Fred Couples shares U.S. Senior Open lead with Bernhard Langer

Fred Couples shot a five-under-par 65 on Saturday for a share of the U.S. Senior Open lead, feeding off a raucous hometown crowd at Sammamish, Wash., hoping the native son can win his first U.S. Golf Assn. championship.

Couples matched Bernhard Langer (68) at five under at tree-lined Sahalee Country Club, with Langer birdieing the final hole to pull even. They are the only players under par after three rounds.

Couples shot a four-under 31 on the front nine Saturday, making birdies at Nos. 2, 5, 7 and 9 and holing a bunker shot on the sixth to save par. He added a birdie at the 16th to post the best round of the week.

Langer’s streak of 20 holes without a bogey ended at the 12th, but he rebounded with the birdie at No. 18.

Yani Tseng shot her third consecutive four-under 68 and will take a four-stroke lead into the final round of the Women’s British Open at Southport, England.

The 21-year-old star from Taiwan took advantage of the short, 472-yard, par-five final hole by hitting an eight-iron to within 20 feet with her second shot. She rolled in the eagle putt to finish off her round, putting her at 12 under and doubling her cushion over Australian Katherine Hull.

Hull played a flawless third round, including five birdies in a row to finish with a 66.

Jeff Overton, seeking his first PGA Tour title, shrugged off a poor start to take a three-shot lead in the third round of the Greenbrier Classic at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.

Four strokes ahead of the field overnight, Overton bogeyed the second and fifth holes before recovering form on the way to a four-under 66 on the Old White Course at the Greenbrier. He is at 18-under 192.

Fellow American D.A. Points fired a sizzling 10-birdie 61 to vault into second place, with double PGA Tour winner Boo Weekley two strokes further back at 13 under after carding a 67.

J.B. Holmes produced the lowest round of the day, a brilliant 60 lifting him into a four-way tie for fourth at 12 under.

ETC.

Kyle Busch wins at Iowa

Kyle Busch raced to his sixth victory in his last seven Nationwide Series starts and ninth of the season, leading 209 of 250 laps in a dominating run at Iowa Speedway in Newton.

Busch moved a victory away from the series season victory record of 10 he shares with Sam Ard. Busch, a 10-time winner in 2008, is second in series history with 39 victories — nine behind Mark Martin’s record.

Kevin Harvick was second, followed by Jason Leffler and Brad Keselowski.

Elliott Sadler held off Kasey Kahne in a green-white-checkered finish to win the inaugural NASCAR Truck Series race at Pocono in Long Pond, Pa.

Sadler was the beneficiary after a flurry of late mishaps sent the trucks race into NASCAR’s version of overtime. He cut off Matt Crafton’s pass attempt inside, then pulled away from Kahne on the final lap to take the victory.

It was Sadler’s first trucks win, giving him victories in all three NASCAR racing series. Kahne finished second and Crafton was third.

Victoria Azarenka of Belarus reached the final of the Bank of the West Classic at Palo Alto by defeating top-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia, 6-2, 6-3.

Azarenka, seeded eighth and ranked 18th in the world, will play the winner of a late semifinal between No. 5-seeded Maria Sharapova and No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.

Juan Carlos Ferrero reached the Croatia Open final at Umag for a second straight year after dispatching Andreas Seppi of Italy, 6-4, 6-2.

The fourth-seeded Ferrero will meet unseeded Potito Starace of Italy on Sunday.

Richard Gasquet of France beat Yuri Schukin of Kazakhstan, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to a Swiss Open final at Gstaad against Nicolas Almagro of Spain.

Almagro defeated countryman Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-3.