Sports Briefs: Hart 10th PGA 1st-time winner

Monday, Sept. 9, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Tiger Woods needs one big week to avoid the PGA Tour's qualifying school. Dudley Hart is proof it can happen, while Scott Dunlap is proof it isn't easy.

Each showed up at the Canadian Open outside Toronto seeking his first win on the tour. Hart left with the title Sunday after a one-stroke win over David Duval. More importantly, he left with the winner's check of $270,000 and a two-year exemption.

"It only takes one week," said Hart, who finished with a 2-under-par 70 for a 14-under 202, and became the 10th first-time winner this season.

Neither Woods nor Dunlap gave themselves that chance during the fateful final round of this national championship, which was shortened to 54 holes after remnants of Hurricane Fran won Saturday's round.

It was an especially painful loss for Dunlap. He was 15-under and three strokes ahead of Hart entering the final round. But he had five bogeys in a closing round of 76 and finished tied for third at 205.

Woods doesn't have to finish among the top 125 money-winners. A top-150 finish would be enough for Woods to earn unlimited sponsor exemptions in 1997. There are six full-field events left this season.

Woods was too inconsistent to make a run at the leaders in the final round. He birdied two of the last three holes, but four bogeys dictated a closing 68 for an 8-under total of 208 and an 11th-place finish.

Still, he earned $37,500. That gave Woods $40,044 for his first two weeks as a pro. It also moved him up to No. 204 on the money list, two spots better than Jack Nicklaus. He will play this week at the Quad City Classic at Coal Valley, Ill.

In other golf tournaments:

* Gibby Gilbert defeated Hale Irwin in a one-hole playoff to win the PGA Senior Tour's inaugural $1.2 million Boone Valley Classic at Augusta, Mo.

* Dottie Pepper smashed the course record with a 14-under-par 202 to win the Safeway LPGA Golf Championship at Portland, Ore., her fourth victory since mid-June.

* Colin Montgomerie shot an 8-under-par 63 to capture the European Masters and win $200,000 at Crans-Sur-Sierre, Switzerland.

Schumacher wins at Monza

Given a record contract as the only driver who could restore Ferrari's fading prestige, two-time world champion Michael Schumacher is earning his fee. On Sunday, the German driver, who left the successful Benetton Renault team for the ailing Ferrari team and $20 million, captured his third season victory -- one more than the total of Formula One Grand Prix races won by the Italian team from 1991-95. And more than that, Schumacher won at Monza, the home circuit of the Italian team where Ferrari's last win dated back to 1988. Schumacher, who had previously won in Spain and Belgium, drove his red car to victory following a two-way, 53-lap duel with Frenchman Jean Alesi, who finished 18.2 seconds behind in a Benetton Renault.

In another auto race:

* Kenny Wallace won the Autolite Platinum 250 Busch Grand National race at Richmond, Va., passing series points leader David Green on the 248th of 250 laps for his eighth career Busch victory and first this season. Green finished .25 of a second behind, but extended his points lead to 128 over Randy LaJoie with four races remaining.

Speed record challenges

Racing's land-speed record holder and a former record-setter are in a race to set a new high speed and, if possible, break the sound barrier in the desert north of Reno. Craig Breedlove and Richard Nobel have built new jet-powered cars and are making plans for test runs. Breedlove, 58, plans to test his single-engine car on the salt flats at Bonneville Speedway in western Utah this week. Noble, 49, plans to test his two-engine car on the dry lake bed in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. Breedlove was the first to drive a car more than 400 mph, then 500 mph and eventually 600 mph -- all on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Noble, a British driver, set the current record of 633.468 mph in 1983 at thge Black Rock Desert in the Rolls-Royce powered "Thrust 2" jet car.

Guzman has appendectomy

American League ERA leader Juan Guzman had an appendectomy Saturday and the Toronto Blue Jays pitcher will probably miss the rest of the season. Guzman, 29, who had been scheduled to start on Saturday night at Yankee Stadium, experienced abdominal pain in the dugout during Friday night's game and was admitted to a hospital early Saturday. The right-hander was 11-8 with a 2.93 ERA and 165 strikeouts in 187 2-3 innings. Opponents were batting a league-low .228 against him.