Off the wire

GOLF

Pair share lead

Thomas Pieters ended a roller-coaster round with a 30-foot birdie putt for a 4-under 66 that gave him a share of the lead with Zach Johnson on Saturday going into the final round of the Bridgestone Invitational at Akron, Ohio. Pieters built a big lead early with five birdies on his opening eight holes at Firestone, only to run into trouble off the tee. He made only three pars over his last 11 holes and wound up with his best chance yet to win in America. Johnson, who hasn’t won since capturing his second major at St. Andrews in 2015, holed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a 65. They were at 9-under 201. Scott Hend, who got into his first Bridgestone Invitational on a loophole, shot a 63 and was one back.

Kim ahead by 6

I.K. Kim answered the challenge with a 6-under 66 in the Women’s British Open to build a six-shot lead as she goes after her first major championship. Kim faced a battle before she even teed off Saturday at Kingsbarns Links at St. Andrews, Scotland. Inbee Park tied a course record with a 64 to get within one shot. Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks) shot a 65 and was only two shots behind. Kim was equally impressive. The 29-year-old South Korean played bogey-free and was at 17-under 199. She was six shots clear of Georgia Hall of England and Moriya Jutanugarn. Lexi Thompson shot 74 and was 10 shots behind.

Three in the lead

Paul Goydos shot a tournament-record 60 Saturday and is tied with Kenny Perry and Gene Sauers after two rounds of the PGA Tour Champions’ 3M Championship. Goydos, who shot 59 at the PGA’s 2010 John Deere Classic, was 7-under through 12 holes, before birdies at 15, 16 and 17 and an eagle on the par-5 18th. He needed one putt on 16 greens and two on the others at the TPC Twin Cities. Perry, a co-leader with Mike Goodes after round one, shot his second consecutive 65. Sauers shot an 8-under 64. Scott Dunlap (63) and Brandt Jobe (64) were one shot behind; Steve Stricker (63) and Marco Dawson (66) were two back. Goodes shot 68 and was one of seven players trailing by three shots. Glen Day (Little Rock) shot an 8-under 64 on Saturday and sits at 9 under overall, five shots behind the leaders.

Owen jumps in front

Greg Owen jumped out front with a five-point lead at the Barracuda Championship at Reno, Nev., after 9 birdies, 1 bogey and 1 double bogey gave him 14 points Saturday and a three-day total of 37. Stuart Appleby and Derek Fathauer were tied for second with 32 points each. Alone in fourth was Ricky Barnes with 31 points. Ben Martin, Dicky Pride and Richy Werenski were tied for fifth with 30 points apiece. The players are using a modified Stableford scoring format. Tag Ridings (Arkansas Razorbacks) had 20 points going into the final round today. Ken Duke (Arkadelphia, Henderson State) had 19 points.

Yun leads by 1

Andrew Yun shot a 2-under 68 on Friday to lead the Web.com Ellie Mae Classic at Hayward, Calif., by one stroke. Yun’s 15-under 195 is one better that Jim Knous and two better than Lanto Griffin, Nate Lashley and Brandon Harkins. Martin Piller is alone at 12 under par. Austin Cook (Jonesboro, Arkansas Razorbacks) is 10 under after a 69. Taylor Moore (Razorbacks) is 8 under after a 68. Zack Fischer (Little Rock) is even par after a 73. Matt Atkins (Henderson State) is 2 over after a 75.

TENNIS Anderson advances

South African Kevin Anderson, the No. 15 seed, took just 90 minutes Saturday to beat the last remaining American, Jack Sock, 6-3, 6-4, at the Citi Open in Washington, deploying 12 aces from his 6-foot-8 frame along the way. A tall order awaits Anderson in today’s final, where he will play either fifth-seeded Alexander Zverev or second-seeded Kei Nishikori after those players were scheduled to meet later Saturday. As for today’s final, with his body and his tennis holding up, Anderson said he feels he’s in a good position to take the crown. He has one victory against Nishikori in five meetings and has lost both of his meetings with Zverev, including a loss in Washington two years ago when the German was just a teenager. That was a different, less refined Zverev. But Anderson has been through trying times and emerged differently as well. He makes an effort to be more positive on court nowadays. “I feel like I’m on a great path, and if I continue to do that I’ll give myself the best chance [today],” Anderson said.

Kohlschreiber wins

Philipp Kohlschreiber won his eighth career ATP tour title by defeating Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the Generali Open at Kitzbuehel, Austria, on Saturday. The 47th-ranked German rallied from a break down in both sets and won five of the last six games to close out the victory at the final clay-court event of the season. Kohlschreiber’s victory came one week after he pulled out of his semifinal in Hamburg with a thigh injury. Kohlschreiber, who resides in Kitzbuehel, also won the title two years ago after coming runner-up in 2012. The 62nd-ranked Sousa, who is 0-2 in finals this season, was looking for his third career title, and first since winning in Valencia two years ago.

SWIMMING Lochte finishes 5th

In his first USA Swimming-sanctioned event after a 10-month suspension for his behavior at Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Ryan Lochte finished fifth in the men’s 100 meter backstroke final with a time of 55.16 seconds Saturday at the U.S. Open in East Meadow, N.Y. Arkady Vyatchanin was first with a time of 53.91, followed by Christopher Reid (54.54), Xavier Mohammed (54.62) and Brock Bonetti (54.99) ahead of Lochte, who qualified for the finals by placing seventh in the preliminary meet with a time of 55.59 seconds. Matthew Josa (55.38), Hennessey Stuart (55.38) and Clark Beach (55.48) rounded out the heat. All eight swimmers stood on the podium after the race. Lochte will swim in the 200 intermediate medley today, where where he is the top seed. The week-long event, held at the Nassau County Aquatic Center, is serving as Lochte’s first recognized competitive meet following an incident at the Rio Olympics.

HORSE RACING Fires-trained colt wins

Colonelsdarktemper, who broke his maiden in his career debut at Oaklawn Park in February, took the lead at the start of Saturday’s Grade III $750,000 West Virginia Derby under 56-year-old jockey Jon Court and never gave it up. The end result was a 1-length victory over Game Over and Kentucky Derby runnerup Lookin At Lee at Mountaineer Casino Racetrack. Colonelsdarktemper ran the 11/8-mile distance in 1:50.68. Race favorite Patch was fourth. It was the third victory in eight starts for the son of Colonel John, who is trained by Oaklawn-based Jinks Fires and owned by four-time Indy 500 winner A.J. Foyt. Col-onelsdarktemper was coming off second-place finishes to McCraken at Churchill Downs in June and to Irap in the Indiana Derby three weeks ago.