Zoeller Apologizes for Woods Remarks

Fuzzy Zoeller apologized Monday for calling Masters champion Tiger Woods “that little boy” and urging him not to request fried chicken or collard greens for the Champions Dinner next year.

Zoeller’s comments about Woods, made at Augusta National while the 21-year-old was becoming the first black golfer to win a major tournament on April 13, were broadcast Sunday on CNN’s “Pro Golf Weekly.”

“My comments were not intended to be racially derogatory, and I apologize for the fact that they were misconstrued in that fashion,” Zoeller said in a statement.

Woods could not be reached for comment.

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Tom Lehman, who moved to the top of the golf rankings over the weekend, defeated defending American champion Scott Hoch, two-and-one, in the first round of the Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf match-play event at Eatonton, Ga.

Horse Racing

Jerry Bailey, who has ridden two of the last four Kentucky Derby winners, will be aboard Phantom On Tour in the May 3 race at Churchill Downs. He replaces Larry Melancon, who rode Phantom On Tour when he finished second in the April 12 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.

Phantom On Tour owner W. Cal Partee said the switch to Bailey would “offer us our best chance to win.”

For the first time since 1980, trainer D. Wayne Lukas won’t have an entry in the Kentucky Derby. Lukas, who has won the last two Derbys and seven of the last eight Triple Crown races, said he will be a spectator for this year’s race.

Olympics

U.S. Sen. John McCain (R.--Ariz.) asked the U.S. Olympic Committee to explain why officials linked to the misuse of more than $1.3 million in grants to amateur boxing still had USOC jobs.

The letter, released by McCain’s office in Washington, mentioned three former USA Boxing officials involved in the scandal and targeted two--Jim Fox, a former boxing executive director and now head of the USOC’s broadcast division; and Steve Ducoff, a former boxing treasurer and currently volunteer head of a USOC committee.

Researchers from around the world are meeting in Lausanne Switzerland this week, pooling their efforts to develop reliable tests for some of the most widely-used banned drugs in sport.

The anti-doping summit today and Wednesday is organized by the International Olympic Committee. The IOC wants to hear what progress the researchers have made in testing for human growth hormone (hGH), erythropoietin (EPO) and testosterone--three of the performance-enhancing drugs of choice in international sport.

Tennis

Jim Courier and Sergi Bruguera, struggling to stay in the top 20, won first-round matches at the Monte Carlo Open.

Courier rallied to defeat 19-year old Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia, 6-7 (1-7), 7-5, 6-4. Bruguera had an easier time beating fellow Spaniard Javier Sanchez, 6-4, 6-1.

Third-seeded Petr Korda of Czechoslovakia survived first-round scare at the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships at Lake Buena Vista, Fla. when Jeff Salzenstein withdrew from the match because of leg cramps. The score was 2-6, 6-4, 4-3, retired. . . . Spaniard Albert Costa defeated fellow countryman Albert Portas, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4, to win the Seat Godo Open men’s tennis tournament at Barcelona. . . . Sweden’s Asa Carlsson and Slovakia’s Katerina Studenikofa, seeded fifth and sixth, lost first-round matches in the Budapest Lotto Ladies Open tournament.

Miscellany

The city of Oakland and Alameda County must pay an additional $8 million next fiscal year to make up for revenue shortfalls at its coliseum and arena complex--about half of that because of the Raiders. The city and county will have to chip in $4 million each for the fiscal year 1997, which begins in July, because costs have exceeded revenues.

The boxing tournament of the 1998 Goodwill Games will be held in a 3,300-seat arena on the massive flight deck of the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier in New York City, now moored as a museum.

The first major new marathon to be produced in the United States in more than a decade will debut June 21, 1998 in San Diego.

Names in the News

Former Alabama football coach Gene Stallings remained hospitalized after he was trampled by three horses on his ranch at Paris, Texas. He was listed in good condition after undergoing surgery to repair a fractured hip Sunday.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed former New York Jet linebacker Eddie Mason and seven undrafted college players.

The NHL fined Montreal defenseman Dave Manson $1,000 for criticizing referee Stephen Walkom after the Canadiens’ 4-1 loss Saturday in New Jersey.