Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 25

PRU AM GAMES I BASKETBALL Brazil celebrates its basketball gold medal after handing the U.S. its worst loss, 95-78. pace 4d. MONDAY August 9, 1999 WNBA Tigers trip Orioles in Uth, 5-2 Kapler keeps them in it with key defensive plays NFL 4 Baseball 6-7 Scoreboard 8 ON THE WEB www.freep.com ft A By JOHN LOWE FREE fRESS SPORTS WRITER phone 313-222-6660 Section BUICK OPEN TOP FINISHERS i. Tom Pernice, 18-under 2.

Tom Lehman, -ly 2. Ted Tryba, -17 2. Bob Tway, -17 Pernice finally in first gear -v. BALTIMORE Gabe Kapler's defense might have earned him a chance to revive his offense. Kapler made a sensational throw Sunday that probably saved the Tigers.

From deep rightfield, he nailed Baltimore's Albert Belle as he tried to take third with one out in the eighth inning of a tie game. "The big play," Tigers manager Larry Parrish said. A few innings later after Doug Brocail thought he had given up homers to center in the eighth, ninth and 10th the Tigers scored three times in the 11th for a 5-2 victory. Kapler entered Sunday's game as a defensive replacement in the seventh, when he made an excellent running catch on Mike Bordick's foul, helping stop Baltimore's bid for the tie-breaking run. Parrish knows that Kapler's good feeling from his Sunday defensive play might lift him to an offensive breakout.

So the manager is thinking of returning Kapler to the lineup for the Tigers' next game, Tuesday night against Texas right-hander Esteban Loaiza. "That would be fabulous," Kapler 4 Buick his first PGA win; Lehman 's wheels come off By JACK SAYLOR FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER "I never dreamed I would have a chance to win," said first-time winner Tom Pernice Jr. "I was just trying to have a nice day, then I got on that hot streak on the back and somehow it was enough." day, then I got on that hot streak on the back and somehow it was enough," added Pernice, who trailed by four at the turn. His 72-hole total of 270 was 18 under par. His one-stroke victory over Lehman, Bob Tway and birdie bomber Ted Tryba earned him $432,000, more than his first 10 years on tour combined.

"When the good Lord wants it to be your time, it's your time," said Pernice, who made an eagle Country Club became a wild sprint of challengers speeding home on the back nine. And Tom Pernice a career straggler, had it in overdrive. The 39-year-old native of Missouri shot seven-under 65, including a back-nine 31, to capture his first PGA Tour victory. "I never dreamed I would have a chance to win," said Pernice, the 11th first-time winner in Buick Open history and the seventh on the PGA Tour this year. "I was just trying to have a nice i.

GRAND BLANC Tom Lehman ran his Buick right off the road and into a pond Sunday and lost the race. When Lehman, who took a four-stroke lead into the final round, began to falter, the birdie haven at Warwick Hills Golf and J. Please see BUICK, Page 2D Please see TIGERS, Page 7D JULIAN H. GONZALEZDetroit Free Press DETROIT GRAND PRIX TOP FINISHERS 1. Dario Franchitti, Honda 2.

Paul Tracy, Honda 3. Greg Moore, Mercedes THT (Qisiy Dario Franchitti exchanges high fives with his crew in the pits Sunday after winning by .135 second on Belle Isle. vm 1 SON SHINES ON BARRY Who says Barry Sanders Is avoiding the media? It just depends on the subject. He's more than glad to chat with the press about his son. (Must run in the family.) When reporter Melissa Nelson of the Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City was working on a back-to-school story about kindergarten-bound computer whizzes last week, the director of a preschool said she had the perfect 5-year-old for a story but needed an OK from his famous parents.

So Barry James Sanders' mother, Aletha House, called Nelson on Thursday and put the elder Barry on the line from Europe. The three chatted about the child's computer expertise he's dabbled in computers since he was 3, knows how to e-mail his grandparents, and can look up pictures of his dad on the Internet. te's just always been fascinated by computers," Sanders said. And that was it. The subject of football never came up.

Nelson feaid she had some idea of who ganders was and that he had re- $red recently, but didn't realize -y hat a potential scoop she i "I've learned a lot about Barry Sanders this week," Nelson wrote Saturday. "I've even become a fan. But It wasn't his football rec- ords that impressed me, it was the fact that this intensely private man was willing to call a newspaper reporter and talk about his son's education. "His pride in his son was obvious from the tone of his voice every time Barry James was mentioned." 51 JA 0 -ft' Lions hope for best, ready fortheworst Injured rookie Gibson due for word on surgery today By CURT SYLVESTER FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER GABRIEL B. TAITDetrolt Free Press; ERIC SEALSDetrort Free Press (below); CARLOS OSORIOAssoctated Press (top) Under a yellow flag, Dario Franchitti of Scotland, followed by Team Kool Green teammate Paul Tracy, cruises down the back straight en route to victory Sunday.

Franchitti maintains pace as Montoya, others falter DREW SHARP CART goes extra mile for diversity Los Angeles native David Francis who competed in the Barber Dodge Pro Series race Sunday on Belle Isle, was chosen for CART's driver development program. By STEVE CROWE FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER SAGINAW One way or the other, good news or bad, coach Bobby Ross is hoping to get a definitive answer today on the availability of rookie tackle Aaron Gibson this season. Ross is hoping for the best, obviously. Hoping1 the 380-pound first-round draft pick from Wisconsin will be able to put a harness on his injured left shoulder and play the full season. But he's also braced for the worst.

Just in case Dr. James Andrews decides Gibson's shoulder needs immediate attention and he proceeds immediately with the surgery that would end Gibson's season. "I'm guess I'm real cautious, very cautious," Ross said Sunday. "I'm really interested in what Dr. Andrews says.

Not pessimistic, not optimistic, just cautious." The news on Gibson's shoulder already has been troubling to Ross, who felt he had solved the Lions' offensive line problems in the off-season. He and line coach Jack Henry had made changes on the blocking schemes, moving Mike Compton from left guard to center, drafting Gibson to take over the right tackle position, and moving incumbent tackle Tony THE hardscrab-ble streets of south central Los Angeles are as unforgiving to those raised there as the when you're leading and that yellow comes out. At the same time, I don't like crossing the finish line at 20 miles an hour." The finish was finalized with another strange scene also under caution after a new pace car took the track. On lap 69, Helio Castro-Neves struck Juan Montoya from behind while warming their cars' tires for a possible restart. Instead, the caution flag stayed out as ABC-TV's two-hour time limit arrived about three minutes later.

The 71 laps were four fewer than planned. Franchitti, who entered trailing CART FedEx leader Montoya by 13 points (129-116), leaves as the new leader by five (136- Ugly? Even the winner of Sunday's Detroit Grand Prix conceded it was an eyesore. But what it lacked in actual racing, the Belle Isle battle more than made up for in debris and bizarre. Such as a restart being delayed with just a few laps left because of a serious fuel leak from the pace car. That pretty much determined that Team Kool Green mates Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy as at Toronto last month, in the same order would finish 1-2.

"I don't think it was particularly the prettiest thing to watch," said Franchitti, 26, of Scotland. "It's a nice feeling dia center. He hopes to one day participate in this race, but you can't help but wonder if this event has outlived its usefulness when you consider the headaches and hassles. On the whole, this wasn't a day deserving of accolades. An elite level of open-wheeled road racing was reduced to a rush-hour commute on the Ford Freeway tires slipping, fenders local race organizers.

CART introduced the 26-year-old Francis on Sunday as the first driver selected for a comprehensive test session in the racing organization's new African-American driver-development program. As Grand Prix winner Dario Franchitti accepted the championship trophy and the obligatory champagne shower on the victory podium, Francis took in the scene from overhead in the me- tightly contoured roads of Belle Isle are for the cars that race here. David Francis Jr. understands the parallels, acknowledges the obstacles, and gets completely revved up by the challenge of proving wrong those who dare suggest that he doesn't belong. He has much in common with Please see SHARP, Page 5D Please see LIONS, Page 4D Please see PRIX, Page 5D.