The Kokomo Tribune from Kokomo, Indiana • Page 9

KOKOMO TRIBUNE INSIDE TODAY No boos for Colts' Bennett U.S. Open B2 B3 I Prep football statistics Kokonio. Ind, B4 BOXING Another Ali ready to step in the ring VERONA, N.Y. (AP) Muhammad All's youngest daughter, who earlier this year told her famous father that she wanted to follow in his footsteps, is finally ready to step into the ring. Laila Ali will make her professional debut OcL 8 at Turning Stone Casino on a card featuring Donovan "Razor" Ruddock.

The opponent in the four-round bout for the Laila Ali has not been announced. Laila Ali, 21, who operates a nail salon and also models, has the best of instructors. Norma Lynn Cutler, Laila's publicist, said Laila has been getting tips from her father. "She won't tell anyone, including me, what they are," Cutler said. "She says, 'When I have the greatest boxer of all time as my mentor, why would I want to share the secrets, he's given YMCA looking for flag footballers Registration is underway at the YMCA for the youth flag football league.

Any boy or girl between the ages of 6-14 may participate. The league will start Sept 25 and run five consecutive Saturdays. For more information, please 'call Lisa Gauger at the at 457-4447. SOCCER YMCA soccer signups underway The YMCA is currently taking registration for its adult outdoor ague Any will-start later this mont For more information, please call the at 457-4447. Soccer change made at Eastern GREENTOWN, Ind.

Eastern High School has made a late change on a scheduled girls soccer match to be played today. West Lafayette was to play Eastern in a varsity match, but due to the death of a West Lafayette student, that match has been canceled. In its place, Eastern will play a junior-varsity game between the Comets and Kokomo's Wildkats. It will be played at Darrough Chapel Park and begin at 5 p.m. BASEBALL Miller Park won't be ready MILWAUKEE (AP) Nearly two months after a crane collapsed onto a wall and killed three workers at Miller Park, the Milwaukee Brewers finally have officially said their new stadium's scheduled April 2000 opening will be delayed, The backhanded acknowledgment came in a press release describing alterations in the team's plans for the 1999 season's final game on Oct 3, "originally targeted to be the final game at County Stadium before the July 14 construction accident caused a delay for Miller Park's opening." SPORTS Thursday Freshmen Ashley Hays, left-right, Kylene Pulley, Kelly Maden and Lynnsey Showers have helped Western High School's girls golf team achieve unprecedented success this season.

(KT photo by Michael Mickey) comes together to lift Panthers to new heights Nor 13 A features a lineup of four )r! freshmen and a junior. By BRYAN GASKINS Tribune sportswriter Western High School girls golf coach Steve Hoppes knew his team would be improved this season, and he thought it possibly had the potential to challenge for county and conference bragging rights. But, never did he imagine a season like the one his Panthers are enjoying. Western owns an outstanding 16-2 record and is ranked No. 13 in this week's state poll.

The Panthers, without question, reign as the county's premier program and figure to enter this weekend's Mid-Indiana Conference Tournament as the favorite. "I expected us to be a competitive team. I didn't expect us to be this good," Hoppes said. Western's dramatic rise to county supremacy is made all the more impressive when one considers Hoppes' recipe for success a lineup and one vjunioftr? OF! SP Hf "The freshmen have helped us tremendously," Hoppes said. "They played a lot of golf this summer, and that really helped them improve their games.

And when the high school season rolled around, they were ready to go." Indeed, the fabulous freshman group of Kylene Pulley, Lynnsey Showers, Kelly Maden and Ashley Hays' quickly made an impact. Showers fired a one-over- par 77 in the Panthers' season-opening match and she followed that with a nine-round score of 38 in the team's second match. She's been a consistent, steady player throughout the season, Pulley also served notice in the season's first week when she shot 83 to lead the Panthers to a surprising victory at the 20-team Twin Lakes Invitational. Since then, she's staked a claim to the title of Howard County's best prep player. "I put Kylene, Lynnsey and Kelly in our top three spots at the start of the playing JV but she moved herself up to the No.

5 spot and she's doing a solid job for us, too." Pulley is the team's No. 1 player and she flashes an impressive 40.5 average. Showers is the team's No. 2 player; she owns a 41.4 average. Hoppes knows he has a 1-2.

combo that few teams in this area can match, and he says both players have strong albeit different games. "Kylene hits the ball as long as any girl I've seen play," he said. "She strikes the ball extremely well and her length really helps her on the par fives. "Lynnsey doesn't hit the ball quite as far but she plays a very smart game," he added. "She possesses excellent course management skills." Maden, who like Pulley.and Showers wa's a regular on the state's summer junior tour, has solidified her hold on the team's No.

3 lineup spot with a steady season. She carries a 45.8 average and, according to her coach, potential to improve as she continues to learn the game. Turn to Irish DBs brace for Brees' onslaught Purdue QB figures to fill the air on Saturday. By JR ROSS Associated Press Writer SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) Clifford Jefferson knows Drew Brees will pick on Notre Dame's secondary.

He says bring it on. "We're going to have to step up our game to show the whole NCAA that we're a high-caliber team," the corner- back said as the 16th-ranked Irish prepare for No. 20 Purdue. "Some teams they don't respect our secondary." And for good reason, Irish defensive backs have been shaky at times, not a good sign with pass-happy Purdue waiting in West Lafayette on Saturday. Don't expect Jefferson or any of his fellow defensive backs to be intimidated, however.

They know they can't afford to with Brees likely to put up 50-60 passes. 'This is a secondary's dream," said Jefferson, the least experienced starter among Irish DBs. Brees still hasn't forgotten the two interceptions he threw last year to hand Notre Dame a 31-30 lastminute victory, The more damaging came on third-and-long from deep in Purdue urr to IRISH B2 Notre Dame vs. Purdue 2:30 p.m., Saturday Ross-Ade Stadium Capacity: 67,332 (sellout) TV: ABC (Ch. 6) Series record: Notre Dame leads 46-22-2 Series record in West Lafayette: Notre Dame leads 20-12-2 First meeting: Nov.

14,1896 (Purdue won 28-22 in South Bend) Last meeting: Sept. 26,1998 (Notre Dame won 31-30 in South Bend) $75,000 has been contributed to the Eastern arts society. B5 9,1999 Watson 3repares br life after 50 Five-time champ of British Open ready for Senior Tour. I NDIANAPOLIS Tom Watson turned 50 last Wednesday and I turned 34, but with Watson's ascent to the PGA Senior Tour, home of wandering ageless wonders, haven't we all gotten a little bit older? "Sixteen years," said someone from the back row of Watson's inaugural press conference as a member of the Senior Tour Wednesday at the Comfort Brickyard Classic. "Hard to believe it's been 16 years." Sixteen years since Watson last won a major.

Seventeen since he thrilled Us with a 71st-hole pitch-in birdie to beat Jack Nicklaus at Pebble Beach. Back then, there was Nicklaus, the Golden Bear at full roar, and Watson, JOHN CLAYTON TRIBUNE COLUMNIST )F Huck Finn with a short game. It was when Watson, staging along with Nicklaus, some of the classic moments in golf history, won all eight of his major titles between 1977-1983. It was the chip-in at Pebble Beach. The playoff at Carnoustie.

It was ugly plaid pants, beautiful golf and no ques- tions asked. But now, oh yes, there are questions. The putter? The new marriage? The still' fresh wound of divorce? The com- rriitjment? The direction of a new life at" '50, which has brought'Watson a new wife and a new tour to play on in the last 10 days? "I've got to prove that I can win again and that I can still do some of the things I used to be able to do," Watson said. Things such as dominating the game like he once did. Watson's answer to such questions used to be to pound range balls into the night To stare unblinking into the hazards, at the Bear.

But this is a different Watson. A kinder, gentler version, perhaps. He will play two Senior Tour events before going on hiatus for the rest of 1999 to work on his mulligan at marriage instead of golf. His new wife, Hilary, the'former wife of South African PGA pro Denis Watson, will be his focus. The game will wait Then, he says, he will gear up for a full Senior Tour season in 2000.

Watson won The Colonjal in 1998, but has rarely been a factor since then. His best finish this season on the PGA Tour was a tie for 16th in Hawaii at the Sony Open. He has missed the cut in five of his last seven tournaments, including the British Open, which he won five times and once at Carnoustie. "I am ready to pass Watson said. "But I feel like I want to hold on to it a little bit longer, but I know I am going to have to pass it." So he has with the caveat that he will continue to play The Masters and the British Open.

He says he can still compete. For 72 holes, perhaps he can find some of that old magic. "I am going to miss competing against the best because I feel when I am on my game, I can still compete," he said. "But the truth of the matter is that some of the shots that I used to be able to hit, to be able to compete, I' can't hit as well." Those shots don't fly as high or as long as they used to. They don't land as softly as they did during those 34- PGA Tour victories.

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