Faxon Soars Into Lead on Wings of Eagle

Brad Faxon made an eagle putt on his final hole for the second consecutive day, walked off windy Waialae Country Club with another eight-under-par 64 and opened a five-stroke lead in the second round of the Sony Open on Friday at Honolulu.

“That’s as good as I could have expected,” Faxon said.

Faxon was at 12-under 128 and headed to the beach about the time first-round co-leader John Daly and the other afternoon starters were teeing off.

Jim Furyk, the Mercedes Championships winner last week on Maui, had a 67 and was in a group of six players at 133, including Tom Lehman, Ernie Els and Peter Jacobsen, who lost his PGA Tour card last year and is playing on a sponsor’s exemption.

Larry Mize, tied with Faxon and Daly after the first round, made three bogeys down the stretch for a 71 to fall seven strokes behind. Daly shot a 72 and was eight back.

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Tiger Woods will play in next week’s Phoenix Open, giving the tournament the strongest field in its 69-year history. With Woods, the Phoenix Open will have the top 16 players from last year’s PGA Tour money list, and at least 27 of the top 30. . . . Sweden’s Sophie Gustafson shot a career-best eight-under 64 in windy conditions to take a two-stroke lead in the Subaru Memorial in Naples, Fla. Gustafson, a two-time winner last year, had a 12-under 132 total playing The Club at The Strand. South Korea’s Mi Hyun Kim, the first-round leader, was second after a 70. . . . Fred Gibson matched the course record with an eight-under 64 to take the first-round lead in the MasterCard Seniors Championship at Hualalai, Hawaii. Bruce Fleisher and Leonard Thompson shot 66s on the 7,053-yard Hualalai Golf Club course, and Larry Nelson, Jim Thorpe and Dave Eichelberger opened with 67s.

Baseball

Doctors in Boston removed the pump that has helped Ted Williams’ heart function since the 82-year-old slugger underwent a nine-hour operation to repair failing heart valves. . . . Left-hander Mike Sirotka, acquired by the Toronto Blue Jays from the Chicago White Sox last Sunday, has a sore shoulder and will undergo rehabilitation, the Blue Jays said. Sirotka, obtained in a six-player deal that sent David Wells to the White Sox, admitted after the trade that he had shoulder stiffness although he is expected to be ready for opening day. . . . Philadelphia right-hander Chris Brock became the first player to sign among the 63 who exchanged arbitration figures with their teams, agreeing to a two-year, $1.7-million contract. . . . Shortstop Walt Weiss, 37, is retiring after 14 seasons. Weiss played the last three seasons with the Atlanta Braves and finished his career with 1,207 hits and a .257 average.

Soccer

FIFA backed down in its dispute with UEFA, the European soccer union, withdrawing its unilateral proposals on soccer transfers and promising to work “hand in hand” on finding a solution acceptable to both sides. Sepp Blatter and Lennart Johansson, the leaders of FIFA and UEFA, settled their bitter dispute over FIFA’s go-it-alone negotiating strategy and said they would work together on a new joint stance to submit to the European Union. . . . Gheorghe Hagi, the Romanian soccer star whose flair earned him the nickname “Maradona of the Carpathians,” has not invited Diego Maradona to his farewell game April 24 because he is worried the Argentine star’s presence could spark controversy among the participants.

Colombian World Cup veteran Carlos Valderrama, a midfielder with the Tampa Bay Mutiny, signed a multiyear contract with Major League Soccer. . . . Chicago Fire forward Josh Wolff, who is training with the U.S. national team, had surgery to remove a pin inserted during an earlier hernia repair. . . . UCLA women’s coach Jillian Ellis has been named coach of the year by the National Soccer Coaches Assn. of America after leading the Bruins to their first College Cup final last season. . . . Defending champion Germany will stage the women’s European Soccer Championship this summer from June 25 to July 8.

Winter Sports

World Cup leader Hermann Maier charged down the treacherous Striefalm course and led an Austrian 1-2-3 sweep in a super-G World Cup ski race at Kitzbuehel, Austria. American Daron Rahlves (1:23.10) was fourth, his highest finish this season. . . . Isolde Kostner of Italy avenged last week’s narrow loss to Renate Goetschl, beating her by .02 of a second in a World Cup downhill at Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy. Americans Megan Gerety and Picabo Street finished fifth and 15th, respectively. . . . Noriaki Kasai had jumps of 126.2 and 130 meters to lead Japan past Finland in team ski jumping at Park City, Utah, as the World Cup circuit made its first stop on the hill that will be used for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Miscellany

Several Wisconsin recruits were among the beneficiaries of more than $23,000 in unadvertised discounts from a local shoe store, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. The Madison newspaper filed a public record lawsuit to obtain the university’s records on its internal investigation into special discounts 121 Badger athletes received from the Shoe Box. They had to repay the discounts by making donations to charity, and some were ordered to perform community service. . . . Louisiana State baseball Coach Skip Bertman will be the school’s new athletic director, replacing the retired Joe Dean. . . . Former pro tennis player Milan Srejber was convicted and sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison in the Czech Republic for insider trading. . . . The Ice Dogs scored the first two goals but lost to the Idaho Steelheads, 5-2, in a West Coast Hockey League game at Boise.