Irwin Beats Haas by a Shot

Hale Irwin birdied the 18th hole for an even-par 71 to win the weather-plagued Senior PGA Championship by one stroke over Jay Haas on Monday at Louisville, Ky.

Irwin led after each round and finished at eight-under-par 276 to win the event for the fourth time. He won it three years in a row starting in 1996.

Irwin, who will turn 59 on Thursday, was the oldest winner of the event since Pete Cooper won in 1976 at 61.

“I’m proud, I’m relieved and I’m glad it’s over,” Irwin said. “It’s been an awkward week for everyone.”

Haas, playing in his first senior event after turning 50 in December, missed a 10-foot birdie putt on 18 as Irwin watched from the fairway.

Irwin’s approach to the 535-yard par-five hole landed on the lower tier of the undulating green, about 40 feet away. He rolled a hard-breaking putt within a foot and tapped in for the victory.

Craig Stadler shot a final-round 69 to finish third, three shots behind Irwin.

Tom Watson had a final-round 73 and finished tied for fourth at 282 with Dave Barr (74) and Mark James (69).

Soccer

Claudio Ranieri was fired as coach of Chelsea of the English Premier League.

Coach Jose Mourinho of FC Porto in Portugal has been rumored to be in line to replace Ranieri.

Cesare Prandelli, new coach of AS Roma in Italy’s Serie A, signed a three-year contract worth $13.5 million.

Liverpool said it would select a coach in the middle of June to replace Gerard Houllier, who left the club last week.

Star striker Ronaldinho injured a leg and will sit out host Brazil’s World Cup qualifier against Argentina on Wednesday at Belo Horizonte.

Strikers Marco Streller and Leonard Thurre of Switzerland were injured Sunday and will sit out the European Championship on June 12-July 4 in Portugal.

Streller broke a leg in training and Thurre injured his left calf.

Real Madrid’s veteran defender Roberto Carlos wants a long-term contract or a trade, Spain media reported. The 31-year-old Brazilian has a year left on his contract.

Goalkeeper Oliver Kahn said in an interview posted on the home page of the German soccer federation that he would consider leaving Bayern Munich for a top foreign club.

Track and Field

Maurice Greene ran a wind-aided 9.78 seconds to win the men’s 100 meters in the Payton Jordan U.S. Open at Palo Alto.

There has been only one faster time under any conditions, Obadele Thompson’s wind-aided 9.69 at El Paso in 1996.

Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia finished in 12 minutes 37.35 seconds at Hengelo, Netherlands, to set a 5,000-meter world record.

The previous record of 12:39.36 was set by Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia in 1998 at Helsinki, Finland.

Miscellany

USC hired Brian Davis, 35, who coached at Huntington Beach High, as men’s basketball administrative assistant and former UCLA assistant Jim Saia as an operations assistant and academics coordinator.

Benjamin Becker of Baylor defeated Michael Kogan of Tulane, 6-4, 7-6, at Tulsa, Okla., to win the NCAA men’s tennis championship.

In doubles, KC Corkery and Sam Warburg of Stanford beat Bo Hodge and John Isner of Georgia, 6-2, 6-7, 6-4.

Syracuse won its ninth NCAA men’s lacrosse title with a 14-13 victory over Navy at Baltimore.

The Arena Football League set an attendance record this season, with a total of 1,827,623.

Average attendance for the 19-team league was 12,024, an increase of 6%. The previous total attendance mark was 1,458,830, set last season.