Price Lucky to Be Trailing by 1

Nick Price, who has won the British Open, PGA and three other American tour titles this year, shot a five-under-par 67 Thursday in the first round of the Canadian Open in Oakville, Ontario.

The Zimbabwean is tied with three other golfers one shot behind co-leaders Mark O’Meara and Dick Mast, and one lucky shot is why.

From a fairway bunker on the right of No. 11, Price watched his approach shot head toward Sixteen Mile Creek, which fronts the green. But the ball hit a rock in the water near the far bank and bounced up onto the green.

“Two putts for par and I ran to the next tee,” Price said.

O’Meara and Mast both birdied the final hole to share the lead.

Jurisprudence

UCLA attorney Richard Ninneman said the school should be dismissed from a class-action suit accusing it of manipulating the market when it sold 4,000 tickets to this year’s Rose Bowl to a Los Angeles businessman in return for a $100,000 donation. Ninneman presented his case to Judge P. Charles Jones in Dane County Circuit Court in Madison, Wis. Jones said he would rule soon on Ninneman’s motion.

Ninneman said the school regrets the situation but was under no obligation to provide tickets. The fans’ lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages against UCLA and several local travel agents who failed to deliver tickets to the Jan. 1 game as part of special travel packages.

Criminal charges against Cincinnati Red outfielder Deion Sanders will be upgraded and he now will be charged with fleeing and eluding police, a fourth-degree felony, according to Cincinnati TV station WXIX.

Sanders was arrested after allegedly ignoring a police officer’s warning and driving his motorcycle through a restricted gate after a game Aug. 8. The officer allegedly was dragged several feet and received minor injuries.

Sanders had been charged with failing to provide a driver’s license and resisting arrest. A fourth degree felony carries a jail term ranging from six months to five years and a $2,500 fine.

Boxing

Oscar De La Hoya will make the first defense of his World Boxing Organization lightweight title Oct. 8 against John Avila at the Grand Olympic Auditorium.

Olympics

The NHL’s participation in the 1998 Winter Olympics at Nagano, Japan, is moving closer to reality. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Rene Fasel, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation, today are expected to reconfirm their commitment to a tournament featuring the top international players in the NHL.

The plan requires the approval of the NHL Players’ Assn. The NHL would shut down for about 10 days during the Games.

Miscellany

Former U.S. Soccer Federation treasurer Richard Groff, who narrowly lost to Alan Rothenberg in the recent USSF presidential election, has been appointed commissioner of the American Professional Soccer League. . . . The Philadelphia 76ers are one of six teams interested in giving former center Ralph Sampson, 34, another chance at resuming his career. General Manager John Lucas said the 7-foot-4 Sampson will be in Philadelphia for two days of workouts beginning Sept. 28. . . . Mike Gminski, a 14-year NBA veteran, retired from the Charlotte Hornets to take a job as a color commentator on the team’s radio broadcasts.