Qualifier fires 61 to lead Wyndham
Golf: If Arjun Atwal keeps this up, he’ll have a new PGA Tour card in no time.
Atwal tied a tournament record with a 61 Thursday and took a two-stroke lead at the Wyndham Championship at Greensboro, N.C.
Matching Carl Pettersson’s 2-year-old mark at the par-70 Sedgefield Country Club course, Atwal was 9 under through the first round of the PGA Tour’s final event before the playoffs.
Brandt Snedeker shot a 63. John Rollins, Kevin Streelman, Lucas Glover, Boo Weekley, David Toms and Jeev Milkha Singh were at 64.
Atwal, who lost his tour card last month had to play his way into this event in a Monday qualifier.
Spokane’s Alex Prugh shot a 1-under 69 and is tied for 82nd.
• Weibring, Lehman share lead at Tradition: D.A. Weibring and Tom Lehman shot 5-under 67s to share the first-round lead at the Champions Tour’s Jeld-Wen Tradition at Crosswater Club in Sunriver, Ore. Weibring made birdies at Nos. 17 and 18 to take the lead.
Blazers’ Fernandez fined for comments
NBA: The NBA fined Trail Blazers swingman Rudy Fernandez $25,000 for public statements that are “detrimental” to the league.
The fine was imposed a day after Fernandez’s agent said the Spaniard did not want to return to the Blazers this season.
NBA rules prohibit players and their agents from publicly asking for a trade.
• Bucks sign PG Boykins: Free-agent point guard Earl Boykins signed a one-year, $1.3 million contract with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Agent Mark Termini said the 11-year veteran had offers from other teams but was comfortable with Milwaukee, one of nine teams the 5-foot-5 Boykins has played for previously.
• Former player Vincent charged in jobs scam: Ex-NBA player and Michigan State star Jay Vincent has been indicted for an Internet employment scam that bilked about 20,000 jobseekers out of about $2 million, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
The 51-year-old Vincent faces charges of mail fraud and is charged with an income tax violation, authorities said.
Vincent and Portee concocted a scheme to defraud people seeking work through their Foreclosure Bank Inspection Co., according to the indictment.
The company claimed to test, certify and employ people to inspect bank-foreclosed homes, and advertised that the company had contracts and received large checks from major banks to do the work. In reality, the copies of contracts and checks used in the ads were altered or counterfeit, the indictment said.
Sounders drop CONCACAF match
Soccer: Honduran club Marathon beat the Seattle Sounders 2-1 in the opening Group C game of the CONCACAF Champions League at Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Roger Levesque gave Seattle a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute, but Marathon replied with a 27th-minute equalizer from Orvin Paz at the edge of the area. Nicolas Cardozo scored from the penalty spot in first-half stoppage time.
The victory gives Marathon three points in Group C, along with Mexican club Monterrey, which beat Costa Rica’s Saprissa 1-0.
Santa Anita track will convert to dirt
Miscellany: Santa Anita will replace its synthetic surface and return to dirt in time for the track’s winter-spring meet in December.
Owner Frank Stronach told about 250 horsemen that installation will begin immediately following the Oak Tree, which ends Oct. 31 and be completed by the first week in December.
• Brawl ends Acropolis tournament: The Acropolis basketball tournament finished in a brawl when the last game between Serbia and Greece was abandoned in Athens, Greece, in the closing minutes after a fight broke out and the benches cleared.
• Phelps misses 400 IM final: Olympic swimming superstar Michael Phelps failed to make the 400-meter individual medley final at the Pan Pacific championships at Irvine, Calif.
Phelps had the fourth-fastest time of 4 minutes, 15.38 seconds in the morning preliminaries, but only two swimmers per country are allowed in the evening final.
• Wariner runs fastest 400 this year: Jeremy Wariner of the United States ran the world’s fastest 400 meters this year at the Weltklasse Diamond League meeting at Zurich.
Wariner finished in 44.13 seconds to take 0.27 off the season’s best time.
• Olympic hammer champion dies: Harold Connolly, the 1956 Olympic champion in men’s hammer, died Wednesday in Catonsville, Md. He was 79.
The four-time Olympian set six world records in the event between 1956-65. He became the first American to surpass 200 feet in 1955.