BASKETBALL

LAIMBEER AMONG CANDIDATES FOR KNICKS JOB
Bill Laimbeer recently met with Knicks president Isiah Thomas and acknowledged yesterday that he discussed the possibility of coaching the team.

“I suppose that was part of it, yes,” Laimbeer said. “We talked about his basketball team, about its structure and what his vision is.”

Laimbeer, the former Pistons center who now coaches the WNBA’s Detroit Shock, was not more specific, but he said there was no timetable for his next move. In April, Thomas called interim coach Herb Williams the “front-runner” to be the head coach when training camp opens in October.

Laimbeer has said before that he would like to coach in the NBA someday. He and Thomas were teammates on Detroit’s “Bad Boys” 1989 and 1990 NBA championship teams.

GOLF

GARCIA SURGES TO BOOZ ALLEN CROWN
Sergio Garcia emerged from a pack of contenders on Congressional’s Blue Course, closing with a 6-under 65 yesterday for a two-stroke victory and his sixth career PGA Tour victory at the Booz Allen Classic.

Garcia looked in major form in the final tournament before the U.S. Open when he took a big lead with a front-nine 30 and then held steady through a few precarious holes down the stretch. He finished with a 14-under 270 total.

Davis Love III (66),Ben Crane (67),and 2004 winner Adam Scott (68) tied for second. Third-round leader Tom Kite, attempting to become the oldest winner in PGA Tour history at 55, struggled with his putter and finished with a 74 to tie for 13th at 7-under 277.

SORENSTAM HALFWAY TO GRAND SLAM
Annika Sorenstam became the first LPGA player in 19 years to get halfway to a Grand Slam by closing with a 1-over 73 for a three-shot victory over Michelle Wie in the LPGA Championship yesterday.

First came an eight-shot victory at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in March. This one was just as dominant, with Sorenstam building an eight-shot lead at the turn and leaving everyone else in a hopeless pursuit. Sorenstam finished at 11-under 277 and earned $270,000, pushing her career total to more than $17 million.

Her only competition came from a 15-year-old who just finished the 10th grade. Wie shot a 3-under 69 to finish in second place, the highest finish by an amateur in a major since 1998. Paula Creamer, 18, closed with a 67 to tie for third at 6-under 282 with Laura Davies (71).

Sorenstam won for the sixth time in eight starts this year, and she joined Patty Berg as the only LPGA players to win the same major three consecutive years. Berg won the Titleholders from 1937-39.

CYCLING

ARMSTRONG FINISHES FOURTH IN DAUPHINE LIBERE
Lance Armstrong finished fourth overall in the Dauphine Libere, a Tour de France tuneup won yesterday by Spain’s Inigo Landaluze for his first professional victory. Colombia’s Santiago Botero finished the event second overall, followed by U.S. rider Levi Leipheimer.

Armstrong’s Discovery Channel teammate, George Hincapie, won the seventh stage, leading a 1-2-3 finish for the squad. Yaroslav Popovych placed second in 79.4-mile Alpine trek from Morzine-Avoriaz to Sallanches. Alexandre Vinokourov finished behind Armstrong in fourth, with overall winner Landaluze finishing 12th.

Hincapie, who also won the opening prologue, took the hilly stage in 3 hours, 7 minutes, 10 seconds, with Armstrong 22 seconds back.

– Associated Press