The Texas Rangers are ready for the start of the regular season. Beltre will go on the disabled list to begin his 20th major league season, Rangers manager Jeff Banister said after Texas beat the Kansas City Royals 5-3 to end the teams’ exhibition schedule on Saturday.
HUMBLE, Texas — Sung Kang shot a 1-under 71 to hold a three-shot lead over Rickie Fowler after the third round of the Shell Houston Open on Saturday. After shooting a tournament course record 9-under 63 on Friday, Kang took a commanding six-shot lead with a 36-hole tournament record of 129 through two rounds. However, on Saturday, it was Fowler’s day to chase history, shooting a 5-under 67 to trim Kang’s lead as they head into the final round. After Thursday’s 8-under 64, Fowler held a one-shot lead over Kang after the first round, but slipped to fourth on Friday with a 71. He returned to form on Saturday and has a PGA TOUR career-best 22 birdies through three rounds. Behind Kang and Fowler at 17-under 199 and 14-under 202 through three rounds, respectively, Russell Henley is 13-under 203 and Luke List is 12-under 204. No one else is within eight shots of Kang. Kang, the 29-year-old South Korean who entered the week ranked No. 202 in the world, could earn an invitation to next week’s Masters with a win on Sunday. Playing one hole behind Fowler throughout the day, Kang played in the shadows of Fowler’s stardom and the roar of the crowd rooting for a big comeback. Kang gave up the lead briefly after a putt lipped out of the hole on 16 by taking a full circle around the cup before sneaking out. On the final two holes of the day, however, it was Fowler who had his share of misfortunes on his putts. He bogeyed on 17 and double-bogeyed on the 18th hole to give Kang a little more breathing room heading into the final round. Sunday’s tee times have been moved up to 7:15 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. Central with threesomes off split tees to try to avoid heavy thunderstorms and rainfall expected in the late morning to early afternoon. Heavy winds approaching 25-30 mph at times and cloudy skies resulted in much higher scores on Saturday than were seen on Friday, with the average score around 1 over par. Kang will be grouped with Fowler, something both players said they look forward to as they enter the final round. Kang has never led a tournament on the PGA TOUR after three rounds. He said he was well aware of Fowler’s pursuit on Saturday, thanks to the crowd. “I heard a lot of noise in front of us so I was like, `Oh, I know something big is going on up there,'” Kang said. Fowler said he’s ready to shake off his struggles on the last two holes. “I drove it well, hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens and made some good putts,” Fowler said. “I’m not looking at the last two holes. It was a great day of golf, and I put myself in a position to win a golf tournament tomorrow.” Fowler said he likes the challenge of playing from behind and hopes to put some pressure on Kang. Kang said he’ll be playing conservatively and defensively, especially with the strong possibility of inclement weather on the way. For the third straight day, however, Kang insisted that he doesn’t have his sights set on earning a last-minute invitation to the Masters. “Even if I think about it, it’s going to happen or not,” Kang said with a grin. “Why do I want to think about that? I’m so tired right now. I have no power to think about anything.”
Chase Elliott grabbed the lead when Christopher Bell wiggled with 17 laps to go and held off teammate Johnny Sauter to win the NASCAR truck race at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday. Elliott, who lost out to Sauter on the 0.526-mile oval last October, held off one challenge from the defending series champion and pulled away for his second victory in 12 career starts in the series. Sauter finished second, followed by Bell, rookie Noah Gragson and Ty Dillon.
ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — Dubai World Cup winner Arrogate is back at Santa Anita after coming out of quarantine following his return from the Middle East.
Filip Forsberg and Kevin Fiala scored 10 seconds apart late in the second period, and the Nashville Predators beat the Minnesota Wild 3-0 Saturday. Pekka Rinne made 31 saves for his third shutout this season as the Predators snapped a two-game skid with a victory that tied them with the St. Louis Blues at 91 points. The Blues hold the tiebreaker, and the Predators visit St. Louis on Sunday.
If the Boston Bruins are going to make the playoffs for the first time in three season, the formula is simple. If we keep doing this we don’t have to look at the standings and look for help elsewhere,” Bruins defenseman Torey Krug said after they beat the Florida Panthers 5-2 on Saturday. David Krejci scored after a poor clearing attempt by Florida goaltender Reto Berra, helping them maintain an edge for a playoff spot heading into the final week of the regular season.
The Rangers will place third baseman Adrian Beltre on the disabled list to start the season with a tight right calf muscle.
Two-time NBA scoring champion Tracy McGrady, Kansas coach Bill Self, former Chicago Bulls executive Jerry Krause and former UConn star Rebecca Lobo are part of this year’s Basketball Hall of Fame class. McGrady – who went straight to the NBA from high school – was a seven-time All-Star who played 15 years in the league.
Two-time NBA scoring champion Tracy McGrady, Kansas coach Bill Self, former Chicago Bulls executive Jerry Krause and former UConn star Rebecca Lobo are part of this year’s Basketball Hall of Fame class. McGrady – who went straight to the NBA from high school – was a seven-time All-Star who played 15 years in the league.
Jamie McMurray has become the ”other” driver on Chip Ganassi Racing’s two-car team. The 40-year-old veteran, in his 15th season on NASCAR’s top circuit, hasn’t won in more than four years. It’s a track where McMurray has finished second twice but never won.
