Briefly

Clarke charges past Campbell with 64

Darren Clarke decided to concentrate more on golf than having a good time at the Target World Challenge, and an 8-under-par 64 on Saturday put him in position for a real party.

Clarke, who had never broken 70 in his two previous trips to Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif., continued his assault on the par 5s by playing them in 7 under. That allowed him to vault past U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell and take a one-shot lead into today’s final round.

Clarke made two more eagles, bringing his total this week to five, and putted for eagle on the other three par 5s. A sand wedge into 8 feet on the 18th hole for birdie put him at 14-under 202.

Campbell had never trailed from his opening-round 63, but fell out of the lead with a three-putt bogey on the par-5 13th hole. He birdied the last two holes for a 68, and was tied with Padraig Harrington (65) at 203.

•Americans Paula Creamer and Natalie Gulbis beat Candie Kung and Jeong Jang 3 and 2 in best-ball play to help the International team take an 8-4 lead over Asia in the Lexus Cup at Singapore.

•Australia’s Nick O’Hern shot a 2-under 70 to take a three-stroke lead over Australian Open and PGA winner Robert Allenby after the third round of the Australian Masters at Melbourne.

•South Africa’s Ulrich van den Berg shot a 7-under 65 to take a two-stroke lead over Ernie Els in the Dunhill Championship at Nelspruit, South Africa.

Baseball

BoSox may have co-GMs

The Boston Red Sox, who have been without a general manager since Theo Epstein walked away on Halloween, are planning a “restructuring” of their front office that could result in two of his former assistants sharing the GM job through the 2006 season.

The Boston Herald first reported on Friday that Ben Cherington, the director of player development, and assistant GM Jed Hoyer will fill the post for the next season.

•Catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., 39, signed a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he is expected to serve as a backup to Dioner Navarro next season. Alomar hit .273 for Texas last season.

Winter sports

Spaniard continues surge

Maria Jose Rienda Contreras, who competed for a decade on the World Cup circuit without a victory, has won three of the last four giant slaloms, the latest at the Aspen (Colo.) Winternational.

The 30-year-old Spaniard had a combined time of 1 minute, 57.17 seconds to edge reigning overall champion Anja Paerson of Sweden on the shade-covered Aspen Mountain course.

•Michael Walchhofer led an Austrian sweep at a World Cup downhill at Val D’Isere, France, while Bode Miller finished seventh and U.S. teammate Daron Rahlves was 14th.

Walchhofer finished ahead of reigning Olympic champ Fritz Strobl and Hans Grugger.

Miller and Rahlves were coming off a 1-2 finish last week at Beaver Creek, Colo.

•At Turin, Italy, the Italians finished ahead of the United States to win a World Cup speedskating event in team pursuit, which will debut at the Turin Olympics.

•At Igls, Austria, Todd Hays led the U.S. team to third place in a two-man bobsled race and took the lead in the overall World Cup standings.

•Norway earned its second consecutive 24-kilometer women’s relay victory at a World Cup event at Hochfilzen, Austria.

•At Harrachov, Czech Republic, Andreas Kuttel of Switzerland won a World Cup ski jumping event for his second victory on the circuit this season.

•Japan’s Kazuhiro Kokubo won the halfpipe competition at a World Cup snowboard event at Whistler, British Columbia.

Japan swept the women’s competition, led by Shiho Nakashima’s 40.7 points.

Miscellany

Williams claims title

Danny Williams knocked down Audley Harrison in the 10th round and won a split decision to claim the vacant Commonwealth heavyweight boxing title at London.

Williams, whose biggest victory came against Mike Tyson last year, beat the 2000 Olympic superheavyweight champion Harrison.

•At Trieste, Italy, Laure Manaudou of France shattered the world record in the women’s 400-meter freestyle (3 minutes, 56.79 seconds) to clinch her third gold medal at the European Short Course Swimming Championships.