GOLF
Moore leads Valspar
Ryan Moore made a 5-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole Saturday for a 4-under 67 and a one-stroke lead in the Valspar Championship at Palm Harbor, Fla. Moore birdied four of the final six holes on Innisbrook Resort's Copperhead course to reach 9 under. Jordan Spieth was in second place after a 68. Derek Ernst was two strokes back at 7 under after a 69. Moore had 12 consecutive pars before making a move with birdies on Nos. 13, 14, 16 and 18. Second-round leader Brendon de Jonge had a 4-over 75 to drop into a tie for 14th at 2 under. Ken Duke (Arkadelphia, Henderson State) had three birdies, three bogeys and two double bogeys for a 4-over 75 (215).
• Six players were tied for the lead Saturday heading into the final round of the Tshwane Open in Pretoria, South Africa. Adrian Otaegui of Spain had a two-shot lead overnight but shot a 2-over 72 and was joined atop the leaderboard by Englishman David Horsey, South Africans George Coetzee, Trevor Fisher Jr. and Wallie Coetsee, and Scotland's Craig Lee. They were all on 9-under 201. Lee made the biggest move with his 66 at the Pretoria Country Club. Two other South Africans, Ockie Strydom and Erik van Rooyen, were a shot behind at the final event of a three-tournament swing for the European Tour in South Africa. Ryder Cup player Edoardo Molinari of Italy was in a tie for ninth, but just two shots off the lead.
• Thunderstorms Saturday continued to interrupt the Brasil Champions in Sao Paulo, pushing the end of the third round into this morning. Play was halted about 4:40 p.m. with Tyler Duncan and Peter Malnati sharing the lead at 15 under after 13 and 12 holes, respectively. Tommy Gainey and Abraham Ancer are tied for third at 14 under. Among the first 11, Timothy Madigan is the only player who completed his round Saturday. He had a 7-under 64 (13-under 200). Andrew Landry (Arkansas Razorbacks) was at 8 under. Sebastian Cappelen (Razorbacks) had a 3-over 74 (2-under 211). Zach Fischer (Little Rock), Scott Gardiner (Farmington) and Tag Ridings (Razorbacks) failed to make the cut.
BASEBALL
Indians' Rosen dies
Al Rosen, the muscular third baseman who won the 1953 AL MVP and played on the last Cleveland Indians team to win the World Series, has died. He was 91. The Indians said Rosen died Friday night. The team did not provide any other details. Rosen played his entire career with Cleveland from 1947-56. He was a member of the Indians' 1948 World Series title team -- he played only five games that season and got one at-bat in the victory over the Boston Braves. In 1953, Rosen batted .336 with 43 home runs and 145 RBI. He nearly won the Triple Crown, but was beaten out for the batting title by Washington's Mickey Vernon, who hit .337. Rosen was unanimously picked the AL's top player. Rosen was one of the few Jewish big leaguers playing at that time. He was tough and felt the sting of anti-Semitism. Once an amateur boxer, Rosen could put his fists to good use for any slurs sent his way. It was not for nothing that he was known as the "Hebrew Hammer." A four-time All-Star, Rosen drove in 100 runs in five consecutive seasons. Following his playing career, Rosen became a successful front-office executive with Houston, San Francisco and the New York Yankees.
TENNIS
Nishikori, Pennetta advance
Kei Nishikori beat American Ryan Harrison 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif., while defending women's champion Flavia Pennetta easily advanced. Playing in 91-degree heat, Nishikori dispatched Harrison in 1 1/2 hours despite struggling with his first serve. The fifth-ranked Japanese player reached the third round at Indian Wells for the first time in eight tries. Nishikori arrived in the desert on a roll, having reached the quarterfinals or better at each of his four previous tournaments this year. He won the title in Memphis. Harrison fell to 1-24 against top-10 players in his career. Pennetta beat American Madison Brengle 6-4, 6-2 as the Italian opened defense of the biggest title of her career.
MOTOR SPORTS
Hamilton takes pole again
Lewis Hamilton claimed a record-breaking fourth pole position at the Australian Grand Prix and Mercedes continued its dominance of Formula One by locking out the front row for the season-opening race with another peerless performance in Saturday's qualifying. Hamilton, last season's champion driver, set a time of 1 minute, 26.327 seconds at the Albert Park circuit. He was six-tenths of a second faster than teammate Nico Rosberg, as Mercedes made it a one-two in qualifying for the ninth consecutive race dating back to last season. Hamilton's time was 1.4 seconds faster than third-place Felipe Massa of Williams -- a giant margin in F1 terms. It was the 12th consecutive pole position for Mercedes, moving the team into equal fourth place on the all-time list for consecutive poles. Given the performance edge it enjoys, the team could challenge the record of 24 set by Williams from 1992-93. Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen qualified in fourth and fifth, ahead of Valtteri Bottas of Williams. The two teams were closely matched as the best of the rest behind an out-of-reach Mercedes.
SKIING
Company considers selling 16 ski resorts
NEWRY, Maine — A real estate investment trust that’s considering getting out of the snow business could sell more than a dozen ski resorts from Maine to California that are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
CNL Lifestyle Properties owns 16 resorts including Sunday River and Sugarloaf in Maine, Bretton Woods, Loon Mountain and Mount Sunapee in New Hampshire, Okemo Mountain in Vermont, Crested Butte in Colorado, Brighton in Utah, and Northstar-at-Tahoe and Sierra-at-Tahoe in California.
If CNL sells them all to one buyer, industry officials say it would be the largest single ski resort transaction in the history of the sport — though skiers might not notice the sale at all.
CNL will evaluate options for its remaining properties including ski resorts, theme parks and marinas “in the near future,” said Steve Rice, senior managing director of CNL Financial Group. Besides selling them, alternatives include a private buyout or listing on a publicly traded exchange.
REITs are an investment vehicle for a variety of properties including hotels, office buildings and malls, but they’re new to the ski industry in the last 15 or so years. There’s only one other REIT that’s a big player in the ski industry, Missouri-based EPR, said Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Association.
CNL Lifestyle Properties was valued at as much as $3 billion in 2012 with ownership of more than 100 water parks, ski resorts, marinas and senior housing developments before the value dropped in the aftermath of a real estate downturn.
The REIT is nearing the end of its projected lifespan and anticipates having an “exit strategy” in place by Dec. 31. In June, CNL agreed to sell 48 golf properties for $320 million. In December, it announced an agreement to sell its senior housing for $790 million.
Ideally, the remaining ski properties, theme parks and marinas would be sold, and the company enlisted Jefferies LLC, an investment bank, to evaluate options.
Any sale wouldn’t have any significant impact on skiers because the resort operators’ long-term leases will remain in place even if the properties change hands.
“At the end of the day, from a customer standpoint, it’s not going to alter reality that much,” Berry said.
Sports on 03/15/2015