ATLANTA — Tiger Woods had a chance to pull away from the field. He had to settle for a one-shot lead Friday in the Tour Championship.
Over the final four holes, Woods missed consecutive putts from about 4 feet — one putt for eagle, the other for birdie — and closed with a bogey for a 2-under-par 68 in sweltering conditions to lead Padraig Harrington (69) and Sean O’Hair (70).
Woods was at 5-under 135 and in great position to capture the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus. None of the other players among the top five seeds — who can win the FedEx Cup with a victory at East Lake — were among the top 10 on the leaderboard.
Ernie Els came to life with five birdies over his last 10 holes for a 66 and was only two shots behind at 3-under 137. Kenny Perry, who nearly wilted in the heat Thursday, also had a 66 and was at 2-under 138, along with Jerry Kelly (67).
• Sophie Gustafson shot a 3-under 69 to take a one-stroke lead over Lorena Ochoa (67—137), Maria Hjorth (66) and Shanshan Feng (67) in the CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge in Danville, Calif.
• Russ Cochran and Denis Watson shared the first-round lead at 6-under 66 on a windy and drizzling day at the SAS Championship in Cary, N.C.
Sparks, Fever force Game 3s
PHOENIX — Candace Parker had 24 points and 18 rebounds, Lisa Leslie scored 20 points, and the Los Angeles Sparks forced a deciding third game of the WNBA Western Conference finals with an 87-76 victory over the Phoenix Mercury.
• Tamika Catchings scored 22 points to lead the Indiana Fever to a 79-75 victory over the Detroit Shock in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals in Indianapolis.
Catchings, named the league’s defensive player of the year for the third time before the game, also had nine rebounds, six steals and five assists.
Footnotes.
The Minnesota Timberwolves said they have given guard Antonio Daniels permission to seek a trade.
• Toronto Raptors forward Chris Bosh is expected to miss the start of training camp because of a strained left hamstring.
• The Indiana Pacers signed coach Jim O’Brien through the 2010-11 season.
• Floyd Mayweather Jr.‘s victory over Juan Manuel Marquez last weekend generated an impressive 1 million pay-per-view buys resulting in $52 million in revenue, HBO Sports announced.
• The United States extended its unbeaten run at the baseball World Cup to 13 games with an 8-2 victory against the Netherlands in Rome.
• Former World Cup slalom champion Marlies Schild will miss the season-opening giant slalom races because she needs more time to recover from a broken leg.
• Tyson Gay won the 100 meters, finishing in 9.94 seconds to edge Jamaican Asafa Powell by .06 seconds at the Daegu (South Korea) Pre-Championships Meet.
• Roger Federer, citing physical fatigue, withdrew from the Japan Open and Shanghai ATP Masters 1000.
• Stephane Lambiel earned Switzerland a spot in the Olympic figure skating field with a win at the Nebelhorn Trophy. The Associated Press
