European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 31, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday March 312007 stars and stripes Page 35 Morenstam stumbles to 75 in Kraft Nabisco opener sports briefs the associated press Rancho Mirage Calif even after finishing with a Birdie Annika Morenstam jammed her Putter into the bag with Dis gust then stood behind the ninth Green with hands on hips thursday after her worst Start in a major in seven years she opened with a 3over 75 in the Kraft Nabisco championship a score that could have been higher if not for a few Par saves Lorena Ochoa started her first round at Mission Hills in the afternoon birdied her first two holes and landed a wedge within a foot on the ninth to put her at 4under Par As she headed for the Back nine a Victory by the 25yearold mexican Star would move her to no 1 in the Wom ens world ranking Shi Hyun Ann took the Lead among Early Start ers on a Sun soaked Day in the desert making six birdies in a round of 4under 68 two shots Clear of a group that included Catriona Matthew and Maria Hjorth Duke coach mulling Texas Austin Texas Gail Goestenkors who has built a women basketball Power House at Duke Over the last 15 seasons re turned to Durham no after a visit to Texas to interview for the longhorns coaching opening one of her last meetings was dinner wednesday night with Texas administration officials for Goestenkors the ques Tion is whether to Chase an elusive National championship with a Blue devils program she built in her Only head coaching Job or move to Texas to rebuild the once mighty longhorns its going to take some time to make a decision Goestenkors told the associated press on wednesday i have to go Back and talk to my people at a seven time Atlantic coast conference coach of the year the 44yearold Goestenkors has been considered the top candidate for the Texas Job since Jody Conradt announced her resignation March 12 after the longhorns missed the Mcaa tournament for the second consecutive year cars magic to play in China Shanghai China Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers Are headed to China the Cavaliers will play exhibition games against the Orlando magic on oct 17 and oct 20 the Aba announced during a news conference on thursday the first game will be played in Shanghai and the second will be in the former portuguese territory of Macau sandwiched Between those games the magic will face the chinese National team on oct 18 also in Macau the exhibition games will be the second for the Aba in China in 2004 the Houston rockets led by chinese Center Yao Ming and the Sacramento Kings played in Beijing and Shanghai the meeting Between the magic and the China National team will Mark the second time an Aba team has faced chivas top team on National soil in 1979 the washing ton bullets now the wizards played two games against the China National team us Guatemala play to 00 tie Frisco Texas the us soccer teams perfect run under interim coach Bob Bradley ended with a 00 tie against Guatemala in an exhibition game on wednesday night the americans had won their first three matches after Bradley replaced Bruce Arena in december Bradley Hopes to get the full time Job with the us team which is now off until june goalkeeper Kasey Keller playing with the National team for the first time since the world cup was hardly tested by the guatemalans the opening opponent for the americans in the first round of junes Matt Guatemala Carlos Figueroa jumps Over us goalie Kasey Keller 18 As a play is broken up near the american goal in wednesdays soccer game the teams played to a 00 tie conc Acaf Gold cup the championship of soccer North and Central american and Caribbean Region Nadal says foot needs rest key Biscayne Fla Rafael Nadal said Hes skipping Spain Davis cup quarterfinal match against the United states next month because he needs to rest his injured foot Nadal said his foot has been bothering him for the past month despite the injury Nadal played in the quarterfinals wednesday night in the Sony Ericsson open losing to Novak Miokovic 6364 although Ive been playing very Well in playing with some pain in my foot Nadal said i have to rest right now be cause i feel pain the absence of the second ranked Nadal will make the us a Strong favorite for the match april 68 in Winston Salem no Cuba suspends Richardson Albany by former Aba player Micheal Ray Richardson was suspended by the Continental basketball association on wednesday for Antisemitic comments the Albany patroons coach made in a newspaper interview Richardson will miss the rest of the Cuba Besto five championship series after Tell ing the Albany times Union he had big time jew lawyers working for him they got a lot of Power in this world you know what i mean which i think is great Richardson told the times Union i dont think theres nothing wrong with it if you look in most professional sports there run by jewish people if you look at a lot of most successful corporations and stuff More businesses there run by jew ish its not a Knock but they Are some Crafty people the paper also reported that Richardson yelled at a heckler using profanity and a Gay slur during tuesdays game 1 of the championship series against Yakima Albany lost the first two games of the Besto five series both at Home patroons owner Ben Fernandez denounced Richardson comments during his suspension the Cuba is investigating allegations against Richardson we will not tolerate and the league will not Fernandez said Richardson will not be allowed to watch the team practice or be present for any of the games its terrible and i dont think its fair Richardson said but i want to make an apology if i offended anyone because that not me Richardson was the fourth Overall pick in the 1978 draft he joined the Aba out of Montana and played eight seasons with the new York kicks Golden state warriors and new Jersey nets his Aba career ended because of drug use in 1986 when Aba commissioner David Stern banned Richardson for life after he violated the leagues drug policy three times Hobey Baker finalists announced Minneapolis notre Dame goalie David Brown North Dakota Forward Ryan Duncan and air Force Forward Eric Ehn Are this years Hobey Baker finalists the awards foundation said wednesday the award for College hockey top player will be handed out april 6 in st Louis during the Mcaa Frozen four Brown a senior would become the third goalie to win the award and the first since Michigan states Ryan Miller in 2001 Ehri a Junior helped Lead the Falcons to their first Mcaa tournament appearance Duncan a Sophomore will play with the fighting Sioux in the National semifinals against Boston College next thursday Oden Durant Are wooden finalists los Angeles freshmen Greg Oden of Ohio state and Kevin Durant of Texas Are among the five finalists for the John r wooden award presented to College basketballs outstanding player others invited for the april 7 presenta Tion at the los Angeles athletic club Are North Carolina Sophomore Tyler Hans Brough Texas senior Acie Law and Wisconsin senior Alando Tucker the wooden award was created in 1976 a year after the former Urcla coach re tired after guiding the Bruins to 10 Mcaa championships in a 12year Span tigers Rogers on 15day do Detroit Detroit tigers Pitcher Kenny Rogers will miss at least one regu la season Start after going on the 15day disabled list thursday with a tired Arm general manager Dave Dombrowski said Rogers was seeing a specialist and would not speculate on How Long he will be out but did say the Lethander will miss at least one Start the designation is retroactive to March 25 right hander Chad Durbin will take Rog ers spot i the rotation and lefty Bobby Seay will take his roster spot big night in Pool for Phelps co Melbourne Australia Michael Phelps set his third world record Hias Many Days winning the 200meter individual Medley in the world swimming championships thursday night Phelps used the same strategy he employed in winning the 200 freestyle and 200 Butterfly go to the Lead off the Start ing blocks and stay there he came Home in 1 minute 5498 seconds bettering his Mark of set in August in the pan Pacific championships Phelps the first swimmer to win three world titles in the 200 in earned his record 14th world championship medal he has also set world records in the 200 freestyle and 200 Butterfly his first Gold came As part of the 400 freestyle relay Phelps is 4for4 so far in Pursuit of eight Gold medals he still has the 100 Butterfly 400 individual Medley and Likely spots on the 400 Medley and 800 free relays not to be outdone by Phelps the us women 800 freestyle relay took Back the world record from Germany winning by 373 seconds Natalie Coughlin Dana Vollmer Lacey Nymeyer and Katie Hoff were under world record Pace All the Way and finished in 7 minutes 5009 seconds to set the 10th world record of the meet Coughlin and Vollmer were part of the team that set the Mark in the 2004 Athens olympics Only to have Germany break it in last years european championships the United states beat Germany Mark by 073 seconds for its fourth consecutive world title Shields oks 3year Deal los Angeles los Angeles Angels reliever Scot Shields agreed thursday to a million three year contract Exten Sion through 2010 Shields the Angels setup Man had agreed last month to a million oneyear contract the new Deal adds Sala Ries of million in 2008 million in 2009 and million in 2010 the 31yearold right hander was 77 last season with two saves and a 287 Era in 74 games the fourth most appearances in the Al Gagne to open season on do Surprise Ariz Eric Gagne will Start the season on the disabled list for the Texas rangers a move the team is making to give the closer More time in his come Back from Elbow and Back operations the rangers said Gagne Hast had any health setbacks the 2003 my by Young award Winner has pitched Only Isis innings Over the past two seasons he had Elbow surgery in june 2005 then another operation last april to remove a nerve from his pitching Elbow he had surgery last july to repair a herniated disk in his lower Back Akinori Otsuka who converted 32 of 36 saves last season will handle the closing duties until Gagne returns the plan is for Gagne to pitch several More times in Arizona and is Likely to join the team april 13 in Seattle