Steve Stricker leads by five shots in Tournament of Champions

Steve Stricker took a big step toward booking another trip to Maui with a 10-under-par 63 and built a five-shot lead Saturday through two rounds of the PGA Tour’s season-opening Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, Hawaii.

Stricker played his final five holes in five under, including an eagle on the 15th hole that gave him separation from Webb Simpson and the eagle-eagle finish by Kevin Na.

Stricker was at 15-under 131 and will be paired Sunday with Simpson, who shot 68.

Na shot 64 and was in third place at nine-under 137.

Defending champion Louis Oosthuizen birdied three of his last four holes for a six-under 67 and a share of the third-round lead in the Africa Open at East London, South Africa. Oosthuizen and Tjaart van der Walt (65) were at 21 under overall, one shot ahead of Retief Goosen (66).

ETC.

Catcher Posada is set to retire

A person familiar with the decision told the Associated Press that catcher Jorge Posada will announce his retirement this month.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been made public. Posada’s decision was first reported by sports radio station WFAN.

Posada, 40, won five World Series titles in 17 years with the New York Yankees. He became a free agent after last season.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga shrugged off a slow start and beat Gael Monfils, 7-5, 6-3, in an all-French final at the Qatar Open in Doha, giving himself a confidence boost for the Australian Open.

The sixth-ranked Tsonga, who reached the final when Roger Federer withdrew because of an injury, fell behind 3-1 before finding a rhythm, coming to the net more often and reeling off the final four games to win the first set.

Kaia Kanepi won her second WTA title with a 6-2, 6-1 victory against Daniela Hantuchova at the Brisbane International in Australia. Andy Murray beat Australian teenager Bernard Tomic, 6-3, 6-2, in the men’s semifinals and will play Sunday for the title against Alexandr Dolgopolov, who defeated Gilles Simon, 6-3, 6-4.

Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and Tomas Berdych picked up straight-set victories over their French opponents, giving the Czech Republic its second Hopman Cup title. Kvitova beat Marion Bartoli, 7-5, 6-1, at Perth, Australia, and Berdych beat Richard Gasquet, 7-6 (0), 6-4.

Elisabeth Goergl of Austria ended American Lindsey Vonn’s four-race unbeaten streak in speed events by winning a World Cup downhill at Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria.

Goergl, who also beat Vonn to take the world downhill title last year, went down the Kaernten-Franz Klammer course in 1 minute 48.40 seconds. Julia Mancuso of the U.S. was second, 0.16 of a second back, and Fabienne Suter of Switzerland was third.

Vonn, who was bothered by a stomach ailment this week, finished fourth and maintained the lead in the downhill and overall World Cup standings. She almost skied out at the second gate and finished 0.55 of a second behind Goergl. Vonn had won both previous downhills and both super-G races this season.

Marcel Hirscher of Austria extended his breakout season by winning a World Cup giant slalom at Adelboden, Switzerland, and increasing his lead in the overall standings. Two days after he won the Zagreb night slalom, Hirscher finished 0.08 of a second ahead of teammate Benjamin Raich.

Massimiliano Blardone of Italy was third, and American Ted Ligety trailed Hirscher by 0.14 of a second in fourth but maintained his lead in the giant slalom standings.

Bode Miller skied out in the top half of the first run, which 29 of the 66 starters failed to finish as visibility worsened on a cloudy morning after days of high wind, heavy rain and snow.

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Michael Beasley is expected to sit out at least three games because of a sprained right foot.

Fulham’s Clint Dempsey scored the first hat trick of his career, Brad Guzan stopped a penalty kick for Aston Villa and Landon Donovan had an assist for Everton on a successful day for Americans in the third round of the FA Cup.

Dempsey made it 12 goals for the season by scoring in the eighth and 61st minutes, then converting a penalty kick in the 81st minute of Fulham’s 4-0 win over Charlton, which is in the third tier in English soccer.

It is thought to be the third hat trick by an American in a competitive league or FA Cup match for an English club, following John Kerr Jr. for Millwall against Derby in a second-tier league match in August 1994 and Chris Cleary for Worksop against Droylsden in the third qualifying round of the FA Cup in October 2004. There have been addition ones in lesser competitions such as Conference play, the FA Trophy and the League Trophy.