Wiebe leads by one at the SAS Championship
CARY, N.C., Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Mark Wiebe shot a 6-under-66 Saturday to take a one-stroke lead at the seniors SAS Championship in Cary, N.C., at 13-under 131.
Wiebe can become the 12th player in Champions Tour history to make his debut a winning one. The last golfer to do so was Mark McNulty at the 2004 Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am.
Dana Quigley, the 2005 Champions Tour Player of the Year, birdied the last hole for a 66 and is tied for second place with Dick Mast (65) at 12-under 132.
Jay Haas, the reigning Player of the Year, and Massy Kuramoto both shot 67s and are tied in fourth place at 135.
Wiebe, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, began the second round tied for the lead with Q School medalist Boonchu Ruangkit. He birdied four in a row from the second hole to move into the lead alone.
Flesch leads by 4 at Turning Stone Resort
VERONA, N.Y., Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Steve Flesch birdied four of his last five holes Saturday for a 66 and a four-shot third-round lead at the Turning Stone Resort Championship in Verona, N.Y.
Flesch stands at 19-under 197 in search of his second win of the season.
He won the Reno-Tahoe Open and has held at least a share of the 54-hole lead seven times in his career. Flesch has only won two of those.
Carl Pettersson also posted a 6-under 66 and is tied for second with Charles Warren, who had a 68 on Saturday.
Parker McLachlin had Saturday's low round of the day. His 7-under 65 jumped him from a tie for 35th at the start of the third round to fourth place at 13-under 203.
With the inaugural FedEx Cup Playoff series completed last week at The Tour Championship, this week begins the Fall Finish. Players are trying to keep or earn their tour cards for next year.
Americans take charge at Davis Cup tie
GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Bob and Mike Bryan beat Jonas Bjorkman and Simon Aspelin in three sets Saturday to give the United States a 2-1 lead over Sweden in its Davis Cup semifinal tie.
The event is being played at Gothenburg, Sweden.
A sellout and hostile crowd watched the Bryans hold steady after being stretched to tie-breaker in the first set.
The Bryans improved to 12-1 in Davis Cup play.
After a first set that took 59 minutes, they needed just 68 minutes to win the match.
"I think that was our best Davis Cup match by far," said Mike Bryan. "We played two great sets so we're very happy."
Sweden needs to win both reverse singles matches Sunday to advance, when Andy Roddick faces Thomas Johansson, and if necessary, there will be a winner-take-all match between James Blake and Joachim Johansson.
Sweden is 3-1 against the United States at home, including a 5-0 victory in Gothenburg 10 years ago.
Germany nears Davis Cup victory
MOSCOW, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Waske beat Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny in four sets in Saturday’s Davis Cup action between Germany and Russia.
The scores were 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5).
The victory gave the Germans a 2-1 lead, so they need one win in Sunday's reverse singles matches to win the tie at Moscow, while the defending champion Russians need to win both matches to advance to the final.
"I believe anything can happen," said Tursunov. "We've been in this situation before. It's not the best and it's not what we want but our players have to turn it around and I believe they can."
Sunday's matches pit Tommy Haas against Nikolay Davydenko, and if necessary, a winner-take-all match between Igor Andreev and Philipp Kohlschreiber.
The Russians are 5-3 all-time against the Germans, including wins in their last three meetings.
Russia is 1-1 in their match-ups in Moscow.
U.S., Germany advance at World Cup
TIANJIN, China, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Abby Wambach scored her fourth goal of the tournament Saturday as the United States beat England, 3-0, at Tianjin, China, in the quarterfinals of the Women's World Cup.
Shannon Boxx and Kristine Lilly also scored for the United States, which got all its goals in a 12-minute stretch early in the second half.
"We got the one, then two and three," Boxx said.
Despite a sluggish first half, the United States advanced to the World Cup semifinals for the fifth straight time, while England was eliminated in the second quarterfinals in its two World Cup appearances.
"I think the last 15 minutes of the first half we really settled down and started playing soccer," said U.S. Coach Greg Ryan.
The United States extended its unbeaten streak to 51 games.
Elsewhere, Germany beat North Korea, 3-0, to advance to the semifinals for the fourth time in five tournaments.
