PGA players give course a beating

Welcome to the kinder, gentler Honda Classic.

Anthony Kim was one of four players to match the best Honda round shot on the PGA National Champion course with a 64, Camilo Villegas shot 66 for the second consecutive day, and they were tied at 8-under 132 atop the leaderboard after the second round of the Honda, where the only thing that improved more than the weather Friday was the scoring.

"Trust me, it's a tough golf course," Villegas said.

Since the Honda moved to the Jack Nicklaus redesign in 2007, there's never been an easier day to get around. Thursday was marked by wind gusts over 30 mph; Friday merely had occasionally strong breezes and little else.

Vijay Singh (66) was a stroke back at 7 under, and Jerry Kelly (65) was alone in fourth at 6 under.

Crowd atop Champions field

Bob Tway, Chein Soon Lu and Mark Wiebe shot 6-under 65s and shared the first-round lead in the Champions Tour Toshiba Classic in Newport Beach, Calif.

Earnhardt claimed the pole Friday night for the Sprint Cup Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a blistering speed of 192.761 mph. It's his first pole since April 2008.

He's coming off a miserable season in which he failed to win a race and cracked the top 10 only five times.

Kyle Busch (192.280) will start from the outside of the front row.

Cancellation benefits Vonn Lindsey Vonn and the U.S. Ski Team believe she has clinched the World Cup super-combined season title.

The last of this season's three scheduled super-combined races was canceled Friday because of high wind at Crans-Montana, Switzerland. The International Ski Federation said it would not be rescheduled because there are no free days available.

Serbia leads U.S. in Davis Cup Novak Djokovic struggled past Sam Querrey 6-2, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-3 and gave Serbia a 2-0 lead against the United States in their Davis Cup first-round match in Belgrade.

In the opening singles, Serbia's Viktor Troicki beat John Isner 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-4.

"Querrey played better and better as the match progressed, and he gave me a lot of trouble," Djokovic said. "Despite our big 2-0 lead, nothing is decided yet."

Russia's Putin rips sports officials Prime Minister Vladimir Putin took Russian sports officials to task over the nation's dismal showing at the Vancouver Games despite what he described as generous state funding.

Putin told a government meeting that Russian sports federations must improve before Russia hosts the 2014 Games in Sochi.

"I have got an impression that the more money we spend, the more modest the results are."

College football: The NCAA denied Oregon State's appeal for an additional year of eligibility for quarterback Lyle Moevao. The Beavers asked for a sixth year of eligibility for Moevao, because he missed all of 2008 and played one play in 2009 because of injury. Moevao was 11-4 as a starter for the Beavers.

Sled dog racing: The 38th running of the world's most famous sled dog race, Alaska's Iditarod, begins Saturday with a field that includes defending champion Lance Mackey, a throat cancer survivor from Fairbanks who is going for a fourth consecutive victory.