Par Good Enough for Morgan in Wind

With the wind gusting to 40 mph, Gil Morgan wasn’t thrilled about starting the first round of the MasterCard Championship at Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

By the end of the round Friday, Morgan had a creditable par 72 and a one-stroke lead over Hale Irwin, Dave Stockton and Dave Eichelberger in the tournament limited to winners of last year’s Senior PGA Tour events.

It was only the second time in 13 years that no golfer bettered par on the senior tour.

“I was lost on a couple of holes. I didn’t know what to hit,” Morgan said. “With the gusts, you weren’t sure what would happen. There was a four- to five-club difference at times.”

Irwin described the round as an adventure.

“If you got inside of six feet, you hit an extremely good shot or were lucky,” he said. “It didn’t matter what clubs you hit. Height was everything. If you got it up high, it was gone.”

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Michelle McGann’s length off the tee came in handy in cold, blustery conditions that greeted the first round of the HealthSouth Inaugural at Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Her short game wasn’t bad, either.

McGann made short birdie putts on all four of the par fives at Disney’s Lake Buena Vista Course, helping her to a six-under-par 66 and a two-shot lead over defending champion Karrie Webb, Vicki Fergon and rookie Joanne Morley of England.

McGann, third on the tour last year in driving distance, had an extra advantage by not having to go off in the morning, when whipping winds put the windchill at 16 degrees.

“Your hands are so numb that it’s hard to hold the club,” said Amy Read, who survived with a 70.

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Arnold Palmer, 67, left the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., two days after surgery for prostate cancer, and returned to his home in Orlando, Fla., the clinic said.

“Both he and his doctors are very pleased with the results of Wednesday’s surgery,” the clinic said in a statement.

College Sports

Louisiana State will not release freshman forward Lester Earl from his national letter of intent.

“Had he finished out the season, we would have willingly given him his release. Somewhere in life, you must be held responsible for your actions,” Coach Dale Brown said in a news release.

Earl, who quit the team Dec. 29 after being suspended by Brown, said this week he would enroll at Kansas.

Four men who prosecutors said have links to organized crime face charges that they ran a sports gambling ring using student bookmakers at Boston College.

One of the men was an employee of a popular bar near the campus, where he allegedly took bets and made payoffs that resulted in a scandal involving Boston College football players. Another ordered a student bookmaker who was behind in his payments to be severely beaten, according to officials.

Washington State basketball star Carlos Daniel, the team’s leading rebounder and second-leading scorer, has been arrested for shoplifting.

The NCAA has suspended Virginia guard Harold Deane for a game for playing against Wake Forest without having been enrolled for the required 12 semester hours.

Winter Sports

Italian skier Deborah Compagnoni, the Olympic and world champion, blazed down the icy, bumpy Nordhang course in the first run to take a commanding lead, then survived a few mistakes in the second heat for an overwhelming victory in a World Cup giant slalom at Zwiesel, Germany.

Anita Wachter of Austria finished second. Pernilla Wiberg of Sweden extended her overall World Cup lead by placing third.

Fabrice Becker of France dominated the freestyle skiing field for the second consecutive week, winning the acro-ski event of the Blackcomb World Cup at Whistler, Canada.

Heini Baumgartner of Switzerland was second and veteran Ian Edmondson of Kalamazoo, Mich., was third.

Elena Batalava of Russia continued her march to another World Cup overall acro-ski title by winning the women’s event.

Names in the News

Don Hardy, a 1940s USC football standout at end, died Friday of an apparent heart attack on a 40-mile bike ride, his brother and USC teammate, Jim Hardy, said. He was 72.

Hardy, a long-distance bike enthusiast, had competed in races up to 100 miles long.