Sports Briefs October 4, 2010
Bill Haas overcame five bogeys in the final round to win the PGA Viking Classic by three strokes on Sunday in Madison, Miss.
Haas, who never trailed in the tournament, bogeyed the first hole, and had four bogeys on the back nine - including one of the par-5 18th. He also scattered five birdies to finish at 15-under 273 for his second victory of the year.
The $648,000 winner's purse jumped Haas to No. 26 on the money list and earned him a spot in the Masters and the U.S. Open. His second victory of the year extended his exemption through 2013.
Haas, who also won the Bob Hope Classic, is one of seven mulitple winners this year.
• Tiger Woods received his worst Ryder Cup beating ever, when Europe's Lee Westwood and Luke Donald bested the world No. 1 and Steve Stricker 6 and 5 in Newport, Wales.
Woods and Stricker had never lost in six previous matches.
The Europeans already had reason to be in a festive mood amid the rain and muck of Celtic Manor.
Bolstered by the sight of blue on every leaderboard, Europe won five matches and halved the last one when Francesco Molinari knocked in a 3-foot birdie putt and celebrated with his brother, Edoardo. That stretched their lead to 9 1/2-6 1/2.
Europe needs to win only five of the 12 singles matches to reclaim the gold trophy.
PGA champion Martin Kaymer and Ian Poulter held off a rally to beat Phil Mickelson and 21-year-old Rickie Fowler.
Rain again soaked the course, forcing a five-hour delay and pushing the Ryder Cup into a Monday finish for the first time in its 83-year history.
• Gary Hallberg shot a record-setting 11-under 61 to win the Champions Tour Ensure Classic by one stroke ahead of Fred Couples in Conover, N.C.
Hallberg finished at 18-under 198, tying the event record at the Rock Barn Golf and Spa and winning his first career Champions Tour title.
Football
Oregon (5-0, 2-0 Pac-10) recovered from a slow start to defeat the Cardinal 52-31 Saturday night and vaulted past Boise State into third in the AP poll.
Boise State (4-0, 1-0 WAC) is now No. 4, behind Alabama, Ohio State and the Ducks.
There was even fleeting talk that Oregon's 52 points on Stanford - ranked No. 9 before the loss - should have put the Ducks ahead of the No. 2 Buckeyes, which struggled to beat Illinois.
Basketball
The United States won the women's basketball world championship in Karlovy Vary, Cezch Republic, getting 18 points from Angel McCoughtry in an 89-69 win over the Czech Republic.
Diana Taurasi added 16 and Sue Bird had 11 points for the Americans, who now have won the world championship eight times.
The victory provided redemption for the only blemish on Bird, Taurasi and Tamika Catchings' U.S. Basketball careers. They were on the team that finished a disappointing third in the 2006 worlds.
The three were determined not to let that happen again.
To win the gold, in a similar situation to the men's team that won in Turkey, the U.S. had to get past the host nation in the final.
The Czechs were spurred on by a sold-out crowd of 6,024, which included President Vaclav Klaus, while trying to pull off one of the biggest upsets in the sport's history.
This was the first time that the Czechs had advanced to the medal round since dissolving from Slovakia in 1993. The former Czechoslovakia won two silver medals and four bronzes from 1953-1975.
Petra Kulichova scored 14 points and tournament MVP Hana Horakova added 12 for the Czechs, who beat defending champion Australia in the quarterfinals before topping Belarus in overtime to reach the gold medal game.
• Chicago forward Carlos Boozer, one of the Bulls' top offseason acquisitions, broke his right hand and could be out for two months.
Boozer fractured the fifth metacarpal bone in his hand and will need surgery, the team said. It was unclear how Boozer was injured. The Bulls did not practice Saturday, and a team spokeswoman called the injury "non-basketball related."
- The Associated Press