GOLF

Threesome tied for lead in PGA event at Las Vegas

Jonas Blixt birdied six of the last seven holes Saturday for a 5-under 66 and a share of the lead with Ryan Moore and Brendon de Jonge in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at Las Vegas.

Moore had a bogey-free 65, and de Jonge birdied four of the last five holes for a 66 to match Blixt at 19-under 194.

John Daly, tied for sixth after two rounds, shot a 15-over 86 to drop to last among the 72 players who made the cut. He had a quadruple bogey, a triple bogey, two double bogeys, six bogeys and two birdies in his worst round of the season.

CHAMPIONS TOUR: Steve Pate and Fred Funk shot 3-under 69 to share the second-round lead at 8 under in the SAS Championship at Cary, N.C.

Jay Don Blake and Andrew Magee were a stroke back. They shot 70.

EUROPEAN TOUR: Branden Grace shot a 3-under 69 to take a four-stroke lead heading into the final round of the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.

The South African was 20 under overall. He led by six shots before a double-bogey 6 on No. 15, when he drove into a fairway bunker.

Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark was second after a 68.

TENNIS

CHINA OPEN: Top-seeded Novak Djokovic will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final at Beijing.

Djokovic beat unseeded Florian Mayer of Germany, 6-1, 6-4. Tsonga led 6-1, 4-1 when Feliciano Lopez retired because of a left wrist injury.

In the women’s draw, top-ranked Victoria Azarenka defeated Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-2 to set up a final against Maria Sharapova, who cruised to a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Li Na of China.

JAPAN OPEN: Milos Raonic ousted top-seeded Andy Murray 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4) to move into the final at Tokyo.

Raonic will meet Kei Nishikori, who routed unseeded Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour.

SOCCER

PREMIER LEAGUE: Chelsea extended its Premier League lead with a 4-1 victory over Norwich, while defending champion Manchester City climbed to second place by beating Sunderland, 3-0.

Fernando Torres, Frank Lampard, Eden Hazard and Branislav Ivanovic scored for Chelsea, which leads the league by four points and is off to its best start since the 2005-06 season.

Everton slipped to third after being held to a 2-2 draw by Wigan.

MLS: Jack McInerney converted a header off a free kick in the 73rd minute, lifting the Philadelphia Union to a 1-0 win over the New England Revolution at Chester, Pa.

BASKETBALL

NBA: LeBron James is expected to be in the lineup Sunday when the Miami Heat open their preseason schedule at the Atlanta Hawks.

Coach Erik Spoelstra said point guard Mario Chalmers and center Joel Anthony, both dealing with minor injuries, will not play. Most everyone else would be under consideration for at least some minutes against the Hawks, including guard Dwyane Wade, who will be listed as “day-to-day” for the entire preseason while he works his way back from offseason knee surgery.

• Dirk Nowitzki scored only eight points in his return to Germany, but the Dallas Mavericks overcame 27 turnovers to beat Alba Berlin, 89-84.

Chris Kaman, Darren Collison and Vince Carter each scored 14 points to lead the Mavericks.

AUTO RACING

TRUCK SERIES: Parker Kligerman picked up his first career victory, pulling away from the field as a last-lap wreck marred the race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Kligerman got help in the closing laps from Johnny Sauter, who hooked onto his bumper and pushed Kligerman into the lead.

He stayed out front as the jockeying for position caused trucks to dart all over the track in what quickly turned into a multi-vehicle accident. NASCAR eventually threw the caution flag, and Kligerman picked up his victory under yellow.

FORMULA ONE: Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix, qualifying ahead of teammate Mark Webber at Suzuka, Japan.

Vettel, a two-time winner in Japan, secured his fourth consecutive pole at Suzuka and will be in a good position to cut into the championship lead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who qualified seventh.

PREP SCHOOLS

FOOTBALL: Jerome Cappadona ran for three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to rally the Pingree School (2-1) to a 54-34 win over Hebron Academy (0-3) at South Hamilton, Mass.

Hebron led 27-14 at halftime. Shaq Cezont-Holmes had touchdown runs of 62 and 85 yards, and threw two touchdown passes — 43 yards to Brett Harkins and 85 yards to Jeff Turcotte.

— From staff and news services

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