winner over Swiss qualifier Ivo Heuburger. Top-seeded Pete Sampras begins play today.

Lindsay Davenport beat Kimberly Po, 6-1, 6-2, to advance to the third round of the Advanta Championships at Villanova, Pa.

Pro Basketball

With negotiations at a standstill in the NBA lockout, the union’s negotiating committee and several player representatives will meet today to discuss strategy, such as whether to present another proposal to the owners. The sides haven’t met since Friday.

“My guess is we’ll hear something from the union after their meeting Wednesday,” NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik said. “There’s really nothing going on.”

American Basketball League all-star Katie Smith of Columbus Quest might be lost for the rest of the season after tearing a ligament in her right knee in practice.

Miscellany

Karl Malone’s midday radio talk show that originates at AM 1150 in Los Angeles has been dropped by KALL in Salt Lake City. Station manager Lee Douglas said Malone’s agent asked that the station pay for the show and “we had not budgeted for it.”

Exercise rider Jose Perez escaped serious injury at Los Alamitos Race Course early Tuesday morning in a freak workout accident that killed the track’s leading two-year old quarter horse, First Sovereign.

By virtue of victories in the Kindergarten and Ed Burke races this year, First Sovereign stood to win a $1-million bonus put up by track owner Edward C. Allred if he won December’s $1.25-million Los Alamitos Million.

In the interest of simplification, a move is afoot to remove some of the narcotics from the International Olympic Committee’s banned list. Dr. Ken Fitch, who is on the medical commissions for both the IOC and Sydney Olympic organizers (SOCOG), will seek a “radical” overhaul of the IOC’s drug policy at a meeting next month.

Wang Xiufen of China broke two world records in the women’s 116 1/2-pound class during the first day of the World Weightlifting Championships at Lahti, Finland.

Wang lifted 203 1/2 pounds in the snatch, then set records in the clean-and-jerk. After lifting a record 253 pounds, she hoisted 258 1/2 pounds for a total record of 462 pounds.

Izabela Dragneva of Bulgaria was the silver medalist and Robin Goad of Newnan, Ga., won the bronze.

Tests disclosed that six cyclists from the Dutch TVM team used banned substances during the Tour de France last summer, the French newspaper La Parisien reported.