Merritt leads by three; Spieth five back
Troy Merritt shot a two-under 69 Saturday to take a three-stroke lead into the final round of the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head Island, S.C., on Saturday as defending champion Matt Kuchar hung on to a share of second place and Masters winner Jordan Spieth moved to five strokes back.
Brendon Todd shot a 63 for the day’s lowest round to join Kuchar and Kevin Kisner in a three-way tie behind Merritt, who was at 14under 199. Jim Furyk led a threeway tie for fifth, four shots back. Spieth hung on for a 68, which marked the 18th time he has broken par in his last 19 rounds.
Olin Browne shot a 64 to take the second-round lead in the Champions Tour’s Greater Gwinnett Championship at Duluth, Ga. Browne was at 12-under 132. Bernhard
Langer was a stroke back after holing a 30-foot eagle putt on No. 18 for a 64.
Sei Young Kim holed out from 154 yards for an eagle to defeat Inbee Park on the first hole of a playoff in the LPGA Tour’s Lotte Championship at Kapolei, Hawaii.
Djokovic prevails
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic swept past Rafael Nadal to reach the Monte Carlo Masters final at Monaco with a 6-3, 6-3 win. In his bid for a second title at the claycourt Masters, Djokovic will face sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych.
In the Fed Cup World Group semifinals, host Czech Republic took a 2-0 lead over France at Ostrava, and host Russia got a 2-0 lead over Germany at Sochi. . . . In the Fed Cup World Group playoffs, top-ranked Serena Williams overcame host Italy’s Camila Giorgi, 7-6 (5), 6-2, but Italy’s Sara Errani evened the best-of-five series with the United States at 1-1 by routing 57th-ranked Lauren Davis, 6-1, 6-2, at Brindisi.
Michael Phelps roared from last to first on the final lap to win the 100-meter freestyle over runner-up Ryan Lochte in the Arena Pro Swim Series at Mesa, Ariz. Phelps clocked 49.72 seconds. Lochte, the fastest qualifier, finished second in 49.77. In the 200 individual medley, Lochte led all the way and won in 1:58.70 as Phelps took third in 2:00.01.
In boxing, Andrzej Fonfara (26-4, 15 knockouts) knocked down
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (48-2) in the ninth round at StubHub Center in Carson and won after the bell when the referee stopped it on advice from Chavez’s trainer, Joe Goossen. The knockdown was Chavez’s first in his career. . . . Terence Crawford (26-0, 18 KOs) took the vacant WBO junior-welterweight title with a sixth-round technical knockout of Thomas Dulorme (22-2) at Arlington, Texas.
In the NHL, the Edmonton Oilers won the draft lottery despite having just an 11.5% chance. The Kings will draft 13th. . . . Chicago Blackhawks rookie goaltender Scott Darling will start in place of Corey Crawford against the Nashville Predators in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series. Nashville defenseman Shea Weber will not make the trip to Chicago because of an injury suffered in Game 2.
In horse racing, One Lucky Dane will miss next month’s Kentucky Derby after injuring his left front foot during a workout at Santa Anita. The 3-year-old colt will have surgery to insert two screws, trainer Bob Baffert said. . . . Whiskey Ticket, also trained by Baffert, held off Conquest Curlinate to win the $400,000 Illinois Derby at Hawthorne Race Course at Cicero, Ill.
In UFC, Luke Rockhold (14-2) made Lyoto Machida (22-6) tap at 2:32 of the second round to win a main event showdown between two of the top middleweights at Newark, N.J. Jacare Souza, the No. 1-ranked middleweight, stopped Chris Camozzi in the co-main event, winning with an armbar submission at 2:33 of the first round.
In motor sports, Joey Logano led flag to flag to win NASCAR’s Xfinity Series race at Bristol, Tenn. . . . In Formula One, defending champion Lewis Hamilton will start the Bahrain Grand Prix from the pole position at Sakhir.