Watson Wins Quickly as a Senior

It didn’t take Tom Watson long to make himself at home on the Senior PGA Tour.

The winner of 34 PGA Tour titles and eight majors, Watson shot a course-record, 10-under-par 62 Sunday at Bent Tree Country Club at Dallas to win the Bank One Championship by five strokes in his second event as a senior.

“I had a goal of getting a birdie on every other hole and I got one extra,” Watson said.

The 62 broke Watson’s PGA Tour career low of 63, which he had accomplished three times. Watson once shot 62 in an unofficial event. His 20-under 196 total was a season-low on the senior tour and he became the tour’s 10th first-time winner this year, breaking the record set in 1989.

Bruce Summerhays shot a 66 to finish second.

The tournament also marked the end of the 43-year career of Don January, who said after the final round he would not play competitively again. January, 69, won 10 events on the regular tour and 22 events on the senior tour.

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Fred Funk and Brad Faxon were tied after 72 holes of the B.C. Open at Endicott, N.Y., and a one-hole playoff didn’t decide a winner so they will continue today. Faxon, Funk and Rory Sabbatini went to the final hole of regulation in a three-way tie, but Funk and Faxon birdied, and Sabbatini parred. Both Faxon, who shot a fourth-round 67, and Funk, who had a 72, finished regulation at 15-under 273.

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Second-year pro Maria Hjorth shot an eight-under 64, including a tournament record-tying 30 on the front nine, to win the $650,000 Safeco Classic at Kent, Wash., for her first LPGA victory. The 25-year-old Swede shot a 17-under 271, defeated Scotland’s Catriona Matthew by two strokes.

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Arnold Palmer, a four-time champion at the Masters, is one of the incoming members at Augusta National Golf Club, the Augusta Chronicle reported.

Motor Racing

Joe Amato won drag racing’s top-fuel category for the fifth time this year, beating Tony Schumacher at the True Value NHRA Keystone Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, Pa. Amato moved into second place in the overall standings when he was clocked in 4.677 seconds at 303.95 mph. Schumacher, the currents points leader, lost traction and finished with a 12.195 at 72.94. Tommy Johnson Jr. (funny car), Jeg Coughlin Jr. (pro stock) and Matt Hines (pro stock motorcycle) won in their respective categories.

Didier Auriol of France, driving a Toyota, handled the rain-slicked course at Beijing to win the China Rally over Britain’s Richard Burns by 55.8 seconds with a time of 3 hours 38 minutes 36.6 seconds over the 230-mile course.

Miscellany

In a matchup of Spaniards, unseeded 19-year-old Juan Carlos Ferrero defeated second-seeded Alex Corretja, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3, to win the $500,000 Mallorca Open at the Balearic Islands for his first ATP victory.

Thomas Enqvist and Stefan Koubek were tied, 5-5, in the third set of their semifinal match when play was suspended in the Samsung Open at Bournemouth, England, because of rain and darkness. In the other semifinal, Romania’s Adrian Voinea led Morroco’s Younes El Aynaoui, 6-3, 4-2.

South Africa boosted its chances of holding the 2006 World Cup, the Olympics and other major international events after hosting the All Africa Games, according to International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch and Nigerian Sports Minister Damishi Sango. . . . Elise Ray, Jeanette Antolin and Alyssa Beckerman, the top three finishers in Saturday’s World Team Trials at Kansas City, Mo., qualified for the U.S. women’s gymnastics team that will compete in China next month in the world championships. . . . A valid test for human growth hormone (HGH) is possible by the Sydney Olympics, but it will take political will and about $1 million, Ross Cuneo, a leading medical researcher, said in Brisbane, Australia.

Atlanta Thrasher left wing Vladimir Vujtek underwent 2 1/2 hours of plastic surgery and received more than 100 stitches in his right cheek after being accidentally cut by the skate of the New York Rangers’ Valeri Kamensky on Saturday. He’s expected to miss 10 to 14 days. . . . Ronald Cerritos had two goals and an assist to lead host San Jose over Miami, 6-1, before 13,067 in Major League Soccer action.

More Than Ready, undefeated in five starts and one of the early favorites for next year’s Kentucky Derby, ran third at 2-5 as Bevo, a 10-1 shot ridden by Joe Bravo, won the $150,000 Futurity at Belmont Park in New York. Greenwood Lake, at 30-1, ran second, with two necks separating the first three horses. . . . Bowler Parker Bohn III won the Oronamin C Japan Cup for the third time at Tokyo and became the first repeat champion, defeating Norm Duke, 234-233, and picking up $50,000.