Els advances, Mickelson out of match play
MARANA, Ariz., Feb. 27 (UPI) -- Ernie Els, a winner on American soil just once in the last four years, reached the quarterfinals Friday at the Accenture Match Play Championship.
Phil Mickelson, however, was knocked out of the tournament and only three of the top 20 players in the world survived to compete for the title.
Not only have the top four seeds in the event been eliminated -- Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington and Vijay Singh -- but so have the four players who beat them.
Els, a two-time U.S. Open champion who will turn 40 in October, had a 1-up lead on Luke Donald going to the 18th tee at the Dove Mountain course. Donald then told Els he had suffered a sprained wrist and he was concerned he might suffer a more severe injury if he continued.
Els, ranked No. 14 in the world, thus won the match in a concession and advanced to meet Stewart Cink in Saturday's quarterfinals.
Cink recorded a 1-up win over Mickelson in a match that was all square going to the 17th hole. Mickelson, who was behind by three holes early in the match, suffered a double bogey at the 17th. He has never advanced past the quarterfinals in this tournament.
The highest ranked player left for the quarterfinals is No. 8 Geoff Ogilvy, who defeated Camilo Villegas 2 & 1. Ogilvy will take on 17th-ranked Rory McIlroy, who defeated Tim Clark 4 & 3. It was Clark who eliminated Woods Thursday in the No. 1 player's return to competitive golf.
The other two quarterfinals will send Sean O'Hair against Paul Casey and Ross Fisher against Justin Leonard. The semifinals will be contested Saturday afternoon and the 36-hole final will be held Sunday.
Obama watches Wizards down Bulls
WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- Antawn Jamison helped Washington dominate the fourth quarter Friday and the Wizards, with President Barack Obama in attendance, cruised past Chicago 113-90.
Washington won for just the 14th time this season, downing Obama's home-town team by limiting the Bulls to 16 points in the final quarter.
Members of the Bulls visited the White House Thursday and the president occupied a courtside seat for Friday's game. The contest was delayed until his late arrival, which drew loud cheers from fans and applause from players on the court.
Obama left late in the fourth quarter with the Wizards in full control of the contest.
Jamison scored 27 points and both Mike James and Caron Butler had 14, carrying Washington to its seventh victory of the year against an Eastern Conference opponent. The Wizards had a nine-point lead going into the fourth period and put together a 10-2 run early in the quarter.
John Salmons had 25 for Chicago and no other member of the Bulls managed more than 11 points.
Evidence in Bonds case banished
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. prosecutors have sought an indefinite delay in the perjury trial of former Giants slugger Barry Bonds after a San Francisco judge excluded key evidence.
Trial was scheduled to start Monday but prosecutors said Friday they would appeal the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston to exclude alleged positive steroid tests and other important evidence.
Major League Baseball's all-time home run leader faces several counts of making false statements by telling a grand jury he never knowingly used illegal performance-enhancing substances.
Some of that evidence the judge tossed out includes doping calendars taken from the home of Bonds's former personal trainer, Greg Anderson.
Prosecutors insist the documents could be key to proving that Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs and that he lied to a federal grand jury during his testimony late in 2003.
Anderson, who entered a guilty plea to dealing steroids in the BALCO scandal, has not cooperated with federal officials.
Busch brothers qualify fastest
LAS VEGAS, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- Brothers Kyle and Kurt Busch turned in the two fastest qualifying laps Friday for Sunday's NASCAR Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Kyle Busch won the pole for the second year in a row, setting a track qualifying record of 29.033 seconds. But because of an engine change prior to qualifying, he will have to start the race at the back of the field.
"We're just going to bide our time and race the 427 miles," Busch said. "All the guys on this team did an awesome job changing the engine today. We look forward to hopefully being able to do it on Sunday."
The pole victory was Busch's fifth in his Sprint Cup career.
Kurt Busch will start at the front of the field after turning in a lap of 29.078 seconds. Three-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson qualified third, followed by David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose.
Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart completed the top 10.
Matt Kenseth, who has won the first two races of the season, qualified 40th. He will attempt to become the first driver in NASCAR history to capture a campaign's first three events.
