Gore Shoots 59 on Nationwide Tour

U.S. Open fan favorite Jason Gore shot a 12-under-par 59 Friday in the second round of the Nationwide Tour’s Cox Classic at Omaha, becoming the third golfer to accomplish the feat on the developmental tour.

Gore started on the back nine and had five birdies for a 31 at the turn. After a bogey at the par-5 first, he went on to post two eagles and four birdies for a 28 on the second nine at the 6,966-yard, par-71 Champions Run course. He moved into third place, three shots behind leader Jon Mills, who was at 15 under after an 11-under 60.

A two-time winner on the Nationwide Tour this year, Gore tied the tour record set by Notah Begay in 1998 and matched by Doug Dunakey later that year.

Al Geiberger (1977), Chip Beck (1991) and David Duval (1999) have shot 59s in competition on the PGA Tour, and Annika Sorenstam broke 60 on the LPGA Tour in 2001. Olin Browne also carded a 59 in U.S. Open qualifying this summer, and Phil Mickelson had a 59 last Nov. 24 at the PGA Grand Slam.

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Billy Mayfair, who ranks second on the PGA Tour in birdies and eagles this season, rolled in a 70-foot putt for eagle on No. 17, then finished with a birdie to take the lead after the rain-delayed first round of the International tournament at Castle Rock, Colo.

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Tom Purtzer matched the tournament record with a nine-under 63 that included a hole-in-one, and has a one-stroke lead over Bruce Lietzke after the first round of the 3M Championships at the TPC of the Twin Cities in Blaine, Minn.

Champions Tour rookie Don Reese had a 66, one stroke in front of nine players, including defending champion Tom Kite.

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Liselotte Neumann shot a two-over 74 to lead Gwladys Nocera (69) by one stroke at two-under 142 after the second round of the Scandinavian TPC at Loddekopinge, Sweden. Annika Sorenstam shot 75 and was tied for sixth at 145.

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Morgan Pressel advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Roswell, Ga., beating fourth-seeded Jennie Lee of Huntington Beach, 6 and 5. She will play Angela Park of Torrance, who beat top-seeded In-Kyung Kim, 3 and 2.

In the other semifinal, Alison Whitaker will play Maru Martinez. Whitaker birdied the 18th for a 1-up victory over Maria Uribe, and Martinez beat Jenny Suh on the 19th hole.

Hockey

Paul Kariya signed with the Nashville Predators, the left winger’s third team in three seasons. He signed for two years and $9 million, saying he chose the team that started courting him the moment free agency opened.

Kariya, 30, spent his first seven NHL seasons with the Mighty Ducks, helping them reach the Stanley Cup finals in 2003. He then signed with Colorado but had career lows with 11 goals and 36 points in an injury-plagued 2003-04 season that limited him to 51 games.

In 10 NHL seasons, Kariya has 311 goals and 705 points in 657 games.

Stanley Cup-winning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin signed a four-year, $27-million contract with the Chicago Blackhawks, leaving the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

Khabibulin played in 55 regular-season games for the Lightning during the 2003-04 season, posting a 28-19-7 record.

The Toronto Maple Leafs signed free-agent forward Jason Allison to a one-year contract. The former King center sat out most of the 2002-03 season and all of the following year because of a neck injury and concussion.

Pro Basketball

Guard Damon Stoudamire signed a four-year contract with the Memphis Grizzlies. The 10-year veteran spent the last eight seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers. Stoudamire is coming off his best season, averaging 15.8 points and 5.7 assists.

As expected, the 2007 NBA All-Star game will be played in Las Vegas. Commissioner David Stern confirmed that the game would be played at the Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV.

Tennis

Top-seeded Andy Roddick rallied to beat Ivo Karlovic, 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-4, and advance to the semifinals of the Legg Mason Classic at Washington.

In a matchup of two of the game’s top servers, Roddick and Karlovic combined for 48 aces. The 6-foot-10 Karlovic had 29.

Roddick will play 13th-seeded Paradorn Srichaphan, who defeated Luis Horna, 6-4, 7-5.

Swimming

Michael Phelps defeated training partner Klete Keller by nearly a half-second to win the 200-meter freestyle at the U.S. Summer Nationals at Irvine. It was his 27th national title, moving him into a tie for seventh on the career list with Katherine Rawls, who competed from 1931 to 1938.

Phelps led wire-to-wire and touched in 1:46.40 -- well off his American record of 1:45.20 set at last week’s world championships in Montreal.

Motor Racing

Dennis Setzer earned his fourth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the season, dominating the Power Stroke Diesel 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park. He led 177 of the 200 laps in his Chevrolet, finishing 0.418 of a second ahead of rookie Todd Kluever’s Ford.

Miscellany

Karch Kiraly and Mike Lambert have re-formed a partnership that was the Assn. of Volleyball Professional’s best last year and will play together in next week’s Huntington Beach Open.

Kiraly and Lambert won an AVP-best three tournaments in 2004 but began this year with a ninth and two seventh-place finishes in three events before they parted ways.

As expected, first-year USC basketball Coach Tim Floyd announced the hiring of Phil Johnson, the former San Jose State coach, as a member of his staff.

Floyd also hired Rudy Hackett, who was an All-American forward at Syracuse in 1975 before becoming an assistant and dean of discipline at St. John Bosco High, and DeMarlo Slocum, an assistant at Dixie Junior College in St. George, Utah, as staff members to join assistants Gib Arnold and Bob Cantu.