Frazar Has Lead at Phoenix Open

Harrison Frazar separated himself from his challengers with a birdie on the 17th hole Saturday to take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Phoenix Open at Scottsdale, Ariz.

“I can’t get too far ahead of myself,” said Frazar, who has led from the start. “The names on the leaderboard behind me are pretty stout.”

Frazar finished with a four-under-par 67 for a 54-hole score of 17-under 196.

John Huston and Tim Petrovic, Frazar’s co-leader at the midpoint, were next at 197 -- Huston after a 66 and Petrovic after a 68.

Huston caught up on the 14th hole, but lost his birdie touch there; Petrovic blew his chance to share the lead when he missed the fairway on the 18th hole for the third straight time, leading to a par.

Both Vijay Singh, the 1995 Phoenix champion, and Retief Goosen shot 65s to pull into a three-way tie at 198 with Kirk Triplett, who had a 63.

David Toms (63), Robert Gamez (64), Steve Stricker (68) and Scott McCarron (68) were three shots off the lead.

Defending champion Chris DiMarco headed a group that is four shots off the lead. His 62 matched Frazar’s opening round and Stricker’s second-round performance for lowest score of the tournament. DiMarco set a nine-hole record for the TPC of Scottsdale -- seven-under-par 28 on the front side.

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Ernie Els bogeyed the last two holes in a round of two-under 70 and held a two-shot lead heading into the final round of the Singapore Masters at Singapore.

Els held a five-shot lead midway through the third round before bogeys at No. 17 and No. 18 at the Laguna National Golf and Country Club.

Els is at 10-under 206, two strokes ahead of China’s Zhang Lian-Wei, who moved to eight-under 208 after a 69.

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Lee Trevino won the Champions Skins Game, holing a 10-foot birdie putt on the third extra hole to finish with six skins and $240,000 on the Gold Course at Wailea Golf Club in Wailea, Hawaii. Trevino, 63, won the event for the first time in seven starts, earning $100,000 with his birdie on the par-four 17th.

Hale Irwin was second with $200,000, Jack Nicklaus made $160,000 and Arnold Palmer, the 73-year-old crowd favorite, failed to take a skin for the second straight year.

The players donated 20% of their winnings to charities.

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Football

The Miami of Ohio assistant football coach charged with knocking down a Marshall fan after a game last season has resigned, the school said.

Defensive coordinator Jon Wauford pleaded not guilty last month in a Huntington, W.Va., court to a misdemeanor battery charge that he knocked down the fan after Marshall’s last-second, 36-34 win over Miami on Nov. 12.

Cincinnati’s Jonathan Ruffin kicked a Gridiron Classic-record 49-yard field goal with 13 seconds left to give Team USA a 20-17 win over Team Florida at Orlando, Fla.

Ruffin, who was chosen the game’s most valuable player, also had a 34-yard field goal late in the third quarter that put Team USA ahead, 17-3.

The winning kick was set up by Curt Anes’ 28-yard pass to Buffalo tight end Chad Bartoszek down to the Team Florida 40. Anes, from Grand Valley State, then scrambled for seven yards before a clock-stopping spike and an incompletion.

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Miscellany

Russian Evegeny Plushenko won his third European men’s figure skating championship with a near-flawless program at Malmoe, Sweden.

Plushenko, the Olympic silver medalist who hit a quadruple jump and eight triples, earned two 6.0s for artistry and received plenty of 5.8s and 5.9s.

France’s Brian Joubert finished second and Stanick Jeannette finished third.

Sweden’s Anja Paerson used two near-flawless runs to win at Maribor, Slovenia, for her second straight World Cup women’s giant slalom title. Paerson, the defending world slalom champion, posted her ninth World Cup victory and fourth of the season.

Germany’s Thomas Rupprath broke the 100-meter medley world record in the short course World Cup swimming championships at Berlin, finishing in 52.58 seconds. The 25-year-old Rupprath broke the previous mark of 52.63, set by Slovenia’s Peter Mankoc on Dec. 15, 2001. Rupprath also won the 100 backstroke in 50.58, just .18 off the world record. American Lenny Krayzelberg was second in 52.20.

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Passings

Gary Carter’s father died Saturday at Fullerton, less than three weeks after hearing that his son had been elected to the baseball Hall of Fame. Jim Carter, 84, died after a short illness, the New York Mets said. Gary Carter, who traveled from his Florida home to Fullerton on Friday, was at his father’s side.