2 teams knotted at Shark Shootout

The teams of

Steve Stricker

and

Jerry Kelly

and

Justin Leonard

and

Scott Verplank

were tied atop the leaderboard at 6-under-par 66 after the first round of the Shark Shootout yesterday at Tiburon Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Fla.

Kelly and Stricker birdied No. 5, eagled No. 6, birdied Nos. 7-9, then added another birdie on No. 12. But they struggled after that, playing the final six holes in 1 over.

Leonard and Verplank did the opposite, with birdies on four of their last six holes. They were 3-under after six, but double-bogeyed No. 9.

Tim Clark and Chad Campbell were in third place, one shot back at 5-under, along with Steve Flesch and Dustin Johnson.

The tournament hosted by Greg Norman continues through tomorrow. It's the first time that Norman, who had shoulder surgery in September, isn't playing in his event.

In other golf news:

* Pablo Martin shot 9-under 63 to build a four-shot lead over Ernie Els and Edoardo Molinari after two rounds at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in Malelane, South Africa.

* In-Kyung Kim shot a 5-under 67 to take a three-stroke lead at the Dubai Ladies Masters.

* American Shani Davis and German Jenny Wolf lowered their own world records in a speedskating World Cup event in Kearns, Utah. Davis won the 1,500 meters in 1 minute, 41.04 seconds, bettering his mark of 1:41.80 set on March 6 at the same track. Wolf skated 500 meters in 37 seconds, lowering her previous mark of 37.02 set in 2007.

* Two-time overall World Cup champion Bode Miller finished fifth in a super combined in France, where Austrians Benjamin Raich and Marcel Hirscher went 1-2.

* A federal appeals court in Louisville, Ky., rejected claims by the former owners of Kentucky Speedway that NASCAR and International Speedway Corp. violated federal antitrust laws by keeping the track off the Sprint Cup circuit in 2010. The track will still host Nationwide and Camping World truck races.

* Kyle Busch will own two teams in the 2010 Camping World Truck Series, the No. 18 and No. 56, both Toyotas.

* The University of New Orleans will notify the Sun Belt Conference that it intends to withdraw, the first step for the school to drop its NCAA Division I program to Division III.

* The Big East Conference will hold its men's soccer championship for the next 3 years at the new Red Bull Arena in northern New Jersey, home of the New York Red Bulls, of Major League Soccer.

* Virginia defeated Wake Forest, 2-1, in overtime to reach tomorrow's NCAA final against Akron, which defeated North Carolina, 5-4, on penalty kicks, after the teams were scoreless after regulation and two overtimes.

* Jan Zaveck stopped Isaac Hlatshwayo in the third round night to win the IBF welterweight title in Johannesburg.

* A new Olympic award, named for Canadian runner Terry Fox, will honor an athlete exemplifying courage, perseverance and humility at the Vancouver Games. Fox lost a leg to cancer at age 18.

* Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte withdrew from next week's Duel in the Pool in Manchester, England, because he's still recovering from knee surgery. *