Woods (64) Has Edge on Mickelson at Doral

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson resumed their duel at opposite ends of Doral on Thursday, and the outcome didn’t change.

Woods was still one shot better.

In a balmy start to the Florida swing, Woods again reached the 603-yard 12th hole in two shots and ran off a string of birdies along the back nine of the Blue Monster for an eight-under-par 64 and a one-shot lead over Mickelson and four others in the Ford Championship at Miami.

“This guy Tiger seems to play well every day, every week,” Mickelson said. “I’m just trying to keep pace. I’m trying to maybe have another shot at dueling out with him on Sunday, and I’m glad that he’s playing well. I’ve got to do my part and stay with him.”

Woods won last year in a scintillating showdown between golf’s two biggest personalities, with Woods pulling ahead on a 30-foot birdie putt at No. 17 and Mickelson lipping out a birdie chip on the last hole.

They teed off at the same time Thursday, but on opposite nines.

They were together only on the leaderboard, although both had some catching up to do on a day when 60 players broke 70 and 116 players were at par or better.

“The times I looked at the board, neither one of us were up there,” Woods said. “We weren’t leading. I knew seven [under] was leading, so try to get up there somehow.”

Camilo Villegas, one of several long-hitting rookies, birdied four holes in a row until settling for a two-putt par from about eight feet on the 18th. That put him at 65, along with Rich Beem, Ryan Palmer and Mark Wilson, one of five players who got into this elite field with a top-10 finish in Tucson last week.

TENNIS

Former Great Borg

to Sell Trophies, Rackets

Bjorn Borg, whose record-setting streak of five Wimbledon championships ended in 1980, is selling his trophies and rackets to try to gain financial security.

“It’s not easy to part with the trophies,” Borg, who turns 50 in June, said in an e-mail to Bloomberg News.

“However, I do need to have some long-term financial security for those close to me.”

It’s the first time that a champion of tennis’ most prestigious and richest Grand Slam has decided to sell the winner’s trophy. Borg also won six French Open titles in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He retired in 1982 after winning $3.6 million in purses, and encountered a series of personal reverses, including divorce and tax problems.

The silver gilt Wimbledon trophies will be sold June 21, just before this year’s Grand Slam tournament begins just south of London.

The one lot may fetch as much as $523,500, according to London-based Bonhams, which will auction the memorabilia.

Top-seeded Roger Federer moved into the semifinals of the Dubai Open with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Robin Vik at Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

A showdown between the top two players in the world became a possibility when second-seeded Rafael Nadal also advanced after ending wild card Tim Henman’s run with a 7-6 (1), 6-1 victory.

Federer will meet Mikhail Youzhny in the semifinals after the Russian cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Olivier Rochus.

Nadal will play Rainer Schuettler, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over German countryman Bjorn Phau, who defeated Andre Agassi in the second round.

Martina Hingis defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova, 7-6 (7), 6-2, to advance to the semifinals of the Qatar Open at Doha.

Hingis will face top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo in a semifinal today. Mauresmo, ranked No. 2 in the world, beat Roberta Vinci, 6-4, 6-0.

In other quarterfinals, second-seeded Nadia Petrova beat Na Li, 6-4, 6-4. Petrova will meet Ai Sugiyama, who beat Julia Schruff, 6-3, 6-2.

Hingis, a former Qatar champion, struggled to a tiebreaker win in the first set. Hingis broke Kuznetsova three times in the second set.

“It was a pretty impressive win,” Hingis said. “The first set was a bit tough. I guess that was because we haven’t played before.”

Paul Goldstein beat Vince Spadea, 6-2, 6-1, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Tennis Channel Open at Las Vegas.

Goldstein, who upset fourth-seeded Robby Ginepri earlier in the week, beat Spadea for the first time in four career matches.

Already thin on seeded players, the tournament lost No. 2-seeded Nicolas Kiefer when he pulled out of his match against Kenneth Carlsen.

Second-seeded Gaston Gaudio outlasted Marcos Daniel, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, to advance to the semifinals of the Mexican Open at Acapulco.

Luis Horna also advanced to the semifinals, defeating Agustin Calleri, 6-3, 6-4.

In women’s play, top-seeded Flavia Pennetta beat Maria Jose Martinez, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-0

MISCELLANY

Lawrence Phillips Is

Ordered to Stand Trial

Former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips was ordered to stand trial on assault charges for allegedly driving a car into three teenagers who argued with him after a pickup football game in Exposition Park.

After a two-day preliminary hearing, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Samuel Mayerson ruled that there was enough evidence to hold Phillips on seven counts of assault to commit great bodily injury.

Phillips, who has a felony conviction for making criminal threats, faces more than 13 years in prison if convicted of all counts, said Deborah Brazil, a deputy district attorney.

He was being held on $350,000 bail and is scheduled for arraignment March 15.

Mayerson said Phillips, 30, got into an argument with several young men after the game and left the park, only to return and drive a black Honda onto the field, allegedly running into a group of young males. Three were hit, including two aged 14 and 15, the district attorney’s office said.

Phillips is a former standout at Baldwin Park High.

German soccer Coach Juergen Klinsmann, whose team suffered a stunning 4-1 exhibition road loss to Italy on Wednesday in Florence, says he plans no roster changes for the team’s next match against the United States on March 22 at Dortmund, Germany.

The Americans beat Poland, 1-0, on a snowy night in Kaiserslautern, one of the host cities for this summer’s World Cup.

A former boxer who says he sustained permanent brain damage in a 2000 bout against Arturo Gatti is suing, saying Gatti weighed too much for the fight.

Joey Gamache, 39, and his wife filed a lawsuit in federal court Feb. 21 alleging breach of contract over the Feb. 26, 2000 bout at Madison Square Garden. Gatti won the fight.

UCLA freshman Erik Flores was one of 27 collegiate golfers named to the 2006 Ben Hogan Award watch list.