Woods’ 61 Leads to Win

Tiger Woods continued his dominance at the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, winning the tournament for the fifth consecutive time with a tournament-record 11-under-par 61 on Wednesday at Poipu Beach, Hawaii.

Woods finished with a record 17 under to win by 14 strokes over Justin Leonard and Davis Love III. His score Wednesday tied a personal best for an 18-hole tournament round, and set a tournament and course record at the 7,081-yard oceanside Poipu Bay Golf Course on Maui.

Love shot 69 and Leonard closed with a 72 in the 36-hole event for this year’s major champions.

PGA champion Rich Beem finished last at one-over 145 after a 73.

With Woods winning two majors and British Open champion Ernie Els withdrawing from the event, Love and Leonard gained invitations based on their finishes in those majors.

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Prize money for the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic is being raised $500,000 to a tournament record $4.5 million for the tournament that will be played Jan. 29-Feb. 2 at the Palmer Course at PGA West.

The winner’s share jumps from $720,000 to $810,000. The higher purse represents a 50% increase from 1999, when it was $3 million. Phil Mickelson is the defending champion.

Baseball

Former Seattle manager Rene Lachemann was hired by the Mariners as bench coach.... Buddy Bell, former manager at Detroit and Colorado, was hired by Cleveland as bench coach.... Rich Donnelly, former third base coach at Colorado, was hired for the same job at Milwaukee.... Boston claimed pitcher Ryan Rupe off waivers. Rupe was released Tuesday by Tampa Bay.

Miscellany

The Miami Sol folded after three seasons in the WNBA, citing the inability to raise enough revenue to meet the league’s new restructuring agreement.

The WNBA assumed control of the franchise and would not say whether the team will be moved or dissolved.

The team’s ownership, the Heat Group, said the WNBA’s decision to place the responsibility of finding corporate sponsors and paying players’ salaries with the teams forced the closure.

Previously, the league paid the players and found most national corporate sponsors. The WNBA is owned collectively by NBA franchise owners.

The Sol was 15-17 in 2002 and 48-48 in its three years of regular-season play.

Miami ranked seventh in attendance in the 16-team WNBA last season, averaging more than 8,800 fans.

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A former volunteer football coach in Saginaw, Mich., who ordered three players to attack an 8-year-old teammate during practice -- and gave one of them $1 -- was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

James D. Johnson, 33, pleaded guilty to attempted third-degree child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor in the attack Oct. 15. He was ordered to pay $515 in fees and fines, the Saginaw News reported.

After being hit and kicked, the player reportedly was left with a scar on his face and bruises on his ribs and under an eye.

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Former NBA first-round draft pick Erick Barkley was suspended by the Greek Basketball Federation after testing positive for marijuana, the New York Post reported Wednesday.

Barkley, a point guard who starred at St. John’s before leaving for the NBA after two seasons, had his contract terminated by his team, Peristeri, and was suspended by the league for three months after he failed the test during a physical.

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Seattle’s OneWorld Challenge and Italy’s Prada each are 3-0 after beating New York’s Stars & Stripes and Sweden’s Victory Challenge, respectively, in America’s Cup challenger series best-of-seven quarterfinal repechages today off Auckland, New Zealand.

OneWorld gained on every leg in a stiffening breeze to beat Stars & Stripes by 1 minute, 2 seconds, while Prada beat Victory Challenge by 51 seconds.

A lack of wind in the early afternoon caused a three-hour delay to the start of racing, but the wind built steadily to 16 knots.