Woods flounders to tie for the lead

Last update: November 15, 2009 - 12:19 AM

Tiger Woods stumbled to an even-par 72 Saturday in the third round and fell into a three-way tie with Australians Greg Chalmers and James Nitties at the Australian Masters in Melbourne.

Woods happily accepted the tie, at 10-under 206.

"I played myself into a tie for the lead, and I could have easily played myself straight out of the tournament," he said. "But I grinded, I hung in there and turned it around. That's a huge positive."

The low point came at the 13th hole, where he was so angry after another shot sailed to the right that he slammed his driver into the ground and it bounced up and into the gallery. A surprised fan caught the club and returned it to him.

Three tied for PGA Tour lead

George McNeill (3-under 69), Justin Leonard (71), Justin Rose (69) and Mathias Gronberg (66) were tied after three rounds of the season's final PGA Tour event, the Children's Miracle Network Classic in Lake Buena Vista, Fla..

Wie, Kerr atop field in Mexico

Michelle Wie moved into position for her first LPGA Tour victory, shooting a 2-under 70 in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Guadalajara for a share of the lead with Cristie Kerr (67).

SKIING

Vonn second in slalom

Burnsville native Lindsey Vonn settled for second place in the first World Cup slalom of the season, finishing 0.08 seconds behind Maria Riesch of Germany in Levi, Finland.

Riesch, the defending world slalom champion, finished with a two-run time of 1 minute, 48.71 seconds. Vonn is coming off her second consecutive overall title last season. Vonn said she was disappointed because she loves skiing at Levi.

"This hill reminds me so much of racing back home in Buck Hill," Vonn said. "It would have been nice to get the win."

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Michigan guard gets triple-double

Manny Harris recorded the second triple-double in school history and No. 15 Michigan routed Division II Northern Michigan 97-50 in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Harris had 18 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, matching the feat accomplished by Gary Grant against North Carolina in the 1987 NCAA tournament. Harris was taken out of the game after recording his 10th assist with 8:15 to play.

Elsewhere, Oklahoma State beat Seattle 86-64 in the Las Vegas Invitational in a game that started 1 hour, 40 minutes late because the officials were told it was a night game.

AUTO RACING

Edwards wins Nationwide race

Carl Edwards rolled to a dominating victory at Phoenix International Speedway that temporarily staved off Kyle Busch's bid to clinch the Nationwide Series title.

Busch's first NASCAR championship is still a near-certainty -- he only needs to start next week's race at Homestead-Miami Speedway to win.

Hight clinches Funny Car title

Robert Hight wrapped up his first NHRA Funny Car championship by qualifying third in the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif.

AROUND THE HORN

Figure skating: World champion Evan Lysacek won the men's competition at Skate America in Lake Placid, N.Y., with a powerful free skate. He had 237.72 points, nearly 29 more than Canadian Shawn Sawyer. ... In the women's competition, South Korea's Kim Yu-na set a world record for a short program, breaking her own mark with 76.28 points.

Soccer: New Zealand reached the World Cup for the first time since 1982, and Cameroon and Nigeria also qualified with victories. ... In its first warmup match for the World Cup, the U.S. lost 1-0 to host Slovakia. ... Real Salt Lake advanced to its first MLS Cup final by beating the host Chicago Fire 5-4 on penalty kicks after 120 scoreless minutes in the Eastern Conference final.

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