Sports briefs 3/11/05

Baseball

* The Cubs flew Kerry Wood back to Chicago on Thursday to have his right shoulder looked at by a team doctor.

Wood left Arizona one day after leaving a spring game in Mesa before the third inning of a 6-5 loss to Texas. He said he had tightness in his pitching shoulder.

Wood had a magnetic resonance imaging test before he left, manager Dusty Baker told reporters before the Cubs' exhibition game with Seattle on Thursday afternoon. The team doctor was going to look at the MRI and make a diagnosis, Baker said.

Wood, 27, missed two months last season because of tendinitis in his right triceps. He missed the entire 1999 season after undergoing ligament replacement elbow surgery.

"After what happened last year, this is just precautionary," Baker said.

* The Curse of the Bambino is hitting the auction block.

The contract that sent Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees will be auctioned off at Sotheby's on June 10.

The typed, six-page "memorandum of agreement" is dated Dec. 26, 1919, notarized with the seals of both ballclubs and signed by then-Red Sox owner Harry Frazee and Col. Jacob Ruppert, the Yankees' owner.

Alan Shawn Feinstein, the Providence philanthropist behind the Feinstein Foundation, will donate the proceeds toward fighting world hunger.

Also up for sale is ball used for the first pitch at Fenway Park on April 20, 1912. The Red Sox beat the Yankees 7-6 in 11 innings, and Hall of Fame umpire Tom Connolly held on to the ball.

College

* Laura Litter, the women's basketball coach at Morehead State the past eight seasons, will be reassigned to other duties, athletic director Brian Hutchinson said Thursday.

Litter, a Morehead State graduate, had only two winning seasons with the Eagles, but she received Ohio Valley Conference coach of the year honors after the school went 21-8 during the 2001-02 season.

She went 76-144 at Morehead State, including a 5-22 mark this season, when the Eagles tied for last place in the OVC.

Golf

* Chad Campbell overcame a slow start in chilly, windy conditions Thursday to shoot an 8-under-par 64 for a two-stroke lead after one round at the Honda Classic.

Campbell started on the back nine shortly after 7 a.m., when temperatures at the Country Club at Mirasol were still in the 50s, and bogeyed Nos. 10 and 16. The burly Texan then holed a 70-yard wedge to eagle the par-5 No. 17, and on the front side he birdied six holes, including the last two with putts of 25 and 15 feet.

Alone in second place at 66 was Brett Wetterich, playing 10 minutes from his home in Jupiter. Jesper Parnevik, another area resident and the 2001 champion, shot 67 three days after turning 40.

At 68 were Aaron Baddeley, who finished in the top 10 in his last two starts, and Woody Austin. A group at 69 included defending champion Todd Hamilton, Lee Janzen, Brad Faxon and Kevin Na, at 21 the youngest player on the tour.

Vijay Singh, playing his first round since he fell to No. 2 in the world rankings, shot 71. His six-month reign at No. 1 ended Sunday when Tiger Woods overtook him by winning the Ford Championships at Doral.

Singh, the only player among the top six entered at the Honda, cannot regain the No. 1 ranking this week.

Also at 71 were Davis Love III, a runner-up the past two years, and Nick Faldo.

Qatar Masters

* Pierre Fulke of Sweden shot a 6-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Qatar Masters, seven shots better than tournament favorite Ernie Els.

Richard Green of Australia, Henrik Stenson of Sweden and Garry Houston of Wales opened with 67s at the 7,311-yard Doha Desert Golf Club.

Els, coming off a victory at the Dubai Desert Classic, opened with a 73.