A roundup of the week Sept. 4-11
GOLF—GARY PLAYER won $50,000 and the World Series of Golf for the third time, in Akron, shooting a two-over-par 142 to beat Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino by two shots and Gay Brewer by three (page 102).
DeWitt Weaver lost his three-day lead on the 72nd hole and had to oust Chuck Courtney on the first hole of sudden death to win the $100,000 Southern Open in Columbus, Ga. His regulation total was 276, four over par, his earnings $20,000.
HOCKEY—RUSSIA, after losing the second game of its eight-game series with Team Canada 4-1 in Toronto, rallied for a 4-4 tie in Winnipeg and even drew cheers in Vancouver for its superior play in a 5-3 victory. The Russians led 2-1-1 as the competition moved to the Soviet Union (page 34).
HORSE RACING—SUSAN'S GIRL ($8.60), with Laffit Pincay up, beat favored Summer Guest and Chou Croute in the $112,800 Beldame Stakes for fillies and mares at Belmont Park. The one-length victory, her 13th consecutive finish in the money this year, made Susan's Girl odds-on favorite to take the 3-year-old filly championship.
Boucher, owned by Ogden Phipps and ridden by England's Lester Piggott, started as the second favorite and won the $131,482 St. Leger in Doncaster, England by half a length over Our Mirage.
Hard to beat, Junzo Kashiyama's 3-year-old ridden by Piggott, scored a length victory over Epsom Derby winner Roberto, owned by John W. Galbreath, in the $25,000 Prix Neil at Longchamp, France, a prep for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
Loud ($22.80), winless in 16 previous starts this year, was ridden by Jacinto Vasquez to a head victory over Autobiography in the $118,600 Governor Stakes at Belmont Park.
Possumjet, a chestnut filly owned by Jack Byers of Blanchard, Okla. and ridden by Pete Herrera, won the $1,035,900 All-American Quarter Horse Futurity, the world's richest race, by a head over Miss Ooo Wee at Ruidoso Downs, N. Mex.
Unbeaten WINDY'S DAUGHTER ($3), with Bill Shoemaker up, scored her seventh straight victory, by five lengths over King's Edge in the $78,765 Del Mar (Calif.) Debutante.
MOTOR SPORTS—EMERSON FITTIPALDI, 25, of Brazil became the youngest Formula I world champion in 22 years when he drove his Lotus to victory in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The cars of Jackie Stewart and Jacky Ickx, who both needed wins in the three remaining races to overtake Fittipaldi, failed early in the race.
Bobby Allison, in taking his second straight Southern 500 at Darlington, S.C., became the first NASCAR driver in history to win more than $200,000 in consecutive seasons. He totaled $236,295 last year, has earned $201,625 so far in 1972.
Al Unser won the Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana Fairgrounds in Indianapolis for the third straight year. However, by finishing second A. J. Foyt took USAC's overall dirt track championship.
PRO FOOTBALL—SAN FRANCISCO, the only team in the NFC West to win more than one preseason game, defeated Oakland 34-21 and Los Angeles 17-14. John Brodie's three touchdown passes handed the Raiders their first loss in 10 exhibitions over two years, while Steve Spurrier fired a pair of scoring passes and engineered the late drive that beat the Rams. Bruce Gossett undid his old teammates with a 38-yard field goal with 22 seconds remaining. DALLAS handed Oakland its second defeat 16-10 and finished with a 6-1 preseason record, the best in either conference. Cornerback Charlie Waters' 61-yard interception put the game out of reach. BUFFALO struck for 24 points in the middle periods of a 34-17 victory over Philadelphia. Bob Chandler caught two touchdown passes from Dennis Shaw. The Bills were tied by Chicago 24-24 earlier in the week under bizarre circumstances. A pass-interference call on what should have been the last play of the game gave the Bears possession on Buffalo's two-yard line. Quarterback Bobby Douglass plunged over for the score and then had to run in for the tying extra point. ATLANTA finally won a game, clobbering Cincinnati 44-14. Trailing 14-7 in the second quarter, the Falcons exploded for five touchdowns and a safety. Two of the scores came on passes from Quarterback Bob Berry. Earlier CINCINNATI beat winless Cleveland 27-21 on Jesse Phillips' one-yard run with 1:08 to go in the game. GREEN BAY shut out Kansas City 20-0, holding the Chiefs without a first down for nearly 28 minutes. ST. LOUIS pounced on three Chicago fumbles in the second quarter, two by Gale Sayers. and turned them into touchdowns in an easy 33-14 triumph. The New York Jets caught San Diego 20-20 on a 33-yard field goal by Bobby Howfield. Pittsburgh also tied, with Washington 10-10, on a three-pointer by Roy Gerela. MINNESOTA got four field goals from Fred Cox against both Houston and MIAMI, but with different results. His kicks spelled the difference in a 26-14 win over the Oilers, but a miss from the 44-yard line with only two seconds left cost the Vikings a victory before a record crowd in the Orange Bowl. Mercury Morris scored on power sweeps of seven and six yards as Miami came back from a 19-7 deficit to win 21-19. Houston and New Orleans played to the week's fourth tie, 14-14, when Oiler Running Back Ward Walsh scored from 10 yards out with 52 seconds left. BALTIMORE relied on 39-year-old Johnny Unitas, who passed for two touchdowns in a 20-13 victory over Denver. In other action the NEW YORK GIANTS stopped Cleveland 28-21 and NEW ENGLAND edged Detroit 34-30.
TENNIS—ILIE NASTASE of Rumania won the U.S. Open at Forest Hills, his first major championship, beating a rejuvenated Arthur Ashe in the men's finals 3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3. Defending champion BILLIE JEAN KING, never extended to a third set in the tournament, was victorious in the women's finals over Australia's Kerry Melville 6-3, 7-5 (page 43).
MILEPOSTS—RETIRED: Because of continuing physical disabilities, GALE SAYERS of the Chicago Bears, who averaged 5.03 yards per carry (second to Jim Brown) and gained 4.956 yards in little more than five NFL seasons. Among his eight league records are the 22 touchdowns and 132 points he scored as a rookie out of Kansas in 1965, the six touchdowns he scored in a game against San Francisco that year and his 30.56 lifetime kickoff return average. Sayers first underwent knee surgery in 1968, but returned to lead the league in rushing in 1969. However, three more operations followed in the next two years and he was hampered by a foot injury last season.
RETIRED: At least temporarily, WARREN WELLS, 29, wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders who was attempting a comeback while on probation following a year in prison for attempted rape. "Warren just isn't ready to play professional football at this time." said Coach John Madden.
DIED: CHARLES F. BERRY, 69, an All-America football player at Lafayette College in 1924, a catcher in the American League for 11 years and an official in both sports who once umpired a While Sox doubleheader in the afternoon and refereed the College All-Star football game that night; in Evanston, Ill.; of a stroke.
DIED: J. ROY STOCKTON, 79, former spoils editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, author, and profiler of the St. Louis Cardinals in their Gas House Gang days; in St. Petersburg. Fla.
