The 37-year-old Argentine seemingly gave away his chance by missing a 3-foot par putt on the first hole Monday. Earlier, Mayfair left a 30-foot putt short, pushed the next putt past the hole and took bogey.

Some Argentines were bothered that Coceres passed up his country's Open last month to chase his dreams of the PGA Tour. Now he has $630,000 and the chance for a two-year exemption if he joins the tour within 60 days.

"Three weeks ago I came from Argentina, they told me I was a European tour player." Coceres said. "Some people have criticized me for coming to play over here. I think that now they may not criticize me any more."

AWARDS: Rulon Gardner, whose victory in Greco-Roman wrestling was a highlight of the Sydney Games, won the Sullivan Award in Orlando. The AAU presents the award to the nation's top amateur athlete. Gardner won the Olympic gold medal at 286 pounds by beating Aleksandr Karelin, the Russian's first loss in 13 years. ... NBC's taped coverage of the Olympics earned 10 Sports Emmys, more than any other network. The honors included outstanding live event turnaround. Bob Costas was selected outstanding studio host, and Jimmy Roberts won for outstanding writing. Fox was next with six awards, including its World Series coverage for live sports special, and ESPN won five, including its NFL Sunday night football for live sports series.

SOCCER: Mutiny midfielder Steve Ralston was one of 29 players invited to train with the U.S. national team in St. Louis for a World Cup qualifier April 25 at Kansas City, Mo., against Costa Rica. Ralston, 26, is Major League Soccer's leading scorer with two goals and an assist. He has seven U.S. appearances but none in a qualifier. Goalkeeper Brad Friedel and forwards Brian McBride and Joe-Max Moore will miss the Costa Rica game. Friedel started the first two games in the final qualification round but will stay with his English club, Blackburn, which is trying to gain promotion to the Premier League. McBride (sprained right knee) and Moore (injured calf) also missed the March 28 win at Honduras. ... Australia finished the first phase of qualifying with another rout, 11-0 over Samoa. The Australians had set world scoring records in two of its three previous games, beating Tonga 22-0 and American Samoa 31-0. ... Kansas City midfielder Chris Klein was named MLS player of the week.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Paul Westphal, fired as SuperSonics coach this season, was hired to coach Pepperdine, where his son, Mike, is a walk-on. Westphal replaces Jan van Breda Kolff, who left for St. Bonaventure. ... Saint Louis named ex-Wisconsin coach Brad Soderberg as an assistant. ... Anthony Grundy, North Carolina State's leading scorer last season, was acquitted on a charge of assaulting a female acquaintance. ... Alabama assistant Johnny Jones was named coach at North Texas. He replaces Vic Trilli, fired last month after 20 wins in four seasons. ... Guard Jon Crispin will transfer from Penn State, where the two-year starter and his brother, Joe, reached the Sweet 16 last season. ... Dave Odom, hired last week at South Carolina, will bring assistants Frank Haith and Barry Sanderson with him from his old school, Wake Forest. ... The Florida women's team signed Miami-Dade Community College forward Trisha Patterson.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Florida State officials received the final autopsy report on Devaughn Darling, who died after a February workout. The university does not have to release autopsy results when it remains part of an investigation. The Leon County Medical Examiner's office failed to release the report despite numerous public records requests, a possible violation of the state's open records laws, said Barbara Petersen, executive director of the First Amendment Foundation. ... Mississippi State cornerback Fred Smoot was arrested in March for marijuana possession but the charges were dropped last week, court officials said. ... Former Ohio State coach John Cooper paid back $2,000 to the university and apologized for expense report discrepancies he called "record-keeping errors."

TENNIS: Iva Majoli beat No. 13 seed Jelena Dokic 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 and No. 10 Amy Frazier beat Jill Craybas 6-4, 6-1, in the Family Circle Cup at Charleston, S.C. ... No. 5 seed Alex Corretja, No. 6 Arnaud Clement, No. 10 Dominik Hrbaty and unseeded Michael Chang lost at the Masters Series Monte Carlo, the season's first big clay-court tournament. ... No. 2 seed Anne Kremer beat Katalin Aracama Marosi 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the Budapest Grand Prix.

BOXING: Chana Porpaoin won the WBA's 105-pound title in a split decision over Keitaro Hoshino at Yokohama, Japan.

COLLEGES: Jacksonville (Ala.) State trustees voted to accept an invitation to join the Ohio Valley Conference in all sports. ... In golf, Steve Sokol shot 7-under 65 to help lead Florida Southern (285 team total) to a six-stroke lead after one round of the Sunshine State Conference tournament at Lake Jovita Country Club in Saint Leo. Eckerd (310) was fifth, Tampa (316) sixth and Saint Leo (362) last. In the women's tournament, Rollins led Lynn by nine and Lisa Ball of Florida Southern (71) was the individual leader.

EQUESTRIAN: Candice King of Ballew, N.C., was the top American in World Cup finals at Goteborg, Sweden, finishing fifth aboard John Em. Switzerland's Markus Fuchs won and Brazilian Rodrigo Pessoa was second. Leslie Howard of Westport., Conn., and Peter Wylde of Dover Plains, N.Y., tied for sixth. Molly Ashe of Wellington was eighth on Kroon Gravin. Last month, Kroon Gravin became the first mare to win the 29-year-old American Invitational in Tampa.

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