Padraig Harrington takes lead at Transitions

Padraig Harrington, already assured of a memorable week after his trip to the White House, put himself in position to make it even better at the Transitions Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla., on Friday.

Harrington picked up a pair of bonus birdies over the last five holes for a six-under-par 65, his low score of the year, and built a one-shot lead at eight-under 134 entering the weekend on the tough Copperhead course at Innisbrook.

The Irishman has not won a sanctioned tournament since his PGA Championship victory at Oakland Hills at the end of 2008.

Jim Furyk, whose last victory against a full field came in the 2007 Canadian Open, was atop the leaderboard with Harrington until missing a six-foot par putt on the final hole. It wasn’t enough to take away from an otherwise solid round of 68 to put him one shot behind. Also at seven under were Carl Pettersson (68), a past winner at Innisbrook; Bubba Watson, who missed a four-foot birdie putt on his final hole and had 65; and defending champion Retief Goosen after a 68.

COLLEGES

Oregon Athletic Director Mike Bellotti is stepping down after less than a year in the position to become a college football analyst with ESPN.

Bellotti was head coach of the Ducks for 14 seasons before he formally took over as athletic director last July. His resignation is effective April 5, and he’ll make his debut on ESPN on April 17.

Bellotti’s announcement came as a surprise. At a hastily called news conference, he said that working in television was something that he’d “thought about and maybe aspired to over the years.”

Bellotti was 116-55 as coach of the Ducks and took the team to 12 bowl games.

The weeks of talk on whether Coach Norm Roberts would return to St. John’s ended Friday: He was fired after six seasons with the Red Storm — only two of them with a winning record.

The Red Storm lost to Memphis in the first round of the NIT on Wednesday to finish the season at 17-16, giving Roberts an 81-101 record with the school. St. John’s has not been in the NCAA tournament since 2002.

Iowa has locked up a third straight team title at the NCAA wrestling championships in Omaha, sending five wrestlers to the finals and building an insurmountable lead over Cornell.

The Hawkeyes enter Saturday with 120.5 points. Cornell had 75, Iowa State 67 and Wisconsin 62.

ETC.

Logano takes his first pole at Bristol

Joey Logano backed up his fast showing in practice by winning the first pole of his career at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee.

Logano posted a lap at 124.630 mph in his Toyota to earn the first starting spot for Sunday’s race. His previous best qualifying effort was fifth at Darlington last year.

Add 12-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams and U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro to the list of top players pulling out of the Sony Ericsson Open at Key Biscayne, Fla.

Williams, a five-time winner of the hard-court event, is out because of the left knee injury that has sidelined the American since her Australian Open title. Del Potro has a right wrist injury that has bothered him since the start of the season.

The 13-day tournament begins Tuesday.