Na Yeon Choi leads at Titleholders

U.S. Women’s Open champion Na Yeon Choi was steady after a careless three-putt bogey early in her third round Saturday at the Titleholders at Naples, Fla., and finished with a three-under 69 to take a one-shot lead into the final round of the LPGA Tour season.

Ai Miyazato made four birdies on the back nine to salvage a 71 and end the day one stroke back. So Yeon Ryu, the LPGA rookie of the year shot 66 and was two behind.

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Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez shot a two-under 68 for a share of the Hong Kong Open lead with New Zealand’s Michael Campbell.

Campbell had a 69 to match the 48-year-old Jimenez, the 2005 and 2008 winner, at 10 under. Italy’s Matteo Manassero, coming off a playoff victory in the Singapore Open, was a stroke back along with China’s Zhang Lian-wei. Manassero had a 64, and Zhang shot 69 in the event sanctioned by the European and Asian tours.

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Defending champion Ian Poulter shot an eight-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead over

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Sweden’s Henrik Stenson closed in on his first European Tour victory in three years Saturday, shooting a three-under 69 to take a three-stroke lead into the final round of the South African Open at Johannesburg.

Stenson had a 16-under 200 total. South Africa’s George Coetzee and Sweden’s Magnus Carlsson were tied for second.

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A person familiar with the situation tells the Associated Press that Maryland and Rutgers are in discussions with the Big Ten to possibly join the conference in 2014.

The person spoke Saturday night on condition of anonymity because neither the conference nor the schools want to publicly discuss their plans.

ESPN.com first reported that the Big Ten was looking into expanding to 14 teams by adding Maryland and Rutgers.

The person says Maryland would have to be “the first domino to fall,” but added that an agreement could be reached as soon as this week for both schools.

The Big Ten has 12 members after adding Nebraska last season.

Maryland is in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which recently added Notre Dame as a member in all sports except football and hockey. Rutgers is in the Big East.

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Representatives of the NHL and the NHL Players’ Assn. plan to meet on Monday despite Commissioner Gary Bettman’s suggestion that the sides take a two-week break from their stalemated labor negotiations.

“Union’s invite and union’s agenda,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. “Hopefully, they have something good to tell us.”

Daly said last week that the league was “done with making proposals” and didn’t have any new ideas. The NHL locked players out on Sept. 15 because of the lack of a collective bargaining agreement with the players’ union. It has cancelled games through Nov. 30 as well as the showcase Winter Classic on New Year’s Day.

— Helene Elliott

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Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the sixth driver to win consecutive championships in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series. Stenhouse finished sixth Saturday in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, edging Elliott Sadler for the title.

Regan Smith won the 400-mile race. Kyle Busch was second.

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In Prague, the Czech Republic won the doubles to take a 2-1 lead over defending champion Spain in the Davis Cup final, moving one victory away from its first title as an independent nation.

Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek rallied to beat Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-3 to take the edge going into Sunday’s reverse singles.