Woods’ 66 Leaves Him in Position to Tie Record

Tiger Woods took the suspense out of his bid to tie the PGA Tour record for consecutive cuts. Vijay Singh made sure that wasn’t the case for the money title.

Woods made it look simple Thursday with a six-under-par 66 on the Palm course. The bogey-free round left him three strokes behind Brenden Pappas in the Funai Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and poised to match Byron Nelson’s 55-year-old record of 113 consecutive cuts made.

Woods also is aiming for a record fifth straight PGA Tour money title, but that might not be so easy. Singh, who is second on the money list by $171,239, is playing the best golf of his career and has top-10 finishes in seven of his last eight tournaments.

Singh had an eight-under 64 on the traditionally tougher Magnolia course, leaving him in a tie for second with Pat Perez and two-time Disney winner John Huston.

Rocco Mediate, Dan Forsman and David Peoples were another stroke back.

The cut streak -- the PGA Tour also counts 23 events Woods played that did not have cuts -- has been nearly six years in the making, and most players are astounded by it.

“That’s miraculous,” Forsman said. “That’s a .400, .500 hitter in baseball. It’s unreal.”

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Jim Thorpe made five birdies on the final nine holes for a nine-under 63 at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, tying the tournament record for a round and taking a three-stroke lead over Tom Jenkins in the Champions Tour event at Sonoma, Calif. Thorpe’s 63 matched the tournament’s record set by Bob Charles in 1991 and equaled by Jay Sigel in 1994 and Bruce Lietzke in 2001.

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Tennis

Top-seeded Andy Roddick reached the Swiss Indoors quarterfinals at Basel by beating qualifier Gilles Elseneer, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

The U.S. Open champion next faces Olivier Rochus, who beat Tommy Robredo, 7-5, 6-1.

In other play, Wimbledon champion Roger Federer, seeded second, lost, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 6-4, to Ivan Ljubicic.

Robby Ginepri saved two match points in the second set and beat Taylor Dent, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (7), 6-4, for a quarterfinal berth at the Stockholm Open.

Rainer Schuettler moved closer to his third title of the month by defeating Vladimir Voltchkov, 6-2, 6-3, to reach the St. Petersburg Open quarterfinals in Russia. Yevgeny Kafelnikov lost to fifth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny, 6-2, 6-2.

Third-seeded Vera Zvonareva breezed past Marion Bartoli, 6-2, 6-3, at the Generali Open at Linz, Austria. Zvonareva’s quarterfinal opponent will be sixth-seeded Anna Pistolesi, who eliminated Maja Matevzic, 6-3, 6-4.... Fifth-seeded Maria Sharapova beat qualifier Sofia Arvidsson, 6-1, 7-6 (4), to move into the round of eight at the SEAT Open at Luxembourg.

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Miscellany

The 2004 Tour de France has been revamped to “make sure the favorites never feel settled and keep the suspense going until the very end,” tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc said while unveiling the new course.

There will be six mountain stages, one fewer than this year, but a climbing time trial is being added.

Utah State and New Mexico State will join the Western Athletic Conference in 2005. WAC officials said the two schools had decided to leave the Sun Belt Conference. Last week, the WAC lost Rice, Tulsa and SMU to Conference USA.

Seattle SuperSonic guard Ray Allen will see an ankle specialist after an MRI exam revealed a loose particle in his right ankle. Allen, a three-time All-Star who joined Seattle in a trade that sent Gary Payton to Milwaukee in February, complained of soreness during an exhibition victory over Golden State on Wednesday.

As the International Skating Union’s points system for judging was introduced to the Grand Prix series at Skate America in Reading, Pa., three-time U.S. champion Michael Weiss far outdistanced the field with a strong performance in the short program.

The Hoops 4 Schools pro basketball clinic, led by Laker assistant coach Kurt Rambis, will be Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Manhattan Beach middle school basketball gym. Details: (310) 415-5827.