Enquirer news services

PALM HARBOR, Fla. - Golf finally felt easy to Jeff Sluman, and it wasn't hard to see why.

From a fairway bunker on the 18th hole, he had to play a 20-yard hook to avoid the trees and reach the elevated green. His 7-iron stopped 16 inches from the cup for his ninth birdie, a course-record 62 and a two-shot lead in the Chrysler Championship on Thursday.

"You kind of wonder to yourself why in the world you can't do that more often, because it seems so easy," Sluman said. "Other days, making one or two birdies seems like it's going to be impossible."

The previous record was a 63 by K.J. Choi in the first round in 2002, when he went on to a wire-to-wire victory.

Vijay Singh, the No. 1 player in the world who only needs to finish in the top 15 at Innisbrook to assure himself a $10 million season, made five birdies in a seven-hole stretch on the back nine for a tidy round of 65.

"If you hit decent shots and make some putts, you're going to play well. And that's what I'm doing right now," said Singh, making it sound as simple as ever.

VOLVO MASTERS: Sergio Garcia shot a 4-under-par 67 in the wind to share the first-round lead at the Volvo Masters with fellow Spaniard Jose Manuel Lara at Sotogrande, Spain.

Garcia, who won in Mallorca two weeks ago, survived a tough day on the Valderrama course.

Colleges

NCAA REFORMS: The NCAA will decide in January what standard will trigger penalties for poor academic performance.

Schools which fail to meet that standard in a particular sport could lose a scholarship for one year, under a reform package approved by the NCAA last spring.

Colleges will be given yearly assessments "so they know how they're doing," Walter Harrison, chairman of the NCAA Committee on Academic Performance, said Thursday. "We're almost finished collecting data . . . and now beginning to think about where would we draw the line."

The goal of the committee is to encourage schools to take corrective action before penalties are applied, NCAA President Myles Brand said.

The committee is expected to make its recommendations at a January board meeting.

Pro basketball

MAVERICKS: Avery Johnson announced his retirement Thursday, officially ending his 16-year playing career and becoming a full-time assistant coach for Dallas.

The 39-year-old Johnson played for Dallas in 2002-03, then re-signed with the Mavericks on Sept. 30 as a player-coach with no expectation of playing significant minutes.

He decided during the last few days to become a full-time coach.

Horse racing

BAILEY TOP JOCKEY: Jerry Bailey took the International Jockey Championship at Lone Star Park on Thursday by winning two of the three races.

The event, which kicked off Breeders' Cup week, featured nine leading riders from the United States and Europe.

Bailey and Kieren Fallon, who rode the other race winner, finished tied in the points system. The tiebreaker was the best finish in the final race and Bailey brought home Promise of War first in that one.

Tennis

SWISS INDOORS: Stefan Koubek beat French Open champion Gaston Gaudio 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Swiss Indoors at Basel, Switzerland.

Second-seeded Tim Henman struggled to get through to the quarterfinals for the eighth straight time, converting only one of 12 break points in a 7-6 (2), 6-7 (0), 6-4 victory over Wesley Moodie, who hit 24 aces.