Webb, Sorenstam Are Tied for Lead at LPGA Event

Playing partners Karrie Webb and Annika Sorenstam exchanged the lead four times Saturday before finishing the third round tied at 10-under par 206 in the season-opening LPGA Tournament of Champions at Weston, Fla.

Webb and Sorenstam will be paired again today for the final round.

“I get inspired playing with her,” Sorenstam said. “She hits every shot solid, and I think I play better when I’m playing with somebody who hits shots like she does.”

Sorenstam shot a 68 and Webb a 69 on Saturday.

Barb Mucha, still weak because of a stubborn viral infection, was in third place at nine-under par.

“I don’t know if I’m a darkhorse, but I’m the sick horse,” Mucha said. “I’m glad the attention is going to be on those two. I don’t need any added pressure being this tired.”

Dawn Coe-Jones, who shot 67 for the best score of the day, was fourth at four-under par.

College Football

Three of the 13 Boston College football players suspended in November for gambling now will be suspended for the rest of the school year.

The three lost their scholarships and were permanently barred from playing football. Three other players were permanently barred from the football team, but were permitted to stay in school.

The school also suspended eight seniors for bookmaking and has begun disciplinary action against at least 20 other students.

The bookmakers acknowledged to taking bets and handled an average of $5,000 in bets a week. The average student bet was about $100 with a high of $1,600.

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Defensive end Matt Finkes returned an interception 17 yards for a touchdown and led a defensive effort that stymied three top quarterbacks as the East beat the West, 17-13, in the Shrine all-star game.

Quarterbacks Jake Plummer of Arizona State, Steve Sarkisian of BYU, and Pat Barnes of Cal were held without a touchdown pass by the East defense.

Billy West, the 1994 Big East Offensive Player of the Year, said he will return to Pittsburgh as a fifth-year senior and not declare to be eligible for the NFL draft. . . . Brian Alford, an All-Big Ten wide receiver, will not return for his senior season at Purdue after being declared academically ineligible.

Winter Sports

Stefania Belmondo won a women’s World Cup five-kilometer cross-country ski race and Silvio Fauner won the men’s 10-K at Hakuba, Japan. . . . Kristian Ghedina of Italy won a World Cup downhill at Chamonix, France by the slimmest possible margin-- .01 second. Ghedina won in 2 minutes, 1.56 seconds, edging Atle Skaardal of Norway. . . . After foul weather canceled two races, Heidi Zurbriggen of Switzerland won a World Cup women’s downhill in 1:42.33 at Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria.

Lloyd Langlois of Canada won a men’s aerials event in a World Cup freestyle ski competition at Lake Placid, N.Y. Langlois had a two-jump total of 226.44 points for his first World Cup victory since 1994. . . . Petra Behle and Ushi Disl led Germany to a 1-2 finish in the women’s 7.5-K sprint in a World Cup biathlon competition at Ruhpolding, Germany. . . . Chris Witty won a women’s 1,000-meter speedskating race in the World Cup Sprint competition at Milwaukee.

Mario Stecher of Austria won the ski jumping event of a Nordic combined World Cup competition at Saalfelden, Austria. . . . Primoz Peterka of Slovenia won his fourth World Cup ski jumping competition of the season at Engelberg, Switzerland.

John Bauer of Minn., a six-time national champion and a former Olympian, was one of nine racers selected to represent the United States in cross-country skiing in the nordic World Championships Feb. 21-March 3 at Trondheim, Norway. Marcus Nash of Maine, Carl Swenson of N.H., Justin Wadsworth of Ore. and Pat Weaver of Mass. were selected to the men’s team. The women’s team is Nina Kemppel of Alaska, Suzanne King of Minn., Kerrin Petty of Vt., and Laura Wilson of Vt.

Names in the News

Dan Gooden, father of New York Yankee pitcher Dwight Gooden, died Friday at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, Fla. He was 69.

Dan Gooden underwent open heart surgery the day after his son pitched a no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners.

Khalid Rahilou , a Frenchman fighting outside Europe for the first time, outboxed and outpunched Frankie Randall, 35, in Randall’s hometown of Nashville, Tenn., before finally stopping him with an unanswered flurry of head blows 58 seconds into the 11th round to win the World Boxing Assn. junior welterweight title in his first championship fight. Randall, a three-time champion (53-5-1), had been a big favorite against Rahilou (29-2, 15 KOs), who was ranked No. 1 by the WBA despite having fought all his bouts in Europe, mostly against mediocre opponents. The loss ruined Randall’s chances of fighting Felix Trinidad in the spring, a bout for which he had been promised $1 million. Earlier, Henry Akinwande defended his WBO heavyweight title with a lopsided win over fellow British fighter Scott Welch.

Carlos Palomino, 47, appearing for the first time since 1979, stopped Ismael Diaz in the eighth round of a welterweight bout Friday at the Hollywood Palladium. Gerrie Coetzee, 41, a former WBC champion from South Africa, stopped Dan Kosmicki in the third round of a heavyweight bout. Lupe Aquino, 33, the former WBC super welterweight champion, lost a split 12-round decision to Eric Holland.

Stock car driver Eliseo Salazar of Chile was hospitalized with a back injury after a testing session accident at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Fla.