European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 10, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday april 10, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 19 tired longer concentrates on masters by Bob Green a Golf writer Augusta a. Tradition says that a masters Champion does not make a successful defense of his  Langer disagrees. If you can do something once you should be Able to do it again two or three times said the West German. In the 49 previous masters Only Jack Nicklaus made a successful defense and that was 20 years ago. There always Are exceptions to the rules. Someone will do it. Hopefully i can be the exception said Langer who scored his first american Triumph Here one year ago. It will help that i be won it before. I know i can play Here and can shoot under Par Langer said tuesday before a practice round Over the Flower bedecked Hills of the Augusta National Golf club course. In addition to the usual foes the demands of course and the pressures of the International Field of 88 of the world s Best shot makers Langer faces another prob Lem. I m tired he said. And his performance shows it. In the last 13 weeks he has played 11 tournaments including one in Australia. In the first seven Langer lost once in a playoff and was third in another tournament. He was fourth in two More was in title Contention five times and did t finish lower than 13th. In his last four starts however he missed the Cut in two including the important tournament player championship his last Outing. The last three weeks i was tired. It affected my concentration. It is More mental than physical he said. He was Quick to Point out that he had played a heavier schedule than he wanted in order to get in As Many Amer ican tournaments As possible in a limited time. Langer goes into the tournament rated no. 1 in the world by a new series of computerized rankings announced in London. Langer who also won the heritage classic last year is among the foreign players who Are required to play 15 american tournaments annually. As a non resident alien however Langer is limited in the number of Days he can stay in the United states this year without facing severe tax penalties. He said he now expects to be Able to play in Only 14 american tournaments this year including his heritage title defense next week the . Open and pea. I am hoping the pea tour will be Able to modify the number of tournaments required he said. At the moment however he s More concerned with his masters defense. I know what it Means to win Here now. It will make me try even harder to repeat he said. No. 1-ranked golfer Bernhard Langer reacts to a crucial Birdie putt in last year s masters final round. A photo Langer Heads rankings european offers Fop computer list London a Sandy Lyle s first Triumph on american soil in last weekend s greater Greensboro open gives Europe the top three players in a new series of computerized Golf rankings. The 200-player list unveiled tuesday is headed by West Germany s Bernhard Langer who this week de fends his . Masters title. Spain s Severiano Balleste Ros is ranked second. Lyle of Scotland is the reigning British open Cham Pion. He climbed from a provisional fifth to third As result of his Victory on sunday. The three europeans Lead two american golfers fourth placed Tom Watson and Mark o Meara. Then come australian Greg Norman and Japan s Tomm Nakajima. The rankings Are based on performances Over the last three years and will be updated weekly. They have been compiled by Tony Greer a weekend golfer and an executive with the London office of International manage ment group a sports consulting and promotion company based in Cleveland Ohio. Greer has been compiling the rankings since the late 1970s for his own amusement. But this year he received help from three areas Sony the japanese electronics giant which will sponsor them Imp which will help promote and distribute them and the Royal and ancient Golf club of St. Andrews the historical arbiter of the sport which sanctions them. The a a will use the rankings to determine qualify ing exemptions for the British open beginning in 1987. It s not a perfect system but then no ranking system is Greer said. We be tried experiments on every aspect and we think this system is  Greer has taken the scores of about 750 players worldwide 300 from the United states 200 from Europe 150 from Japan and other asian countries and 100-150 from South America and has split the tournaments into four categories o Grade i the four majors of the masters . And British opens and the . Pea championship. Grade ii other leading tournaments and championships including most of the . Pea tour top tournaments in Europe and Japan and the australian open. 0 Grade Iii intermediate tournaments and major invitational events such As the Sun tory cup in Japan and the Kapahua invitational in Hawaii. Grade in other tournaments and invitationals including the Sun City classic in the Southern Africa province of . The rankings give the most weight to top performance in the majors with the weight decreasing through the classes to Grade in. Aba from Page 17 Points As Indiana snapped a nine game los ing Streak. The pacers who have Only 26 victories in 80 games this season have won five of six against Washington. They placed seven men in double figures in defeating the bul lets who dropped one half game behind new Jersey in the Atlantic division. The pacers whose loss monday eliminated them from playoff Contention for the fifth consecutive season wasted no time in breaking open the game outscoring the bullets 23-8 in an eight minute Span Midway through the first period to take a 29-14 Lead. 76ers 116, pistons 112 Philadelphia Julius Erving re corded two season highs with 31 Points and nine assists As Philadelphia fought off late Detroit rally. The Victory was the 76ers fifth straight and their 10th in 12 games. The 76ers held a 112-103 advantage with 2 35 to play but a 9-2 spurt by Detroit which concluded with a free throw by Earl Cureton with 15 seconds remaining Cut the Philadelphia Lead to 114-112. Erving made two free throws with 12 seconds left for the game s final Points. Rookie Terry Catledge added 27 Point for Philadelphia. Vinnie Johnson had 23 and Bill Laim Beer and Kelly Tripucka 21 each for de troit. Laimbeer the league s leading re Bounder had 18 rebounds for the pistons. Rockets 109, supersonics 95 Houston Reserve guard Mitchell Wiggins scored a season High 22 Points and Robert Reid added 18 More to eliminate Seattle from playoff Contention. Lakers 120, blazers 114 Portland Ore. Kareem Abdul Jabbar scored a game High 26 Points to Lead los Angeles. The Laker win completed the first season sweep by los Angeles Over Portland since1972-73. Kiki Vandeweghe led Portland with 22points. Warriors 129, Mavericks 115 Oakland Calif. Golden state used a balanced scoring attack led by Eric Floyd s 29 Points to defeat Dallas. Floyd s backcourt partner Terry Teagle scored 23. The win was Golden state s seventh straight at Home and the ninth in the warriors last 13 games. Guard Derek Harper led Dallas with 23 Points. No from Page 17 debut As the Atlanta manager. Mahler who was 17-15 last season struck out one and walked two. Giants 8, astros 3 Houston Pinch hitter Candy Mal Donado hit a three run triple in the seventh inning and Rookie will Clark homered in his first big league at Bat to ruin Houston shome opener. Maldonado hit the second pitch by reliever Jeff Calhoun Down the right Field line to score Chris Brown Bob Brenly and Brad Gulden who had been put aboard by hous ton starter Nolan Ryan. Maldonado s blow snapped a 3-3 tie. San Francisco starter Mike Krukow who departed for a Pinch hitter in the seventh was the winning Pitcher. Clark is the 53rd player in major league history to hit a Home run in his first major league at Bat. Houston s Glenn Davis put the astros into the Lead in the first with a two run Homer off Krukow after Bill Doran walked. The astros added a run in the second when Kevin Bass tripled to Center and scored on a sacrifice bunt by Dickie Thon. The giants tied the score at 3-3 in the fifth inning. Rob Thompson led off with a double and took third on the play on a throwing error by left fielder Eric Bullock. Jose Uribe s single scored Thompson. The giants added a run in the eighth on an rib groundnut by Jeff Leonard and an other in the ninth on a Homer by Brenly. Padres 1, dodgers 0 los Angeles Dave Dravecky pitched a three hitter and Terry Kennedy delivered the Only run with an infield hit in the third inning to Lead san Diego. It was the sixth career shutout for 30 year old left hander who yielded singles to Reggie Williams in the third inning Bill Madlock in the fourth and Dave Duncan in the ninth. Dravecky retired 17 of the last 18batters he faced. The loss ended an 11-game winning Streak for Orel Hershiser. The last time that Hershiser lost in dodger stadium where he also carried an 11-game winning Streak was sept. 9, 1984. The dodgers failed to get a runner past first base against Dravecky. The padres got their run when Kevin Mcreynolds led off the third with a single stole second took third on Steve Garvey s Fly Ball and scored on Kennedy s base hit