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Cavendish wins another stage in France

LA GRANDE-MOTTE, France, July 6 (UPI) -- Mark Cavendish won his second consecutive Tour de France stage Monday, holding off a late rush.

Cavendish took the 118-mile run from Marseille to La Grande-Motte in 5 hours, 1 minute and 24 seconds. Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong was among 24 other riders finishing in the same time.

Thor Hushvold finished second and Cyril Lemoine was third in the stage.

The final 16 miles was a battle among 28 riders but none was able to work his way around Cavendish, who won his sixth overall Tour de France stage.

Fabian Cancellara retained the overall lead and is 33 seconds ahead of Tony Martin. Armstrong, returning to the race after a three-year layoff, moved up to third place, 40 seconds behind Cancellara.

Tuesday's fourth stage will be a time trial covering 23.5 miles around Montpellier.

The Tour de France continues through July 26.

Morneau earns AL weekly honor

NEW YORK, Minn., July 6 (UPI) -- The Minnesota Twins' Justin Morneau was accorded American League Player of the Week honors Monday for hitting .480 with four homers in six games.

The 28-year-old All-Star first baseman drove in eight runs in the week ended Sunday, homering in three straight games, to win the award for the second time in his career.

The 2006 AL MVP is hitting .323 this season with 21 homers and 69 RBI through 82 games.

Others considered for this week's award included Texas outfielders David Murphy, who led the league with a .500 average, and Marlon Byrd, who was tops with nine RBI and a .556 on-base percentage; and Boston's Jon Lester, who went 1-0 in two starts with 17 strikeouts and a 0.66 earned-run average.

Prado hits way to NL weekly award

NEW YORK, July 6 (UPI) -- Atlanta Braves infielder Martin Prado's prowess at the plate produced his first National League Player of the Week award Monday.

In six games during the week ending Sunday, Prado had 15 hits -- eight of them doubles -- for a .577 average, .621 on-base percentage and 1,000 slugging percent.

He also scored eight times.

Prado, 25, who has seen his time in the field divided between first, second and third base, this season is hitting .329 with four homers, 15 RBI and 23 runs scored.

Also considered for the weekly NL honor were Arizona's Dan Haren (2-0, 1.38 ERA, 15 SO), Chicago Cub Derrek Lee (.679 SLG, 4 HR, 12 RBI), Cincinnati's Joey Votto (.440, 1 HR, 4 RBI) and Florida's Ricky Nolasco (2-0, 1.13 ERA, 20 SO).

Woods wins, tightens hold on No. 1 ranking

VIRGINIA WATER, England, July 6 (UPI) -- Tiger Woods has run his reign as the No 1 golfer in the world to 213 consecutive weeks, rankings released Monday indicate.

Woods won his own tournament Sunday, which solidified his hold on the rankings' top spot. He defeated Hunter Mahan, who had a course-record tying 62 Sunday to get into contention while Anthony Kim finished third.

Woods has been the top-rated men's golfer for 555 weeks. Greg Norman (331 weeks) is the only other golfer to be No. 1 for more than 100 weeks in the 23 years of the rankings.

Phil Mickelson is still second on the current list with Paul Casey third, Kenny Perry fourth and Sergio Garcia in fifth.

Geoff Ogilvy, now sixth, switched places with No. 7 Henrik Stenson in the only change in the Top 10 this week.

Steve Stricker is eighth, followed by, in order, Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh.

Mahan's strong finish allowed him to improve 13 spots to a No. 26 ranking. Kim went from 15th to 14th this week.

Yi jumps to No. 41 in LPGA rankings

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., July 6 (UPI) -- Eunjung Yi's first LPGA win this weekend has allowed her to soar 98 places in the women's golf world rankings as the top eight spots remained unchanged.

Yi jumped from No. 139 to No. 41 with her victory Sunday at the Jamie Farr Owen Cornings Classic, and it also allowed her to gain the final spot in this week's U.S. Women's Open.

The top eight in the rankings remained the same as last week with Lorena Ochoa followed by Yani Tseng, Jiyai Shin, Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Suzann Pettersen, Angela Stanford and In Kyung Kim.

Karrie Webb and Helen Alfredsson exchanged places for the second straight week with Alfredsson up to ninth, while Song-Hee Kim and Lindsey Wright stayed 11 and 12. They were followed by Seon-Hwa Lee, who jumped three to 13th. Her move knocked Katherine Hull, Na Yeon Choi and Kristy McPherson down one spot apiece.