Kuchar Fails to Advance at Amateur Championship

Matt Kuchar, the 1997 U.S. Amateur champion and a favorite in this year’s event, was ousted from the tournament Tuesday before reaching match play.

Kuchar, one of the rising stars in golf, shot a 10-over 81 on the Pebble Beach course, giving him a two-day total of 154. He missed the cut by two strokes.

Kuchar was among the leaders after shooting a 73 Monday on the Spyglass Hill course in the first round of stroke play. But he was unable to work out of several tough situations Tuesday.

“It was more unlucky than bad today. All the breaks that could go wrong went wrong,” he said. “The lack of knowledge of the course really hurt.”

Todd Miller had a better day, although he lost his caddie while advancing to the match-play portion that begins today and ends, six rounds later, on Sunday.

Miller, 19, was accompanied around the course by a man who’s quite familiar with the Monterey Peninsula--his father, Johnny Miller, who twice won the AT&T; Pro-Am tournament held each year at Pebble Beach.

Miller shot a four-over 75 and easily qualified for match play.

Johnny Miller won’t be able to caddie for his son the rest of the week. He’ll be doing TV commentary on the championship.

Tennis

Martina Hingis defeated Corina Morariu, 6-0, 6-3, in 54 minutes in a second-round match of the $1.05-million du Maurier Open at Toronto.

She will play 16th-seeded Chanda Rubin, a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 winner over Nathalie Dechy of France, in the third round.

Third-seeded Mary Pierce of France defeated Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.

Former French Open champions Gustavo Kuerten and Carlos Moya recorded second-round victories in the $745,000 RCA Championships at Indianapolis. Kuerten, the third-seeded Brazilian, defeated Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-2. Fourth-seeded Moya needed eight match points before defeating Daniel Vacek, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6).

Martin Damm of the Czech Republic defeated 12th-seeded Byron Black of Zimbabwe, 6-2, 6-2, in an opening-round match of the Legg Mason Classic at Washington. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, ranked No. 2 in the world, overcame a horrid start for an 0-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Wayne Black, Byron Black’s brother.

Hockey

Mario Lemieux doesn’t have to close on his plan to buy the bankrupt Pittsburgh Penguins by the end of the week because, the team says, it has enough money to stay afloat through the end of August.

The team’s line of credit with a French bank runs out Friday, but the Penguins can borrow enough money to keep running if Lemieux’s deal doesn’t close by the end of this week, said James Walsh, a bankruptcy lawyer representing the Penguins.

The Boston Bruins decided to let forward Dmitri Khristich become a free agent rather than pay the $2.8 million an arbitrator set as his salary.

The “walkaway” rights were negotiated into the collective bargaining agreement in 1995. The rule gives a team the right to reject a limited number of arbitration decisions and make the player a free agent instead.

Ottawa Senator defenseman Jason York was awarded a one-year, $1.4-million contract by an arbitrator. . . . Edmonton Oiler right wing Pat Falloon was awarded a one-year, $525,000 contract in arbitration.

Women’s Basketball

Jennifer Gillom scored 28 points to lead Phoenix to a 71-59 win over Sacramento in a WNBA game before 11,328 at Phoenix. . . . Tamika Whitmore scored 20 points as the New York Liberty clinched the Eastern Conference championship with a 66-54 victory over Washington before 15,688 at New York.

Nell Fortner, coach of the U.S. women’s basketball team, was hired to coach the new Indianapolis WNBA franchise, starting in its second season. The former Purdue coach will miss the team’s first season next summer because of the Sydney Games. An interim coach will be named for the first season.

Miscellany

James Pruitt, a wide receiver who played three seasons with the Miami Dolphins in the 1980s, was one of four people arrested by federal drug agents who also seized four kilograms of cocaine and $27,000 cash at Columbus, Ga.

German soccer star Lothar Matthaeus signed a one-year contract to play with the New York-New Jersey MetroStars of Major League Soccer next year. Matthaeus, 38, will earn about $1 million. . . . Peru has been added to the 12-team field for the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2000. Peru will make its first Gold Cup appearance in next February’s tournament for national teams from North and South America and the Caribbean.