IN BRIEF

GOLF

Mediate fires 64, leads Buick Open by one shot

Rocco Mediate shot his lowest score on the PGA Tour in four years, opening the Buick Open in Grand Blanc, Mich., on Thursday with an 8-under-par 64 for a one-stroke lead.

Brett Quigley, Woody Austin and Brian Bateman shot 65s, and Jim Furyk was among a group of four another stroke back.

Mediate, a five-time PGA Tour winner, had only one top-10 finish last year, ending the season a career-low 206th on the money list.

Also: South African qualifier James Kamte and Welshman Kyron Sullivan each shot 6-under 65s to share the first-round lead of the European Tour's French Open in Versailles, France.

HOCKEY

Messier, three other players elected to Hall

Mark Messier, Ron Francis, Al MacInnis and Scott Stevens were elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Messier is the NHL's second-leading career scorer behind Wayne Gretzky and has won six Stanley Cup titles. Francis, a two-time Cup winner, is fourth on the points list. MacInnis, who won one title, is third in points by defensemen. Stevens won three titles.

Also elected was NHL executive Jim Gregory.

Also: Nashville forward Paul Kariya, who led the team in scoring the last two seasons, will enter free agency. He made the decision because the Predators are for sale and the team's future is uncertain, general manager David Poile said.

MISCELLANEOUS

New Mexico State hires ex-UNLV aide Menzies

Louisville assistant basketball coach Marvin Menzies, a former UNLV assistant, has been named head coach at New Mexico State.

Menzies, 45, was an assistant for the past two years under Rick Pitino. Before that, he spent one year at UNLV.

Menzies takes over for former Pitino assistant and ex-UNLV star Reggie Theus, who was hired by the NBA's Sacramento Kings this month.

Other candidates for the New Mexico State job were Aggies assistants Damon Archibald and Chris Pompey and Rob Evans, a former Arizona State coach and New Mexico State alum.

Also: The Dallas Mavericks hired former NBA head coach Paul Westphal as an assistant. Westphal, out of the league since being fired as Seattle's coach 15 games into the 2000-01 season, went 267-159 with the Phoenix Suns and the SuperSonics.

Rita Ragone, who was a makeup artist for the ESPN talk show "Cold Pizza," is suing the sports network, saying she was fired after complaining about sexual harassment by the show's host and a regular panelist.

In the suit, Ragone said she was pinched and fondled by sports commentator Woody Paige and subjected to crude sexual comments by host Jay Crawford at the show's studio in New York.

Former Boston College and NFL quarterback Doug Flutie and former Miami coach Larry Coker will serve as analysts for college football games on ESPN's networks this season.

Real Madrid fired coach Fabio Capello, less than two weeks after he guided the Spanish power to its first league title in four years. His season was marked by an unpopular decision to bench David Beckham after the midfielder signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer.

Miami defensive tackle Fred Evans, arrested last weekend for refusing to leave a taxi on South Beach and for fighting with officers, was released by the Dolphins. Evans played in one game as a rookie last season.