Ko nears victory, record for rounds in 60s
One more round in the 60s at the Founders Cup is all Jin Young Ko needs to join Annika Sorenstam in the LPGA Tour record book.
That might be all it takes to win the Founders Cup, too.
Ko picked up her fourth birdie on the par-5 16th and closed with two pars for a 2-under 69, giving her a four-shot lead Saturday at Mountain Ridge in West Caldwell, N.J., as she tries to win for the third time this year.
The 26-year-old South Korean star has been on a tear since July, with two victories, a runner-up and three other top 10s in her last six events. Even more impressive is her last month.
Saturday was her 13th consecutive round in the 60s, one off the LPGA record Sorenstam set during a four-tournament stretch in 2005, when she had 10 wins and was halfway to the calendar Grand Slam.
Ko played bogey-free on the back nine and stretched her lead to four shots over U.S. Women’s Open champion Yuka Saso (67), Elizabeth Szokol (65), two-time major champion So Yeon Ryu (71) and Lindsey Weaver (69).
Ko was at 13-under 200 as she tries to match Nelly Korda as the only threetime winners on the LPGA Tour this season.
PGA TOUR>>Adam Schenk let the wind do the work for a driver onto the par-4 15th green, the start of three birdies over his last four holes that led to a 5-under 66 and a one-shot lead over Matthew Wolff (65) in the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS>> Phil Mickelson needed only three holes to go from lagging behind to seizing control with an eagle-birdiebirdie stretch that carried him to a 5-under 67 and a two-shot lead in the Constellation Furyk & Friends Invitational in Jacksonville, Fla..
Making only his fourth PGA Tour Champions start — and second this year — Mickelson will be going after his third championship on the 50-and-older circuit.
Miguel Angel Jimenez (65), Steve Flesch (66) and Matt Gogel (69) were two shots behind at Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Fla.
PGA EUROPEAN>>World No. 1 Jon Rahm will need a big comeback to have a chance at successfully defending his Spanish Open championship.
Rahm started Saturday one shot off the lead, but a rough third round of 1-over 72 left him six strokes behind new leader Rafa Cabrera Bello (64) heading into the final round in Madrid.
Motorsports
ALLMENDINGER WINS XFINITY PLAYOFF RACE>>AJ Allmendinger charged into the second round of the Xfinity Series playoffs with an overtime victory in the elimination race on The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Allmendinger remained a perfect 3-0 on the hybrid road course/oval added to the NASCAR schedule in 2018. He wasn’t in the inaugural race, won by Chase Briscoe.
Allmendinger took the lead for the first time with 20 laps remaining and had the win in sight when Tommy Joe Martins brought out the caution with four laps remaining. It pushed the race into overtime for a twolap sprint to the finish and Allmendinger got the jump on the restart and cruised to a 3.192-second victory over reigning Xfinity Series champion Austin Cindric.
HAMILTON FASTEST, BUT NO POLE>>Lewis Hamilton mitigated the damage from his 10-place grid penalty at the Turkish Grand Prix by posting the fastest time in qualifying. It should have given the world champion his record-extending 102nd Formula One pole, but it didn’t count in the record books.
Instead, Hamilton will start 11th today as penalty for changing the internal combustion engine on his Mercedes, and teammate Valtteri Bottas assumed the pole. Max Verstappen, locked in one of the tightest championship fights Hamilton has faced, will start second alongside Bottas.
HIGHT TOP NHRA QUALIFIER>> Robert Hight held on to the top spot in Funny Car qualifying at Texas Motorplex in the Texas NHRA FallNationals.
Hight raced to his first No. 1 qualifier of the season and 70th overall with a 3.878-second run at 331.94 mph Friday in a Chevrolet Camaro.
Brittany Force took the No. 1 spot in Top Fuel, Greg Anderson was the fastest in Pro Stock and Steve Johnson topped the Pro Stock Motorcycle field — all with runs Friday — in the fourth race in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
Force had a track-record run of 3.673 at 335.32 mph.
WNBA
PHOENIX, CHICAGO CLASH IN FINALS OPENER TODAY>> Diana Taurasi has the Phoenix Mercury back in the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2014.
Up next is a familiar foe — Candace Parker and the Chicago Sky.
These two teams met seven years ago for the championship — the last appearance for either team on the game’s biggest stage. Taurasi and the Mercury swept the threegame series. They’ll begin the best-of-5 series in Phoenix today.
Taurasi scored 14 of her 24 points in the fourth quarter to help the Mercury beat second-seeded Las Vegas 87-84 on Friday night in Game 5 of their semifinals series.
Chicago took out topseeded Connecticut in the other semifinal series in four games.
It’s the first time since the WNBA changed its playoff format in 2016 that neither of the top two teams made it to the Finals. Phoenix was the fifth seed and Chicago the six.
Colleges
GONZAGA’S FEW ARRESTED FOR DUI>>Gonzaga basketball coach Mark Few will miss two exhibition games and the first game of the regular season after he was arrested last month on suspicion of driving under the influence.