Arizona Daily Star from Tucson, Arizona • Page 5

FIRST EDITION CKTAVaLAClECCPY Qht Arizona Hathi Siar k3 i Tucson, Monday, February 23, 1998 For scores, call 573-4330 Oil Gift Cats put serious faces on Loses his 7 -shot edge, rallies for Classic finish 1 TOP FINISHERS David Duval 66-62-68-73-269 Justin Leonard 65-70-68-70-273 David Toms 70-67-68-68-273 Tim Herron 69-70-67-69-275 Steve Lowery 68-70-68-69-275 Bob Tway 70-68-71-67-276 Andrew Magee 69-68-72-67-276 Tom Lehman 66-71-69-70-276 Steve Pate 70-66-72-69-277 Jim Furyk 69-70-68-70-277 Tommy Tolles 69-70-68-70-277 Joey Sindelar 72-70-66-69-277 Scott Hoch 69-66-71-71-277 i vs By Bruce Pascoe The Arizona Daily Star EUGENE, Ore. If Arizona runs the Pac-10 table with the kind of business-like demeanor it displayed over the weekend there could be a price tag volved. Jason Terry and a few other Wildcats may have to resign from their joke-meister duties. The easygoing junior guard was already fully soaked up in serious Arizona locker room mode Saturday, after the Wild--cats tore apart Oregon's offense for the second time this season in an 81-66 win. Terry was so far gone, in fact, that he apparently forgot that the.

Wildcats actually won an 83-82 game at ASU on Feb. 14 and a 71-70 contest on it Feb. 19 at Oregon State. By Mark Stewart The Arizona Daily Star David Duval seemingly had a stranglehold on the Tucson Chrysler Classic following the 62 he shot Friday. But he nearly saw it slip away on an uncharacteristically errant tee shot on the 13th hole yesterday before he righted himself with a 3-3-3 finish and a four-shot victory at the Omni Tucson National Golf Resort.

"Being so far ahead was a position I was unfamiliar with," said the 26-year-old Duval, winner of four of the past eight events he's- completed. He's even-par in a ninth, the Pebble Beach, the conclusion of which has been postponed until August. During that nine-tournament stretch, he stands 102 under par. With his $360,000 payday yesterday, his season earnings are $533,663, No. 1 on the PGA Tour this year.

Duval, who finished at 19-uh-der-par 269, held a seven-shot lead over British Open champion Justin Leonard heading into the final round. After 14 holes, they were tied, due in large part to a hooked tee shot by Duval at 13 that wound up inches out of bounds and led to a triple-bogey 7. Leonard bird-ied the hole, resulting in a four-shot swing and putting him within one shot of Duval. At 13, Duval hit what he called "probably my only hook of the year. It was not a duck hook, but it was sweeping left pretty good." Leonard said the ball wound up 3 inches out of bounds.

The two were tied at 17 under par after 14 holes, when Duval bogeyed and Leonard parred. "Suddenly I went from being in unfamiliar territory to very familiar territory with four holes to go," Duval said. But Leonard bogeyed two of the final three holes and wound up tied for second with David Toms at 273. Tim Herron and Steve Lowery tied for fourth at 275, and 1994 Tucson champion Andrew Magee, Bob Tway and Tom Lehman tied for sixth at 276. Former University of Arizona star Jim Furyk, Steve Pate, Tommy Tolles, Joey Sindelar and Scott Hoch shared ninth place.

Although losing the huge lead stunned him, "It kept my spirits up that I never fell Duval said. "Any nerves I had up to then (being tied), were gone. I had nothing left to protect. You just have to hang tough and do the best you can." Duval and Leonard both parred the 663-yard par-five 15th, setting the stage for a tremendous Duval rally. At the par-4 16th, both missed the green.

Leonard caught his chip thin and bogeyed the hole, while Duval, 18 feet from the hole, chipped in with his 8-iron for a birdie. Both parred the par-3 17th, giving Duval a two-shot lead on the tee of the fearsome 18th, a 465-yard par 4, flanked by water on both sides, which is perennially voted one of the PGA Tour's toughest holes. Leonard hit a solid tee shot, but was left with a second shot of more than 200 yards, uphill, to a pin placement on the narrowest part of the huge green. Duval gave no thought to hitting a 3-wood or long iron off the tee and playing it safe. He" See CLASSIC, Page 9C "Those two losses that hit us really made us re-focus, Terry said.

"We knew we had to settle down, just play great half-court defense." The Wildcats are actually on a 17-game winning streak, albeit with a couple of gifts along the way, but Terry's altered memory was somewhat understandable. Everywhere he and his teammates went after escaping OSU's Gill Coliseum on Miles Simon's buzzer-beater last Thursday, it was all business. Simon called a players-only meeting. The Wildcats took a quiet half-mile walk along the Willamette River. They behaved seriously before and? after Saturday's game.

jq Even after their 15-gpint victory against a hot Oregon team at a sold-out, rtoisy McArthur Court, there was no joking, not even much smiling. "I said after the gamethat we were gonna be bettef on Saturday," Simon said sternly, "and we were." Meanwhile, the Wildcats' ever-business-like coach, Lute Olson, played his part, too. He was busy fretting abouK winning the Pac-10 despite See CATS, Pge 3C Photo by Jeffry Scott, The Arizona Daily Star David Duval watches intently as his birdie putt on the final hole goes in from 40 feet Perez ready for his new role i as Colorado's starting shortstop Rodeo crowd gets a show from Hedeman By Tom Foust The Arizona Daily Star Tuff Hedeman, easily one of the most lar athletes in professional rodeo history, thrilled the crowd with a 90-point championship bull ride to conclude the 73rd La Fiesta de los Vaqueros yesterday at the Tucson Rodeo Grounds. And Ty Murray, the 28-year-old rodeo legend, didn't disappoint his multitude of fans although he didn't win any of his three events. Coming off injuries that have kept him out of Tucson since 1995, he rode all of his broncs and bulls this week.

He finished high enough in bareback and bull riding to pocket a total of $3,979, which earned him the coveted Lynn Beutler Award, a fancy belt buckle worth about $1,000. The award is named for Hall of Fame stock contractor Lynn Beutler. It goes to the cowboy who earns the most money in more than one event. Murray also won it in 1995. Several hundred of the near sellout crowd of See RODEO, Page 10C By Kevin Clerici The Arizona Daily Star Via satellite, Rockies manager Don Baylor watched his energetic shortstop Neifi Perez storm through the Caribbean World Series.

Perez, raised in Villa Mella of the Dominican Republic, had joined his homeland's national team after playing for Escogido during the regular season, and was ripping it up in the four-team playoffs against champion teams from Puerto Rico, Mexico and Venezuela. He hit .478 with a home run, five RBIs and a Caribbean Series-record six doubles on his way to garnering the Series' most valuable player award. "I told him I watched him in the Caribbean Series," Baylor said. "He asked me if I saw the home run. Not if I had seen the series-record six doubles, but the home run.

Young players, they are always looking for the home run." Perez, who turned 23 Feb. 2, Is c. CI IV' Si i James S. Wood, The Arizona Daily Stau Neifi Perez hit 10 triples last year in 83 games for the Rockies i "I know that I am not a home- run hitter," said Perez, who ad-, mits his swing is smoother than his English. "They tease me that will start opening day for the Rockies, replacing long-time regular Walt Weiss.

He signed with Atlanta when he wouldn't agree to move to second base this Chris Richards, The Arizona Daily Star Canadian Rod Hay won a roughstock championship in saddle bronc riding. See PEREZ, Page6C Sayonara! Nagano closes out memory-filled Winter Olympics Former A coach Warren Woodson dies of cancer Warren Woodson, Arizona's head football coach from 1952-56, died of cancer yester- day in Fort Worth, Texas. He was 94. Woodson's five seasons at Arizona corre-, ponded with the record-setting performance of tailback Art Luppino, the NCAA leader in-; rushing in 1954 and 1955. The Wildcats' were 26-22-2 under Woodson, whose best record at the UA was 7-3 in 1954.

i WA By Ted Anthony The Associated Press NAGANO, Japan The Olympic flame went dark yesterday on a Winter Games that brought the world to a Japanese mountain town's doorstep, gave it two weeks' worth of unforgettable images and moved on with a burst of NAGANO 19 9 8 Q3P For Nagano, the 1998 Winter Olympics best organization in the history of the Olympic Games," according to International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch wound up with a pocketful of experiences and an important verdict: Perhaps they weren't the most exciting games ever, but they came out much more than OK. "I'm so sad to see them end," said Tama-yo Kimura, an office worker. "The games were a big success, I think." Bookending the opening ceremony's sumo-wrestler extravaganza with an intense, dazzling show of light and music, Nagano's Olympic organizers offered up a slickly packaged closing that began with solemnity and tradition but quickly unfolded into a carnival of exuberant goodbyes. The most visual moment: Thousands of Japanese swaying hand-held flashlight-lanterns in the mountain night, showing their affections for their hometown and for traditions they spent more than a millennium See CLOSING, Page IX unrestrained exuberance. The hearty thank-you message: "Arigato Naga- Woodson ranks No.

13 in career victories in Division I football with a 203-95-14 re-'; cord in 3 1 seasons. The Baylor alumnus was the head coach at Arizona's Border Confer-; ence rival Hardin-Simmons when he waS -1 hired by UA in 1952. He later coached New Mexico State. Woodson's Arizona teams featured three' Wildcats who made the UA Sports Hall of Fame: Luppino, center Paul Hatcher and' linebacker Ed Brown. no! But lights shone on: the relentless fireworks that illuminated the night sky and the Japanese Alps beyond, the hand-held lanterns of 50,000 spectators at the closing ceremony, the flickering stadium video that recounted the most memorable moments of men, women and nations.

The Associated Press Fans wave hand-held lanterns during the XVIII Winter closing ceremony at Minami Nagano Sports Park..