Golf
Sick Tiger Woods gets back to par with a third-round 69
WINDERMERE, Fla. – Tiger Woods hasn’t felt worse at the Hero World Challenge and yet produced his best score of the week.
Woods lost his voice overnight and was nauseous before and during the third round at Isleworth. But with birdies on his last three holes, he salvaged a 3-under 69 that brought him back to even par for the tournament.
He remains in last place among the 18-man field, the only player not under par.
Even so, the goal Saturday was to finish. Woods took a swig of water and threw up on the first hole. He says his fever finally broke and he slowly got back to normal, with both his health and golf game.
Woods hasn’t played since Aug. 9 at the PGA Championship because of a back injury.
Donald leads by 1 ahead of final round at Nedbank
SUN CITY, South Africa – Luke Donald shot a 3-under 69 Saturday to maintain a one-shot lead after the third round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.
Donald is part of an English top three at Sun City, with compatriots Danny Willett and Ross Fisher also in contention at the European Tour’s 2015 season-opener.
Donald moved to 13-under 203 overall. Willett surged into second after carding eight birdies and just one bogey for a 65 to move one shot off the lead. Fisher, the first-round leader, is third at 10 under after a 70.
Donald didn’t match his blistering 63 on Friday, but still is in position for his first title since late 2013 and his first on the European Tour for more than two years.
Skiing
Vonn proves knee is healthy, wins World Cup downhill
LAKE LOUISE, Alberta – Lindsey Vonn won her first race in nearly two years, as she led an American podium sweep in a World Cup downhill Saturday.
With confidence in her surgically repaired right knee again, the four-time overall champion aggressively charged the course and finished in a time of 1 minute, 50.48 seconds to earn her 15th career win at Lake Louise.
Vonn’s teammates were right behind her, with Stacey Cook taking second and Julia Mancuso coming in third place.
Vonn said she trusts her knee following a second operation that kept her out of the Sochi Olympics.
The last time Vonn won a race Jan. 26, 2013, in Maribor, Slovenia. Less than two months later, she tore her knee in a wipeout at world championships, leading to the first of two surgeries.
Vonn is two wins from matching the World Cup record of 62 race victories held by skiing great Annemarie Moser-Proell of Austria.
Reichelt holds off Jansrud in World Cup super-G
BEAVER CREEK – Hannes Reichelt of Austria mastered a tricky World Cup super-G course Saturday, holding off Kjetil Jansrud to snap the Norwegian’s three-race win streak.
Reichelt sped down the hill in an unofficial time of 1 minute, 12.78 seconds. Jansrud was second, 0.52 seconds behind and technical specialist Alexis Pinturault of France finished third.
Andrew Weibrecht was the top American, as the skier nicknamed “War Horse” wound up 10th. Ted Ligety, who’s racing with a broken left wrist, was 11th.
Reichelt is quickly getting up to speed after surgery to fix a herniated disk in his back last January knocked him out of the Sochi Olympics last season.
The 34-year-old has a fondness for this course. He won his first World Cup race at Beaver Creek in 2005.
Jansrud was the downhill champion Friday.
Associated Press
