college football
Florida State, Ohio State 1-2; Auburn, Mizzou lurking in BCS
Florida State and Ohio State are in position to play for the BCS national championship, though Auburn and Missouri are close enough behind in the BCS standings to put pressure on the Buckeyes.
The Seminoles grabbed the top spot in the BCS standings released Sunday after Alabama relinquished it for the first time this season.
The Crimson Tide’s wild 34-28 loss at Auburn dropped Alabama to fourth. Ohio State is second and Auburn third. Missouri is fifth. Auburn and Missouri play in the Southeastern Conference championship game Saturday in Atlanta. The winner should get a boost in the standings, but it might not be enough to catch the unbeaten Buckeyes.
Ohio State (12-0) faces Michigan State, 10th in the latest standings, in the Big Ten championship game Saturday in Indianapolis.
skiing
Lindell-Vikarby holds off Shiffrin in giant slalom
BEAVER CREEK – Jessica Lindell-Vikarby of Sweden won a World Cup giant slalom Sunday, holding off 18-year-old American Mikaela Shiffrin with a fluid final run.
Lindell-Vikarby finished the two runs on a demanding Beaver Creek course in 2 minutes, 17.92 seconds, with Shiffrin 0.09 seconds behind. Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein took third.
Svindal takes third super-G in a row at Lake Louise
LAKE LOUISE, Alberta – Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway captured a World Cup super-G Sunday, the third consecutive year he has won this event at Lake Louise.
Svindal finished in 1 minute, 28.53 seconds. He was followed by two Austrians – Matthias Mayer in 1:28.77 and Georg Streitberger in 1:28.91.
Austrians were second and third with Matthias Mayer .24 seconds back of Svindal and Georg Streitberger .38 seconds behind.
Vonn not interested in knee surgery before Olympics
VAIL – Lindsey Vonn is delaying further surgery on her right knee for as long as possible in hopes of skiing at the Sochi Olympics.
Vonn partially tore one of her reconstructed knee ligaments during a crash in training two weeks ago at Copper Mountain. She is seeing if she can ski without another operation because that would all but end any chance of defending her Olympic downhill title in February.
On a chilly morning, Vonn took two warmup runs followed by three aggressive passes through the super-G course in her race suit, hugging the corners tight and looking quite fast. Afterward, she said her surgically repaired knee felt “really good.”
golf
McIlroy’s late birdie lifts him past Scott at Australian Open
SYDNEY – Rory McIlroy birdied the 18th hole to beat Adam Scott at the Australian Open on Sunday, winning for the first time in 2013 and denying Scott the Triple Crown of Australian golf.
McIlroy started the last round four shots behind Scott but drew even when he eagled the seventh and birdied the eighth.
Scott went a shot ahead with a birdie at the ninth. The pair then went shot for shot on the back nine before the dramatic finish.
Scott’s approach shot went over the back of the green and his chip went well past the hole, with two putts bringing a bogey. McIlroy hit his approach to 10 feet and sank the putt to win by a shot.
Schwartzel defends crown at Dunhill Championship
MALELANE, South Africa – Charl Schwartzel successfully defended his title at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, shooting a 4-under 68 on Sunday for a four-shot victory and his first European Tour victory in a year.
Schwartzel finished with a 17-under total of 271 at Leopard Creek to secure his third Alfred Dunhill title.
Associated Press
