GOLF
Three share Riviera lead
Rory McIlroy returned to No. 1 in the world for the first time in more than four years and is playing like he wants to stay there for a while. McIlroy had a 3-under 68 on Saturday at Riviera and shared the 54-hole lead with Matt Kuchar and Adam Scott going into the final round at the Genesis Invitational. Riviera is a thorough test, and the greens are difficult enough that no one could run away with it. Tiger Woods managed to run the other direction with a 76 that left him 15 shots behind. Kuchar had a two-shot lead at the start of the gorgeous day and kept there with three birdies and no bogeys through 12 holes. But he started to miss short putts, made three bogeys in a four-hole stretch and had to rally with a birdie on the 17th to regain a share of the lead with a 70. Andrew Landry (Arkansas Razorbacks) is 3-under for the tournament, seven shots behind the leaders.
Park ahead by 3 strokes
Inbee Park took a three-stroke lead at the Women's Australian Open on Saturday after a 5-under 68, including a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th at Royal Adelaide. She had a 54-hole total of 15-under 204. Nineteen-year-old Ayeon Cho will play in the final group with her fellow South Korean. Cho shot 69 on Saturday and was alone in second. American Marina Alex was in third at 11-under after a 70, four strokes behind. Former University of Arkansas golfer Maria Fassi is tied for sixth entering today's final round after shooting a 3-under 70 on Saturday. Fassi is at 9-under 210. Alana Uriell (Razorbacks) is tied for 51st at 2-under after an even-par 73 on Saturday. Stacy Lewis (Razorbacks) shot a 2-over 75 on Saturday and is tied for 64th.
Leaney fires another 65
Stephen Leaney leads after Saturday's second round at the Chubb Classic in Naples, Fla., and Fred Funk is two shots back as he attempts to become the oldest competitor to win a PGA Tour Champions event. Leaney made an eagle on the 17th hole and has posted consecutive rounds of 65, putting him one shot ahead of Bernhard Langer and two clear of Funk, Chris DiMarco and Fred Couples. Leaney's 130-shot total is his best 36-hole score at a PGA-sanctioned competition. His last pro win was at the 2017 Western Australian Open, and his only appearance in a Sunday final group on the PGA Tour was at the 2003 U.S. Open, when he started three shots behind eventual champion Jim Furyk. At 63 years, eight months and two days old, Funk would be the oldest winner ever on the tour, surpassing Scott Hoch at 63 years, five months and four days. Funk's two-round total of 132 is his best since the 2017 Regions Tradition, and that was also the last time he started the final round of an event in the top three. He finished tied for fourth. John Daly (Dardanelle, Razorbacks) is in a tie for 12th. Daly shot a 67 on Saturday and is five shots behind Leaney with a 7-under two-day score. Ken Duke (Arkadelphia, Henderson State) is at 3-under for the tournament and Glen Day (Little Rock), after shooting a 68 on Saturday, is at 1-over.
TENNIS
Edmund reaches NY finals
Kyle Edmund powered into his first ATP final since 2018, beating Miomir Kecmanovic 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday at the New York Open. A day after all four quarterfinals went three sets, Edmund made quick work of the first semifinal at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The No. 8 seed broke Kecmanovic's serve on his first two attempts en route to a 5-0 lead in the first set, then won the final nine points after trailing 4-3 in the second. He will be looking for his second career title today when he faces Andreas Seppi, who beat Jason Jung 6-3, 6-2 to move within a victory of his first title since 2012. Edmund climbed as high as No. 14 in the rankings -- ending Andy Murray's lengthy reign as the top British player -- in October 2018. He reached his lone Grand Slam semifinal earlier that year at the Australian Open and won his only title near the end of that season in Antwerp, Belgium.
Bertens, Rybakina in finals
Kiki Bertens will face Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina in the final of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy as the Dutch player tries to successfully defend her title. Eighth-ranked Bertens stumbled in the second set but recovered to win her semifinal 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 against Ekaterina Alexandrova on Saturday. That gives her the chance to end an 0-3 streak in tour finals since she beat Simona Halep in Madrid in May. Bertens has not successfully defended a title since Nuremberg in 2017. Rybakina reached her third final of the year by beating Maria Sakkari 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.
HOCKEY
Karlsson out; Kane suspended
San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson will miss the rest of the season after suffering a broken thumb on his left hand in Friday's game at Winnipeg. The team made the announcement Saturday before San Jose was set to play at Minnesota. The Sharks also lost forward Evander Kane to a three-game suspension for elbowing Jets defenseman Neal Pionk in Friday's game. The suspension was announced by the league's department of player safety. Kane will forfeit $112,900 that will go to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund. Karlsson, 29, had six goals and led the team with 34 assists and 40 points after signing an eight-year, $92 million extension last June. He played 56 games in his second season with San Jose. The two-time Norris Trophy winner also missed 27 of the Sharks' final 33 games last season.
SPEEDSKATING
Two world marks broken
Russian speedskaters Pavel Kulizhnikov and Natalia Voronina broke world records Saturday on the third day of the ISU World Single Distances Championships at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah. Kulizhnikov earned gold in the 1,000 meters with a world record time of 1:05.69. He eclipsed the previous record of 1:06.18 by Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands. Nuis took silver, finishing in 1:06.73. Canadian Laurent Dubreuil earned bronze in 1:06.76. Joey Mantia, the lone American competing in the 1,000, finished in 1:07.51 for 12th place. Voronia set a world record and earned gold in the 5,000 in 6:39.21. She beat a record of 6:41.18 set by Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic earlier in the race. Sablikova broke her own previous world record time of 6:42.01 en route to earning silver. Netherlands' Esmee Visser finished in 6:46.68 to take bronze.
TRACK & FIELD
Pole vault record falls again
Armand Duplantis set the world pole vault record on Saturday in Glasgow, Scotland, for the second time in eight days. The American-born Swede eclipsed his own mark by a centimeter when he vaulted 6.18 meters (20' 3 1/4") at the Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix. Duplantis also set the record in Torun, Poland, last Saturday when an effort of 6.17 bettered the 6.16 set by Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie in Donetsk, Ukraine in February 2014.
Sports on 02/16/2020