GOLF Three tied at top Luke Donald shot a 4-under-par 66 on Saturday in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., Mark Calcavecchia finished with 67, and the two former Honda Classic champions wound up tied with Matt Jones (71 ) atop the leaderboard at PGA National. All three were at 6 under, one shot better than Brian Davis (73 ) and Jose Coceres (68 ), who lost a four-way playoff at PGA National a year ago. Donald’s bogey-free 64 on Thursday started him on his way, but the quadruple — an 8 on the 14 th hole Friday — knocked him well off the pace. The 2006 Honda winner at Mirasol, Donald has five birdies and no bogeys in the 22 holes since. Calcavecchia, the 1987 and 1998 Honda winner, made a bogey on the second hole Saturday when his drive nestled against a palm tree, and he decided to take a left-handed whack to advance the ball a few yards. But he missed everything, and eventually made what had to be described as a good bogey. Glen Day (Little Rock ) and Tag Ridings (Arkansas Razorbacks ) are tied at 217. Ridings shot a 73 with 3 birdies, 2 bogeys and 2 double bogyes and Day shot a 74 with two birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey.
Lorena Ochoa increased her lead to eight strokes in the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore, shooting a 3-under-par 69 at Tanah Merah. The Mexican star, making her first LPGA Tour start of the year after winning eight times last season, had a 16-under 200 total on the Garden course. Annika Sorenstam and Paula Creamer, the winners of the season-opening events in Hawaii, were tied for second at 8 under after 70 s. Karrie Webb (70 ) was 7 under. Japan’s Taichiro Kiyota shot a 5-under-par 67 to take a one-stroke lead after the third round of the Johnnie Walker Classic in Gurgaon, India. The 27-yearold Kiyota, winless in five years as a professional, had a 14-under 202 total on the DLF Golf & Country Club course. New Zealand’s Mark Brown (64 ) and India’s Jyoti Randhawa (68 ), playing on his home course, were tied for second in the event sanctioned by the European, Asian and Australasian tours.
FOOTBALL Alabama safety evades charges ? Prosecutors have offered to dismiss a disorderly conduct charge against Alabama safety Rashad Johnson, the player’s attorney said. Attorney Josh Swords said the offer came after video evidence contradicted the police report, which said that Johnson pushed down a security guard at an off-campus bar in Tuscaloosa, Ala., at about 3 a.m. Eastern on Feb. 23. Prosecutors still want Johnson to perform community service in exchange for dropping the charge, according to Swords. He said the offer hasn’t been accepted yet. Johnson, a former walk-on, earned All-SEC honors last season and was voted a team captain. He tied for the SEC lead with six interceptions.
Auburn defensive end Antonio Coleman was treated and released from a hospital Saturday, a few hours after he was taken off the field in an ambulance during the Tigers’ scrimmage. Coleman sustained a cervical sprain and had full mobility in his extremities by Saturday afternoon, Auburn spokesman Kirk Sampson said. He is expected to make a full recovery. Coleman was matched up against left tackle Lee Ziemba (Rogers ) when he was injured and the action continued after the whistle blew ending the play.
BASKETBALL Wooden has blood transfusions John Wooden remained hospitalized in good condition Saturday in Los Angeles, having undergone blood transfusions after the 97-yearold UCLA coaching great broke two bones when he fell at home. Wooden broke his left wrist and collarbone Thursday night. His wrist was in a cast Saturday and his arm will need to be in a sling when he leaves the hospital, his daughter, Nan Muehlhausen, said. Wooden has a hairline fracture in his wrist and a fractured collarbone. He also hit his head, but a CT scan of his head and neck was negative. Wooden coached the Bruins to an unsurpassed 10 NCAA basketball championships in the 1960 s and 1970 s, including consecutive titles from 1967-73. His teams also had an 88-game winning streak. Yao Ming will have surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left foot, Houston Rockets officials said Saturday. The surgery will be performed Monday in Houston by Rockets team doctor Tom Clanton. The team announced the All-Star center’s injury Tuesday and said he would get a second opinion before deciding whether to have the surgery. Clanton also said last week that he doesn’t expect the injury to keep Yao from playing for China in the Olympics in Beijing in August. The Rockets have won 14 consecutive games, including the two since Yao has been injured. Yao was averaging 22 points and 10. 8 rebounds this season.
TENNIS Soderling reaches final Robin Soderling advanced to his second consecutive ATP final Saturday in Memphis, beating Radek Stepanek 7-6 (2 ), 6-3 in the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships. The eighthseeded Swede, who upset top-seeded Andy Roddick to reach the semifinals, lost to Michael Llodra in a third-set tiebreak last week in Rotterdam. Soderling will play Steve Darcis, who advanced to his second career ATP final by defeating Jonas Bjorkman 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Eighth-seeded Elena Dementieva won the Dubai (United Arab Emirates ) Championships on Saturday, beating second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in an all-Russian final. Dementieva lost the 2004 U. S. Open final to Kuznetsova. Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine won his first ATP title Saturday, defeating top-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 7-5, 6-4 in Zagreb, Croatio and becoming the first “lucky loser” to capture a tournament in 17 years. Stakhovsky, ranked 209 th, is only the fourth man in tour history to achieve the feat. The previous player was Argentina’s Christian Miniussi in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1991. A lucky loser enters the main draw of a tournament from the qualifying field at the last minute because a player is unable to compete.
Lindsay Davenport won her 55 th career singles title and fourth since giving birth to her son last summer, beating Olga Govortsova 6-2 6-1 in 60 minutes Saturday night in the Cellular South Cup final in Memphis. Davenport followed that up by winning her 37 th doubles title, teaming with Lisa Raymond to beat Angela Haynes and Mashona Washington 6-3, 6-1. Sixth-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain won the Mexican Open in Acapulco for his fourth career ATP Tour title, beating top-seeded David Nalbandian of Argentina 6-1, 7-6 (1 ). Earlier, topseeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy won her sixth career WTA title and second in three weeks, beating second-seeded Alize Cornet of France 6-0, 4-6, 6-1. FIGURE SKATING Americans go 1-2-3 It was an all-American finish at the junior world figure skating championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. Rachael Flatt won the title and led a U. S. sweep in the women’s competition Saturday. Caroline Zhang, who’d won the title last year, was a close second while new U. S. senior champion Mirai Nagasu took the bronze medal. It’s the second consecutive year U. S. women have swept the medals at the junior worlds. Flatt’s victory also was the third gold medal for the U. S. team. Adam Rippon won the men’s event while Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates won the ice dance. Flatt’s score of 172. 19 points was almost 30 points ahead of the fourth-place finisher, Finland’s Jenni Vahamaa. Nagasu, who had 162. 89, was almost 20 points up on Vahamaa.
GYMNASTICS Hamm, Liukin win American Cup Americans Paul Hamm and Nastia Liukin won the American Cup on Saturday, a prestigious international meet in New York that often serves as a preview for the Olympic all-around competition. And with the Beijing Games less than six months away, the Americans firmly established themselves as contenders for gold. This was Hamm’s first international meet since he won the gold medal in Athens almost four years ago, and he dominated as if he’d never been away. He scored 94. 4 despite a fall off pommel horse, and finished more than three points ahead of fellow American Sasha Artemev (91. 150 ) and reigning world bronze medalist Hisashi Mizutori (90. 950 ). Liukin, who was upstaged by Shawn Johnson last year as she struggled with an ankle injury, rebounded in impressive form. She finished with 63. 425 points while Johnson, the reigning world champion, scored 63. 1 after a fall on a tough, new vault.
WRESTLING Canadian tops American Canada’s Tonya Verbeek beat American Marcie Van Dusen 1-1, 0-1, 1-1 on Saturday night to win the 121-pound women’s freestyle title in the Pan American Wrestling Championships. Verbeek, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist, pulled out the victory late in the match on a single leg shot that took Van Dusen to the mat. In weight classes where the U. S. already has Olympic berths, the Pan American Championships also served as confidence builders for gold medalists Clarissa Chun (105. 5 pounds ), Patricia Miranda (112. 25 ), Tatiana Padilla (130 ). Elena Pirozhkov (147. 5 ) and Stephany Lee (158. 5 ).
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