Off the wire

Southern Cal Athletic Director Pat Haden has stepped down from the College Football Playoff committee because of health issues.
Southern Cal Athletic Director Pat Haden has stepped down from the College Football Playoff committee because of health issues.

MOTOR SPORTS

Logano wins pole

Joey Logano won the pole at Martinsville Speedway to set up a shot at his fourth consecutive victory. Logano turned a lap of 98.548 mph in Friday qualifying at the Virginia track to earn the top starting spot. He heads into Sunday's race coming off three consecutive victories -- a sweep of the second round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Should Logano win Sunday, he'll be the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive races. Martin Truex Jr. qualified second and was followed by non-Chase drivers AJ Allmendinger and Jamie McMurray. Jeff Gordon will try to win his ninth career race at Martinsville from the fifth starting spot. Kyle Busch qualified sixth and was followed by Ryan Newman.

• Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg posted the fastest practice time of the day Friday as Formula One ran its first official laps at the revamped Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez since 1992 in preparation for this weekend's Mexican Grand Prix in Mexico City. Rosberg was fastest in the second practice with a lap of 1 minute, 21.531 seconds. He is chasing Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel for second place in the driver standings with three races left. Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton won the season championship last week at the United States Grand Prix. Toro Rosso teenager Max Verstappen topped the first practice with a lap of 1:25.990, topping a driving session for the first time in his career. The rookie, who turned 18 in September and only recently earned his Dutch driver's license, didn't fare as well in the later session: The tricky course caught him in the second practice when he crashed minutes in and had to get a ride back to his garage where he spent the rest of the session.

GOLF

Thomas takes lead

Justin Thomas shot a course-record 11-under 61 Friday in oppressive tropical heat to take a one-stroke lead in the PGA Tour's CIMB Classic. Thomas eagled the par-5 third hole and had nine birdies to reach 15-under 129 at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club. Nick Watney also shot a 61 in 2012, but that was at a different course with a par of 71. Brendan Steele was second after a 63. First-round leader Scott Piercy followed his opening 62 with a 69 to join Spencer Levin (64) and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama (66) at 13 under. Adam Scott was 10 under after a 66. Two-time defending champion Ryan Moore was 8 under after a 69. David Lingmerth (Arkansas Razorbacks) had eight birdies and one bogey for a 7-under 65 and a two-round total of 138.

• South Korea's Sei Young Kim took advantage of Chinese teen Lin Xi-yu's wind-blown collapse to take the lead Friday in the Blue Bay LPGA. Kim made a 3-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th for an even-par 72 in difficult conditions along the South China Sea at Jian Lake Blue Bay at Hainan Island, China. Kim, 22, had a 2-under 142 total. Lin, 19, opened with a 67 to take the first-round lead and was 7 under and five strokes ahead after five holes. She bogeyed eight of the last 13 holes for a 77 that left her two strokes behind. Top-ranked Lydia Ko was tied for 47th at 8 over after a 75. Norway's Suzann Pettersen had the best round of the day, a 3-under 69 to jump from a tie for 22nd to a tie for second at 1 under with Taiwan's Candie Kung and Americans Ryann O'Toole and Austin Ernst. Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks) had two birdies and three bogeys for a 1-over 73 (144) and is tied for sixth place with five others.

• South Africa's Jaco van Zyl held on to the Turkish Airlines Open lead, following his opening 11-under 61 with a 69 at The Montgomerie Maxx Royal at Antalya, Turkey. Van Zyl stretched his lead to seven shots during the second round with five birdies on his first 10 holes. But he then found the water twice for his first two bogeys of the week, letting Englishmen Richard Bland (65) and Chris Wood (66) close within two shots. Van Zyl had a 14-under 130 total. France's Victor Dubuisson (64) and Paraguay's Fabrizio Zanotti (66) were 11 under, and Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy (67) was another stroke back along with France's Alexander Levy (65). John Daly (Dardanelle, Arkansas Razorbacks) had five birdies and four bogeys for a 1-under 71 and a two-round total of 148.

TENNIS

Federer moves up

Roger Federer overcame mid-match service problems to beat David Goffin 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 on Friday and advance to the Swiss Indoors semifinals at Basel. Seeking a seventh title in Basel, Federer will play 29th-ranked Jack Sock of the United States in the semifinals today. Sock rallied to win an all-American match -- his third consecutive this week -- beating Donald Young 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 on a day when all four quarterfinals went to three sets. Rafael Nadal rode another comeback victory into the semifinals and outlasted Marin Cilic 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Nadal's next opponent is Richard Gasquet who had a close escape to reach the final four. The fifth-seeded Frenchman saved a match point in the deciding tiebreaker to beat big-serving Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (6).

Vasek Pospisil beat German qualifier Daniel Brands 6-3, 6-3 Friday to set up a Valencia Open semifinal against Joao Sousa of Portugal. The big-serving Canadian broke to go 4-2 up in the first set and then again in the third and last games of the second. Sousa beat Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-4, 6-4, saving all five break points he faced. Also, Steve Johnson of the United States defeated sixth-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5, 6-4. Johnson next meets the only remaining seeded player, Roberto Bautista Agut, who defeated German qualifier Mischa Zverev 6-4, 6-3.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Haden resigns from playoff committee

Southern Cal Athletic Director Pat Haden has stepped down from the College Football Playoff committee because of health issues, it was announced Friday.

“I am reluctant to step down, but my doctors advised me to reduce my traveling,” Haden said in a statement that accompanied the announcement by Bill Hancock, executive director of the College Football Playoff. “With the weekly CFP meetings about to start and the travel commitment involved, I had to make this difficult decision.

“I feel it is in the best interest of the CFP and also of USC, with our current football coaching change and our upcoming Coliseum renovation.”

Haden, 62, required medical attention on the sideline before the Trojans’ game Oct. 17 at Notre Dame after reporting feeling lightheaded. He was taken to the locker room and left about midway through the game, stopping at a hospital before he returned to Los Angeles on a private plane, a school spokesman said the day of the incident.

Haden, who has a pacemaker, returned to work but has been under pressure in the wake of his hiring and firing of football coach Steve Sarkisian. He did not attend last week’s home game against Utah because he was taking a few days off after the incident at Notre Dame, the school spokesman said.

Haden was serving the second year of a two-year term on the CFP committee. The committee will continue with its 12 remaining members for the rest of the season. Its first ranking is set to come out Tuesday.

Haden also has commitments to many other corporate and non-profit positions — more than a dozen in all — from which he earns more than $500,000, according to a recent Los Angeles Times review of proxy statements and federal tax records.

Sports on 10/31/2015

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