Off the wire

GOLF Park takes lead

Inbee Park played the first five holes in 6 under Saturday and finished with a 9-under 63 to take the lead into the final round of the LPGA Tour’s Founders Cup in Phoenix. Park holed out from 90 yards for eagle on the par-4 third to highlight the early run at Desert Ridge. She birdied the par-4 ninth for a frontnine 31, made another birdie on the par-5 11th and capped the bogey-free round with an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th. Park reached 14 under to take a one-stroke lead over Mariajo Uribe. Uribe birdied the 18th for a 67. Ariya Jutanugarn was two strokes behind at 12 under after her third 68. Laura Davies, 54, also shot a 63 and for a brief time was in the lead Saturday until Park moved ahead. She is tied for fourth at 11 under with Chella Choi (66). Davies is in her 32nd year of play in the LPGA.

Rankin injured

Golf announcer Judy Rankin is recovering from a broken left collarbone. The 73-year-old Hall of Famer tweeted about the injury Saturday. “Won’t be a secret for long. Broken collarbone! Left arm in a sling. Cannot really move it. Yuk! 4 to 6 weeks. Thanks to well-wishers,” she wrote. Rankin is Golf Channel and NBC’s lead LPGA Tour commentator and has worked many PGA Tour events. She won 26 LPGA Tour titles and led the money list in 1976 and 1977.

TENNIS Federer advances

Roger Federer rallied to beat Borna Coric 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif., on Saturday, extending his career-best start to 17-0 and putting him in the final with a chance to win his record sixth title. He will meet No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro in today’s final. The Argentine breezed past No. 32 Milos Raonic of Canada 6-2, 6-3 in 66 minutes for his 10th consecutive match victory and 400th of his injury-plagued career. Federer overcame a slow start in front of a partisan crowd that included Rod Laver and Pete Sampras. He rallied from a 5-7, 2-4 deficit to win the final four games of the second set, breaking Coric twice for the first time in the match. There were five breaks in the third. Federer trailed 4-3 and then broke after two deuces on his way to winning the last three games of the two-hour, 20-minute struggle. Coric, 21, is part of a trio of 20-somethings that have dominated the desert tournament. Daria Kasatkina of Russia and Naomi Osaka of Japan, both 20, will meet in the women’s final today after knocking out several higher-ranked players along the way.

BASEBALL Cotton lost for season

Oakland Athletics pitcher Jharel Cotton will undergo season-ending surgery on his right elbow. Cotton had been diagnosed with a sprain and had a second scan taken on his elbow on Friday, then was told he would need Tommy John surgery. The procedure is expected to take place next week. “It’s tough. I’m missing the 2018 season with my boys, so it’s kind of hard to take. I’m trying to take it as best as I can and just get ready for the long process, the long road that’s ahead,” Cotton said Saturday morning at A’s spring training. Cotton, 26, was expected to be in Oakland’s starting rotation this season after going 9-10 with a 5.58 ERA average in 24 starts as a rookie in 2017.

Machado: No big deal

Baltimore Orioles shortstop Manny Machado said that recruiting pitch by Yankees star Aaron Judge was no big deal. “I think it was just blown out of proportion,” Machado said. Earlier this week, when the Orioles and Yankees played a spring training game, Judge told Machado that he’d look good in pinstripes. The star infielder is eligible for free agency after this season. The comment drew the interest of Major League Baseball, and Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman later had a conversation with Judge, reminding the AL Rookie of the Year that the sport takes a dim view of anything that sounds like tampering. Machado said he didn’t mind and that he’s attempted to get players for the Orioles, too. “Everyone always jokes around about a lot of things, and things that we say on the field usually stay on the field,” Machado said after Baltimore’s game with the New York Mets on Friday.

Severino to start

Luis Severino will start the New York Yankees’ regular-season opener March 29 at Toronto. Yankees Manager Aaron Boone announced the news Saturday. Severino was third in the AL Cy Young Award voting after going 14-6 with a 2.98 ERA in 31 starts last season. Severino will be followed in the rotation by Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia, Sonny Grey and Jordan Montgomery.

BASKETBALL Suns forwards fined

The NBA has fined Phoenix Suns forwards Marquese Chriss and Jared Dudley $25,000 apiece for their roles in an altercation during a game against the Utah Jazz. The punishment handed down Saturday stems from the Suns’ game Thursday night in Salt Lake City. With Utah leading 69-50 in the third quarter, Jazz guard Ricky Rubio was headed full speed on a fast break when Dudley bodyblocked him to the floor, starting a scrum in front of the Suns’ bench. Dudley got a flagrant 2 foul and was ejected, along with Chriss for pushing Rubio back down after Dudley’s shove. Rubio was shoved to the floor twice in the game, which the Jazz won 116-88.

Locker room robbed

Police said someone stole thousands of dollars in electronics from the North Carolina men’s basketball team locker room and office while they were away for the ACC tournament. Campus police at Chapel Hill said on Twitter that the break-in happened at the Dean Smith Center on March 9, and they released images of a man they believe may have been involved. A police report states the thief managed to get into the team locker room and basketball office without forced entry, according to The Herald-Sun. The report states the thief stole a PlayStation 4, XBox One and clothing worth $2,900 that belonged to the athletic department. Police said the thief also stole someone’s laptop worth $1,200 and a financial document worth about $3,000 belonging to one of the players.

CYCLING Nibali wins Classic

Vincenzo Nibali carried off a daring solo attack to win the Milan-San Remo Classic on Saturday and add to his long list of major cycling achievements. The Italian rider accelerated away from the pack on the Poggio, the final climb of the 183mile race, with 7 kilometers to go. Nibali then showed off his downhill skills and narrowly held off a pack of chasing sprinters on the flat finish. He looked back only once, with 50 meters remaining, and realized he had time to raise his arms in celebration before crossing the line in a time of 7 hours, 18 minutes, 43 seconds. Caleb Ewan of Australia was second and Arnaud Demare of France finished third, both with the same time as the winner. Nibali, who rides for the Bahrain Merida team, has also won all three Grand Tours: the Giro d’Italia twice, the Tour de France and the Spanish Vuelta. Always looking for the fastest lines, he came so close to the fences at one point that he knocked a cellphone out of a fan’s hand.

BIATHLON Fourcade closes in

France’s Martin Fourcade won a pursuit race Saturday at Oslo, Norway, to close in on his seventh consecutive World Cup biathlon title. He battled all the way with Norwegian Henrik L’Abee-Lund before his rival picked up two penalties in the final shooting stage. Italy’s Lukas Hofer was second, 18.1 seconds behind Fourcade. Johannes Thingnes Boe was third while L’Abee-Lund finished fifth. Fourcade has already secured the pursuit title and leads Boe by 49 points in the overall standings with three races remaining next week. Germany claimed the women’s relay crown for the third consecutive year after finishing second behind France in the last race of the season Saturday.

HORSE RACING Another delivery

The Foal Patrol has delivered again. La Verdad, an Eclipse Award-winning mare owned by Lady Sheila Stable at Edition Farm in Hyde Park, N.Y., delivered a filly by Tapit on Thursday. She’s the fourth mare to give birth this year in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame’s so-called Foal Patrol. The project is a collection of live web cameras with real-time streams of in-foal mares during their pregnancies. It’s aimed at attracting new fans to thoroughbred racing and offers enthusiasts a rare look behind the scenes. According to statistical data from the museum, since it started in mid-December, there have been almost 280,000 visits to the web site — foalpatrol.com — from people in 39 countries.