Sports in brief: Familiarity helps Woods, Wilson to top
Golf: Tiger Woods and Mark Wilson, players who have every reason to feel right at home at Cog Hill in Lemont, Ill., tied for the lead Friday at the BMW Championship at 7-under-par 135.
One practices here all the time. The other seems to win here all the time.
Woods made two solid par saves from deep bunkers early in his round, ran off three straight birdies at the turn and cashed in on enough good shots for a 4-under 67 to put him atop the leaderboard for the first time since the PGA Championship.
Woods is a four-time winner at Cog Hill, including his most recent appearance two years ago in the BMW Championship.
Wilson, who birdied his final hole for a 5-under 66, moved to Chicago about five years ago and was looking for a place to practice when Frank Jemsek gave him carte blanche at Cog Hill. Wilson spends most of his time on this public golf course in the Chicago suburbs.
•Gal takes lead with eagle: Sandra Gal’s eagle on the 18th hole gave her a one-shot lead after the first round of the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship at Rogers, Ark.
Gal shot a 7-under 64 in the LPGA Tour event, and her uphill putt from about 15 feet on the final hole moved her past Song-Hee Kim and into the lead. Kim is alone in second.
Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., opened with a 69.
Martin leads Richmond qualifying
Auto racing: Mark Martin’s final push for a spot in NASCAR’s Chase for the championship will start from the best spot in the field tonight.
Martin turned a lap of 126.808 mph in qualifying at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, edging Martin Truex Jr., whose lap came at 126.731 mph.
The top four spots in the playoffs are already clinched, and 11 drivers are vying for the last eight. Of the others with a chance to get in, Brian Vickers will start sixth; Kyle Busch, 37 points behind, starts eighth; and David Reutimann 23rd.
•Edwards wins from back of field: Carl Edwards grabbed the lead from Kevin Harvick on pit road with 24 laps to go and won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Richmond.
The victory finished off a remarkable race for Edwards, who had to start at the back of the field after his team made adjustments to his Ford after the field was impounded.
Harvick finished second, followed by Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and David Reutimann.
Showers play havoc with U.S. Open
Tennis: Rain threw the U.S. Open schedule into disarray for the second consecutive year, meaning both singles finals will be pushed back, and the tournament at New York will end Monday at the earliest.
All of Friday’s matches were postponed because of steady showers. That includes the two women’s semifinals – Serena Williams vs. Kim Clijsters, and Yanina Wickmayer vs. Caroline Wozniacki – and the men’s quarterfinal between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Gonzalez, which was suspended in the second set Thursday night.
Those three matches were all rescheduled for today, when the forecast again calls for rain.
Rockets’ Opelt sizzles against Colorado
Football: Toledo’s Aaron Opelt threw four touchdown passes and ran for two more in the Rockets’ 54-38 non-conference victory over Colorado at Toledo, Ohio.
Opelt finished with 319 yards passing a week after throwing for 423 in a loss at Purdue. He also ran for 109 yards against the Buffaloes, including a 61-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Rogge expresses confidence in Games
Miscellany: International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge is confident the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver will break even despite a budget shortfall.
In an unprecedented gesture, the IOC said last month it would offer financial assistance to Vancouver’s organizing committee, VANOC, if it ends up with a budget gap following the Feb. 12-28 games.
“We are optimistic together with VANOC that there will be no deficit,” Rogge said from London. “However, if you want to manage carefully, you have to account for all possibilities. In case there would be a deficit … the IOC would agree to participate in the deficit together with the other stakeholders.”
•Coyotes’ fate will be known soon: The fate of the floundering Phoenix Coyotes finally is in the hands of a U.S. bankruptcy judge in Phoenix after Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie and the NHL sweetened their offers to buy the team at the last minute.
Four months of often-bitter, complex courtroom wrangling came to an end with the auction. Judge Redfield T. Baum is expected to rule in the next week or two.
•Prosecutor calls Simpson conviction fair: A Nevada prosecutor responded to O.J. Simpson’s appeal by saying that the ex-football star was fairly convicted on armed robbery and kidnapping charges.
Clark County District Attorney David Roger filed a brief with the Nevada Supreme Court to respond to Simpson’s appeal of his conviction on 12 charges related to a confrontation with sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas casino hotel room.
•Asmussen reaches milestone: Steve Asmussen became the fifth trainer to win 5,000 races. The trainer of Preakness-winning filly Rachel Alexandra reached the milestone at Woodbine in Toronto when Passion Rules won the seventh race.
•Homers propel U.S. team: The United States hit four home runs to defeat Germany 9-1 at the baseball World Cup in Regensburg, Germany.
•Gomez advances to title match: Light welterweight Frankie Gomez won an 8-7 contest with Hungary’s Gyula Kate at the world boxing championships at Milan, Italy, sending the only remaining American into the gold-medal match against Olympic bronze medalist Roniel Iglesias.