Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 7, 1995 TAG: 9507070057
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
``It was a long time ago, but I'll never forget that first victory,'' said Watson, whose 1974 Western win began his decade of dominance on the tour. ``I feel good about my game, pretty good for a 45-year-old golfer. I'd like to win another tournament - soon.''
Despite steady winds with gusts in excess of 30 mph, he shot a 4-under-par 68 over the 7,073-yard course at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club.
``I'm always happy to see the wind,'' said Watson, who also won the Western in 1977 and 1984. ``It doesn't become such a putting contest. It becomes more of a chess game.''
Watson birdied four of the final six holes and shot 32 on the back nine to take a one-stroke lead over Ed Fiori, Jay Haas, Brett Ogle, Joel Edwards and Steve Lowery. Edwards had a hole-in-one on the 172-yard 14th hole.
Fred Couples and Justin Leonard were another stroke back at 2-under. Greg Kraft, Craig Simpson, Bob Gilder, Guy Boros, Ronnie Black and Mark Calcavecchia shot 71s and were the only other golfers under par.
Two-time defending champion Nick Price shot a 75 and needs to rally today to make the cut. It was his first over-par round since the tournament moved from Butler National to Cog Hill in 1991; he had been a collective 44-under in the four previous years.
The only amateur in the field, 19-year-old Tiger Woods, shot a 74. He was playing for the first time since a wrist injury forced him to withdraw from the U.S. Open.
Ex-Redskin seeks $912,000
A debilitating clip to his knees forced Walter Sweeney's retirement from the Washington Redskins in 1975. A far more serious disability, however, prevents him from living a normal life.
Sweeney played 11 years for the San Diego Chargers and three years for the Redskins. He blames drugs that were ``widely administered by NFL teams'' for his inability to hold down a regular job the last 19 years.
The 54-year-old former guard is asking a federal judge in San Diego to order the Bert Bell NFL Player Retirement Plan to award him more than $912,000 in disability benefits retroactive to 1976, plus damages.
U.S. District Court Judge Rudi Brewster is scheduled to hear the case July 31.
Sweeney contends he was ``repeatedly urged to take drugs by the team staff and doctors, and as a young player willing to do what it took to succeed in the NFL, he did what he was told.''
Lawyers for the NFL Retirement Plan said Thursday the fund is a separate entity from the NFL and has nothing to do with administering drugs to players.
The retirement fund has paid out more than $100,000 to Sweeney since Jan. 1, 1990, the date it concluded Sweeney became permanently disabled. Before that, he worked steadily at a variety of jobs from bartender to drug counselor.
The fund is paying for Sweeney's treatment at a San Diego County drug rehabilitation center, where he has been staying since January, while the issue is being decided.
Purdue basketball coach Gene Keady signed a new seven-year contract, the Big Ten school announced.
Purdue athletic director Morgan J. Burke said the agreement includes a base salary of $138,000 per year and that specific details will not be announced.
Keady has compiled a 322-142 mark in 15 years at Purdue. Burke said the new agreement sets the stage for him to complete his coaching career with the Boilermakers.
Eric Lindros of the Philadelphia Flyers, in an honor voted by his fellow players, was selected winner of the Lester B. Pearson Award as the NHL's most outstanding player. It was his first major award.
Jeff Brubaker, the winningest coach in East Coast Hockey League history, was named the first coach of the expansion Jacksonville Lizard Kings.
Brubaker, 37, coached the Greensboro Monarchs to winning records six years in a row and three appearances in the ECHL finals. The Monarchs are moving up to the American Hockey League next season.
Brubaker, who played parts of 11 NHL seasons with seven teams from 1979-89, is the only man to coach all six seasons of the ECHL's existence, posting a record of 211-149-8 and winning the league's first championship in 1990.
Greensboro advanced to the ECHL finals this past season, but with the move to the higher league a coaching change was ordered by the Monarchs' NHL affiliate, the Florida Panthers.
Running back Travis Cozart, a junior college transfer to Tennessee who has yet play a game, is in trouble again.
He was arrested July 4th for fighting at a cookout.
Cozart, who already had been disciplined in Tennessee's telephone fraud scandal, was charged with assault. He was released from the Loudon County jail after posting $500 bond.
The Knoxville News-Sentinel reported that two other men had been involved in an altercation at the cookout before Cozart got there.
One of them, Rodney Dawson, and Cozart then began fighting, the newspaper reported. The police officers were still on the scene, sorting out the previous fight, and arrested both Cozart and Dawson.
Cozart signed with Tennessee out of high school but was not admitted to school. He played at a Kansas junior college for two years before transferring to Tennessee last semester. He pushed for playing time at tailback during spring practice.
The newspaper identified Cozart as one of dozens of athletes who used a stolen long-distance charge account belonging to an athletics department employee to make free telephone calls.
Cozart was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and forfeit two of his four complimentary tickets to Tennessee football games as punishment.
by CNB