Sports briefs 10/15/04

Basketball

• The NBA has no plans to change its rules for the 3-point shot, though it will proceed with an experiment for its developmental league in which all field goals will be worth 2 points until the final five minutes of regulation and overtime.

"This is a not a rule for consideration in the NBA and has never been discussed by the competition committee," NBA vice president Stu Jackson said Thursday, adding he expects the minor league NBDL to approve the experiment for the season that begins Nov. 19.

Golf

• Tiger Woods and his bride were briefly detained Thursday by U.S. Coast Guard officers on their yacht Privacy, then were turned away from San Juan's port because they had failed to notify authorities of their arrival.

Jason Dufner shot a 7-under 65 to match his best round of the year and take a one-shot lead after the first round of the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro.

Brent Geiberger, Tom Pernice Jr., Bo Van Pelt, Brendan Pappas and Brett Quigley all had 66s .

Grace Park capped an almost flawless round by rolling in a 25-foot birdie putt for a 10-under 62 that gave her a two-stroke lead after the first round of the Samsung World Championship.

Horse racing

• Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey returned to Belmont Park Thursday, riding two horses with no winners in his first start since breaking his left wrist six weeks ago.

He finished fourth aboard both Muchahcha in the fourth race and Soul Star in the sixth.

Bailey fell from a ladder while trying to prepare his home in Fort Lauderdale against Hurricane Frances.

Motorsports

• Ryan Newman knows he'll have to be flawless over the final six races to win the Nextel Cup title.

Newman was just that Thursday night, shattering the track record at Lowe's Motor Speedway while winning the pole for the UAW-GM Quality 500.

Newman turned a lap at 188.877 mph in his Dodge to win the top starting spot. It beat the track record of 187.052 that Jimmie Johnson set here in May.

Kasey Kahne ran a lap at 187.311 to qualify second and Casey Mears was third to put Dodges in the first three spots.

Tennis

• Lindsay Davenport regained the No. 1 ranking for the first time since early 2002 by defeating Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the Kremlin Cup.

Davenport officially will overtake France's Amelie Mauresmo next week to move atop the WTA rankings for the fifth time.

Davenport was joined in the quarterfinals by fellow American Venus Williams, who defeated Russian teenager Vera Douchevina 6-0, 6-4.

French Open and defending champion Anastasia Myskina and fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva also reached the quarterfinals.

-- From wire reports