Jonas Blixt, Brendon de Jonge lead Las Vegas tournament

Jonas Blixt shot his second straight seven-under 64 on Friday for a share of the second-round lead with Brendon de Jonge in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas.

De Jonge followed his opening 62 with a 66 to match Blixt at 14-under 128 after two rounds in perfect conditions in the Fall Series opener. Blixt, from Sweden, and de Jonge, from Zimbabwe, are winless on the PGA Tour.

Ryan Moore, the former Nevada Las Vegas player who matched the TPC Summerlin record Thursday with a 61, was a stroke back after a 68. Daniel Summerhays and Tim Herron were 11 under. Summerhays had a 63, and Herron shot 68.

John Daly was 10 under after a 63, his lowest score of the year. At 132nd on the money list, the two-time major champion is trying to move into the top 125 to secure full playing privileges for next season.

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Russ Cochran topped the Champions Tour’s SAS Championship leaderboard in his return from a back injury, hitting all hit all 18 greens in regulation and shooting a six-under 66 at Cary, N.C.

Steve Pate, Andrew Magee, Fred Funk and Jay Don Blake were a stroke back.

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South Africa’s Branden Grace shot a five-under 67 on the Old Course to extend his lead to five strokes after the second round of the Dunhill Links Championships in St. Andrews, Scotland.

Sweden’s Joel Sjoholm was second after a 67 on the Old Course.

SKATING

Confession in speedskating scandal

The U.S. Speedskating coaching scandal became even messier Friday.

One speedskater, reigning national short-track champion Simon Cho, faces a disciplinary hearing after confessing Friday that he tampered with a Canadian rival’s skate at the 2011 World Team Championship. Short track interim coach Jun Hyung Yeo was suspended Friday by the federation for failing to report that tampering.

And the man at the center of the scandal, head coach Jae Su Chun, remains suspended and also could be disciplined for not reporting the tampering.

But investigators commissioned by U.S. Speedskating to investigate said they didn’t find evidence that Chun engaged in “a pattern of physical and emotional abuse” as alleged by skaters, or Cho’s claim that Chun ordered the skate tampering.

SOCCER

Jill Ellis is women’s interim coach

Jill Ellis will coach the U.S. women’s soccer team in its next two matches while a successor is found for Pia Sundhage.

After leading the U.S. to its second consecutive Olympic gold medal since taking over, Sundhage stepped down Sept. 1 to return to her native Sweden. She has since been hired as coach of the Swedish women’s national team.

Ellis, a former assistant to Sundhage, became development director for the U.S. women’s national teams in January 2011. She is not a candidate to replace Sundhage.

TENNIS

Djokovic beats Melzer in Beijing

Top-seeded Novak Djokovic needed only 53 minutes to reach the semifinals of the China Open with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Jurgen Melzer in Beijing.

Third-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, 6-3, 6-2, and Feliciano Lopez of Spain outlasted Sam Querrey of the U.S., 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

On the women’s side, top-seeded Victoria Azarenka and second-seeded Maria Sharapova advanced. Azarenka topped Romina Oprandi, 6-2, 6-0, and Sharapova led Angelique Kerber, 6-0, 3-0, when the German retired with a right foot injury.

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Defending champion Andy Murray moved into the semifinals of the Japan Open in Tokyo with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory over seventh-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.

The top-seeded Murray will play sixth-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada in the semifinals Saturday. Raonic outlasted third-seeded Janko Tipsarevic, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (7), in a match that took nearly 2 hours 45 minutes.

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A Chinese state media report says security for the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament, which begins this weekend, is being tightened after an online death threat against Roger Federer.

ETC.

Ex-running back Larry Johnson arrested

Former NFL running back Larry Johnson was arrested early Friday at the Bellagio resort on the Las Vegas Strip after an ex-girlfriend told police he choked her into unconsciousness and left her in her underwear in a hotel hallway.

Larry Alphonso Johnson Jr., 32, was being held on $15,000 bail at the Clark County jail pending an initial court appearance on a domestic violence-strangulation charge that could get him a minimum of two years in state prison if he is convicted.

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Jockey Tyler Baze, America’s Eclipse Award winning apprentice rider in the year 2000, returned to action for the first time in over a year on Friday at Santa Anita and won with his second mount, longshot Warren’s Sugarbuzz, who paid $112.60 to win in race six.

Suspended indefinitely by Del Mar’s Board of Stewards in August 2011 for refusing to submit to a random Breathalyzer test, Baze, who turns 30 on Oct. 19, was recently reinstated by Los Alamitos stewards.