Sacramento takes 1-0 lead over Lakers in NBA West
LOS ANGELES, May 25 (UPI) -- Chris Webber had 26 points and nine rebounds and Mike Bibby scored 24 points as the Sacramento Kings rolled to a 103-90 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game Three of the NBA Western Conference finals.
Sacramento was winless in five previous postseason trips to the Staples Center but needed a win in Los Angeles to reclaim home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series. The Kings played with purpose from the opening tip and withstood a remarkable run by the Lakers in the fourth quarter to take a 2-1 lead.
Sacramento took control with a 23-6 run bridging the first two quarters. Hedo Turkoglu scored half of his 14 points during the burst, which gave the Kings a 36-15 cushion early in the second period.
Los Angeles pulled within 52-40 at halftime but managed a playoff-low 12 points in the third quarter.
The Kings led by as many as 27 in the final period, but the Lakers responded with a full-court press and rallied behind Kobe Bryant, who scored 16 points in the final 9 ½ minutes.
Los Angeles made eight 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and reeled off 14 straight points but could not get the deficit within single digits as Bibby and Webber continued to make big shots.
Doug Christie added 17 points, 12 rebounds and six assists for Sacramento, which played without All-Star guard Peja Stojakovic, who remains sidelined with a sprained ankle.
Bryant finished with 22 points and Shaquille O'Neal collected 20 and 19 rebounds but made just 2-of-10 shots after halftime.
Leonard, Frazar lead Memorial
DUBLIN, Ohio, May 25 (UPI) -- Justin Leonard shot a 7-under-par 65 Friday to grab a one-stroke lead midway through the Memorial and set up a pairing with good friend Harrison Frazar.
Five weeks removed from his seventh PGA Tour title, Leonard played bogey-free at Muirfield Village Golf Club, sprinkling five birdies around an eagle to reach 10-under 134. His eight-foot eagle putt at the 15th hole gave him a share of the lead with Frazar, his college roomate at the University of Texas.
Frazar also shot a 65, overcoming a bogey at No. 18 with eight birdies over 17 bogey-free holes. He also is looking forward to Saturday's pairing.
Tiger Woods will need to push himself. Trying to become just the third player in tour history to win the same event in four consecutive seasons, the world's top-ranked player is 10 shots back after a second-round 70.
On Leonard's heels are 1997 champion Vijay Singh of Fiji, 1989 winner Bob Tway and Stewart Cink, who are tied for third at 136. No one else is within four strokes of the lead.
Nine players were left on the course when the third round was suspended by lightning. Seven of them should make the cut of 146.
Robinson to retire after next season
SAN ANTONIO, May 25 (UPI) -- San Antonio Spurs center David Robinson, voted one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1996, announced Friday he will retire following the 2002-03 campaign.
Robinson has spent his entire 13-year career with the Spurs, but his play has declined in recent years. During the 2001-02 season, he averaged just 12.2 points and 8.3 rebounds--both career lows--and was hampered in the playoffs by a lower back injury.
Robinson will play out the final year of a two-year, $20 million contract he signed last summer.
Robinson helped the Spurs to their only NBA championship in 1999 and is the franchise's all-time leader in points (20,144), rebounds (9,989), blocks (2,843), steals (1,336) and games played (923). He has posted career averages of 21.9 points, 10.8 rebounds and 3.08 blocks while shooting 51.9 percent from the field.
Robinson, who had two years of active duty in the Navy before joining the Spurs, was the unanimous winner of the Rookie of the Year award in 1989-90, helping the Spurs win the Midwest Division with a 56-26 record. The prior season, San Antonio finished with a league-worst 21-61 mark. Robinson captured the Most Valuable Player award in 1994-95 and has appeared in 10 All-Star Games. He joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only players to win a scoring title (1993-94), rebounding title (1990-91) and lead the NBA in blocked shots (1991-92).
USOC president Baldwin resigns
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., May 25 (UPI) -- United States Olympic Committee president Sandy Baldwin resigned Friday after admitting that she lied about her academic credentials.
The USOC made the announcement following a conference call with Baldwin, who informed committee CEO Lloyd Ward she would resign immediately. The specific academic inaccuracies were not revealed.
Baldwin was elected president on Dec. 3, 2000 after serving as USOC vice president and treasurer during her long association with the organization. She was the Chief of Mission for the United States delegation at the 2000 Games in Sydney.
The USOC said it will begin an immediate process to replace Baldwin. It involves a nomination of candidates and a mail ballot among the board of directors.
Eger ties Sigel for lead
ADA, Mich., May 25 (UPI) -- David Eger, an unheralded, 50-year-old rookie surprised virtually everyone Friday by shooting a 5-under-par 67 to tie Jay Sigel for the lead after the first round of the PGA Senior Tour Farmer's Charity Classic.
In two different stints on the PGA Tour, the Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida resident earned just $31,014, with his best finish being a tie for fifth at the 1979 American Optical Classic.
Prior to this week, Egar, who achieved his greatest success as an amateur, had played in only two Senior events this year, tying for 64th at The Tradition and 40th at the Instinet Classic. He has won just $9,550 this year, ranking 100th on the money list.
John Jacobs is alone in third at 68, one shot ahead of a group of nine players that includes Larry Nelson, Jim Thorpe, Tom Wargo and Jim Dent.
On the road to recovery from hip and neck injuries, Nelson is seeking his third straight Farmers Charity Classic title. Nelson won Player of the Year honors in 2000 and five titles in 2001 but began this season with just two top-10 finishes in his first eight starts while battling hip and vertebrae problems.
Nelson has battled back from his injuries to place third and second in his last two starts. He skipped last week's event to prepare for a possible "three-peat." This week, Nelson is trying to become the seventh player in history to win the same event in three consecutive seasons. He held off Jim Ahern by a stroke last year and posted a three-shot victory over Dave Stockton in 2000.
With a win this week, Nelson will put himself in position to become the first player in Senior Tour history to have two "three-peats." He also has won the last two FleetBoston Classics, which is held in late July.
Bartholomew, Diaz tied for lead
CORNING, N.Y., May 25 (UPI) -- Jean Bartholomew fired a bogey-free 5-under-par 67 on Friday and is tied for the lead with Laura Diaz after the second round of the LPGA Corning Classic.
A Long Island native, Bartholomew collected three birdies and an eagle to move to 9-under 135. She has a share of the second-round lead for only the second time in her seven-year career and the first since this sevent in 1999.
Diaz was born in the Albany suburb of Scotia but lives in Florida. She also played the Corning Country Club without a bogey, logging three birdies en route to a 69.
Beth Bauer is tied with Korean rookie Jung Yeon Lee for third place at 8-under 136 after a second straight 68. Both Bartholomew and Bauer attended Duke while Diaz starred at ACC rival Wake Forest.
LPGA Hall of Famer Beth Daniel and Italy's Silvia Cavalleri are two shots back at 137 while former champions Rosie Jones and Britain's Alison Nicholas are among four players tied at 6-under.
Draw announced for French Open
PARIS, May 25 (UPI) -- Andre Agassi, seeking his eighth Grand Slam title and second at Roland Garros, begins the French with a qualifier before battling through a draw that includes a handful of dangerous claycourt players.
In the women's draw, the Williams sisters cannot face each other until the final. Top-seeded Jennifer Capriati meets fellow American Marissa Irvin in the first round.
Among Agassi's possible opponents are 11th-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain and Argentina's Gaston Gaudio, one of two ATP Tour players with a pair of claycourt titles this season. Agassi, one of only five men to win all four Grand Slam titles, doesn't appear to have a challenge until a possible third-round encounter with the 25th seed, Tommy Robredo of Spain. If Agassi reaches the quarterfinals, his opponent could be Ferrero, who has made it to the semifinals each of the last two seasons and has claimed five of his six career titles on clay.
Agassi, the fourth seed, doesn't have it as bad as No. 1 seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, whose portion of the draw contains three former French Open winners, including two-time defending champion Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil. Hewitt also could face Carlos Moya of Spain or Michael Chang before the quarterfinals. His opponent in the final eight could be Pete Sampras, who owns a record 13 Grand Slam titles but none at Roland Garros.
That would be a good week for Sampras, who has not made the final eight at Roland Garros since a semifinal appearance, his only one in 12 French appearances, in 1996. He has a tough first-round opponent in Italy's Andrea Gaudenzi.
Elsewhere in the men's draw, second-seeded Marat Safin of Russia has potential matchups with No. 6 Tim Henman of Britain, No. 13 Andy Roddick of the United States and dangerous dirt players like Sebastien Grosjean of France and Argentina's David Nalbandian.
Third-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany likely has the most challenging road among the top four seeds to the semifinals. His quarter of the draw contains No. 5 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson and clay specialists like Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco and Alex Corretja of Spain.
In the women's draw, all eyes are on the Williams sisters, who have met in a Grand Slam final just once, with Venus overcoming Serena in last year's U.S. Open. Venus Williams is seeded second as she seeks her fifth career Grand Slam title, all in the past three years. She faces Bianka Lamade of Germany in the first round.
Serena Williams, who is seeded third and is looking for her second Grand Slam title and first since the 1999 U.S. Open, opens with Martina Sucha of Slovakia.
Capriati, the defending champion, is the top seed as she continues her quest for the Grand Slam, having won the Australian Open in January. She has won three of the last five majors, making it at least as far as the semifinals in each.
The French Open gets underway Monday.
Hornaday grabs pole for Busch series
CONCORD, N.C., May 25 (UPI) -- Ron Hornaday earned the pole Friday for Saturday's NASCAR Busch Grand National series Carquest Auto Parts 300 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
In his third week for Carroll Racing, Hornaday collected his first career Busch series pole, taking his Chevrolet around the 1 ½-mile banked oval in 182.094 miles per hour, more than two miles an hour faster than Jeff Burton's track record. Last week, Hornaday recorded the team's best finish of the year, placing third at Nazareth Speedway.
Michael Waltrip qualified second for the second straight event, getting his Chevrolet to 181.549 mph. He was first before Hornaday blitzed his mark. Bobby Hamilton Jr.--the only non-Chevrolet driver of the top six qualifiers--was third at 180.832 in a Ford, followed by Jeff Green, Todd Bodine and Jack Sprague.
Russia advances to final
DUSSELDORF, Germany, May 25 (UPI) -- Russia defeated Britain Friday in the first meeting between the countries at the ATP World Team Championship to earn a meeting in the final with Argentina.
Marat Safin gave Russian the lead with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Martin Lee, then teamed with Yevgeny Kafelnikov to register a 6-1, 6-0 rout of Lee and Miles Maclagan in doubles.
Britain had evened things when Tim Henman defeated Kafelnikov, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) for his sixth win in 14 career matches against the Russian.
Russia went 2-1 to win the Blue Group, claiming 11 of 20 sets.
Also on Friday, Spain swept three matches with Germany. The Spaniards finished 2-1, but their loss came against Russia.
Alex Corretja gave Spain the lead with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Albert Costa had an even easier time with Nicolas Kiefer, 6-2, 6-2. Costa and Corretja then defeated Karsten Braasch and Kohlschreiber, 6-3, 6-2.
On Thursday, Argentina advanced to the finals for the first time since 1989 with a 2-1 victory over France to win the Red Group.
Sweden defeated the United States, 3-0, in Thursday's other tie. The Swedes and Argentines each had 2-1 records in the round robin, but Argentina defeated Sweden on Monday.
