Irwin Takes Advantage of Drier Course to Win

When one part of Hale Irwin’s game isn’t working, he simply turns to another.

“I feel in my heart I have several ‘A’ games,” he said.

Irwin, the career victory leader on the Champions Tour, finished a second-round 68 Monday to slip past Morris Hatalsky and win by one shot the rain-delayed Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am at Lutz, Fla.

“It wasn’t spectacularly played golf.... I didn’t drive the ball well and I certainly didn’t putt all that well, but I did what I had to do when I had to do it,” he said. “Maybe the bottom line to that is experience.”

Taking advantage of improved weather, which made the TPC of Tampa Bay course less demanding than the previous three days, Irwin played his remaining 12 holes in two under to end with a 36-hole total of eight-under-par 134.

Hatalsky was one of only 22 golfers to complete the second round Saturday, when the scheduled 54-hole event was reduced to 36. Heavy rain Sunday washed out play after 68 minutes, pushing the conclusion to Monday.

Hatalsky’s seven-under 135 was the score to beat. And Irwin, playing the back nine first, pulled even with a birdie on No. 18. He finished his 42nd tour win with six consecutive pars.

Defending champion Mark McNulty (68) birdied two of his last four holes to pull even with Hatalsky.

Irwin won $240,000 for his second victory this season, boosting this year’s earnings to a tour-leading $703,000 in four events.

College Football

A grand jury investigating the Colorado recruiting scandal uncovered a “slush fund” financed by Coach Gary Barnett’s Football Technique School, according to a report obtained by the Denver Post and KUSA-TV.

Money was kept in “16 or 17” cash boxes, with each managed by a different person with little oversight, the Post reported.

David Hansburg, the school’s director of football operations, “told the grand jury that up to $2,500 could be missing, but not missed,” the report said. “All funds were available to employees of the football program” and “all funds were available to Coach Barnett to use in his discretion.”

Barnett told the grand jury that “the school received only income from the registration fees of [football camp] participants,” the report said.

In a statement provided by the school’s athletic department, Barnett said he was bound by law and could not comment on the Post report. Hansburg also declined to comment, citing state grand jury secrecy rules.

Pro Football

Tampa Bay restructured the contract of fullback Mike Alstott as part of the team’s effort to pare about $17 million from the payroll.

The six-time Pro Bowl selection was scheduled to earn $2 million in 2005.

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Carolina released 16-year veteran quarterback Rodney Peete, 39, and guard Doug Brzezinski in cost-cutting moves that will save the club $2.5 million.... Linebacker Roman Phifer, 36, who played on all three of New England’s Super Bowl winners, was released by the team.

Tennis

Fifth-seeded Venus Williams lost in the first round of an event for the first time in almost four years.

Williams lost to Silvia Farina Elia, 7-5, 7-6 (6), in the Dubai Women’s Open in the United Arab Emirates.

Williams’ previous first-round loss was against Barbara Schett in the 2001 French Open. She lost her first match at Moscow in October 2002, to Magdalena Maleeva, but after a first-round bye.

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Ian Ritchie, vice president of Associated Press Television News, was appointed chief executive of Wimbledon’s All England Club, succeeding Chris Gorringe, who is retiring after 26 years.

Miscellany

Mario Lemieux probably will not play in the hockey world championships April 30 to May 15 in Austria, but the player-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins hasn’t ruled it out.

Lemieux told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that it would be difficult for him to get ready for the tournament since he hasn’t played this season because of the NHL lockout.

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Former World Boxing Assn. heavyweight champion Greg Page’s condition was downgraded to serious, said a spokesperson at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Ky.

Page, 46, was admitted last week to the hospital suffering from pneumonia and other complications. He had been in fair condition.

Page suffered a brain injury during a fight with Dale Crowe on March 9, 2001. After the fight, he suffered a stroke during surgery that left him paralyzed on his left side.

Passings

Carl Taseff, who spent 12 years in the NFL as a defensive back and more than 20 as an assistant coach, died of pneumonia Sunday at Weston, Fla. He was 76.

He set an NFL record with the Baltimore Colts in 1959 by returning a blocked field goal 99 yards for a touchdown.

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Maureen Mooney, co-captain of Immaculata College when it won the first national women’s basketball title in 1972 and repeated in 1973, has died at 53.

Mooney died Wednesday in a Philadelphia hospital, the school said.

Immaculata defeated West Chester State, 52-48, in 1972 to win the AIAW title. The Mighty Macs won three consecutive titles and were runners-up in 1975 and 1976.

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Max Faulkner, winner of the 1951 British Open and a member of the British Ryder Cup team that won the title in 1957, died at Virginia Water, England, the European PGA Tour said. He was 88.

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Nikolai Ryashentsev, a former chairman of the Soviet soccer federation, died Saturday in Moscow, the Russian Soccer Union said. He was 83.