After Bad Start, Henninger Beats DiMarco by 3 Shots

Brian Henninger withstood two early bogeys Monday and overtook Chris DiMarco to win the rain-delayed Southern Farm Bureau Classic at Madison, Miss.

Henninger began the day tied with DiMarco for the lead and won by three strokes. He closed with a three-under-par 69 for a total of 14-under 202.

He dropped two shots in the first four holes. But he didn’t have another bogey after that and took the lead for good with birdies at Nos. 13 and 14. DiMarco shot a 72 for a 205 total.

Henninger earned $360,000 for the victory in the event that was shortened to 54 holes because of the memorial service for Payne Stewart in Orlando, Fla.

John Daly appeared set for a top-10 finish after birdies at Nos. 10 and 11 got him to eight under. Then he lost seven strokes on three holes. He closed with a 76 and a three-day total of two under and a tie for 36th place.

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Another memorial service for Stewart, this one held Monday in his hometown of Springfield, Mo., drew nearly 2,000 friends and family members.

Stewart’s mother still lives in Springfield, where the city’s public golf courses were closed for the day in his memory.

Stewart was among six people killed Oct. 25 in plane mishap.

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Plainfield Country Club in Far Hills, N.J., has been selected as the site of the U.S. Senior Open in 2005.

Plainfield has been the site of two other national championships. John Cook won the U.S. Amateur there in 1978 and Laura Davies won the U.S. Women’s Open on the Donald Ross-designed course in 1987.

Tennis

Mark Philippoussis warmed up for Australia’s Davis Cup final next month against France by defeating Frenchman Nicolas Escude, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), on the opening day of the $2.55-million Paris Open.

Spain’s Francisco Clavet beat Czechoslovakia’s Jiri Novak, 6-4, 6-1, to set up a second-round clash with Pete Sampras, who got a bye into the second round. Sampras is making a comeback after a two-month absence because of an injury. Andre Agassi also had a first-round bye.

Motor Sports

Stock car driver Hut Stricklin is without a Winston Cup ride--only one week after signing a three-year deal with SBIII Motorsports.

Team owner Scott Barbour had to close the shop when a team sponsor failed to meet its financial obligation. Stricklin, of Calera, Ala., and the rest of the crew were laid off.

“I was as surprised as anybody,” Stricklin told the Birmingham News. “I got a phone call from Scott telling me the sponsorship check wasn’t any good and basically he wasn’t in position to run the team any more out of his own pocket. He went by the shop and laid everybody off.”

The closure leaves Stricklin out of a ride for the remaining three Winston Cup races this year, as well as the entire 2000 season.

He is scrambling to find a car to drive. He said he would consider the NASCAR Grand National and truck series but would prefer to stay with Winston Cup teams.

Miscellany

Ohio State University suspended its entire women’s rugby club because some team members peeled off their jerseys while posing for a team photo at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington last week.

The team was in town for a match against American University and it was their luck to pose topless just as a Washington Post photographer happened by.

The District of Columbia has no law against women going topless in public.

Ohio State defeated American, 19-0.

The shooting of former NFL player Demetrius DuBose by San Diego police officers in July has been ruled legally justified by the district attorney.

The district attorney concluded that DuBose, 28, was advancing on one of the officers with a martial arts weapon when they shot him 12 times, police Chief David Bejarano said in a statement.

DuBose’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court against the two officers, claiming they used excessive force.

The ninth-place finisher of this year’s Chicago Marathon was disqualified for not running the entire course, race officials said.

Said Dogga of France showed up on the monitors of only two of the 26.2-mile course’s five computerized checkpoints during the Oct. 24 race.

Names in the News

Former Santa Monica High baseball coach Ruben Navarro, 75, whose players included Rick Monday, died Friday of heart failure during surgery at Santa Monica Hospital. Navarro played for the Pacific Coast League San Francisco Seals as a right fielder and was a quarterback on the University of California’s 1949 and ’50 Rose Bowl teams.

He is survived by his wife Josephine, two sons and five grandchildren. A private service will be held in Santa Barbara on Thursday.