Names in the Game

Monday, April 17th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Authorities are investigating whether someone deliberately set fire to the home of Tom Watson's longtime caddie, a St. Johns sheriff's spokesman said Monday.

Bruce Edwards was with Watson at the PGA Seniors Championship in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., when the fire severely damaged his home about 1:15 a.m. Sunday.

"It appears to be arson," spokesman Kevin Kelshaw said. He declined further comment.

A sheriff's deputy said Edwards' wife, Sue, was home when the fire started but escaped without injury. Firefighters found her outside when they arrived.

Edwards could not be reached for comment. Kelshaw said he returned home Monday and was able to salvage some belongings from the garage.

Edwards has caddied for Watson for nearly 20 years, and was on the bag when Watson chipped in on the 17th hole at Pebble Beach to win the 1982 U.S. Open. He later worked briefly for Greg Norman, but quit in 1992 to rejoin Watson. -

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- The mouse mascot for the Capital City Bombers' minor league baseball team in on the injured list.

The mascot had to be taken out of a game and given a day off after a player on the opposing team hit him on the head with his glove.

The accident occurred during a between-innings promotion Saturday when Hickory Crawdads outfielder Jovanny Sosa bopped the mascot on the head as he ran on the field. The mascot left the game early complaining of a headache, then did not participate in Sunday's game.

Bombers spokesman Mark Bryant said the injury was not serious.

Sosa said through an interpreter that he was just having fun and didn't intend to hurt anyone. Sosa "would like to talk to him, so he can understand it wasn't on purpose," said Jose Luis Lopez, a teammate who spoke for the Spanish-speaking Sosa. "He's real sorry that the mouse got hurt."

Capital City officials would not release the identity of the man in the mouse suit.

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CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -- Two former South African cricket players said Monday the team turned down an offer of $250,000 to fix a game.

Bookmakers made the offer four years ago before a one-day benefit game against India in Bombay, said former cricketer Brian McMillan.

"Hansie (Cronje) was approached, and as captain he felt it was his duty to call the team together," he said. "He gave us the details. We discussed them, and within 10 minutes we threw out the idea."

Cronje made no attempt to influence the team's decision either way, McMillan said.

Another former player, Andrew Hudson, said, "We chewed over it for a long time together, because it was a fairly substantial amount of money at that time -- it was $20,000 each. We turned it down because if we accepted it, in a moment of weakness, we would still be paying the price today."

South Africa lost the game. Several players were sick or injured, Hudson said.

Cronje was fired as captain last week after admitting he accepted $8,200 for forecasting and providing match information, but he has denied allegations he fixed games.

In New Delhi, the match fixing scandal was raised in parliament, with lawmakers demanding India's federal investigating agency look into it.

Kirti Azad, a governing party lawmaker, said an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's FBI, was needed since accusations also have been made against some unidentified Indian players.

Madhavrao Scindia, the main opposition Congress party leader, supported the demand for a high-level investigation, Star TV reported.

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Racing through cold, rainy conditions on San Francisco Bay, sailors Russ Silvestri and John Myrdal claimed spots on the U.S. Olympic team by wrapping up victories as Olympic trials concluded in four classes.

Silvestri and Myrdal joined Courtenay Becker Dey and the team of Mark Reynolds and Magus Liljedahl as winners of the Finn, Laser, Europe and Star classes being contested in the 10-day Olympic trials that ended Sunday.

Silvestri, of Tiburon, Calif., led the 26-boat Finn class throughout a 15-race series. Silvestri, who has competed in four previous Olympic trials, still must gain a berth at Sydney based on placing at the world championships in England in early June.

Myrdal, of Kailua, Hawaii, captured the U.S. spot in the Laserclass.

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- A 35-year-old woman has died after being crushed by her horse during a cross-country competition in western Victoria state, the second equestrian death in as many weeks in Australia.

The woman, whose name has not been released at the request of the family, died when her horse fell on her during the midway point of the cross-country course in a pre-novice event at the Lakeside Reserve in Camperdown, said police Sgt. Paul Shannon.

On April 9, Mark Myers, of Queensland state, was killed during across-country event at Brisbane.