Green shoots 62, leads in Texas

L.A. Times Archives

Oct. 10, 2008 12 AM PT

From Times Staff and Wire Reports

Australia’s Nathan Green shot an eight-under 62 on Thursday to take a two-stroke lead over Olin Browne and Paul Claxton in the Texas Open at San Antonio.

Green, winless in three seasons on the PGA Tour, birdied nine of the first 16 holes before dropping a stroke on the par-three 17th and closing with a par.

The 62 was the lowest round of his PGA Tour career. He tied for second in the 2006 Buick Invitational for his best PGA Tour finish.

Defending champion Justin Leonard, the former University of Texas star seeking a record fourth victory in the event, shot a 70.

Phil Blackmar, Bruce Fleisher and Des Smyth shot five-under 65s at Timonium, Md., to share the first-round lead in the Senior Players Championship, the fifth and final Champions Tour major of the year.

Blackmar holed out from the fairway for eagle to help offset four bogeys, Fleisher made four straight birdies early in his round, and Smyth had a bogey-free day to top the leaderboard. All three are winless this year.

Michele Redman and Maria Hjorth shot six-under 66s to share the first-round lead in the LPGA Tour’s Longs Drugs Challenge at Danville, Calif. In-Kyung Kim and Mikaela Parmlid were tied for second at 67. Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa opened with a 70.

TENNIS

ATP takes steps to ban professional gamblers

The ATP men’s tennis tour may ban 15 professional gamblers from attending tournaments after finding they were placing bets on-site to exploit a 20-second delay in scores being received by bookmakers, a tournament director said.

The ATP sent organizers of the Madrid Masters tournament, which starts in two days, a list of the names and credit-card numbers of 15 bettors who they want excluded from entry, tournament director Gerard Tsobanian said.

“It’s a very international list,” Tsobanian said. Some of the gamblers have tried to get into past tournaments by posing as journalists, he added.

Roger Federer will play at the Madrid Masters, ending a three-week layoff and setting up a possible meeting with top-ranked Rafael Nadal.

MOTOR RACING

Edwards, Harvick have heated argument

Witnesses said NASCAR drivers Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick were in a heated argument Thursday in the Nationwide Series garage at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

Witnesses said a member of Harvick’s crew had Edwards in a headlock as numerous people tried to separate the two.

Harvick was unavailable for comment.

Edwards didn’t deny the two argued but wouldn’t discuss the incident.

Edwards triggered a late crash Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway when he tried to push teammate Greg Biffle. But his bumper hooked the corner of Biffle’s, sending Biffle into a slide directly into Matt Kenseth. Harvick was caught in the melee.

Qualifying for Saturday’s Sprint Cup race at Lowe’s was canceled because of rain. The lineup was set by owner points, with Jimmie Johnson being awarded the pole.

MISCELLANY

Holyfield offered chance to fight 7-foot Valuev

Evander Holyfield has been offered a fight with WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev in December.

Holyfield, who turns 46 this month, has not fought since losing a unanimous decision a year ago to then-WBO champion Sultan Ibragimov.

Should the fight happen, it probably will be staged in either Switzerland or Germany.

The 7-foot, 300-pound Valuev (49-1, 34 KOs) won a unanimous decision over John Ruiz in August to regain the WBA title.

Austrian ski star Marlies Schild will miss the upcoming World Cup season after breaking her left leg in a training crash. Schild won the World Cup slalom title last year.

Clint Malarchuk, the former NHL goalie best known for having his jugular vein slashed by a skate in a 1989 game with Buffalo, is recovering after accidentally shooting himself in the chin with a rifle in Minden, Nev.

The 47-year-old former player is now a goalie coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Nearly half the countries that participated in the Beijing Olympics failed to tell organizers where their athletes were so they could be drug-tested outside of competition.

A report issued by independent observers for the World Anti-Doping Agency said 102 of 205 countries represented did not provide Olympic officials with information about their athletes’ whereabouts.

It is each country’s responsibility to notify testers of its athletes’ whereabouts during the Games.

Southeast Missouri State fired Athletic Director Don Kaverman and put men’s basketball Coach Scott Edgar on administrative leave, three days after the NCAA notified the school of possible major violations.

The San Diego Padres dismissed as “highly speculative” a report that owner John Moores will sell 49% of the team as part of a divorce settlement.

Becky Moores filed for divorce in February after more than 44 years of marriage.

Former Denver Broncos running back Travis Henry was released from jail after posting a $400,000 bond on federal drug charges.