Howell in Charge After Another 67

Two great holes put Charles Howell III in a familiar position Friday in the PGA Tour Championship at Houston.

Howell holed a 10-foot eagle putt on No. 13, then followed that with a 10-foot birdie putt to break away from the pack with another four-under 67, making it the second consecutive year he has taken a one-stroke lead into the weekend of the PGA Tour’s final event.

Eight players were tied for the lead at one point. Howell needed only two holes to separate himself from the others -- and leave Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh even farther behind.

Howell was at eight-under 134 and will play in the final group today with Fred Funk, who shot a 67 and is at 135.

Retief Goosen was among those tied for the lead late in the round until he had to scramble for a bogey on the 17th hole. He shot 67 and was another stroke back at 136.

Woods, needing a victory for any chance of winning the PGA Tour money title, didn’t make as many mistakes as he had in the first round but finished with another 70 and was at 140, six strokes behind. Singh shot a 68 and was tied for 16th at 141.

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Annika Sorenstam shot a nine-under 63 in the first round of the Mizuno Classic at Otsu, Japan, which she is trying to win for the third straight year.

Grace Park and Jung Yeon Lee were two strokes behind and Mi-Hyun Kim had a 66.

Sorenstam is trying to become the first player in LPGA Tour history with three consecutive victories in more than one event. She birdied five of her first seven holes and closed with a birdie putt on No. 18. She did not have a bogey.

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Motor Racing

Ryan Newman won the pole for Sunday’s Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 Winston Cup stock car race but rookie Brian Vickers nearly won two poles in one day at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham.

Vickers, 20, won the first pole position of his Busch Series career for today’s Target House 200, turning a fast lap of 155.037 mph in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

And he was the top Winston Cup qualifier until Newman, the final driver to qualify, pushed him back to second place for Sunday’s race.

Newman’s best lap was 155.577 mph in a Dodge. Vickers’ was 155.505 in a Chevrolet.

Ron Breese Jr. of the Elite Division International Truck and Engine Midwest Series, and Busch North/Winston West driver Joey McCarthy earned pole positions for tonight’s inaugural NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown by winning their respective 50-lap qualifying races at Irwindale Speedway.

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College Football

The Southeastern Conference has adopted a new tiebreaking formula that would use, if needed, the bowl championship series standings to determine who plays in the league’s Dec. 6 title game.

During a conference call, SEC athletic directors unanimously adopted the new rule so they wouldn’t be put in the position of voting on which team SEC East team -- Florida, Georgia or Tennessee -- goes to Atlanta.

In the event of a three-way tie, the highest team in the BCS standings would represent the East, with one caveat.

If the top two teams are within five places of each other in the BCS, the head-to-head winner would go to the title game.

Wes Zunker kicked a 33-yard field goal as time expired to give New Mexico a 37-34 victory over Colorado State in a Mountain West Conference game at Albuquerque.

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College Basketball

Ohio State Coach Jim O’Brien believes a damaged vocal cord could keep him from being on the bench this season and beyond.

One of his two vocal cords was damaged when he had surgery Oct. 1 to correct chronic neck pain that had spread to his right arm.