GOLF

Mickelson cools off a bit, but maintains four-stroke advantage at Phoenix Open

Phil Mickelson birdied the ninth hole a day too late and missed a chance to break the PGA Tour’s 36-hole scoring record when he finished with a double bogey after driving into the water.

Mickelson followed his opening 60 with a 65 on Friday in the Phoenix Open to reach 17-under 125, a stroke off the tour record for the first two rounds of a tournament set by Pat Perez in the 2009 Bob Hope Classic and matched by David Toms at Colonial in 2011.

Mickelson tied the Phoenix Open record set by Mark Calcavecchia in 2001.

Bill Haas was second, four strokes back.

EUROPEAN TOUR: Richard Sterne sank a birdie on 18 to take a one-shot lead over Danish youngster Thorbjorn Olesen and two others after the second round of the Dubai Desert Classic.

Sterne, a South African, finished the day with a 12-under total of 132.

Olesen (66) was tied with Tommy Fleetwood (68) and Stephen Gallacher (70).

WINTER SPORTS

X GAMES: The death of snowmobile rider Caleb Moore and another accident involving a driver-less snowmobile that careened into a fence and injured a spectator at the Winter X Games will trigger a more thorough review of the permit process for next year’s event.

Moore died Thursday from injuries suffered Sunday when he flew off his snowmobile and it rolled over him while he was attempting a backflip.

Mike Kraemer, a planner for the department that handles special event permits in Aspen, Colo., said ESPN’s permit will be reviewed before next year’s Winter X Games, as it is every year. Though Kramer’s department doesn’t regulate course design or the sport itself, that could be brought into the discussion during the permitting process.

SNOWBOARDING: Shaun White fell on his first run at the U.S. Grand Prix after over-rotating a trick, ending up with a face plant near the bottom of the 22-foot superpipe, but the two-time Olympic champion still walked away with gold after a clean second run with plenty of big air earned him 97.25 points at Park City, Utah.

Scott Lago finished second with 94.50 points and Luke Mitrani was third with 91.75 to complete an American sweep.

Two-time Olympic medalist and four-time X Games champion Kelly Clark fell twice trying to land a difficult first trick and finished sixth in the women’s competition. The gold instead went to China’s Jiayu Lui, who posted an 82 on her second run to edge U.S. teen Arielle Gold (80.25). American Kaitlyn Farrington was third with 73.25 points.

CROSS COUNTRY SKIING: Kikkan Randall of the United States won the women’s 1.4-kilometer World Cup race at the Sochi Olympic course in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia, to claim her fourth victory of the season.

Randall won in 2 minutes, 43.28 seconds. Aurore Jean of France was 0.52 seconds behind and Celine Brun-Lie of Norway was another 0.14 back in third.

Petter Northug of Norway also won his fourth race this winter, taking the men’s 1.8-kilometer freestyle race.

SKELETON: Shelley Rudman of Britain won her first world championship at St. Moritz, Switzerland, holding off a strong challenge from Noelle Pikus-Pace of the United States.

TENNIS

DAVIS CUP: John Isner and Sam Querrey each won their matches to give the United States a 2-0 lead over Brazil in the first round of the Davis Cup at Jacksonville, Fla.

Isner beat Thiago Alves 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 after Querrey earned a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Thomaz Bellucci.

OPEN GDF SUEZ: Top-seeded Sara Errani needed more than three hours to beat unseeded Carla Suarez Navarro 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 in the quarterfinals at Paris, while second-seeded Petra Kvitova and No. 3 Marion Bartoli both lost.

PREP SCHOOLS

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL: Torie St. Pierre scored 15 points, Rebecca Siegel added 11, and Maggie DuChene had 10 points and nine rebounds to lead Berwick Academy (11-3) to a 48-42 win over Newton Country Day School (3-12) at South Berwick.

SOCCER

PREMIER LEAGUE: Stoke City finalized its acquisition of Brek Shea after the American winger secured a work permit and international clearance just hours before the January transfer window closed.

Shea, 22, signed a 4 1/2-year contract for his move from FC Dallas of Major League Soccer. Stoke said it paid a $4 million transfer fee.

— From staff and news services