In brief: Perry surges ahead at Tour Championship
Golf: Kenny Perry already has had a week to remember at the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
He was honored with the Payne Stewart Award, which he called the greatest accomplishment of his career. He was so overcome by the stifling heat in the opening round at East Lake that he thought he might throw up after five holes and was lucky to shoot a 72.
How about this to top it off?
A two-shot lead going into today, a final pairing with Tiger Woods, his entire family in town, and a chance to capture the Tour Championship, and maybe even the $10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup.
“It might be magical,” Perry said Saturday. “We’ll see.”
His round Saturday was magical enough. Perry birdied the opening four holes – all on putts inside 8 feet – to quickly catch up to Woods, then kept bogeys off his card on the back nine for a 6-under 64.
“Four birdies in a row puts you in a good mood is all I can say,” said Perry, who was at 8-under 202. “That set the tone for the day.”
Woods had a 12-foot birdie putt on the first hole that slid by the cup, and that set the tone for his day. He missed a half-dozen chances from 15 feet or under, yet his only significant birdies came on putts of 20 and 55 feet. The other was a two-putt on a par 5. He wound up with a 69, his eighth consecutive round in the 60s during the FedEx Cup playoffs, yet this one cost him the lead.
“I got fooled a few times there,” Woods said, confused by the slope and grain on the greens.
Perry has 14 career victories, yet only two of them has come with Woods in the field. Even with a two-shot lead, he is approaching today as though he has nothing to lose. He even playfully challenged the world’s No. 1 player.
“Here I am at 49, I’m still trying to beat him,” Perry said. “I have fun with it. He’d better bring his ‘A’ game is all I’ve got to say.”
For Perry to win the FedEx Cup, he would need a victory Sunday and for Woods to finish in a three-way tie for third or worse.
That remains a possibility, given the players stacked up behind them.
Phil Mickelson continued to ooze confidence with his putter and shot a 4-under 66, suddenly believing he can make any putt whether it’s from 4 feet or 40 feet.
He was at 4-under 206 along with Sean O’Hair (70), who was tied with Woods until pulling a tee shot into the water on the 17th to make double bogey.
Padraig Harrington, playing with Woods for the ninth time this year, stopped making birdies to offset his mistakes and shot a 71, leaving him at 207 with Steve Marino (67).
Steve Stricker, the No. 2 seed in the FedEx Cup standings behind Woods, got back into the picture, no matter how blurry, with a 66 and was six shots out of the lead.
•Ochoa tied for lead: Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa birdied five of her last seven holes for a 7-under 65 and a share of the third-round lead with Sophie Gustafson in the CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge at Danville, Calif.
Ochoa is winless in 10 starts since taking the Corona Championship in her native Mexico in late April. She has only two victories in 16 events this year after winning 21 times in the previous three years.
Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., shot a 73 and was tied for 44th.
•Pernice Jr. holds one-shot lead: Tom Pernice Jr. moved into position to become the 15th player to win his Champions Tour debut, shooting his second bogey-free 5-under 67 to take a one-shot lead in the SAS Championship in Cary, N.C.
Dan Forsman and first-round co-leaders Denis Watson and Russ Cochran were tied for second at Prestonwood Country Club. Forsman shot a 68, and Watson and Cochran had 69s.
Fever advance to WNBA finals
WNBA: The Indiana Fever advanced to the WNBA finals for the first time, beating the defending champion Detroit Shock 72-67 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals in Indianapolis.
Tammy Sutton-Brown led the Fever with 17 points. Katie Douglas scored 14, and Ebony Hoffman and Tamika Catchings added 10 apiece. Catchings also had eight rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Deanna Nolan had 16 points for Detroit.
•Mercury clinch trip to finals: Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury are heading to the WNBA finals, and Lisa Leslie is heading off to retirement.
Taurasi scored 15 of her 21 points in the second half and added seven rebounds and three assists to lead the Mercury past the Los Angeles Sparks, 85-74 in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals in Phoenix.
Soccer team ends huge losing streak
The New Jersey City women’s soccer team has ended a 111-game conference winless streak, getting three goals from Julia Caseres in a 5-1 win over Rutgers-Newark in Jersey City, N.J.
The victory was NJCU’s first in the New Jersey Athletic Conference since a 3-2 win over Montclair State on Oct. 6, 1994. NJCU did manage a 1-1 tie against Ramapo in 1995, but had since lost 103 straight conference games.
•Thai boxer wins title: Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym of Thailand has stopped Bernard Dunne of Ireland in the third round to win the WBA super-bantamweight title in Dublin.
The Thai landed a trio of powerful left hooks in the third round, each time sending Dunne to the mat. The referee stopped the fight after the third knockdown as blood flowed from the Dubliner’s nose and left ear.