Martin Allowed Cart for Open Qualifying

Casey Martin, who won the right to use a golf cart in competition after suing the PGA Tour, will be allowed to use one during qualifying for the U.S. Open, the United States Golf Assn. said Monday.

The USGA, which was not a party to the recent lawsuit, said it would abide by the court decision, although it disagrees with the verdict.

Martin, who suffers from a degenerative leg condition that makes walking painful, has filed an entry form to compete in the U.S. Open and is exempt from local qualifying because of his Nike Tour victory earlier this year.

He has elected to compete in 36-hole sectional qualifying on June 8 at Clovernook Country Club in Cincinnati, one of 12 sectional qualifying sites.

The Open will be played June 18-21 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

Pro Football

A judge dismissed a drunken driving charge against Buffalo Bill defensive end Bruce Smith in Virginia Beach, Va., but upheld a charge that Smith refused to take a blood-alcohol test.

Circuit Judge Frederick Lowe suspended Smith’s driver’s license for 12 months for refusing to take the blood test last July when he was found passed out in the driver’s seat of his car at an intersection.

The conviction will not affect Smith’s driving record, said his attorney, Larry Cardon.

Smith refused to comment following the hearing, an appeal of convictions on both charges during a Sept. 2 trial in General District Court.

Lowe said prosecutors failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Smith was intoxicated when officer Alison Fletcher found him sitting behind the wheel of his Mercedes Benz.

Lowe noted that Smith did “fairly well” on two field sobriety tests administered by the officer.

The St. Louis Rams’ coaching staff lost one of its biggest names when defensive coordinator Bud Carson retired because of health concerns.

Carson, lured out of retirement by Coach Dick Vermeil a year ago, has been an NFL coach for 24 years and put together the “Steel Curtain” defense for the Pittsburgh Steelers, winning Super Bowl rings while with them in the mid-1970s.

Carson, who will be 67 next month, quit because asthma was slowing him down.

“”I still would like to do it,” Carson said. “I wish it was 10 years earlier, but it’s not.”

Tennis

Three seeded players were defeated and Jennifer Capriati, playing in only her second match of the year, lost in the first round to Lori McNeil in the Family Circle Cup at Sea Pines Racquet Club at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Capriati, a former top 10 player sidelined for two months by elbow and shoulder injuries, was beaten, 6-7 (7-4), 6-4, 6-4.

She played in her first tournament of the year March 19 at the Lipton Championships, losing to Magdalena Grzybowska in straight sets in the first round.

Meanwhile, eleventh-seed Sandrine Testud of France, 12th-seeded German Anke Huber and 13th seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan were all beaten.

Testud was defeated, 6-3, 6-3, by Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania, Huber was beaten, 7-5, 7-6, by Magui Serna of Spain and Sugiyama was ousted, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, by Alexandra Fusai of France.

Boxing

Kennedy McKinney will defend his World Boxing Organization super-bantamweight title June 6 against Britain’s Richie Wenton in Liverpool, England.

Jane Couch won her sexual discrimination case against the British Boxing Board of Control for its refusal to grant her a license.

Couch, the Women’s International Boxing Federation champion, plans to sue for damages after being forced to turn down a $16,000 fight at Wembley Arena.

The board argued that women should not be licensed to box because premenstrual tension made them unstable.

Skiing

Two-time Olympic skier Marcus Nash of Fryeburg, Maine, made it two U.S. cross country titles in 24 hours by winning the 15-kilometer freestyle race at Mount Bachelor Resort in Bend, Ore.