Norman, Hoch Ease Into 36-Hole Final

Greg Norman versus Hisayuki Sasaki was little more than a walkover. Scott Hoch against Sam Torrance took a little longer.

In the end, though, the inevitable happened Saturday in semifinal matches of the World Championship of Golf at Scottsdale, Ariz.

Norman, the International section champion, needed only 14 holes to defeat Sasaki, the Japanese champion, 5 and 4. He ended the match with typical brilliance, holing out from a bunker about for his seventh birdie.

Hoch, the U.S. champion, beat Torrance, a Scot who won the European section, 4 and 2, with his seventh birdie in a round that also included an eagle. He was nine under when the match ended at the 16th hole.

Norman and Hoch will play a 36-hole match today, with the winner receiving $1 million.

Tennis

Justin Gimelstob, a late replacement who had never played mixed doubles as a professional before this week, teamed with Chanda Rubin to give the United States its first title in the Hopman Cup championship at Perth, Australia.

Gimelstob and Rubin beat Wayne Ferreira and Amanda Coetzer, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, in the decisive mixed-doubles match to earn a 2-1 victory over South Africa in the final.

Rubin defeated Coetzer, 7-5, 6-2, in the opening women’s singles, before Ferreira tied the match with a 6-4, 7-6 victory over Gimelstob. The unseeded Americans won the match when they broke Coetzer’s serve at love after 1 hour 47 minutes of mixed doubles action.

Jim Courier advanced to the final of the Qatar Open at Doha by defeating two-time French Open champion Sergi Bruguera of Spain, 6-4, 6-2. Courier’s opponent in today’s final will be Britain’s Tim Henman, a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 winner over Moroccan Hicham Arazi. . . . In an all-Australian final, Todd Woodbridge overwhelmed Scott Draper, 6-2, 6-1, in 57 minutes to win the Australian hardcourt championships at Adelaide.

Baseball

Names of Cincinnati Reds executives and relatives were among those that General Motors said Reds owner Marge Schott used to falsify 57 auto sales at her dealership, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

Acting chief executive John Allen is among the eight current and former Reds staffers on the list, which has been submitted as part of a complaint General Motors has filed with the Ohio Motor Vehicle Dealers Board.

The Texas Rangers agreed to a one-year contract with free agent outfielder Mike Devereaux, who spent last season with Baltimore.

Devereaux, 33, batted .229 with eight home runs and 34 runs batted in in 127 games with the Orioles, who did not offer him salary arbitration.

The Atlanta Braves’ new stadium will have to undergo repairs even before the baseball season starts.

Concrete concourses at the stadium--which was built for the Olympics but is now being converted to a 49,800-seat baseball park--already have noticeable cracks.

Winter Sports

Boyd Devereaux and Brad Isbister provided the offense and goaltender Marc Denis took care of the defense as Canada beat the United States, 2-0, at Geneva for an unprecedented fifth consecutive World Junior Hockey Championship.

The world title was the seventh in the last eight tournaments for Canada and the 10th overall. The silver medal marked the Americans’ best showing at the tournament.

Driving snow and thick fog didn’t stop Pernilla Wiberg from powering through a World Cup slalom course at Maribor, Slovenia, for her third victory this season.

The Swede was the last skier to leave the start house in the second run after organizers decided to reverse the starting sequence of the first 30 racers rather than only the first 15, as is usually done when conditions are poor.

Wiberg had a combined time of 1 minute 44.55 seconds, nearly 0.8 seconds ahead of Slovenia’s Urska Hrovat.

World champion Michelle Kwan of the United States skated flawlessly and overcame competition from professionals to take the lead after the short program at an open figure skating event in Tokyo.

Russian amateur Ilia Kulik landed all three of his jumps cleanly and also outshone professionals in the men’s competition. World champion Todd Eldredge of the United States was in fourth place, falling behind Kulik, Takeshi Honda of Japan and Philippe Candeloro of France.

Russian Irina Slutskaya placed second behind Kwan, followed by Japan’s Yuka Sato, who turned professional after winning the 1994 world championship.

Finland’s Mika Myllyla won his second World Cup cross-country ski race of the season, easily beating second-place Fulvio Valbusa of Italy in the 30-kilometer event at Kavgolovo, Russia.

Myllyla, crossing the finish line with ice on his mustache and beard, wound up with a 42-second margin of victory at the steep, challenging course near St. Petersburg.

Japan’s Kazuyoshi Funaki, repeating his triumph two years ago, won a World Cup ski jumping event at Innsbruck, Austria.

Funaki won on jumps of 116 and 113.5 meters with a total of 254.10 points.

Canadian snowboarder Jasey-Jay Anderson rocketed past everyone on the second run to win the men’s giant slalom at Snowmass, Colo., in the Bud Light U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix.

Jurisprudence

Robert Irsay’s wife will collect his $25,000 monthly salary from the Indianapolis Colts and his son will get to see his medical reports as a result of the latest court appearance by the bickering relatives.

Nancy Irsay and Jim Irsay both left Hamilton (Ind.) Superior Court claiming victory in their ongoing battle over the ailing team owner’s estate and medical condition.

Judge William J. Hughes ruled against Jim Irsay’s petition to deny media access to his father, who suffered a massive stroke in November 1995.

Names in the News

Indonesian immigration officials have issued a visa for Magic Johnson to visit Indonesia, the official Antara news agency reported. Johnson was denied a visa to enter Indonesia in 1994 because of his HIV-positive status. . . . Kentucky quarterback Billy Jack Haskins will transfer to Rhode Island after being told by new coach Hal Mumme he had lost his starting position to Tim Couch. . . . Tyronee “Tiger” Bussey, a Colorado linebacker who remained committed to his team even when he was confined to a hospital bed, died at a Detroit hospital Friday after a lengthy battle with leukemia. He was 20.