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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Woods, Singh struggle, might miss Funai Classic cut


Woods
 (The Spokesman-Review)
Compiled from wire reports The Spokesman-Review

Moments after the Funai Classic at Disney was suspended because of storms Friday in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Tiger Woods unleashed his fury. He reared back and spiked his golf ball onto the cart path in front of the 17th green, sending it 20 feet in the air and into the pond.

Woods made a double bogey and a triple bogey in the same round for the first time since the 2000 Masters, and he was on the verge of missing the cut.

Right when he thought his day couldn’t get any worse, it did. The second round was called for the day, meaning Woods will have to return this morning with slim hopes of making the cut.

With 74 players at 6 under par or better – and 53 players still on the course – Woods was at 4 under and most likely needed two birdies to make the cut. That looked even more improbable when his tee shot on the 17th narrowly cleared the lake, leaving him in sticky rough under a tree about 150 yards from the hole.

He might have company. Vijay Singh twice hit into the water on the sixth hole at the Palm course and shot 71 to finish at 4-under 140, virtually assured of missing the cut for the third time this year.

Tom Pernice Jr. set the pace with a 10-under 62 on the easier Palm course to reach 15-under 129, one shot ahead of Geoff Ogilvy, who had a 66 at Magnolia.

•John Harris shot a tournament-tying record 9-under 62 to grab a two-shot lead after the first round of the SBC Championship at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio. Harris equaled the low 18-hole score shot by Gil Morgan last year to grab the early lead in the $1.55 million dollar Champions Tour event.

Figure skating

Takahashi wins at Skate America

Japan’s Daisuke Takahashi, ranked 15th in the world, won the men’s Skate America event in Atlantic City, N.J., after his free skate performance.

He finished with 218.54 points, with American Evan Lysacek second with 193.71 points and France’s Brian Joubert third with 190.28 points.

With none of figure skating’s big stars on hand, Russia’s Elena Sokolova seized control of the women’s event. She won the short program by nearly four points.

Heading into today’s free skate, Sokolova led Japan’s Yoshie Onda 57.94 points to 53.98. American Alissa Czisny was third at 52.82.

Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto built on their lead in ice dancing by taking the original dance with 58.37 points. Their salsa routine was plenty spicy.

The free dance is today.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Two Irish starters out for year

Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis announced that two starters will miss the remainder of the year.

Defensive end Chris Frome’s right knee injury, sustained in the second quarter of last Saturday’s 34-31 loss to USC, turned out to be worse than initially thought. Senior wide receiver Rhema McKnight, who hasn’t played since the second game of the season because of a knee injury, won’t be back.

What started as a scope of Frome’s knee Tuesday turned into a surgical repair job when doctors saw the extent of the damage.

McKnight will take a medical redshirt and plans to return for a fifth year in 2006.

•Southern Illinois football coach Jerry Kill got out the hospital six days after having a seizure during a game.

Kill will miss today’s game at Indiana State, and no decision has been made on whether he would be available to coach the Salukis on Thursday at Western Kentucky.

The 44-year-old Kill has a medical condition that occasionally manifests itself with seizures.

Miscellany

Villanova’s Sumpter re-injures knee

Villanova forward Curtis Sumpter will be sidelined indefinitely after re-injuring his left knee in practice and will have surgery next month.

Sumpter’s injury is a serious blow to the Wildcats, who were expected to open the basketball season in the top 10 and have Final Four aspirations.

Sumpter tore his ACL in the first half of a victory over Florida in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season.

Sumpter was injured during practice Wednesday after an awkward landing on a routine layup. Coach Jay Wright said he thought at first Sumpter only hyperextended his knee. But an MRI Thursday showed the injury was much worse.

There is no timetable for Sumpter’s return.

•Willie Sojourner, whose basketball career at Weber State included Big Sky Conference records in scoring and rebounding, died in a car crash in Italy, the conference said. Sojourner, 58, died Thursday.

Sojourner played at Weber State from 1968-71, leading the Wildcats to three consecutive Big Sky regular-season titles. He was the third Big Sky men’s basketball player to be named all-conference three times.

•D.C. United suspended forward Freddy Adu for the Major League Soccer playoff opener against the Chicago Fire, a response to the 16-year-old’s complaints earlier in the week about playing time.