GOLF

Kuchar leads the Memorial; Woods has worst nine ever

Matt Kuchar thrived in tough conditions that sent Tiger Woods to the worst nine holes of his PGA Tour career at Dublin, Ohio on Saturday.

Kuchar survived a nasty combination of swirling wind and fast greens at Muirfield Village for a 2-under 70, giving him a two-shot lead over Kevin Chappell and Kyle Stanley going into the final round.

Woods rallied on the front nine to salvage a 79, matching his second-worst score on the PGA Tour. Going for his sixth win at the Memorial and his fourth victory in his last five tournaments, Woods had two double bogeys and a triple bogey on the back nine for a 44, breaking by one shot his highest nine-hole total.

LPGA: Shanshan Feng shot a marvelous 4-under 67 before the wind picked up to grab a three-shot lead after two rounds of the ShopRite LPGA Classic at Galloway Township, N.J.

Feng, who last year became the first Chinese player to win an LPGA Tour title and a major event in capturing the LPGA Championship, matched the best score of the day.

CHAMPIONS TOUR: Duffy Waldorf shot a 5-under 67 to take a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the Principal Charity Classic at Des Moines, Iowa.

EUROPEAN TOUR: Mikko Ilonen took a two-shot lead over Sweden’s Alexander Noren into the final round of the Nordea Masters at Stockholm.

COLLEGES

WOMEN’S ROWING: Bates finished as the national runner-up for the fifth straight year at the NCAA women’s rowing championships at Indianapolis, Ind.

Williams won the championship, extending its streak of national titles to eight.

The final team scoring had Williams in the lead with 42, followed by Bates with 35, Trinity with 31, William Smith with 28, Wellesley with 21 and Washington with 20.

Bates’ first varsity eight also claimed the silver medal for the fifth straight time.

MEN’S GOLF: Thomas Pieters of Illinois beat Max Homa with a par on the 20th hole to give Illinois a 3-2 victory over top-seeded California in the NCAA golf semifinals at Milton, Ga.

The 15th-seeded Illini will face No. 2 Alabama in the final Sunday, with both seeking their first title. The Crimson Tide beat host Georgia Tech 3-0-2 on the Capital City Club’s Crabapple Course.

BASKETBALL

WNBA: Maya Moore scored 26 points and Seimone Augustus added 20 as the Minnesota Lynx opened the season with a 90-74 win over the visiting Connecticut Sun.

• Shenise Johnson scored 19 points and Danielle Robinson had 18 as the host San Antonio Silver Stars beat the Los Angeles Sparks, 83-78.

HIGH SCHOOLS

SOFTBALL: Sophia Burnham gave up three hits over 52/3 shutout innings of relief and Alyssa Williamson hit a two-run homer during a five-run fifth inning to lead Scarborough to a 9-1 win over South Portland in the SMAA championship game at Scarborough.

The Red Storm earlier had defeated Sanford 1-0 in the semifinals behind a solo homer by Marisa O’Toole and a one-hitter by Williamson, who struck out 10.

In the opening semifinal, the Red Riots defeated Thornton Academy, 10-4. Laurinne German was 4 for 4 with two RBI and Olivia Indorf had a two-run homer for South Portland.

FOOTBALL

NFL: Pittsburgh police said an offensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers was stabbed twice during an attempted carjacking on the city’s South Side district.

Police said Michael Adams, 23, told officers he was standing near his truck shortly after 3 a.m. Saturday when he was confronted by three men, one armed with a knife and one armed with a handgun.

Adams told police the trio tried to carjack him but he didn’t have his car keys. He said “the situation escalated” and one man pointed the gun at his face while the other stabbed him twice before all three fled, according to police.

TRACK AND FIELD

PREFONTAINE CLASSIC: Justin Gatlin and Mary Cain belied their ages at Eugene, Ore.

Gatlin won the 100 meters at the Diamond League meet in a wind-aided time of 9.88 seconds, besting fellow Americans Michael Rodgers and Ryan Bailey. The 31-year-old, who won the bronze medal at the London Games, joked afterward: “I just age like wine.”

Then the 17-year-old Cain broke the high school record in the 800 in 1:59.51, placing fifth in an elite field that included Olympic bronze medalist Yekaterina Poistogova and Janeth Jepkosgei, third in last year’s world championships.

Cain, from Bronxville High in New York, topped the record of 2:02.04 set by Amy Weissenbach of Harvard-Westlake high in 2011.

SOCCER

PREMIER DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Striker Pierre Omanga scored in the ninth minute and former Greely goalkeeper Oliver Blum made six saves to lead the GPS Portland Phoenix to a 1-0 victory over the Seacoast (N.H.) Phantoms at Deering’s Memorial Field.

Phoenix (2-1-1) leads the Northeast Division with 7 points.

— From staff and news services