South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 22

J. mil) PALM 8 EACH Sun-Sentinel, Friday, April 9, 1999 Section MICHAEL MAYO Commentary msm im sngnns New-look Augusta tough to master cMasters sis Mai tooimi total of $15 million. But there probably is3 clause that forbids him frojj collecting ROUND 2 On second thought, field has a chance i any money-, including his signiflg bonus, un less he as found uM guilty U.S. District Court in M-ami on charge Jtff laundering; drug money NFL source "As soon as you relax, you drop a shot. It's very, very difficult." Davis Love III, a Georgia native trying to win his first Masters, shot a 3-under-par 69 to grab a three-way share of the lead with Scott McCarron and Brandel Chamblee.

All three beat the rain. A late-afternoon storm delayed the round 95 minutes, and by day's end 12 players were unable to complete their rounds because of darkness. Nick Price, who's at 3 under through 17, is among them. So is David Duval, the hottest player in golf, who endured a wild day but still sits at 1 under through 17 holes despite making three bogeys in a row on the back nine. Those players left on the course will complete their PLEASE SEE 3-WAY TIE 1 0C By RANDALL MELL Staff Writer AUGUSTA, Ga.

Augusta National sported a strange new look Thursday, but the first round of the 63rd Masters delivered a familiar old tale. The club unveiled some of its most radical changes in years this week. There were the four revamped holes, and the longest rough anybody has seen here in ages. But by day's end, the story was Augusta National's brutally quick and contoured greens. The lush, green fairways and azalea-streaked corridor of pines combine with those treacherous greens to make this course golfs beauty and beast.

"There's a lot of mental strain when you play this course," Scotland's Colin Montgomerie said. By CHARLES BRICKER Staff Writer Jimmy Johnson finally got a proven receiver who can take it to the house. Now he has to hope a jury doesn't send his man to the Big House. Speedy Tony Martin, coming off a Pro Bowl season in which he caught 66 passes for 1,181 yards for Super Bowl runner-up Atlanta, signed a conditional contract with the Dolphins on Thursday that will pay him a $3.3 million signing bonus and a $400,000 base salary in the first year of the four-year deal. Martin, one of the big-play receivers in the NFL, would earn $2.3 million in his second year, $4.3 million in his third and $4.7 million in 2002 a 4 P.M., USA Leaders Brandel Chamblee 69 Davis Love III 37-32 69 Scott McCarron 35-34 69 Followers C.

Montgomerie 37-33 70 J. Maria Olazabal 36-34 70 Justin Leonard 36-34 70 Jeff Sluman 37-33 70 Andrew Magee 36-34 70 Lee Janzen 35-35 70 Mark O'Meara 35-35 70 Others Greg Norman 36-35 71 Tiger Woods 38-34 72 Fred Couples 38-36 74 Nick Price is 3-under after 17 holes. Martin for friends, an said. The trial is scheduled to be-gin May 3, but still could be postponed. There are no guar- PLEASE SEE DOLPHINS 11C lorn War ski sr -4 3 A- AUGUSTA, Ga.

Unflappable David Duval looked flapped. Tiger Woods, two days after saying he didn't "make the high numbers like I used to," took an 8. That kind of opening day at The Masters. "A long day," Duval said. An amorphous day, as uneven as an Augusta green, one in which the superstars were eclipsed by a Masters rookie named Brandel Chamblee and sturdy old pros Davis Love III and Nick Price.

Going into this week, it was supposed to be David and Tiger, Tiger and David, with the rest of the field reduced to afterthought. But by nightfall at Augusta National, neither Duval nor Woods was on the leaderboard. And Duval was still on the course. He made his way up the 18th fairway without hitting a shot, just before 8 p.m. There would be no finishing hole on this day, just an incomplete, the kind of hurdle a No.

1 without a major would rather not have. These are the mental challenges that always seem to leap up at majors. For Woods, who shot even 72, a hard-luck triple-bogey. For Duval, who was 1-under through 17, a day of fits and starts. Duval teed off at 1:23 p.m.

He was on the 13th green when play was suspended by lighting at 5:04 p.m. He returned 95 minutes later, without his trademark sunglasses, to play four more holes. He'll come back at 9 a.m. today to play the 18th before going out for Round 2 at 10:27. Some good, some bad "We were out there a long time," Duval said.

"If you want to win this event, you better find a way to deal with it." He went from a frontside 33 and tied for the-lead to bogey-bogey-bogey and off the board." He came back with a birdie at 17 to get back below par, but he wasn't smiling when he found his way back to the clubhouse without a flashlight. This is why golf is the toughest game. Even when you're playing well enough to make it look easy, something comes along to make it harder. Duval has rocketed to No. 1 with 11 wins in his past 34 starts, including four this year.

And after nine holes, it looked like the victory express was rolling on. But this is Augusta, where the only nine that counts is the back on Sunday. Where Woods went on to set a tournament record in 1997 after going out in 40 strokes on Thursday. "A round of golf doesn't involve just nine holes," Duval said. "You're going to run into some bad stuff.

You have to outweigh it with good stuff." Duval's bad stuff came in Amen Corner. He hit over the green at the par-3 12th and bogeyed. He drove into Rae's Creek at 13 and bogeyed, missing a 10-foot par putt after the rain delay. He hit a fat approach at the 14th and bogeyed. A major test "I made a poor decision on one, a bad swing on another," Duval said.

"And on 14, the wind kicked up." Over the course of a major, these things happen. Bouncing back is part of the test. Woods got tested at the par-5 8th, when he pulled his drive into the left trees and had a Tiger of a time trying to get out. His first attempt, wedged between pine cones, caromed off a tree into a bed of azaleas. Unplayable lie.

His second attempt (shot 4) found the fairway, but shot 5 went through the green. A chip and two putts later, the world No. 2 had himself a dreaded snowman. "The blunder was the tee shot," Woods said. "Left is not where you want to be.

I had no choice but to try and play it." Woods recovered by going birdie-birdie-birdie at the holes where Duval would bogey. "I just had to hang in there," Woods said. "I knew I had a lot of holes left, and I knew guys weren't going to go real low. When I made the turn tat 38, I told myself that's two shots better than '97. Before, after a blunder like that I would try to be aggressive, but now I know I have 64 holes to make it up." Duval and Woods have given the rest of golfs most forgotten field hope.

tf- tup-Mr. 'ft 5 1 'it Staff photoTAIMY ALVAREZ, AP file photos; staff photo lllustrationCHRIS BISTLINE As NATO bombs devastate parts of Yugoslavia and Serbs fight with Albanians, the soccer field has become a source of solitude for Fusion midfielder Alen Kozic. Fusion's Kozic grieves over conflict in homeland. INSIDE WEEK OF UNCERTAINTY How the NBA playoff race will play out is anyone's guess. 4C family.

She sits in panic. My dad is angry and has mixed emotions." Recovering from last year's season-ending knee injury seems irrelevant to Kozic now. Kozic has made many trips to the former Eastern Bloc country to visit friends and family. He said instability in the region since 1991, when Croatia and Slovenia separated from Yugoslavia and the Bosnia-Herzegovina conflict began, has kept him from returning. Had Kozic stayed in Yugoslavia, he expects life would have been different.

"Who knows? My life could have gone in any direction," Kozic said. "I could have been in the front line in Kosovo. It's good that I live here, but at the same time I feel guilty, I feel I've PLEASE StE KOZIC 14C The soccer field has been Kozic's refuge. It gives him solitude from the conflict. "When I step on the field, it's not on my mind.

I try my best to stay professional," Kozic said. "The moment I step off the field, it hits me hard." Kozic, 22, moved to the United States at age 6 when his father, Refik, signed with the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American Soccer League. His father and mother, Svetlana, still live in Tampa. Kozic calls his parents each night, keeping close tabs on the situation in Yugoslavia. "It frightens me every time I call my mom," Kozic said.

"My grandparents could get killed. It's hard on my grandmother. She hasn't slept for days. The air sirens are so loud it's hard to sleep. The tough part is hoping that every day a bomb doesn't go off.

"My mom is concerned for her side of the By DAVE BROUSSEAU Staff Writer With bombs falling on the Yugoslavian capital of Belgrade, Fusion midfielder Alen Kozic fights a tug-of -war of emotions. Kozic disapproves of the Serbs' ethnic cleansing of Albanians but also opposes NATO's involvement. He fears for the well-being of his grandparents and friends who live there. It tugs at his heart, deepens his concern each time he sees or hears of the horror spreading through his native land. "It's hard for me to believe what's going on," Kozic said.

"I watch the news on television and see the NATO side. Then I see the Yugoslavian view on the Internet, I'm not sure what to believe," For more Information VI SOURCE LINE! For scores, make a call BrowardMiami Dad 954-323-5463, Palm Baach County 561-496-5463 and enter a category 3060..