GOLF 1969 Open champ dies Orville Moody, the U. S. Army veteran who won the 1969 U. S. Open for his only PGA Tour title, died Friday. He was 74. The PGA Tour said Moody, a part Choctaw Indian from Chickasha, Okla., died in Texas. The tour did not give a cause of death. Called “Sarge” because of his 14 years in the service, Moody was the last player to win the U. S. Open after going through local and sectional qualifying. He shot a 72 in the final round at Champions Golf Club in Houston for a one-shot victory over Deane Beman, Al Geiberger and Bob Rosburg. Moody was a five-time runner-up on the PGA Tour and won tournaments in Hong Kong, Morocco and Australia. A long putter helped revive his career when he joined the 50-and-over Senior PGA Tour in 1984, and his 11 victories included the 1989 U. S. Senior Open. Moody made the last of his 513 Champions Tour starts in the 2003 Constellation Energy Classic. He last played in the unofficial Demaret Division for players 70 and older at the 2007 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf.
Scott Piercy shot a 9-under-par 62 with 10 birdies and one bogey for a 16-under 126 and a three-stroke lead over Chris Anderson (65 ) after the second round of the Nationwide Tour’s Wichita (Kan. ) Open. Scott Gardiner (Farmington ) shot a 2-under 69 with four birdies and two bogeys for a 9-under 133. Bryce Molder (Conway ) shot a 1-over 72 with three birdies and four bogeys for a 4-under 138, the cutoff score. Rich Morris (Arkansas ) shot a 3-over 74 with two birdies and five bogeys for a 3-over 145. Deane Pappas (Arkansas ) shot a 1-over 72 with two birdies and three bogeys for a 3-over 145. Rain and a flooded course postponed second-round play Friday and shortened the Scandinavian TPC in Stockholm, Sweden, to a 54-hole tournament. Annika Sorenstam shot a 6-under-par 66 Thursday for a one-stroke lead over Johanna Head and Anna Rossi.
Duke star Amanda Blumenherst, the three-time national college player of the year, advanced to the semifinals of the U. S. Women’s Amateur in Eugene, Ore., beating Spain’s Carlota Ciganda 4 and 3 on Friday. Blumenherst will play today against 15-year-old Erynn Lee of Silverdale, Wash., a 4-and-3 winner over Chelsea Stelzmiller of Placerville, Calif. Blumenherst is trying to win the event a year after a 1-up loss to Maria Uribe in the final. Azahara Munoz, the NCAA champion from Arizona State, and Belen Mozo also advanced, setting up an all-Spanish semifinal. Munoz routed Australia’s Stephanie Na 7 and 6 and Mozo beat Whitney Neuhauser of Barboursville, Va., 6 and 5. The 36-hole final is set for Sunday. BASKETBALL Grizzlies eye Smith The Memphis Grizzlies signed restricted free-agent forward Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks to a five-year, $ 58 million offer sheet. The Hawks have seven days to match the offer. The Hawks offered Smith a five-year, $ 45 million contract last October that he declined. The 6-9, 235-pound Smith averaged 17. 2 points, 8. 2 rebounds and 2. 8 blocks in helping Atlanta make the playoffs last season. Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller, 64, was released from the hospital in Salt Lake City on Friday morning, nearly two months after having a heart attack and subsequent setbacks that he said nearly killed him. Miller held a news conference in which he described his heart attack, kidney failure and gastrointestinal bleeding that required eight pints of blood transfusions. The Jazz announced in June that Miller had been hospitalized for complications from his Type 2 diabetes, but Miller’s family managed to keep any word of the gravity of his condition private. FOOTBALL USC QB hurt Southern California quarterback Mark Sanchez dislocated his left kneecap and was carted off the practice field Friday. Sanchez, the projected starter, was injured after making a throw during practice and landing awkwardly. He was taken for X-rays and a magnetic resonance imaging, and team doctors say there is no ligament, cartilage or bone damage. He is listed as day-to-day. USC’s other scholarship quarterbacks are sophomore Mitch Mustain (Springdale, Arkansas ) and redshirt freshman Aaron Corp. Mustain redshirted last season after transferring from Arkansas, where he won eight games as a true freshman. Sanchez started three games last season for an injured John David Booty and won two of them.
Offensive lineman Jarvis Jones, who was dismissed from LSU after breaking team rules, has transferred to Oklahoma. The 6-7, 294-pound Jones played seven games during the Tigers’ national championship season last year. Jones, 20, played as a backup at left tackle and right guard as a freshman last season. He must sit out a year under NCAA transfer rules and will be eligible to play in 2009. Quarterback Ben Mauk, one of the key components in Cincinnati’s rise to the Top 25 last season, had his final appeal for another year of eligibility turned down Friday by the NCAA. It was the third time that Mauk’s request for another season has been rejected by the NCAA. Mauk broke his right arm and separated his right shoulder in the season opener for Wake Forest in 2006, then transferred to Cincinnati. He appealed to the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility because of the injuries, but was turned down. He appealed again on a different basis, pointing out that he redshirted his freshman year at Wake Forest in part because of different injuries. The NCAA again turned him down. Mauk then took his appeal to the NCAA’s reinstatement committee, which decided Friday that there wasn’t enough medical documentation to support his claim that he missed his freshman year because of injury.
BASEBALL Coach rewarded Jeff Schexnaider, who led Louisiana-Monroe to the Sun Belt Conference championship, has been rewarded with a two-year contract extension that runs through 2012. Schexnaider, who played for the Warhawks from 1986-1987, led Louisiana-Monroe to 34 victories this past season — the most in seven years. Louisiana-Monroe set team records for home runs, hits, RBI, total bases and double plays turned. The agreement is pending final approval by the University of Louisiana System board of supervisors.
TENNIS Player banned for betting French player Mathieu Montcourt was banned from the men’s tour for two months and fined $ 12, 000 Friday after being found guilty of betting on matches. The No. 152-ranked Montcourt bet on matches between June and September 2005. He did not bet on his own matches, only those involving other players. The ATP found no evidence he tried to affect the outcomes of the matches. Montcourt will start his suspension Monday. HORSE RACING States could lose status States that fail to adopt a steroid ban in horse racing by the end of the year could lose their graded stakes status in 2009. The American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association passed a new eligibility requirement this week that would penalize states if they fail to adopt a proposed model rule steroid ban by Jan. 1, 2009. The group is asking states to adopt the rule put forth by the Association of Racing Commissioners International by Jan. 1 or the date of the state’s first graded stakes race. The ruling comes a week after Breeders’ Cup officials said they would hand trainers a one-year suspension if a horse tests positive for steroids.
ODDS & ENDS Grambling names interim AD Sharon Perkins, Grambling State’s senior woman administrator and former longtime assistant basketball coach, has been named interim director of athletics. President Horace A. Judson said that Perkins will be responsible for overseeing sports management and the daily internal operation of the schools athletic department, which fields 18 varsity programs. The university is still looking nationally for a permanent person to replace Troy Mathieu, who resigned in July.
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