In brief: Weekley and Slocum lead World Cup of Golf
Maybe the United States doesn’t need Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to win the World Cup of Golf. Two players out of the same high school in the Florida Panhandle are doing just fine.
That would be Boo Weekley and Heath Slocum.
They combined for an 11-under 61 in best-ball play Thursday at Shenzhen, China, to take a one-stroke lead over Germany’s Alex Cejka and Martin Kaymer. Finland, Wales, Scotland, South Africa, Thailand and England were two shots back.
SAILING
2009 America’s Cup postponed
The 2009 America’s Cup has been postponed because of an ongoing legal dispute between Golden Gate Yacht Club and two-time defending champion Alinghi’s Societe Nautique de Geneve over the rules for the next race.
“The ongoing uncertainty around the conclusion of the New York court case brought by BMW Oracle Racing leaves the organizers no choice but to delay the event, as many indicators demonstrate a lack of viability to stage the event in 2009 to the same standards as the 32nd America’s Cup,” America’s Cup Management said in a statement.
Golden Gate Yacht Club, the home of BMW Oracle Racing, contends that Desafio Espanol’s status as the official challenger – which allowed it to negotiate the format for the next America’s Cup – is illegal. The Americans want the right to replace the Spanish syndicate and draw up new rules for the next regatta with Alinghi.
Alinghi is considering pushing the competition back to 2010 or 2011.
Miscellany
FIS bans 3 Austrian cross-country skiers
The International Ski Federation has banned three Austrian cross-country skiers for two years for their role in the doping scandal at the 2006 Turin Olympics.
Martin Tauber, Johannes Eder and Roland Diethart were suspended and deprived of all their results and prize money won since Feb. 16, 2006.
In April 2007, the International Olympic Committee gave lifetime Olympic bans to the three and Jurgen Pinter, who wasn’t penalized by FIS on Thursday, as well as biathletes Wolfgang Perner and Wolfgang Rottmann.
Also, the IOC fined the Austrian Olympic Committee $1 million for failing to prevent the blood-doping violations.
“The wealthy principality of Monaco will host the start of the Tour de France in 2009.
Organizers said they will give details of the 2009 start at a presentation in Monaco on Dec. 14. Prince Albert II will attend.
London hosted the start of this year’s race, and the Tour will get going in the French region of Brittany in 2008.
“Roger Federer overcame Pete Sampras’ stubborn resistance to beat the retired legend 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in their second Asian exhibition match.
The top-ranked Swiss star won their last encounter 6-4, 6-3 in South Korea on Tuesday, but the latest clash in Malaysia took nearly 90 minutes and proved a bit more difficult.