Bill Haas leads Memorial; Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy make the cut

Bill Haas played the best golf in the toughest conditions Friday in the rain-delayed Memorial at Dublin, Ohio.

When the second round was suspended as dark clouds rolled in and forced the third stoppage in play, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy were close to each other on the leaderboard, even if they were miles away from Haas, who had a five-under 67.

Woods, the five-time Memorial winner had a peculiar round in wind and on fast greens. He three-putted from five feet for double bogey on the par-five 15th, chopped up the final hole for a bogey and wound up with a 74.

“Tough conditions out there, and I didn’t exactly play my best, either,” said Woods, who had his worst 36-hole total (145) at the Memorial since he first played it in 1997.

McIlroy was in danger of missing the cut until he fired off five birdies, looking more comfortable with his putts and attacking with his driver. He was four under for his round and one shot inside the cut line — and one shot behind Woods. McIlroy was in a greenside bunker in two shots at the par-five 15th when play was stopped.

The second round was to resume at 7:30 a.m. Saturday.

Haas was three shots clear of Matt Kuchar, who had a 70, among those who finished the round. Charl Schwartzel, who made 10 birdies in an opening-round 65, struggled on the greens and was one over for his day and three shots behind. He had three holes remaining. Bubba Watson was at six under through 14 holes.

Three-time NCAA player of the year Amanda Blumenherst and LPGA rookie leader Moriya Jutanugarn shot five-under 66 to top the leaderboard in the ShopRite LPGA Classic at Galloway Township, N.J., a stroke ahead of defending champion Stacy Lewis.

Michelle Wie was two shots behind after tying her lowest numerical score of what has been a disappointing season.

Tom Lehman, Duffy Waldorf, Dan Forsman and Scott Hoch shot three-under 69 to share the first-round lead in the Champions Tour’s Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines, Iowa. Hale Irwin topped a group of eight at 70.

Matteo Manassero remained on track for his second consecutive European Tour victory, shooting a 7-under 65 to take a two-shot lead in the Nordea Masters in Stockholm.

The 20-year old Italian, the BMW PGA Championship winner last week in England, had a 13-under 131 total at Bro Hof Slott. Finland’s Mikko Ilonen was second after matching the course record with a 63.

USC, which won the NCAA women’s golf title last week, will be well represented in next month’s U.S. Women’s Open.

Annie Park, Kyung Kim and Doris Chen qualified this week for the tournament that will be played June 27-30 at the Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., the school said in a news release.

Park, the NCAA individual champion who just completed her freshman season, earned an amateur exemption Thursday at the Edgewood Country Club in River Vale, N.J. Kim, who also completed her freshman season, qualified at a sectional at Bent Tree Country Club in Dallas. Chen, a sophomore, qualified Tuesday at Heathrow Country Club in Heathrow, Fla.

Gary Klein

Andy Enfield, USC’s new basketball coach, got good news over the Memorial Day weekend: Katin Reinhardt of Dana Point, who played in high school at Mater Dei, said he was coming to USC from UNLV.

Reinhardt averaged 10.1 points for the Rebels last season as a freshman.

UNLV Coach Dave Rice told Las Vegas media that Reinhardt “said he feels his best opportunity to play in the NBA is to play more minutes at the point guard position.

According to NCAA rules, Reinhardt will have to sit out next season unless he successfully petitions to play immediately under hardship rules. There has been no indication that Reinhardt has made such a petition.

Diane Pucin

Four days after Larry Drew was replaced in Atlanta, the Milwaukee Bucks swooped in to scoop him up. The Bucks announced that they have reached an agreement to hire Drew as their new head coach.

Former NBA All-Star guard Daron “Mookie” Blaylock was in critical condition at a hospital late Friday after his SUV crossed the center line and crashed head-on into a van in suburban Atlanta, fatally injuring a passenger in the van, police said.

Blaylock was driving in Jonesboro, Ga., on Friday when he crashed and was airlifted to the Atlanta Medical Center, said Clayton County police.

The Maloof family finalized the sale of the Sacramento Kings and Sleep Train Arena to a group led by TIBCO Software chairman Vivek Ranadive on Friday, the NBA confirmed. Ranadive’s group acquired a 65% controlling interest in the team at a total franchise valuation of more than $534 million, topping the NBA record of $450 million that Joe Lacob and Peter Guber bought the Golden State Warriors for in 2010.

Masai Ujiri is leaving Denver to take over the basketball operations for the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors announced they’ve signed the NBA’s executive of the year to take over as executive vice president of basketball operations for a team that hasn’t been to the playoffs in five years.

Ujiri was the assistant GM for the Raptors for three seasons before leaving for the Nuggets in 2010.

Utah Jazz forward Marvin Williams will undergo surgery next week on his right heel and Achilles tendon. Recovery is expected to take about six months.

Collector David Kohler, the president of SCP Auctions, acquired more than 40 pieces of the Elgin Baylor collection in an auction Friday by Julien’s Auctions.

The collection includes Baylor’s 1972 Lakers world championship ring, trophies and other memorabilia.

Seattle Storm forward Tina Thompson, the first overall pick in the inaugural WNBA draft in 1997, announced Friday that she will retire after this season.

The only player to compete in all WNBA seasons to date, Thompson, 38, will end her career as the league’s all-time scoring leader. She has 7,018 points. She is an eight-time all-star and was named to the league’s All-Decade team. Thompson also helped lead the Houston Comets to the first four WNBA titles between 1997 and 2000.

Thompson, who has also played for the Sparks, played her college ball at USC.

Kyle Busch pulled away in the final laps to win the NASCAR Truck Series race at Dover International Speedway in Delaware.