Couples leads Senior Players Championship

Golf: Fred Couples shot a 5-under-par 66 on Friday to take a one-stroke lead after the second round of the Senior Players Championship in Harrison, N.Y., the Champions Tour’s final major of the season.

Couples is at 8 under for the tournament and trying for his fifth Champions Tour victory.

Peter Senior remains in second at 7 under after a second-round 69. Corey Pavin is third at 6 under after a second-round 69. John Cook is fourth at 5 under after a second-round 68, one stroke ahead of defending champion Mark O’Meara. O’Meara shot a 70 and is in a three-way tie at 4 under with first-round leader Jeff Sluman (73) and Morris Hatalsky (67).

• Gainey takes three-shot lead at Wyndham: Tommy Gainey shot a 65 to move to 12-under 128 and take a three-stroke lead after two rounds of the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C.

Ernie Els (66), Webb Simpson (65), Stuart Appleby (67) and Daniel Summerhays (65) were at 131. Jim Furyk (67), Alexandre Rocha (66), Paul Casey (67) and Retief Goosen (65) were four strokes back at 132.

Alex Prugh (Ferris HS/University of Washington) shot a second-round 66 but missed the cut.

• Surgery ends Weir’s season: Mike Weir’s season ended because of elbow surgery.

The Canadian left-hander underwent surgery to repair a torn tendon in his right elbow on Thursday. With a recover period of three to six months, he’s not expected back on the PGA Tour until 2012.

• Choi leads LPGA Safeway Classic after 1st round: Na Yeon Choi shot a 6-under 65 for the first-round lead at the LPGA Safeway Classic in North Plains, Ore.

Choi was a runner-up when Ai Miyazato of Japan won last year’s Safeway Classic, besting Cristie Kerr and Choi by two shots on the Ghost Creek course nestled in farmland west of Portland.

Wendy Ward (Edwall, Wash.) shot an opening-round 69.

Kentucky beats home favorite at LLWS

Little League Baseball: Kentucky starter Griffin McLarty silenced Pennsylvania’s hitters and their huge cheering section at the Little League World Series with a little help from his defense.

The lanky, 6-foot pitcher from LaGrange, Ky., struck out 12 and hit a homer in a 1-0 win over the hometown favorites from Clinton County, just 30 miles down the road from South Williamsport, Pa.

McLarty calmly walked off the mound after getting a strikeout to end the game.

• California wins big over Rhode Island team: Pitcher Braydon Salzman missed getting hit in the head by a comebacker at the LLWS by the thin brim of his yellow cap.

The hard shot didn’t keep the 13-year-old right-hander down on the mound long. He dusted himself off to finish the third with a strikeout and scored three runs, too, for Huntington Beach, Calif., in an 11-0 victory over Cumberland, R.I..

• Also at the LLWS, Colby Ring scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth to give Langley, British Columbia, a 6-5 win over Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

Maracay, Venezuela, defeated Rotterdam, Netherlands, 6-1.

U.S. beats Australia in WUG semifinals

Basketball: Elena Delle Donne had 22 points and 11 rebounds and Skylar Diggins added 17 points to lead the United States to a 79-67 win over Australia in the semifinals of the World University Games in Shenzhen, China.

The U.S. (5-0) will face Taiwan in the gold-medal game on Sunday.

Nadal, Federer bounced in Cincy

Tennis: A weary Rafael Nadal and an off-target Roger Federer got knocked out of the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Open in Mason, Ohio. No. 1 Novak Djokovic had to scuffle to avoid an upset, too.

Playing a day after he spent five hours on court, Nadal faded in a 6-3, 6-4 loss to American Mardy Fish, who had never beaten the second-ranked Spaniard.

Later, the third-seeded Federer struggled with his groundstrokes during a 6-2, 7-6 (3) loss to a sore-shouldered Tomas Berdych, who has won three of their last four matchups. Djokovic beat Gael Monfils 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Thomas says he was asleep in Harris’ car

Miscellany: Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas said he was asleep in the car when a teammate was pulled over for driving 118 mph earlier this summer.

Thomas also denied he was smoking marijuana. A police dashboard camera video revealed that the officer who pulled over cornerback Cliff Harris thought he smelled the odor of marijuana coming from the car.

Harris was cited for speeding and driving on a suspended license following the traffic stop on June 12 on Interstate 5 near Albany, Ore.

Harris, who was driving a rented car he says was lent to him by a university employee, was suspended indefinitely after the incident by Oregon coach Chip Kelly. He will not play in Oregon’s opener against LSU on Sept. 3 at Cowboys Stadium.

Leyva wins U.S. gymnastics title

Gymnastics: Danell Leyva won his first title at the U.S. gymnastics championships in St. Paul, Minn., beating two-time defending champion and world bronze medalist Jonathan Horton.

Horton fell on his first release move on high bar, his second-to-last event, and Leyva finished with a high-flying spectacle on high bar to clinch the title.

Leyva finished with 183.8 points, 2.75 ahead of Horton.