Sports Briefs: Irwin on top in Senior tourney

Friday, Nov. 8, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

When Hale Irwin holds his focus, his iron shots usually hold the green and his opponents hold their mouths open in wonder.

Irwin shot a 5-under 67 in the first round of the Senior Tour Championship in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Thursday, one shot up on Bob Charles and Vincente Fernandez.

Keeping his mental edge, Irwin said, is the hardest part of moving from the PGA Tour to the Seniors, where he was the tour's Rookie of the Year in 1995.

"That is probably the biggest area I have found in my transition from over there to over here... the management-slash-focus of my game," he said. "But when I do that, I play very effectively."

Irwin, whose razor-sharp irons led to three U.S. Open titles, continually landed inside 10 feet at The Dunes Golf & Beach Club.

"I saw a terrific round," said Las Vegas resident Jim Colbert, the defending champion, who was grouped with Irwin. "I mean, that is an awesome iron-round Hale played. It is one of the best ones I have ever seen."

Mike Hill, the Tour Championship winner in 1990 and 1991, was at 3-under with Jay Sigel. Colbert, Lee Trevino, John Bland and Larry Gilbert were next at 2-under.

In another golf tournament:

* Different approaches to the same score at the Kapalua International in Hawaii have put Steve Jones and Bob Gilder in good position to win the event. Jones, the U.S. Open winner who will play in next week's PGA Grand Slam of Golf, and Gilder, who hasn't won on the PGA Tour since 1983, shot 9-under-par 64s Thursday on the par-73 Plantation course to advance to today's second round as co-leaders.

Softball team adds assistant

Christine Parris-Washington has been named assistant coach for the UNLV softball team. A member of the Rebels' 1990 and 1991 World Series teams and two-time All-American infielder, she most recently participated at the Atlanta Olympics as a member of Canada's softball team. Since graduating from UNLV in 1992, Parris-Washington has been a member of the Redding Rebels, a three-time Women's Major Fastpitch national championship team.

UNLV golfers in S.C.

The No. 1-ranked UNLV golf team plays in its final tournament of the fall season this weekend at the GolfWorld Invitational in Hilton Head, S.C. The Rebels are part of an 18-team field that includes nine of the top-10 teams from the Rolex Collegiate Rankings, including No. 2 Oklahoma State. The Rebels, who finished 10th at last year's GolfWorld tournament, have one victory and two seconds in four outings this year.

Frank Torre goes home

Doctors had given Frank Torre maybe a year to live. He had suffered three heart attacks and waited 4 1/2 months for a transplant, losing hope with each passing day. But 64-year-old Frank Torre walked out of New York's Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center on Thursday with a broad smile, rejuvenated by the new heart he received Oct. 25, the day before his brother Joe's Yankees clinched the World Series title. "I feel like a new man," he said. "I've been bad sick for two years. I never dreamed that I could feel this way again."

Beebe's wife has labor induced

Green Packers wide receiver Don Beebe didn't want to have to decide between family and football. So his wife, Diana, had labor induced Thursday night so that she could deliver the couple's third child well before Green Bay's game at Kansas City on Sunday. Beebe said that doctors expect Diana to deliver sometime today. In the case of prolonged labor, Beebe, said he would take a flight to Kansas City on his own.

Benny Beaver basher

Arizona offensive tackle Frank Middleton is expected to plead no contest to harassment charges nearly a year after he was accused of hitting a woman in an Oregon State mascot costume. Middleton was charged with hitting the mascot, Benny Beaver, during a Nov. 4 game in Corvallis last season. The woman inside the costume, 5-foot-9-inch, 135-pound Marri Hollen, was not seriously injured. Witnesses said the 6-3, 311-pound Middleton struck the mascot in the nose as the Wildcats were celebrating a touchdown in the 14-9 victory.

Howe sentenced

Former New York Yankees pitcher Steve Howe pleaded guilty to gun possession and was sentenced to three years probation and 150 hours of community service. Howe, 38, was arrested June 24 at the Delta Airlines building in Kennedy Airport when a loaded .357 Magnum was detected inside his suitcase. Howe and his wife were about to board a flight to Montana, where he lives.