Golf
KAPALUA, Hawaii – Justin Thomas took the lead by driving the 14th green for an eagle and had his third straight round of 6-under 67 for a two-shot margin going into the final round of the SBS Tournament of Champions.
Right behind was Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, who has won four of his last five tournaments dating to Oct. 16 at the Japan Open. The only player to beat him during that stretch was Thomas in Malaysia.
Thomas had a two-putt birdie from the fringe on the 18th hole at Kapalua and was at 18-under.
Matsuyama shot a 66 and will be in the final group.
NFL
ENGLEWOOD – Two down and one to go for John Elway in his search for Gary Kubiak’s successor.
The Denver Broncos general manager tweeted Saturday that he “spent the morning with Kyle Shanahan in Atlanta. He’s very bright coach who’s had a tremendous year and has a great future.” The question is: Will that future be in Denver, where his father, Mike Shanahan, was the Broncos coach from 1998-2008?
Elway and his small search committee met with Shanahan, the 37-year-old Falcons offensive coordinator, a day after interviewing Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub, 54, in Kansas City.
Shanahan, who runs the same West Coast offense that Kubiak did in Denver but with some twists and a deeper roster, has also drawn interest from the Rams, 49ers and Jaguars for their head coaching vacancies.
Skiing
TESERO, Italy – Stina Nilsson of Sweden reclaimed the Tour de Ski lead on Saturday with her fourth stage win of this year’s race, setting up a close contest with Norwegian rival Heidi Weng in the concluding climb up Mount Cermis.
Nilsson required slightly more than half an hour to complete the 10-kilometer classical mass start event in Val di Fiemme. Nilsson finished 3.0 seconds ahead of Anne Kylloenen of Finland and 3.7 in front of fellow Swede Charlotte Kalla, the 2008 Tour champion.
The Tour remains in the Val di Fiemme for the traditional last-stage climb up Mount Cermis on Sunday.
ADELBODEN, Switzerland – Alexis Pinturault just held off hard-charging Marcel Hirscher to win Switzerland’s classic World Cup giant slalom on Saturday.
Frenchman Pinturault had 0.04 seconds in hand crossing the line, after five-time defending overall champion Hirscher posted the fastest second run.
Pinturault has three GS wins this season and Hirscher has been runner-up each time. Still, Hirscher leads the season-long discipline standings and the overall World Cup points table with Pinturault second in both.
MARIBOR, Slovenia – Tessa Worley of France won her third women’s World Cup giant slalom of the season on Saturday after Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States failed to hold on to a first-run lead.
Worley had the fastest second-run time to beat Sofia Goggia of Italy by 0.16 seconds, while defending overall champion Lara Gut of Switzerland came 0.25 behind in third.
Shiffrin, who had beaten Worley to win the previous two GS races, still led by 0.13 seconds at the final split time but finished 0.42 off the lead in fourth.
It was Worley’s 11th career GS win, making her the most successful French woman in the discipline, overtaking Carole Merle who had 10 wins in the 1980s and ’90s.
Associated Press
