Westwood Defeats Norman in Australian Open Playoff

Greg Norman, the only player to lose all four majors in a playoff, was beaten by England’s Lee Westwood in the Australian Open on the fourth playoff hole Sunday at Melbourne.

Norman, ranked No. 1 in the world, led by two strokes with two holes remaining, then bogeyed Nos. 17 and 18. On the fourth playoff hole, he failed on a five-foot putt and took a bogey while Westwood closed with a par.

“I’m disappointed,” said Norman, who was bidding for his sixth victory in this event in his home country. “But I wasn’t really in sync. I didn’t have a whole lot of rhythm.”

Norman could have won with a 10-foot putt on the final hole of regulation, but he missed and finished tied with Westwood at 14-under-par 274.

Baseball

Gary Carter, Jack Clark and Bert Blyleven are among nine first-time eligible players on 1998 ballots for election by baseball writers to the Hall of Fame.

Also eligible for the first time are Rick Dempsey, Brian Downing, Mike Flanagan, Pedro Guerrero, Carney Lansford and Willie Randolph.

Ten-year members of the Baseball Writers Assn. of America are eligible for the vote, which will be announced Jan. 5.

The owner of the Philadelphia Phillies won’t approve the Minnesota Twins’ proposed move until funding is approved for a stadium in North Carolina.

The Twins’ pending sale to North Carolina businessman Don Beaver and relocation is contingent on approval by other baseball owners.

Bill Giles, a member of baseball’s ruling executive council, told the Star Tribune he would approve a Twins’ move “only if there is 100 per cent certainty that they will get a proper facility. If it’s maybe they’ll get it, then they won’t get my support. It has to be that it’s definitely going to happen.”

An 18-year-old high school outfielder signed a minor-league contract with the Boston Red Sox, becoming the first Japanese player other than a pitcher to sign with a major league team.

Kenichiro Kawabata’s mother, Tomoko, said the contract was signed at his Tenri High School. The contract reportedly is worth about $100,000.

Winter Sports

At the same rink in Nagano, Japan, where the Olympic figure skating will be held in February, Ilia Kulik of Russia won his first title in more than a year.

Next up for Kulik will be the Champions Series finals at Munich Dec. 19-21.

Kulik edged American Scott Davis. China’s Quo Zhengxin, who completed a quadruple jump, finished third.

Michelle Kwan has qualified to compete in figure skating’s Champions Series finals in Germany despite skipping the NHK Trophy competition because of injury.

Tanja Szewczenko of Germany, who won the NHK title Saturday, tops the rankings with 24 points, followed by Irina Slutskaya’s 21, 18 each for Russian Maria Butyrskaya and American Tara Lipinski, 16 for Russian Elena Sokolova and Kwan’s 12.

Kwan, the 1996 world and U.S. champion, withdrew from the NHK Trophy with a minor stress fracture in the second toe on her left foot.

Italy’s Armin Zoeggler won his second consecutive luge World Cup of the season in men’s singles at Berchtesgaden, Germany. Zoeggler raced down the Koenigssee track in 1 minute, 36.275 seconds, producing the day’s fastest run of 48.177 in the second heat.

Norway’s Bjarte Engen Vik withstood 10-degree cold to win the second Nordic combined World Cup meet of the season by more than a minute at Rovaniemi, Finland.

USA I, piloted by Brian Shimer, used fast starts in both heats to win the second four-man bobsled World Cup race of the season at Winterberg, Germany.

Tennis

Rain forced organizers to postpone the finals of the $50,000 HealthSouth USTA Challenger at McCambridge Park in Burbank.

Andre Agassi, the third seed, is scheduled to play top-seeded Sargis Sargsian of Armenia for the singles title at 11:30 a.m. today. USC teammates George Bastl and Patrick Gottesleben play Doug Flach and Brian MacPhie in the doubles final at 10 a.m.

Soccer

Sunday’s NCAA men’s Division I second-round playoff game between UCLA and Washington was postponed because of rain. It was rescheduled for today at 11:30 a.m., weather permitting.

UCLA has an 18-2 record while Washington is 15-2-2.

U.S. national team player Sara Whalen scored two goals to help No. 3 Connecticut (22-3-0) advance to the semifinals of the NCAA women’s Division I playoffs with a 4-0 victory over William & Mary.

Connecticut will play Notre Dame (23-0-1) at North Carolina-Greensboro Friday. North Carolina (25-0-1) will play Santa Clara (20-2-1) in the other semifinal.

Miscellany

Indianapolis will be the host for the men’s world basketball championships in 2002 after beating out Tokyo and Munich in bidding.

It will be the first time the international competition will be held in the United States. The tournament is held every four years and is scheduled for Athens, Greece, next year.

Japan’s Makiko Ito surged ahead in the final 2 1/2 miles and won the Tokyo International Women’s Marathon, beating a field that included 1996 Olympic gold medalist Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia.

Olympic gold medalist Rodney Milburn’s family is having trouble getting the medal he won at the 1972 Munich Games, and other awards and memorabilia. Milburn, 47, died Nov. 12 in an accident at the paper mill where he worked.

His relatives believe the Olympic gold, won in the 110-meter hurdles, is in a safe deposit box. But they don’t know the name of the bank and can’t find the papers for his storage vault and his safe deposit box.