Leishman expands lead to 5 at BMW
AUTO RACING: Justin Allgaier pulled away off the final restart and won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. Xfinity opens its postseason next week at Kentucky Speedway . ... Sebastian Vettel won the pole for the Singapore Grand Prix. Championship rival Lewis Hamilton finished fifth.
GOLF: Marc Leishman got up and down from a tough lie behind the 18th green for one last birdie that gave him a 3-under 68 and extended his lead to five shots over Jason Day and Rickie Fowler going into the final round of the BMW Championship in Lake Forest, Ill . ... Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand shot a second-round 3-under 68 to lead the Evian Championship in EvianLes-Bains, France. .
NFL: The Vikings signed QB Kyle Sloter from their practice squad. Starter Sam Bradford was listed as questionable for the game against the Steelers because of a knee injury. Backup QB Case Keenum will start if Bradford can’t play . ... The Giants didn’t know if WR Odell Beckham Jr. will play Monday against the Lions. Beckham has had a high-ankle sprain for four weeks . ... The Rams moved All-Pro DL Aaron Donald from the exempt list to the active roster so he can start Sunday against the Redskins. Donald ended his four-month holdout after failing to get a new deal and returned to the Rams one week ago.
SOCCER: In front of the largest crowd to attend stand-alone MLS match, Josef Martinez had a hat trick to help Atlanta United hold on for a 3-3 draw against Orlando City. Atlanta United set the record with 70,425 on hand at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The previous record was held by the Galaxy for the 69,255 who attended their first match at the Rose Bowl in 1996 . ... Manchester City ended Watford’s unbeaten start to the English Premier League with a 6-0 victory at Vicarage Road. ... Manager Harry Redknapp was fired by second-tier Birmingham City after his side lost a sixth successive match in Birmingham, England . ... Crystal Palace became the first club in Premier League history to lose its opening five matches without scoring as Roy Hodgson’s first contest in charge ended in a 1-0 loss to Southampton in London . ... Atletico Madrid opened its new stadium and beat Malaga 1-0 in the Spanish league. Antoine Griezmann scored the first goal at the state-of-the-art Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid.
TENNIS: Two-time Grand Slam champions Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert beat Filip Krajinovic and Nenad Zimonjic 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (3) for France to take a 2-1 lead on Serbia in the Davis Cup semifinals in Lille, France . ... Brazilian player Guilherme Clezar apologized for an offensive gesture during a Davis Cup match against Japan. The International Tennis Federation said it fined Clezar $1,500 for “unsportsmanlike conduct.” The 24-yearold Clezar appeared to deliberately stretch his eyes after he had successfully challenged a line call during his singles match with Yuichi Sugita on Friday . ... Qualifier Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan outlasted defending champion Christina McHale of the United States 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 to advance to the final of the Japan Women’s Open in Tokyo.
LAKE FOREST, Ill. Marc Leishman got upand-down from a tough lie behind the 18th green for one last birdie that gave him a 3-under 68 and extended his lead to five shots over Jason Day and Rickie Fowler going into the final round of the BMW Championship.
Leishman gets another chance to win a FedEx Cup playoff event and grab one of the top five seeds at the Tour Championship next week. The top seeds have the clearest path to claim the $10 million bonus.
And this opportunity is much better than two weeks ago.
Leishman shared the 54-hole lead at the TPC Boston with Justin Thomas, who surged past Leishman and held off Jordan Spieth. This time, no one could make a run at him Saturday on a warm day with a steady wind at Conway Farms.
Fowler rolled in a 25-foot eagle putt from just short of the green on the opening hole, and made only one birdie the rest of the way. He missed putts from the 6-foot range on consecutive holes on the back nine, one of them for birdie, and couldn't make birdie with an iron in his hand for his second shot on the par-5 18th.
Day pulled within two shots with a birdie at the turn, but played the back nine with eight pars and a bogey. He also had an iron for his second shot on the 18th, but it plugged into the side of the bunker.
Fowler and Day shot 70.
Leishman was at 19-under 194 after the kind of round that limited the possibilities for the final day. No one else was closer than seven shots of the affable Australian. Justin Rose had a 66 and was at each 12-under 201, while Jon Rahm had a 65 and was in a large group at 11-under 202, eight shots out of the lead.
The excitement figured to come from the race to East Lake.
The top 30 in the FedEx Cup advance to next week's Tour Championship, where all have a mathematical chance at the $10 million bonus and are assured spots in every major except the PGA Championship next year.
Phil Mickelson, finally finding his form late in the year, has a chance to make it to the Tour Championship. He had a 69 — his seventh straight round in the 60s — but failed to take advantage of the easiest par 4 at Conway Farms — the reachable 15th — and took bogey on both par 3s.