Woods Leads by Two After a 66

It took a late bogey to get Tiger Woods started at the MasterCard PGA Grand Slam of Golf at Poipu, Hawaii.

Yes, a bogey.

The Masters champion, showing no ill-effects of a slight cold and a long flight from Japan, watched as his second shot at the 384-yard 13th hole at Kauai’s Poipu Bay Resort rolled backward off the green and into the water Monday.

That made him all the more determined in the first round of the 36-hole tournament reserved for winners of the four majors.

After going back to his original lie 95 yards from the hole, Woods pulled out a pitching wedge and knocked the ball within 14 feet. From there, he rolled in the putt for the only bogey of the round.

U.S. Open winner Ernie Els was ahead by two strokes at that point, but Woods hit his driver 343 yards on No. 14 and then placed his seven-iron to within eight feet, from where he made an eagle putt.

He birdied three of the final four holes to complete the round with a tournament-record-tying six-under 66 and a two-stroke advantage over Els.

Els, the only man in the field to have played previously in this exclusive $1-million event, led most of the way before stumbling at 15 and 16.

Davis Love III, the PGA Championship winner, shot a 71, and British Open winner Justin Leonard struggled to a 77.

Two spectators were injured when Love sliced his drive on the second hole.

A PGA spokesman said Peter Wong was struck on the head and the ball ricocheted off Burton Hamamoto. Wong was taken to a hospital for observation after both men received treatment at a medical center on the Poipu Bay Resort Course. Hamamoto was treated for a cut lip.

Motor Racing

The state Supreme Court has decided not to consider an appeal involving three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Unser, allowing to stand a ruling against Unser by the New Mexico state Court of Appeals.

At issue is whether Unser will face prosecution on three misdemeanor charges stemming from a 1994 incident with a police officer at Albuquerque’s airport.

Unser was stopped by a police officer in May 1994 for allegedly speeding in the departure area outside the airport. He said the officer dented his truck with a nightstick and cursed him when he moved the vehicle to curbside. Unser also said the officer shoved him, and then he shoved her back.

John Andretti, who won his first NASCAR Winston Cup race this season, will return to Petty Enterprises in 1998. Andretti became available when Cale Yarborough’s team lost sponsorship for next season.

Miscellany

Steroids were not involved in the cases of nine weightlifters kicked out of the U.S. Olympic Committee’s main training center, a newspaper reported.

Six of the athletes were accused of using cocaine, while two others were dismissed for using an over-the-counter nutritional supplement that increases testosterone levels, the Colorado Springs Gazette said.

A ninth lifter was kicked out for transporting the same supplement, the Gazette quoted unidentified sources as saying.

The weightlifters were part of a junior resident program of USA Weightlifting, which rented gyms and dormitory space at the USOC’s training center in Colorado Springs.

Keeneland’s record-breaking November Breeding Stock Sale in Lexington, Ky., reached a milestone when gross sales topped the $200-million mark.

At the end of Monday’s session, sales totaled $203,574,600, a world record for a thoroughbred auction. A total of 2,224 horses have been sold with four days remaining in the 12-day auction.

The previous record, $191,957,900, was set in 1983. It was eclipsed Sunday.

Names in the News

Walter Turner, an 18-year-old Florida Atlantic University basketball player who collapsed during practice Oct. 19, died of natural causes, the medical examiner ruled. . . . Alessandro Duran regained the World Boxing Union welterweight title at Ferrara, Italy, with a majority 12-round decision over Peter Malinga. Duran improved to 44-7 and Malinga fell to 20-4.