Sports Briefs July 19, 2010
Matt Bettencourt chipped in for an eagle on the 11th hole, then held off Bob Heintz by a stroke to win for the first time on the PGA Tour.
Bettencourt capped his 4-under 68 with a bogey on No. 18 after a birdie on 17, finishing the Reno-Tahoe Open in Reno, Nev., at 11-under 277. After his eagle on the par-5 11th, he played the final seven holes in 1 over par. He also bogeyed the par-4 14th at Montreux Golf & Country Club.
Heintz (69) missed a three-foot birdie putt on the 18 that would have forced a playoff.
• Billy Joe Tolliver won his third title at the American Century Championship in Stateline, Nev., setting a record with 84 points in the modified Stableford system at the celebrity tournament.
The former NFL quarterback eagled the last hole at Edgewood Tahoe and had two birdies in his final round. He finished 19 points ahead of Dallas Cowboys' quarterback Tony Romo, Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway, former Atlanta Braves' pitcher John Smoltz and actor Jack Wagner.
Tolliver won $125,000 for adding to his 1996 and 2005 titles.
Charles Barkley finished last for the fifth straight year.
Basketball
Dwyane Wade is keeping track. He's heard analysts say this Miami Heat lineup will be a flop. He's heard other players lash out over the way LeBron James made his decision. He's heard executives from other teams list Boston and Orlando as the teams to beat in the Eastern Conference.
All duly noted in Wade's mind.
He's not bothered nor angered, he says. But at the Summer Groove charity game Wade co-hosted Sunday with Alonzo Mourning, he acknowledged that when the Heat convene for training camp in late September, the naysayers will serve as motivation for himself, for James, for Chris Bosh and everyone else inside the reloaded Miami locker room.
"My whole career is built on fuel," Wade said. "It's always been there. It's not going to change what I do with my life. It's not going to change the way I am as a person. But it fuels you. And we all need that. Every athlete, every competitor needs something to fuel them. It's going to happen throughout the year."
After an offseason with little time to relax, Wade got back to doing what he prefers - playing basketball. With a dozen NBA pals, Wade entertained a crowd of about 15,000 fans in a glorified exhibition of dunking, 3-pointers and a halftime concert by Flo Rida. Common, the Grammy-winning rapper, was on one bench and boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. coached Wade's team.
Cycling
Christophe Riblon of France won the first stage of the Tour de France in the Pyrenees, while Andy Schleck held on to his yellow jersey as overall leader of the race after the 15th stage at Domaines, France.
Riblon broke away in a group in the first 19 miles of the race and found himself alone just before the top of the major climb of the day, the Port de Pailheres. He held his lead over the top and down the long descent to the climb up to the ski resort of Ax-3 Domaines. He finished in 4 hours, 52 minutes, 43 seconds, ahead of Denis Menchov of Russia and Samuel Sanchez of Spain.
• Lance Armstrong dismissed as "nonsense" a reported claim by Greg LeMond that the seven-time Tour de France champion tried to pay someone $300,000 to say LeMond used a banned drug.
LeMond, a three-time Tour de France champion, told the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung's weekend issue that Armstrong tried to implicate him "by all means" in a scandal involving EPO, a performance enhancer.
LeMond refused to reveal the identity of the person who was allegedly offered money by Armstrong, saying he still works in cycling.
Tennis
Albert Montanes of Spain collected his second ATP title of the season after Gael Monfils retired from the Mercedes Cup final in Stuttgart, Germany, with an ankle injury.
• Fifth-seeded Kaia Kanepi defeated defending champion Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the Palermo Open in Palermo, Italy.
- The Associated Press