Brendan Steele holds lead at Texas Open

PGA Tour rookie Brendan Steele birdied Nos. 17 and 18 for a four-under-par 68, grabbing sole possession of the lead in the PGA Tour’s Texas Open at San Antonio at seven-under 209 after beginning the round Saturday tied with six other players for the top spot.

Steele’s late surge was enough for a one-stroke lead over Cameron Tringale, who led by two after 16 holes but hooked his tee shot on No. 18 into the deep rough and finished with a bogey for a 68.

Another rookie, Kevin Chappell (70), and 30-year-old Brandt Snedeker (70) were tied for third at five under. Steele, Tringale and Chappell, who led UCLA to an NCAA title in 2008, have a combined 62 starts on tour, and Snedeker’s only tour victory came at the 2007 Wyndham Championship.

John Cook shot a six-under 65 and took a one-stroke lead in the Champions Tour’s Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am at Lutz, Fla. Cook was at 11 under, one shot ahead of Russ Cochran. The first-day leader shot a three-under 68. Jay Don Blake was three strokes back.

Rory McIlroy birdied his final hole and had a two-stroke lead in the weather-hit Malaysian Open at Kuala Lumpur, while Masters champion Charl Schwartzel barely made the cut for the third round.

ETC.

Gordon takes Cup pole at Talladega

Jeff Gordon won his 70th career pole and led a Hendrick Motorsports sweep of the top four spots at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama — only the third team in NASCAR history to monopolize the first two rows. Gordon turned a two-lap qualifying average of 178.248 mph for the Aaron’s 499.

Jimmie Johnson will start on the outside of the front row Sunday, with Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the second row. …

Kyle Busch won under a yellow flag in a wild finish, taking the Nationwide Series race at Talladega when the last of 10 crashes sent Mike Wallace’s car upside down.

The United States is on the verge of being relegated from the World Group for the first time after losing both singles matches to Germany in the Fed Cup playoffs at Stuttgart, Germany.

Andrea Petkovic defeated 18-year-old Christina McHale, 6-3, 6-4 in the opening singles, and Julia Goerges edged Melanie Oudin, 6-2, 7-6 (5) to lead Germany within a point of securing victory in the best-of-five competition.

Six-time defending champion Rafael Nadal reached the Monte Carlo Masters final at Monaco, defeating Andy Murray, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1. Nadal will play David Ferrer, who beat Jurgen Melzer of Austria, 6-3, 6-2, in an all-Spanish final.

Alabama’s women’s gymnastics team won its first NCAA title since 2002, scoring 197.650 points to edge reigning national champion UCLA (197.375) at Cleveland. Oklahoma (197.25), Nebraska (196.725), Utah (196.5) and Michigan (196.425) rounded out the field.

Alabama junior Geralen Stack-Eaton scored a team-high 39.475 in the all-around. NCAA all-around champion Kylee Botterman of Michigan posted the best score of the day at 39.575. Stack-Eaton was second, and UCLA’s OIivia Courtney (39.425) and Alabama’s Kim Jacob (39.425) tied for third.

The top individual event mark was a 9.95 by UCLA’s Tauny Frattone (vault), Alabama’s Diandra Milliner (vault), Michigan’s Trish Wilson (bars), Nebraska’s Jamie Schleppenbach (vault), Oklahoma’s Natasha Kelley (bars), Jacob (beam), and Alabama’s Kayla Hoffman (floor and vault)

Oklahoma’s Jacob Dalton won the vault and floor exercise and finished second and fourth in two other events at the NCAA men’s gymnastics championships at Columbus, Ohio. Retaining their individual titles were Oklahoma’s Alex Naddour, who tied for the top spot in the pommel horse with Illinois’ Daniel Ribeiro, and Ohio State’s Brandon Wynn on rings.

Daniel Ribeiro

Tyler MizoguchiAlex Buscaglia

Shaquille O’Neal

Danny Ainge

Trevor Bauer struck out 13 batters, leading the No. 23 UCLA baseball team past No. 20 Arizona, 4-0, at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Bauer (7-1) became UCLA’s career wins leader, improving to 28-7 while supplanting Alex Sanchez (27 wins) atop UCLA’s all-time list.

Brilliant Speed punched his ticket for the Kentucky Derby with a thrilling stretch run in the $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at Lexington, Ky., edging Twinspired by a nose. …

Archarcharch won the $1-million Arkansas Derby at 25-1 in Hot Springs, Ark., clinching a spot in the Kentucky Derby.

Amir KhanPaul McCloskey