59 Still Leaves Duval Short of No. 1

A 59 on Sunday was good enough to put David Duval in the PGA record books and give him a victory in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic at La Quinta.

But it wasn’t good enough to move him to the top of the new world rankings, which were released Monday.

The Official World Golf Ranking still has Tiger Woods at No. 1 with an 11.58 average, although Duval is closing fast. He moved up one spot to No. 2 at 11.38. Mark O’Meara is third at 10.57.

Sunday’s victory was Duval’s second in as many starts this year, and the ninth in his past 28 tournaments.

“It’s only a matter of time, really,” said Tony Greer, an IMG manager who administers the weekly rankings. “But he’s not quite No. 1. I only wish there had been a couple of more points available last week.”

Points are administered over a two-year, rolling system in which they count double for the current year. The amount of points available each week is determined largely by the strength of field--how many players in the top 10 or top 100 in the world rankings, plus how many players from the top 30 on the money list of that tour.

Duval received 52 points for Sunday’s victory. At this week’s Phoenix Open, a victory will be worth about 60 points because the field, including Woods, Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk, is much stronger.

Baseball

The Angels signed infielder Andy Stankiewicz, who played with the Arizona Diamondbacks last season, to a minor league contract. Stankiewicz, 34, has played for the New York Yankees, Houston Astros and Montreal Expos. He has a .241 batting average in 429 games.

Outfielder Tim Raines, the only member of the New York Yankees not re-signed by the team, agreed to a one-year contract with the Oakland A’s. Raines, 39, hit .290 in 109 games last season.

The Atlanta Braves re-signed left-handed reliever John Rocker, who was 1-3 with two saves and a 2.13 earned-run average in 47 appearances last season.

Winter Sports

Dean Chalmers of Canada edged Stefan Kaltschuetz by 0.12 of a second and scored his first Snowboard World Cup giant slalom victory of the season at Madonna Di Campiglio, Italy. Also, Olympic champion Karine Ruby overtook fellow Frenchwoman Isabelle Blanc on the second run to win the women’s race.

World and European champion Alexei Yagudin fell in his qualifying round at the European figure skating championships at Prague, Czech Republic, and finished third in his group, which is led by French champion Laurent Tobel.

Boxing

Former heavyweight champion Michael Moorer faces charges of drunken driving and evading arrest after driving his car into a ditch at Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Moorer, 31, had been visiting his brother and some friends. Police reports show that Moorer became upset while at a bar and drove away.

Moorer soon struck a guard rail with his car. Rutherford County Deputy Brian Guthrie said he tried to talk to Moorer, but the boxer drove away and crashed the car into a ditch.

France’s Jean-Baptiste Mendy retained the WBA lightweight championship, defeating Argentina’s Alberto Sicurella with a unanimous decision at Paris. Also at Paris, Russia’s Anatoly Alexandrov stopped Arnulfo Castillo of Mexico in the ninth round to retain his WBO super featherweight title.

Miscellany

Seven former Syracuse women’s tennis players have come forward in support of a $754-million lawsuit by two former players against the school and its coach, Jesse Dwire III, saying they were sexually harassed. . . . French soccer great Michel Platini met for nearly two hours with a prosecutor at Turin, Italy, looking into the use of performance-enhancing substances in the Italian League. . . . Chris Simms, son of former New York Giant quarterback Phil Simms, had a change of heart and will play football at Texas instead of national champion Tennessee.

The proposed Argentine Grand Prix was officially withdrawn from the world championship calendar, motor sport’s governing body said at Geneva, due to problems over the costs of track rental and car transport. . . . World Champion shot putter and former UCLA All-American John Godina signed to open his 1999 season at the Los Angeles Invitational indoor meet Feb. 13 at the Sports Arena. . . . Herman Wedemeyer, an All-American running back at St. Mary’s who later became a regular on “Hawaii Five-0,” died Monday at Honolulu. He was 74.