Love Has Lead and Plenty of Support

With thousands of soldiers from nearby Fort Benning cheering him on, Davis Love III shot a 10-under-par 62 Friday to take the lead midway through the Buick Challenge at Pine Mountain, Ga.

The 10-birdie round pushed him to 14-under 130, tying the 36-hole record on the Mountain View course at Callaway Gardens. He was one stroke ahead of Vijay Singh (67) and Chris DiMarco (64).

Joel Edwards (68) was three strokes back at 133, Per-Ulrik Johansson (70) followed at 135, and defending champion David Duval (69) was another stroke back along with Mike Sposa (71), Jonathan Kaye (68) and Mark O’Meara (70).

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Bruce Lietzke took advantage of ideal scoring conditions to shoot a nine-under 63 and move into the lead after two rounds of the Senior Tour Championship at Oklahoma City.

Lietzke’s 10-under 134 total left him a stroke ahead of Bob Gilder (68). Tom Kite (68) and Gil Morgan (66) were at 136, and defending champion Tom Watson (66) was another shot back.

The 63 was Lietzke’s lowest score in his rookie year on the tour and a course record on the 3-year-old Gaillardia layout.

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Annika Sorenstam, seeking her seventh LPGA Tour victory of the year, beat Michele Redman, 5 and 3, in the second round of the World Ladies Match Play Championship at Narita, Japan.

South Korea’s Se Ri Pak, seeded second behind Sorenstam among the 16 LPGA Tour players, beat Scotland’s Janice Moodie, 2 and 1.

Tennis

Qualifier Jarkko Nieminen upset defending champion Thomas Johansson, 6-2, 6-4, in the quarterfinals of the Stockholm Open.

Three-time Stockholm champion Thomas Enqvist beat Marcelo Rios, 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-5, and will face Nieminen.

Roger Federer, playing before his home fans, ousted American Andy Roddick from the Swiss Indoors, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), at Basel. Federer will play Julien Boutter of France, a 2-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (7) winner against George Bastl of Switzerland. ... Defending champion Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov advanced to the semifinals of the St. Petersburg Open at Russia. Safin defeated Goran Ivanisevic, 6-3, 7-6 (0), and Kafelnikov ousted Fabrice Santoro, 6-1, 6-4. ... Anna Kournikova’s brief run at the SEAT Open in Luxembourg ended with a 7-5, 7-6 (2) loss to top-seeded Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals. Clijsters will play third-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, a 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3) winner against Kveta Hrdlickova. ... Defending champion Lindsay Davenport beat Sandrine Testud, 6-1, 7-6 (7), to reach the semifinals of the Generali Ladies at Linz, Austria. Davenport next plays Magdalena Maleeva, who eliminated Chanda Rubin, 6-3, 6-3.

Venus Williams withdrew from next week’s season-ending WTA championships because of a wrist injury and could be penalized by the tour.

Bart McGuire, chief executive officer of the WTA Tour, said the injury will be investigated. He said Williams could lose as much as $140,000 in year-end bonus money if her injury was not legitimate.

College Basketball

Clemson forward Dwon Clifton was cleared to return to the court after fainting this month.

Doctors originally diagnosed Clifton with a heart condition that they thought might prevent him from playing basketball again. But recent tests showed Clifton fainted because of extreme fatigue and dehydration, Clemson team doctor Len Reeves said.

Passings

Ferris Fain, the American League batting champion in 1951 and 1952 who spent most of his career with the Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago White Sox, has died. He was 80. See story, Page B14.

Ken Aston, the referee who introduced soccer’s red and yellow cards and officiated one of the most infamous World Cup games, died at 86 in London. See story, Page B14.

Jim Verdieck, who coached the University of Redlands men’s tennis team from 1946-84, won 15 national championships and also coached the football team to its only undefeated season in 1956, died of a heart attack Friday. He was 82.