Woods, Duval Trailing by Two

A rejuvenated Tiger Woods and partner David Duval used four consecutive birdies Friday to climb into third place at the World Cup of Golf at Bella Vista, Argentina, two strokes behind leaders from Argentina and New Zealand.

The U.S. duo started the day trailing the co-leaders by four strokes, but finished with a seven-under-par 65 on the day to reach 18-under 126 for the tournament at the Buenos Aires Golf Club.

“I thought we played beautifully today,” Woods said. “The shots that we hit poorly, each bailed the other person out. And I actually hit the ball a little bit better today, which was nice.”

After struggling through the opening round of best-ball, Woods appeared to regain his form in the alternate shot format.

Argentina’s Angel Cabrera and Eduardo Romero were tied with New Zealand’s Frank Nobilo and Greg Turner at 20 under. Both pairs followed Thursday’s 57s with 67s.

Play returns to a best-ball format today, followed Sunday by a final alternate-shot round.

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The 2004 Senior PGA Championship will be played at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky.

Valhalla held the PGA Championship this year and in 1996, and will play host to the Ryder Cup in 2007. It was supposed to get the 2004 PGA Championship, which was switched to Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.

Soccer

Responding to unofficial reports that he has been voted FIFA’s player of the century by fans, Argentine star Diego Maradona said he would not share the award with Pele of Brazil, as soccer’s world governing body is rumored to be considering.

“The people voted for me,” Maradona said. “Now they want me to share the prize with Pele. I’m not going to share the prize with anybody.”

The results will be announced Monday in Rome.

The ringleaders of a gang of violent soccer fans were jailed in London for seven and six years for organizing trouble at a game and also at a political march.

Andrew Frain, 36, and Jason Marriner, 33, were described by judge Charles Byers as “dangerous men who relish violence.” He also banned them from attending soccer games for 20 years.

After an emergency meeting in response to reports that the new Wembley Stadium faces a cash shortage, England’s Football Assn. said the funding plans put forward had been scrapped and would be “reformatted,” keeping the stadium from being demolished for the time being.

Mike Tranchilla’s goal in the third overtime gave Creighton a 2-1 semifinal victory over two-time defending champion Indiana at the NCAA men’s soccer tournament at Charlotte, N.C. Creighton (22-3) will try to win its first NCAA title in any sport when it faces Connecticut on Sunday. The Huskies beat Southern Methodist, 2-0, in the other semifinal.

Winter Sports

Apolo Anton Ohno of the U.S. won the 1,500-meter World Cup speedskating race in a short-track event at Chang Chun, China.

Ohno was timed in 2 minutes 18.039 seconds in winning for the eighth time this season.

In the women’s 1,500, Dandan Sun of China won in 2:25.649. Julie Goskowicz of the U.S. was second in 2:27.299.

Raphael Poiree of France won his second biathlon event in two days, the 7.7-mile pursuit at Anterselva, Italy. He was timed in 36 minutes 14.6 seconds. Runner-up Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway was 13.2 seconds behind.

In the women’s 6.2-mile pursuit, Magdalena Forsberg of Sweden beat Corinne Niogret of France by 10.5 seconds, winning in 36 minutes 10.2 seconds.

Miscellany

Sports Illustrated, which will announce its sportsman of the year on a CBS special Thursday night, will also honor John Wooden as the first recipient of the magazine’s Legacy Award.

Joining the former UCLA coach for the presentation will be some of his former players--Bill Walton, Denny Crum, Lucius Allen, Henry Bibby, Gary Cunningham, Keith Erickson, Gail Goodrich, Walt Hazzard, Marques Johnson, Dave Meyers, Sidney Wicks and Jamaal Wilkes.

Bob Entzion, North Dakota State University’s athletic director, resigned two weeks after being arrested on a lewd conduct charge in an Omaha (Neb.) park. . . . Jeffrey Long, athletic director at Eastern Kentucky, resigned to become senior associate director of athletics at Oklahoma.

Trying to overcome the numerous doping scandals at the Sydney Olympics, the International Weightlifting Federation wants to restore its credibility and select the body’s first new president in 28 years.

The current secretary-general, Tamas Ajan of Hungary, who is running unopposed for the presidency, said the federation’s anti-doping policies might become the strictest in sports. He declined to elaborate.

A $75,000 judgment was upheld in Frankfort, Ky., against Edward Musselman, the publisher of a race track tip sheet, for libeling Donald Alvey, a racetrack regular.