USGA May Review Decision on Martin

After originally promising Casey Martin use of a cart in qualifications for the U.S. Open, the U.S. Golf Assn. said Monday it will reconsider that decision if it wins a lawsuit filed by a disabled Indiana professional seeking the same accommodation.

USGA attorney Lee Abrams said the organization could reverse its decision on Martin if a judge denies Ford Olinger’s suit seeking a permanent injunction to ride throughout the U.S. Open.

“It’s an issue that remains to be decided as this case comes out,” Abrams said.

Martin, who has a circulatory disorder in his right leg that makes it painful for him to walk long distances, won the right last year to ride on tour under the Americans with Disabilities Act. But his case is on appeal before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A decision isn’t expected for months.

Olinger, who has a hip disorder, successfully sued the USGA last year to use a cart in a local qualifier for the Open.

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DeDe Owens, a former LPGA player and one of the country’s most popular golf teachers, died Sunday, a week after a heart attack at Lemont, Ill., on May 9. . . . About 800 friends and relatives of Gene Sarazen gathered at San Marco Church in Marco Island, Fla., for the funeral of the golfer who died Thursday at 97 from complications of pneumonia.

Tennis

The United States Tennis Assn. said it would accept the decision by the International Tennis Federation that their upcoming Davis Cup match against Australia be played on a hard court, rather than the clay court the USTA had planned to install in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Goran Ivanisevic beat Andrew Ilie, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, in the opening round of the Raiffeisen Grand Prix clay-court tournament at St. Poelten, Austria. . . . Thomas Enqvist defeated Carlos Moya, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, leading Sweden to a 2-1 win over Spain in the World Team Cup at Duesseldorf, Germany. . . . John McEnroe beat Mats Wilander, 6-4, 4-6, 11-9, in the Sprint PCS Champions senior tournament at Washington.

Miscellany

The 20-player U.S. Women’s World Cup soccer roster, revealed in The Times on Monday, was formally announced in Chicago by Coach Tony DiCicco. The tournament will be held June 19-July 10 in eight U.S. cities.

Joseph Schnabel pleaded guilty to two counts of larceny in a Boston courthouse after admitting he stole wills of baseball Hall of Famers George Wright and Thomas Connolly and sold them for more than $15,000. . . . The doctor who performed an autopsy on the Boston Celtics’ Reggie Lewis testified during Lewis’ widow’s lawsuit against three doctors that he did not see evidence the player had used cocaine and that he believed a virus caused the cardiac arrhythmia that killed Lewis in July 1993.

Rhode Island forward Lamar Odom, who played one season, will leave college and declare for the NBA draft. . . . Lee Ferrell, 22, the man who stood on the track as horses raced past him at Pimlico on Preakness day Saturday, was charged with numerous offenses, among them assaulting jockey Jorge Chavez.

Suspended San Francisco 49er owner Eddie DeBartolo and his sister, Denise DeBartolo York, agreed to a short truce in their feud over the team. Both agreed to U.S. District Judge Daniel Polster’s request that both sides suspend litigation against each other for one month and begin settlement talks. . . . Howard Milstein filed suit against Washington Redskin President John Kent Cooke and General Manager Charley Casserly, claiming they interfered with his failed attempt to buy the team for $800 million. . . . Minnesota basketball Coach Clem Haskins, in his first interview on the subject, denied allegations of academic fraud in the program and said on radio station WCCO he has done nothing wrong. The university has been investigating allegations of a former manager in the academic counseling office who said she did course work for players from 1993 to 1998.

Washington State running back Kevin Brown and teammates Ramin J. White and Jason M. White were released from jail after their arrests for investigation of burglary and theft Sunday at Pullman, Wash.