International Team Gets Lead at Presidents Cup

The International team was in foreign territory Thursday at the Presidents Cup in Gainesville, Va.

It was in the lead.

Retief Goosen and Adam Scott turned in a tag-team performance that buried Tiger Woods and Fred Couples in the opening match. Later, Mike Weir and Trevor Immelman birdied four of their first five holes in alternate shot for a victory over David Toms and Stewart Cink.

When the first day of matches ended, the International team had a 3 1/2 -2 1/2 lead.

One point isn’t much, especially with 28 matches left, but it was cause for celebration for the International team. In three previous trips to this golf course on the shores of Lake Manassas, the Americans have twice led, 5-0, and once led, 4-1, after the opening day.

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Robert Gamez shot an eight-under 62 to take a one-stroke lead over Jeff Maggert after the first round of the Texas Open at San Antonio.

Gamez, winless since taking two events as a rookie in 1990, birdied eight of the first 16 holes in his bogey-free round on the LaCantera Golf Club’s Resort Course.

Woody Austin and John Senden matched Maggert with 63s, and Phillip Price, Ted Purdy, David Hearn and Nick Watney opened with 64s. Purdy played the front-nine in six-under 29.

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Jose Maria Olazabal and his continental Europe team took a 4-1 lead over Britain and Ireland in the first set of fourballs in the Seve Trophy at Billingham, England.

Pro Basketball

Gary Payton signed a $1.1-million, one-year contract with the Miami Heat -- a move that begins a reunion with Shaquille O’Neal, who lured him to the Lakers two seasons ago.

Payton averaged 11.3 points and 6.1 assists for Boston last season, then became a free agent.

Community service and probation will be recommended for four Indiana Pacer players charged in a brawl with fans that broke out during a game last season, a prosecutor said, provided the players “take responsibility” by pleading guilty or no contest at pretrial hearings.

Hearings for Ron Artest, Jermaine O’Neal and Stephen Jackson are scheduled for today in district court. David Harrison faces an Oct. 3 hearing.

Free-agent forward Lee Nailon agreed to terms with Philadelphia.

France beat defending champion Lithuania, 63-47, to reach the European Championship semifinals at Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro.

The French will next play Greece, which defeated Russia, 66-61. In today’s quarterfinals, Slovenia plays Germany and Croatia meets Spain.

Tennis

Venus Williams won easily and top-ranked Maria Sharapova needed three sets for her victory as both advanced to the quarterfinals of the China Open at Beijing. Williams cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Nuria Llagostera Vives. Sharapova defeated Shahar Peer, 6-0, 5-7, 6-2.

Anabel Medina Garrigues beat teenager Masa Zec Peskiric, 6-1, 6-2, to reach the Slovenia Open quarterfinals at Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Soccer

Major League Soccer’s Chivas USA today will announce that a joint team made up of its players and those of Chivas de Guadalajara will play a benefit match at Santa Barbara in aid of Gulf Coast hurricane victims.

The game, at 2 p.m. on Oct. 9 at UC Santa Barbara’s Harder Stadium, will pit the combined Chivas team against Santos Laguna of the Mexican first division.

Universidad Catolica beat DC United, 3-2, and advance to the quarterfinals of the Copa Sudamericana at Santiago, Chile.

Miscellany

P-Forty-Seven took the lead in the stretch of both his heats, including the final of the 60th Little Brown Jug, to win the second leg of the Triple Crown for 3-year-old pacers at Delaware, Ohio.

The NCAA put Texas Christian’s men’s and women’s track teams on probation for two years.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge says the quarreling over the doping allegations surrounding Lance Armstrong’s 1999 Tour de France victory is hurting the fight against drugs.

In a related development, World Anti-Doping Agency head Dick Pound called a letter from Denis Oswald, president of the Assn. of Summer Olympic International Federations, and Sergei Bubka, IOC athletes’ commission chief, “ill informed.” The two asked WADA to suspend the French laboratory involved in Armstrong’s disputed drug tests.

USA Water Polo picked 13 players for next month’s Junior World Championships in Buenos Aires.

They are Travis Stachowski, Chay Lapin, JW Krumpholz, Tyler Smith, Matt Sagehorn, Clay Jorth, Anthony Artukovich, Nico Sardo, Caleb Hamilton, Christian Flores, Miguel Cidoncha, Spencer Warden and Tyler Kandel.

Australia’s Michael Rogers won the individual time-trial gold medal for the third consecutive year at the road cycling world championships in Madrid.

The Czech hockey federation ratified a two-year agreement on transfers between the NHL and European teams. Finland, Germany, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland also have agreed. Russia has refused.