Sports Briefs March 21, 2011
Gary Woodland made only one par on the back nine Sunday at the Transitions Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla., and it gave him his first PGA Tour victory and a trip to the Masters.
Woodland surged into the lead with three straight birdies, and fell out of it with back-to-back bogeys. Tied for the lead on the final hole at Innisbrook, the big-hitter from Kansas holed a 10-foot par putt to finish off a 4-under 67.
That proved to be the difference moments later when Webb Simpson also went long on the 18th and his chip down the slope went 20 feet by the hole. Simpson missed the putt to shoot 69 and finished one shot behind.
• Karrie Webb rallied to win the LPGA Founders Cup in Phoenix for her second straight victory, shooting a 6-under 66 to beat Brittany Lincicome and Paula Creamer by a stroke.
Baseball
Erik Bedard continued his strong spring with five solid innings and Milton Bradley had a pair of RBIs as the Mariners defeated the San Diego Padres 4-1 in exhibition play in Peoria, Ariz.
Bedard allowed one run - Brad Hawpe's homer in the second - and five hits in his longest outing of spring training. He struck out two and walked one.
Bradley drove in Brendan Ryan and Ichiro Suzuki with his two-out hit off the top of third baseman Jorge Cantu's glove in the fifth inning.
Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum has been suspended two games for his flagrant foul on Minnesota's Michael Beasley.
Bynum missed Sunday's game against Portland and will miss Tuesday's game with Phoenix under the suspension announced by the NBA.
Bynum was ejected Friday night during the fourth quarter of the Lakers' 106-98 win over the Timberwolves after he turned his shoulder and sent Beasley crashing to the court in a mid-air collision when Beasley drove the lane.
Hockey
Anthony Bardaro had two goals and an assist and the visiting Spokane Chiefs skated past the host Portland Winterhawks 6-3 on Sunday in their Western Hockey League regular season finale before 10,947 at the Rose Garden.
Former Couer d'Alene Laker Tyler Johnson scored his league-leading 53rd goal for the Chiefs in the third period.
The Chiefs (48-18-4-2, 102 points) face host Chilliwack in Game 1 Friday in the best-of-7 first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
Tennis
Novak Djokovic beat top-ranked Rafael Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to win the BNP Paribas Open title, keeping the Serbian undefeated this year.
• Top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki defeated Marion Bartoli 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 to win the BNP Paribas Open a year after the Dane lost in the final.
Soccer
A football fan died at a match in Buenos Aires, Argentina, between Argentina first-division clubs Velez and San Lorenzo, a federal police spokesman said.
The disturbances seem to be set off when San Lorenzo goalkeeper Pablo Migliore was struck by an object thrown from the stands.
Running
Markos Geneti set a Los Angeles Marathon record by winning in 2 hours, 6 minutes, 35 seconds, the second fastest marathon in the world this year.
Buzunesh Deba won the women's division in 2:26:34 to give Ethiopia a sweep.
Skiing
World Cup champion Maria Riesch helped Germany win the season-ending team event in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
Germany defeated Italy 3-1 in the final that involved teams of two men and two women racing head-to-head on parallel giant slalom courses. Riesch defeated Denis Karbon in their heat, one day after winning her first overall World Cup title.
- The Associated Press