Another PGA Tour Event Will Invite Wie to Play

Michelle Wie will be invited to play in another PGA Tour event but probably will decline because it conflicts with a tournament where she’s the defending champion.

The Booz Allen Classic will soon offer the 14-year-old sensation an invitation to play on a sponsor’s exemption, said Michael Myers, senior vice president of Kemper Sports, which runs the tournament in Potomac, Md.

Wie missed the cut by one stroke last weekend at the Sony Open in Hawaii, her first PGA Tour event. The Booz Allen Classic is one of several tournaments expected to offer her a chance to try again.

But the timing is bad. The Booz Allen is June 24-27, which conflicts with the U.S. Amateur Public Links in Williamsburg, Va. Wie won the event last year, becoming the youngest champion of a USGA tournament for adults.

“Her intention is she wants to defend,” Wie’s father, B.J. Wie, said Tuesday.

B.J. Wie said no one from Booz Allen has contacted him. Asked about other prospective offers, he said: “We wouldn’t rush into anything. The PGA Tour has the best players in the world. And she’s still young.”

The Booz Allen Classic, known for decades as the Kemper Open before a couple of sponsorship changes, rarely attracts many marquee players.

Jurisprudence

Former Houston Rocket forward Eddie Griffin was convicted of marijuana possession.

Harris County (Texas) Criminal Court-at-Law Judge Larry Standley said he would sentence Griffin on Feb. 13. Standley convicted Griffin of the misdemeanor after a daylong bench trial in Houston.

Griffin, who signed with the New Jersey Nets this month after his December release from the Rockets, also is scheduled next month to answer a felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon based on an alleged fight with a woman in October.

Griffin was arrested in April on the marijuana charge.

Portland Trail Blazer forward Qyntel Woods has been ordered to pay a $1,096 fine after pleading no contest to charges stemming from a traffic arrest.

Woods was cited in March when he was stopped for speeding, and an officer smelled marijuana wafting from his Cadillac.

University of Louisville assistant men’s basketball coach Kevin Willard pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol, but he will remain on Coach Rick Pitino’s staff.

Willard, pulled over by Louisville police early Sunday, failed two sobriety tests and had a blood-alcohol level of .146, police said. Kentucky’s legal limit for DUI is .08.

Pitino said Willard was disciplined internally but declined to be more specific.

Boxing

A boxer has died a week after he was knocked out, the latest death of an Indonesian fighter.

Antonius Moses Seram, 20, died Monday night in Jakarta, Indonesia Boxing Commission spokesman Firman Gindu said.

The deaths prompted the World Boxing Council to impose a six-month ban in December 2001 on Indonesian boxers fighting in WBC-sanctioned bouts outside the country. At the time, five fighters had died in 18 months.

The ban was lifted in July 2002 provided Indonesia forms a boxing commission to monitor bouts and imposes WBC safety rules. Since then, at least one other boxer has died.

Moses was knocked out by Kaichon Sor Vorapin of Thailand in the eighth round of a junior flyweight bout Jan. 13. Moses took several punches to the head, later lapsed into a coma and did not awaken.

Motor Racing

Formula One teams could boycott European races this season unless they are exempted from new European Union arrest warrant laws.

F1 officials fear team personnel could be arrested if a driver is killed in a race accident.

Max Mosley, president of the motor racing’s governing body, FIA, has written to the heads of national racing groups asking them to lobby their governments for the exemption.

This season’s first European race is the San Marino Grand Prix on April 25.

Mosley cited the 1994 death of Ayrton Senna at Imola, Italy, and subsequent manslaughter charges brought against Williams technical director Patrick Head and designer Adrian Newey.

Roger Yasukawa will drive for Team Rahal in the Indianapolis 500 and one other IRL race this year.

Yasukawa was 10th in his rookie race at Indy last year and finished 12th in the series standings for Super Aguri Fernandez Racing.

The Californian will team with Buddy Rice in the Indy Japan 300 on April 20 in Motegi, and in the Indianapolis 500 on May 30. Rice is subbing for Kenny Brack, the 1998 series champion and 1999 Indy 500 winner recovering from serious injuries suffered in October at Texas Motor Speedway.

Miscellany

USC senior outside hitter April Ross, who led the Trojans to a 35-0 record and their second consecutive NCAA women’s volleyball championship, was selected the nation’s most outstanding player.

Ross is eligible for the Honda-Broderick Cup, which honors the nation’s top female student-athlete from 12 sports. The award will be revealed in June.

Texas Tech quarterback B.J. Symons underwent surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

Symons injured his knee during a celebration in the end zone after he threw a touchdown pass to Wes Welker in a 52-21 win over Iowa State on Oct. 11.

Kim Sword, who has served as the head strength coach at UCLA, San Jose State and Utah State, has been named the new head strength and conditioning coach at Louisiana Monroe.

Long jumper Maurren Higa Maggi’s two-year ban was overturned by a court that said the Brazilian might have failed a drug test because doctors applied a pharmaceutical cream after she was cut during a hair removal process. Maggi tested positive in June after winning the Brazil Grand Prix.

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Sound and Vision columnist Mike Penner is on vacation.