B.C. Golf Pro Lets Fly With 684-Yard Drive

-- RECORDS

Golfer Kelly Murray of Vancouver, B.C., will compete in this weekend's U.S. long drive championships, which isn't surprising in light of the 684-yard, 2-foot, 4-incher he blasted.

But the long-drive competition won't be staged on a runway such as the one at Fairmont Hot Springs, where Murray needed 160 attempts yesterday to surpass the record of 634 yards set by Liam Higgins of Ireland in 1984 and recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records.

``At first, I was swinging so hard I was almost coming out of my shoes,'' Murray said. ``That obviously didn't work. Then after the break, I realized that to break the record I just had to be loose and swing easy.''

Murray, 33, a member of the Canadian PGA Tour, used a Wilson Ultra 432 ball and a 46 3/4-inch driver with a boron shaft and persimmon head.

-- BOXING

George Foreman is becoming a statistician's dream.

At age 42, he is chasing a world heavyweight boxing title he held 17 years ago. He has a fight record that shows 69 victories in 71 contests.

And, at anywhere between 259 and 265 pounds, he could wind up as the oldest, heaviest and busiest world champion there has ever been.

To add global warfare to his list of accomplishments, Foreman flew 3,000 miles from his Houston home to knock out another American, Terry Anderson, in three minutes yesterday.

Now he flies home to renew negotiations with the two fighters who will battle for the world title next month: James ``Buster'' Douglas, the champion, and Evander Holyfield.

``Be realistic - I'm back,'' Foreman said after his quick victory at the London Arena stretched his three-year comeback streak to 24 victories. ``I'm not going away. I'm not going to leave until I am the heavyweight champion of the world again.''

-- Roy Jones Jr. won his 10th professional fight after knocking out Rollin ``Chiller'' Williams in Pensacola, Fla.

-- BASKETBALL

The Los Angeles Lakers, in need of scoring off the bench because of Michael Cooper's departure to play in Italy, acquired Terry Teagle from the Golden State Warriors. The Lakers gave the Warriors their first-round draft choice in 1991 in the deal.

In another transaction, the Lakers dealt reserve center Mark McNamara to the San Antonio Spurs for undisclosed future considerations.

-- Utah Jazz officials, mindful of soaring NBA salaries, have ``redone'' the multimillion-dollar contracts of forward Karl Malone and guard John Stockton.

-- The Philadelphia 76ers signed their top draft pick, Brian Oliver, to a guaranteed four-year contract for a reported $1.6 million and agreed to a two-year contract extension with Coach Jim Lynam.

-- TENNIS

Top-seeded Andres Gomez of Ecuador was upset by France's Jean-Philippe Fleurian 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3) in the first round of the Swiss Indoor tournament at Basel.

In another first-round match, Michael Stich of West Germany beat Jimmy Connors 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.

-- Second-seeded Aaron Krickstein beat Dan Goldie 6-2, 6-3 in the second round of the Queensland Open tournament today in Brisbane, Australia.

-- Jennifer Capriati and Monica Seles dominated their opponents as the two teen-age stars advanced to the third round of the Nichirei International Ladies Championships in Tokyo.

Capriati, 14, a Florida eighth-grader, defeated Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-4 on the artificial courts of the Tokyo Metropolitan Gym. Seles, 16, the Yugoslavian who won the French Open, beat Eva Pfaff of West Germany 6-1, 6-0.

-- COLLEGES

South Carolina scheduled a news conference for tonight, when it was expected to announce it will join the Southeastern Conference. Interim President Arthur K. Smith and Athletic Director King Dixon were to be at the news conference.

-- SOCCER

Seattle Pacific and unbeaten Washington remained nationally ranked in the ISAA national coaches' polls. The Falcons (6-1-3) are No. 4 in NCAA Division II, a notch below last week's ranking. Washington (7-0-2) is 19th in NCAA Division I after beating Portland 1-0.

SPU goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann, who attended Newport High School in Bellevue, is third in Division II with a goals-against average of 0.43 per game. He leads the nation with five shutouts.