Bill Haas, Justin Rose share Bay Hill lead; Tiger Woods four back

Bill Haas wanted to atone for the way he finished his opening round. He did that and more Friday and was tied for the lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Orlando, Fla.

That sure wasn’t the case for Tiger Woods.

One shot out of the lead with three holes to play, Woods closed with three sloppy bogeys to fall four shots behind going into the weekend. That makes the chore a little more difficult in his bid to defend his title at Bay Hill and return to No. 1 in the world.

“The good news is we’ve got 36 holes to go,” Woods said. “We’ve got a long way to go. And certainly four shots can be made up.”

Haas shot a clean round of six-under 66. He was tied with Justin Rose, who was poised to take the outright lead until he was fooled by the speed of the greens after late afternoon showers and finished with a three-putt bogey for a 70.

They were at nine-under 135, one shot ahead of John Huh, who had a 69.

Sixteen players were separated by five shots going into the weekend. Ken Duke (68), J.J. Henry (67) and Jim Walker (69) were at six-under 138. Woods was right behind, along with Mark Wilson and Vijay Singh, who each shot 68.

Phil Mickelson four-putted from five feet on the 13th hole for triple-bogey, and whatever hopes he had of making the cut ended when his tee shot sailed left on No. 9 and went out of bounds. Mickelson closed with a triple-bogey and a 79, his highest score ever in 48 rounds at Bay Hill.

Hal Sutton has a new left hip and that’s helping him get back to his old swing. The result is the 54-year-old’s best golf in more than a decade.

Sutton shot a three-under 69 in the first round of the Champions Tour’s Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic for a share of the lead at Saucier, Miss., with Steve Elkington, Corey Pavin and Roger Chapman.

ETC.

Reed signs three-year deal with Texans

Nine-time Pro Bowl safety Ed Reed signed a three-year, $15-million contract with Houston on Friday, adding championship experience to the Texans’ defense and leaving the reigning Super Bowl champion Baltimore without yet another of its cornerstone players.

Instead of celebrating their Super Bowl title with a game at their home stadium, the Baltimore Ravens will start the 2013 regular season on the road, because Major League Baseball and the Baltimore Orioles wouldn’t budge.

The NFL likes to have its reigning champion open a season at home and wanted to have the Ravens play in Baltimore at night on Thursday, Sept. 5. But with the Orioles already set to host the Chicago White Sox next door at 7:05 p.m. on that date, and the leagues and teams unable to reach a compromise, the NFL announced Friday the Ravens will have to play somewhere else.

The Ravens and Orioles play at adjacent stadiums and share a parking lot, so they avoid playing at the same time because of traffic problems.

The Ravens’ Week 1 opponent hasn’t been announced yet.

The Chicago Bears agreed to a one-year contract with linebacker D.J. Williams, a possible replacement for Brian Urlacher.

Williams, who led Denver in tackles five times, gets a fresh start after missing time last season because of suspensions linked to use of performance-enhancing drugs and an alcohol-related arrest.

The Cincinnati Bengals made another move to keep their playoff team intact, agreeing to a new contract with offensive tackle Dennis Roland.

An ankle injury forced two-time champion Victoria Azarenka to withdraw from the Sony Open at Key Biscayne, Fla., and Lauren Davis quickly went from lucky loser to lucky winner.

Given a spot in the draw when Azarenka pulled out, Davis took advantage of shaky play by Madison Keys in the decisive tiebreaker to win their second-round match, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (7).

No. 2-ranked Maria Sharapova beat wild card Eugenie Bouchard, 6-2, 6-0.

In men’s play, two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic beat Lukas Rosol, 6-1, 6-0.

Juan Martin Del Potro, seeded No. 5, lost a rain-interrupted match against Tobias Kamke of Germany, 7-6 (5), 6-1.

The effort to keep the Sacramento Kings from moving to Seattle got a boost from a Silicon Valley software tycoon who stepped forward as lead investor.

The Sacramento Bee reports that Vivek Ranadive will lead Sacramento’s bid to keep the team, joining health-club financier Mark Mastrov and billionaire Ron Burkle.

Ranadive is chairman and chief executive of TIBCO Software and already part owner of the Golden State Warriors. If the bid is successful, he would sell his stake in the Warriors.

Laurenne Ross won super G on Friday in the U.S. Alpine Championships at Squaw Valley, Calif., beating Stacey Cook by 0.01 of a second for her first national title. Defending champion Julia Mancuso was third.

In the men’s race, Squaw Valley star Travis Ganong won by 0.20 of a second on his home course.

Hannah Kearney won her fourth World Cup moguls title Friday in the FIS Freestyle World Cup Finals at Sierra Nevada, Spain, and the United States took the Nation’s Cup for the second year in a row.

Adam Krikorian, head coach of the 2012 U.S. Olympic women’s gold-medal winning water polo team, has re-signed as coach through the 2016 Olympic Games.

The Alabama fan who poisoned the iconic Toomer’s Corner oak trees at rival Auburn has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Court filings Friday in Opelika, Ala., show that Harvey Updyke Jr. pleaded guilty to desecrating a venerated object and damaging an animal or crop facility. The sentence requires him to serve at least six months in jail and spend five years on supervised probation. He has been credited with 104 days already served.

Lee County Circuit Judge Jacob A. Walker III also fined Updyke $1,000. The probation terms include a 7 p.m. curfew and prohibit Updyke from going onto Auburn’s campus or attending a college sporting event. Auburn fans traditionally gather at Toomer’s Corner to celebrate victories.