Vijay Singh leads BMW, with Woods, McIlroy a stroke back

Vijay Singh keeps giving himself chances to end four years without a PGA Tour victory. He made four birdies around the turn Friday for a six-under 66 in the BMW Championship at Carmel, Ind., putting his name atop the leaderboard for the second time in his last four tournaments.

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy were one shot behind. Going into a storm-filled weekend at Crooked Stick, four players who have reached No. 1 in the world were among the top six.

Woods started slowly and finished strong, with birdies on his last two holes for a 67. McIlroy, coming off what he called one of the best ball-striking rounds of his life, had to overcome four bogeys for a hard-earned 68. Joining them one shot out of the lead was Ryan Moore, who had a 66.

Lee Westwood (65) and Indiana native Bo Van Pelt (69) were two shots off the lead.

Singh was at 13-under 131 on Crooked Stick, a Pete Dye course that is vulnerable to low scoring because of rain over the last several days. The second round was played early Friday to beat approaching thunderstorms, and the times were pushed back slightly Saturday to recover from whatever rain falls overnight.

McIlroy and Woods are both going for a PGA Tour-leading fourth win of the year.

Bill Haas had the best round Friday at 64, despite a bogey on the 17th hole.

Jiyai Shin followed her opening nine-under 62 with a 68 on Friday to take a two-stroke lead in the LPGA Tour’s Kingsmill Championship at Williamsburg, Va.

American Danielle Kang was second after a 64. Paula Creamer and Dewi Claire Schreefel were 10 under. Schreefel had a 66, and Creamer shot 67.

ETC.

Lakers add three assistant coaches

The Lakers added three veteran coaches to Mike Brown’s staff, hiring Eddie Jordan, Steve Clifford and Bernie Bickerstaff as assistants.

Jordan, a former head coach with the Philadelphia 76ers and Washington Wizards who was also a guard on the Lakers’ 1982 championship team, is expected to help Brown implement some aspects of the Princeton offense.

Clifford spent the last five seasons as an assistant coach with the Orlando Magic alongside new Lakers center Dwight Howard. Bickerstaff has been a head coach with four different teams over his 39-year coaching career, most recently with the Charlotte Bobcats from 2004-07.

The coaches replace former lead assistant John Kuester, who has been reassigned as an advance NBA scout based on the East Coast, and Ettore Messina and Quin Snyder, who left to join CSKA Moscow.

— Ben Bolch

The Lakers signed second-round draft pick Robert Sacre, giving them a pair of 7-foot rookies on their training camp roster. The team signed Greg Somogyi, a 7-3 center from UC Santa Barbara, earlier this week.

The 7-foot Sacre averaged 11.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks during his senior season at Gonzaga, when he was the West Coast Conference’s defensive player of the year.

— Ben Bolch

Former UCLA and Indiana Pacers star Reggie Miller was inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, joining sister Cheryl Miller as the first brother-sister pair in the Springfield, Mass, shrine. Cheryl, a two-time NCAA tournament MVP at Southern California and 1995 Hall inductee, was on stage to welcome him.

It was a big night for UCLA, which also had Don Barksdale and Jamaal Wilkes (also a member of the Lakers and Clippers) in the 12-person class of 2012, and for the Indiana Pacers. Two-time ABA Most Valuable Player Mel Daniels also was inducted.

Also honored on Friday night were Don Nelson, the winningest coach in NBA history; three-time NCAA player of the year Ralph Sampson; Nike co-founder Phil Knight; the All-American Redheads, known as the female Harlem Globetrotters; seven-time NBA All-Star Chet Walker; two-time Olympic gold medalist Katrina McClain; former Soviet women’s coach Lidia Alexeeva; and longtime NCAA referee Hank Nichols.

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Aries Merritt already had the Olympic gold, but in his last — near-perfect — 100-meter hurdles race of the year, the American put in a world record-breaking performance that had shaking his head in disbelief.

Merritt finished in 12.80 seconds Friday at the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels, slicing a full 0.07 seconds off the 4-year-old world record set by Cuba’s Dayron Robles.

::Kevin Harvick took the lead by dodging a caution caused by race leader Kurt Busch, then pulled away on a restart with 17 laps to go and won the Nationwide Series race at Richmond International Raceway.

The victory ended a 30-race winless streak in the series for Harvick, whose last victory came in the same race two years ago.

As he had done for much of the race, Harvick pulled away as if he had an extra gear when the race went back to green on lap 234, leaving championship contender Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Busch, who won at the track in the spring, wound up third.

::Houston Texans running back Arian Foster and linebacker Brooks Reed sat out Friday’s practice and will be game-time decisions for the season opener against Miami. Foster, the NFL’s leading rusher in 2010, has a sore knee and Reed has a sore hip.

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New York Jets defensive tackle Sione Po’uha is questionable to play in the team’s season opener against Buffalo, and not out, as Coach Rex Ryan initially announced. Safety Eric Smith will not play, but tight end Dustin Keller is expected to go after missing time with a hamstring injury.

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Pro Bowl linebacker James Harrison did not practice for the second consecutive day Friday, making it unlikely he will play for the Steelers in the season opener at Denver Sunday.