Matthew Takes Lead at Women’s British Open

Catriona Matthew’s hole in one and six birdies gave her the lead Friday at the halfway point of the Women’s British Open at Sunningdale, England.

Matthew hit a seven-wood at the 215-yard 15th hole and the ball took a huge bounce at the front of the green and rolled in. The Scot went on to birdie the 18th to finish with a 65.

At nine-under par, she has a two-stroke lead over South Korea’s Mi Hyun Kim, England’s Trish Johnson and Scotland’s Janice Moodie.

Karrie Webb, winner of the U.S. Open and LPGA Championship this year, recovered from a first-round 74 with a 67 in her quest for her third British Open title.

Annika Sorenstam, who with Webb flew 12 hours after a made-for-television match in California on Monday with Tiger Woods and David Duval, shot a 74 and is nine strokes back.

Tom Pernice Jr., jump-started by an eagle, scored 12 points for the second consecutive day to take the 36-hole lead from Stewart Cink in The International at Castle Rock, Colo.

Bobby Wadkins made his Senior PGA Tour debut a success, opening the Long Island Classic with a seven-under 65 to share the lead with Joe Inman and J.C. Snead at Jericho, N.Y.

Chile’s Nicole Perrot, who won the U.S. Girls’ Junior tournament last week, moved a step closer to an unprecedented sweep by defeating South Korea’s Kim Joo-mi, 3 and 2, in the U.S. Women’s Amateur semifinals at Andover, Kan.

Motor Racing

Jack Sprague took the lead from Joe Ruttman on the first lap, lost it only after the first round of pit stops, and held off Terry Cook to win the Power Stroke Diesel 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park in Clermont, Ind.

Soccer

Hungary will bid on its own to stage the 2008 European Championship instead of making a joint bid with Croatia, as had been planned.

Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark are making a joint bid. Other joint bids are between Austria and Switzerland, and Greece and Turkey. Scotland and Russia are bidding alone. The decision will be made by UEFA in 2003.

U.S. national team and former Chicago Fire forward Ante Razov, 27, will leave his Spanish second-division club, Racing de Ferrol, and rejoin the Fire. . . . Christie Pearce of the WUSA’s New York Power, a regular for the U.S. women’s soccer team, suffered torn knee ligaments Thursday night and will miss the rest of the season.

Miscellany

Anita DeFrantz, the only U.S. representative on the International Olympic Committee’s executive board, has asked her tenure be extended through the 2002 Winter Games.

Dick Pound, who along with DeFrantz lost their bids to replace outgoing president Juan Antonio Samaranch, will remain head of the group’s drug agency through the end of the Olympics, reversing an earlier decision.

Goaltender Bob Essensa signed a one-year contract with the Buffalo Sabres. . . . The Edmonton Oilers re-signed defenseman Janne Niinimaa to a three-year contract.

Receiver Antonio Bryant of Pittsburgh was cleared of a charge he used an airline ticket paid for with a stolen debit-card number.

Passings

John Bankston, a 61-year-old sprint-car driver, died hours after crashing during a race at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. . . . Former Spain and Costa Rica national soccer team coach Eduardo Toba died at 78 after an illness.