Morning Briefing March 14, 2010
Charl Schwartzel ran off four birdies in the opening six holes, then stayed in the game with three big par putts on the back nine for a 5-under 67 at Doral, Fla., and a share of the lead with Ernie Els going into the final round of the CA Championship.
Els was in front for most of Saturday on the Blue Monster until he started missing birdie opportunities. He had to settle for a 2-under 70 to join Schwartzel at 12-under 204.
Chad Collins chipped in for eagle on the par-5 second hole to top the Puerto Rico Open leaderboard at 9 under before second-round play was suspended because of darkness in the rain-delayed PGA Tour event.
The competition at Rio Grande will stretch into Monday due to the rain delays.
Sled Dog Racing
Lance Mackey, the defending champion with three back-to-back wins, snatched the lead at the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Jeff King had been leading the race but Mackey grabbed the lead by being the first musher to leave the Kaltag checkpoint. The front-runners now head toward the Bering Sea coastline in the 1,100-mile race from Anchorage, Alaska, to Nome.
Hawks 112, Pistons 99: Joe Johnson scored 26, leading host Atlanta past Detroit.
Magic 109, Wizards 95: Dwight Howard had 28 points and 15 rebounds, and Orlando won at Washington.
Rockets 116, Nets 108: Luis Scola scored 44, leading host Houston past New Jersey.
Warriors 124, Raptors 112: At Oakland, Calif., Stephen Curry scored 35, leading Golden State past Toronto.
Knicks 128, Mavericks 94: Bill Walker scored 23, leading New York at Dallas.
Spurs 118, Clippers 88: Matt Bonner scored 21, leading San Antonio past visiting Los Angeles.
Nuggets 125, Grizzlies 108: J.R. Smith scored 30, leading Denver at Memphis.
Flyers 3, Blackhawks 2: Chris Pronger scored with 2.1 seconds remaining to lift host Philadelphia past Chicago.
Panthers 3, Sharks 2, OT: Bryan Allen’s overtime goal lifted Florida at San Jose.
Red Wings 3, Sabres 2, OT: Brian Rafalski’s overtime goal lifted host Detroit past Buffalo.
Canucks 5, Senators 1: Mikael Samuelsson had two goals and an assist, leading host Vancouver past Ottawa.
Islanders 4, Devils 2: At Uniondale, N.Y., Dwayne Roloson’s 38 saves lifted New York past New Jersey.
Maple Leafs 6, Oilers 4: Phil Kessel had two goals and an assist, leading Toronto past visiting Edmonton.
Canadiens 3, Bruins 2: Sergei Kostitsyn scored twice, leading host Montreal past Boston.
Blues 5, Blue Jackets 1: Andy McDonald had a goal and two assists and St. Louis won at Columbus.
Coyotes 4, Hurricanes 0: At Raleigh, N.C., Ilya Bryzgalov made 29 saves, leading Phoenix past Carolina.
Skiing
Olympic champion Maria Riesch of Germany won her second straight slalom World Cup title with a third-place finish in the final race of the season at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
Marlies Schild of Austria won the race by a big margin, with teammate Kathrin Zettel placing second. But Riesch’s third place was enough to give her the slalom title with 493 points, just three ahead of Zettel.
— The Associated Press