Sutton Agrees to Become U.S. Ryder Cup Captain

Hal Sutton has agreed to be the Ryder Cup captain for the United States in 2004 after serving as the team’s emotional leader as a player.

Sutton met with PGA of America executives last week during the Disney World Golf Classic, according to a PGA Tour source who spoke on condition of anonymity. He decided to accept the job after talking it over with his family, the source said.

The PGA of America said the captain will be announced Thursday.

The 2004 matches will be played at Oakland Hills Country Club outside Detroit.

Sutton will be in charge of bringing the Ryder Cup back to the United States after the Americans lost to Europe at the Belfry by the largest margin in 17 years. Europe has taken the Ryder Cup home after six of the last nine meetings.

U.S. captain Curtis Strange was criticized for putting his best two players -- Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods -- at the bottom of the lineup, although Mickelson wound up losing a critical match to Phillip Price, ranked 119th.

Reached on his cell phone Tuesday, Sutton declined to confirm his selection.

Tennis

Defending champion Marat Safin struggled to get past French qualifier Cyril Saulnier, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (2), 6-3, in the St. Petersburg Open in Russia.

In other matches, fifth-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov defeated Michael Kohlmann, 7-6 (4), 6-0, and seventh-seeded Gaston Gaudio eliminated Alexander Shvec, 7-5, 7-5.

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Lleyton Hewitt reached the second round of the Stockholm Open when three-time champion Thomas Enqvist withdrew a few hours before their match with a shoulder injury.

In other matches, Jan-Michael Gambill fought off a match point and beat Olivier Rochus 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (8), eighth-seeded Rainer Schuettler eliminated Albert Montanes, 6-1, 6-2, and Marcelo Rios defeated Wayne Arthurs, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1.

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Eighth-seeded Alex Corretja was upset by wild-card entry Ivo Heuberger, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1, in the opening round of the Swiss Indoors at Basel.

Seventh-seeded Fernando Gonzalez beat Davide Sanguinetti, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2; Felix Mantilla eliminated Lars Burgsmuller, 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-4, and Arnaud Clement ousted Julien Boutter, 6-3, 6-4.

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Alexandra Stevenson reached the second round of the Generali Open at Linz, Austria, by defeating Conchita Martinez, 6-1, 6-2.

In other matches, seventh-seeded Chanda Rubin defeated Eleni Danilidou, 6-3, 6-4, and Paola Suarez defeated Iva Majoli, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-1.

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Third-seeded Amanda Coetzer beat Stephanie Cohen Aloro, 6-4, 7-6 (4) in a first-round match at the Seat Open in Luxembourg. Sixth-seeded Anne Kremer eliminated Maria Emilia Salerni, 7-5, 6-3.

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Amelie Mauresmo, ranked No. 4 in the world, will miss the WTA’s season-ending championships at Staples Center next month because of a knee injury, according to her agent. Marie-Claude Previtali told Reuters that Mauresmo will be out about a month because of the injury.

Miscellany

The NCAA wants to change eligibility requirements for incoming student-athletes by lowering the emphasis on standardized tests and increasing the weight of classroom work.

In a sweeping package of academic reforms approved, the Management Council increased the number of core courses high school students must take and extended the “sliding scale” that helps determine freshmen eligibility.

Student-athletes must now score at least 820 on the SAT, but the changes would allow freshmen to become eligible with lower test scores -- with a higher corresponding GPA. The minimum GPA of 2.0 in core courses remains unchanged although high school students would now have to complete 14 core courses, one more than the current rule.

If approved by the NCAA’s Board of Directors on Oct. 31, the changes would take effect next year.

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U.S. Olympic leaders testified before a special commission of the U.S. secretary of education that Title IX has hindered some men’s athletic programs.

They said the programs suffer because the law requiring gender equity in school sports forces colleges to cut some men’s sports to make room in the budget for female athletic programs to meet quotas.

“I say it is unfair to eliminate one program that favors one gender to help one favoring another,” said U.S. Olympic Committee President Marty Mankamyer.

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Texas El Paso is trying to contact former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson and former Chicago Bull coach Tim Floyd about its sudden men’s basketball vacancy. Jason Rabedeaux resigned late Monday.

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The Avengers lost lineman Dan Greer in the Arena Football League expansion draft to stock the Colorado Crush, which is owned by former Denver Bronco quarterback John Elway.

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Defending champion Prada Challenge secured two wins as sailing’s Louis Vuitton Cup resumed at Auckland, New Zealand, lifting it into the top four in the standings. Prada Challenge beat Mascalzone Latino and Oracle BMW Racing as racing resumed after an eight-day break.

Two other races were restarted after light winds meant yachts were unable to complete a leg inside the 45-minute time limit.

Passings

Manfred Ewald, who guided East German athletics to Olympic glory but was later convicted over the communist country’s doping programs, has died. He was 76. Ewald died Monday of pneumonia, said Jochen Gruenwald, a former secretary of the East German sports federation.