Obscure Booker Is Poised to Win His First PGA Title

Between the weather and the names on the leaderboard, the final round of the Honda Classic at Coral Gables, Fla., should be a wild one.

PGA Tour rookie Eric Booker, who began Saturday with a four-stroke lead, withstood 25-mph gusts and shot an even-par 72 for a 13-under, 203 total and a two-shot lead over two other players seeking their first PGA Tour title--Tommy Tolles, who shot a 69, and Bradley Hughes, who had a 70.

The leaders will tee off today nearly five hours earlier than originally scheduled in an effort to complete the tournament before a storm front reaches the area. Television coverage will remain the same, shown tape-delayed.

Mark O’Meara was four shots back after shooting a 69, tied with Harrison Frazar, who shot a 66.

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Dale Eggeling pulled out of a three-way tie with a birdie on the last hole to lead the Welch’s-Circle K LPGA Championship at Tuscson entering today’s final round.

Eggeling shot a three-under 69 for a 54-hole total of 12-under 204. Michele Redman, who carded a 65, and Dottie Pepper, who shot a 69, were a stroke behind.

Hollis Stacy and Nancy Scranton were at 206. Scranton shared the lead with Eggeling when the third round began.

Winter Sports

American Eric Bergoust, competing on the skis he used to win Olympic gold a year ago, scored a 253.04 to win the world championship in aerials at Meiringen, Switzerland. Utah’s Joe Pack won the bronze. Olympic champion Nikki Stone of Westborough, Mass., was third in the women’s championship with 180.71. . . . Deborah Compagnoni, a three-time Olympic champion and winner of 16 World Cup races, retired from competitive skiing, driven from the sport by injury and illness. The 28-year-old Italian finished seventh in the final giant slalom at Sierra Nevada, Spain.

Anders Bergstrom, competing on his home trails, won the 30-kilometer cross-country race at the Swedish Nordic Ski Games at Falun for his first World Cup victory. . . . Bjarte Engen Vik of Norway clinched the Nordic combined World Cup by winning a 15-kilometer cross country race at Oslo.

Colorado’s Ove Erik Tronvoll and Magnus Ericksson finished 1-2 in the men’s 20-kilometer cross-country race, sending the Buffaloes to their second consecutive NCAA skiing title at Rumford, Maine. Colorado finished 14 points ahead of Denver.

Olympic 1,000-meter champion Marianne Timmer of The Netherlands added the world kilometer title to her collection at the speedskating world championships at Heerenveen, Netherlands. Japan’s Hiroyasu Shimizu won the men’s 500-meter race, Germany’s Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann won the women’s 5,000 meters and Dutchman Ids Postma won the men’s 1,500. . . . Ross Powers and Tricia Byrnes gave the United States a sweep of the snowboard World Cup halfpipe titles, winning the last events of the season at Valdaora, Italy.

Football

Houston businessman Bob McNair has guaranteed sellouts at every home game for five years should he get an NFL expansion football team, a pledge that would prevent local television blackouts.

McNair’s promise, reported by Houston television station KRIV and the Houston Chronicle, is aimed at gaining an upper hand over Los Angeles, which has more than a 3-1 edge in the number of TV households.

Names in the News

Tom Welch, the former head of Salt Lake’s bid committee says Gov. Mike Leavitt knew relatives of IOC members were getting scholarships from Olympic boosters and even considered soliciting scholarships from local colleges on behalf of the bid committee. Leavitt denies the accusations. . . . Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell scored in the U.S. women’s hockey team’s 3-1 victory over Finland in the semifinals of the world championships at Espoo, Finland.

Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams’ father has been charged with embezzling more than $20,000 from a nursing home. Errick Williams Sr., 41, is being held in Houston in lieu of $40,000 bail on a third-degree felony theft charge, according to Harris County prosecutor Terry Jennings.

Mike Skinner won the Busch Series Yellow Freight 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It was the first victory in nine Busch Series starts for Skinner, who leads the Winston Cup points race and will start from the outside of the front row in today’s NASCAR Cracker Barrel 500.

Defending champion Peter Holmberg of the U.S. Virgin Islands overcame a pre-start foul by executing a perfect penalty turn at the finish of the last race to beat Germany’s Markus Wieser by three seconds and win his second Congressional Cup sailing event at Long Beach.

Patrick Stefan had two assists as the Long Beach Ice Dogs defeated the Orlando Solar Bears, 4-2, at the Long Beach Arena. The Ice Dogs remain in second place in the IHL’s Southwest Division.