The Herald-Sun du lieu suivant : Durham, North Carolina • 26

i PAGEB8 HOCKEY THE HERALD-SUN DURHAM NORTH CAROLINA GOLF FRIDAY MARCH 212003 Weekes Strong start for Sorenstam puts off surgery Asiociitad Prw report RALEIGH Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Kevin Weekes will postpone hand surgery until after the season the team announced Thursday Weekes originally ROUNDUP wa? 8cheduled to ww wr undergo the sea son-ending surgery today but decided to wait after discussions with team doctors said Jim Rutherford team president and general manager The Hurricanes recalled Arturs Irbe ASSOCIATED MO Ernie Els tees off at the 16th hole during the first round of the Bay Hill Invitational on Thursday Els who shot a 2-over-par 74 was one of many players who struggled on Wednesday to replace Weekes in the lineup but Irbe will remain with Carolina because of an injury to backup Patrick DesRochers DesRochers fractured his right elbow during practice Tuesday and is expected to miss the rest of the season A major challenge Bay Hill gives players all they can handle BY DOUG FERGUSON tomorrow" Palmer said sipping a tall can of Associated ftess ORLANDO Fla The scores at the beer as he relaxed in a golf cart miserable out Around the league BLACKHAWKS: Goaltender Jocelyn Thlbault will be held out of the lineup for a week due to post-concussion syndrome Thlbault sustained a concussion In a game against Boston on March 9 but was cleared to return to action Blackhawks spokesman Tony Ommen said He played four games but began showing symptoms with post-con-cusslon and will be held out of games until he is re-evaluated in a week Ommen said The Blackhawks recalled goaltender Craig Andersson from Norfolk of the AHL CAPITALS: Goaltender Sebastien Charpentler signed a one-year contract extension with the team The deal keeps Charpentler with Washington through next season and includes a team option for 2004-05 She shoots 5-undcr 67 in first round of season trails by two Aitoriatad Ppm report PHOENIX Annika Sorenstam wanted to play with the men so she could raise the level of her game She might need to if her start to the LPGA season is any indication Sorenstam ROUNDUP solid 5-under 67 Thursday only to find herself trailing would-be rivals Se Ri Pak and KSrrie Webb after the first round of the Safeway Ping tournament Pak shot a 7-under 65 while Webb bogeyed her final hole for a 66 both serving early notice to Sorenstam that she might have trouble winning 11 times on the LPGA tour again this year ail chasing on Sorenstam said Pak acknowledged as much after an opening round in which she made eight birdies against a lone bogey tinder perfect scoring conditions at the Moon Valley Country Club am getting better every year but I think Iln as good as Pak said probably at least a couple more years going to have the same season as Webb posted the first low number despite a miscue at the final hole when she drove it about 260 yards down the middle only to fly a 9-iron over the green After missing an 8-footer for par Webb had to settle for being a shot out of the lead a little disappointed to bogey the last but it was probably the two best swings of the day so I complain about Webb said There was little to complain about for the LPGA which got three of its most notable players on top of the leaderboard in only the second tournament of the season Sorenstam play last week in Phoenix where Wendy Doolan won by shooting 21 under But score last week and the good play of Webb and Pak in the first round caught attention only Thursday so I was just trying to focus mi my own Sorenstam said I did peek at the leaderboard Sorenstam played her usual round of fairways and greens hitting 16 of them mid making the most of her length by reaching the par-58 in two She barely missed a 12-footer at her final hole Sorenstam skipped the first week of the season to play a practice round at Colonial where she will play against the men in May and a round with Tiger Woods in Florida was a little nervous off the first she said had a long break and I know what to What Sorenstam can expect die rest of the year is that be in the spotlight and will be expected to perform Just how well do even Sorenstam say Roy Ays shut out San Jose Se Ri Pak chips at No 8 during the first round of the Safeway Ping tournament She leads after a 7-under 65 are asking what she's going to do this year" Sorenstam said ask that myself" Webb who was the dominant player on the tour before Sorenstam won 19 times during the last two years missed only (me fairway and two greens In fashioning a 66 Webb won as much as Sorenstam but she holds the edge in major tournaments by a 64 margin Still Webb won only twice last year and understands that recent spurt has overshadowed her play like to play half as good as she played last year and you would have a really good Webb said you know I have always maintained been the one who has motivated myself to achieve the things that done So I know last year was a pretty good year it just as consistently as good as I have Arruti leads Madeira Open SANTO DA 5ERRA Madeira Islands Spain's Jesus Maria Arruti shot a 6-under-par 66 and led the rain-delayed Madeira Island Open by one stroke Half the field was unable to complete the first round Rpbert-Jan Derksen of the Netherlands who held off Ernie Els to win the Dubai Desert Classic was In second place Sharing third at 68 were Julien van Hauwe of France i Jullen Clement of Switzerland and Andrew Sherborne of England Morning rain In the Portuguese Islands caused a 3V4-hour delay: Aitu-tl was on the first tee when the first thunderstorm hit but he returned with eight birdies and two bogeys World Match Play winner to get $156 million LONDON The world Match Play Championship will offer the second-richest prize In golf Increasing Its winner's share to $L56 million Total prize money for the 12-player tournament scheduled fbr mid-October at Wentworth will be $U88 million organizers said The Increase was announced as part of a 10-year sponsorship deal HSBC First place at the Ned bank Challenge In South Africa Is worth (2 million Ernie Els earned $390000 when he won the event last year He already has committed to defend his title Tiger woods ranked No 1 In the world has been Invited and 10 other players will be selected from the ranking list based on performances In the four majors the Masters US Open British Open and PGA Championship The 36-hole event Is run by IMG and sanctioned by the PGA European Tour In the past IMG has been criticized fbr Inviting too many players under Its management Andrew Hampel IMG senior International group vice president said that the new format of determining the field should satisfy critics 2 NHl 0 Jack Nicklaus seemed like he was The Golden Bear trying to decide whether he wants to play in the Masters blasted out of a bunker across the green and into the hazard at the 18th He took triple bogey finished with an 82 and left the course without talking to reporters the golf course its Palmer said par is a good round I like to have a competitive golf The scores certainly reflected that Only 19 players managed to break par a stark contrast to last week at the Honda Classic where the cut tied a PGA Tbur record at 6 under and the winning acme was 24 under At Bay Hill nine players shot 80 or worse and Rory Sabbatini matched Palmer's 87 David Duval had to finish with two tough pars for a 79 narrowly avoiding his second consecutive round in the 80s Michael Campbell took three tee shots to get the ball in play on his opening hole took a 10 and withdrew two holes later with a shoulder injury Bob May hit three balls in the water at No 6 and made an 11 Els was in the middle of the fairway at No 11 with a wedge in his hands and hit an approach that landed next to the hole The ball hopped high and finally stopped 30 feet away as Els slumped his shoulders in disbelief That was a common sight at Bay HilL biggest mistake of the round led to a birdie He blistered a 2-iron down the fairway at No 18 and had 156 yards over the water and to the flag The ball narrowly cleared the hazard and stopped 10 feet behind the hole mean to land it Woods said sheepishly tried to hit it flag-high and get to the back of the He also birdied the par5 16th with a second shot that covered the flag and stopped 40 feet away That led Woods to inquire the ball land short of the He bother fixing his pitch mark because he couldn't find one which seemed to be the case throughout his round found probably seven or Woods said of them mine" The 69 matched the highest opening-round score by a leader in the 25-year history of the Bay Hill InvitationaL The other time was in 1993 Cink and Kaye were in the first group and had the easiest conditions although that didn't last long The wind gusted and swirled and the greens only got harder "Anything under 70 today is going to be an excellent mid par or better is very Cink said after he finished Hires out that anything under 70 was good enough fbr the lead Bay Hill Invitational looked like they belonged at a major championship So did some of the grumbling The pins were too tough The greens were like trampolines bouncing even wedge shots high into the air and far from die hole No wonder the six guys tied for the lead Thursday were at a meager 3-under 69 the highest 18-hole score to lead since Tiger Woods was at 3 under in last US Open at Beth-page Black That'S just the way tournament host Arnold Miner wanted it thought it was too hard? Aaahhh too Palmer said trying to contain the tears the hell? It was the same for everybody What do they do when they play the National Open? Or the TPC? Or the Masters? had the worst score on the board and I thought the golf course was Palmer had an 87 his worst score at Bay Hill but he wasn't bringing up the rear Club pro Charlie Meade had an 89 Woods shot 70 a score that that would have left him in the middle of the pack at most PGA Tbur events This time it kept him in contention as he bids for his fourth straight title atBayHilL He among those overly concerned by the swirling wind stifling heat and greens that sounded like they had a layer of concrete beneaththem we get no rain it should be awesome by the he said these greens get baked out if this wind stays up it could be one of the tougher golf courses well face except for the The leaders were Stewart Cink Jeff Mag-gert Jonathan Kaye JL Lewis Aaron Badde-ley and Trevor Immdman a 23-year-old South African who was die only afternoon starter to break 70 golf course let up which is good" Baddeley said going to find out who's playing die best this Ernie Els might have been closer to the lead if not fra1 one hole He three-putted from 4 feet at the par3 14th and took triple bogey giving him a 74 Then again his approach to the 18th caromed off the rocks and onto dry land and Els made a 20-footer for par think the toughest golf course I've played this said Els who has won twice in Hawaii and twice in Australia Palmer the 73-year-old tournament host is playing what likely will be his final PGA Tbur event Sure the 87 was his worst at Bay Hill but he did manage to make pars at Nos 2 and 17 the par 3s that played as the toughest two holes on Thursday some reason I look forward to AVALANCHE SHARKS 36-18-12-7 26-34-6-7 AUTO RACING Couple awarded $4 million Associated Prw reports DENVER Patrick Roy made 29 saves in his fourth shutout of the season and 65th of his career as the Colorado Avalanche brat the San Jose Sharks 2-0 on Thursday night in a game that was postponed a day because of a heavy snowstorm Bates Battaglia and Adam Foote sewed for the Avalanche who mapped a two-game losing streak their longest since mid-January Miikka Kiprusoff had 18 saves and allowed both goals before being replaced by Vesa Tbskala late in the game for San Jose which has lost six of seven Islanders 6 Canadians 3 MONTREAL Alexei Yashin scored twice and tied a career high with his fifth career five-point game to lead New York over Montreal Yashin who had Just eight points In his previous 22 games set up goals by Arran Asham and Oleg Kvasha before scoring his 17th and 18th goals In the second He set up Dave Scatchard's empty-net goal for his third assist of the game Blut Jackets 4 Leafs 3 OT COLUMBUS Ohio Tyler Wright scored his third goal of the game off a give-and-go from Ray Whitney with 418 seconds left In overtime as Columbus beat Toronto Wright's third career hat trick and second of the season gave him a career-high 18 goals this season and his first In 19 games Rick Nash also scored fbr Columbus Flyers 4 Penguins 2 PHILADELPHIA John LeClalr scored twice Including the go-ahead goal in the third period as Philadelphia beat Pittsburgh and moved Into a first-place tie In the Atlantic Division Eric Desjardins and Tony Amonte also scored and Mark Recchi had three assists for Philadelphia which Is tied with New Jersey with 93 points Blues 3 Mighty Ducks 2 OT ST LOUIS Pavol Demltra scored twice Including the winning goal 2:22 into overtime In St victory over Anaheim Doug weight also had a goal and Chris Osgood made 24 saves to improve to 3-0 with St Louis which has won six straight at home Coyotes 3 Oilers 2 OT PHOENIX Teppo Nummlnen scored with 2:07 left In overtime to lift Phoenix past Edmonton Daymond Langkow and Branko Radlvo-jevlc scored first-period goals for the Coyotes who have won three straight and mowed within eight points of the Oilers for the last playoff spot In the western Conference Capitals 4 Flames 1 CALGARY Alberta Sergei Gonchar scored two goals to lead Washington past Calgary Michael Nylander and Sergei Berezin also scored for the Capitals who are 7-1-1-2 in their last 11 games I NASCAR FROM PAGE B1 So Wallace heads back to Bristol this weekend looking for his 10th career win on his favorite race track He won the first Winston Cup race of his career on the 533-mile bullring in 1986 and ranks second among all-time Bristol winners His crew would love to see him win Sunday when NASCAR will be celebrating its 2000th points race would be something to put on your mantel and have to talk about in years to come" crew chief Billy Wilburn said NASCAR to be around and have 2000 races is a huge deal and for us to win it would be great For our team to win their first race this year mid put this winless streak that everybody is talking about behind us would be bigger yet as far as I'm concerned" Wallace sure could use it He overruled Wilburn at Daytona who wanted him to stay on the track and race against the rain But Wallace pitted any way lost valuable spots cm the track before the rain and finished 25th He enters Bristol 20th in points with just one top-10 finish Wallace insists the standings do not reflect the work ethic of his team or die strength of his Dodge Intrepid After years of driving a Ford Wallace says he is adjusting just fine car has been super strong" he said wish sometimes I could rerun those races and get the finishes we really The problem he said is that he's pressing so hard to win again me to go to Atlanta and be running fourth and getting ready to pass Tbny Stewart and I get in the wall was something he said did something I used to laugh at people fordoing came from a little overdriving on my But Wilburn will take a little aggressiveness from a driver would much rather have a guy trying as hard as he can running as hard as he can every lap" Wilburn said what it takes to win and that's what it takes to be up front and win this championship" BY TIM WHITMIRE AModited Pp CHARLOTTE A Virginia couple was awarded $4 million by a jury Thursday for injuries in the 2000 collapse of a pedestrian walkway at Motor Speedway Cindy and Marty Taylor of Nelson County Va sought $27 million in damages from the speedway and from Tindall Corp of Spartanburg SC which built the pedestrian bridge over US 29 in Concord would have liked a larger lawyer Marvin Blount said at least it gives these people a chance to get mi with their lives It's been almost three years and they've had nothing but pain and bills" Fans were leaving die track after the running of The Winston a NASCAR all-star race when the bridge collapsed May 20 2000 More than 100 people were injured none fatally The Ihylors sought damages for head back and injuries Less seriously injured was Cindy 2-yearold son from a previous marriage Jurors awarded $25 million in damages to Cindy Ifcylor $15 million to Marty Thylor and $20000 to Cindy son None of the family was in the courtroom for the verdict Investigators concluded Tindall improperly mixed a grout used in the bridge with calcium chloride which corroded the steel cables that held the bridge together leading to die collapse Tindall lawyer Reid Phillips said the company has taken its share of the blame for the collapse from the day it happened pleased the jury said no to Mr demand fbr $27 he said thought that was The 11-member panel found negligence caused the injuries but answered no when asked whether die speedway was negligent However jurors concluded the track breached a contract with the state transportation department regarding inspection and design of the bridge and they ruled the Thylors should be beneficiaries of that agreement -Jurors leaving the courthouse declined to comment leaving questions about what share of the award the speedway will pay David Allen the lawyer for die track said he believes Lowers Motor Speedway owes nothing However Judge Erwin Spainhour ruled during the trial the speedway was not legally able to delegate its responsibility for its fans to TindalL That decision could be appealed Blount said he believes the finding that the speedway broke its agreement with the state means the speedway is responsible Spainlxxir urged both sides to use the verdict as a basis for mediating dozens of still-unsettled cases resulting from the collapse More than a dozen claims already have been settled I 1 -V.