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By SCOTT PURKS, Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 30, 2001
Rain halts PGA event; some in field may bolt
The final tuneup for the Masters was delayed at least a day when the first round of the BellSouth Classic at Duluth, Ga., was postponed Thursday because of rain. Play was halted after only 48 minutes at the TPC at Sugarloaf, so PGA officials decided to cancel the round.
The forecast called for more rain today, with a chance of additional showers Sunday. That raised the possibility that some golfers who are playing in the Masters at Augusta National next week might withdraw rather than endure an agonizing weekend of waiting out the weather.
MORE GOLF: Two-time Masters winner Bernhard Langer was voted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, the first player elected on the Hall's international ballot since 1997. The German-born Langer, 43, was named on 66.2 percent of ballots returned by an international panel of golfers, media members and officials of the sport. He is the 85th member of the Hall, which is part of the World Golf Village in St. Augustine. Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo are the only other players to gain entry through the international ballot.
AUTO RACING: Matt Kenseth took the pole for the NASCAR Busch Jani-King 300 at Fort Worth, with 28 drivers breaking the Texas Motor Speedway qualifying record of 184.451 mph set last year. Kenseth qualified at 189.880. Jeff Green will start on the front row Saturday in a Ford alongside Kenseth. Green (189.009) was the only non-Chevrolet driver in the top nine. Busch points leader Kevin Harvick qualified seventh. Shawna Robinson, preparing for her Winston Cup debut, will start 18th in the first of three Busch races she will run in the No. 99 Chevrolet.
HORSES: Two-time Olympic medalist Leslie Burr-Howard and Irish-bred Cloverleaf won the $30,000 Winter Equestrian Festival World Cup qualifying competition at the Tampa Fairgrounds, clearing all eight barriers in 38.07 seconds. That gave the Westport, Conn., rider, 44, the seventh and final spot on the roster of riders from the USA East League that will represent the United States next month in the World Cup final in Sweden.
TAE KWON DO: More than 5,000 athletes, ages 6-17, from all 50 states will compete in the United States Junior Olympic Championships July 4-7 at the Tampa Convention Center. The winners of the 14-17, black-belt age divisions will represent the United States Junior national team in 2001 international competitions.
COLLEGES: Miami senior Guy Emry posted a two-day total of 7,008 points to finish third in the decathlon at the 58th Florida Relays in Gainesville. Mike Nolan of the Windsor Legion Track Club won with 7,767 points; Wake Forest's J.T. Kuretich was second with 7,062. ... The Miami women's tennis team crushed Auburn 6-1 to improve to 13-5 overall.
BASKETBALL: Eddy Curry had 28 points and Florida signee David Lee had 21 as the West rallied from a 15-point deficit to beat the East 131-125 in the McDonald's All-America high school game in Durham, N.C. Future Florida teammates Lee, James White and Kwame Brown combined for 57 points. White had 19 and Brown 17 for the East. Lee was 9-for-13 and had 13 rebounds. FSU signee Anthony Richardson scored 10 points for the East.
SWIMMING: Klete Keller of Southern California won the 200-meter freestyle in the national championships at Austin, Texas, finishing in 1 minute, 48.89 seconds. Erik Vendt of Southern California upset Tom Wilkens of Santa Clara in the 400 individual medley. Vendt won in 4:14.19, beating Wilkens by 0.33 seconds. The top two finishers in each event qualify for the World Championships this summer in Japan. Ian Thorpe won the Australian 100-meter freestyle title to complete a rare sweep of the 100, 200, 400 and 800 events at the national championships. Thorpe, a triple Olympic gold medalist, was timed in 49.05 seconds.
CYCLING: Dutchman Michael Boogerd took the overall lead and Italian Danilo Di Luca won the next-to-last leg of the five-stage Tour of Catalonia. Texan Lance Armstrong, training for his bid to win the Tour de France for the third straight time, finished eighth in the 97-mile ride to Castellar del Riu, Spain, and was eighth overall.
BOXING: James Toney won the IBA super-cruiserweight title, stopping Saul Montana in the second round in Detroit.