GOLF

Tiger roars into contention with the best score of the day at the Dubai Desert Classic

Tiger Woods turned in the day’s best score with a bogey-free, 6-under 66 Friday to surge into contention at the Dubai Desert Classic in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The round put him four strokes behind leader Rory McIlroy, who was at 11 under.

A shot behind at 10 under were Sergio Garcia (67) and Thomas Aiken (67), followed by Steve Webster (68) at 8 under.

AUSTRALIAN LADIES MASTERS: American Stacey Lewis and Australian Kristie Smith each shot 7-under-par 65s to take a share of the second-round lead in Gold Coast. Lewis and Smith were at 12-under 132 after 36 holes at Royal Pines. Yani Tseng of Taiwan shot 66 and was a stroke behind.

CHAMPIONS TOUR: Jay Don Blake shot an 8-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead over Tom Lehman after the first day of the Allianz Championship in Boca Raton, Fla.

SKIING

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: With Lindsey Vonn skiing only the downhill and Maria Riesch slowed by a fever, Austria’s Anna Fenninger won the super-combined in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Fenninger, who has yet to win a World Cup race, was fourth after the downhill and had a near-flawless slalom run to finish in an aggregate time of 2 minutes, 43.23 seconds. She beat Slovenia’s Tina Maze by 0.09 seconds, and Sweden’s Anja Paerson was third.

Vonn, a two-time world champion who is dealing with the lingering effects of a concussion, was 1.60 back in the downhill. She decided to sit out the slalom run to prepare for the downhill race on Sunday.

FOOTBALL

NFL: The Patriots named quarterbacks coach Bill O’Brien as their offensive coordinator. The move came after the team spent the past two seasons without an offensive coordinator, although O’Brien, who retains the quarterbacks coach title, called plays and performed many of the coordinator’s functions.

• Three-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Shaun Rogers has paid a visit to the Redskins, two days after being cut by the Browns.

• The Bills signed backup safety Jon Corto to a two-year contract.

• The Packers signed General Manager Ted Thompson to a multiyear extension. Of Green Bay’s 53 active players against Pittsburgh, 49 were acquired by Thompson, including 26 through the draft.

TENNIS

OPEN GAZ DE FRANCE: Kim Clijsters beat Jelena Dokic of Australia 6-3, 6-0 to reach the Paris semifinals and will replace Caroline Wozniacki at the top when the new rankings are released on Monday. Clijsters next plays Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, who beat Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.

ABN WORLD TENNIS TOURNAMENT: Ivan Ljubicic reached the semifinals in Rotterdam, Germany, by beating Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (4). The seventh-seeded Ljubicic will next play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga today.

PATTAYA WOMEN’S OPEN: Two-time defending champion Vera Zvonareva advanced to the semifinals by defeating Peng Shuai 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in Pattaya, Thailand.

Zvonareva will play fourth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova, who stopped Akgul Amanmuradova 6-2, 6-0.

HOCKEY

QMJHL: Joel Champagne collected a goal and three assists for the Quebec Remparts as they snapped the Lewiston Maineiacs’ eight-game home winning streak with a 7-1 victory at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

Etienne Brodeur scored the lone Lewiston goal to cut the deficit to 4-1 less than two minutes into the third period.

 

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