Maggert Follows 63 With 69 for Big Lead

Jeff Maggert shot a three-under-par 69 Friday to take a five-stroke lead after the second round of the Buick Challenge at Pine Mountain, Ga.

Only Tiger Woods has led by more strokes this year after two rounds--seven strokes in the NEC Invitational at Firestone, Ohio, and six strokes in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

“I’m pleased to get my game in shape where I feel like I have a chance to win,” said Maggert, who after a first-round 63 was at 12-under 132, despite bogeys on two of the last five holes of the second round. “If I keep driving well, I’ll give myself birdie chances.”

David Duval, returning from a back injury that sidelined him for two months, shot a 69 to join a group at 137.

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Bob Dickson, who has no top-10 finishes on the Senior PGA Tour this season, shot a five-under-par 65 to share the first-round lead at the Vantage Championship at Clemmons, N.C., with little-known Dean Overturf and Isao Aoki.

Overturf, a rookie on tour, had a hole in one. One shot behind the leaders in the $1.5-million event were Larry Nelson, Gil Morgan, Jim Dent, Bruce Summerhays and Howard Twitty.

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Defending champion Annika Sorenstam shot a four-under-par 68 to take a one-stroke lead after the second round of the New Albany Golf Classic at New Albany, Ohio. Sorenstam, a five-time winner this year, had a seven-under 137 total. Wendy Ward (70), Dina Ammaccapane (70) and Shani Waugh (68) were a stroke back.

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Bill Shean Jr., 57, of Hinsdale, Ill., won his second U.S. Senior Amateur title in three years, beating Dick Van Leuvan, 2 and 1, at Charlotte, N.C.

College Basketball

Gojko Kasich, an Indiana lawyer, is trying to get Bob Knight’s firing overturned. Kasich claims that Indiana University President Myles Brand deliberately circumvented a state law by meeting separately with two groups of four school trustees before deciding to dismiss the coach.

Kasich believes that Brand was obviously attempting to dance around Indiana’s Open Door Law, which requires that Brand make public any meeting with more than than four trustees at a time.

Kasich said he plans to file a lawsuit next week. Kasich also said he is not acting on behalf of Knight, but that he did contact Knight’s announcer, Russell Yates, to make sure the suit would not have a detrimental effect on Knight.

Meanwhile, Knight’s son, Pat, was hired as an assistant coach at Akron. Pat Knight was an assistant on his father’s staff the past two seasons.

Tennis

Anna Kournikova, seeking her first WTA Tour title, beat defending champion Kim Clijsters of Belgium, 6-7 (1), 6-3, 6-1, to advance to the semifinals of the Seat Open at Luxembourg.

Kournikova, ranked 13th in the world, today will face Bulgaria’s Magdalena Maleeva, who beat Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (5).

Jennifer Capriati defeated France’s Anne-Gaelle Sidot, 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-3; and Germany’s Barbara Rittner beat Slovakian teenager Daniela Hantuchova, 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-2.

Belgian brothers Christophe and Oliver Rochus will play each other in the semifinals of the $375,000 ATP tournament in Palermo, Sicily. Christophe Rochus advanced by defeating Juan Balcells of Spain, 7-5, 7-6 (5), and younger brother Oliver beat David Sanchez of Spain, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2.

Auto Racing

Tony Stewart won the pole for Sunday’s Winston Cup NAPA Auto Care 500 at Martinsville, Va., with a track-record speed of 95.371 mph on the .526-mile oval in his Pontiac. Stewart set the previous record of 95.275 mph in April.

Dario Franchitti won the provisional pole for Sunday’s CART Houston Grand Prix with a lap of 92.493 mph on the 1.527-mile temporary street circuit in downtown. He’ll try to wrap up his third pole of the season today.

Gary Scelzi led top fuel qualifying in the NHRA’s Advance Auto Parts Nationals at Topeka, Kan., with a quarter-mile run of 4.604 seconds at a top speed of 309.98 mph.

Jurisprudence

Arnold Eaton, 34, a Navy petty officer, was sentenced in Crown Point, Ind., to nearly eight years in prison for causing the death of Purdue women’s basketball player Tiffany Young, 21, while driving drunk. Young, a member of Purdue’s 1999 NCAA women’s championship team, died July 31, 1999, when the car she was riding in was struck by Eaton.

Miscellany

Florida State basketball player Rodney Tucker was arrested and charged with raping a 19-year-old woman at his Tallahassee, Fla., apartment.

According to court records, Tucker told police he had consensual sex with the woman. Coach Steve Robinson suspended Tucker from the team.

The U.S. Soccer Federation announced the U.S. men’s soccer team will play Mexico in an exhibition Oct. 25 in Los Angeles. Most of the U.S. starters, though, play in Europe and will be unavailable for the match.

Nat Fein, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of a dying Babe Ruth at Yankee Stadium, has died in Westwood, N.J. He was 86.