GOLF

Fowler takes 1-stroke lead in Wells Fargo tournament

Rickie Fowler shot a 4-under 68 on Saturday to take the third-round lead in the Wells Fargo Championship at Charlotte, North Carolina.

Fowler, the 2012 winner for his first PGA Tour victory, was 9 under. He had a one-stroke lead over Roberto Castro, with Justin Rose and James Hahn two strokes back.

Phil Mickelson and defending champion Rory McIlroy struggled, dropping eight shots behind Fowler.

Mickelson, looking for his first win at the Quail Hollow Club in 13 starts, was in contention until a quadruple- bogey 8 on his old nemesis, the 18th hole. He finished with a 76.

McIlroy, the tournament’s only two-time winner, had two bogeys in the first four holes and shot 73.

LPGA: Ariya Jutanugarn birdied eight of the final nine holes to match the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic record at 9-under 63 and take a three-stroke lead over Ryann O’Toole and Minjee Lee, at Prattville, Alabama.

Seeking her first Tour victory, the 20-year-old Thai player had a 14-under 202 total.

CHAMPIONS TOUR: Jeff Maggert and Jesper Parnevik shared the Insperity Invitational lead at 7-under 137, leaving John Daly six strokes back in his Champions Tour debut at The Woodlands, Texas.

EUROPEAN TOUR: Britain’s Chris Hanson grabbed a one-shot lead at the Trophee Hassan II with a 5-under 67 in the third round to move to 6-under par overall, at Rabat, Morocco.

SOCCER

PREMIER LEAGUE: Jamie Vardy scored twice as Leicester produced a swaggering 3-1 victory over Everton in its first match as Premier League champion before collecting the trophy.

The 5,000-1 preseason long shots produced the stylish, energetic display despite a week of celebrations since clinching the club’s first top flight title without playing last Monday.

GERMANY: Bundesliga top-scorer Robert Lewandowski scored twice for Bayern Munich to clinch an unprecedented fourth successive title with a 2-1 win at Ingolstadt.

The Polish striker opened the scoring with a penalty in the 15th minute and got his 29th goal of the season not long after with a precise strike inside the far post after a brilliant through ball from Xabi Alonso.

For Bayern, it’s a record 25th Bundesliga title and its 26th German championship overall.

TENNIS

MADRID OPEN: Continuing to impress on clay ahead of the French Open, Andy Murray defeated Rafael Nadal 7-5, 6-4 to reach his second straight Madrid Open final.

Murray, who saved 11 break points to win a rematch of last year’s final, will play for the title against top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who defeated No. 6 Kei Nishikori 6-3-7-6 (4) in the other semifinal.

OLYMPICS: Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios may have to improve their behavior on and off the tennis court if they hope to represent Australia at the Rio Olympics.

Both players have been put on notice by Australian chef de mission Kitty Chiller, who described Tomic’s behavior at the Madrid Open this week as “appalling,” after he deliberately gave up a match point – with the handle of his racket facing forward – and later said he didn’t care because at the age of 23 he was already worth $10 million.

Chiller said at the AOC’s annual general meeting in Sydney that “there’s a few athletes that are on watch and those two names are among them.”

“Every athlete is under the microscope now,” Chiller added.

– From news service reports