Wie, 14, Named to Curtis Cup Team

Michelle Wie was among eight players selected Friday to the U.S. Curtis Cup team, making the 14-year-old from Hawaii the youngest player in the 72-year history of the amateur golf matches for women.

Even so, Wie should fit right in on the youngest U.S. team ever. The oldest player is Sarah Huarte, a 21-year-old senior at California. It was the first time no mid-amateurs (25 or older) were included on the U.S. team.

Laura Baugh previously was the youngest Curtis Cup player. She was 16 when she played on the 1972 team.

Wie and Huarte are joined by Paula Creamer and U.S. Women’s Amateur runner-up Jane Park, both 17; Duke freshman Brittany Lang, 18; Arizona sophomore Erica Blasberg, 19; Duke sophomore Elizabeth Janangelo, 20; and Annie Thurman, a 21-year-old junior at Oklahoma State who won the 2002 Women’s Amateur Public Links.

The U.S. is the defending champion and has a 23-6-3 lead in the biennial event that dates to 1932. The matches are scheduled for June 12-13 at Formby Golf Club on the Lancashire coast of England. The Great Britain & Ireland team will be announced April 19.

Playing in her second men’s event of the year, Wie shot a two-over-par 74 Friday in the first round of the Hawaii Pearl Open at Aiea.

Wie, the only female in the field of 192, is eight shots behind leader Brett Wayment, who shot a six-under 66.

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Tom Kite shot a four-under 68 to take a one-shot lead after the first round of the Royal Caribbean Classic at Key Biscayne, Fla.

Gary Koch, Don Pooley, Bruce Fleisher, J.C. Snead and Bruce Summerhays were tied for second on the first day of the first full-field event of the Champions Tour season.

Tennis

Serena Williams’ season debut has been delayed again. She has withdrawn from the Gaz de France tournament that begins Monday, her spokeswoman said.

Williams hasn’t played since beating sister, Venus, in the Wimbledon final in July. She underwent left knee surgery in August and didn’t defend her Australian Open title last month in Melbourne. “I am continuing to train, and I feel that I am just about where I want to be,” she said. “My knee feels great, and I look forward to coming back in championship form.”

She next plans to play a tournament in Qatar beginning March 1.

Meanwhile, top-seeded Venus Williams, withdrew from her quarterfinal match against fifth-seeded Chanda Rubin in the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo because of an injury to her right leg.

Second-seeded Lindsay Davenport overpowered seventh-seeded Jelena Dokic, 6-1, 6-0, to advance to the finals.

Davenport, the defending champion, will play Magdalena Maleeva, who advanced when Rubin was forced to pull out because of a left knee injury.

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Greg Rusedski will not allow the World-Anti-Doping Agency to attend his hearing in Montreal on Monday for a positive steroid test.

He will appear before an independent tennis panel to explain why he tested positive for nandrolone at an Indianapolis tournament in July. He could face a two-year ban that could be appealed to an arbitration panel.

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The ATP announced that U.S. doubles player Graydon Oliver tested positive for the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide during a Masters Series tournament in Miami last year.

An independent Tennis Anti-Doping Program tribunal determined that the source of the diuretic was a mislabeled, over-the-counter herbal sleep management product.

Oliver, 25, was suspended for two months and will forfeit 75 doubles ranking points and $5,000 in prize money.

Baseball

Outfielder Trot Nixon and the Boston Red Sox agreed to a $19.5 million, three-year contract, a deal that replaces the $6.6-million, one-year agreement reached last month.

Nixon, 29, batted .306 and hit 28 homers last season, both career bests. He was fifth in the American League in slugging percentage (.578) and on-base percentage (.396).

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The New York Yankees completed their deal for Mike Lamb, acquiring the third baseman from the Texas Rangers for minor league pitcher Jose Garcia.

The clubs worked out the deal Tuesday but held off on completing it until the Yankees opened a roster spot. They put Drew Henson on waivers Thursday.

The Yankees needed a third baseman because All-Star Aaron Boone injured his left knee Jan. 16 while playing in a pickup basketball game.

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Jose Offerman had three hits and scored three runs to help the Dominican Republic win the Caribbean Series with a 4-3 victory over Puerto Rico at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic finished the round-robin tournament at 5-1. Mexico finished second at 4-2, followed by Venezuela at 3-3 and Puerto Rico at 0-6.

Miscellany

Tampa Bay wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson was ordered to stay away from a man who was dating Johnson’s ex-wife, attorneys said.

John Mahannah Jr., 31, of Richmond, Calif., said Johnson threatened to kill him, made repeated harassing phone calls and chased after him at a funeral both men attended, according to court documents.

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John Dutton threw two touchdown passes to Damian Harrell in the final 15 seconds to give the Colorado Crush a 43-42 win over the Las Vegas Gladiators in an Arena Football League game at Denver.

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Dana Richardson, the Washington athletics compliance director whose memo forms the center of former football coach Rick Neuheisel’s legal defense, resigned, the university announced in a news release.

Richardson was drawn into the Neuheisel firing last summer when the coach disclosed the memo, authored by Richardson, which he claimed gave him permission to gamble in an off-campus NCAA basketball pool.

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Paula Weishoff, a three-time Olympian and member of the volleyball Hall of Fame, resigned as an assistant coach at USC to become the head coach at Concordia. Weishoff, 41, spent the last seven years with the Trojans, who have won the last two NCAA titles.... Jamaal Brown, a 6-foot-7, 235-pound sophomore forward, has enrolled at Cal State Fullerton after transferring from Western Kentucky. He will be eligible to play for the Titans at the end of the fall semester next season.