Helen Alfredsson

Tiger Woods, Mark O'Meara and John Daly maintained their mastery of the Old Course on Friday with a 3-0 sweep of Japan that set up a battle of unbeatens in the Dunhill Cup at St. Andrews, Scotland. Woods shot a 2-under-par 70 to beat Katsuma Miyamoto by seven strokes, and O'Meara matched that score for a five-shot victory over Hiroyuki Fujita. Daly beat Nobuo Serizawa, 77-80. The U.S. will next play Sweden, which stayed unbeaten with a sweep of England.

Arnold Palmer's return from cancer surgery reached another milestone Friday in the first round of the Home Depot Invitational at Charlotte, N.C. "If I keep hitting it the way I am, I was very encouraged," Palmer said after he opened the senior event with a three-over-par 75--easily his best score in tournament play since prostate surgery in January. Palmer's round left him nine shots off the lead, which was held by John D.

Ernie Els became the first player to win three consecutive World Match Play titles when he defeated Vijay Singh, 3 and 2, Sunday at Virginia Water, England. Els' victory brought him $265,200, increasing the South African's cumulative earnings in the tournament to $780,000. Els, a former U.S. Open winner, prevailed on a day when neither player was especially sharp. "The first thing I'd better do is buy a couple of rounds in the bar," Els said.

Emilee Klein of Studio City, the women's NCAA champion from Arizona State, defeated Janice Moodie of Scotland, 3 and 2, Saturday to help the the United States hold a 5-4 lead after the first day of matches in the 28th Curtis Cup in Chattanooga, Tenn. Klein also teamed with Carol Semple Thompson of Sewickely, Pa., to beat Kirsty Speak and Mhairi McKay, 7 and 5, in a foursomes match.

It was a different golf course from the one 40 tournament champions and LPGA Hall of Famers practiced on. In rain and 15-20 m.p.h. wind that gusted to 30 m.p.h., Lauri Merten was the only player who broke par, shooting a one-under 71 to take the lead after the opening round of the first LPGA Tournament of Champions. "It was good to see everybody else was having as much fun as I was," said Merten, who won the U.S. Women's Open in 1993. "The course played fair, but extremely difficult.

George Archer and Bruce Crampton rode the wind to three-under-par 68s Friday to share the first-round lead in the PGA Senior Tour's Royal Caribbean Classic at Key Biscayne, Fla. Winds of more than 20 m.p.h. blew out of the north, just the opposite of the prevailing sea breezes on the bayside Links at Key Biscayne. "Somebody sure turned on the fans this morning," Crampton said. "It's virtually like playing a new golf course.

Sweden's Helen Alfredsson and Japan's Ayako Okamoto each shot four-under-par 68 Thursday to share the first-round lead in the U.S. Women's Open at Carmel, Ind. Alfredsson overcame a double-bogey seven on 11th hole, sinking birdie putts on the last two holes of the par-72, 6,311-yard Crooked Stick Golf Club. Okamoto putted for the lead on the 18th hole but left a 25-foot birdie effort about three feet short. Canadian Dawn Coe-Jones bogeyed her final hole to fall one stroke behind.

Susanne Johansson of Point Loma Nazarene College broke her stadium record in the finals of the 400-meter hurdles in the NAIA track and field championships Saturday at Azusa Pacific College. Johansson, a freshman, ran the event in 59.25 seconds to win and break her previous mark of 1:00.40, set Friday in the semifinals. Johansson was one of three Point Loma athletes to qualify for All-American honors Saturday. Kris Anderson placed fourth in the men's 400 hurdles with a time of 52.

Colleen Walker, who grew up five miles from Wycliffe Golf and Country Club in Lake Worth, Fla., had a victorious homecoming Sunday, beating Dawn Coe in a sudden-death playoff. The victory in the $400,000 LPGA tournament was worth $60,000. Walker, 36, started the final round two strokes behind co-leaders Coe and Pat Bradley. While Bradley's quest for victory No.

With the focus back on the leaders after Annika Sorenstam missed the cut at Fort Worth, Kenny Perry matched the Colonial Country Club record with a nine-under-par 61 Saturday to get to 17 under for an eight-stroke lead after three rounds. Perry, who has four PGA Tour victories, was on target from the start, with birdies on his first three holes and then three more to end his front nine. With three more birdies on the back nine, he finished his best round in 17 years on the PGA Tour.