GOLF
Hur, Reto share lead
South Korea's Mi Jung Hur birdied four of the last eight holes Saturday for a 5-under 67 and a share of the lead with Paula Reto in the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic at Prattville, Ala. Reto, the second-round leader, birdied three of the final five holes for a 70 to match Hur at 15-under 201 on Capitol Hill's links-style Senator layout. Hur won her lone LPGA Tour title in 2009 and Reto is winless in her rookie season. Top-ranked Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks) and Kris Tamulis were tied for third at 11 under. Lewis, the 2012 winner in the event dropped from the schedule last year after losing its title sponsor, had a 70."For the way I played, the score ended up pretty good," said Lewis, the tour leader with three victories this year. "I didn't play well. It was kind of a struggle all day and just had to work pretty hard to shoot what I did. But I'm still within striking distance, still have a chance for tomorrow, which that was the goal going into the week." Tamulis shot 65, the best round of the day. Reto is in position to win after missing 11 cuts in 18 starts this season.
• Derek Fathauer shot a 3-under 67 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead over Zac Blair in the season-ending Web.com Tour Championship. Fathauer, 28, has already earned a PGA Tour card with a top-25 finish on the Web.com Tour's regular-season money list. The former Louisville player had a 12-under 198 total on TPC Sawgrass' Dye's Valley Course at Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Blair, needing to earn about $40,000 for a PGA Tour card, shot a 71. Jason Gore was third at 10 under after a 66. Canada's Adam Hadwin, in position to top the Web.com Tour and four-event Web.com Tour Finals money lists, was 8 under along with Jim Herman and Tyrone Van Aswegen. Herman had a 65, and Hadwin and Van Aswegen shot 67. Hadwin leads the four-event money list and is second on the combined Web.com list, $15,736 behind Carlos Ortiz. Ortiz missed the cut. Hadwin won the second Finals event in Davidson, N.C. Sebastian Cappelen (Arkansas Razorbacks) had four birdies and two bogeys for a 2-under 68 (207) and is tied for 20th. Tag Ridings (Razorbacks) had three birdies and three bogeys for an even-par round of 70 (208). Also at 208 is David Lingmerth (Razorbacks), who had one birdie and four bogeys for a 3-over 73. Scott Gardiner (Farmington) missed the cut.
• Joost Luiten birdied three of his closing four holes in a 6-under 65 at the Wales Open on Saturday to take a two-shot lead. The three-time European Tour winner came from a stroke back at the start of the third round to overhaul Ireland's Shane Lowry (68) and move to a total of 14-under 199 in ideal scoring conditions on the Twenty-Ten course at Celtic Manor. Lowry got the start he wanted to his third round with birdies at Nos. 2, 3 and 6 but the Dubliner stalled to then par his closing 12 holes. Former Welsh Open winner Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand shot a 67 to share third on 11 under with Frenchman Gregory Havret who signed for a 66. Havret, who last won in 2008, is looking to follow compatriot Gregory Bourdy who captured last year's Wales Open. European Ryder rookie Jamie Donaldson continues to impress, shooting a 68 to move to 8-under overall while Westwood jumped 23 spots with a round of 68 to be in a share of 32nd on 3 under. However, Dane Thomas Bjorn slipped two dozen spots with a round of 71 and is tied in 46th position at 2 under.
Fred Funk shot a 10-under 62 on Saturday for a share of the lead with Paul Goydos in the Champions Tour’s Hawaii Championship. Funk had 11 birdies and a bogey at Kapolei Golf Club. Goydos shot a 63 to match Funk at 15-under 129. Corey Pavin and Vijay Singh were 13 under. Pavin birdied the last five holes for a 61, and Singh shot 65. Tom Pernice Jr., the first-round leader after a 60, was in the group at 12 under after a 72. Davis Love III followed his opening 69 with a 72 to drop into a tie for 57th at 3 under in his Champions Tour debut. The 20-time PGA Tour winner turned 50 in April.
BASEBALL
Ellsbury possibly done
Jacoby Ellsbury was out of the New York Yankees lineup a day after straining his right hamstring, and the team's most consistent player this year may be done for the season. "I am still going to do everything I can to be back as soon as possible," Ellsbury said Saturday. "I will talk to the team and we will be on the same page with this. But I will still try to do everything I can to play these last nine games." Manager Joe Girardi was not so hopeful, expressing frustration in losing another of his starters to injury, especially with the Yankees clinging to faint playoffs hopes with nine games to play. They are 4 1/2 games out of the second wild card. "He's not a player for us," Girardi said. "Obviously we will give him a few days off and see where he's at. It's not what you want but we have to deal with it." Ellsbury had homered and doubled Friday night before he was hurt beating out a double-play relay in the fourth inning against Toronto. Recent acquisition Martin Prado is out with a hamstring injury and left fielder Brett Gardner missed several games this month with an abdominal injury. Signed to a seven-year, $153 million free-agent contract in the offseason, Ellsbury is hitting .271 with 16 home runs and a team-leading 70 RBI.
• Jimmy Sanderson, a communications professor at Clemson University, has conducted a study on how baseball teams are constructed and more specifically if there are positions on the diamond where it's better to have home-grown talent or to go after outside free agents. The research found that over a five-year span from 2009-2013, Major League Baseball playoff teams relied on catchers, leftfielders and relief pitchers developed through their organizations. Also, the study said American League teams who have brought third- and second-basemen up through their system are more successful than those that don't. "Thus, teams should protect their home-grown players at these positions and focus acquisition efforts on players at other positions," according to the study's conclusions. Sanderson and Clemson left-hander Matthew Crownover won an award for the research at the SABR Convention in Houston earlier this summer. Crownover said he got some good feedback from sabermetricians about expanding the time the study covered to make the results more significant.
TENNIS
Sousa, Goffin in final
Sixth-seeded Joao Sousa of Portugal rallied Saturday to beat second-seeded Gael Monfils 7-6 (6), 6-2 and reach the final at the Moselle Open in Metz, France, where he faces eighth-seeded David Goffin of Belgium. Goffin, who eliminated top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarters, beat Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany 7-6 (4), 6-3 in the other semifinal on Saturday. Sousa trailed 4-2 against Monfils, who blew two match points before losing to Roger Federer in the U.S. Open quarterfinals this month, but clawed his way back into the match and saved eight of the nine break points he faced. Monfils, the 2009 champion, had 13 aces but quickly fell 3-0 down in the second set. Both finalists will go for their second career titles today, and play each other for the second time. Goffin dropped only six games when he beat Sousa in the second round of the U.S. Open three weeks ago. In a match for servers, Goffin edged Struff 14-12 in aces and won 85 percent of his first-serve points. After trading breaks in the first set, Goffin saved three break points on his serve in the second set and took his only opportunity on Struff's serve.
BASKETBALL
U.S. beats China
Nneka Ogwumike scored 16 points and Jantel Lavender added 14 to help the U.S. women's national team beat China 99-75 on Saturday in an exhibition game in Paris. The U.S. scored nine of the first 11 points and led 27-10 after the first quarter thanks to Tina Charles and Diana Taurasi, who combined for 19 points in the period. The Americans, who will play France today, extended the advantage to 51-24 at the half and never looked back in the second half.
Sports on 09/21/2014