GOLF

Dufner chips in twice, takes Byron Nelson lead

Jason Dufner birdied four of the last five holes Friday for a 4-under 66 and a one-stroke lead after the second round of the Byron Nelson Championship at Irving, Texas.

Dufner capped the round with a 37-foot chip-in at the 429-yard 18th. The winner last month in New Orleans for his first PGA Tour title, Dufner also holed a 35-foot chip at No. 15. He had a 7-under 133 total.

Matt Kuchar, coming off a victory in The Players Championship, shot a 68 and was tied for second with first-round leader Ryan Palmer (70), Chad Campbell (66), Pat Perez (67), Dicky Pride (68) and Marc Leishman (69).

LPGA: Top-ranked Yani Tseng beat Katie Futcher 2 and 1, and No. 2 Na Yeon Choi was a 3-and-2 winner over fellow South Korean Jenny Shin in the second round of the Sybase Match Play Championship at Gladstone, N.J.

Stacy Lewis also advanced, beating Sandra Gal 4 and 3.

Cristie Kerr, last year’s runner-up, dropped out along with No. 7 Jiyai Shin and No. 14 Karrie Webb.

EUROPEAN TOUR: Top-seeded Martin Kaymer was eliminated from the Volvo World Match Play Championship by the lowest-ranked player in the field, losing 1-up to Richard Finch at Casares, Spain.

COLLEGES

BASEBALL: Tyler Johnson threw five scoreless innings to lead Stony Brook (41-11, 19-3 America East) to a 5-1 win over Maine (26-24, 11-9) in a doubleheader opener, and the Seawolves completed the sweep with a 5-4 victory at Orono.

Alex Calbick went 3 for 3 and Scott Heath homered for Maine in the second game.

AUTO RACING

SPRINT CUP: Kyle Busch captured the pole for tonight’s Sprint All-Star race for the second straight year at Charlotte, N.C.

Busch completed the unique three-lap qualifying that included a mandatory four-tire pit stop in 1 minute, 19.11 seconds. He was the last qualifier on the track and knocked Ryan Newman to the outside of the front row.

Denny Hamlin will start third, followed by Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick.

TRUCKS: Justin Lofton raced to his first NASCAR Truck Series victory, getting the jump on race leader Brad Keselowski on a late restart at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

TENNIS

ITALIAN OPEN: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5, 6-1, and No. 2 Rafael Nadal defeated Tomas Berdych 6-4, 7-5 to reach the semifinals at Rome, along with Roger Federer and David Ferrer.

Serena Williams reached the women’s semifinals when Flavia Pennetta quit with an injured right wrist while trailing 4-0 in the first set. Defending champion Maria Sharapova beat Venus Williams 6-4, 6-3.

CYCLING

TOUR OF CALIFORNIA: Sylvain Georges of France pedaled to a long, solo win, and Dave Zabriskie maintained his overall lead in the mountainous sixth stage at Big Bear Lake, Calif.

Zabriskie finished 21st in the main field and maintained a 34-second race lead over fellow American Tejay van Garderen.

GIRO D’ITALIA: World champion Mark Cavendish won the 13th stage in a sprint finish at Cervere, Italy, while Joaquin Rodriguez retained the overall lead.

SOCCER

WPS: The Women’s Professional Soccer league has folded after three seasons.

The WPS had canceled the 2012 season in January, at the time hoping to return next year.

— From staff and news services

 

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