U.S. Trails in Presidents Cup

Tiger Woods, Davis Love III and the rest of the U.S. team could not have asked for a better start Thursday in the Presidents Cup at George, South Africa. It was the finish that left them disappointed and facing a deficit.

“They all want to go kick themselves in the rear end,” U.S. captain Jack Nicklaus said after the International team rallied over the final three holes in the last three alternate shot matches to take a 3 1/2-2 1/2 lead.

Woods and Charles Howell III needed only 15 holes to get their partnership off to a great start. They beat Stuart Appleby and K.J. Choi, 4 and 3. Love and Kenny Perry defeated Peter Lonard and Tim Clark, 4 and 2.

That gave the U.S. a 2-1 lead, but it didn’t last long.

Nick Price and Mike Weir were one down with two holes to play against Phil Mickelson and David Toms, but rallied to win, 1 up.

Then Adam Scott and Ernie Els beat Justin Leonard and Jim Furyk, 1 up. The key shot was Scott’s two iron from 265 yards on No. 18 that skipped just over the green. Els then hit a nice chip that was conceded for birdie and the win.

Robert Allenby and Stephen Leaney were two down against Jay Haas and Fred Funk with three holes to play. Facing certain defeat, Allenby made a 15-foot birdie from the fringe to halve the hole and keep his team alive.

After Haas’ tee shot on No. 17 drifted into a trench, Funk conceded after his shot hit the rock wall and ricocheted over his head. Haas hit his second shot into rough so thick on the par-five 18th that Funk couldn’t reach the green. They lost the hole with a bogey and had to settle for a halve.

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Laura Diaz shot a three-under 69 to take the first-round lead in the LPGA Tour Championship at West Palm Beach, Fla. She has a one-stroke lead over Lori Kane. Meg Mallon was another stroke back on a day in which only three players in the field of the LPGA Tour’s top 30 money winners broke par.

Annika Sorenstam shot a 74 -- not bad considering she played the round without a contact in her right eye.

She said she’ll finish the tournament but probably won’t be able to put the contact back in until next week. Sorenstam contracted pink eye while playing in a skins game in Singapore last week.

Tennis

Lisa Raymond beat Kim Clijsters’ younger sister, and Martina Navratilova improved to 38-0 in Fed Cup play with a doubles win as the U.S. defeated Belgium, 4-1, at Moscow.

Raymond clinched a spot in the Fed Cup finals against France by defeating Elke Clijsters, 6-2, 6-1. That gave the U.S. a 3-1 lead in the best-of-five semifinal. Raymond teamed with Navratilova to beat Clijsters and Caroline Maes, 6-1, 6-4.

France beat Russia, 3-2, by winning both singles matches. Mary Pierce defeated Vera Zvonareva, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, and Amelie Mauresmo beat Anastasia Myskina, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4.

Baseball

If Sammy Sosa had a vote for the National League MVP, he would have picked Albert Pujols over Barry Bonds.

“Bonds had good numbers and has a name in the game, but Pujols deserved the award more than anybody,” the Chicago Cub star said Wednesday night after returning home to the Dominican Republic.

Bonds got 28 of 32 first-place votes and 426 points from the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America in results announced Tuesday.

Pujols finished second in the voting with 303 points.

The commissioner’s office hopes to decide by next week whether the Montreal Expos will move 22 home games to San Juan, Puerto Rico, or Monterrey, Mexico, in 2004, Bob DuPuy, baseball’s chief operating officer, said after the owners’ meetings in Chicago.

The Players’ Assn. and Major League Baseball have been negotiating a deal that would allow Expo games to be moved for a second season in a row.

Miscellany

The U.S. Olympic Committee has assured IOC president Jacques Rogge that it will pay its dues to the World Anti-Doping Agency.

USOC president Bill Martin sent a letter saying the annual payment to WADA will probably be made in the next 60 to 90 days, after passage of a Treasury/Transportation bill making its way through Congress.

“The issue is not whether the U.S. Government will fulfill its obligations, but rather the timetable under which it is legally empowered to transfer the funds,” Martin wrote.

Rogge told the United States to pay its dues or forget about bidding for the 2012 Games.

The U.S. men’s volleyball team defeated Japan, 19-25, 25-14, 25-23, 25-19, in the World Cup, a qualifying tournament in Tokyo for the Athens Olympics. The Americans improved to 3-1.