Baird Keeps Lead, but Rain Halts Play

Tiger Woods playfully slapped a ball at Shigeki Maruyama’s feet and planted himself next to leader Briny Baird on the driving range.

That was as close as the eight-time major champion got to Baird on Saturday in the rain-suspended third round of the Buick Classic at Harrison, N.Y.

Winless since late March, Woods had a bogey and six pars in seven holes before play was suspended, leaving him six strokes behind Baird -- 11 under through six holes on the saturated Westchester Country Club course.

“It’s going to be a long day tomorrow,” Woods said. “Hopefully, I can play a little better and improve my chances.”

Play was suspended for the day at about 3 p.m. after a two-hour delay, the second of the round. The round began on schedule at 8:10 a.m., but was delayed for 1 hour 16 minutes because of lightning before the leaders teed off.

With more rain expected today on the course that has been soaked by eight inches of rain in the last three weeks, the event could finish on a Monday for the second time in three years.

Baird, the son of Champions Tour player Butch Baird, is trying to win for the first time in four seasons on the PGA Tour. He birdied the par-five fifth hole to reach 11 under, putting him two strokes ahead of playing partner Skip Kendall.

Woods, four strokes back after rounds of 67 and 69, parred the first three holes, had a three-putt bogey on No. 4 and had three more pars.

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Rachel Teske shot an even-par 72 and extended her lead to four strokes after three rounds of the Rochester (N.Y.) LPGA.

Stephanie Louden, Brandie Burton, Se Ri Pak and Soo-Yun Kang were tied for second at 213.

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Ed Dougherty made two birdie putts of more than 40 feet late in the round to take the lead and tie the Farmers Charity Classic record for lowest 36-hole score.

Dougherty carded a second consecutive six-under 66 in the Champions Tour event at Egypt Valley Country Club at Grand Rapids, Mich., and held a one-stroke lead over Hubert Green, who shot a 67.

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Thirteen-year-old Michelle Wie moved within a victory of becoming the youngest golfer to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship.

Wie defeated defending U.S. Amateur champion Becky Lucidi, 6 and 5, in the quarterfinals and beat Aimee Cho, 5 and 4, in a semifinal at the 6,068-yard, par-72 Ocean Hammock Golf Club at Palm Coast, Fla.

Wie plays Virada Nirapathpongporn of Thailand in the final today. Nirapathpongporn defeated Beth Allen of Cal State Northridge, 5 and 4, in the other semifinal.

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Patrick Nagle defeated Spencer Levin, 4 and 3, to win the California amateur title at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Tennis

Chanda Rubin defended her title at Eastbourne, England, defeating Conchita Martinez, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, in a final delayed more than two hours because of a security threat.

More than 3,000 people were evacuated after tournament officials received a threatening phone call. They would not discuss the nature of the threat.

Kim Clijsters won the Ordina Open at Rosmalen, Netherland, when Justine Henin-Hardenne quit after hurting her left hand during the second set of an all-Belgian final and had to retire with the score 6-7 (4), 3-0.

Greg Rusedski won his first title since August, defeating eighth-seeded Mardy Fish, 6-3, 6-2, in the Samsung Open final at Nottingham, England.

Motor Racing

Ted Musgrave shoved his way past Jon Wood with 14 laps remaining to win the NASCAR Craftman Truck O’Reilley 200 at Memphis Motorsports Park.

Rip Michels won the 50-lap Jani-King Super Late Model series feature at Irwindale Speedway. Todd Burns won the 50-lap Auto Club Late Model series. T.K. Karvasek won the 40-lap Vista Paint Super Stock.

Wrestling

Olympic and world champion Rulon Gardner defeated training partner Corey Farkas, 3-1 in overtime, in the 264 1/2-pound division of the U.S. Wrestling World Team Trials at Indianapolis.

Miscellany

A former program manager and a former graduate assistant have been implicated in a University of Washington fraud investigation that found more than $40,000 in unauthorized long-distance phone-card charges between September 1998 and February 2002, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.

The phone calls did not involve any current or former members of the football team or other student athletes, Athletic Director Barbara Hedges told the newspaper on Friday after it learned of the completed audit.

Tampa Bay Coach Tim Marcum, who has won six Arena Football League titles with three teams, goes for another today when the Storm (14-4) plays the Arizona Rattlers (13-6) in the ArenaBowl at Tampa, Fla.

Passings

Roger Neilson, a Hall of Famer who coached eight NHL teams, died in his home at Peterborough, Canada. He was 69.

Neilson had been battling skin and bone cancer. Story in Section B.

W.E. “Smiley” Adams, who trained 1975 Preakness Stakes winner Master Derby, has died. He was 67.

Adams died Thursday in the Veterans Affairs Medical Center at Lexington, Ky.