Choi wins Skins Game with birdie worth $270,000

K.J. Choi holed an 11-foot birdie putt worth $270,000 on the 18th hole Sunday to win the 26th Skins Game at Indian Wells, Calif. with $415,000.

Stephen Ames missed a 9-footer that would have tied the hole and forced the foursome including Phil Mickelson and Rocco Mediate into a playoff.

Instead, Choi’s putt gave him $340,000 for Sunday’s nine holes and made him the fifth international player to win the title.

•Internationals win Lexus Cup: Christina Kim gave Annika Sorenstam a big victory in her second-to-last event before retiring, birdieing the par-5 18th for a halve and the deciding half-point for the International team in the Lexus Cup at Singapore.

Sorenstam won the opening match, waiting out a lightning delay to finish off Asian captain Se Ri Pak 3 and 2. Sorenstam will end her Hall of Fame career next week in the Ladies European Tour’s Dubai Ladies Masters.

•Swedes win World Cup: Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson gave Sweden its second World Cup title, shooting a 9-under 63 in alternate-shot play to beat Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez and Pablo Larrazabal by three strokes at Shenzhen, China.

•Pampling wins Aussie Masters: Rod Pampling won the Australian Masters at Melbourne, beating Australian countryman Marcus Fraser with a par on the third playoff hole.

Pampling closed with a 5-under 67 to match Fraser (65) at 12-under 276 on the Huntingdale Golf Club course.

College Basketball

Western Kentucky stuns Louisville

Western Kentucky beat Louisville 68-54 at Nashville, Tenn. For its first victory over a top-three opponent in more than 40 years.

A.J. Slaughter led the Hilltoppers (3-2) with a career-high 25 points and Steffphon Pettigrew added 17 points and 12 rebounds for Western Kentucky, which dominated the Cardinals (2-1) at both ends of the floor in the second half.

•Tar Heels on cruise control: Ty Lawson scored 22 points to help No 1 North Carolina beat North Carolina-Asheville 116-48 at Chapel Hill, N.C. despite playing without national player of the year Tyler Hansbrough.

Danny Green added 18 points for the Tar Heels (7-0).

Hansbrough sat out as a precaution as he continues to recover from a preseason injury to his right shin. The senior was coming off a 34-point performance against Notre Dame in the championship of the Maui Invitational, but spent this game watching from the bench while wearing his pregame warmups.

•No. 1 Connecticut stops No. 4 Oklahoma: Renee Montgomery had a career-high 30 points and matched the Connecticut record with 13 assists to help the top-ranked Huskies rout No. 4 Oklahoma 106-78 at Storrs, Conn.

Montgomery, who got the first double-double of her career, tied the assists record set by Laura Lishness in 1991 against Seton Hall.

NBA

Blazers blast Pistons

LaMarcus Aldridge scored 27 points and Greg Oden had a career-high 13 rebounds to help the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Detroit Pistons 96-85 at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Brandon Roy scored 19 points and Oden finished with 10 for Portland, which has won four straight.

•Harris leads Nets over Suns: Devin Harris scored a career-high 47 points, including 21 in the fourth quarter, and the New Jersey Nets ended their 14-game losing streak at Phoenix by rallying to beat the Suns 117-109.

NHL

Panthers blank Rangers

Stephen Weiss and Gregory Campbell scored 12 seconds apart in the second period and Craig Anderson made 37 saves for his sixth NHL shutout to lift the Florida Panthers to a 4-0 victory over the Rangers at New York.

•Niedermayer leads Ducks: Rob Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne scored in a 1:09 span of the third period, and Niedermayer added another goal to help the Anaheim Ducks beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 at Raleigh, N.C.

Skiing

Maier wins super-G

Hermann Maier of Austria won a super-G at Lake Louise, Alberta, for his 54th career World Cup win.

John Kucera of Canada was second in 1:30.43, and Didier Cuche of Switzerland was third in 1:30.52.

Defending overall champion Bode Miller lost a ski before the halfway mark and did not finish.

•Vonn top American at Aspen: Sarka Zahrobska got her first World Cup victory Sunday, taking the slalom in a combined time of 1:39.32 to beat Austrian Nicole Hosp. Tanja Poutianinen of Finland was third in 1:40.29.

Lindsey Vonn was the top American, taking fourth with a time of 1:40.73. Julia Mancuso was DQd after missing a gate.

Miscellany

Japan’s Oda wins NHK

Nobunari Oda of Japan capped a successful return to competitive skating with a victory at the NHK Trophy in Tokyo.

Oda overcame several mistakes in his free skate to finish with 236.18 points, ahead of American Johnny Weir with 224.42. Yannick Ponsero of France was third at 217.24.

•Germany doubles in luge: Andi Langenhan and Tatjana Huefner led a German double Sunday in the season-opening singles races in a luge World Cup event at Igls, Austria. Erin Hamlin of the United States was fourth in 1:20.296.