Tryba Wins Rain-Delayed Tournament

Ted Tryba followed a friend’s advice with three holes to go at the St. Jude Classic at Memphis, Tenn., and it helped him win $450,000.

Tryba, who won by two strokes Monday, was in a group of six one shot off the lead heading into the final round, which had been delayed a day because of heavy rain Sunday.

He was practicing his putting before going onto the course when his friend grabbed him by the shoulders and told him: “Take your time out there--any time I felt a little rushed or I felt uncomfortable to just take a step back.”

Clinging to a one-stroke lead at the tee on the 528-yard, par-5 16th hole, Tryba recalled the advice and stepped back from the ball. He then stepped up and smacked a perfect drive.

“I think it really helped me there because I hit probably the best tee shot of the week there,” Tryba said.

From 234 yards out he hit a 4-iron about eight feet from the pin, then made an eagle putt to go to 19-under. He stayed there and collected the $450,000 winner’s check for his second PGA Tour victory.

Tryba’s 265 total was two shots better than Tim Herron and Tom Lehman. Jose Maria Olazabal, whose closing 62 was the best of the week, and Kevin Wentworth were three back at 16-under.

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Andrew Coltart of Britain withdrew from the U.S. Open golf championship because of a torn muscle between his ribs, tournament officials said. Coltart, 29, with one victory in nine years on the European PGA Tour, was replaced by Edward Pfister of La Quinta.

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A limited number of tickets to the David Duval-Tiger Woods showdown on Aug. 2 at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks go on sale today via https://www.tickets.com or 1-800-TICKETS. There are 200 clubhouse passes available for $550 each, which includes pre- and post-match parties and VIP parking, and 1,500 grounds passes for $225 each.

There are also 50 special auction packages offered with a minimum bid of $2000. Each package includes golf for two at Sherwood, two clubhouse passes, VIP parking and posters autographed by Duval and Woods.

Tennis

Pete Sampras was named the men’s top-seeded player for Wimbledon, which begins Monday. But Mark Philippoussis got the biggest break when the seedings were announced.

The big-serving Australian, who reached the quarterfinals last year at Wimbledon but is ranked only No. 11 on this week’s ATP Tour ranking, was seeded seventh.

He leapfrogged four clay-court players ranked ahead of him. One of those, Chilean Marcelo Rios, withdrew because of an injury before the seedings were announced.

After Sampras, the top six were: Patrick Rafter, Australia; Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Russia; Andre Agassi; Richard Krajicek, Netherlands; Tim Henman, Britain.

On the women’s side, 1997 champion Martina Hingis was seeded first, followed by seven-time Wimbledon champion Steffi Graf, who is seeded second despite her No. 3 WTA Tour ranking. American Lindsay Davenport was seeded No. 3--she is No. 2 on the WTA list. After that, the next four seeding followed the WTA ranking: Monica Seles, Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic, Venus Williams and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain.

Miscellany

Lonny Powell, who currently works as president of Turf Paradise in Phoenix, has been named the new president and chief executive officer of Santa Anita.

Frank Stronach, who purchased Santa Anita last December, made the announcement Monday and Powell, 39, who is the son of former jockey Taylor Powell, will officially take over sometime in July.

Former Santa Anita president and CEO Bill Baker recently resigned as did former general manager Cliff Goodrich.

San Bernardino Stampede right-hander Marcos Castillo pitched a perfect game in a 4-0 victory over the Lake Elsinore Storm Monday night in a California League game at Lake Elsinore. Castillo struck out five and got 10 flyouts and 12 groundouts. It was the third perfect game in California League history and the first since Randolph Ramirez of Bakersfield threw one against Stockton in 1983.

A decathlete who broke Dan O’Brien’s school record was missing and feared drowned after his raft capsized in turbulent waters near Spokane, Wash.

Dusty Lane, a sophomore at the Community Colleges of Spokane, was rafting Sunday with three friends. None of the rafters wore a life jacket and the group had been drinking, Spokane County sheriff’s Sgt. David Fray said.

Fray said the raft overturned in the Spokane River in Riverside State Park. Three of the rafters made it to shore near the Bowl and Pitcher, a rough turn in the river favored by kayakers.

The New York Giants released veteran defensive backs Tito Wooten and Curtis Buckley, saying they had to make room under the salary cap to sign younger players.

A judge at Lille, France threw out charges against the presidents of the French Cycling Federation and the Professional Cycling League, who had been among more than a dozen people suspected of a role in the Festina cycling scandal.