Singh’s 63 Good for Three-Stroke Lead

Vijay Singh shot a seven-under-par 63 on Thursday for a three-stroke lead over Billy Mayfair after the first round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

“Unbelievable,” Singh said. “That’s probably the best I’ve played in a long time.”

Singh had a chance for the lowest score ever in the Tour Championship, which pits the tour’s top 30 money winners, until a three-putt bogey from about 40 feet on the par-three 18th. His 63 tied the tournament record held by three others and last shot by Jim Gallagher Jr. in 1993.

It was good enough to break the competitive scoring record on East Lake, a 66 by Larry Nelson in June 1997 during a U.S. Open qualifier. And it matched the best score Bobby Jones ever shot on his home course, which has since been redesigned.

“I felt pretty good about my round,” Payne Stewart said of his one-under 69. “Then I looked at the scoreboard and said, ‘OK, what golf course is Vijay playing?’ ”

Only eight of the 30 competitors broke par on a sunny, breezy afternoon that made the greens run faster as the day went on.

Tom Lehman, who hit all 18 greens in regulation, and Jim Furyk were at 67. Another stroke back were Jeff Sluman and Justin Leonard, who won the $4-million Players Championship in March and is bidding to become only the third player to win the tour’s two richest events in the same season.

Tiger Woods took a double-bogey seven on the ninth hole and failed to make a birdie in his round of 75--12 strokes behind his playing partner, Singh.

Tennis

Pete Sampras will keep his No. 1 ranking for at least another week after defeating Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-3, to reach the quarterfinals of the $2.45-million Eurocard Open at Stuttgart, Germany.

If Sampras had lost, he could have been overtaken in the rankings by No. 2 Marcelo Rios of Chile or No. 3 Patrick Rafter of Australia.

The race for No. 1 probably will not be settled until next month’s season-ending world championship at Hanover, Germany. Sampras is trying to become the first player to finish No. 1 for six years in a row.

“It’s a record that might not ever be broken--it is that hard to do,” Sampras said. “I feel like I am on a good road.”

Rafter, the two-time U.S. Open champion, lost some ground when he was defeated by Greg Rusedski of Britain, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (7-5), 6-4.

Top-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France defeated Anke Huber of Germany, 6-3, 6-3, and second-seeded Mary Pierce of France rolled over Ai Sugiyama of Japan, 6-3, 6-2, in the quarterfinals of the Luxembourg Open, but third-seeded Irina Spirlea of Romania lost to Silvia Farina of Italy, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. . . . Fifth-seeded Chanda Rubin overcame two match points to defeat Mashona Washington, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4, in the Bell Challenge tournament at Quebec.

Baseball

Joey Cora and Doug Jones of the Cleveland Indians were among seven players filing for free agency, raising the total to 116. Also filing were Tim Naehring of the Boston Red Sox, Ricky Bones of the Kansas City Royals, Terry Steinbach of the Minnesota Twins, Dave Magadan of the Oakland Athletics and Bobby Witt of the St. Louis Cardinals.

About 28 players are still eligible to file by the Nov. 5 deadline.

Completing an earlier trade with the San Diego Padres, the Colorado Rockies acquired outfielder Kevin Burford as the player to be named in the deal that sent John Vander Wal to San Diego on Aug. 31. In a separate transaction, the Rockies purchased the contract of left-handed pitcher Roberto Ramirez from the Padres.

Mike Morgan’s $1.5-million option was declined by the Chicago Cubs, who will give the veteran pitcher a $150,000 buyout.

Miscellany

Elvis Stojko of Canada, out eight months because of a torn groin, returned in Skate America at Detroit and finished second in the men’s short program behind Alexei Yagudin of Russia.

France’s Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat won the compulsories in ice dance, and Russia’s Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won the pairs short program.

Two of the six Women’s World Cup soccer games scheduled for next June have been moved from Portland, Ore., to the Rose Bowl.

The games, originally scheduled June 20 at Civic Stadium, were switched after World Cup officials had haggled for months with local officials and Jack Cain, owner of the Portland Rockies minor league baseball team, over who had rights to the stadium in the days leading up to the games.

The publicly owned stadium, a 72-year-old financially troubled relic, will lose about $100,000 in expected revenue.

The third-ranked UCLA men’s soccer team (11-2) plays St. Mary’s (5-9) tonight at 8 in the Pacific Soccer Classic at Spaulding Field. Top-ranked Indiana (15-1) plays Loyola Marymount (4-8-1) at 5:30. . . . The 11th-ranked USC women’s volleyball team, 14-4 overall and 9-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference, faces No. 23 UCLA (9-9, 8-3) tonight at 7 at Pauley Pavilion.

Eleven members of the gold medal-winning U.S. women’s Olympic hockey team will play for the U.S. Women’s Select Team in the Three Nations Cup Dec. 10-16 at Kuortane, Finland. Among the returning players are Cammi Granato, the U.S. captain who has become a commentator on King radio broadcasts; goaltender Sara DeCosta; and forward Karyn Bye, 1998 USA Hockey women’s player of the year.

Names in the News

Mike Tyson is going to fight in January, possibly in Las Vegas, said Shelly Finkel, describing himself as Tyson’s boxing advisor. Finkel did not mention a specific site, date or opponent, but the MGM Grand reportedly is interested in bringing Tyson back, with Jan. 16 a possibility.

USC freshman Angela Williams, who won the 100 meters, 200 meters and long jump for Chino High in the state track and field championships in June, has been selected as Track & Field News magazine’s national girls’ athlete of the year for the second consecutive time.