Duval Sets Mark in Taking a Seven-Shot Lead at Tucson

David Duval pushed into record territory Saturday to take a commanding lead in the $2-million Tucson Chrysler Classic golf tournament.

Duval shot a four-under-par 68 for a 54-hole score of 20-under 196--the best three-day score at Tucson National, a 7,148-yard course. Arnold Palmer set the previous mark of 200 in 1967 and equaled by Jim Colbert and Robert Gamez.

Duval closed with a double-bogey, birdie and bogey.

Justin Leonard trails Duval by seven shots after a 68.

*

Larry Nelson moved closer to the first Senior PGA Tour victory of his career with a three-under 69 that gave him a two-shot lead entering the final round of the American Express Invitational at Sarasota, Fla.

Nelson’s 36-hole total of 12-under 132 put him two shots in front of J.C. Snead, who carded a 69.

*

Wendy Ward parred the first playoff hole to defeat Dana Dormann and win the Hawaiian Ladies Open at Kapolei, Hawaii. Ward, who won $97,500, shot a closing 70 and Dormann 72 as each player finished the regulation 54 holes at 204.

*

Tiger Woods will face an international contingent that equals the largest ever in the Masters when he defends his title April 9-12 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. Sixty-seven golfers from the United States and 29 players from abroad, equaling the 1962 international field, are on the invitation list to be released today.

Tennis

Michael Chang needed two tiebreakers to defeat Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten, 7-6 (9-3), 7-6 (7-4), in the semifinals of the $700,000 St. Jude tournament at Memphis, Tenn. Fourth-seeded Mark Philippoussis, relying on a big serve to produce 17 aces, upset top-seeded Marcelo Rios, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), and will play Chang today.

Top-seeded Jana Novotna fended off the challenge of 16-year-old Russian Anna Kournikova in a 6-3, 6-3 semifinal victory in the Faber Grand Prix at Hanover, Germany. In today’s final, Novotna will face Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder, who defeated Belgium’s Sabine Appelmans, 6-3, 6-3.

Football

The Seattle Seahawks signed center Kevin Glover to a three-year, $8.1-million contract and punter Jeff Feagles, formerly of Arizona, to a five-year contract for a reported $4 million. The Seahawks also signed guard Chris Gray to a two-year, $1.45-million contract. . . . The Miami Dolphins signed former Carolina offensive lineman Matt Campbell to a three-year contract worth $8 million. The Panthers also re-signed Michael Bates, the leading kickoff returner in the NFL in each of the last two seasons.

Miscellany

Australia’s Emma George became the first woman to pole vault 15 feet when she accomplished the feat at the Robin Tait Classic track meet at Auckland, New Zealand. George, a former trapeze artist, vaulted 15 feet on her first jump to surpass her previous mark of 14 feet 11 inches.

The proposed shopping mall at Candlestick Point will not generate enough money to pay off the city’s share of costs to build a new football stadium for the San Francisco 49ers, financial documents show.

Sales taxes could come up several millions short of the $7.3 million the city needs each year to pay off voter-approved bonds for the stadium, the San Francisco Examiner reported.

Khalid Rahilou of France retained his World Boxing Assn. junior-welterweight title at Paris with a unanimous victory over countryman Jean-Baptiste Mendy.

Former World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medalist Ray Mercer, 37, scored a second-round knockout over Leo Loiacono at Miami.

Former WBO champion Marco Antonio Barrera returned from a 10-month layoff to score a fifth-round victory over Angel Rosario in a junior-featherweight fight at Las Vegas.

Matt Kenseth bumped aside Tony Stewart on the final turn and drove to a victory at the Goodwrench 200 stock car race at Rockingham, N.C. Kenseth averaged 120.209 mph in a race slowed by four caution flags for 21 laps.

Joe Amato, Al Hofmann and Warren Johnson are the leaders for today’s finals of the 14th annual ATSCO Nationals at Firebird International Raceway in Phoenix.

Russian world champion Alexander Popov clocked 49.15 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle at a FINA World Cup short-course swimming meet at Hong Kong.

Edmund Muth hit for the cycle to lead No. 1 Stanford to a 23-4 victory over UCLA in a Pacific 10 Conference baseball game at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Muth had a home run in the third inning, a single in the fourth, a triple in the fifth and a double in the seventh.

No. 3 USC rallied with four runs in the seventh inning to defeat No. 4 Arizona, 4-1, in a Pac-10 game at Dedeaux Field.

Bill Plaschke has the day off.