Charlie Beljan leaves hospital, holds lead in Florida

Doctors told Charlie Beljan he was in good enough health to leave the hospital Saturday morning, but perhaps not to play golf. With his job on the line and his name atop the leaderboard for the first time, Beljan ignored the recommendation.

One day after a panic attack so severe that he struggled to breathe and feared for his life, Beljan managed just fine in the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Despite a pair of early bogeys, and one nervous moment when he felt his chest tighten, he had a one-under 71 that gave him a two-shot lead at Disney.

Suddenly, the 28-year-old rookie has a chance to do more than just keep his card. He’s one round away from winning on the PGA Tour.

He stayed overnight in the hospital — with his shoes on for most of the night — and only got about an hour of sleep. This is the final PGA Tour event of the year, and Beljan is at No. 139 on the money list. Only the top 125 keep their cards, and Beljan likely would need to finish around 10th.

Beljan said he started to feel some of the same symptoms from Friday as he approached the turn. He ate a sandwich, tried to calm himself, and back-to-back birdies to start the back nine helped. He closed with six straight pars to reach 13-under 203. That gave him a two-shot lead over Brian Gay (67), Josh Teater (67) and Charlie Wi, who was tied with Beljan until two sloppy bogeys at the end for a 70.

When last seen at Disney, Beljan was gasping to draw a big breath and sitting in the fairway to wait his turn to hit. Paramedics followed him around the back nine after a spike in his blood pressure. After signing for a 64, Beljan emerged from the scoring room strapped into a stretcher and was loaded into an ambulance.

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Inbee Park moved into position for her third victory of the year, shooting a six-under 66 to take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The South Korean player had a 15-under 201 total at Guadalajara Country Club. She won the Evian Masters in France in July and the LPGA Malaysia last month and leads the LPGA Tour money list.

Park also is trying to catch Stacy Lewis in the player-of-the-year points race, but has to win Sunday and next week in the season-ending Titleholders to have any chance to pass Lewis.

Cristie Kerr was second after a 67.

So Yeon Ryu was third at 12 under after a 67. Second-round leader Angela Stanford was another stroke back after a 72, and Karine Icher had a 69 to reach nine under.

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Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn had a one-stroke lead over England’s Chris Wood when third-round play in the rain-soaked Singapore Open was suspended because of darkness.

Bjorn was nine under overall with 15 holes left in the third round. Wood also completed three holes in the round. Officials are still planning to play 72 holes unless storms cause more delays Sunday in the event sanctioned by the European and Asian tours.

Top-ranked Rory McIlroy was four under with nine holes left, and Phil Mickelson was one under with 14 holes remaining.

ETC.

Davey Johnson to coach Nationals one more year

The Washington Nationals are bringing back Davey Johnson for one more season as their manager. Johnson will move into a role as a consultant to the club in 2014. The Nationals announced the arrangement Saturday.

At 70 years old, Johnson will be the oldest manager in the majors in 2013.

Last season, he led the Nationals to their first NL East title and a majors-high 98 wins. Washington lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in an NL division series, blowing a 6-0 lead in Game 5. He is one of three finalists for the NL manager of the year award. The winner will be announced on Tuesday.

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Juan Martin del Potro clinched the last spot in the semifinals of the ATP finals in London, beating Roger Federer, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3, in their final round-robin match.

Federer, the two-time defending champion, had his first loss in the indoor tournament since 2009. With two wins, Federer had already qualified for the semifinal of the season-ending event that features the top eight players.

Del Potro’s win leaves David Ferrer and Janko Tipsarevic with nothing but prize money to play for in their final group-stage match. However, the result will decide whether Federer or Del Potro finishes atop Group B and affect the semifinal matchups.

The winner of the group will face Andy Murray on Sunday. The second-place finisher will take on top-ranked Novak Djokovic.

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Wladimir Klitschko retained his WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles, unanimously outpointing Poland’s Mariusz Wach in Hamburg, Germany.

The 6-foot-71/2 Wach was the tallest opponent Klitschko has faced in his 16-year professional career, but offered little threat against the faster Ukrainian.

Klitschko, 36, left the 32-year-old Wach wobbling in the seventh with a devastating right followed by a series of combinations. Wach displayed incredible stamina to continue.

Klitschko improved to 59-3 (51 KOs), and Wach dropped to 27-1 (15 KOs).

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The Oakland Raiders activated cornerback Ron Bartell from short-term injured reserve and promoted running back Jeremy Stewart from the practice squad.

To make room on the 53-man roster the Raiders waived cornerback Pat Lee and placed cornerback Shawntae Spencer on season-ending injured reserve.

Stewart provides insurance at running back with starter Darren McFadden and backup Mike Goodson sitting out Sunday because of sprained right ankles.