It’s a Purdy Day at the PGA Qualifier

Ted Purdy, a former University of Arizona star who has played most of his professional golf in Asia, had his second consecutive bogey-free round Thursday to take the lead in the PGA qualifying school at La Quinta.

Purdy, 25, fired a five-under-par 67 at the Weiskopf Course at PGA West for a two-day total of 132, 12 under and one shot better than tour veteran Rick Fehr.

Fehr opened with a 62, but shot a 71 in the second round.

Brian Gay of Orlando, Fla., was alone in third place at 134, with six players tied at 135.

Purdy, the 1997 rookie of the year on the Asian Omega Tour, was the only golfer in the 169-player field to complete 36 holes without a bogey.

The top 35 players and ties at the end of the six-day, 108-hole tournament that ends Monday qualify for the PGA Tour next year. The next 50 players are fully exempt on the Nike Tour, and the rest have conditional exemptions on the Nike circuit.

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Nick Faldo shot an opening-round 69 and John Daly finished with a 70, but they were upstaged by Yasuharu Imano, a young Japanese player who fired an eight-under 64 in the opening round of the World Cup of Golf at Whangarpaaoa, New Zealand.

Imano’s score helped Japan take the lead in the 32-nation team event.

Imano, winless in two seasons as a pro, is ranked 31st on the Japanese tour. Teammate Mitsutaka Kusakabe shot a 70 over the new 6,850-yard Gulf Harbor course as Japan finished at 10-under 134, three ahead of runner-up South Africa. Sweden and Australia were tied for third at 138.

Costantino Rocca of Italy had the second-best individual score, a seven-under 65.

Daly’s teammate, Scott Verplank, also had a 70, leaving them six shots behind the leaders. Daly had an eagle at the par-five sixth and a bizarre bogey at the 12th.

He got the bogey when he had to hit a second ball from the tee after his first could not be found in the rough.

Soccer

Despite indications to the contrary, FIFA reaffirmed the current rules under which teams in Olympic competition may field only three players over 23. The rules are intended to guard the supremacy of the World Cup.

A joint IOC-FIFA statement in September had said the age limit question “may be reopened” and the number of over-23 players could be increased to five for the Sydney Games.

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch had pushed for a higher-level Olympic soccer tournament.

Jorge Rodas’ penalty kick helped Guatemala defeat Mexico, 3-2, Wednesday night at the Coliseum to win the championship game of Project Soccer Relief ‘98, a soccer tournament to benefit the Central American victims of Hurricane Mitch.

Rodas was among five Guatemalans who made their penalty kicks after the teams had tied in regulation time, 2-2. Mexico made four of five penalty kicks, Joel Sanchez missing wide left.

Proceeds, expected to be about $500,000, will go to CARE, an international relief agency.

Jurisprudence

Three University of Akron soccer players who had been charged with raping a young woman Oct. 31 at a party pleaded guilty in Akron, Ohio, to misdemeanor counts of sexual imposition.

Norwegians Andreas Gallefoss and Nicholas Nunn and Lee Wy Jones of New Zealand received suspended two-month jail terms on the condition that they withdraw from school, go home and not return to the United States for five years.

Volleyball

The USC women, 19-4 overall and 14-2 in the Pacific 10, play host to California (7-20, 3-13) tonight at 7. The Trojans are two games behind Stanford (23-2, 16-0) with two Pac-10 matches remaining. UCLA (13-10, 12-4) can help USC with a victory over the Cardinal, which it plays at 7 at Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins need one more victory to clinch a record of better than .500, required for play in the NCAA tournament.

The NCAA Division II West Regional begins tonight at Cal State Bakersfield, with Hawaii Pacific (26-5) playing California Collegiate Athletic Assn. winner Cal State Bakersfield (19-3) at 5, followed by top-ranked Brigham Young-Hawaii (27-1) playing CCAA runner-up UC Riverside (18-4) 30 minutes later.

The top-ranked Long Beach State women (26-0, 14-0) play host to Nevada tonight at 7 for the Big West championship.

Defending champion Italy beat the United States, 15-6, 15-2, 15-12, in the second round of the men’s World Volleyball Championships at Tokyo.

Miscellany

Casey Wasserman, 24, is believed to have become the youngest owner in North American professional sports when the Arena Football League announced that he will own its Los Angeles expansion franchise, which will begin play in 2000.

Wasserman is the grandson of Lew Wasserman, longtime head of the entertainment conglomerate MCA Inc. and Universal Studios.

Kate Starbird scored 17 points to lead the Seattle Reign to a 61-57 victory over the Columbus Quest in an ABL game at Seattle.

U.S. Open doubles tennis champions Sandon Stolle and Cyril Suk upset India’s second-seeded Mahesh Bhupati and Leander Paes, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, in the Phoenix ATP World Doubles Championships at Hartford, Conn. Ellis Ferreira and Rick Leach beat former world champions Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde of Australia, 7-6, 6-3.

Dutchmen Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis secured the No. 1 ATP Tour doubles ranking, defeating the French team of Olivier Delaitre and Fabrice Santoro, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. With the win, the Dutchmen ended a three-year stay at the top by Woodbridge and Woodforde.

Mark Schubert and Richard Quick will coach the U.S. swim team at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Schubert, 49, from Seal Beach and USC, will be on his sixth consecutive Olympic coaching staff.

Austrian Alexandra Meissnitzer finished in 2 minutes 18.13 seconds, easily winning a women’s World Cup giant slalom in Park City, Utah. Defending World Cup giant slalom champion Martina Ertl of Germany was second in 2:20.29, and Birgit Heeb of Liechtenstein was third in 2:20.39.

Jeff Gordon, who wrapped up the 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup championship with a strong finish, is the fourth-quarter winner in driver-of-the-year balloting by motor sports journalists.

The Palm Springs Grand Prix for vintage cars, originally set for the weekend after Thanksgiving, has been canceled because of a lack of sponsorship.