LEAGUE NOTES

     LPGA Commissioner Jim Ritts is profiled in USA TODAY.
Ritts:  "Three years from now, I don't care if the generic golf
fans can point to one thing specifically, that connects to the
LPGA, but I want them to feel the presence of the LPGA to a
greater degree.  You take all these isolated incidents -- TV
shows, magazine articles -- put them together, and you have a
quilt of visibility" (USA TODAY, 2/21)....Bruton Smith, head of
Speedway Motorsports and developer of the new Texas Motor
Speedway in Ft. Worth, used SpeedWeeks in Daytona to deliver a
"public pledge of allegiance" to NASCAR President Bill France Jr.
Smith's purchase of Bristol Int'l Raceway in TN had led some to
believe he might be planning a rival stock-car circuit.  Smith,
who "steadfastly" denied that rumor:  "I'm committed to NASCAR
forever" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 2/21).