All Quit When Europe Clinches Solheim Cup

U.S. captain Patty Sheehan knew the Solheim Cup was over. She just didn’t think the Europeans would take it so literally.

In a bizarre conclusion Sunday, the five matches still in progress were conceded when Europe clinched the cup by reaching 14 1/2 points, and players walked off the course at Loddekopinge, Sweden.

“It went into instant chaos,” Sheehan said. “I didn’t know what was happening.”

She said she saw Meg Mallon standing on the back of the 16th green, “and she was supposed to be playing some other hole.”

Amid the confusion, players who were trailing conceded their matches.

Elisabeth Esterl, 4-down to Laura Diaz, conceded from the 15th fairway. Europe was 1-up in three matches with at least four holes to play, while the United States was 1-up as it played the 16th.

The result was a final score of 17 1/2-10 1/2, the biggest rout in Solheim Cup history.

Catriona Matthew earned the decisive point with a shot from the right rough that stopped 10 feet from the hole. Rosie Jones conceded after missing a birdie putt.

The Solheim Cup and the Ryder Cup often are decided with matches still on the course. Players usually finish, even if their motivation is gone, for no other reason than bookkeeping and entertaining the fans. This was the first time in either competition that everyone quit.

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J.L. Lewis and Vijay Singh held a one-stroke lead after a long day of golf didn’t produce a winner in the rain-soaked John Deere Classic at Silvis, Ill.

Lewis, who won the tournament in 1999, and Singh, third on the PGA money list this year, were at 12-under par after completing the rain-delayed third round. They played only five holes of the final round, which will resume this morning.

Notah Begay III, Chris Riley and Paul Stankowski were one shot back at 11 under, while Jonathan Byrd was alone in sixth place at 10 under. Three players were within three shots at nine under.

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Larry Nelson recovered from a bee sting to shoot a two-under 70 for a two-stroke victory in the Constellation Energy Classic at Hunt Valley, Md.

Nelson finished at nine-under 207 for his first win of the year and 17th on the Champions Tour.

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Motor Racing

Jimmie Johnson overcame a pit accident that sent three crewmen flying and used another round of fuel strategy to win the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon.

In July, Johnson stretched his fuel for the last 93 laps on the way to victory on the 1.058-mile oval. This time, he and his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team played another strategy to perfection, giving up the lead to make a lightning-fast, fuel-only stop 25 laps from the end.

Nobody was able to challenge Johnson, a second-year Winston Cup star, after he regained the lead. He drove his Chevrolet across the finish line 6.24 seconds -- about 10 car lengths -- ahead of runner-up Ricky Rudd.

Michael Schumacher won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, holding off his chief rival in the standings for his first Formula One victory in three months.

Schumacher maintained his lead on Juan Pablo Montoya from start to finish to win his 50th Grand Prix for Ferrari.

The five-time world champion had not won since the Canadian Grand Prix in June and had not started on the pole since May in Austria. The German completed 53 laps over the 3.6-mile circuit in 1 hour 14 minutes 19.838 seconds.

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Basketball

Lithuania won its third title at the European Basketball Championships, when it defeated Spain, 93-84, behind 21 points from Arvydas Macijauskas at Stockholm.

Italy earlier won an Olympic basketball berth by beating France, 69-67, for the bronze medal when Tony Parker of the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs missed a layup with less than two seconds left.

Pau Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies had 36 points for Spain, which has never won the title.

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Tennis

Elena Dementieva beat top-seeded Chanda Rubin, 6-2, 6-1, to win the Wismilak International at Bali, Indonesia, for her second career title.

Dementieva won her first title in April at Amelia Island, Fla., and returned to the top 10 this week at No. 9 for the first time since May 2001.

Sjeng Schalken downed top-seeded Rainer Schuettler, 6-2, 6-4, to win the Brasil Open at Costa do Sauipe for his third title this season. Schuettler, playing his first final since the Australian Open in January, lost for the third straight time this season to Schalken, a Wimbledon and U.S. Open quarterfinalist this year.

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Miscellany

Kelli White finished fourth in the 100 meters at the inaugural World Athletics Final at Monte Carlo, coming up short in her bid to become the world athlete of the year. White, who tested positive for a stimulant at the world championships in Paris, was timed in 11.08 seconds. American Chryste Gaines won in 10.86. White needed to break her personal best of 10.85 and finish in 10.77 to overtake South African high jumper Hestrie Cloete in the women’s rankings.

Paula Radcliffe broke the women’s world record in the 5-kilometer road race in London, beating by three seconds the mark set last year by Deena Drossin of the United States. Radcliffe was timed in 14 minutes 51 seconds.

Kristie Marano won a gold and the U.S. women won six other medals, but Japan won five golds to take the team title at the World Freestyle Wrestling Championships at New York. Marano defeated Poland’s Ewelina Pruszko, 7-1, to win her medal. Kerry McCoy and Cael Sanderson won silver for the U.S. men, who finished second behind Georgia.