Golf: Tiger Woods has turned down $1.2 million appearance money to play in the Australian Open later this month. The Sydney Sunday Telegraph said Woods' price had skyrocketed to between Aus$3.5 million and $3.8 million to play in an Australian or Asian tournament.

"Tiger has rewritten the appearance fee book. No tournament can actually afford him," said Tony Roosenberg, championship director of the two richest tournaments on the Australasian scene this year - the Heineken Classic in Perth and the World Match Play in Melbourne.

"What I hope for is that Tiger becomes so rich that he begins to play at Australia's great golf courses simply because they have worldwide stature," he said. "That's why I am hopeful Tiger will play at Royal Melbourne when the Heineken Classic moves there (from Perth) after this year."

Greg Norman, Briton Nick Faldo, American Mark O'Meara and Padraig Harrington are the lead attractions at this year's Open, from November 23-26th at Kingston Heath in Melbourne.

Cycling: French cycling veteran Jeannie Longo set a new record distance for the hour in Mexico city yesterday, riding 44.767km. The 42-year-old Longo cycled 135 laps, each 333.33-metres, at the Mexican Olympic velodrome to beat the previous record of 43.5km set by Australian Anna Wilson on October 18 in Melbourne. Her latest effort meant the Atlanta Olympics road race champion bagged the record for the fifth time.