Sports briefs for April 22, 2005

Friday, April 22, 2005 | 10:57 a.m.

Gulbis grabs lead in Mexico tournament

Natalie Gulbis shot a 6-under-par 66 on Thursday to take a two-stroke lead in the LPGA Corona Morelia Championship at Morelia, Mexico.

Gulbis, a Lake Las Vegas resident, is seeking her first win on tour. She is in her fourth LPGA season.

Netherlands pair score victory in dressage

Edward Gal of the Netherlands and his stallion Geldnet Lingh scored 78.6 percent in opening dressage competition at the Budweiser World Cup for elite horses at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The score was good enough to win the Grand Prix event and might have been the first step toward dethroning the reigning queen of dressage, Anky Van Grunsven, also of the Netherlands, a six-time World Cup champion and winner of gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Van Grunsven, who trained Gal and his stallion at one time, scored 78 percent aboard Keltic Salinero to claim the second spot in the field of 18 horses.

In the night's show jumping competition, Ludo Philipaerts of Belgium and his gray stallion Parco left all the jumps up to take the lead in Round One of the jumping discipline.

Chiefs sign Surtain

The Kansas City Chiefs received a deal today with free-agent cornerback Patrick Surtain, who went to the Pro Bowl three times as a member of the Miami Dolphins.

Agassi not rattled

Second-seeded Andre Agassi rallied to beat Alex Calatrava 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 and advance to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston. Agassi will take on France's Sebastien Grosjean in the quarterfinals. Grosjean beat Oscar Hernandez of Spain 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.

Lance lags behind

Lance Armstrong finished a disappointing ninth in the third stage of the Tour de Georgia, nearly two minutes behind the winner. -- Sun wire services