Beem Leads, Woods Misses Cut

Rich Beem and Mark Calcavecchia are soul mates of streaky golf, never knowing when their best golf will show up or how long it will last.

It got them to the top of the leaderboard Saturday in the Funai Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

And at this rate, it better be there in the final round if they expect a chance to win.

“It pretty much can’t get any simpler,” Beem said after shooting a nine-under-par 63 to take the lead when the third round was suspended because of storms. “Fairway. Green. Putt. Pretty good formula for me.”

Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh missed the cut on a steamy, sticky afternoon filled with so many birdies that 10 players were separated by two shots, some of them with a few holes remaining when the third round resumes this morning.

Beem birdied four consecutive holes late in his third round. He wound up atop the leaderboard at 19-under 197, leaving himself a chance to win for the first time since beating Woods at Hazeltine in the 2002 PGA Championship.

Calcavecchia shot 31 on the front nine, including a 35-foot eagle on the fourth hole, and was tied for the lead until he had a bogey at No. 18 to shoot 65.

“It’s going to take something pretty low again,” Calcavecchia said. “There’s so many guys right there. You know somebody is going to shoot six or seven under, for sure. Hopefully, it’s me.”

Woods needed two birdies to avoid missing the cut for the second time this year, and instead had a bogey-par for a one-over 73 to miss by three shots and join Singh on the sidelines.

“I played terrible this week,” Woods said. “I hit it all over the map -- irons, woods, everything. I had a two-way miss. Granted, these fairways are about 300 yards wide, but when you’re missing it both ways, you can’t aim it.”

Dana Quigley shot a seven-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead after three rounds of the SBC Championship at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio.

Quigley moved to 11-under 131, ahead of former European Ryder Cup member Mark James, who had a five-under 66. Jay Haas is third at four under after a 66.

First-round leader John Harris was tied for the lead before taking a triple bogey on the par-four 17th. He finished with a 66 and was tied for fourth at eight under with Bruce Fleisher (66) and Don Pohl (69).

MOTOR RACING

Bowyer Rallies to Win Sam’s Town 250

Clint Bowyer got his second Busch Series victory of the season, rallying from deep in the field to win the Sam’s Town 250 at Memphis Motorsports Park in Millington, Tenn.

Bowyer drove his Chevrolet to the front after starting 35th in the 43-car field and dominated the second half of the race. With the win, he closed to within 100 points of defending series champion Martin Truex Jr. with three events remaining.

Truex, who started from the pole in a Chevrolet, dominated early and finished third behind J.J. Yeley, also in a Chevrolet. Truex leads with 4,511 points.

Ricky Craven drove the last 145 laps on the same tires and tank of gas, and made Jack Roush the leader in all-time wins among owners in the NASCAR truck series with a victory in the Kroger 200 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

The victory was the 37th for Roush in the series. Todd Kluever finished second, giving Roush Fords their first 1-2 finish since Jon Wood and Carl Edwards did it at Martinsville in October 2003.

Ted Musgrave finished fourth in a Dodge and took over the points lead with four races remaining.

Sebastien Bourdais secured the Champ Car series title by starting the Lexmark Indy 300 today at Surfers Paradise, Australia.

Bourdais needed only one point to move out of the reach of Newman/Haas teammate Oriol Servia and Paul Tracy, his closest pursuers. Bourdais will receive a point for finishing as low as last in the race, which had not concluded at press time.

The last race of the season is Nov. 6 at Mexico City.

Greg Anderson had a pass of 6.818 seconds at 201.97 mph to beat Kurt Johnson in the AC Delco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals, earning his seventh No. 1 qualifying effort this season and his third pro stock title in a row.

Gary Scelzi qualified first in funny car and Tony Schumacher won the $100,000 Budweiser Shootout.

SOCCER

Guevara’s Goal Gives MetroStars Playoff Win

Amado Guevara scored in the first half and Tony Meola made three saves to lead the MetroStars over the New England Revolution, 1-0, at East Rutherford, N.J., in the first game of an MLS Eastern Conference semifinal home-and-home aggregate-goal series.

The MetroStars won a playoff game for the first time since beating the Galaxy, 4-1, in a quarterfinal game in 2001.

Scott Garlick made a diving save of a shot by Dedi Ben Dayan in the 87th minute to help FC Dallas preserve a scoreless tie with Colorado at Denver in the first game of a Western Conference semifinal playoff series.

TENNIS

Davenport, Schnyder Reach Zurich Final

Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport needed less than an hour to defeat seventh-seeded Anastasia Myskina of Russia, 6-0, 6-4, and Patty Schnyder of Switzerland defeated Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and Montenegro, 6-2, 6-1, in the semifinals of the Zurich Open in Switzerland.

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain defeated Robby Ginepri, 7-5, 7-6 (1), and eighth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia defeated David Nalbandian of Argentina, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, in the semifinals of the Madrid Masters.

Nadal won his ATP-leading 78th match this year, passing the injured Roger Federer. Nadal is chasing his 11th ATP Tour title this season.

HORSE RACING

Mandella Will Wait to Ship Rock Hard Ten

Trainer Richard Mandella did not sound concerned that Rock Hard Ten, one of the favorites in Saturday’s $4-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Belmont Park, will be delayed in being flown from California to New York.

“The way the weather’s been back there, maybe we’re better off,” Mandella said by phone from California.

After Rock Hard Ten worked at Santa Anita on Thursday, Mandella learned that his horse had suffered a bruised left front foot. The colt will be re-shod Monday at Santa Anita. Mandella galloped Rock Hard Ten with a bandaged foot Saturday and said he will be able to do the same thing today. Rock Hard Ten will ship Wednesday and gallop up to the race, Mandella said.

There have been three more Breeders’ Cup defections, the most noteworthy Motivator in the Turf. Motivator, winner of the Epsom Derby in England, came back lame from a gallop and has been retired. He might have been the third choice, behind Azamour and Shakespeare, in the Turf.

Other dropouts were High Fly, who broke his right foreleg after working half a mile in 48 seconds on a rainy morning Saturday at Belmont, and Ann Summers Gold, who also is injured. Both horses would have been longshots, High Fly in the Sprint and Ann Summers Gold in the Juvenile Fillies. Trainer Nick Zito said two screws will be used to repair High Fly’s leg and he is expected to run next year.

Jerry Bailey, who had been scheduled to ride High Fly, will now ride Roman Ruler in the Sprint.

Jockey Richard Migliore’s injury has expanded riding opportunities for Garrett Gomez and Alex Solis in the Breeders’ Cup. Gomez, who will ride in seven of the eight races, takes over on Artie Schiller in the Mile and Solis is the substitute for Nothing But Fun in the Distaff.

-- Bill Christine

Jockey Patrick Valenzuela, his agent Ron Ebanks and attorney Neil Papiano met with the Oak Tree stewards for about 30 minutes and a decision could be made today about possible sanctions against the rider.

Valenzuela hasn’t ridden for a week because of a foot injury, but he failed to call the stewards Wednesday to inform them that he wouldn’t be riding that day. Ebanks was quoted earlier in the week saying there was a “misunderstanding” and he should have called stewards John Herbuveaux, Kim Sawyer and George Slender.

Within Reason, the 3-2 favorite, outfinished 5-2 second choice Bengal Lore to win the $81,675 Sunny Slope Stakes by a nose at Santa Anita. Martin Pedroza rode the 2-year-old. Within Reason, who has won two of three, ran the six furlongs in 1:09.19.

-- Bob Mieszerski

WINTER SPORTS

Maze Wins Season’s First Giant Slalom

Tina Maze of Slovenia completed her two runs in 2 minutes 24.59 seconds to win the season-opening World Cup women’s giant slalom at Soelden, Austria.

Janica Kostelic of Croatia, the Olympic giant slalom champion, was second in 2:24.93 and Anja Paerson of Sweden was third in 2:25.03. The fastest American was Kristina Koznick in 17th place.