Garcia Answers Critics With Buick Classic Win

Sergio Garcia takes criticism of his game personally, seeing it as a knock against his swing coach and father, Victor Garcia.

Talk that his father had to go has been powerful motivation during a five-week span in which Garcia has won his first two PGA Tour events. The second victory came Monday in the rain-delayed Buick Classic at Harrison, N.Y., which he won by three shots over Scott Hoch. He also won at Colonial in May.

“Everybody was thinking, well, you got to change your swing, you are done, you are over, you better retire,” Garcia said. “I don’t know what is going on. All of a sudden it looks like I am the best player in the world. This is crazy, but it is the way it is.”

Garcia, 21, shot a near flawless four-under-par 67 to finish with a Buick Classic-tying total of 16-under 268.

Tiger Woods, meanwhile, never was a factor in the final two rounds and finished 12 shots behind in a tie for 16th. After his final round, Woods said he was exhausted and was going fishing.

Hoch, who shot 68 while playing in the same threesome as Garcia, was alone in second at 271. Billy Andrade, Stewart Cink and J.P. Hayes were two strokes behind Hoch at 273.

Lanny Wadkins withdrew from this week’s U.S. Senior Open because of an injury to his left elbow. Alternate Ron Terry of Valrico, Fla., will take his place and tee off with Larry Nelson and Hugh Baiocchi Thursday at the Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass.

Jurisprudence

The Supreme Court refused to revive claims by former NHL players that they were victims of a conspiracy among teams and the head of the players’ union to keep salaries low.

Without comment, the court let a federal appeals court’s ruling stand in the case. The Philadelphia appeals court ruled last year that the players waited too long to sue.

The players wanted to hold the league and its teams responsible for the actions of Alan Eagleson, the former head of the NHL Players’ Assn. who served six months in prison for fraud.

Former NHL players Dave Forbes, Rick Middleton, Brad Park, Ulf Nilsson and Doug Smail filed a class-action lawsuit against the league and all of its individual teams in 1995 on behalf of about 1,000 NHL players who played during Eagleson’s tenure.

Former NHL player Brett Lindros was charged in a February snowmobile accident in which he and a friend were injured.

Police in the Canadian province of Ontario said the charges came months after the accident because of the time to complete blood tests.

Lindros, the younger brother of hockey star Eric Lindros, and a friend, Dan Cameron, who also was charged, were ordered to appear in court next month.

Miscellany

Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong remained in third place overall after finishing 16th in the Tour de Suisse at Naters, Switzerland. Italy’s Stefano Garzelli won the sixth stage, crossing solo after a 71-mile breakaway. Compatriot Vladimir Belli kept the leader’s yellow jersey for the third day in a row.

Major League Soccer goalkeepers Nick Rimando of the Miami Fusion and Tom Presthus of the Columbus Crew were added to the U.S. national team for Sunday’s World Cup qualifier against Mexico. They replaced backup goalkeeper Brad Friedel, who requested time off to celebrate his recent wedding.

CART will not return to Michigan International Speedway next season. Speedway President Brett Shelton said the facility and its parent company, International Speedway Corp., decided to pursue other alternatives.

Anaheim is among three finalists to host the 2004 U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials. Boston, host city for the 1996 and 2000 trials, and New Orleans are the other two finalists selected by U.S. Gymnastics.

U.S. Speedskating, the national governing body for the sport, will merge with the Amateur Speedskating Union, effective March 2002.

Kentucky sophomore forward Jason Parker is expected to sit out the 2001-02 season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in a pickup game with teammates Sunday night.

The Pittsburgh Steelers signed punter Josh Miller to a five-year, $5.6 million contract extension. . . . Jacksonville Jaguar center John Wade underwent surgery on his broken right foot.

The Detroit Pistons hired former New York Knick assistant Kevin O’Neill as an assistant under new Coach Rick Carlisle. Also, the Pistons are returning to their old uniform color scheme of red, white and blue.

Jim Morris, whose Miami Hurricanes won their second College World Series in three years, signed a contract extension to remain as coach through the 2006 season.

With both schools saying the deal fell apart over the last few days, Kansas State and Southern Methodist will not meet in the Black Coaches Assn. Classic football game on Aug. 25. Television was apparently a major sticking point.

For the first time in 25 years, Connecticut and Syracuse are not on each other’s men’s basketball schedules for next season.

Scott Jurek won the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run in 16 hours 38 minutes 38 seconds from Squaw Valley to Auburn, Calif. Ann Trason was the women’s winner in 18:33.34.

Passings

Ted Olla Sr., a boxer beaten by Sugar Ray Robinson in 1955, died at 71 of complications from Alzheimer’s disease in Milwaukee.