GOLF
Lee Westwood made a pair of 30-foot putts over the final three holes Saturday, one for eagle and the other for a closing birdie, as he shot a 7-under 65 to take a one-shot lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Orlando, Florida.
Westwood, who turns 48 next month, is being chased by Bryson DeChambeau and Corey Conners.
DeChambeau’s 68 included a birdie on the par-5 sixth hole in which he cut off so much of the water that he had only 70 yards for his second shot on the 531-yard hole.
Conners, who started with a one-shot lead, could only manage a 71 on a cool, breezy day at Bay Hill.
Jordan Spieth opened with a birdie and a hole-in-one, took the lead by holing a bunker shot on the par-3 seventh, saved par after a tee shot into the water and shot a 68. He was two shots behind, along with former PGA champion Keegan Bradley, who had the low score of the week with a 64.
LPGA: Jennifer Kupcho made a 12-foot eagle putt on the final hole to cut Austin Ernst’s lead to a stroke in the Drive On Championship in Ocala, Florida.
Kupcho, seeking her first LPGA Tour victory, shot a 2-under 70, setting up the eagle with a fairway wood from 215 yards that just cleared the rocks and water fronting the green on the par-5 18th.
Ernst parred the last six holes in a 69 that moved her to 13 under.
BASEBALL
MAINE HOF: The Maine Baseball Hall of Fame is seeking nominations for players, coaches, umpires, organizers and benefactors worthy of induction in 2021.
Nominations, which should include a resume and supporting documentation, can be emailed to Don Douglas at ddoug1950@icloud.com, or mailed by March 22 to: Maine Baseball Hall of Fame, c/o Don Douglas, 38 Merganser Way, Freeport ME 04032.
MLB: Free-agent pitcher Jake Odorizzi, coming off an injury-plagued season after making the AL All-Star team in 2019, agreed to a two-year deal with the Houston Astros.
MLB Network reported that the incentive-laden contract could be worth $30 million over two seasons and has a buyout for Year 3.
• Seattle Mariners top prospect Jarred Kelenic will be sidelined indefinitely because of a strained adductor muscle in his left knee.
• Left-handed reliever Jose Alvarez signed a $1.15 million, one-year contract with the San Francisco Giants.
AUTO RACING
XFINITY: AJ Allmendinger raced to the first victory of his comeback season by passing Daniel Hemric on the final restart in an Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The victory was the sixth in the Xfinity Series for Allmendinger, who retired at the end of the 2018 season but is back driving a full schedule this year.
SKIING
WORLD CUP: Mikaela Shiffrin denied rival Petra Vlhova a home victory in Jasna, Slovakia, winning the first World Cup slalom following the world championships.
Shiffrin trailed Vlhova by 0.27 seconds after the first run on a hill where Vlhova regularly trains, but the American had a blistering final run to win by 0.34 seconds.
Shiffrin and Vlhova have won 31 of the 32 World Cup slaloms since January 2017, a streak interrupted only once by Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin.
• Vincent Kriechmayr ended his two-year victory drought in World Cup downhills with a victory in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, three weeks after he took the world title in the discipline.
Wearing bib No. 1, the Austrian opened the race on the Schneekristall course with a near-flawless run and finished 0.17 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Beat Feuz.
TENNIS
QATAR OPEN: Petra Kvitova won her first title since 2019 as she swept past Garbine Muguruza, 6-2, 6-1.
ABN AMRO: Andrey Rublev will face qualifier Marton Fucsovics for the title in Rotterdam, Netherlands, after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6 (2) in the semifinals.
Fucsovics reached his first final in more than two years with a 6-4, 6-1 upset of Borna Coric.
SOCCER
WORLD CUP: Two rounds of South American World Cup qualifiers scheduled for the end of March were postponed on Saturday following opposition from European clubs about allowing their players to travel during the coronavirus pandemic.
South American soccer body CONMEBOL tweeted that its council made the decision based on “the impossibility of having all South American players” available for the games.
ENGLAND: Leicester got second-half goals from Kelechi Iheanacho and Daniel Amartey to rally for a 2-1 win at Brighton 2-1 and climb into second place in the Premier League.
GERMANY: Robert Lewandowski scored a hat trick as first-place Bayern Munich came from behind to win a 4-2 at home against Borussia Dortmund.
Erling Haaland scored twice in the first 10 minutes to give the visitors an early two-goal lead.
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