GOLF
Four share lead
Danny Lee birdied the last hole for a 6-under 64 and a share of the second-round lead Friday in the Dean & DeLuca Invitational at Fort Worth with Kevin Kisner, Webb Simpson and Scott Piercy. Kisner also had a birdie on his final hole, the ninth, for a second consecutive 67. Simpson, the 2012 U.S. Open champion, and Piercy each shot 66 to join the group at 6-under 134. Masters champion Sergio Garcia (66) and fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm (69), who played in the same group, were at 5 under along with England's Paul Casey (66) and Sean O'Hair (68). Defending champion Jordan Spieth (68) recovered from a bad start to avoid the danger of missing the cut for the third consecutive event and second consecutive week in a hometown event for the Dallas native. He was 5 under over his final 13 holes to finish at 2 under. David Lingmerth (Arkansas Razorbacks) ... Bryce Molder (Conway) ...
Park out front
Sung Hyun Park shot a 7-under 65 on Friday to take a two-stroke lead after the second round of the LPGA Volvik Championship in Ann Arbor, Mich. The South Korean player enters the weekend at 12 under, with Minjee Lee (66) and Suzann Pettersen (67) tied for second. Lizette Salas was the only other player to shoot a 65 on Friday at Travis Pointe Country Club. She is at 9 under. First-round leaders Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks) and Wei-Ling Hsu shot 72s and trail Park by five strokes. Defending champion Ariya Jutanugarn (66) rebounded from a tough first round but still trails the leader by six. Gaby Lopez (Razorbacks) ...
Singh leads by 1
Vijay Singh shot a 4-under 68 amid wind so strong that play was temporarily halted Friday at the Senior PGA Championship in Sterling, Va. Singh's two-day total of 10-under 134 was one shot better than Billy Andrade, who also shot 68 at Trump National. The wind delay lasted 41 minutes and prevented the afternoon starters from finishing their second rounds. Among them was Bernhard Langer, who made two consecutive birdies to pull within two shots of Singh at the turn. Singh, 54, still plays primarily on the PGA Tour and is making his first start in the Senior PGA. The long-hitting Fijian is 7 under on the par 5s. With wind exceeding 30 mph, Singh was nine shots better than the field average of 77. Glen Day (Little Rock) ... John Daly (Dardanelle, Arkansas Razorbacks) ...
Trio shares lead
Belgian Ryder Cup star Thomas Pieters, Italy's Francesco Molinari and Scotland's Scott Jamieson shared the halfway lead in the BMW PGA Championship at Virginia Water, England, on Friday. The trio sits at 7 under overall, one shot ahead of German Max Kieffer. Pieters recorded a round of 3-under 69 to set the target for the late starters. Molinari and Jamieson each had a 70. Henrik Stenson (71) and Lee Westwood (69) were two shots behind the leaders, along with Branden Grace (71) and former champion Byeong-hun An (69). Olympic champion Justin Rose needed an eagle on the final hole to make the cut. Rose was at 2 over. Ian Poulter described his putting as "pathetic" despite a second round of 69. Pep Angles (Central Arkansas) ...
TENNIS
Tsonga reaches final
Second-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia at the Lyon Open on Friday to reach his first clay-court final. Tsonga hit 14 aces and saved eight of 10 break points to win 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. The Frenchman, who has reached 25 ATP finals on other surfaces, will face third-seeded Tomas Berdych today. Berdych beat top-seeded Milos Raonic 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2) in the other semifinal. Raonic, who hit 17 aces, appeared to have got back into the match when he got the first break early in the second set, but Berdych broke back and the Czech player went on to clinch his second tiebreak.
Zverev advances
Unseeded Mischa Zverev beat Kei Nishikori 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 on Friday to advance to the final of the Geneva Open. The second-seeded Nishikori saved two match points trailing 5-2 on his own serve, but the 33rd-ranked German quickly won his next service game and clinched with a backhand volley winner. Zverev seeks his first singles title at age 29. The final today will be only the second of his career. The Russian-born left-hander was runner-up at Metz, France, in September 2010. Zverev came through qualifying last weekend, and awaits defending champion Stan Wawrinka or unseeded Russian Andrey Kuznetsov.
Bertens moves up
Defending champion Kiki Bertens advanced to the final of the Nuremberg Cup on Friday when Misaki Doi became the sixth player to retire from the clay-court tournament. Bertens was leading 6-2, 0-1 when Doi retired with an abdominal injury. The 64th-ranked Japanese player had progressed in the first round and quarterfinals when injuries forced Maria Sakkari and then Yaroslava Shvedova to retire. Laura Siegemund, Eugenie Bouchard and Alexandra Cadantu also withdrew with injuries from the French Open warmup. Bertens, who defeated Mariana Duque-Marino 6-2, 6-2 in last year's final, will defend her title today against Czech qualifier Barbora Krejcikova.
Kvitova returns Sunday
Petra Kvitova said she will make her comeback at the French Open, less than six months after being attacked by a knife-wielding intruder. The two-time Wimbledon champion said she is able to play, although she still lacks power and strength. Kvitova has missed all season while recovering from surgery on her racket-holding left hand in December. She was injured during an attack at her home in the Czech Republic. She said last month that she was signing up for the French Open, which begins Sunday, in hopes of being able to compete. Kvitova won the Wimbledon title in 2011 and 2014. She climbed as high as No. 2 in the WTA rankings.
HORSE RACING
Dreaming to skip Belmont
Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming will skip the Belmont Stakes next month after finishing eighth in the Preakness. Trainer Todd Pletcher said the 3-year-old colt will be pointed toward either the $600,000 Jim Dandy at Saratoga on July 29 or the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth on July 30, according to the Daily Racing Form. Trainer Chad Brown said he will wait until after Memorial Day weekend to announce where Preakness winner Cloud Computing will run next. However, it appears unlikely he will run in the Belmont. The Belmont field is limited to 16 starters. Besides Classic Empire, other horses expected to run are Conquest Mo Money, Japan-based Epicharis, Gormley, Irap, J Boys Echo, Lookin At Lee, Meantime, Multiple, Patch, Senior Investment, Tapwrit, True Timber and Twisted Tom. Other possibilities are Irish War Cry and Hollywood Handsome.
TRACK AND FIELD
10 have visa problems
Some 10 athletes, including 2015 world champion hurdler Sergey Shubenkov, encountered issues with obtaining visas to compete in the Prefontaine Classic track meet at Eugene, Ore. The meet, which started Friday night, is the only U.S. stop for the international Diamond League series. Organizer Tom Jordan said it was the first time in nearly a decade that athletes had encountered visa problems traveling to the United States for the meet. He said the athletes were from various countries, including Russia and Ethiopia. Shubenkov's visa was approved Thursday, too late for him to travel to Eugene, according to the athlete's Instagram post. No reason was given for the delay. The Russian was supposed to be part of a star-studded field for the 110-meter hurdles at the Prefontaine, which includes Rio Olympics gold medalist Omar McLeod of Jamaica and U.S. star Devon Allen.
HOCKEY
Ticket prices vary widely
Penguins fans looking to score a ticket to the Stanley Cup final against the Nashville Predators will have a much easier time doing so than their Nashville counterparts. Online ticket marketplaces StubHub, SeatGeek, Ticket City and Vivid Seats all show drastic price differences between Stanley Cup final games in Pittsburgh and Nashville. As of midday Friday, the cheapest seat for Game 1 in Pittsburgh ranged from $199 to $290 across the four sites, while the cheapest ticket available for Game 3 in Nashville ranged from $836 to $1,190. In fact, as of Friday, it would be cheaper for a Predators fan to fly from Nashville (on a $609 round-trip flight) to Pittsburgh and buy a Game 1 ticket than it would be to see Game 3 at home -- as long as they're willing to sleep at the airport and load up on free peanuts. Across the four sites, the only time the cheapest Penguins ticket approaches the minimum cost of a Predators home game is a possible Game 7 -- and some sites' cheapest Nashville home game ticket was still more expensive.
Sports on 05/27/2017