Sports briefs 8/16/04

Baseball

Greg Maddux was honored before Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in recognition of his 300th career victory. Eight days after winning No. 300 in San Francisco, Maddux gave a short speech thanking his family, teammates and the Chicago fans for their support. Maddux, surrounded by his family Sunday, didn't come back on to the field after winning the game in San Francisco because he didn't want to celebrate in another team's ballpark. Gov. Rod Blagojevich also proclaimed August 15 Gregory Alan Maddux Day in Illinois.

"This has always been a special place for me," Maddux said Sunday. "It's an honor for me to come here and play every day here, and I want to thank my teammates because starting pitchers, we all need a lot of help and I have been lucky enough to play on a lot of good teams."

Golf

Jane Park won the U.S. Women's Amateur Sunday in Erie, Pa., clinching her first U.S. Golf Association title when Amanda McCurdy bogeyed the 36th and final hole. The 17-year-old Park, a runner-up last year in this tournament and the U.S. Girls' Junior, got a big victory hug from her caddie, cousin Jung Park, after securing the 2-up win over McCurdy, a 20-year-old junior at the University of Arkansas.

In her trademark white bucket hat, Park played with the same confidence she had shown all week. She shot a 6 under on 14 holes in the second round to advance, and made the finals after being down to Curtis Cup teammate Sarah Huarte to win 2-up. Sunday, McCurdy and Park were even after the first 18 holes. In the afternoon, Park birdied the first hole, a 372-yard par 4, to go 1-up. She extended her lead to 3-up going into the 29th hole.

Gary Emerson birdied three of the final five holes to finish with a 4-under 68 and win the Russian Open by two strokes. It was the first career PGA European Tour victory for Emerson, who began the day two shots behind co-leaders Henrik Nystrom and Kariem Baraka. He finished at 16-under 272. Markus Brier (70-69) was second at 14 under, one stroke ahead of Kyron Sullivan (67-68). Nystrom finished fifth at 11 under after rounds of 73-70, one stroke behind Mattias Eliasson (73-67).

Tennis

Spain's Rafael Nadal won his first first ATP singles title Sunday, beating Argentina's Jose Acasuso 6-3, 6-4 in the final at the Idea Prokom Open. Nadal, seeded sixth, had little trouble on the clay court against an opponent who won this tournament in 2002. This was Nadal's second ATP final this year. He lost to Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia in Auckland, New Zealand.

--From wire reports