Overtime

Golf

Sony Open to have Wie in field again

Michelle Wie accepted a sponsor exemption Tuesday night to play in January's Sony Open. Wie came within one shot of making the cut in the PGA Tour event last year.

"This is really great," Wie said by telephone. "I had such a great experience last year. Hopefully, I'll do a lot better. My goal is to be in the top 20."

Wie was 14 in January when she shot 68 in the second round, the lowest score by a female player competing exclusively against men. She finished at par 140 at Waialae Country Club.

The 6-foot 10th-grader played her best in the LPGA's biggest events this year, finishing fourth in the Kraft Nabisco championship and tied for 13th in the U.S. Women's Open.

The Sony Open is the same week as her semester exams, just like last year. Wie said she would take her exams next week to free herself for practice at Waialae and at Kapalua on the island of Maui.

Cycling

Armstrong hasn't decided on Tour

Lance Armstrong will decide in May whether he will race in this summer's Tour de France, which he has won the past six years.

He said in Wednesday's Austin American-Statesman he will ride for another two years, but he's still unsure where to focus his 2005 schedule – the European spring classics or Tour de France.

After winning his record sixth title in July, the Texan has said he plans to race in the Tour de France again, but he didn't commit to next year or 2006.

On Tuesday, Armstrong and his team finished a weeklong training camp riding in the Austin, Texas, area.

"I've got a clear head. I'm chilled out. I'm relaxed," Arm­strong said. "I feel better than I have at other December camps."

Armstrong will leave his Austin home in mid-March and spend six weeks in Europe racing. When he returns home in May, he'll decide about the Tour de France.

Horse racing

Summer Squall sire dies in Kentucky

Storm Bird, who became known as the "sire of sires" after a successful racing career of his own, died after a bout with colic in Versailles, Ky.

Among Storm Bird's offspring was Summer Squall, who was owned by Aiken's Dogwood Stable when he won the 1990 Preakness.

Ashford Stud manager Dermot Ryan said the 26-year-old Storm Bird retired from active stud duty for several years, was euthanized Dec. 3.

"He left a good legacy behind him," Ryan said Wednesday.

His greatest offspring was Storm Cat, a Grade I stakes winner who himself became the nation's leading sire and the world's most valuable stallion, standing for $500,000 a season.

A son of Northern Dancer, Storm Bird sired 63 stakes winners.

Perhaps the greatest measure of Storm Bird as a sire of sires came in the 1999 Kentucky Derby, where the first three finishers – Charismatic, Menifee and Cat Thief – all were his descendants.

This year's Belmont winner, Birdstone, was produced from a Storm Bird mare.

Soccer

Player loses finger during celebration

In Geneva, a Portuguese soccer player lost a finger when he caught his wedding ring on a fence while celebrating a goal for his Swiss team.

Paolo Diogo was injured after his late goal put Servette ahead 4-1 Sunday against Schaffhausen. The ring ripped off the top of his finger.

"When I jumped down from the fence, I didn't feel anything at all," Diogo said in Wednesday's Swiss newspaper Blick. "The first time that I noticed that something was missing from my hand was when it started to hurt. And it hurt tremendously."

Before it was clear what happened, Diogo was cited by the referee for excessive celebration.

Team officials found the missing finger, but surgeons were unable to reattach it.

"I'm not dead and life goes on," Diogo said. "So I have to live with one less finger."