Finau shines, Woods stumbles in Bahamas
Tony Finau had never seen Albany Golf Club in Nassau, Bahamas, until the pro-am at the Hero World Challenge, and one aspect of the course quickly caught his eye.
“When I’m playing well, I feel like I can score on any golf course, especially a course that has five par fives,” Finau said.
He made birdie on four of them Saturday, leading him to a fiveunder 67 that gave him a share of the lead with Henrik Stenson and Jon Rahm and set up a wide-open conclusion that could feature more than half the 18-man field.
Tiger Woods took three shots from just off the green at the par-five third hole — chipping is tough on everyone at Albany — for a double bogey and a ragged start that never got much better until a few late birdies salvaged a 72. He was in last place, 11 shots out of the lead.
Kurt Kitayama and Justin Harding were tied for the lead at 16 under and held a three-shot advantage heading into the final round of the Mauritius Open. Harding jumped six places to join overnight leader Kitayama out in front after an eight-under 64 in the third round. Kitayama carded a twounder 70. .
William Nylander’s contract impasse with the Toronto Maple Leafs has ended.
The restricted free agent signed a six-year deal just before the 5 p.m. deadline. The deal is worth $10.2 million this season and $6.9 million a year the rest of the seasons.
Two-time Olympic champion Simone Manuel completed a sweep of the sprint freestyles at the USA Swimming Winter Nationals in Greensboro, N.C., winning the 100-meter race. Katie Ledecky, the 800, 400 and 200 free winner, finished fifth in 54.76.
Germany’s Natalie Geisenberger is still perfect in singles races this World Cup luge season. And Emily Sweeney delivered the first U.S. medal of the year. Geisenberger improved to three for three on the season, with the reigning Olympic champ winning the women’s race at the World Cup stop in Whistler, Canada. Germany’s Julia Taubitz won the silver, and Sweeney held on for third place.
Nicole Schmidhofer of Austria captured a second straight downhill with an even faster run in Lake Louise, Alberta. She finished in 1 minute, 47.68 seconds to hold off teammate Cornelia Huetter by 0.44 seconds . ... Austrian Max Franz conquered the snow and fog in Beaver Creek, Colo., for his first World Cup super-G victory.
USC’s 11th-ranked women’s volleyball team lost to San Diego 2725, 25-21, 25-19 in the second round of the NCAA tournament. No. 1 Stanford beat Loyola Marymount 25-20, 25-15, 25-17.