Tway and Nicklaus Take Spotlight From Woods

Tiger Woods’ dominance at the Memorial suffered a setback Thursday at Dublin, Ohio. Not only was he nine strokes behind Bob Tway, he couldn’t beat Jack.

While Tway birdied four of his first five holes and had a tap-in eagle for a seven-under-par 65, Woods failed to break par in the opening round for the first time this year. He three-putted for double-bogey on the final hole for a 74 and was so angry he refused to talk about it.

The cheers on a day of rare sunshine at Muirfield Village Golf Club belonged to Jack Nicklaus, the 62-year-old whose back has bothered him so much that he almost didn’t play in his own tournament for the first time.

“Obviously, it was a heck of a lot of fun,” Nicklaus said after birdies on four of his last five holes for a one-under 71.

Tway is one stroke ahead of Stewart Cink, who played a bogey-free round of 66. Stuart Appleby, needing at least a top-five finish to get into the U.S. Open, was another stroke behind at 67.

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Beth Bader had the first hole in one of her LPGA career, part of a six-under 66 that gave her a share of the Corning Classic lead at Corning, N.Y., with Sherri Steinhauer and Laura Diaz.

Pro Football

Carolina cornerback Rashard Anderson, the team’s first-round draft pick in 2000, has been suspended for the season for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy.

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Arizona safety Pat Tillman is giving up the NFL for the Army.

Tillman said he is enlisting in the Army for three years. Cardinal Coach Dave McGinnis said Tillman, a two-year starter at free safety, wants to go through boot camp with his brother, Kevin.

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Tennessee agreed to terms with running back Robert Holcombe on a multiyear contract.... Tight end Bob Slowikowski, Dallas’ sixth-round pick in last month’s draft, will sit out the 2002 season after tearing knee ligaments.... Veteran linebacker Robert Jones signed a one-year deal with Green Bay.

Tennis

Pete Sampras and James Blake each lost in three sets and the United States was beaten, 3-0, by Sweden in the semifinals of the World Team Championships at Duesseldorf, Germany.

Argentina beat France, 2-1, to reach the final.

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Americans Monica Seles and Chanda Rubin won in straight sets to advance to the semifinals of the Madrid Open at Spain.

Miscellany

Jimmie Johnson set an event record in winning the pole for the Coca-Cola 600 at Concord, N.C. Johnson ran a lap around Lowe’s Motor Speedway at 186.464 mph, beating the mark of 186.034 set by Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2000.

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Four former Notre Dame football players will be charged in the gang-rape of a female student who says she was lured to a house with promises of a party, the prosecutor’s office said at South Bend, Ind.

Three of the men were on the football team when the woman says she was assaulted: Donald Dykes, who started at strong safety; safety Abram Elam, who played in 11 games; and receiver Lorenzo Crawford.

The fourth suspect, safety Justin Smith, had just completed his final season.

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Mike Davis, who led Indiana to the men’s basketball national title game, signed a six-year contract. Davis is guaranteed at least $800,000 a year for the first three years of the contract and $900,000 the last three years.

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Spark first-round draft choice Rosalind Ross will sit out the WNBA season after undergoing knee surgery.

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The New England Revolution fired Coach Fernando Clavijo, a day after the Major League Soccer team dropped to 2-4-1 with a lopsided loss at Colorado.

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Anthony Ervin of California, the gold medalist in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, is scheduled to compete in the event today at the Speedo Grand Challenge at Heritage Park in Irvine.

The meet concludes on Sunday. Preliminaries begin each day at 9 a.m. with the finals at 5 p.m. Admission for the preliminaries is free; finals cost $5 for adults. Children are admitted free.