July 18, 2005

He spent his last hour on the Old Course at St. Andrews with a gentle breeze at his back, carrying him past yellow wisps of grass that swayed beneath gathering clouds. His pursuers had vanished from the fight, leaving Tiger Woods alone to stride brown footpaths toward the claret jug he had been waiting all week to claim. A gallery that had rooted for its European sons now directed its applause toward Woods as he cemented his status as the best golfer in the world with a five-stroke victory Sunday over Colin Montgomerie of Scotland in the 134th British Open.

Whirlpool Corp makes unsolicited $1.36 billion offer for Maytag, possibly igniting three-way bidding war; offer challenges agreement by Maytag to be acquired by private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings for $1.13 billion, as well as $1.28 billion bid by Chinese conglomerate Haier amid concerns about Chinese companies trying to acquire American firms; Maytag, third largest American home appliance manufacturer, has been considered prime takeover candidate for some time because of heavy cost structure, lack of sales growth and sharply declining profits; photo (M)

Article on struggles that newly independent arts managers in China are facing under government mandates to become profitable as country races toward more market-driven economy; Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has just concluded two-week arts management seminar for Chinese; center president Michael Kaiser and his staff focus on concepts like courting donors, developing operating budgets and projecting ticket sales; Chinese officials hope seminar will become annual event; photos (M)

Expertly sidestepping dried dung at a county fair here Saturday night, the tall, tanned man with a big grin and an outstretched palm looked every inch the candidate barnstorming before the Iowa presidential caucuses. ''Hi, I'm George Pataki, from New York!'' he said, raising his voice over the oinks and bleats and neighs in the livestock barns nearby. ''I know you!'' cried Todd Parker, standing amid hog-filled pens. ''You're a celebrity. I've seen you on Fox News.''

Reporter Matthew Cooper, in Time magazine article, says White House adviser Karl Rove was first person to tell him that wife of former Ambassador Joseph C Wilson IV was CIA officer; holds Rove said she had played role in sending Wilson to Africa to investigate possible uranium sales to Iraq; article describes Cooper's testimony to federal grand jury investigating whether a White House official illegally disclosed identity of covert intelligence officer Valerie Plame; Cooper says Rove did not mention name of Wilson's wife or say that she was covert officer, but holds that he did say that she worked at the 'agency' on 'WMD'; article is largely consistent with broad outlines of Rove's grand jury testimony about conversation as portrayed in news accounts; is likely to add fuel to political firestorm over whether there was White House effort to disclose Plame's identity as payback for Wilson's criticism of Bush administration; photo (M)