Hole-in-one helps Stricker take lead at Memorial
Golf: On a course with such a fine line between birdies and bogeys, Steve Stricker settled for perfection Friday in the Memorial with a hole-in-one that put him in control at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio.
Stricker used a 6-iron on the 188-yard eighth hole – his 17th hole of the second round – then birdied his final hole for a 5-under-par 67. Instead of being part of a five-way tie for the lead, he wound up at 9-under 135, three shots clear going into the weekend.
“It’s a shock when you see that go in, obviously, but in a good way,” Stricker said. “A great way to finish the round.”
Spokane native Alex Prugh missed the cut after a second-round 72.
• Third-ranked Shin leads ShopRite: Third-ranked Jiyai Shin of South Korea shot a 5-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead over Sandra Gal of Germany after the wind-whipped opening round of the ShopRite LPGA Classic in Galloway Township, N.J.
Wendy Ward (Edwall, Wash.) shot a 7-over 78.
• Brooks leads Principal Charity Classic: Mark Brooks battled through hot, breezy conditions to shoot a 6-under 65 for a two-stroke lead over Mark Calcavecchia and Peter Senior in the Principal Charity Classic in West Des Moines, Iowa.
• Defending NCAA champs on to semifinals: Defending champion Augusta State beat Georgia Tech 3-2 in an NCAA championship quarterfinal matchup and will move on to play Oklahoma State, which advanced with a 3-1-1 victory over Ohio State on the Cowboys’ home course in Stillwater, Okla.
Duke will play Georgia in the other semifinal. The Blue Devils upset stroke-play winner UCLA 3-1-1. Georgia topped Illinois, also 3-1-1.
Lockwood lifts Arizona State
Softball: Annie Lockwood homered and drove in the winning run with a game-ending infield single in the seventh inning, giving top-seeded Arizona State a 6-5 victory over Florida night in the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
Lockwood smashed a one-hopper right at third baseman Kasey Fagan with the bases loaded and two outs. It bounced off of Fagan and toward the Sun Devils’ dugout, allowing Katelyn Boyd to score the winning run.
• Dunne leads Alabama over Baylor: Kelsi Dunne pitched six spotless innings, Whitney Larsen and Kaila Hunt had RBI singles and second- seeded Alabama moved into the Women’s College World Series semifinals by beating Baylor 3-0 in Oklahoma City.
Sparks open with win over Moore, Lynx
WNBA: In Candace Parker’s first game since sustaining a season-ending shoulder injury last June, the star forward scored 19 points to lead the Los Angeles Sparks to a 82-74 season-opening victory over the visiting Minnesota Lynx.
No.1 draft pick Maya Moore led all scorers with 21 points.
Kenyan breaks 25K, 30K world marks
Miscellany: Kenyan Moses Mosop broke the world record by running the 30,000 meters in 1 hour, 26 minutes, 47.4 seconds at the Prefontaine Classic meet in Eugene, Ore.
Mosop also broke the 25,000-meter world record en route in 1:12:25.4.
• Ball to chest kills Little Leaguer: Hayden Walton, a 13-year-old boy, was killed after a baseball hit him in the chest as he tried to bunt in the Winslow (Ariz.) Little League.
After the pitch hit Hayden’s chest over his heart, the boy took two steps toward first base and then collapsed. He died the next morning.
• Guardian thinks Pryor will stay a Buckeye: Willie Burns, the legal guardian of Terrelle Pryor who lived with Pryor while he was in high school, said that he’s confident the embattled quarterback will return for his senior season at Ohio State – as abbreviated as it might be following a ban of at least five games – and not apply for the NFL’s supplemental draft.
“I think he will stay in school,” Burns said. “He likes football. Only time will tell. He could change his mind in a minute.
“But he if he does leave, somebody done pressured his butt – bad.”
• Big 12 to spread more wealth: The Big 12’s lower- revenue schools walked out of the conference meetings in Kansas City, Mo., with a multimillion dollar pay raise.
Previously, the Big 12 distributed 57 percent of football and basketball TV dollars equally among its 12 members. But with Colorado and Nebraska gone, the 10-team league has decided to spread 76 percent of the dollars equally.
Commissioner Dan Beebe declined to speculate exactly how much this will mean to lower-revenue members such as Kansas, Baylor, Iowa State and Kansas State. But he agreed it will be “millions” given the new $1.17 billion football deal with Fox taking effect in 2012.
• SEC makes changes: Southeastern Conference school presidents and chancellors voted to eliminate divisions in men’s basketball and to reduce the annual signing classes in football to 25 players, down from 28. SEC football coaches voted unanimously to keep the number at 28.
The SEC will keep a 16-game conference slate for 2011-12 basketball season, but will increase the number of conference games the following season.