Price’s Final Putt Earns Him $1 Million in Sun City

Nick Price lived out every golfer’s dream Sunday, sinking a 12-foot putt to win golf’s richest prize, the Million Dollar Challenge, in Sun City, South Africa.

“I knew exactly what was on the line,” Price said of his $1-million putt.

It was a difficult final round for Price, who first had to overtake struggling leader Phil Mickelson and then needed to hold off Davis Love III and Ernie Els, both of whom birdied No. 18 but finished one stroke behind.

Mickelson lost a share of the lead with a bogey on No. 16. He lost his last real shot to regain it when his birdie putt just missed on No. 17, leaving him briefly tied with Love and Els.

On No. 18, Price, who closed with a four-under-par 68 for a 12-under 275 total, hit his second shot over the green and rolled his third shot 12 feet past the hole. After Els sank a 33-foot putt for a birdie, Price needed to save par for the victory.

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Clarence Rose and Amy Fruhwirth, who had not met before Thursday, didn’t take long in getting to know each other and won the JCPenney Classic, which pairs PGA Tour and LPGA players at Tarpon Springs, Fla.

Rose and Fruhwirth carded a five-under-par 66 in the final round of the modified alternate-shot format to win the tournament with a 20-under-par 264, one shot better than the teams of Dan Forsman and Catriona Matthew, and Stewart Cink and Emilee Klein.

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Raymond Floyd and his son, Ray Jr., won the third edition of the Office Depot Father-Son Challenge at Vero Beach, Fla., with birdies on 14 of the 18 holes of the final round to finish with a 58 and a two-day total of 120 in the scramble format at Vero Beach.

That gave them a one-stroke win over the first-round leaders, Dave and Ron Stockton.

Soccer

Saboteurs installed a timing device aimed at cutting off electrical power at the World Cup ’98 draw ceremony that was televised worldwide Thursday.

Police investigators were called in at halftime of the all-star game that preceded the draw in the packed Velodrome stadium in Marseille, after electrical workers discovered a power transformer have been broken into a few hundred yards away.

Cindy Parlow and Robin Confer scored as North Carolina defeated Connecticut, 2-0, at Greensboro, N.C., to give the Tar Heels their 14th NCAA women’s soccer title in the 16 years of the tournament.

North Carolina wrapped up a 27-0-1 season with its 22nd shutout, tying a school record for most in a season. Connecticut finished 23-4.

Top-ranked Indiana recorded its 13th shutout of the season and got goals from Aleksey Korol and Chris Klein to defeat South Florida, 6-0, in the quarterfinals of NCAA Division I men’s soccer tournament.

Indiana (23-0-0) will play UCLA (20-2) on Friday in the tournament semifinals at Richmond, Va.

The other semifinal will match Virginia (18-3-2) with Saint Louis (17-4-3), a 1-0 winner over Southern Methodist (19-2-0) in four overtimes.

Ben Mains scored in the 52nd minute at Boca Raton, Fla., to give Cal State Bakersfield (20-4) a 1-0 win over Lynn University (19-2) and the Division II men’s soccer championship.

Winter Sports

Dutch skater Gianni Romme set a 5,000-meter speedskating world record, winning the World Cup event in 6 minutes, 30.63 seconds at Heerenveen, Netherlands.

The previous mark of 6:34.96, set by Norwegian Johan-Olaf Koss at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer in 1994, was also broken in an earlier race by Dutchman Bob de Jong in 6:33.58.

Germany’s Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann added the women’s 1,500-meter race to her 3,000-meter win Saturday. She was timed in 1:58.23.

Switzerland’s Marcel Rohner steered his four-man bobsled to a victory over World Cup leader Harald Czudaj of Russia. Rohner, with Markus Nussli, Thomas Schreiber and Roland Tanner aboard, completed the two runs at the Dolomite resort of Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy in 1 minute, 47.82 seconds.

Alexei Aidarov of Belarus scored his first World Cup victory in the men’s 12.5-kilometer biathlon pursuit, beating compatriot Halvard Hanevold by 25.9 seconds at Lillehammer, Norway. Galina Koukleva of Russia finished 31 seconds ahead of Magdalena Forsberg of Sweden to win women’s 10K pursuit.

Tennis

Anke Huber handed Martina Hingis only her sixth loss of the year, defeating the world’s No. 1 player, 2-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5, in the final of the Masters of Champions tournament at Frankfurt, Germany.

The loss left Hingis, 17, the winner of three Grand Slam titles this season, with a 79-6 record for the year. It was the first tournament win of the season for Huber.

Miscellany

Laticia Morris scored seven points in the final 90 seconds to cap Portland’s comeback from a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Colorado Xplosion, 64-61, before 2,810 in an ABL game in Denver.

Deciding that the $18.4-million budget needed to fund a competitive NCAA program was too steep, the University of the Virgin Islands board voted against permanent membership in the body. The school became a provisional member in 1995 and was expected to secure full membership next year.

All-star center fielder Brady Anderson will sign a six-year, $31-million contract that will keep him with the Baltimore Orioles.

Former Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Jim Miller was ordered to stand trial on a drunken driving charge stemming from a traffic accident in Pittsburgh in June. A trial date of April 27 was set.

Tim Hacker pushed against a strong headwind in lashing 40-degree rain to edge Bob Kennedy by only three seconds for the senior men’s title at the U.S. Cross Country Championships at Portland. Hacker finished the 12,165-meter run in 37 minutes, 31 seconds.

Deena Drossin won her first national women’s championship, finishing the 7,945-meter race in 26 minutes, 35 seconds.