Woods Lurking Three Back of Co-Leaders

While Tiger Woods held his ground for a final-round charge, Fred Funk made his move Saturday in the B.C. Open at Endicott, N.Y.

Funk, a former University of Maryland golf coach with three career victories, shot an eight-under-par 63 for a share of the third-round lead with Pete Jordan.

Jordan, who began the round with a three-stroke lead, shot a 66 to match Funk at 16-under 197 on the En-Joie Golf Club.

Woods, the three-time U.S. Amateur champion making his fourth professional start, also shot a 66 to remain three behind. He had three birdies and two bogeys on the front nine and added four birdies on the back side.

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Led by Laura Davies, Europe rallied from a 5-3 deficit to take a 9-7 lead over the United States in the Solheim Cup going into today’s final 12 singles matches at Chepstow, Wales.

Of a possible eight points available in morning foursomes (alternate shot) and afternoon four-ball (better ball), the Americans won only two and are in danger of losing the only one of golf’s four major international trophies the United States still holds, having lost the Ryder, Walker and Curtis in the last 12 months.

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Rain washed out the second round of the Brickyard Crossing Senior PGA Tour event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway course. Tour officials canceled the round and said the tournament would be reduced to a 36-hole event. The final round is scheduled for today. Defending champion Simon Hobday led the tournament after Friday’s first round, shooting a seven-under 65.

Tennis

Guy Forget and Guillaume Raoux kept France in contention for a place in the Davis Cup final, beating Andrea Gaudenzi and Diego Nargiso, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, to cut Italy’s semifinal lead to 2-1.

Playing indoors at Nantes, France, Gaudenzi double-faulted twice in the eighth game of the first set for the only break, and Nargiso was broken in the first game of the second as the French took control.

In the other semifinal at Prague, Petr Korda and Daniel Vacek kept the Czech Republic’s hopes alive by beating Sweden’s Nicklas Kulti and Jonas Bjorkman, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Sweden is seeking its ninth final berth in 14 years.

Thomas Muster walked off the court and refused to finish the fifth set as Austria forfeited doubles play and Brazil took a 2-1 lead in the Davis Cup World Group qualifying round at Sao Paulo.

Muster claimed someone in the crowd was blinding him with a mirror in the doubles match.

Pamberger or Clemens Trimmel will replace the disqualified Muster in today’s reverse singles.

Top-seeded Monica Seles and No. 2 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario reached today’s final of the Nichirei Ladies tournament at Tokyo.

In the semifinals, Seles overcame a 3-6 deficit in the final-set tiebreaker to beat third-seeded Kimiko Date of Japan, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (8-6). Sanchez Vicario beat American Kimberly Po, 6-4, 6-3.

Soccer

Eduardo Benett scored on a penalty kick in the 85th minute to give Honduras a 2-1 World Cup qualifying victory over Mexico in Group Three of the semifinals of the North and Central American and Caribbean region.

Honduras’ victory, before a home crowd at San Pedro Sula, was the country’s first over Mexico in World Cup elimination play.

Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids will play the A-League’s Rochester Rhinos at Rochester in the semifinal of the U.S. National Open Cup, U.S. Soccer announced. The other semifinal will pit two MLS teams, D.C. United playing the Burn at Dallas.

Motor Racing

Damon Hill, with a shot at clinching the Formula One world championship, edged Williams Renault teammate Jacques Villeneuve to gain the pole position in the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril.

Hill led qualifiers with a lap of 1 minute and 20.330 seconds on the damp 2.709-mile Estoril circuit--a mere .009 of a second ahead of Villeneuve, the only other driver with a chance at the title.

Mike Skinner, the defending series champion, won the Hanes 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va. Butch Miller held off Jack Sprague for second.

Trans-Am series leader Tommy Kendall posted the fastest qualifying time for today’s race at Reno in his bid for a second consecutive driver’s championship. His speed of 76.266 mph on the 1.3-mile temporary course was 0.5 mph faster than Paul Gentilozzi.

Basketball

The NCAA is investigating the basketball program at the University of Arkansas, which might have used three ineligible players last season, not two, according to documents released by the athletic department.

The NCAA declared Jesse Pate and Sunday Adebayo ineligible last season, ruling that they played before their junior-college grades were properly certified. Arkansas has since told NCAA investigators that the program used a third, unidentified, ineligible player.

Houston Rocket Coach Rudy Tomjanovich was released from a hospital Saturday, one day after he suffered severe intestinal pain during his annual charity golf tournament in Galveston, Texas.