Off the wire

— FOOTBALL Three charged in robbery

Michigan State starting linebacker SirDarean Adams, starting cornerback T.J. Williams and reserve Jeremy Ware have been charged with unarmed robbery in a grocery store parking lot outside a nearby party April 21. They were arraigned Wednesday in District Court in Mason, Mich., on a felony robbery charge, according to court records. Williams also was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery. Coach Mark Dantonio said the players will remain on the roster and retain the opportunity to play. The case was first brought to prosecutors in April but was sent back to police for further investigation at least twice before a decision recently was made to bring charges, Ingham County prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III said. Unarmed robbery is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, but if convicted the three likely would face a lower sentence, Dunnings said. The assault and battery charge is punishable by up to 93 days behind bars.

Quarterback Alex Smith, out since Sept. 30 with a separated shoulder, will start for the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, Coach Mike Nolan said.

GOLF Two lead Championship

Defending champion Jim Thorpe and Eduardo Romero shot 8-underpar 64s Thursday for a share of the first-round lead in the Champions Tour's season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Sonoma, Calif. Mark James shot 66. Thorpe, also the 2003 winner, took the last spot in the field Sunday, edging Tom Jenkins by $4,079 for 30th place on the money list. Thorpe, whose scheduled playing partner Mark O'Meara skipped the event, shot a 6-under 30 on the back nine. He birdied Nos. 10-11 and 13-14, dropped a stroke on 15, then birdied the final three. Romero, the Argentine star who won the 2006 JELD-WEN Tradition, also had nine birdies and a bogey. He made birdies on Nos. 12-16.

Bob Estes made nine birdies, including six consecutive, and shot a bogey-free 9-under-par 64 to tie Tommy Armour III for the lead in the first round of the PGA Tour's Ginn sur Mer Classic in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Craig Kanada andDaniel Chopra were tied for third at 67. Play was suspended at 6:39 p.m. Eastern because of darkness, keeping 22 players from finishing. Bryce Molder (Conway), who didn't finish his round, was at 5 under through 15 holes with six birdies and one bogey. Ken Duke (Arkadelphia, Henderson State) shot 1-under 72 with three birdies and a double bogey. Glen Day (Little Rock) and Craig Lile (Arkansas Razorbacks) shot par 73s. Day made three birdies and three bogeys. Lile made five birdies and a quintuple 9 on the par-4 No. 8. John Daly (Dardanelle, Razorbacks) shot 2-over 75 with two birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey.

Norwegian Suzann Pettersen shot 7-under-par 65 for a two-stroke lead over Alena Sharp in the first round of the Honda LPGA Thailand in Pattaya. Thai amateur Ariya Jutanugarn, who at 11 years, 11 months, 2 days is the youngest qualifier to play an LPGA Tour event, shot 3-over 75. She broke Michelle Wie's mark of 12 years, 4 months, 14 days set in the 2002 Takefuji Classic. Beverly Klass holds the overall record, playing a 1967 event in Dallas at 10 years, 6 months, 3 days.

South Africa's Andrew McLardy and Ireland's Gary Murphy shot 4-under-par 66s to share the early lead in the Mallorca Classic in Son Servera, Mallorca, with 60 players unable to complete the opening round because of thunderstorms.

Dustin Bray shot 6-under-par 65 fora one-stroke lead over D.A. Points after the first round in the Nationwide Tour's Miccosukee Championship in Miami. Deane Pappas (Arkansas Razorbacks) shot 2-under 69 with six birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey. Tag Ridings (Razorbacks) shot 1-under 70 with three birdies and two bogeys. Brenden Pappas (Razorbacks) shot par 71 with three birdies and three bogeys.

TENNIS Davydenko draws warning

Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, interviewed about a suspicious match earlier this year, said he was warned for not playing hard enough by the chair umpire in his 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 loss to Marian Cilic at the St. Petersburg (Russia) Open. Davydenko won the first set in 27 minutes, but drew a rebuke from Jean-Philippe Dercq in the third set. "When I made a double fault, he gave me a notice for a wrong behavior on the court as if I was throwing the match," Davydenko said. "I was surprised. I've never heard anything like this before. No matter how I'd played, no matter what had happened to me, I was never given such a notice." The Russian double-faulted three times in the third game to fall behind 3-0 in the third set. The ATP is investigating, and has spoken to Davydenko about an August match in Poland in which online gambling site Betfair voided bets involving the Russian because of irregular betting patterns. The Russian withdrew from thatmatch against 87th-ranked Martin Vassallo Arguello in the third set because of a foot injury.

Top-ranked Roger Federer beat Juan Martin Del Potro 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals at the Swiss Indoors in Basel, Switzerland, his home tournament. Ivo Karlovic, at 6-10 the tallest player on the ATP tour, served 24 aces in beating fourth-seeded James Blake 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Olivier Rochus of Belgium overcame American Mardy Fish's 43 aces to win 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6), 7-6 (15) and reach the quarterfinals in the Lyon (France) Grand Prix.

BASEBALL Cardinals drop pitcher

The St. Louis Cardinals released lefthanded pitcher Mike Maroth, who went 0-5 with a 10.66 ERA in 14 appearances. He also spent time on the disabled list with elbow injuries. The Cardinals acquired him in June from the Detroit Tigers for cash and a player to be named to plug a hole in an injury-plagued staff. The player turned out to be pitcher Chris Lambert, the Cardinals' first-round pick in 2004. Maroth, now a free agent, is 50-67 with a 5.05 ERA in his career.

BASKETBALL

Pistons rookie breaks hand

Detroit Pistons rookie guard Rodney Stuckey had surgery on his broken left hand Thursday and is expected to be out for about six weeks. Stuckey, from Eastern Washington, broke his hand in Detroit's final exhibition game Wednesday night, a 104-85 victory over the Washington Wizards. He averaged 12.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.3 steals in 8 games.

BOWLING Woman records a first

Carolyn Dorin-Ballard of North Richland Hills, Texas, rolled the first perfect game ever by a woman in the United States Bowling Congress Masters on Thursday night in Wauwatosa, Wis., but was eliminated with a 758-757 loss to Chris Barnes. Dorin-Ballard, the wife of former tour star Del Ballard Jr., had the 300 in the first game of her losers' bracket match.

BASKETBALL Stern: Refs broke rules, will not be punished

NEW YORK - Commissioner David Stern acknowledged Thursday that more than half of his 56 referees had violated NBA policiesabout casino gambling, but said none will be punished because he felt the rules were outdated.

Instead, Stern said he is altering the policies, leaning toward allowing referees to gamble in casinos during the off-season - except for betting in sports books.

The league's strict gambling policies toward referees became public after the Tim Donaghy scandal. The NBA currently prevents its officials from entering the gaming area of a casino, or doingany betting at all except for going to race tracks during the off-season.

But Stern said he did a poor job of enforcing the policies, and with viewstoward gambling changing, decided he wouldn't "penalize people for behavior that I'm about to change."

Stern said there is still no indication that any other officials were involved in illegal gambling activity, but practically all of them violated a league policy that Stern called "too harsh." That included anythingfrom buying lottery tickets to taking part in poker games, betting on college football or taking part in NCAA Tournament pools.

Sports, Pages 26 on 10/26/2007

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