Elkington Gets a Kick Out of His Doral-Ryder Victory

Steve Elkington was almost certain he needed to make par on the 18th hole Sunday to have a chance at winning the Doral-Ryder Open at Miami, which is why he planted his foot into the side of the scoring trailer after his five-foot par putt rimmed out.

During the hour he spent in his room watching Ernie Els and Greg Kraft try to catch him, he realized something else that proved to be more accurate. Maybe a bogey on the toughest closing hole on the PGA Tour isn’t all that bad.

Despite a three-putt bogey on the 18th, Elkington finished with an eight-under 64 and won when Els and Kraft, both needing par on the final hole to force a playoff, fared much worse.

“It was never my tournament to start with,” said Elkington, who came from six strokes off the lead and finished at 13-under 275. “Then I got a hold of it, and I dropped the ball there at the last hole. I was pretty disgusted with myself.”

Elkington picked up his 10th career PGA Tour victory and $540,000--maybe he can take the money he got for winning to help repair the trailer he damaged after he thought he lost.

Els nearly went in the water and took double bogey when his chip failed to get up the slope to the green. Kraft hit his approach in the water and had to make a great up-and-down for bogey to finish one stroke back.

Els hit an eight-iron from 154 yards that turned left and got hung up in the clumpy rough just short of the water. Needing to get it close to save par, his chip came up short and trickled back down, just short of the hazard.

Kraft was in the next group, trying to stay in position for his first official PGA Tour victory. The pressure finally caught up with him, however, and he caught his five-iron so fat that it splashed into the water about 20 yards short of the green.

He managed to get up and down for bogey, a round of 71 and second place to himself. He earned $324,000, just $2,571 less than what he made all of last year. Els, who finished with a double bogey, had a 70 and tied for third with four others at 277.

Tennis

Jan-Michael Gambill won his first ATP Tour singles title, beating Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 6-4 in the final of the Franklin Templeton Classic at Scottsdale, Ariz.

Gambill, 21, of Spokane, Wash., earned $46,000 for his run through the field, including upsets of Pete Sampras, the world’s top-ranked player, and defending champion Andre Agassi, who had to retire Saturday night when he strained a hamstring.

Gambill and Hewitt, 18, formed the youngest final on the tour this year. Hewitt, who beat two-time U.S. Open champion Patrick Rafter in the second round, won $27,000.

Bjorn Borg of Sweden defeated Henri Leconte of France, 7-5, 6-4, to win the $300,000 Nuveen Masters at Tampa, Fla., the season-ending event for the senior tour.

Track and Field

Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia and Gabriela Szabo of Romania completed distance doubles in the World Indoor Championships at Maebashi, Japan, becoming only the the second and third athletes to win two gold medals in the same championships.

Gebrselassie added the 1,500-meter title to the 3,000 he won Friday, while Szabo took the 3,000 after having won the 1,500 Saturday. The only other athlete to win two individual events in the biennial championships was Hieke Drechsler of Germany, who took the women’s 200 and long jump in 1987.

Gebrselassie didn’t lead the fast-paced 1,500 until overtaking Kenya’s Laban Rotich in the final six meters. He finished in 3 minutes 33.77 seconds, breaking the meet record of 3:35.31 by Morocco’s Hicham el Guerrouj in 1997. Szabo finished the 3,000 in 8:36.42, with Morocco’s Zahra Quaziz second in 8:38.43 and Regina Jacobs third in an American-record 8:39.14.

Maurice Greene won the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.42 seconds. His world record is 6.39. Tim Harden won the silver in 6.43. In the women’s 60 meters, Ekaterini Thanou of Greece beat Gail Devers by .06 seconds to win the gold in 6.96.

College Baseball

Sophomore left fielder Bill Scott hit on solo home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to give UCLA an 8-7 victory over USC at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Scott hit Steve Smyth’s first pitch in the 10th out for his team-leading seventh homer of the year. It enabled the Bruins to improve to 13-13.

Randall Shelley, a freshman, Jack Santora and Jason Green also homered for the Bruins.

USC (7-13) scored four runs in the seventh to tie the game, but did not score after that.

UCLA’s Bobby Roe pitched the ninth and 10th to get the victory.

Boxing

David Reid, who won the WBA super-welterweight title Saturday night in Atlantic City with a unanimous decision over Laurent Boudouani of France, will have surgery on a droopy left eyelid. The operation will be in five days and Reid can resume training in three or four weeks, said Dan Goossen, Reid’s promoter.