SAN DIEGO — Ryuji Imada avoided the trauma of Torrey Pines and shot a 2-under-par 70 Saturday to build a two-shot lead in the Farmers Insurance Open going into the final round.
Imada had only one bogey on a day in which Phil Mickelson lost a drive into a eucalyptus tree, D.A. Points chipped over the green and into the hazard, and U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover took double bogey on one of the easiest par 4s.
Imada didn’t feel as though he played that much better. The difference was he turned trouble into pars, then finished with a bonus birdie that gave him a two-shot lead at Torrey Pines.
“The score looks pretty solid,” Imada said after his round. “But it was a struggle out there.”
Imada was at 13-under 203 and had a two-shot lead over Ben Crane (69) and Michael Sim, the 25-year-old Australian who won three times on the Nationwide Tour last year.
Glover still managed a 68 and was three shots behind. Mickelson had a 70 and was another stroke back.
Rippon grabs Four Continents title
JEONJU, South Korea — World junior champion Adam Rippon of the United States surged from seventh to first place with a strong free skate to win the men’s Four Continents figure skating title.
Tatsuki Machida of Japan claimed the silver with a solid performance that lifted him from sixth place. Kevin Reynolds of Canada, the leader after the short program and the bronze medalist at Canada’s nationals, dropped to third place overall.
Two more Americans rounded out the top five, with Brandon Mroz finishing fourth and Ryan Bradley — the bronze medalist at Skate America — putting together the third-best free skate to move up from eighth overall.
Frenzel wins nordic combined
SEEFELD, Austria — Eric Frenzel of Germany has won a World Cup nordic combined event for his second career title, two years after winning in his native Klingenthal.
Frenzel led after the ski jump and held off his rivals to finish the 10-kilometer cross country race in 26 minutes, 23.1 seconds.
Austria’s Mario Stecher, who won the event last year, was 32.6 seconds back in second. Akito Watabe of Japan took third, 43.7 behind Frenzel.
• Armin Zoeggeler of Italy clinched his ninth World Cup luge title on the track where he won gold at the 2006 Olympics.
The two-time Olympic champion finished two runs in a combined time of 1 minute, 43.115 seconds in Cesana, Italy, to record his 49th World Cup win.
Zoeggeler needs one more title to match the record held by Markus Prock of Austria.
Zoeggeler leads the World Cup standings with an unbeatable 705 points. Albert Demchenko of Russia is next with 534, followed by Germany’s Felix Loch with 484 points.
• Freestyle skier Casey Puckett has had a setback in his recovery from a separated shoulder but still expects to compete in the Olympics.
The Associated Press
