Singh leads by one in Hawaii

Vijay Singh had one bad swing Friday, but it wasn’t enough for him to lose the lead in the rain, whipping wind and eventual sunshine at the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Kapalua, Hawaii.

Singh pulled his tee shot into the native grasses on the par-five 18th hole, hit a remarkable recovery and escaped with a par, giving him his second consecutive four-under 69 and a one-shot lead over Trevor Immelman and Will MacKenzie in the PGA Tour opener.

MacKenzie made his lone bogey on the 17th after being put on the clock and rushing a putt, and he had a chance to tie Singh until missing a 10-foot birdie on the final hole, settling for a 70.

Immelman, the rookie of the year in 2006, birdied two of his last three holes for a 68.

The start of the second round was delayed 1 hour 20 minutes because of a light rain that began overnight and didn’t stop until an hour after the round began.

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BASEBALL

Uribe considers sitting out season

Chicago White Sox shortstop Juan Uribe may sit out the 2007 season after a judge ordered him to make twice-monthly court appearances in a Dominican Republic shooting case.

“It looks very ugly to be accused of something,” Uribe said. “But first I am going to resolve this and then I will go to the major leagues.”

Uribe, 27, is scheduled to make $4.15 million this year and said the case probably would force him to miss the start of spring training, which is scheduled for mid-February.

Mark Loretta agreed to a one-year, $2.5-million contract with Houston that has an additional $1 million in performance bonuses. Loretta has spent most of his 13-year career at second base but probably will play several infield positions with the Astros.... The New York Mets and reserve outfielder David Newhan agreed to a one-year contract. He gets $575,000 if he’s on the 25-man roster and $175,000 if he’s sent to the minors.

The New York Yankees signed free-agent first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz to a one-year contract. Mientkiewicz, 32, batted .283 with four home runs and 43 runs batted in over 91 games last season with Kansas City.... Roger Cedeno agreed to a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles after a 1 1/2 -season layoff. Cedeno has a .273 career average with five teams.... Former Atlanta Braves closer Chris Reitsma agreed to a one-year, $2.05-million contract with Seattle to become the Mariners’ setup reliever.

The San Francisco Giants hired former manager Felipe Alou, 71, as a special assistant to General Manager Brian Sabean.

The Toronto Blue Jays will replace the New York Mets as Baltimore’s opponent in this year’s Hall of Fame game on May 21 at Cooperstown, N.Y.

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TENNIS

Safina defeats Hingis in Hardcourt final

Dinara Safina took advantage of Martina Hingis’ double fault in the last game and defeated her, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, in the Australian Women’s Hardcourt final today in Gold Coast, Australia.

The top-seeded Hingis, who used this event last year as her comeback tournament and lost in the semifinals, double faulted at 0-30 in the 12th game to set up match point.

The 20-year-old Safina, sister of ATP Tour veteran Marat Safin, won on the next point.

Xavier Malisse overcame a jittery second set to defeat Fabrice Santoro, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0, and set up a semifinal match against Rafael Nadal at the Chennai Open in Chennai, India.

Nadal, ranked No. 2, beat Davide Sanguinetti, 6-3, 6-2, in another quarterfinal.

Fourth-seeded Andy Murray capitalized on top-seededNikolay Davydenko’s injury and upset him, 7-5, 6-2, to advance to the Qatar Open final in Doha.

Murray will face No. 2 Ivan Ljubicic in today’s title match. Ljubicic beat Robin Soderling, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

Maria Sharapova rallied to beat Elena Dementieva, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, and advanced to the final of the Champions Challenge at Hong Kong, a warmup for the Australian Open.

Sharapova’s opponent in Sunday’s final will be Kim Clijsters, who defeated Patty Schnyder, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Jelena Jankovic won the ASB Tennis Classic at Auckland, New Zealand, beating Vera Zvonareva, 7-6 (9), 5-7, 6-3.

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MISCELLANY

Roof of Vancouver stadium collapses

The inflated roof at the 60,000-seat B.C. Place in Vancouver, Canada, where the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics will be held, collapsed under the weight of heavy, wet sleet.

There was no event going on in the stadium and fire officials said no injuries were reported.

Former NASCAR champion Benny Parsons remained in intensive care nearly two weeks after entering a Charlotte, N.C., hospital because of complications stemming from lung cancer.

UCLA running back Kahlil Bell, suspended by Coach Karl Dorrell from the Bruins’ final regular-season game and the Emerald Bowl, will be reinstated to the football team at the start of the new academic quarter Monday, a school spokesman said.

Petros Papadakis will return to sports talk radio on Monday as the co-host of a new 4-7 p.m. weekday show on KLAC 570. Papadakis, who left KMPC 1540 in early October, will team with Matt “Money” Smith at 570.

Smith has been working in the 4-7 time slot with Joe Grande and former UCLA quarterback Wayne Cook.

Station manager Don Martin said Grande will have his own 3-6 p.m. show on Saturdays and Sundays, and Cook will remain with the station as a UCLA football reporter.

-- Larry Stewart

Canada scored three goals in a three-minute span for a 4-2 victory over Russia, capturing its third consecutive gold at the World Junior Ice Hockey Championship at Leksand, Sweden. The United States took third place with a 2-1 victory over Sweden.