Sports Briefs September 19, 2011
Right when it looked as though Justin Rose might blow a big lead, he chipped in for birdie on the 17th hole to secure a two-shot victory over John Senden Sunday in the BMW Championship in Lemont, Ill., that sends him to East Lake for a shot at $10 million.
Rose closed with an even-par 71 in the rain at Cog Hill for his first win of the year, and it came at just the right time. He was not assured of making the FedEx Cup finale at the Tour Championship, and now is one of five players who only have to win at East Lake next week to collect golf's biggest bonus.
But it wasn't easy.
Five shots ahead with 10 holes to play, Rose's lead was down to one after he drove into the trees on the par-5 15th and made bogey. From just short of the 17th green, however, the 31-year-old from England holed a chip from 35 feet for an unlikely birdie that sent him on his way.
• Lexi Thompson closed with a 2-under 70 to win by five strokes at the Navistar LPGA Classic over Tiffany Joh, at Prattville, Ala.
Thompson (16) shattered the age record for winning a multiple-round tournament held by Paula Creamer, who won in 2005 at 18. Marlene Hagge was 18 years and 14 days old when she won the single-round Sarasota Open in 1952.
• Jason Krokrak shot a 3-under 67 to win the Nationwide Boise Open by two strokes over John Mallinger at Hillcrest Country Club.
Baseball
• AMERICAN LEAGUE
Rangers 3, Mariners 0: Adrian Beltre hit a two-run homer in the fourth off former teammate Felix Hernandez to help Texas at Seattle.
Angels 11, Orioles 2: Erick Aybar homered twice to lead Los Angeles at Baltimore.
Tigers 3, Athletics 0: Justin Verlander won his 12th straight start, leading Detroit at Oakland.
Rays 8, Red Sox 5: Visiting Tampa Bay capitalized on wild knuckleballs from Tim Wakefield to beat Boston.
Blue Jays 3, Yankees 0: Adam Lind homered twice off Freddy Garcia to lead host Toronto past New York.
Indians 6, Twins 5: At Minneapolis, Shelley Duncan homered to start a six-run seventh and Cleveland beat Minnesota.
White Sox 10, Royals 5: A.J. Pierzynski homered twice to help Chicago at Kansas City.
• NATIONAL LEAGUE
Giants 12, Rockies 5: At Denver, Pablo Sandoval homered twice in an eight-run fourth inning to lead San Francisco over Colorado.
Diamondbacks 5, Padres 1: Paul Goldschmidt drove in three runs to help lift Arizona at San Diego.
Mets 7, Braves 5: Ruben Tejada had four RBIs to lead New York at Atlanta.
Brewers 8, Reds 1: Carlos Gomez and Prince Fielder each hit two-run homers to help Milwaukee at Cincinnati.
Dodgers 15, Pirates 1: James Loney had five hits with three RBIs and host Los Angeles routed Pittsburgh.
Astros 3, Cubs 2: Brett Myers homered to help Houston at Chicago.
Nationals 4, Marlins 3: Chien-Ming Wang pitched into the seventh to help host Washington edge Florida.
Cardinals 5, Phillies 0: Allen Craig hit two homers and drove in three runs to help St. Louis at Philadelphia.
Football
The Atlantic Coast Conference announced that its council of presidents unanimously voted to accept Pittsburgh and Syracuse, a move that increases its membership to 14 and sends the Big East scrambling - again - to replace two of its cornerstone programs.
• Ohio State fell out of The Associated Press college football rankings for the first time in nearly seven years, ending the nation's longest streak of appearances in the Top 25.
Oklahoma remained No. 1 after a 23-13 victory at Florida State. The loss dropped the Seminoles six spots to 11th.
• No. 8 Oklahoma 59, Tulsa 33: Brandon Weeden threw for 369 yards and three touchdowns and the Cowboys (3-0) waited out a three-hour rain delay late Saturday night at Tulsa (1-2).
- The Associated Press