Stewart Shoots 64 to Take Lead

Payne Stewart felt right at home on a golf course he has learned to love, shooting a seven-under-par 64 Friday for the second-round lead in the MCI Classic at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Stewart’s 10-under 132 total left him a stroke ahead of John Cook and two in front of Per-Ulrik Johansson. Chris Perry and John Huston were next at 135.

Stewart came to Harbour Town Golf Links as a 26-year-old in 1983 and was appalled at the tight fairways, uneven turf and subpar greens.

He vowed not to come back--and didn’t until 1989 to prepare for that season’s Nabisco Tour Championships, also at Harbour Town. He won that year, also in 1990, and shot a 65 in 1993, a 66 in 1995 and a 64 last year.

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Vicente Fernandez of Argentina, third in his debut here in 1996, shot a 65 for a one-stroke lead over good friend Bruce Summerhays midway through the 60th PGA Seniors’ Championship at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Fernandez completed two rounds in nine-under 135 on the par-72 Champion course at the PGA National Golf Club. Summerhays finished with a 70 and was at 136, three better than Dana Quigley, John Jacobs and Jose Maria Canizares.

Tennis

Carlos Moya, playing with an infected thumb, lost a chance to take the No. 1 ranking from Pete Sampras when he was beaten, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, by fellow Spaniard Felix Mantilla in the quarterfinals of the $950,000 Conde de Godo Open at Barcelona, Spain.

Mantilla will play Francisco Clavet of Spain. Clavet beat Brazil’s Fernando Meligeni, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6).

Defending champion Todd Martin won a rematch of last year’s final, beating Alberto Berasategui, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Top-seeded Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands was upset by eighth-seeded Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1, in the quarterfinals of the Japan Open at Tokyo.

Bjorkman will face fifth-seeded Nicholas Kiefer of Germany, who upset third-seeded Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-4.

Lindsay Davenport, ranked second in the world, pulled out of the United States’ Federation Cup series against Croatia because of a wrist injury.

Iva Majoli, the top-seeded player on the Croatian team, will play Chanda Rubin in the first match today at Raleigh, N.C. The second match will pit Monica Seles against Silvija Talaja.

The match was moved from Zagreb, Croatia, because of NATO air strikes in Yugoslavia.

The top-ranked UCLA men’s tennis team defeated California, 6-1, at Berkeley, while the fourth-ranked UCLA women lost to No. 7 Cal, 6-0, at UCLA. . . . The No. 9 Stanford men defeated No. 11 USC, 6-1, at Stanford. The Stanford women defeated USC, 7-1, at USC.

Motor Sports

A judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting race driver Tony Stewart from working for any Indianapolis 500 competitors of his former team, Team Menard.

Stewart, who had driven for Team Menard since 1996 and was rookie of the year at Indianapolis that year, moved to the NASCAR Winston Cup series last year, but is signed up to drive at Indianapolis for Tri-Star Motorsports.

The restraining order prohibits Stewart from testing, practicing, qualifying or racing for any Team Menard competitor for next month’s race.

Greg Pursley of Simi Valley gave race leader Terry Henry a bump in lap 39 and passed him en route to winning the NASCAR Super Late Model main event Friday night before about 1,200 at Irwindale Speedway.

Pursley, who won last week’s race but was later disqualified because of an equipment violation, pulled his Ford away from Henry’s Chevrolet in winning the 50-lap race.

Later, Jeff Green of Long Beach won the NASCAR Super Stock race for the second week in a row. Green, in a Chevrolet, led from lap 3 on, dominating the 25-lap race.

Tony Stewart took advantage of ideal conditions and broke the track qualifying record with a speed of 95.275 mph to earn the pole position for the Goody’s Body Pain 500 Sunday at Martinsville, Va.

Miscellany

USC receiver Quincy Woods, defensive lineman Shamsud-Din Abdul-Shaheed and linebacker Darryl Knight will miss the remainder of the Trojans’ spring football practice because of academics along with tailback Sultan McCullough, Coach Paul Hackett announced.

NCAA enforcement officials have recommended that contact between a former Notre Dame booster and up to a dozen Irish football players be ruled a secondary infraction, meaning no major sanctions will be levied against the program, school officials said.

Mike Deane, fired a month ago by Marquette, was named head basketball coach at Lamar. . . . Jim Cheffers, athletics commissioner of the City Section from 1972 to 1986, died Thursday of heart failure in Whittier. He was 76.