Former tennis head swaps to golf

Melbourne: Former Australian Open tennis chief executive Paul McNamee has been appointed to a similar position to run the men's and women's Australian Open golf tournaments. Golf Australia said Tuesday that McNamee, 51, would be responsible for organizing and marketing the events. The Australian Open men's event in late November has not attracted major international players for the past several years, and the women's Open was canceled last year over problems with television coverage. McNamee, whose title will be executive chairman of the Open tournaments, held the No. 1 ranking in doubles and won 24 tennis doubles titles, many of them with fellow Australian Peter McNamara. McNamee won two Wimbledon doubles titles - in 1980 and 1982 - and two at the Australian Open - in 1979 and 1983. He was also a member of Australian teams which won the Davis Cup in 1983 and 1986. McNamee quit as chief executive of the tennis Open in March after 12 years. He will continue to run the Hopman Cup team tennis tournament in Perth. He and others from Golf Australia will travel to the U.S. Masters at Augusta, Georgia, next week to discuss entries with international and Australian players. The Australian Open will be held at Royal Sydney from Nov. 16-19. (AP)

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