ACC Targets Three in Big East

The Atlantic Coast Conference decided on its expansion targets Friday, perhaps forcing the Big East into survival mode.

The ACC presidents voted in a conference call to begin formal discussions with Big East members Miami, Syracuse and Boston College.

The expansion, which could take effect for the 2004-05 academic year, would make the ACC a 12-team conference with a football championship game.

The defections would leave the Big East with 11 members and an undecided future.

The Big East starts its annual meetings today in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

Golf

Vijay Singh shot a second consecutive five-under-par 65 and had a one-stroke lead over Tim Petrovic after two rounds of the Byron Nelson Championship at Irving, Texas.

Petrovic had a hole in one in his round of 66.

Scott Verplank had a 63 on the par-70, 6,846-yard Cottonwood Valley course and was tied at 132 with first-round leader Jeff Sluman, who had a 69 on the tougher 7,022-yard TPC Four Seasons at Las Colinas.

Tiger Woods shot a one-under 71 and dropped nine strokes behind leader Padraig Harrington in the second round of the Deutsche Bank Open at Alveslohe, Germany. Harrington opened a three-stroke lead with his 66, leaving him at 13-under 131.

Jose Maria Canizares birdied the first three holes and finished with a three-under 69 to take the opening-round lead in a Champions Tour event at Parkville, Mo.

Tennis

Jennifer Capriati lost to Amelie Mauresmo of France for the fourth consecutive time, 6-3, 7-6 (10), in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open at Rome.

Mauresmo next will play defending champion Serena Williams, who defeated Conchita Martinez of Spain, 7-5, 6-2.

Four Argentines swept into the semifinals of the Hamburg Masters in Germany -- David Nalbandian, Guillermo Coria, Agustin Calleri and Gaston Gaudio.

Nalbandian beat Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, and will play Calleri, a 7-5, 6-2 winner over Wayne Ferreira of South Africa. Coria routed Mark Philippoussis of Australia, 6-2, 6-0, and will play Gaudio, a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Olivier Rochus of Belgium.

Fifth-ranked Lindsay Davenport has withdrawn from next week’s Spanish Open because of a right hamstring injury.

Jurisprudence

Neil Callaway, offensive coordinator for Georgia’s football team, was fined a month’s salary, more than $11,000, by the university after spending a night in jail for drunk driving.

Seattle Seahawk tight end Jerramy Stevens was charged with drunk driving, six weeks after police found two half-empty champagne bottles on the floor of his vehicle during a traffic stop in Kirkland, Wash.

Football

Aaron Garcia threw for 365 yards and eight touchdowns at Charlotte, N.C., as the New York Dragons (8-8) clinched the Arena Football League’s Eastern Division by handing the Carolina Cobras (0-16) their 17th consecutive loss, 63-47.

Jay Gruden threw five touchdown passes to lead the Orlando Predators (12-4) to a 50-38 victory over the Detroit Fury (8-8) at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Miscellany

Michael Schumacher had the fastest time in pre-qualifying for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg.

Bill Elliott won the pole for tonight’s NASCAR all-star race, The Winston, at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

Ted Musgrave won the inaugural NASCAR Truck series event at Concord, N.C.

Ed Pinckney was hired as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Villanova.

Rodney Abercrombie, 23, a senior defensive back at California University of Pennsylvania, a Division II school, died late Thursday after suffering serious head injuries. He had jumped out of a second-story window to escape his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend.

The Paradise Bowl is moving from St. George, Utah, to Las Vegas and will be renamed the Las Vegas All-American Classic.

Passings

Don Padgett, a former PGA president, died after a battle with cancer. He was 78.