Mickelson (68) takes lead at Scottish Open

By Bill Dwyre

July 15, 2007 12 AM PT

From Times Staff and Wire Reports

Phil Mickelson mastered a strong wind to shoot a three-under-par 68 Saturday for a one-stroke lead over Gregory Havret after the third round of the Scottish Open at Luss.

Mickelson has a 54-hole total of 12-under 201. Havret, one of two co-leaders after two rounds, shot a 70. The other co-leader, Jose Manuel Lara, shot a 74 to drop five strokes off the pace.

Steve Webster shot a 69 and is in third, three strokes behind Mickelson.

Mickelson’s round included a walk into the water at the third hole after his second shot hit the green and spun back into a pond.

He wore waterproof pants to hit his ball out to eight feet and holed the putt for a birdie.

Despite the wind, Mickelson managed to hit every fairway except one, the 13th.

Nathan Green moved a step closer to his first PGA Tour victory, shooting a three-under 68 in the third round of the John Deere Classic at Silvis, Ill., and maintaining a one-stroke lead.

He is at 15-under 198 through 54 holes and withstood charges by Tim Clark (66) and Jonathan Byrd (65). Clark is 14 under, and Byrd was two strokes behind.

With the 15th-ranked Zach Johnson having missed the cut, the only top 50 player left in the field was Carl Pettersson at No. 46. He shot a 71 and is at 11-under 202.

Se Ri Pak birdied the final hole to take a two-shot lead over Morgan Pressel after three rounds of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic at Sylvania, Ohio.

Pressel had eight birdies in a seven-under 64 to challenge Pak, who held a five-stroke lead over the field through 36 holes -- and was seven shots ahead of Pressel.

Pak added a third-round 69 to her opening 63 and a 68 and is at 13-under 200. Pressel’s 64 followed rounds of 68 and 70 and left her at 202

R.W. Eaks had an eagle and a hole in one and birdied five of his final 10 holes en route to a career-low 62 to move into the second-round lead at the inaugural Dick’s Sporting Goods Open at Endicott, N.Y.

Eaks, who finished one shot off the En-Joie Golf Club course record held by Fred Funk, Hal Sutton and Robert Gamez, is at 11-under 133.

Colt Knost of Dallas defeated Cody Paladino of Kensington, Conn., 6 and 4, after playing 32 holes of the scheduled 36-hole final to win the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship at Wheaton, Ill.

The victory earned Knost an automatic berth in next year’s Masters.

BOXING

Luevano knocks out Cook for WBO title

Steve Luevano of La Puente floored Nicky Cook five times on the way to an 11th-round knockout to win the World Boxing Organization featherweight title at London.

Luevano (31-1) landed a left to Cook’s ribs 30 seconds into the round, and the British fighter was counted out.

Luevano, 33-1, also knocked down Cook in the second and third rounds and twice in the ninth.

Roy Jones Jr. won a unanimous 12-round decision against Anthony Hanshaw at Biloxi, Miss., to win the vacant International Boxing Council light-heavyweight title.

TENNIS

Santoro, Mahut reach Hall of Fame final

Fourth seeded Fabrice Santoro defeated Wesley Moodie, 7-6 (2), 6-3, to set up the first all-French final in the 31-year history of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships at Newport, R.I. Santoro will play fifth-seeded Nicolas Mahut, who beat Dick Norman, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-2.

Nicolas Almagro will play second-seeded David Ferrer in an all-Spanish final today in the Swedish Open at Bastad. Almagro advanced by upsetting fourth-seeded Carlos Moya, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2, and Ferrer beat Filippo Volandri, 6-2, 6-1.

Fifth-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu will play Andreas Seppi in the final of the Swiss Open at Gstaad. Mathieu beat qualifier Radek Stepanek, 6-3, 6-4, and Seppi beat wild-card entrant Igor Andreev, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5).

PRO FOOTBALL

San Jose beats Chicago to reach ArenaBowl

Mark Grieb passed for 291 yards and six touchdowns, and the host San Jose SaberCats advanced to the ArenaBowl with a 61-49 victory over the defending champion Chicago Rush in the American Conference title game.

The top-seeded SaberCats will play the Columbus Destroyers in New Orleans on July 29.

Matt Nagy threw for five touchdowns and ran for two more, and the Destroyers held off a late rally by the Georgia Force to win the National Conference title, 66-56, at Atlanta.

Merlin Olsen and his event co-chairman, Robert Klein, said that they decided to organize a 70-year reunion of the Rams at the Coliseum because they kept running into teammates at sad occasions.

“We figured a party was much better than a funeral,” Olsen said.

The reunion commemorated the team that began as the Cleveland Rams in 1937 and moved to Los Angeles in 1946. They moved down the freeway to Anaheim before the 1980 season and left for good for St. Louis the same year the Raiders moved back to Oakland, 1995.

Among those attending, in addition to Olsen and Klein, were former coach Chuck Knox and former Rams stars Fred Dryer, Rosey Grier, Deacon Jones, Vince Ferragamo, Tom Mack, Eric Dickerson, Pat Haden, Henry Ellard and Lawrence McCutcheon.

-- Bill Dwyre

PASSINGS

John Ferguson Sr., 68, former NHL player

Former NHL player and general manager John Ferguson Sr. died Saturday in Toronto following a lengthy fight with prostate cancer. He was 68.

He played eight NHL seasons from 1963 to 1971, all with Montreal, and was a Stanley Cup champion five times.