Thomas makes an ace and takes lead in Mexico
MEXICO CITY >> Justin Thomas made a hole-inone and surged into the lead with a 5-under 66 on a Saturday of high entertainment in the Mexico Championship.
Thomas hit a 6-iron from 239 yards that one-hopped into the cup on the par-3 13th. He added a pair of birdies that gave him a oneshot lead over Dustin Johnson, with Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy right behind.
Such a world-class leaderboard should have been enough to delight the crowd at Chapultepec Golf Club. There was so much more.
Johnson, in his debut at No. 1 in the world, was tied for the lead when his second shot on the 16th got stuck in a tree. He walked back to the original spot and hit the next one to 15 feet, and the ball fell out of the tree as he was walking to the green. He made the putt to salvage a bogey and shot 66. “It happens,” Johnson said, and no one knows that better.
Mickelson didn’t hit a fairway on the back nine until the 16th hole and at one point took as many drops as he had birdies. Even so, Lefty managed to make three straight birdies until closing with a bogey for a wild round of 68.
He was two shots behind, along with McIlroy, who didn’t make a birdie over his last seven holes and shot 70. SINGAPORE >> Michelle Wie shot a 5-under 67 to lead the HSBC Women’s Champions tournament by two strokes after the third round. The American followed up her previous rounds of 66 and 69 to reach 14-under 202 and lead an LPGA event after
54 holes for the first time since she won the 2014 U.S. Open.
NASCAR: Kyle Busch wins Xfinity race
HAMPTON, GA. >> After a bunch of close calls at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch has found the winning touch in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Busch cruised to his second straight Atlanta victory in the second-tier series Saturday. With a helping hand from lapped cars, the polewinner was able to hold off fellow Cup driver Brad Keselowski by 0.606 seconds.
No one else was within 2 seconds of the front. HAMPTON, GA. >> Christopher Bell held off Matt Crafton on a restart with two laps to go and completed a dominating win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Tennis: Murray wins first title of the year
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES >> Andy Murray captured his first title of the year and became the first British man to win the Dubai Tennis Championships in its 25-year history when he defeated Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-2.
This was Murray’s seventh final in his last eight tournaments, and 14th in his last 16 dating to last May in Madrid.
Dubai was the first tournament Murray’s played since he lost in the Australian Open fourth round.
NFL: Ross breaks combine’s 40 record
INDIANAPOLIS >> Washington receiver John Ross III has run the 40-yard dash in a record-setting 4.22 seconds at the NFL scouting combine.
Ross completed the feat on his first attempt, breaking Chris Johnson’s record of 4.24 seconds in 2008.
While Ross was winding down, he appeared to hurt his left leg. The NFL Network reported that Ross wouldn’t do any more drills during the workout because of sore calves.
Skiing: Hirscher takes record 6th title
KRANJSKA GORA, SLOVENIA >> Marcel Hirscher amazed the world of Alpine skiing by locking up an unprecedented sixth straight overall World Cup title.
Two days after his 28th birthday, the Austrian won a giant slalom to give him an insurmountable lead of more than 500 points over his main rivals: Kjetil Jansrud and Henrik Kristoffersen.