LOUISVILLE, Ky., Aug. 16 -- In Sports from United Press International
Woods heavy favorite at PGA Tiger Woods looks to become the second man in history to win three major championships in one season when he defends his title at the PGA Championship, the last major on the Tour this year.
The venue is the PGA of America-owned Valhalla Golf Club, where 91 of the top-100 players in the World Golf Rankings will try to defeat the heat and Woods, who set scoring records this year at the U.S. and British Opens. He is trying to become the first repeat PGA Championship winner since Denny Shute claimed the match-play event in 1937.
The 24-year-old Woods claimed last year's tournament in exciting style, holding off Spaniard Sergio Garcia by a stroke at Medinah on the way to his second career major title.
All Woods has done this season is win six titles and earn nearly $5.8 million, which puts him at the top of the money list. He has made over $2.7 million more than Ernie Els, who is second in the earnings race.
Standing in Woods' way of another place in history is an elite field that includes Els, Garcia, Tom Lehman, 1997 champion Davis Love III, Phil Mickelson, Colin Montgomerie, Greg Norman, 1998 winner Vijay Singh and Hal Sutton.
Excluded from the list is David Duval, the third-ranked player in the world. He pulled out of the event because of a recurring back injury. Also out is another former champion, Steve Elkington, who is recovering from recent hip surgery.
Duval, who would have been one of several marquee players looking for his first major title, replaced by former Masters winner Craig Stadler.
Els has won a pair of U.S. Open crowns but is trying to avoid finishing second in all four majors this season. He was runnerup to Singh at The Masters and to Woods at the U.S. and British Opens.
The field also includes legend Jack Nicklaus, who will play with Woods and Singh over the first two days of the tournament, beginning with a 9:13 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday.
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Final events in Olympic swimming trials todayOn the last day of the United States Olympic Swimming Trials at Indianapolis, Dara Torres and Amy Van Dyken were 1-2 Tuesday night in the 50 freestyle semifinals, will be in the spotlight tonight in the finals of that event.
Besides their meeting, the final day also includes the men's 1,500 final.
Torres, the 33-year-old fashion model, has qualified in the 100 freestyle and butterfly but has yet to win the final of an event. She lost to Jenny Thompson in both races.
Tuesday, Torres clocked 25.23 in her semifinal heat. She ended up .22 seconds faster than Van Dyken, who was fourth in the 100 freestyle, which places four swimmers for Sydney.
Chris Thompson, Jamie Grimes and Erik Vendt had the top three times in Tuesday's 1,500 preliminaries. Vendt already has qualified in the 400 IM and only the top two receive berths.
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Report: Jags get Stai from Chiefs ESPN is reporting the Jacksonville Jaguars, who have been desperately seeking help for their injury ravaged offensive line, have acquired veteran guard Brendan Stai from the Kansas City Chiefs for an undisclosed draft choice.
The teams have not confirmed the trade, but a Jaguars spokesman said a deal will likely be announced later today.
Stai, 28, probably will move into a starting spot at right guard for the Jaguars. Zach Wiegert, last year's starter at the position, will shift to right tackle to replace Leon Searcy, who likely will be sidelined until December with a torn right quad.
Jacksonville's offensive line is missing four of its five starters from last season. Pro Bowl left tackle Tony Boselli continues to rehab from a torn ACL and hopes to be ready for the season opener, while left guard Ben Coleman signed as a free agent with San Diego, and center John Wade is expected to miss three more weeks with a stress fracture in his right foot.
In training camp, four-year backup Steve Ingram has filled in at left tackle in Boselli's absence, rookie Brad Meester, a second-round draft pick out of Northern Iowa, has been the starter at left guard and Quentin Neujahr replaced Wade at center.
The Chiefs signed Stai in May after he was waived by the Pittsburgh Steelers for salary cap purposes.
Known as a powerful run blocker, the 6-4, 310-pounder had been a starter at right guard for the Steelers since midway through his rookie season in 1995.
The Chiefs signed Stai as insurance since they were anticipating a holdout by Pro Bowl guard Will Shields, who was designated a franchise player. Shields recently accepted a $4.081 million tender offer, making Stai expendable.
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Dolphins dump DruckenmillerJim Druckenmiller, about whom San Francisco General Manager Bill Walsh has said more than enough times was a waste as a first-round draft choice, Wednesday was waived by the Miami Dolphins. He was the odd man out in the Dolphins' training camp battle at quarterback.
Druckenmiller, 27, was the No. 1 pick of the 49ers out of Virginia Tech in 1997 and the only quarterback selected in the first round that year. But he was a bust as a backup to Steve Young and Walsh was so desperate to dump him that he took a seventh-round draft choice last summer in a trade with the Dolphins.
Druckenmiller, who was instrumental in the Hokies' rise to national prominence in the mid-1990s, never played a down for the Dolphins and reports out of training camp say he fell out of favor with the Miami coaching staff fairly quickly this summer.
Another factor was his salary. He stood to make more than $650,000 this season, which made him as much expendable as the coaches' feeling that he couldn't cut it.
For his part, Druckenmiller said his lack of playing time in three NFL season hasn't helped. In those three years, he has played in only six games, including one start, and has completed 21-of-52 passes for 239 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions.
Damon Huard apparently will be the starter for the Dolphins in their regular season opener Sept. 3 at home against Seattle. At the start of camp, he was battling Jay Fiedler for the right to succeed the legendary Dan Marino, who retired during the offseason, but Fiedler has missed the past two weeks because of hip surgery. He reportedly is on track to start the Dolphins' final preseason contest Aug. 25 against New Orleans.
The current No. 3 quarterback, Mike Quinn, reportedly is hanging by a thread as well, with the Dolphins eager to search the waiver wire in a few days to see if a better player is available.
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Knee surgery for Brevin Knight Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Brevin Knight, who lost his starting job to rookie Andre Miller last season, will undergo knee surgery on Thursday.
Team physician Dr. John Bergfeld will remove a fragment from Knight's right kneecap Thursday morning at the Cleveland Clinic.
The 25-year-old backup missed 17 games last season because of tendinitis in the knee. The injury allowed Miller to move in as the starter, and Knight was relegated to backup status when he was activated in March.
Prior to the injury, the 5-10 guard started 46 games, averaging 10.3 points and a team-high 7.3 assists. He finished the season with averages of 9.3 points, 7.0 assists and 1.65 steals in 65 games.
The former first-round pick of Stanford in 1997 has averaged 9.2 points and 7.7 assists in his three seasons with the Cavaliers.
In his first season, Miller averaged 11.2 points and 5.8 assists in 82 games.
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Leafs ink Manson Veteran enforcer Dave Manson, an unrestricted free agent, joined his third team in seven months Wednesday when he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The two-time All-Star defenseman finished last season with the Dallas Stars after being acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks with fellow defenseman Sylvain Cote Feb. 8 for defenseman Kevin Dean, center Derek Plante and a draft pick. He appeared in 26 games with Dallas, collecting one goal and two assists.
The 33-year-old Manson served three suspensions totaling five games last season, including a three-game ban for grabbing San Jose goaltender Steve Shields in Chicago's season opener Oct. 4.
The Saskatchewan native also has played for Edmonton, Winnipeg/Phoenix and Montreal. He has 98 goals, 279 assists and 377 points in 982 games and ranks 11th on the all-time list with 2,666 penalty minutes, although last season's total of 62 was a career low.
He made his 100th career playoff appearance in Game Three of the Western Conference finals against Colorado.
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Klee re-ups with Washington The Washington Capitals averted an arbitration hearing with Ken Klee Wednesday, signing the defenseman to a three-year contract worth $4.25 million.
Klee earned $575,000 last season, and was scheduled to have his delayed arbitration hearing shortly before the deal was done.
Washington defenseman Brendan Witt, one of the league's most physical players, was awarded a two-year, $2.075 million contract by an arbitrator on Tuesday. However, he made $1 million last season, giving him just a minimal raise over the next two seasons.
Also known as a hard-hitting defenseman, the 29-year-old Klee has been a regular in the Caps' defensive rotation for the past five seasons. He matched his career high last season with 20 points and seven goals, including two game-winners.
Sergei Gonchar is the Caps' only remaining unsigned defenseman. He earned $1.8 million last season when he recorded a career-best 54 points.
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Hockey swindler gets five years A convicted Canadian swindler began his five-year prison sentence Wednesday for masterminding a scheme that involved a hockey team, local bankers and British royalty.
Carroll R. Tessier, 48, was also ordered by a federal judge to pay $51,000 restitution.
The scheme involved Angus Charles Drago Montagu, the 12th Duke of Manchester. Federal prosecutors said that Tessier and Montagu lied about their European-based assets to help get financing from a local bank for the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey club to build an arena in 1991.
Montagu has been tried and sentenced to three years in prison.
Tessier fled the country while he was out on bail and was caught by federal marshals in Rome in 1998.
Tessier was convicted of fraud charges in a trial this spring in Tampa.
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