Floyd, Irwin, Bland Share Senior Lead

If Raymond Floyd couldn’t win, he wasn’t going to play, and he hasn’t won a golf tournament since November.

The options: Quit or practice.

He chose practice.

“You’ve all heard me say if I don’t feel competitive I’m not going to play,� Floyd said after shooting a six-under-par 66 Friday to share the 36-hole lead of the Senior Players Championship with John Bland and Hale Irwin.

“I was getting to the point where I wasn’t competitive and, of course, I don’t want to quit. I’m not ready to quit, so I went to work on my golf game and it’s paying dividends.�

The three had seven-under 137 totals for two rounds on the 6,876-yard TPC of Michigan in Dearborn. Irwin had a 67 Friday and Bland had a 69.

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Scott Hoch’s putting failed him, but his long game returned to help him to a three-under-par 68 in the second round of the Michelob Championship in Williamsburg, Va. Coupled with his first-round 64, that gives him 132 and a two-shot lead over Fred Funk, Tom Purtzer, Tommy Armour III and Bart Bryant after 36 holes.

Hoch needed 32 putts in the rain Friday, the precursor to Hurricane Bertha that had players wondering how much golf would be played this weekend. He needed only 23 during the first round over the 6,797-yard Kingsmill Golf Course.

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Amy Fruhwirth, Barb Mucha and Kelly Robbins shot five-under-par 67s and were tied for the lead after the opening round of the Youngstown-Warren LPGA Classic in Ohio.

Fruhwirth played a bogey-free round, and Mucha and Robbins overcame three bogeys each by making eight birdies on the 6,308-yard Avalon Lakes Golf Course.

Jurisprudence

Michael Irvin strip-searched and threatened a topless dancer whose testimony he feared in his drug-possession case, the woman, Rachelle Smith, testified in Dallas.

Outside the presence of the jury, Smith, 24, testified that the Dallas Cowboy receiver made her remove her clothes and searched her thoroughly on two occasions after she testified before a Dallas County grand jury on March 24.

“He said, ‘If I suspect that you’re wired or that you’ve . . . me, you’ll never see John or the light of day again,’ � Smith said.

John is Johnnie Hernandez, a former Dallas policeman accused of soliciting a man to kill Irvin after the threat.

Jeb Tyler, 23, from Spencerport, N.Y., sued the Phoenix Suns’ Charles Barkley in Cleveland, seeking $50,000 in damages from him and the bar where they got into a fight early Sunday while Barkley was in town with the men’s Olympic basketball team. . . . A Chicago judge approved settlement of a second paternity lawsuit involving Chicago Bull forward Scottie Pippen. . . . A San Diego judge threw out a jury’s $50 award to a table dancer who claimed she was grabbed in the crotch and injured by St. Louis Ram defensive end Leslie O’Neal. . . . Steffi Graf’s father, Peter Graf, will go on trial in September on tax-evasion charges, the Mannheim, Germany, district court announced. . . . A man who irreparably damaged his elbow during a tryout with the Cincinnati Reds is taking the team to court. Jeffery Scott Wattenbarger contends that during a tryout with the team in 1990, when he was 17, Reds scouts pressured him to pitch with an injured arm.

Football

The New England Patriots signed their first-round draft choice, Ohio State receiver Terry Glenn, to a six-year, $12-million ($5 million guaranteed) contract. . . . Indianapolis re-signed unrestricted free-agent center Kirk Lowdermilk, an 11-year veteran who has started every Colt game for the last three seasons, to a one-year contract. . . . The Jacksonville Jaguars signed Illinois linebacker Kevin Hardy, the second overall pick in the NFL draft. No terms were disclosed. . . . William Roaf, an offensive tackle who has played in two Pro Bowls, signed an eight-year contract with the New Orleans Saints. . . . The Minnesota Vikings signed free agent all-pro cornerback Dale Carter to an offer sheet, and the Kansas City Chiefs have one week to match it to retain him. . . . Detroit Lion backup quarterback Don Majkowski will sit out most of training camp after undergoing ankle surgery.

Tennis

Leander Paes of India upset top-seeded Byron Black of Zimbabwe, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, setting up an all-unseeded semifinal round in the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, R.I.: Paes against Nicolas Pereira of Venezuela and Daniel Nestor of Canada against Grant Stafford of South Africa. . . . Stefan Edberg moved another step toward his first Swedish Open title with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over fellow Swede Thomas Johansson in a quarterfinal match at Bastad. . . . Top-seeded Charleen Hillebrand of San Pedro defeated Jackie Greene of Roswell, Ga., 6-2, 6-3, to win the 55-and-over title in the U.S. Women’s Grass Court Championships at Philadelphia.

Miscellany

Team Paul Mitchell won three games to take the early lead in women’s pool play at the Bud Light Pro Beach Volleyball League tournament at Huntington Beach.

Paul Mitchell, seeking its first tournament title of the season, defeated Norelco, 15-5; Sony Autosound, 15-6; and Nike, 15-10.

Norelco is 2-1 after Friday’s pool play; Sony Autosound 1-1, Discus Athletic 1-2 and Nike 0-3.

Mr. Billiards in Baldwin Park will play host to a wheelchair nine-ball pool tournament today and Sunday. Information: (213) 753-5177.

Auto Racing

Andre Ribeiro took the provisional pole for the Toronto Molson-Indy, turning his fast lap of 110.616 mph in his Lola-Honda between two collisions with the same wall on the 1.784-mile 11-turn downtown track. . . . Ricky Craven turned a record lap of 129.379 mph into the pole position for Sunday’s Jiffy Lube 300 Winston Cup race at Loudon, N.H.