Advertisement

Curtis, Furyk Share Lead

Share
From Times Staff and Wire Reports

Ben Curtis sure knows how to please a crowd.

The 2003 British Open champion, wearing a Chicago Bear golf shirt and visor Saturday at the Western Open in Lemont, Ill., made a three-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a share of the lead with Jim Furyk.

Curtis (66) and Furyk (67) are at 12-under-par 201 after 54 holes. But they should keep a close eye on the scoreboard because there are plenty of people behind them -- including the world’s two best players.

Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh may have gotten off to rough starts, but they’re making up for it. Woods shot a four-under 67 and is tied for fourth with Shaun Micheel at 206, five strokes back.

Advertisement

Singh flirted with the course record of 63 before settling for a 65 that leaves him six strokes off the lead.

Tim Herron (70) is alone in third, three strokes back. Second-round leader Chris Couch struggled to a three-over 74 and is at six-under 207.

*

Annika Sorenstam tumbled out of the HSBC World Match Play Championship at Gladstone, N.J., squandering a two-hole lead with four to play in her quarterfinal match against Candie Kung.

After conceding a two-foot par putt to Kung on the par-four 18th, the top-seeded Sorenstam slid her eight-foot par try well right of the hole to end the match.

They both missed the green with their approach shots, with Kung’s ball finishing hole-high to the left and Sorenstam ending up above the green on the right.

Kung, the former USC star who won all three of her LPGA Tour titles in 2003, nearly took the lead on the par-three 17th, but her birdie putt lipped out.

Advertisement

The eighth-seeded Kung will play 60th-seeded Marisa Baena in the semifinals this morning. Baena beat 29th-seeded Karrie Webb, 2 and 1. In the other semifinal, 14th-seeded Wendy Ward will play No. 47 Meena Lee. Ward beat 59th-seeded Sophie Gustafson, 2 and 1, and Lee defeated No. 39 Pat Hurst, 1 up.

*

Ron Streck didn’t come close to matching his spectacular opening round at the Commerce Bank Championship in East Meadow, N.Y., but he’s in the lead entering the final round of a tournament for the first time.

Streck, looking for his first Champions Tour title, followed his first-round 62 with a three-under 68, staying two strokes in front with a 12-under 130 total.

Tom Jenkins had a 63 and is tied for second with Dave Eichelberger (67) and Craig Stadler (68).

Pro Basketball

The New York Knicks signed center Channing Frye and guard Nate Robinson, both first-round selections in the NBA draft.

Frye, the eighth overall pick, was the first of two first-round selections by the Knicks. They also picked Florida forward David Lee with the last pick, No. 30 overall. He signed Friday.

Advertisement

Robinson was taken by Phoenix with the 21st pick, then traded to New York with guard Quentin Richardson for forwards Kurt Thomas and Dijon Thompson, the Knicks’ second-round pick from UCLA.

The Portland Trail Blazers signed first-round pick Martell Webster, the sixth overall selection and the first high school player taken in the NBA draft, to a multiyear contract.

Beach Volleyball

Olympic gold medalists Misty May and Kerri Walsh lost to Rachel Wacholder and Elaine Youngs, 17-21, 22-20, 15-13, in the finals of the AVP Nissan Series Cincinnati Open, ending their 50-match winning streak. May and Walsh had won 10 consecutive tournaments.

Rowing

In the Temple Cup for student eights in the Henley Royal Regatta at Henley-on-Thames, England, Trinity College of Connecticut won its semifinal against England’s Oxford Brookes University by 4 1/4 lengths. Trinity will meet Yale, which beat the University of the West of England by 1 1/4 lengths.

Miscellany

Former Maryland star Jen Adams had four goals and three assists to lead Australia to a 14-7 victory over the U.S. in the finals of the International Federation of Women’s Lacrosse Assn. World Cup at Annapolis, Md.

Advertisement