U.S. Ties Europe in Solheim

Momentum swung quickly in the Solheim Cup at Carmel, Ind., stopping only when Paula Creamer holed a five-foot par putt to win for the second time Saturday and leave the matches where they started, all square, with 12 singles matches left to determine the winner.

Creamer, 19, and five others led an American rally at Crooked Stick, none more spectacular than 45-year-old Rosie Jones. Playing in her final Solheim Cup, Jones made a 30-foot birdie putt up the ridge on the 18th for an unlikely halve.

Annika Sorenstam recovered from a meltdown in the morning by teaming with Laura Davies for the first time and picking up an easy point. Trish Johnson and Sophie Gustafson came up with clutch putts for Europe.

Creamer’s par putt gave her and Cristie Kerr a 1-up victory over Cationa Matthew and Carin Koch, leaving the matches tied at 8-8 going into today’s singles. The only other time the Solheim Cup was tied going into the last day was in 1994, and the Americans won handily.

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Mark Calcavecchia guarantees he’ll make some birdies in the final round of the Canadian Open in Vancouver. He’ll need them to hold off a pack of challengers as he goes for his first PGA Tour win in four years.

Calcavecchia, 45, didn’t make a birdie in the third round and shot a two-over 72. His five-shot lead shrank to one going into the final round at the Shaughnessy Golf Club.

Twelve players are within five shots of the lead, including Craig Barlow and Stephen Ames, both of whom benefited from spectacular shotmaking in the third round.

Ames had a course-record tying 64, and Barlow made a hole in one in a round of 65 to surge into contention.

Calcavecchia, the 1989 British Open champion, battled inconsistent drives and missed putts to get to six-under 204.

Boxing

Plans for a Dec. 3 rematch between Jermain Taylor and Bernard Hopkins for the undisputed middleweight world championship title are all but final, a newspaper reported.

Taylor’s promoter, Lou DiBella, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that fans of the Little Rock native should start making travel plans.

“It’s about cast in stone,” DiBella said. “People would be well-advised to buy tickets to Vegas. This will be a much bigger fight.”

Taylor won a split decision over Hopkins on July 16 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The rematch is planned for Mandalay Bay, also in Las Vegas and owned by the same company, the newspaper reported. The fight again will be shown on HBO pay-per-view, according to the paper.

Pro Basketball

Hornet owner George Shinn wants his team to stay in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans but understands that cannot be done now.

“Our plan is to hope and pray New Orleans rebuilds,” Shinn told the Times-Picayune from his summer home in Telford, Tenn. “And I think it will with everyone’s support and the federal money that’s coming in there. I think it will be stronger.”

The Hornets have received offers to play home games this season in Louisville, Ky.; Oklahoma City; Kansas City, Mo., Nashville, Tenn; and San Diego.

Shinn said hopes are dimming to play in Baton Rouge because the downtown Rivercenter and Louisiana State University Assembly Center are being used as evacuation shelters and medical facilities.

“We want to play in New Orleans,” he told the newspaper. “That’s our home. But we can’t. We can’t come back even if the facility was clean because there’s nobody else there.”