Donald clings to lead at Byron Nelson
Luke Donald barely held onto the lead at the Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas.
After a bogey at No. 17, Donald made a par-saving putt on the closing hole Saturday to finish his 11th straight under-par round in the Nelson, a three-under 67 that put him at 10-under 200 with a one-stroke lead over Scott Verplank going into the final round.
Donald had consecutive bogeys early to fall behind by two strokes. He recovered with five birdies in a 10-hole stretch that were enough to put him back ahead.
Donald, No. 11 in the world, has finished 17 of his 21 career rounds at the Nelson over the last six tournaments under par.
Verplank (66) grew up in the Dallas area and first met Byron Nelson as a teenager.
Michael Allen, the 48-year-old journeyman who got into the Nelson by surviving a playoff in a qualifying event Monday, was alone in third at eight under after his bogey-free 64. Ian Poulter (65) was six under.
Lorena Ochoa shot a nine-under 64 to tie Julieta Granada and Silvia Cavalleri for the third-round lead in the Corona Morelia Championship in Mexico.
A day after falling five strokes behind with a 74, the 25-year-old Ochoa had eight birdies, an eagle and a bogey before thousands of fans who cheered her every move on the hilly Tres Marias course -- about 175 miles from her native Guadalajara.
SOCCER
Manchester United adds to lead in standings
Manchester United scored four straight goals, including the winner by Wayne Rooney in the 79th minute, to beat Everton, 4-2, and took a five-point lead in the English Premier League. Second-place Chelsea tied Bolton, 2-2.
United has 85 points, followed by Chelsea with 80 with three games to play. They play each other in the league May 9 and in the FA Cup final May 19, although the FA Cup does not count in the standings.
Stan Kroenke, who has ownership stakes in four U.S. pro sports teams, is to meet with Arsenal Chairman Peter Hill-Wood amid increasing speculation of a takeover of the famed English soccer club. Kroenke owns 12.19% of Arsenal’s shares.
TENNIS
Nadal wins on clay again and will next face Canas
Two-time defending champion Rafael Nadal beat fifth-seeded David Ferrer, 7-5, 6-1, for his 71st straight win on clay and a place in the Open Seat Godo final at Barcelona, Spain, against Guillermo Canas.
The 12th-seeded Canas beat Agustin Calleri, 7-6 (1), 6-7 (5), 6-2, in an all-Argentine match to advance to his second straight final. He lost to Novak Djokovic at the Sony Ericsson Open earlier this month.
Paul-Henri Mathieu and Albert Montanes advanced to the Grand Prix Hassan II final at Casablanca, Morocco.
Eighth-seeded Mathieu defeated Marc Gicquel, 6-3, 7-5, and then Montanes rallied to beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Gisela Dulko beat Agnes Szavay, 6-2, 6-1, to reach the Budapest Grand Prix final in Hungary. Dulko will play Sorana Cirstea, who defeated Karin Knapp, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
BOXING
Strum regains WBA title by defeating Castillejo
Felix Sturm (27-2) regained his World Boxing Assn. middleweight title from Javier Castillejo (62-7), unanimously outpointing the veteran Spaniard at Oberhausen, Germany. The judges ruled the fight 116-112, 115-114 and 116-112.
WBA lightweight champion Juan Diaz improved to 32-0 and added the World Boxing Organization belt to his collection when Acelino Freitas’ corner stopped their title unification fight at the end of the eighth round at Mashantucket, Conn.
MISCELLANY
Webb blazes to record in mile at Drake Relays
Alan Webb broke Steve Scott’s meet record in the mile at the 98th Drake Relays in Des Moines by more than three seconds, finishing in a 2007 world-best 3 minutes, 51.71 seconds.
Webb says that next on his list is taking a shot at breaking Scott’s American mile record of 3:47.69, set in 1982.
Johan Davidsson had two goals and two assists to help defending world and Olympic champion Sweden beat Italy, 7-1, in its first game at the world hockey championships at Moscow.
Canada got a scare in its first game, needing a goal from St. Louis Blues forward Jamal Mayers to secure a 3-2 victory over Germany.
United States Synchronized Swimming announced its nominations for the 2008 Olympic team that could compete in Beijing. Among the nominations were Brooke Abel and Christina Jones, along with replacement swimmer Meghan Kinney, all of whom compete for the Riverside Aquettes. The U.S. can earn a spot in the 2008 Olympics by winning gold medals in the team and duet competitions at the Pan-American Games July 23-27 in Rio de Janeiro.
Doug Baker’s Magnitude 80 of Long Beach was the first finisher in the 60th Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race in a time of 21 hours, 4 minutes, 23 seconds, 12 1/2 minutes ahead of Jim Madden’s Stark Raving Mad III of Newport Beach.
However, Madden’s corrected handicap time of 25:45:37 bested Baker’s. But the clubhouse leader in corrected time was Alec Oberschmidt’s Staghound of San Diego in 25:26:29. The race concludes today.
