Gooch scraps to grab three-shot lead
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Talor Gooch is playing some of his best golf in the toughest weather, even when he hasn’t been in the best position off the tee. Now the 30-year-old from Oklahoma is one round away from his first PGA Tour victory. Gooch hit only six fairways Saturday at Sea Island Golf Club and still managed a 3-under 67 on its Seaside course, stretching his lead to three shots going into the final round of the RSM Classic. “Any day like that is going to be a grind on the tour,” Gooch said. “To be frank, what you’re trying to do out there is avoid bogeys. It would have been easy today at times to just really get conservative and really be defensive. I was pleased I was able to stay aggressive at times.” Gooch pulled away with a short birdie putt at the par-5 15th hole and a 12-footer for birdie at the par-3 17th. He missed from 25 feet on the final hole but could hardly be upset about holding himself together on a cloudy, chilly, windy day. He was at 16-under 196, with Ireland’s Seamus Power (67) and Colombia’s Sebastian Muñoz (69) tied for second. Tom Hoge had a 67 and was alone in fourth at 11 under, while Baylor School graduate Luke List (66), Scott Stallings (69) and Canada’s
Mackenzie Hughes (70) — a former RSM Classic winner — were another shot behind. List closed with four straight birdies — he had seven in all Saturday — to rebound from back-to-back bogeys on the 13th and 14th, having also dropped a shot just before the turn. Another Baylor alum, Keith Mitchell, was tied for 20th at 7 under after a 70.
› NAPLES, Fla. — Nelly Korda was watching from the tee box on the par-3 fifth hole at Tiburón Golf Club as Jin Young Ko rolled in a putt from 10 feet, the fourth of seventh straight birdies for the South Korean star. Moments later, Korda holed a 45-foot chip for birdie. It was like that all day at the CME Group Tour Championship. It’s been like that all year. Now their race to be No. 1 on the LPGA Tour goes all the way to the final round of the season. Ko rode her stretch of seven straight birdies to a 6-under-par 66. Korda answered by overpowering the par 5s on the back nine of the Gold course for a 67. They were part of a four-way tie for the lead going into the final round, with nothing less than $1.5 million and tour player of the year on the line. None of that seems to faze Korda, a 23-year-old American with an elegant swing who is ruthless when it comes to competing and this year has already won the Women’s PGA Championship and a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Ko and Korda, the last two in the battle for player of the year, were tied with France’s Celine Boutier (72), who had a four-shot lead through 36 holes, and Japan’s Nasa Hataoka, whose 64 was the low round on a windy Saturday.
That quartet was at 14-under 202, with Mexico’s Gaby Lopez (69) and the United States’ Mina Harigae (69) one shot back and seven others within four shots of the lead, setting up a final day bursting with possibilities.
TENNIS ›
TURIN, Italy — For the second time this year, Alexander Zverev has denied Novak Djokovic the chance to play for a big prize. Following up his win over the world’s top-ranked player in the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics this past summer, Zverev beat Djokovic 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3 at the same stage of the ATP Finals on Saturday. The result means Djokovic can’t match Roger Federer’s record of six titles at the season-ending event for the top eight players — at least not this year. Instead, Zverev will play second-ranked Daniil Medvedev in Sunday’s final. “He’s the greatest player of all time, and I think people forget that sometimes,” Zverev said of Djokovic, who shares the record of 20 Grand Slam men’s singles titles with contemporaries Federer and Rafael Nadal. Medvedev, who beat Djokovic in the U.S. Open final two months ago to end his bid for a calendar year Grand Slam, defeated first-time qualifier Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-2 earlier. Medvedev, who is seeking to repeat as tourney champion, has won his past five meetings with Zverev, including a round-robin match earlier in the week decided in a third-set tiebreaker.
SOCCER ›
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kelley O’Hara scored in the 97th minute as the Washington Spirit won their first National Women’s Soccer League title with a 2-1 extra time victory over the Chicago Red Stars on Saturday. The championship game closed a tumultuous ninth season for the league. The Spirit had to forfeit twice because of coronavirus protocol, and the team played under interim coach Kris Ward after Richie Burke was fired in September for violating the league’s policy against harassment. O’Hara, a defender on the U.S. national teams that won the Women’s World Cup in 2015 and 2019, got the winner with her first goal of the season — a back post header off a pass from league rookie of the year Trinity Rodman. Rachel Hill had scored off a cross from Arin Wright to give the Red Stars a 1-0 lead they would take to halftime. Rodman nearly tied the game in the 61st minute with a long shot that hit the post, but the Spirit pulled even a short time later when captain Andi Sullivan made a penalty kick that beat Chicago goalkeeper Cassie Miller. The Red Stars had a chance in the second extra time period on Makenzy Doniak’s shot, but it was deftly stopped by Aubrey Bledsoe.
MOTORSPORTS
› LOSAIL, Qatar — Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes moved a bit closer to reclaiming control of the Formula One championship race by quickly figuring out the newest circuit on the calendar. Hamilton overcame a nagging stomachache Saturday to beat rival Max Verstappen for the pole position at the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix. Verstappen qualified second for Red Bull, and Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate, was third. But both Hamilton and Verstappen — along with Carlos Sainz, who qualified seventh — went into Sunday under investigation for violating yellow flag rules in qualifying. Each was summoned to a meeting with stewards that was to take place before the race. Verstappen already skirted a penalty once this weekend when Mercedes was denied a bid to have Verstappen retroactively penalized for running Hamilton off course last Sunday in Brazil. Verstappen, seeking his first F1 title, holds a 14-point lead over the seven-time champion with three races remaining.