NCAA Approves 12th Football Game

The NCAA will allow football teams to play 12 regular-season, games but it won’t enter the postseason playoff fray.

The board of directors approved proposals on Thursday that would add a 12th game to Division I-A schedules and starting in 2006, allow schools to count one victory over Division I-AA schools each year toward bowl eligibility.

“The season will not be elongated, it just means the bye week would be taken out,” NCAA President Myles Brand said. “Nor will it lead to any additional midweek games.”

The board also adopted a resolution that strongly urged schools not to adopt the new Title IX Internet-based surveys, which the U.S. Department of Education said in March could be used to scientifically gauge whether schools must expand or create women’s teams to meet demand.

Golf

Chris DiMarco got off to a fast start in his first event since losing the Masters in a playoff, shooting a season-best seven-under-par 65 for a share of the first-round lead in the Zurich Classic at Avondale, La.

India’s Arjun Atwal also opened with a 65, birdieing six of his final nine holes.

Defending champion Vijay Singh was in a group at 67 with J.J. Henry, Tom Pernice Jr. and Tim Clark.

Kris Tschetter shot a three-under 69 in driving rain that gave way to windy afternoon conditions to top the field in the first round of the LPGA’s Franklin American Mortgage Championship at Franklin, Tenn.

Tschetter made par on only one of her first seven holes and finished with six birdies and three bogeys to take a one-stroke lead over Cristie Kerr, Grace Park and Stacy Prammanasudh.

Hockey

The NHL Players’ Assn. applied for union certification in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and British Columbia to prevent the Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks from using replacement players at home during the hockey lockout.

Employees in Quebec and British Columbia can’t be replaced during a lockout or strike governed by the provincial labor code.

The players’ association wants to establish itself in those provinces as a certified union under the provincial labor codes.

Pro Football

Todd Sauerbrun, reportedly cooperating with investigators in a steroid probe, will not attend Carolina’s minicamp this weekend because the Panthers want to evaluate other punters.

General Manager Marty Hurney said the decision was not related to a CBS report that identifies Sauerbrun as one of three Panthers who obtained illegal steroid prescriptions from South Carolina alternative medicine doctor James Shortt.

Several Panther players testified this week before a federal grand jury about Shortt, the State newspaper of Columbia, S.C., reported, citing anonymous sources familiar with the probe.

Jason White, who won the Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma but was snubbed in the NFL draft, will join other undrafted rookies in a minicamp for the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend.

Tennis

Top-seeded Carlos Moya defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-4, to move into the quarterfinals of the Estoril Open at Oeiras, Portugal.

Fourth-seeded Tommy Robredo struggled before beating unseeded Santiago Ventura, 7-5, 6-0. Paul-Henri Mathieu also advanced with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Tomas Cakl, and Davide Sanguinetti rallied to defeat Albert Costa, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

Former world No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne and young star Ana Ivanovic advanced to the quarterfinals at the J&S; Cup at Warsaw. Henin-Hardenne struggled in cold conditions but overcame Maria Vento-Kabchi, 6-3, 7-5. Ivanovic upset third-seeded Vera Zvonareva, 6-2, 6-4.

Ivanovic, 17, has leaped from 705th in the world rankings in early 2004 to 37th.

Soccer

Neither Chivas USA starting forward Arturo Torres (sprained left knee) nor defender-midfielder Aaron Lopez (red card) traveled to Boston for Saturday’s match against the New England Revolution.

Miscellany

San Diego State baseball coach Tony Gwynn was suspended for one game after publicly criticizing the way the Mountain West Conference rescheduled a snowed-out series at Air Force in March.

Dennis Conner won’t have a team in the America’s Cup for the first time in 30 years. Conner, who has won and lost the oldest trophy in international sports more than any man in history, has said for more than a year that he probably would be priced out of the next America’s Cup.

Bill Trenkle, a crewman with Conner since 1980, made it official when he said Team Dennis Conner would not file a challenge with organizers in Valencia, Spain, by today’s deadline.

The IOC won’t take action against London for offering financial incentives in its bid for the 2012 Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee said that its ethics commission dropped its inquiry after London’s decision to withdraw the package to sports bodies last weekend.

Davies said the ethics panel will send a routine follow-up letter to all five bid cities to clarify the rules.

London is competing against New York, Paris, Madrid and Moscow for the Games. The IOC will select the host city on July 6 in Singapore.