BRIEFLY : BEEM ON BEAM TO TAKE LEAD IN KEMPER OPEN.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

Rich Beem, whose biggest golfing moments have come in towns such as Socorro and Truth or Consequences, shook off the jitters Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Kemper Open in Potomac, Md.

Beem, who quit the game temporarily four years ago to sell cellular phones and stereos and spent last year toiling in a minor tournaments in New Mexico and West Texas, combined wayward shots into hazards with seven birdies to card a 5-under-par 66.

Ex-UCLA star Corey Pavin, close to regaining the form that made him one of the best in the world for the first half of the decade, sank a 25-foot birdie putt at No. 18 to finish tied for second with a 67.

Scott Dunlap made only the third double eagle in Kemper Open history when his 3-iron second shot found the pin from 218 yards at the sixth hole.

Sherri Turner, Denise Killeen, Stephanie Lowe and Kathryn Marshall navigated the short and narrow 6,062-yard par-72 course to shoot 67s and tie for the lead in the Corning Classic in Corning, N.Y.

TRACK AND FIELD: Joao Carlos de Oliveira, 44, who held the world record in the triple jump for a decade, slipped into a coma and was in extremely serious condition at the Beneficiencia Portuguesa Hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

FOOTBALL: Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur, 66, has taken a leave of absence because of cancer, the Post-Crescent of Appleton, Wis., reported. Shurmur has coached in the NFL for 24 seasons. He was with the L.A. Rams from 1982-90.

BASKETBALL: Portland Trail Blazers forward Brian Grant received the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award for his community service and charity work.

All-Americans Elton Brand and Richard Hamilton, who led Duke and Connecticut to the NCAA championship game last season, were added to the U.S. Olympic qualifying team. Also filling one of the final three spots on the roster was Wally Szczerbiak of Miami (Ohio).

OLYMPICS: Tickets go on sale Sunday in Australia for the 2000 Summer Games and organizers should know quickly if the Olympic bribery scandal has dampened public interest. Fans will have 48 days to return order forms for 5 million of 9.6 million tickets to be sold for the Games.

HOCKEY: The Pittsburgh Penguins plan to argue today in bankruptcy court that an onerous lease blamed for the team's financial troubles is in large part a loan that is nearly paid off.

Separately, former Penguins star center and NHL Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux's plan to save the team from dissolution calls for paying leaseholder SMG $15 million to buy out the agreement. But, if the Penguins prevail in their argument that most of the lease is really an almost-satisfied loan, the value of the lease would drop considerably, perhaps relieving Lemieux of having to make that payment.